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

A Starry Challenge

Hello friends! I thought I'd give a couple of challenges a go this month.

Here's my layout:

The Venetian mask in the middle of the page is a photo that I cut out. The mask was actually all gold but I took the photo through glass and there was a blue/purple reflection across it somehow which I loved so I picked up these colours on my page.

Right from the start I had this vision of the gold stars radiating our from the ruffles on the mask but it was easier said than done! I painted the Dusty Attic stars gold, then mounted each one on a strand of gold wire. Underneath I layered various types of netting. The diamond-shaped netting on top didn't show up enough so I hand painted each strand gold. Sometimes I think I'm mad!

The background is made with Tinby Designs Colour Crush and a lot of paint flicking. I painted the gorgeous Dusty Attic Swirly Frame with Colour Crush then gave it a grungy, antique finish with gold and bronze Tinby Designs Metallic Melts. 

The title is from a 7 Dots word sticker pack. I wanted the layout to have more meaning than just showing a picture of a mask. This title was perfect!

Why don't you give the challenges a go? At Scrapki-Wyzwaniowo the challenge is Stars and you can find it here.....

At Berry71Bleu the challenge is to use the sketch and add something blue. You can find the challenge here.

At Sandee and Amelie the challenge is Steampunk/Industrial Anything Goes. You can find the details here.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

A 'Spring' in my Step

Hi! I'm excited to say that spring is finally showing signs of appearing where I live. I went for a walk the other day in sunshine for a change. It was so lovely that I couldn't resist taking a few happy snaps along the way.

Of course, I had to scrap the pics straight away. Here's the layout I made for The Dusty Attic.:

I tried to bring the sunshine to my page using bright yellows and oranges. 

A feature of the page is the stunning chipboard flower blooms. They're called Spring Blooms and I swear I didn't look at the name when I chose them for my page - lol! I painted these with Dusty Attic paints (the flowers are painted with the colour 'Sunshine' of course!) and the flower centres are made with Tinby Designs Colour Crush. I topped the flowers with a chippie ticket from the Tickets pack.

I've used two different chippie alphas for the main word in the title. I love mixing fonts! Again, I've painted them with Sunshine paint.

I've scattered some diamonds from the small Argyle Panel around the page and painted them black for a bit of extra punch. Those colourful circles are Colour Crush again. I think you're going to see a lot more of these from me!

The Dusty Attic products I used are:

Spring Blooms #4 DA1287

Tickets DA1465

Mini ABC Set Lower DA0862

and Mini ABC Set Upper DA0861

Tile ABC Set DA1119

Argyle Panel Small DA1011

Texture Paste DA1218

Dusty in Colour Paints in Sunshine,

Jungle Green, Forrest, Soot and Navajo White

Thanks so much for popping in.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Dusty in September

Hello and welcome back!

Today I have a layout to share that I made using the stunning new September Dusty Attic mood board as my inspiration. I adore these mood boards. Has there been a single one yet that hasn't been an amazing artwork in itself?

Here's what I made this month:

I loved the dark coppery colours and gorgeous teals on the mood board so I used these on my page.

Taking my cue from the bottom right picture, I focused on shimmery, metallic accents, using metallic paints and Tinby Design Metallic Melts. Unfortunately it hasn't photographed well, with the gold and copper elements looking more orange than anything else!

I never throw out chipboard off-cuts. They can be used in so many ways. I used some off-cuts to make the 'film frame'. They were perfect! I also cut up a music notes set to make individual notes that I could scatter around the page.

I used up the last of my mini banners on this. I'll have to re-stock cos I adore them! I've used the heart  button again - I find this so versatile that I seem to use it on almost every page lately.

The Dusty Attic products I used are:

Music DA0351

Mini Banners DA1021

Mini Heart buttons DA0682

Mini ABC Set Upper DA0861

and Mini ABC Set Lower DA0862

Waste Strips from various chipboards

I hope you're going to join in the mood board challenge this month. Don't forget there's a $100 Dusty Attic voucher up for grabs!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather 

September Challenge at More Than Words

Don't you just love the first day of the month? So many exciting challenges are revealed. And of course, my fave is More Than Words!

Due to being away on holidays, I've missed some of the challenges, both literally and figuratively. I'm so excited to back participating again now.

Here's what I made for the September challenge:

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the challenge board:

I've chosen to use the Art recipe. I've added:

1. Die cut butterflies
2. A small badge that I made myself
3. Heaps of flowers
4. A healthy dose of mist forms the base of the layout although I've also added plenty of water mist to my pigment powders background

I don't take many selfies but I remembered to take this one at an old fort on the top of a mountain on a small Greek island. It was so hot but I was having such a 'delightful' time! I was supposed to be showing the beautiful sea way below me in the background but I didn't quite line the camera up right! Never mind, its the memory that counts.

I tucked my little hand-made badge in among my chippie flowers.

I love these butterfly die-cuts. They're a fave of mine.

I sure hope you can join in the challenge this month. The prizes are awesome!


Happy scrappin'!


Heather