Flowers - Alcohol Background & Pens

This post is an entry in Paper Artsy's Challenge - Alcohol Inks & Pens. I don't have any purchased alcohol inks and have had limited success making my own.
I had a look through the posts on PA's blog and as usual there were plenty to inspire. I really liked they idea of Dounia Larges's upcycled plastic as this is a media I have tried to use for projects before. I also like the flowers made from cans by Gail on the challenge original blog post.
But then suddenly it was Sunday and I hadn't created anything and I still live in hope of being able to order something exciting from PA.
So I found myself (easily) distracted from the work I should have been doing to create this simple page.
The background I had already made with an acrylic and alcohol effect so thought this was at least close to what the challenge was. I then stamped the flowers (Bo Bunny Stamps) and coloured with Pitt Artist brush pens.

Give Thanks

While Thanksgiving isn't an official holiday here, this is a good reminder of all we have to be thankful for.
The background of this page has been sitting for quite a while waiting for something to happen! It has the colour and some stenciling and the border stamping, done with a self-made stamp.
I added some more stamping - the little stars and crown, then added gesso with a credit card. I stamped the large heart (Viva Las Vegas Stamps) onto tissue first and also added a few smaller heart stamps. The Give Thanks was written with a black embossing pen and then blue embossing powder added.
I can't say that this is one of my most favourite pages ever - but still enjoyed thinking about how grateful we all should be.
This entered in the CAS-ual Fridays challenge - Be Thankful

Thinking of You - Ombre

This card is for the Addicted to CAS challenge - Code Word - Ombre.

I started with shades of blue and teal Gelatos on watercolour paper then layered with the script and harlequin (VLV) stamps. The sentiment is layering on a fabric ribbon and the girl stamp is from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. It was then mounted on scrapbooking paper and the card.

Deer Tree 2

So continuing on with CAS-ual Friday's Challenge - 160 - orange, brown & craft and my new die, my second card for this challenge.
I used two scrap booking papers, ripped and edged with Inktense pencils. I mounted the deer tree onsome orange card stock and then trimmed and added the sentiment.

Deer Tree 1

I have been looking at this die in a bargain bin at my local stationers for several months and finally was a little cheeky and asked them what their best price was! I thought this would be versatile as I can trim up the deer head to look like a tree trunk also. It has little birds, amongst the leaves, on its antlers, which are not quite as defined as I thought they would be, but pretty cute.
I made this card to fit with the CAS-ual Friday Challenge - 160 - orange, brown & craft.

I used the negative left after cutting to colour the background, added some Golden Hi-flow bronze metallic and some script stamping in sienna archival ink. Then I inked the edge of the image and the card base.

Poppy - Stencil

My wanted my second entry for The Craft Barn Two Weekly Challenge - Poppy to be more abstract, so started with a stencil that I thought could be turned into a poppy. I sprayed with DecoArt Media misters in magenta and red. Another floral stencil helped to fill the spaces. I then outlined the stylised poppy shapes used in the remembrance poppies with a black watercolour pencil and mounted on a black card.

Poppy - Inktense

Once again, our festivals and celebrations are out of sync - we have ANZAC Day in April, the equivalent of Remembrance Sunday in the UK, but happy to have a go at creating some poppy designs for The Craft Barn Two Weekly Challenge.
I do not claim to be an artist, which is why mixed media to so achievable and satisfying for those of us who enjoy art and creating but so not feel like 'naturals'. Even so, I thought I would give a more watercolour effect a go, using Intense blocks. Not perfect, but I think acceptable as a nice card.

You're Right!

I use this quote regularly with my class at school. They don't get it at first, but it makes them think and hopefully helps them be more positive about what they can achieve. SO I thought I would create a version for the Paper Artsy Challenge - Typography, Fonts and Quotes. I would love to use some of their products, as others who enter their challenges do, but I can't afford them until I manage to win a challenge! :) - but the  ideas in the blog are always helpful and inspire my entries.

The quote, as printed, had a distressed look, so I thought I would use this as inspiration. I started by using some homemade stamps that I carved form erasers to spell out Henry Ford and then covered this with a grey glaze, which I scratched with an old credit card to create the distress.
Then I added the quote and edge it with a red Stabilo pencil.

Hope

There are so many great things to do for this challenge from Paper Artsy - Typography, Fonts and Quotes. I didn't want to go with a mish-mash of fonts that could just end up a mess - so this one just evolved.
I had a page that had some patterned paper already on it so took the lead from the colours that were in it - turquoise and magenta - and went with that.
I added a layer of text through a stencil using archival ink and then added text from a magazine. I then dripped Liquidex Ink using the same colours. I used a script stencil and coloured texture paste which was them cut into the letters HOPE. The heart is a stamp from Viva Las Vegas stamps, onto tissue and them applied with matte medium. Some black Stabilo around the letter and the edges, a few black splatters and done.
The background has turned out quite busy, but I do quite like the textured script letters.

U for Uvula

Well I've done the obvious - now for the challenge to do something more unexpected. Something in a very different style this time. Gelato sticks smudged in the backgound and very cartoony. :)
This is for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge.

U for Ukulele - Dreams

Again I was experimenting with the Liquitex Inks in my background with music and script stamping. I had cut some music notes and used the negatives to stencil and stuck on the notes shapes cut out.
This is for The Craft Bart Alpha Challenge.

U for Ukulele - Sounds Like Happiness

I was searching for an original word for the letter 'U' for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge, and suddenly realised the obvious for me - ukulele. I don't know why this took me so long as this instrument is part of my daily life and I now have two pages completed for this already. I might still attempt something more unsual!

This background was created when experimenting with Liquitex Inks, then some stenciling, stamping and focal image and quote added.

Fireworks

Sort of feels like a relief to have a challenge that relates to my memories (I'm sort of over Halloween!) so was pleased to see the 'Fireworks' challenge from The Craft Barn.
The concept of 'Guy Fawkes' may seem a little strange, but I guess we are really remember the triumph of good over bad - if that's what actually happened. Fireworks look fantastic, and thankfully my current dog does not mind them, but I have had many year of animals that were totally spooked out. I hate to think what they would have done back in the day when we were allowed fire crackers, and let off strings of them. I think as a kid, writing your name with sparklers was still the best - simple, safe and fun.
So coincidentally, I happened upon something, maybe a Pinterest email, that featured the black paint scratch technique. So I thought this was the perfect thing to try. Although it is quite a common thing to do for school art, I actually don't think I have ever done it before, but it may happen next week in class for our art project - and the kids can learn about some history at the same time.

I didn't have crayons or pastels at home, so used some Reeves watercolor crayons I have, They don't really move that well, especially on un-gessoed paper so for this task they were fine. Some black acrylic and a skewer to scratch and we had fireworks. I thought I would link to Guy Fawkes by stamping The Beehive, which is our newer parliament building in New Zealand. I stamped it on tissue and stuck it on with matte medium and then added the well know quote.