May Journal Page

In my series of monthly journal pages I've reached May already! How the year is flying by!

I wanted to use Infusions and to create an easy page that really wouldn't take you very long, or would need you to know lots of techniques. Add a line of white paint and sprinkle a small amount of Infusions over the top.

Using an old gift card or palette knife, drag the paint downwards. As you do, the Infusions will react with the paint and you'll start to get some really lovely effects.

I then added a second colour of Infusions (with Matte Glaze so I didn't cover up the first layer) and scraped it across the page to create a hatched effect

Next I added a stripe of pink paint through a stencil and gently sanded it so it looked worn.

The next step is to add the stamped elements and paint in the compass with Gold paint. Whilst the Gold paint was out I added two rows of arrows to the top and bottom of the page.

Thank you, as always, for popping by

Gabrielle x

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Workshop Photos

Morning everyone, Brenda here to share some of the moments of the day from our 'Journalling for Success' workshop last Saturday.  It started with me getting up extra early and setting out to beat the traffic up the M3, round the M25 and then the M1 but lucky me everything was moving very smoothly without my journey went without any hiccups.

We had a fabulous group of ladies who took part enthusiastically getting to grips with the recipes I had provided them but 'going off piste' at times making the pages totally their own, they were great company and we had moments of real laughter and fun and moments of quiet concentration, so much so you couldn't hear a pin drop.

Susan had ordered some Country View Crafts aprons and had to take a photo of me wearing mine, it was quite spooky how the top and cut-offs I had chosen to wear matched the colours in the apron perfectly.

Let me now take you through a visual diary of the day with everyone creating and making their own designs and enjoying each others company. If you would like to see my original pages then please pop over to Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Helen was new to our workshops and hopefully enjoyed the experience.

Susan brought loads from her shop to sell which was spread out over three long tables. 

The pages we made used the fabulous DecoArt media acrylic paints plus gesso, texture paste and matte medium. Several people also made their own sprays using misters, the paint and water and these produced fabulous results. (see photo above)

Deborah (in pink) was also new to our workshops and was admirable looked after by Hazel.

My thanks to Lyn, Jackie, Bernadette, Hazel, Deborah, Anne, Kate, Linda, Helen, Jane and Yvonne for a great day and I'm now planning the next one for July 23rd where we will be altering this fabulous beach hut set. (sorry about the tiny photo but it's a very small size taken from the shop website)

Have a great week and don't forget the May challenge 'Use A Stencil' and our amazing Blog Hop where you might find yourself the lucky winner of a brand new Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine and a bundle of dies. Just follow the rules - You will need to be a follower of Country View Challenges and to hop all the way through and visit and leave comments on each Designer's blog in order to be in with a chance to win. You never know it might be you.

hugs Brenda and the CVC team xxx

Infusions and Texture Paste

I have been playing with Infusion's for today's project and used them in 4 different ways on this card - through the stencil, to create the matt layer, to stamp and to dye the seam binding.

I started with my white card and a stencil from my stash. I added clear texture paste through the stencil and then sprinkled a couple of colours of infusions over  - Sunset Beach and Black Knight. I carefully removed the stencil and let it dry.

I then coloured some more card with a few sprinkles and spritzes of water.

These formed the base for my greeting.

I was curious if you could stamp with the infusions using a baby wipe. (Fold the baby wipe and sprinkle on the infusions and allow it to soak a little.) Then take the stamp and use the coloured baby wipe as the 'ink pad'. It works - although it is quite a subtle colour. I did this so my sentiment matched in colour to the rest of the card.

Now for my seam binding ribbon -  a few sprinkles and some water on the ribbon - let it dry and then shake to remove any leftover 'bits'.

Love the result of the infusions over the texture paste and the seam binding!

I rarely stop at one card - so here is another!

Nikki

Addicted to Art

Correspondence Art (again ........)

Hello fellow crafters and welcome to my first project for this month which is another correspondence art page in my single layer stamping book.

I am really enjoying hunting through my stamps to see how I can combine them on these single layer postcard sized pieces. I hope I am not boring you, but the end is nearly in sight as I now have a lovely pile of pages for my single layer book. So perhaps I'll do the covers next month!

This is a pretty photograph heavy post, but I thought I would take you through the steps I took to get the 3D look in a single layer.  My apologies to those of you who are pros at this - this is for beginner stampers who like me couldn't really figure it out until I got to grips with it!

I started with what will be the uppermost stamp on the page using Archival Ink. I stamped it again on a piece of post it note and cut it out neatly around the edges in order to cover it up for more stamping.

Next the bottle behind the word was stamped and again a copy made from a post it note and stuck down over the top.

At this stage I decided to add some text (in Distress Ink) which will end up behind both of the original stamps.

The postcard stamp was added using Archival Ink and then the lovely chappie from the Mercantile stamp set got another airing and a double in a post it note. Again I used Distress Ink to get a lighter tone.

You can see how I manage to get the stamp on the sticky bit of the post it note so it just sticks down lightly. All you need! The stamp in Distress Ink will now sit behind Mr Mercantile.

And before I took everything off I gave everything a splatter (Distress Ink) and blended some ink through a layering stencil in order that the faces and journal quote remained clean.

Then its hey presto! time when you remove the post it notes and all those lovely layers of stamping are revealed.  It amazes me every time (but then I'm easily pleased ........!).

And to prove it is completely flat ......... !

As I have said before I love doing these little postcard size experimental stampings to give me ideas for birthday cards which need to be put in the post.

Thank you so much for joining me today - I really appreciate it.

Jennie x

Live The Dream

Big Ticket	Tim Holtz Layering stencil - Splatters	Ranger archival ink - cobalt	Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Faded Jeans
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mercantile	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Correspondence Stamp Set

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