"Untamed Hearts" Mini Journal

Hello! I'm busting to share my art journal I made using Tracy Verdugo's papers from ArtStacks!

I was really inspired by the gorgeous women and hearts in Tracy's "Love Lives Here" pack. I got to thinking about women and their hearts and I realised I know so many women who use their love and their hearts in different ways. I wanted to journal about that.

I simply glued the pages together to make the journal and I stitched a contrasting piece of paper along the spine.

This is the cover of the journal:

The title on the second page was an obvious one for me. I think we all know people like this! I typed my titles. I love Tracy's colourful moons that I could use to decorate the pages.

I inserted a pocket and tag into the journal.

The next page is printed on translucent paper. I left it unadorned as I love the gorgeous colours and it allows us to partly see the next page which is arouses our curiosity.

Once we turn the page we can see the following page in detail:

The final page is the back cover of the book. I used a quote from Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel and I crocheted the 'chains'.

All the papers in this journal are from Tracy Verdugo's packs. The women, hearts and moons are from her Love Lives here pack:

Those gorgeous background papers, dripping with colour, are from her Under the Sea pack:

I hope this gives you some ideas how you can incorporate these stunning papers into your work!

Happy creating!
Heather

I'm Back!

Hello and welcome back! Sorry for my absence - I've been away.

I was keen to get back to my craft desk and I was excited to get to play with some recent releases over at ArtStacks. This page was created for December's More than Words challenge using Tracy Verdugo's "Under the Sea" pack.

The theme at More Than Words this month is "Seasons". Summer is my favourite season so I chose to create about that. Even though the papers in this pack are sea-themed, I felt the page I used for my background captured the feeling of a hot summer perfectly. I enjoy using papers in a different way than the obvious uses.

The woman is from Tracy's other pack - "Love Lives Here". She's printed on tissue so I painted the background behind her white then adhered the tissue image to the page with gel medium. I put another coat over the top and the tissue disappeared. I then used watercolour pencils to colour her features.

I love the paint dribbles on the background page so I highlighted them by adding the rest of my title along them: "and the livin' is easy....."

I hope you can create an art journal page and join us this month. You can find the challenge here.

Happy journaling!
Heather

Getting Sketchy at Kraft +

Hello and welcome back!

Kraft + have a fabulous sketch this month. I  made my project partly digital and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Will you join in the challenge? You can find it here.

Happy krafting!
Heather

A Collage of a Collage!

The challenge at More Than Words this month is "Collage or College". So you can create an art journal page about college or collage or both! 

I went crazy with the collage theme, layering all sorts of offcuts, textural items and images into a vintage book. 

The quote and the tissue flowers are from ArtStacks. My focal piece on the right is a stunning image created entirely by collaging strips of gelatin-printed papers. It's by the artist Amber Bennison and is also from ArtStacks, in a pack called "Art & Life".

Will you join us? You can find the challenge details here.

A Quick ArtStacks Card

Hi there!

I needed to make a card recently and I couldn't go past the oh-so-cute birds in ArtStacks' "Art & Nature" pack. I adore these little cuties!

I simply wrote "Happy Birthday" multiple times around the edges of the card to cerate a border then added "You old chook" under the picture.

You can find this wonderful pack here.

Happy creating!
Heather

Inherit the Earth

Hello! This month over at More Than Words, the challenge is "Mash Up". Simply combine any two challenges form the last six months.

Here's a reminder of those challenges:

January - Time
February - Love Letters
March - Home
April - Being Green
May - Celebrations
June - Art Supplies 

Feel free to interpret the theme in any way that speaks to you!

I used the April and June challenges - 'Being Green' and 'Art Supplies' - for my inspiration. I adore this quote and thought it was perfect for the 'Being Green' topic. The stunning kingfisher and the quote are both from ArtStacks packs, my favourite 'Art Supplies'.  

I made the geli-print background. It feels very Australian to me.

Here's the challenge board. 

You can find the challenge here.

Which two challenges will you combine?

Happy art journaling!

Heather

Hello! I’ve been having a blast playing with the new Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts packs over at ArtStacks! I love that we can create art and support artists at the same time! I used one of Nitsa Malik’s images from the Art & Life pack.

In keeping with the gelatin printing theme, all the papers are my own geli-prints.

I thought the image of the surfer against a colourful sunrise was very evocative and it inspired me to write these words. I find it challenging to write lettering like this but I really like the result and I’m glad I took the time to do it.

Have you seen the new packs at ArtStacks yet? You can find them here.

Happy creating!
Heather