Thoughtful Friday no. 133

Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, 

what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, 

every piece you finish."

John Jakes

And there are more....

As I mentioned in my last post I think - these tiles have become quite addictive!  The one above was created just by dropping Ranger's Alcohol inks on a clean white tile and then adding blending solution drop by drop - love this result!

Then I wondered how it would be if I used Ranger's black archival ink and some rubber stamps!  Love this result too!

I used a blending tool to create the outside here and then smooshed the tool for the inside.

Opposite effect above.

Blending solution added in the layer outside of the centre to create larger circles.

Having fun with more stamps.

This one didn't work out quite so well and I found that although I used coffee archival ink, it did not set the same as the black but I've no idea why?

Lots of fun here and endless possibilities!  Maybe I might even do a tutorial?!!! If I did, it would be my first!!

GPPS Street Challenge No. 52 - seasonal wardrobe

Another great challenge from michelle this month all about our chosen colour palette.  I decided to put some alcohol inks on tiles which I found in our shed, left over from our kitchen refit a long time ago now!  This is something I had a hunch about but hadn't seen anyone actually having done it.  Wow, what fun it turned out to be, using a blending tool and some blending solution (but only a little) and seeing what would happen.  The colours I chose seem to reflect summer and warmth (although it is really cold here today and raining heavily!)and I thought carefully about which word should go on which colour. I used the Uni Posca markers for the words and find these pens to be really excellent. These tiles are on the little window ledge in our stairwell where we see them every day as we go up and down.  I like them a lot and have done lots of others too which I'll show in another post.  Thanks again michelle for this fun challenge.

Thoughtful Friday no. 132

"The most important promises are the

ones you make to yourself"

Mary Anne Radmacher

Thoughtful Friday no. 131 and a 33rd wedding anniversary!

"You are, at this moment, standing,

 right in the middle of your own acres of diamonds"

  Earl Nightingale

And I certainly am as I celebrate being married to the man of my dreams for 33 years today!  Here's to another 33 and more!!  Thank you darling, for being my loving, patient, consistent hubby and my very best friend!

Junk Journals

Here is the wonderful junk journal that Sue sent me in the swap which I promised to show:

Lots of lovely papers inside and look at this fantastic cover

And one of my favourite blog artists - Diana Trout has a great video tutorial on an incredibly easy peasy junk journal to make so I just had to have a go and this was the result.

All you need is a bit of cardboard (cereal packet etc), some papers (anything recycled is fine) and some duct tape and an elastic band!  What could be easier?  Then have fun decorating the front and back covers with all sorts of delights (I still have this to do as I got sidetracked on another wonderful project that I will show you next week! It involves white tiles!!! I'll say no more until then.....)

Swaps - how I love them!

I joined another swap over at Lawendula and this time it was a paperback swap where we had to send a paperback of our choice to someone else.  My swap partner was Sue in Australia and I realised that I had never, in all my years of trotting to the post office and back, sent anything to anyone in Australia!!  We could choose to send other things if we liked but that was not obligatory. Well just look at the parcel I received from Sue!  It was SO exciting.

There were so many lovely things inside the parcel, all beautifully wrapped

and there was a delightful letter telling me all about the paperback she had sent.

napkins, gorgeous paper samples, emphemera and a beautiful 'junk journal' that Sue had made herself which it seems I failed to capture in any of these photos which I can hardly believe now.  It will have its own showing tomorrow, I promise.  Thank you Sue so much.

I didn't manage to take any photos of the parcel I sent (just haven't got it quite together yet!!) but I sent a paperback "Miss Pettigrew lives for a day" and a collage canvas I made especially for Sue.  The whole thing was just great fun.

Thoughtful Friday no. 130

"We are emissaries of hope when we give our focus

 to the present moment rather than to

 regrets of the past or concerns about the future."

Joyce Rupp

GPP Street Team - creative challenge - home

I have been so busy with work and other things that I have seriously neglected this little blog and seriously missed these challenges!  This was a fun opportunity to document creatively all the places I have lived so here is a glimpse at what I did:

Some gesso prepped pages followed by teal and gold acyrilic paint and some circles printed with an old cotton reel.  Then some spray paint over a stencil or two in a different colour, followed by some tea-dyed tags which not only have the number on the front of each house I've lived in but also a little writing on the back to remember why we moved!!!  They are stuck on with a little orange washi tape from Japan - really love this stuff!

Thanks again, Michelle, for a great challenge.