Don't Think Less Of Yourself.....

Have been doing a lot of art journaling in my junk journal, following the prompts of Care December from Everything Art (video shorts are on my YouTube Channel). Through doing that, I have re-discovered some fabulous inspirational quotes amongst my words and collage bits and pieces. 

This is one of them: Don't think less of yourself if you can't be fearless. Doing it afraid is just as brave. Really love this - there are times I put off doing things because I am scared that the outcome won't be what I want. Sometimes we just need to get on with it regardless. 

I have been using this colour combination during Care December, so decided to stick with it for this spread. Full list of products used at the bottom of the post. Click on any of the pictures to watch the video of my process.  

Products used: Arteza 14cmx14cm watercolour sketchbook Distress Oxides and Inks: Peacock Feathers, Salvaged Patina, Speckled Egg, Tea Dye, Saltwater Taffy, Tattered Rose Distress Oxide Sprays: Tea Dye, Tattered Rose Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper *Imagination Crafts Mixed Media Spray - Light Green *Kanban Spring Silhouettes *These are very old products from my stash

Thanks for popping by. Feel free to follow me on any of the social media platforms. And if you like the video, please like and subscribe to my channel.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Create Art - Inspire - Art Journal Page

A break from the Christmas makes!! Today's share is an A5 art journal page created on Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper. Click on the pictures to see the YouTube video of my process.

The pocket and tags are Elizabeth Craft Designs 744: Planner Essentials 26 - Planner Pocket 4 - Tag and Toppers, while the words are from both that set and from their Art Journal 1782 Butterfly Pocket Insert set. 

Full List of Products Used:

Elizabeth Craft Designs 744: Planner Essentials 26 - Planner Pocket 4 - Tag and Toppers;

Elizabeth Craft Designs -  Art Journal 1782 Butterfly Pocket Insert set;

Elizabeth Craft Designs - Planner Essentials - Reinforcements 2

Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper;

Distress Inks/Oxides/Oxide Sprays - Evergreen Bough, Picked Raspberry, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade;

Distress Spray Stain - Picket Fence;

Cosmic Shimmer Pearlescent Watercolour Ink - Flamingo Pink, Golden Sunrise, Ray of Sunshine, Holly Green;

Julie Hickey Designs Clear Stamps - Garden Blooms, Floral Buttons;

AALL & Create Clear Stamps - #362 Splodge, #351 Alphabet Splatter;

AALL & Create Stencil - #125 Lotza Semicirclz

Elizabeth Craft Designs Art Journal S040 Pattern Stencil Pack

Spectrum Noir Finesse Waterproof Ink - Pebble

Thanks for popping by. If you feel inspired, I would love if you would follow me on any of the social media platforms - I am there under Papercraft By Carole and/or @pcbcarole.

Happy crafting,

Cxxxx

Underwater Scene

This is the third of the three watery themed cards I did on a FB live a while back. The videos are available on the Hixxy Studio You Tube Channel. They are cut from the whole live show, so the beginnings and endings are not seamless - but you should get the idea.

For this one, I used white stamping card and inked lightly with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide. I wanted a pale and patchy effect, as I then sprayed Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide Spray over the top and blotted it with rice paper. The whole things was edged with Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink - or Oxide.

I used Distress Inks to "paint" the little pieces with: Scattered Straw for the sandy background; Wilted Violet for the fish; Abandoned Coral, Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron and Lucky Clover the the corals and seaweeds; Hickory Smoke for the sharks; Mermaid Lagoon for the bubbles Worn Lipstick, Antique Linen and Ripe Persimmon for the shells and starfish. 

It is then just a case of assembling the scene as you wish. It's a gorgeous little set to play with - and you could cut multiples of all of the dies if you wish.

Thanks for popping by, and I hope I have given you a little inspiration. Feel free to follow me here on my blog, or on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. For all the videos, pop over to the Hixxy Studio YouTube channel to subscribe. And FB lives are streamed on both the YouTube channel and the Hixxy Crafts FB page. The main items I use can be found on the Hixxy Crafts website - have a look under the Hixxy Studio tab.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Porthole Card

This is the second of the three watery themed cards I did on a FB live a while back. The videos are available on the Hixxy Studio You Tube Channel. They are cut from the whole live show, so the beginnings and endings are not seamless - but you should get the idea.

This card combines two fabulous Amy Design dies. One is the Fishing Net from the Maritime collection. The other is Sea Life from the Underwater World collection. I used brown for the base card, with gold mirror card and a wood effect paper from Crafter's Companion. The idea was to be looking out from the inside of a boat into the water outside.

The fishing net is cut in Kraft card to give it a natural feel, and I made the porthole from gold mirror card, using nesting circle dies. I cut a larger circle to put the underwater scene on, and a smaller frame to go over it. 

The underwater scene is created on a circle of stamping card. I started with Salty Ocean to cover the whole of the circle - not worrying about any patches. I then sprayed it with water and blotted it. I used the dies from the Sea Life set to cut the coloured fish, sharks and shells to arrange. There is a larger die that cuts out a large piece like the sea floor. I did this in green and just cut off the seaweed and algae pieces. I arranged them onto the inked piece, stuck this onto the solid mirror circle, and then placed the frame over the top. The little flat backed pearls create the effect of the porthole. I finished it off with some twine to blend in with the netting.

Thanks for popping by, and I hope I have given you a little inspiration. Feel free to follow me here on my blog, or on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. For all the videos, pop over to the Hixxy Studio YouTube channel to subscribe. And FB lives are streamed on both the YouTube channel and the Hixxy Crafts FB page. The main items I use can be found on the Hixxy Crafts website - have a look under the Hixxy Studio tab.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Beneath the Ocean

On a live a few weeks ago, we had an underwater theme. I made the canvas that is on an earlier blog, and three cards. This is the first of the cards. The videos are available on the Hixxy Studio You Tube Channel. They are cut from the whole live show, so the beginnings and endings are not seamless - but you should get the idea.

I have used a 3D Push Out from Amy Design: Underwater World collection, along with the Fishing Net die from the Maritime collection. If you have not seen the Push Outs before, they are decoupage sheets and each one has 3 different designs on it. Have a look at the video to see how they work - click on the photo for the link.  

The background is created on white stamping card with Iced Spruce, Faded Jeans and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Sprays. Once dry - you can blot it with rice paper if you want - edge it with Faded Jeans Distress Oxide.

The net was cut in Creative Expressions Steel Pearl Card, and the letters with Trimcraft's Banner Alphabet dies. The added embellishments are little seed beads from my stash, stuck on with 3D glue gel.

Thanks for popping by, and I hope I have given you a little inspiration. Feel free to follow me here on my blog, or on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. For all the videos, pop over to the Hixxy Studio YouTube channel to subscribe. And FB lives are streamed on both the YouTube channel and the Hixxy Crafts FB page. The main items I use can be found on the Hixxy Crafts website - have a look under the Hixxy Studio tab.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Earth laughs in flowers.....

I have recently received my Tim Holtz Christmas Distress Mica Stains, and wanted to have a play with them in my art journal. I chose Peppermint Stick (red) and Frosted Juniper, and to complement them, Barn Door and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxides. 

Peppermint stick has gold coloured mica, while Frosted Juniper is more on the silver side. 

I inked my pages with Oxides first, then sprayed the two stains. The quote is from a really ancient set of rub-ons/stickers that I have had in my stash for so long. The geometric flower shapes are from a Magenta stamp set that I must have got free with a magazine - they're dated 2008, and I have no idea what magazine it would have been. I stamped the flowers with Black Soot Distress Archival ink, and painted them with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink, and ink from the two stain sprays, before cutting out. On the page, I used smaller stamps from the set with Evergreen Bough, Barn Door and Black Soot Distress Inks. I also used an Imagination Crafts stencil with the two Oxides.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

I have decided to be happy .........

Good morning!! It's been a while since I have had time to sit and play, but now the whole "back to school/work" build up is over and we have had a week back, I can take a breath and do a little inky playing.

Found this quote in my box of things, and thought it seems very appropriate. With everything going on around us, we have to decide to be happy with what we have and where we are, otherwise it will affect our health.

I have used Broken China and Twisted Citron - both Distress Oxides and Inks - along with Black Soot DI. The stamps are an old CC set - probably from a magazine, and the circle stencil is and old Imagination Crafts one. 

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Testing, testing......

I have seen a lot on the craft pages recently about the latest fad for ink brushes - and also that many of the big crafting names are bringing out branded versions and selling them for huge amounts of money eg a pack of 4 different sizes for £12 compared to a pack of 12 different sizes for £13 on Amazon; or 8 brushes with a stand for £48!!!  I decided to try out a cheaper version from Amazon at £15 for 12 brushes that are the same size, and wanted to compare them with what I currently use: blocks of cut and dry for my Distress Inks, and the small round applicator for my Distress Oxides.

    

I decided to test the brushes with both my Distress Inks and my Distress Oxides, and on two surfaces - CC white stamping card and Faber Castell Mixed Media pad.  I also chose some of the colour combinations suggested recently on Betz Golden's blog post: 10 Distress Colours for 10 Perfect Color Blends.

   

I started with Candied Apple, Rusty Hinge and Abandoned Coral, using Distress Ink on Stamping Card with the brushes. 

  

I have to admit that I was not immediately impressed, as I was finding it difficult to build up the colour with the brush. Now, this may be because they were new and didn't already have ink on them, but I resorted to going back to my cut and dry foam for the rest of this one. I never wash my cut and dry as I have a piece for each ink colour - something I started doing when I used to demo.  

  

I sprayed my craft mat and mopped up some of the remaining ink onto mixed media paper.

 

I used the same colour oxides on the mixed media paper, with the brushes. I really loved this combination - the colours glided on well with the brushes and I was able to do the whole thing using them. So - was it the paper or the ink?

  

For the second go, I swapped the paper round - so  DI on mixed media, and DO on stamping card - trying both with the brushes. The colours were Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Candied Apple.

  

I found the Distress Inks easier to blend with the brushes on the mixed media paper - although I still felt I had to really work it. The Distress Oxides on the stamping card blended OK - better than the Distress Inks - but not as well as they had on the mixed media paper.

I continued playing around, and by the end, I had decided a couple of things. Firstly, I prefer the mixed media paper for ink blending - it's way easier than on the stamping card as the ink "sits" on the top for longe. And secondly, I will probably stick to my cut and dry for my Distress Inks, but I am loving how the Distress Oxides blend with the brushes.

Here are the results of my little play - all ready to use on future projects:

                            

   Candied Apple,                                                       Candied Apple,

     Rusty Hinge, Abandoned Coral                        Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet   

                               

                    Broken China                                               Twisted Citron

    Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers       Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers

There are a few others, but I didn't particularly like the colour combinations - they'll get used at some point too.

I think what is important here is that, with some things, it's better to buy the more expensive items when the price relates to the quality or specific purpose of that item - eg the mixed media pad costs from £7 to £9 for 30 sheets so works out more expensive than the stamping card at approx £10 for 60 sheets. However, the results you get for ink blending are way better due to providing a far better surface to blend on. There is nothing wrong with the stamping card - but that's what its intended purpose is - for stamping rather than blending.

The brushes, from what I can tell, are not much (if at all) different in quality to the high priced ones, and while I wasn't keen with Distress Ink, the results with Distress Oxides were great. 

I am also fully aware that adding some glycerine to the mix will help Distress Inks blend more smoothly - but that's for another day.

Happy crafting,

Cxxxx