October Mini Challenge at More Than Words

I love Mini Challenge time at More Than Words! Here's what I made for this month's challenge.

No prizes for guessing what the challenge word is this month! Yep - it's "Boo"! Although this word is often associated with Halloween, we don't celebrate this much where I live, so I chose to put the word to an alternative use and I made this into a birthday tag.

I used metallic paint through my fave Dusty Attic stencil (which you can find here) to create the background. I coated the word in Tinby Designs Metallic Melts for that gorgeous glossy shimmer.

Are you going to join in the challenge this month? Be quick- the challenge runs for one week only!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

My Dusty Journal

Hi there and welcome to my blog! I'm back today with another art journal page for The Dusty Attic..

How cool is that stencilling? Dusty Attic's Webbings #2 Stencil is my fave stencil ever! It gives such an awesome textured, mottled effect.

I love using old books as my art journals. I thinly coat the pages with gesso first to allow the text to partially show through in places.

This chippie is also one of my faves. On this page I've coated it with Tinby Designs Metallic Melts then used it to tether my 'heartstrings' to!

I added Mountain Meadow paint randomly through a Circuit Stencil for gorgeous subtle splashes of colour on the background. I placed my journalling along the 'heartstrings'.

I tethered my 'heartstrings' to the tags around the photo of my son.

There's that Mini Heart Button again! There are very few projects that I've made lately where I haven't used this chippie! I've coated this, plus the other chippies, in Metallic Melts again.

The Dusty Attic products I've used are:

Wrought Iron Design Set DA0574

Mini Heart Button DA0682

Heart Attack Panel Small #1 DA1203

Webbings #2 Stencil DA1497

Circuit Stencil DA1322

Dusty in Colour Paint in 

Mountain Meadow DA0916

You can find all these products here.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather 

Dusty in October

Hello and welcome back! I have an art journal page for The Dusty Attic to share with you today.

All the paint on the background is from The Dusty Attic. I just love the colours!

On the right page I've predominantly used Dusty in Colour Cashmere paint. I adore this colour - it really speaks to me. I've used paint pens to create the journaling and doodling. Doodling is so much fun!

I've coated the Swirly Heart with Tinby Designs Metallic Melts for that cool, grungy finish. Underneath the heart I've used a Dusty Attic butterfly stencil to help create movement across the page. The angular white highlights are created using gesso through a Dusty Attic Crosshatch stencil.

I made this page for the October mood board challenge. There is a $100 Dusty Attic voucher up for grabs! Are you going to give it a go?

The Dusty Attic products I used are:

Twirly Hearts DA0455

Butterflight Stencil DA1493

Crosshatch Stencil DA1475

Dusty in Colour paints in Dusty Pink,

Sugar Plum, Cranberry, Cashmere

and Mountain Meadow.

Happy scrappin'!


Heather

October More Than Words Challenge!

Hi there! Yep, another month has flown by and it's time again for the new More Than Words challenge!

Here's what I made:

The Word Challenge this month is "Change" and the Creative Challenge is "Ombre".

Hmmm, this conjures up all sorts of ideas, doesn't it? I realised that the greatest change in my life recently was the fact that I joined my local Fernwood gym and completed the 12-week challenge. I lost 12 kilos in 14 weeks (I kept going for a couple of weeks afterwards) and I feel so amazing! It has improved my health, fitness and confidence enormously.

I wanted to use the gorgeous Dusty Attic feathers (which you can find here) and decided to highlight them by making them the only colourful items on the page, with the exception of the gold. To colour them I used Tinby Designs Colour Crush, my newest fave product. I just blended them with water, gradually diluting them as I went to create the ombre effect.

We had to take before and after shots for the challenge so I used these on my page. It also seemed appropriate for the title.

I used the diagonally cut paper to write my journalling along.

The frames around my photos are just made from multiple stamps.

I sure hope you can join in the challenge this month. You can find the challenge here. There are heaps of amazing prizes up for grabs!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Our Mixed Media Moods Challenge

Hullo there!

This post is a bit of an unplanned extra one as I decided on the spur of the moment to join in the fun over at Our Mixed Media Moods. I'm a big fan of Dee Dee Catron's work and she and her friend, Jenn Engle, have started up a new mixed media challenge. You can find the challenge here.

I made an art journal page.

I adore art journaling in old books and this one is perfect - the pages are lovely and thick and take wet media well. I love utilising the text and the aged look of the paper in books like these. The only downside is that they don't sit particularly flat and photos of these pages tend to look like things are crooked or misaligned but I've got to take the bad with the good!

Here's the challenge board:

As much as I love earthy colours, I rarely use earthy greens in my work so this was a sticking point for me. But whats the point of participating in a challenge if it isn't challenging? I decided to run with the tree and nature idea, layering different leaf and branch concepts in bands across the page. My title says, "Nurture the trees: they are the lungs of our planet". I loved the chevrons on the mood board and made these, and the strong black and white contrast, a feature of my page.

The branches in the top band were made using a leftover Dusty Attic chippie waste as a stencil and using a Copic marker through it. The chevrons were easy - it's just washi tape.

The green section was made by mixing two colours of Tinby Designs Colour Crush with gesso and applying them over a mask. 

I stuck paper reinforcements in a line across the text and painted black Dusty Attic paint over the top then removed the reinforcements to let the text peek through. I also punched leaves from the text paper and layered them onto the brown section which is made up of paints, inks, sprays and stamping. Did I mention I love experimenting with book paper text? Lol! I also incorporated a few of the vintage typewriter key alphas from the mood board.

I sure hope you can pop over to Our Mixed Media Moods for a look!


Happy scrappin'!


Heather

The Chipboard Queen

Well it's been an exciting month in the far west of Australia. Jen Mahoney-Hedger, our esteemed leader at The Dusty Attic, turned 40! And to celebrate, the Dusty Design Team girls each made a page about Jen to be put together in an album as a surprise for her. The driving force behind this idea was Jen's right hand woman - also named Jen - Jen Burns. There might have been some help from Sharon too!

The Dusty DT is scattered all over the globe and many of us has never met Jen, yet we know from our dealings with her what a wonderful, generous and caring person she is. Jen B gave Jen M-H the album yesterday and videoed her opening it. There were many tears and smiles. It was wonderful!

Anyway, without further ado, here is my page for Jen:

Sharon and Jen Burns had to sneak photos to us to use as most of us don't have any photos of her. This pic was taken at a recent Dusty Attic retreat in Bali. I have no idea why she was dressed like this but I thought it was perfect to showcase her as The Chipboard Queen!

The page is filled with Dusty Attic goodies of course!

I tucked a tag with a few words behind the top of the page. I haven't shown this on the main layout photo cos cropping around those ribbons in Photoshop is just way too hard for me!

The Dusty Attic products I used are:

Ornate Pendants #4 DA1367

Vintage Frame #4 DA1510

Page Pebbles # 7, 8 and 9

Mini ABC Set Upper DA0861

and Mini ABC Set Lower DA0862

Dusty Curls ABC Set DA0468

Flutterbies #3 DA0766

Dusty in Bloom Bridal Veil DA0805

Dusty Roses in Mauve

Would you like to check out the whole album? You can find the pages from the other girls here. It may take another day or two for some of the posts to go live.

Valia Katzaki

Patricia Basson

Rachelle Sigurdson

Heather Jacob

Joanne Bain

Maggie Armstrong

Gabrielle Pollacco

Amy Voorthuis

Tina Ollett

Lisa Nazario-Gregory

Helena Johansson

Happy scrappin'! - and Happy Birthday Jen!

Heather

September Mini Challenge at More Than Words

Hello and welcome back to my blog.

It's time again for the Mini Challenge over at More Than Words. I made an oversized ATC this month. I made it longer than the standard size so I could fit the chippie piece on it.

All the chippies and flowers on this are from The Dusty Attic who, coincidentally, are the sponsors of the Mini Challenge. If you would like to win a $25 Dusty Attic voucher then why not give the challenge a go? The word you have to use on your project this month is "Enjoy".

I hope to see your project on our Facebook page soon. Remember, you only have a week to get your entry in!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather