Six Impossible Things - Alice in Wonderland Art Journal Page ~ Creative Embellishments September Challenge

Happy September! It's my favourite time of year - the weather is crisp and cooling off and the kids are going back to school - a time full of possibilities! It's also time for a new challenge at Creative Embellishments! All the numbers on the inspiration photo were the perfect inspiration for this Six Impossible Things page for my Alice in Wonderland Art Journal. The quote reads:

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. . . “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

I started the background by using the CE Distressed Checkers Stencil - I used a sponge and some Black Archival Ink and randomly added stencilling across the page. I also used the Black Archival Ink with one of the CE Halftone Circle Stamps to do some background stamping (for this challenge's twist). I added some stencilled clocks using a Prima 12x12 stencil and Prima Art Extravagance Copper Crackle Paste. I cut the image of Alice and the White Queen from an Alice in Wonderland Puzzle Book I found and then used Lindy's Stamp Gang Mists (Rusty Lantern Lime, Edelweiss Moss Green, Ponderosa Pines Olive, Caribbean Blue, and Breakfast Club Blue) and charcoal pencil to blend the scene from the image into the page. I painted the I-VI (for the 6 Impossible Things) of the Grunge Roman Numerals chipboard using Prima Art Alchemy Metallique in Acrylic Paint in Brass Hardware. Finally, I inked the edges of the pages using Prima Art Alchemy Metallique Wax in Aged Brass. Here are a few more photos!

I hope you like my interpretation of this month's challenge - I can't wait to see what you create! Remember to follow the Rules for the Challenge so that you're eligible to win!

Challenge Rules:

• Create a NEW project (i.e., layout, mini album, tag, card, canvas, etc…) as of September 1st 2017.
• Please no back linking (meaning projects from previous months that may fit the challenge requirements). Please link only NEW projects.
• Combining the CE Challenge with other challenges is permitted.
• Please add your entry to the InLinkz box on the Challenge Post on the Creative Embellishments Blog to be eligible for the prize. You have until the last day of each month 11:55 pm eastern time to enter.
• It is required that you mention in your blog post that you are playing along at Creative Embellishments together with a link back to our blog. Please make sure to reference our challenge. 
• We would love to see you USE AT LEAST 1 OF CE products on your projects but it isn’t required to play along; however, everyone who does use CE product will get and extra chance at winning.
• WINNERS will have 2 weeks to claim their prize. The winner will be announced on the CE blog post the day after the challenge ends.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! 

Game of Chess - Alice Art Journal Page ~ Creative Embellishments

Today, I have a new mixed media Art Journal page to share - this page is part of the series I've done for my Alice in Wonderland inspired Art Journal.

I started out with watercolour paper and drew on the grid in pencil. I used a black watercolour pencil to paint the black squares to create the 'chess board'. I used the CE Distressed Text Stamp with both black and white pigment inks to do some stamping in the background of the page. Next, I used the CE Scribble Heart Stencil - I mixed Prima Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel with Prima Art Ingredients Mica Powder in Black Cherry to create the glossy red medium for the stenciled hearts. I used several pieces from the CE chipboard Chess Set - painting some with Prima Art Alchemy Metallique paint in Royal Red and some with an Antique White acrylic paint mixed with pearlizing medium. The Red Queen and Alice Images are cut out of an old book and the quote is from Through the Looking Glass. Here are some close-ups of each page and a shot of the layout in the journal.

Rusty Patina Altered Denim Journal Cover ~ Creative Embellishments

Hi there! Today I'm sharing a fun Altered Denim Journal Cover with you - created using lots of amazing Creative Embellishments chipboard!

I started off altering the Prima/Finnabair Denim journal by using a Prima Stencil along with some Prima Art Basics Heavy Body Gel mixed with Prima Art Ingredients Mica Powder in Rust. Once the stenciled areas had dried, I added some bits of lace and trim and then started adding my Creative Embellishments Chipboard pieces, as well as some metal embellishments by Prima and trinkets from my stash. I've used the following CE chipboard pieces:

• Rectangle Chain Frames
• Circle Chain Frames
• Steampunk Gear Corners 2 (smallest piece)
• Gears 1 1/2 in.
• Wind Me Up

Once I was happy with the placement of all the chipboard pieces and embellishments, I covered everything with a coat of Prima Art Basics Clear Gesso. Then, I sprayed the cover with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Mist in Cocoa Bean Copper. I used Prima Art Extravagance Rust Effects Paste to add the rust-look to the chipboard and then used some Prima Art Alchemy Metallique Acrylic Paint in Light Patina mixed with Prima Art Ingredients Texture Powder to add the green-tinted patina effect. I then dry brushed with Prima Art Alchemy Metallique Acrylic Paints in Light Patina and Ancient Coin in places to enhance some embellishments. Finally, I finished off the cover using some Prima Art Ingredients Copper Glass Glitter applied with Prima Art Basics Soft Matte Gel. Here are some close-ups so you can see all the details.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Happy Crafting!

It's Always Tea Time! ~ Alice in Wonderland Inspired Art Journal Page for Creative Embellishments

Today, I have an Art Journal Page inspired by Alice in Wonderland to share with you - created for the Creative Embellishments Design Team! If you follow my blog at all, you'll know that I have a whole series of 'Alice' Art Journal Pages! I created the background using a stencil and Lindy's Stamp Gang Cheshire Cat Cherry Starburst, added the Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and then splattered the page with Curiouser Chartreuse Flat Fabio. Then, I used strongly brewed tea and added splashes, splatters and tea rings to the page. I used Creative Embellishments Clock Hands and Mini Pocket Watches embossed with Ranger Fine Black Embossing Powder to embellish the page and then added pieces of the Creative Embellishments Tea Set to the page. I wanted the Tea Set to look like old china, so I painted it with White Gesso and used the Lindy's Stamp Gang Mists to stain the designs on the chipbooard; finally, I used UTEE to give the Tea Set a nice glossy finish. The clock hands point to the tea cups because - "It's Always Tea Time!"

  Here are some close-ups and different angles of the page!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I hope you enjoyed another little trip to Wonderland!

All You Need is Love - Music-Inspired Art Journal Page ~ Creative Embellishments April Challenge

It is the first of the month and a new challenge is up on the Creative Embellishments Blog! This month's Inspiration Image is full of bright colours and musical imagery - and the twist is to use a song title in your project!

The bright colours, music and guitar in the inspiration image made me think of The Beatles - so I created a page in my Music-Inspired Art Journal for their song All You Need Is Love.

I started the page by cutting up the Hearts Panel 2 and gluing scattered pieces of it over the two-page spread. I added 'drips' from the bottom of the hearts using a hot glue gun and then coated everything with Heavy White Gesso. I added colour to the page by sprinkling several different Finnabair Mica Powders in places and then misting the pages with water to activate the colours. I dry-brushed the heart panel pieces with Finnabair Art Alchemy Opal Magic Acrylic Paint in Aqua-Rose (I wish you could see how the colour changes in different light!). Then, I smudged charcoal pencil around the outside of all the chipboard hearts and the drips. I added the title and the CE chipboard 'Love' (from the Happy Words Set), which I embossed with Ranger Black Embossing Powder. Finally, I inked the edges of the pages with Black Soot Distress Ink and splattered everything with Diluted Black Soot Distress Reinker. Here are some close-ups and different angles of the page.

Creative Embellishments Challenge Rules:

• Create a NEW project layout, mini album, tag, card, canvas, etc….as of April 1st 2016.
• Please add your entry to our InLinkz box below to be eligible for the prize. You have until the last day of each month 11:55 pm eastern time to enter.
• It is required that you mention in your blog post that you are playing along at Creative Embellishments together with a link back to our blog. Please make sure to reference our challenge. Please no back linking.
• Combining with other challenges is permitted.
• We would love to see you USE AT LEAST 1 CE product on your project but it isn’t required to play along. However everyone that does will get and extra chance at winning.
• WINNERS will have 2 weeks to claim their prize. The winner will be announced on this post the day after the challenge ends. Keep an eye out to see if you are a winner.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today - and I hope you'll play along with the April Creative Embellishments Challenge!

"Art is the Answer" - Grungy, Mixed Media Art Journal Cover ~ Creative Embellishments

I have a fun new mixed media Art Journal cover to show you today. This  large 9x12 journal by Strathmore has a plain cover that is pretty uninspiring, so it definitely needed a facelift.

First, I added some lace and pieces of torn corrugated cardboard to the front cover to add lots of beautiful texture. Next, I primed both the front and back covers with several coats of Heavy White Gesso. Once the gesso was dry, I used The Crafter's Workshop 6x6 Art Is Stencil and stenciled on the front and back covers. I primed the Creative Embellishments Art Palette with heavy black gesso and also used the stencil on it, smearing some of the stenciling purposely to make it look like the Art Palette was in use. I added some inexpensive paintbrushes to the palette and layered a Creative Embellishments Mini Frame on top of the brushes. I attached the decorated palette to the journal cover and began misting using Lindy's Stamp Gang Moonshadow Mists in Buccaneer Bay Blue and Tawny Turquoise, as well as a little Starburst Mist in Jack in the Pulpit Teal and then splattered the cover with the Moonshadow Mists. I also heavily inked the edges of the journal cover with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Here are a couple of close-ups and angles of the front and back covers.

I continued embellishing the front cover by adding some Creative Embellishments Gears and 1 1/2-inch Gears. I embossed all the gears with Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder and then added a little extra colour to them with Art Alchemy Acrylic Paints in Steampunk Copper, Light Patina, and Opal Magic Blue Gold. I also dry brushed some the paints on the Mini-Frame and the paint brushes. I added a Creative Embellishments Wind Me Up Clock Key on the right side of the cover to help with opening the journal - I painted the clock key with the Copper and Blue Gold paints. Finally, I used two of Finnabair's new Mechanicals - Tin Hearts and Rustic Washers - and layered them in the centre of the Mini Frame. I lightly painted the washer with the copper paint and then wiped it away so it would stay in the recessed words. Here are some more close-ups!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you were a bit inspired by my journal cover facelift!

Alice in Wonderland Art Journal Cover - Mixed Media Altered Book Cover

I've been having so much fun creating in my Alice in Wonderland Art Journal lately that I thought it was time for the journal to have a new Alice-themed cover! I've been using images cut from the book Puzzles in Wonderland on my journal pages, so I decided to use the cover of that book and alter it for my journal cover. I started off by cutting the front and back covers off the book and taping the cut edge with some 7 Gypsies Alpha Tape. Next, I used a large circle mask with some 3D Matte Gel to protect some of the cover images that I wanted to keep revealed. Once that had dried, I painted the rest of the cover with Heavy Black Gesso and then used Clear Crackle Paste with the distressed Harlequin Stencil to get the cover pattern/texture. Next I misted the cover with a gold shimmer mist and used a baby wipe to clean some of the colour off the stenciled pattern. Here's a couple of photos of the front and back covers. More details below!

I created a charm dangle to hang on the binding rings for this journal - I had some pieces that just suited the Alice theme so well that I had to use them. There is a large key, a tea cup, a glass bottle with a tag and crown symbol all dangling on different lengths of chain. I also created a small charm for the cover by punching out the Mad Hatter's hat tag and using Glossy Accents to seal it into the charm.

For the front cover, I used a small picture frame around the main Alice image - I love how this also brings out the Through the Looking Glass theme as (to me at least) it looks like a mirror frame. I've used lots of Finnabair/Prima gold-tone metal pieces to decorate the cover and coordinate with the gold shimmer mist and finished off the decorating with some black and gold microbeads. Here are a couple of angles and a close-up of the front cover.

Finally, here is the journal all bound together! I used some extra-large binder rings (though I only had silver and will need to find some gold-tone rings) to bind the album so that there is lots of room in it for more journal pages!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Happy Crafting!

". . .which way . . .?" ~ Alice Art Journal Page

I'm sharing another page from my Alice in Wonderland Art Journal today. I created this page using Twinkling H2Os by ColourArte, along with a stencil and some modelling paste, and charcoal pencil!

I created the scene using a garden path stencil by Finnabair along with some modelling paste. I painted the scene with Twinkling H2Os, matching the colours from the cut out image as best I could. To further delineate the path, I added some smudged charcoal pencil along the edges of the path and within the path itself. Here are some more photos!

I hope you enjoy seeing these pages from my Alice in Wonderland journal - they're so much fun to make. As always, thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

We're All Mad Here ~ Alice Art Journal Page

I have another page in my Alice in Wonderland Art Journal to share today! I had lots of fun creating this page using Finnabair's Mediums by Prima - 3D Gel, Black Gesso, Opal Magic Mica Powders and Soft Gloss Gel!

I started out using the Finnabair Harlequin stencil with 3D Gel Medium. Once that had dried, I painted the page with a layer of heavy black gesso. I wanted the page to have a psychedelic feel to it, so, I mixed three colours of Opal Magic Mica Powders (Green, Lilac and Gold) with Soft Gloss Gel and randomly painted the background with the colours. Finally, I watered down the Gold colour and splattered the page. I printed the image and words on my computer and fussy cut out the Cheshire Cat's teeth and cut around the words and applied them to the page using Soft Gloss Gel. Here are a few more pictures!

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog!