CB The Months Challenge - October + Sept & Aug

It's a while since I posted here, with the last two entries for this challenge being quickly posted to Instagram at the last minute. I do have the videos for the last three months so I will include those and images below in this post. I got out of the swing of posting and publishing videos after having the flu and taking weeks to recover. Thanks goodness that is gone now!

This first one is The Craft Barn October challenge for The Months.

I have been creating two pages throughout the year, one for the Northern Hemisphere, as in the poem, and then writing my own couplet for the Southern Hemisphere. When I search for a pheasant, one of our native New Zealand birds, the weka, came up so I included that in my second page.

Here

This piece was inspired by the prompts for Viva Las Vegas Stamps May Challenge.

The theme was - everything comes 'round so the idea was to include round stamps and elements. I first stamps with the VLV stamp, Doodle Circle ( 19823) I really must make a list of my VLV stamps as I have to look them up on my order every time!!
I was very excited to try my new Paper Artsy Infusion which my daughter just brought back for me from the UK. I used In the Navy and Sleight Blue which are both colours in the newer ranger.. I then added some stamping with script and compass stamps - which lead to the word 'Here'.
I also added some doodling, some of which I wasn't very happy and so tried to cover with gesso. Turned out it smudged - which I did like! I finished it off with some thread, stick down with gessoed, circle drywall tape.

Unicycle Dream

This piece has been created for Viva Las Vegas Stamps Monthly Challenge for April.

The challenge as usual involves using at least one VLV stamp and to be inspired by the prompts and image given. This month they prompts were: words like SPRING! flowers, doodles, buds, whimsical, patterns, checkerboard, stars, wings, Mary Vogel Lozinak, banners, green, teal, white, black.

I first gessoed a piece of card and then thought there was too much gesso on the card and so placed another piece of card on top to remove some. This left an interesting speckled effect which I really liked and so decided to use this. I applying watercolour which has a shimmery mica type effect, knowing that the gesso would create a resist. The colours are very subtle but just as I wanted.

I have used images and text from Mary Vogel Lozinak Plate 1383 and Writing Circles Background, which I turned into flowers. All these were stamped on tissue and then stuck onto the image with matt medium.

Be An Adventurer

Again, this is for Viva Las Vegas Stamps March challenge,  twilight & dusk, the northern lights, dancing and twinkling stars, silhouettes and trees.

I has two new tissue papers, one very bold stripes and the other a gold swirl pattern. I started with the bold paper and then added gesso. The next layer was pieces of the second tissue.

The stars were added with texture paste through a stencil and then embossing powder added on top. This was a precise way to add the gold powder but I was still happy with the outcome. Once this dried, I stamped the VLV stars. These are turning out to be a very well used stamp!

The trees stamps are by Crafty Individuals and the sentiment stamp is another VLV stamp - both stamped on tissue and then added with matte medium.

Stars & Heart

This page was created for Viva Las Vegas March Challenge. Some of the inspirations were twilight & dusk, the northern lights, dancing and twinkling stars.

I started using Distress Markers sprayed with water to create a light wash effect. As I knew this would move I sprayed it with a fixative. The drips and splatters were made with Golden fluid acrylics. I then stamped two VLV stamps - the stars and heart The heart did not stand out as much as I wanted so I went over this with a Derwent Inktense pencil and activated with water. I hand stitched the muslin with embroidery thread, dabbed with the leftover paint and then added Golden mica medium. The stars have been dotted with Golden Glass Bead Gel.

I had no sentiment in mind so finished with some journaling.

Cityscape

This page was created from the inspiration in the latest Paper Artsy Challenge - Paint with Infusions.
Now I don't have any Infusions, in fact I'll admit I have no Paper Artsy products at all. That's why I would so love to be successful in one of these challenges as being all the way down in NZ, it's quite pricey to purchases these products and then have the postage and exchange rates on top of that. My daughter is off to London to visit my son in a few weeks, so I'm thinking anything I may want to purchase (or win!) from the UK could come back in her suitcase - so here's hoping :)

So as a substitute I have used Jacquard PearlEx Series 2 and tried to work them with some of the inspiring techniques I have seen on the PA blog. I have watched the Infusions videos several times now and they look so much fun with the way the walnut and multiple colours appear.

In this page I have used the Antique Copper and Aztec Gold mixed with glazing medium to create the background. The cityscape stamps are from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. The drips are very watered down grey paint. As I had worked on a loose piece of card, I created a simple background in a journal to stick it on to. I started with a subtle scrapbooking paper, some stamping and inking around the edge.

Achieve Greatness

After receiving my latest shipment from Viva Las Vegas Stamps, I wanted to complete another piece for their February challenge. I didn't realise the challenge was finishing so soon, so did feel this was a bit rushed and didn't quite achieve what I wanted. I do love the sentiment of the text stamp and so really wanted to use that.
I started by masking the page with tape to create the stripy background, then grunged it up with ink and paint splatters and stamping. There's something about that little penguin - could become a signature piece!

Peace

This is my journal page for the Viva Las Vegas Stamps February Challenge. Luckily I had some Banksy inspired stamps on the way to fit the criteria.

Stamps used:
Plate 927: Pulse Rate & One Way
Plate 1443: Spray Can Cop
Small Gear - came in my pound o' rubber.

I started with pieces of Gelli prints. Then came various layers of gesso, dripped inks, spray paints, doodling and edging with black and white. The horse image came from a magazine.

Wanderlust

Having received a new package of stamps from Viva Las Vegas Stamps, i thought some of them would be appropriate to create and entry for Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge - Transport It. It is all about journeying and going where your desires take you.

Today

After my last post, I had really enjoyed the colour combination of the pink and orange as per the Paper Artsy Challenge. The sewn circles by Jane LaFazio reminded me of art I have done with my class in the past, and thought we could extend this this by including some sewing.
I had intended this to be a two page spread in my small home made journal, but in the end the pages became separate and did not really connect with each other.
They are having to be one entry for this challenge though. It's late on Sunday night and I only have time for one blog post!

VLV Stamps January

I have recently received a Pound o' Rubber from Viva Las Vegas Stamps so I think it is time to entry their monthly challenge, now that I do have a number of their stamps. Looking at the prompts on the monthly challenge post I immediately thought of one of the very first geli prints I did about 18 months ago. I had used weeds and some ferns from my garden, and while I liked the impression they created, the paint I had used had been very thick and I wasn't sure about the texture it has created. But for this challenge it seemed that it would work.

I used Harlequin Diamond Background and Standard Alphabet & Numbers in the background.

The butterfly came in my Pound o' Rubber. I believe it is Tribal Butterfly Outline. I went though several layers adding colour and then toning it down again before I was reasonably happy that it worked on the background.

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.