China Blue Ribbon flower card

There is a lovely ribbon collection available with the Ruby Rocket it China Blue collection from The Fruit Pixie, as well as wonderful big brads too so I just had to make a ribbon flower with them.

 

There is also a large collection of beautiful tags too that match the paper collection

 

 

So I used all 4 elements to come up with this simple card. Everything here is available at The Fruit Pixie online shop.

 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/index.asp

 

China Blue Journal

As soon as Sarah from the Fruit Pixie sent me the new Ruby Rock it China Blue paper I knew I would make my holiday journal with it. The whole collection reminded me of Austria and the Gumunden pottery I collect which is blue and white.

 

It also gave me a chance to use some of the hand carved stamps I have made recently. I had always wanted an edelweiss flower stamp but the chances of finding one was zilch, so I found a photo we had taken of a wooden one, traced it and carved it. I must admit I was so pleased with way they looked. The journal one is one of mine too!

 

All the pages in my 6x6 journal are the same, somewhere to write and somewhere to store all the goodies like bus tickets, leaflets etc. Of course another chance to use another one of my stamps too!!

 

So here it is all done, now all I need to do is pack! My journal and stamp carving tools are coming along too of course!

Hybrid Poetic licence tags

I know these tags don't exactly make scene but to be honest when you are given 12 random words it is difficult to get them to make any sense at all but I must admit I really enjoy the challenge of getting them in some form of order and then collaging a tag to go with it. This is all part of the Art Journal Caravan.

My little street

This was such fun to make for the Fruit Pixie, a little street of Chipboard houses and trees from Creative Individuals and covered with the paper from Keisercraft  Miss Match collection. Step by step instructions can be found on The Fruit Pixie Blog.

AJC Journal page Atlantis #2

This is our last week in Atlantis on the AJC.  I have started to enjoy and have faith in my own artistic ability, something I have always thought and been told, I had none, so this is a big step for me but I am starting to think perhaps I can do it :)    

  So this page is ALL my own work!

AJC page Storys from Atlantis

The port of call for May with the Art Journal caravan is Atlantis!  So here is my mixed media  page. I must admit it did take me longer then usual but as I have not been at all well this month, it was an ideal project for me to dip in and out of as my health would allow. I am really pleased with it and intend to be more confident in my arty skills and do more of this style.

Blackboard triptych

I made this little blackboard triptych using the Crafty individuals chipboard frames and swirls available from The Fruit Pixie. For full instructions on how I made my triptych pop on over to the Fruit Pixie blog or facebook page.

AJC journal page Africa

This is the second page for the AJC port of call - Africa. I must admit I was totally inspired by the Out of Africa kit from Rucola designs for this page, I loved all the vintage look maps and animals. The backgrounds were created using my trusty Gelli plate, it was a shame to cover them over really, so here is how they looked before

And here is the page finished.

I needed a word to go in the frame to finish the page off, nothing seemed right but then I thought why not use a Swahili word! So that's what I did, wawindaji is Swahili for hunter.

Poetic Licence #17 May face flowers

Here is tag number 17 in my Poetic Licence tag book for the AJC. Each week we are given 12 random words from a list of 400 and we have to make something of them. As you can see they hardly ever make sense but that is part of the fun of it all.

AJC Journal page - Africa, 100 friends

I took the papers from the Gelli plate session I photographed before and made this journal page for my AJC journal.  Our port of call for April was Africa, it took me a while to become inspired but got there in the end.

The backgrounds are my own but the images are from Tangie and ViVa studios. The saying - A small house has 100 friends is an African saying and was one of the journal prompts this month.

Great Gatsby bookmark

Here is my book mark from The Gatsby Chic collection available from the Fruit Pixie online shop. Full details of what I used are on The Fruit Pixie blog and Facebook page.

Gatsby Chic box of cards

I designed something a little different here for The Fruit Pixie and the Craftime Gatsby Chic collection, a box full of note cards. This is a great project to use up all the scraps and to be able to use the cards ( which personally, for me were a rather strange choice for the rest of the collection ) and also the sticker which again were rather small but used with the half cards were perfect.

  I thought this would make a lovely gift or just something for your home to keep your cards in so you always have something for those emergency birthdays or when you need a card. I also added the cute notebook that also comes in the collection to use either as an address book or perhaps keep birthday dates in.   

    For a detailed look at all the cards pop over to the
                                              Fruit Pixie blog - http://thefruitpixie.blogspot.co.uk/
                                                                                                                                                                           

Gelli plate addict!

Hello, my name is Katrina and I am a Gelli plate addict! I have had a Gelli plate now for 2 months and I just can't stop playing with it! It is another way I can use the paint and templates I love to use. 

  There are many videos on the Internet of how to use the Gelli plate but here is how I do it and the way the pages turned out this time.

 

Collect together your Gelli plate, acrylic paint, your brayer and anything that will leave a texture. You will also need paper or card to print onto and a piece of scrap paper to clean off your brayer in between colours.

 

Now you are ready to get started. Add some paint to your plate. How much will depend on the paint and what you want to do, all that comes with practice.

 

Roll out the paint with your brayer and press in the texture, here I have used bubble wrap.

 

Press your paper onto your paint

 

Pull off and reveal your print!

Add another layer of paint ( I never clean the plate until I am ready to pack away)

 

This time I have added stencils

 

You will get 2 print with most paint applications, this is through the stencil, then when you lift the stencil off

 

 

you will get this to print off

 

 

to get this!

 

This time I used the wrong end of a paint brush to add my own doodles

 

to get this.

 

 

 I could go on for ever but basically anything that will add texture you can use. All you need to do is keep layering print on top of print until you have something you love. If you don't like it then its just not finished!!

             Here are the finished pages for this session. I just kept layering until I was happy                                                                     Scroll down to the bottom for my top tips!

 

So, my top tips for Gelli plates

 

* Don't worry about the paint you use any acrylic paint will do, often the cheap ones are the best. It won't work with ink though.

 

* Try adding a pearly paint colour to make things pop.

 

* Remember every page will be different and you have little control over what the end result is so just go with the flow and enjoy. After all its only a piece of card and some paint.

 

* Don't clean in between colours, you will get some lovely surprises that way.

 

*If you find your plate slipping around use a non slip mat under it.

 

*Keep your plate in the packaging to keep it safe from scratches and digs

 

Hope this has helped. I take no responsibility for any addiction!! :)

 

Gatsby Chic card 4

This is the last card I made with the Craftime Gatsby chic collection for The Fruit Pixie, very elegant lady indeed!

 Every thing , except the card blank which is one of the 5x5 by Craft UK. Everything is available from The Fruit Pixie online shop.

AJC Poetic Licence tag #16

Here is my hybrid tag for this weeks Poetic Licence. You are given 12 words and have to make of it what you will. This week it almost makes sense..........almost!!

Poetic Licence tag #15

Here is my hybrid tag for last weeks Poetic Licence, I love the steampunk look and thought that it suited the theme, that's if you can make any sense of it all of course but then again that's the fun of taking 12 words and making something out of them!!

Gatsby Chic card 3

Here is card number 3 I made for the Fruit Pixie using the new Gatsby Chic collection, all of which is available from The Fruit Pixie online shop.

Gatsby Chic Anniversary card

Here is the second card I made using the new Gatsby Chic collection by Craftime. Everything I used here is in the collection and available from The Fruit Pixie.

Last Japanese Journal page

This is my last page in my art journal for Japan as the AJC is moving to the next port of call. I have loved Japan and am sorry to move on.  I loved this quote and as I am an April birthday girl it had to go in my journal.

 I tried a new technique here, well 2 in fact  First I made my own spray paint by mixing acrylic paint and water with a dash of PVA ( white ) in a spray bottle and shook well. Then I put a pool of the paint onto the page and blasted it with a compressed can with the tube thing on, that is how I got those great splats.

   Well all packed up and ready for the next country in my art journal.........

I do apologise to my Japanese friends if anything is upside down, sorry.

Gatsby Chic card 1

I have been working with the new Gatsby Chic collection available from The Fruit Pixie. The collection is full of great Art deco style bits and pieces. Here is my first card, all but the card blank is from the collection, all available from the fruit Pixie.