Creating With Wendy

One of my favourite themes is the silhouette and I finally had the chance to work in Roz Willoughby's silhouette themed journal. The pages were quite large compared to what I normally work in but I found it rather freeing, imagination wise, to try to fit something large onto the page. After having a good think I decided to put a few smaller shaped silhouettes into the layout and making them integrated by using a window frame. I sketched the shape of the window, cut it out of some photocopy paper and this was the start of my layout. I then copied the frame on to pages, length wise and to add a bit of interest around the outside of the frame, I ended up doing some stamping with a script stamp all the way around the edge. I then proceeded to add colour to the inside parts of the windows. The top section I wanted a full moon, night time scene so I used black and whire to get a haized effect. The middle set of windows I used shades of blue to create an ocean, water type of s...

This was a fun little journal to work in. I had no idea where I was going with it until I found some stamps and dies of some cute little seahorses, so that's what I went with. I gessoed the page and then added some blues, purple and a touch of green as the first layer of paint. Trying to get a more 'bubble' feel to the page, I used the square end of a make-up sponge and made some circles and then finished off the background with a smaller bubble stencil using the colours I had previously used. While my background was drying, I stamped a heap of images which I added some watercolour paints too. Then when the images were dry, I then used some clear embossing powder and coated all the images with it. It gave them a lovely shine and also a protective layer. Then I placed all the images of the seahorses, shells, star fish and coral onto the page where I thought they looked good. I added a little shading around the images and also a small saying, "LIVE FULL ...

This months challenge for the Gina Ahrens Design Team was a lot of fun. We had to make our own designed washi tape and then use it in a project. I started making the traditional type of washi by using masking tape and adding some paint and stamping on it and made it very decorative. I also used a couple of Gina's art backgrounds and placed double sided tape on the back, then cut them into stips for washi. Both methods ended up being wonderful to use in my project. Washi strips from using Gina's art backgrounds  I decided to make some chalk and white boards and decorate the edges with the washi I had just made using Gina's products. Using a thick cardboard very similar to chipboaard, I painted one side with blackboard paint and on the reverse side I glued down some adhesive white board film. Then using the washi I glued it round all the edges of the boards, to make them look very decorative. These message boards were fun to make and also make awesome gifts to ...

 HANSEL and GRETEL I based my layout on the tale of Hansel and Gretel for Jenny's journal. This is a well-known fairy tale of German origin and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister kidnapped by a cannibalistic  witch living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children escape with their lives by outwitting her. I started by putting some colour on the page using gelatos and then decided to do a collage spread. The left side being the imagery of the children walking in the forest where Hansel is dropping pebbles on the ground so they could find their way out. And the right hand side being where the children come upon the house made from all kinds of sweets. I collaged the trees on as well as the images of Hansel and Gretel and in the center of the layout is where they were coming out of the forest finding the witch's cottage. I tried to make the witch's cottage look child like, for som...

Hello everyone! This was a very fun layout I did in Annabelle's journal. Sometimes it is hard for me to 'Just be myself' but I think I did achieve it with this layout. At the start of my layout, I had put some 'washable' craft paint down and of course by experimenting with it, it wasn't working how I wanted it to. So staying true to myself, I gave it a good wash over with gesso and started again. This happens to me quite a bit sometimes...LOL... So after covering up the first layer with gesso, I then grabbed out a few gelatos and gave the background a good patching with all the colours. The next layer was some stamping with a black stazon ink and a script stamp. Not really sure with what I was going to do for a focal image, I decided to grab a make-up sponge and play with making circles. This is a fun and relaxing process for me, I love circles. So I used some purple and white acrylic paint and then brought in some blue and white acrylic paint making and...

 This is a fun, easy and very satisfying project for August with my take on an eye-catching piece of       WALL ART. Here is what you will need: *Gina's Digital Background Bundle *Gina Ahrens Book (some pages photocopied) *Ginas Ahrens Stamp set No.3 *Recycled cardboard  (To cut into smaller shapes and a large piece as a backing board) *Gina's Downladable Words *White & Black gesso *Double sided tape, thin and dimensional *Glue stick *Scissors *Distressing tool *Black Ink Pad *Sharpie fine point Marker Let's get this project started! The recycled cardboard needs to be cut into small square or rectangular shapes. The size really depends on your own preference. I cut mine to about an inch by three inches and two inches by two inches and then some at two by three inches. You need to cut quite a few to fill your large piece of backing board. When cut, I gave each piece a light brayer of gesso which will add a bit...

This months Design Team Challenge for Gina Ahrens products was one I thoroughly enjoyed, We had to make some tickets and then use them in a project. I started by downloading the new digi Gina has out in her store, the patterned backgrounds. I then cut them to the desired width to make the tickets and folded then and cut the corners out, so they resembled a ticket.  I used a vintage ink around the edges and then added two colours of acrylic paint on them, making sure I could still see the pattern on the background. I adhered a word from another of Gina's digi downloads and then backed the ticket onto some heavy card board for strength.  I then proceeded to use the tickets as an embellishment on an altered paint brush in the theme of steampunk. The process can be seen in the video below. I think it turned out awesome, even if I do say so myself. Hope you enjoy and get inspired. xox HAVE A GREAT DAY !

Before I started work in Janie's Journal, I thought to myself how far I have grown when it comes to working in another artists journal. I remember my very first swap and the feeling of being so very nervous that I would make some sort of mistake in that person's journal. Then I looked down at the blank page in Janie's  SIMPLY WHIMSICAL  journal and couldn't wait to start experimenting...lol. I gave the page a light layer of gesso and have wanting to try the 'streaking' or dragging effect for some time, so why not now! I can always paint over it if it doesn't turn out. After the gesso dried, I used a paint spatular to drag a few colours from top to bottom and bottom to top to get the streaking I was hoping for. Not quite happy with the way it was going by using the spatular, I ended up using a dry hard bristled brush and found this gave me the more smudgier look, which is what I was looking for. I then used a few stencils using the same paint colours that h...

Number 3. For this project, I used a couple of jelly boxes for the covers of mini journals. I adhered some scrap watercolour papers on to cover the boxes and added some cut to size patterned papers for the pages inside. I also used up a few of the layered beads for dangles and decoration on the spine of the journals. Number4. Here I have crochetted some wool flowers to use in a mixed media project. They were made from watching a few videos on YouTube. Number 5. This project was a cosmic smash book. I have been wanting to get this journal done for such a long time and doing now as one of the projects in the #100thingschallenge seemed to be appropriate. Number 6. This project for the #100thingschallenge was inspired by the lovely Laurie Richardson Haley on youtube. Here I used patterned papers to fold into pockets and the front has sewn assorted papers on it and then the sides of the pockets are also sewn together. Thes turned out so cute and are very useful when usin...

I decided recently to partake in the #100thingschallenge that Rebecca from Dancingwithpits on YouTube put out. This is going to be a very interesting challenge where you ONLY use things that you already have in your craft/art stash and you don't buy anything else until after you finish the challenge. I'm gong to give this my best try in grtting to a hundred projects. Number 1. For my first project in this challenge, I had a huge bag of assorted flower petals that had been sitting in the bag for the past two years. I rarely used them, so I thought a good way to make them usable was to layer the petals together and make them into ready to use flowers for other projects. This was a great idea and now I have these beautiful ready to use flowers. Video below shows the finished flowers...................... Number 2. My project for this was to alter some paint brushes. I have had a few of these brushes sitting on a shelf in my studio for quite some time and finally ...

       This months challenge for Gina's Design Team was to do a journal page using Gina's products. I found this very relaxing and a lot of fun, giving me a chance to experiment with some colours and also with stamping on some fabric. The process can be seen below: I've used colours I don't normally use like shades of brown and also used Gina's stamps as a layer on the background before gluing down the focal image of the calico stamped flowers. Here is a picture of the final layout: THANKS FOR STAOPPING BY !

After preparing a few little embellishments from SUSIE CLOUDS paper,I am finally up to using them in this funky pocket letter. The papers in SUSIE CLOUDS paper pad are great to use in a mix and match style. I had so much fun working out what, where and how to place them all. A pocket letter is made by cutting nine pieces of paper 2 1/2 inch by 3 1/2 inch and then decorating them as you like. Then you fill the back of each pocket with little goodies so the person receiving it can use them in their projects. I decorated the pocket letter with some small embellishment and die cuts from the paper pad and also used some of the stamps from the Modular Floral stamp set. For this pocket letter I use the CONFETTI CRAFT paper pad from SUSIE CLOUDS  The final outcome was a very FUNKY looking pocket letter. View of the back   Front view The whole process from start to finish is below. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

The next phase in my working and trying out the Susie clouds paper was to use it with some hand punches and my Big Shot. Mainly, to get some embellishments cut for a few other projects and also to see what the paper was like using these tools. It stood up to it very well. This paper is a very good quality and the colours are wonderful.   The picture shows a few of the final punched pieces You can see for yourself by watching the video below:   So, when you pop back, the next post will be actually putting a projects together. HAVE A GREAT DAY!

I was emailed a few months ago and asked if I'd like to do a review on a stamp set and paper pad that is sold by SUSIE CLOUDS. Wow!!! So exciting for me and of course, I said yes! I thought the best way to try out these Australian based products by doing a few small projects and having them in a big final project. Well, that's a plan...lol To start with, after looking at the stamp set Modular Floral, I was very keen to try the very small stamps on inchies. So this was my first project....making inchies using the SUSIE CLOUDS STAMPS. To make the inchies I used the cardboard backing on the paper pad because one side was white and the other had a black background with white spots on it. I thought that would be a great backing for the inchies. I measured the inchies on the backing cardboard, one inch square, Then used some distress daubers to add a splash of paint as the background. I also used the SUSIE CLOUDS stamps to add another layer to the background. When I was h...

The challenge for this months design team challenge using Gina Ahrens' stamps and products was to use them to make some sort of charm or shrinky. I chose to make some charms that could be used as keyrings or to hang off the side of an art journal. I was lucky to receive some small square ply pieces from a swap, so I used them as a base to decorate with Ginas' stamps and digi word downloads. I also made some paper layered beads and both these projects can be viewed in the video below....enjoy!!

I have spent the past five days getting my round 5 journal ready to send out for another exciting adventure. While deciding what I wanted to make, I came across the lace covered envelope that was sent to me by Faye in a recent flowish journal swap and I knew I really wanted to use this as my cover. It is sturdy and flexible and light wieght, and would be great for traveling around our beautiful country to other artists.   This is what the fabric covered envelope from Faye looked like on the outside. This is the inside of the cover also showing the cardboard strips for the spine I cut the size I wanted, 7inches by 9 inches which to me is a comfortable size to use. Then I grabbed my bronze acrylic paint and brushed it over the outside cover...I was in a 'bronze' coloured mood...LOL  I had to strengthen the spine so I cut two rounghly 1 inch strips that I used to place on the inside and outside of the spine. It wasn't staying glued with the wet glue I had on ...