Acrylic paint, Stencil Girl, Stencils, Tutorials

Stencil Girl – The Plain Box Society

July 24, 2018 Robyn Wood

Ages ago I saw a call on Facebook from Tina Walker for artists to join a unique type of challenge. We were to decorate a plain box, just 3″ square, however we pleased – the only requirement was to use stencils made by Stencil Girl.

Easy! Well so I thought, seems I need slightly more direction when doing a challenge;)

But in the end I’m so happy with how my box turned out, it is a little different to my usual project but still so me. Here is how it came together –

Many participants used a pre-made box but I decided to make my own from some heavy watercolour paper. Then I painted parts of the pieces with an analogous colour scheme, I always find these more soothing than jarring colours.

Next I mixed a little colour with some water and created random drippage along the sides.

Time to stencil! But which ones? How many to fully showcase my design? I settled for just two, one for the lid (Encouraging Scribbles) and another for the sides (Mix & Match Scalloped Edges). I left the border stencil intact to emphasise the lines of the shape.

The sides looked a little plain just stencilled but a bit of doodling with a fine black pen soon fixed that!

So pleased with how it came together. A huge thanks to Tina Walker for organising the challenge! You can read more about the challenge and see all the wonderful boxes created in Tina’s article for Stencil Girl. There is a fantastic variety and so much to inspire you.

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Art Journal, Art Journal Challenge, Darkroom Door, Dina Wakley Media, Quotes

Dina Wakley Show Us Your Media – January Challenge

January 25, 2018 Robyn Wood

For the last few months, Dina Wakley has been running a creative challenge based around encouraging us to get our fingers painty to fuel our creative spirit. The challenges are pretty open, with the main requirement being to use Dina Wakley branded products somewhere in the project. Dina provides inspiration in the form of a journaling prompt, quote etc.

For January, we were encouraged to create a project about being unstoppable…

I’ve had a little love-not quite like relationship with the Dina Wakley journal, the different textures seem to upset my process somehow, but over the past few months I decided I needed to just get in and use it without worrying how the pages turned out. I’m beginning to really love it! Might even splurge on the new large size one Dina has released at Creativation.

I’ve created a page in my Dina Wakley journal and used the following –

Dina Wakley paints – umber, cheddar, fuchsia, black
Distress Oxide inks – various
Darkroom Door stamps – Compass Eclectic, Paris Postcard & Bold Arrows
Prima – imagery

You can find challenge entries via the hashtags of #showusyourMEdia & #rangerink Perhaps you would like to play along next month? Let me know if you do!

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Card making, Uncategorized

Stampendous Sunflowers – An Aussie Blog Hop

January 18, 2017 Robyn Wood

Calling Aussies for this great competition run by the Australian wholesaler for Stampendous stamps. As I mentioned in my last post, I will be designing some inspiration cards for the regular blog hop competitions run by The Stencil Specialists.

This month we are featuring the brand-new set of stamps and dies featuring beautiful sunflowers. These stamps and dies are so easy to use – the dies take away all that painful fussy cutting, so you get more creative time.

Make sure you pop over to Julie’s blog, The Stencil Specialists and visit Dot Leathbridge’s blog Ink Art Designs to check out what they have created for the hop!

Contest details –
To enter please visit each blog post and comment on the January blog hop post. Each comment is one entry so comment on each blog and you will have three entries into the contest. Make sure you only comment once per blog. This competition is open to Australian residents only and the winner will be selected randomly by Julie after January 31st. The prize will be CRS5094 Sunny Vase Cling Rubber Stamp Set and DCS5094 Sunny Vase Die Set.

Good luck!

PS Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog so you will receive updates and sneaks for the next challenge.

Art Journal Challenge, Darkroom Door, Mixed media, Quotes, Tutorials

Spread Your Wings…

March 26, 2016 Robyn Wood

Until you spread your wings,
you’ll never know how far you can fly.

The last few months seem to have been full of activity in our house so I’ve been sharing bits & pieces on my Instagram feed. If you aren’t sure where to find me – look here. I’d love you to pop by and say hello.

Every year I start with great plans for participating in various challenges and online classes only to peter off after a few weeks/months. I decided to be a bit gentler on myself this year – I will intend to participate but if it doesn’t happen then all is good & I’ll go back to them if/when I can or feel like it.

Today I’d like to share a page I did for week 12 of the LuLu Art Colour Me Positive challenge. I’ve loved watching this challenge group evolve and grow, there is currently over 2500 positive art journalers in the Facebook group – isn’t that fabulous? I am sure it will grow from strength to strength.

This time around the extra journaling prompt was to add wings so that is where I started – butterfly wings and a corset from Darkroom Door stamps. Of course you can’t have a torso without a skirt of some kind, so I created a textured & collaged one using dictionary paper, handmade paper and a paper doyley. Layers of colour and texture gave it some form.

I wish I had photographed the background before I started but it was one of those pages that I use for scrapes of left over paint and spray. I’d kept them to greens and blues so that the page would match the opposite side. I added some stencilling and collage (Kaisercraft have some great collage papers!) before I started so that the page had an interesting base.

The corset and wings were fun to layer with some pretty lace – it was well stuck down with gel medium! Once everything was stuck down and coloured with the new Ranger Distress Crayons, I painted just the wings with some clear crackle paste. I decided to experiment with colour a little and dripped Dylusions spray ink over the wings to give a mottled effect. It was so hard to just let it dry so I could check how well the effect worked.

While that was drying I carefully added some gold touches with gold Texture paste – I love to smear this stuff around a page a little to give a swipe of gold.

As a final step I added the quote, gradually thickening the lettering until I was happy with how it stood out from the background.

A flutter of sequins finished off the page and added a nice touch of bling to the skirt.

Supplies:

Darkroom Door stamps – Collage Butterfly, Corsetry set
Stencil Girl stencils – Rembrant’s words, Honeycomb, Transform
Ranger Distress Crayons
Dina Wakley paints – Ocean, Lemon, Turquoise
Golden Gel Medium
Faber Castel – Whipped Spackle, Texture Luxe gold
Prima Crackle Paste – clear
Ranger Dylusions spray – Pink Bubblegum
Ranger Liquid Pearls
Kaisercraft paper
Black permanent pen
Sequins, lace, dictionary paper, handmade paper, paper doyley

One tip that I’d like to share is about texture paste – too much of it will weigh a page down but I have found that if you use the Faber Castell Whipped Spackle there isn’t a lot of extra weight. Which means I can stencil away with texture to my hearts content! Don’t forget to clean the texture paste out of your stencils right away – it can set hard and ruin them if you aren’t careful.

Have you been playing along with the challenge? I’d love to see if you would like to post me a link in the comments.

Art Journal, Art Journal Challenge, Darkroom Door, Mixed media, Quotes

Today is the Day!

January 7, 2016 Robyn Wood

Hi, Happy New Year! I hope the year has started well for you. Today I’m sharing an art journal page as part of the new Colour Me Positive art journal challenge run by LuLu Art. The theme for the first week of the year is gratitude and I’ve created this page while reflecting on and celebrating the things I’m grateful for.

There is something about the first week of the year. A chance to start fresh, a time to get started on that project, plan a holiday, tackle the completion of a long overdue assignment and any number of things. Don’t waste that time, those minutes of each new day, as you never get ‘today’ back!

For me this time is a chance to celebrate my multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Time to reflect on the changes and blessings that came into my life 11 years ago which culminated in a dreaded, life changing diagnosis, one that forever altered the path of my family and I. It is a time for celebration because having MS has meant staying at home with my sons instead of returning to full time work. I’ve continued to volunteer in my community and participate in all types of groups and events and I firmly believe that my life is better for it. So far I’ve been lucky – only a few minor issues and one pretty major attack 18 months ago that I’m mostly recovered from. I realise that could change any day, I could wake up tomorrow and some part of my body might not work quite as well as today.

Long ago, an MS researcher mentioned that studies were showing that each year that passed without significant disability could mean another two of the same. If that holds, and so far it has, then I might get to the magic ‘three score & ten’ without a lot of neurological damage or noticeable disability. Here is hoping anyway!

A few years ago, increasing fatigue meant reducing my part time working hours. But having MS meant that I had to go searching for something else to give me a challenge, to help my brain retain some level of neuroplasticity. This is the magical bit of our brains that helps us grow new thinking pathways – important when you have a disease that affects cognitive function! I am a long time paper crafter, creating cards, scrapbooking, bookmaking and such but I needed something a little ‘more’. Thankfully I discovered the world of mixed media. It was pretty new and there was a whole gamut of new techniques to discover, learn and practice. Many years later, I’m still firmly in the grip of this wonderful form of art and I couldn’t be happier!

Today is the Day!

Supplies:

Darkroom Door stamps – Poppies & Butterflies sets, French Script Texture, Bingo Numbers Eclectic, French Script Background
Dina Wakley stencils – Essentials, Halves, Spinners
Faber-Castell Whipped Spackle
Acrylic paint, paper napkin, washi tape, tissue paper
Liquitex – matte medium, gesso
Words – Ali Edwards Old + New Story Kit

Edited to add: if you wish to read another perspective on living with a chronic illness, check out my friend Bree Hogan and her article ‘Who knew I would ever feel grateful for having a chronic illness‘

Art Journal, Darkroom Door, Mixed media, Scrapbooking

Scrap Around the World Blog September Challenge

September 19, 2014 Robyn Wood

During the month of September, Darkroom Door are sponsoring a prize on the Scrap Around the World blog and once again the design team have been invited to participate. This time the challenge image was certainly challenging with no clearly related Darkroom Door products to feature – it really caused me to put my thinking cap on for something different!

This was the beautiful challenge image, put together by Amy Voorthuis. I ended up being inspired to create two projects.

I created this layout to feature a few photos from our recent visit to Hobbiton during a family holiday in New Zealand. The design was inspired by the books and brown/grey neutrals of the challenge image. Hobbiton was an amazing place, so true to the imagery described in the books. As a huge Tolkien fan in my teens it was fabulous to visit. We took 340 photos during the morning of our visit and I printed 100 – only another 97 to scrap!

This layout was started with a spattering of watery Distress paints to give some colour and texture to the black cardstock. The Paint Splats were ‘inked’ with picket fence Distress Paint then stamped all over the page. The ruled lines are from the Calendar set and tore around the edges, inked and then stamped with the Coffee Stain stamp. I also ripped some text paper into smaller pieces and did the same thing to age them a bit. I’ve kept my Scratched Alphabet whole so it was a little painstaking to ink each letter with white Distress Paint but the effect was worth it.

A coat of Distress Crackle added some instant texture and helped the letters stand out a bit. Before adhering the photos, I stamped the Stone background stamp in a few spots with black ink. A quote from The Hobbit finished it off.

Supplies

Darkroom Door stamps – Scratched Alphabet, Paint Splats & Calendar sets; Coffee Stain Eclectic stamp; Stone Background stamp
Ranger Archival ink – coffee & black
Distress Paint – pumice stone, iced spruce, vintage photo, walnut stain & picket fence
Ranger Distress Crackle – rock candy
Sharpie white paint pen

My next project is completely different!

This page was inspired by the soft pinks and greys of the mood board, the idea of fairy tales & fairy godmothers & the fantasy of an inanimate object (the dress form) coming to life.

To start this page I scribbled with some pink toned Gelatos in a vague backwards L shape and spread the colour with white gesso. The gesso lightens the tone of the Gelato colour and adds some permanency to the water-soluble product. A touch of grey Gelato added another dimension to the background.

Layers were built with patterned paper, paper doyleys, stamped tissue paper (French Script & scissors), fabric, buttons and other ephemera. The focal image was collaged from the stamped dress form (Dressmaker set) and a butterfly (Butterflies set) – it looked so sweet accented with tiny pearls!

Supplies

Darkroom Door stamps – Dressmaker & Butterflies stamp sets; French Script Texture stamp.
Ranger Archival ink – black & watering can

Thanks for stopping by! You can see the full post on the Scrap Around the World blog here – it features projects from other Darkroom Door girls.

Backgrounds, Darkroom Door, Mixed media, Scrapbooking, Tutorials

Scrap Around the World – May Challenge

May 26, 2014 Robyn Wood

Darkroom Door is sponsoring the Scrap Around the World challenge blog for this month and I’ve created a layout to play along. If you aren’t familiar with this challenge blog – check it out! Each month an inspirational mood board image is posted and either layouts, canvases or art journal pages can be created to participate. The month of May is birthday month and there are a huge number of sponsors giving away fantastic prizes! Here is the mood board image for May –

I took some inspiration from the clean white space and the soft pinks. The journaling is a little small but the story behind my page is about a special celebration held for the older women in our Church last year. The Mothers’ Union group turned 75 and the younger women of the parish got together to prepare food and decorations and ‘served’ the older ladies a beautiful high tea. However, it was a bittersweet day as the group was soon to close due to lack of members.

– Select a sheet of patterned paper which has a neutral pattern and tear around the edges so that it can be layered onto a 12 x 12 sheet of pink cardstock.

– Use some Gesso to ‘ink’ the Darkroom Door French Script background stamp and stamp over parts of the patterned paper. Allow to dry. Clean your stamp immediately!

– Spritz paper with Pretty Pink Mister Huey’s spray. Sponge over parts of the sprayed areas with Tattered Rose Distress ink. This will make the gesso stamped areas pop out.

– Make a small rip in the top, left corner. Sponge the rip and all around the torn edges of the paper as well as parts to the pink cardstock with Fired Brick & Tattered Rose Distress inks.

– Stamp two of just the flower heads from one of the stamps in the Darkroom Door Full Bloom Vol 1 set. Colour with Copics and spritz with a little Shine Mister Huey’s spray for a bit of shimmer. Trim out the flower head.

– Layer one flower head with a paper doyley behind the ripped part of the patterned paper. Add a paper doyley under the paper in the bottom, left corner. Affix patterned paper to pink cardstock base layer.

– Stamp collage image from Darkroom Door Art De Fleur Vol 1 set and colour with Copics. Tear around flower heads and sponge edges with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

– Group photos over another two paper doyleys, coloured flower head and torn part of Art De Fleur image and affix.

– Print journaling onto vellum and affix.

– Trim a few words from the Darkroom Door Kimono Wordstrips and affix along the side of one of the photos.

– Stamp Darkroom Door Birthday Wordblock stamp in black and trim out the word ‘Celebrate’ and affix.

– Scatter some rhinestones and pearls over the page and you are done!

Supplies Used:

Darkroom Door Full Bloom Vol 1 stamp set
Darkroom Art De Fleur Vol 1 stamp set
Darkroom Door French Script Background stamp
Darkroom Door Birthday Wordblock stamp
Darkroom Door Kimono Wordstrips
Gesso
Mister Huey’s Color Mist – Pretty Pink, Shine
Ranger Distress Ink – Tattered Rose, Fired Brick
Ranger Blending Tool
Momento Ink – Tuxedo Black
Ranger Archival Ink – Jet Black
Copic Blending Cardstock
Copic markers R81, R83, R85, YG07, Y04
Paper doyley, rhinestones & pearls
Pink Bazzill, Studio Calico, vellum

Let me know if you are playing along with the Scrap Around the World challenge – I’d love to go and have a peek! If you would like to see layouts from the other Darkroom Door girls, check out this post.

Darkroom Door, Gelatos, Scrapbooking

Champion

April 14, 2014 Robyn Wood

If you follow my Instagram you have probably worked out that one of my boys is a keen mountain biker, or more specifically a downhiller. Downhill cycling is a sport where you take yourself to the nearest mountain track and throw yourself over the side in a race to the bottom by the quickest time. Crazy! But he loves it with a passion.

I created this layout to celebrate his recent achievement of a podium position for a downhill endurance race. For this one the aim was to complete as many runs as possible over four hours. Josh came third!

This month, Darkroom Door is one of the sponsors of CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration, and I used Darkroom Door stamps on my page. Here’s the case file:

The idea is to use the above image, colour scheme and information for inspiration. For evidence I used – cogs, metal, bicycle and numbers and for testimony I journaled about something ‘mind-boggling’ but the inspo word ‘move’ was also inspiring. After all, Josh was on the move for 4 hours!

I started the page with a few swipes of Gelatos and used a wet Faber Castell sponge blender to blend. I laid my photos on top and marked out rough positioning for the next step.

A few cogs from the Darkroom Door Steampunk set and random partial stampings of the Darkroom Door Grid background stamp added a bit of interest.

I painted a couple of swatches of Distress Crackle to add a bit of texture and once dry rubbed it over with Gelatos – the Gelatos filled in some of the cracks to add an extra dimension of colour. As it was a mountain bike competition, I only wanted parts of the bicycle wheels sticking out from underneath my pictures so I inked & stamped only a portion of the bicycle. (it’s still the wrong type of wheel but oh well!)

A Tim Holtz number 3 reinforces Josh coming third – a bit of Distress Paint takes away the shiny silver to give a slightly enamel look. Some strip journaling and a title and it was done.

Supplies used:

Darkroom Door Enjoy the Ride stamp set
Darkroom Door Steampunk stamp set
Darkroom Door Grid background stamp
Gelatos & sponge blending tool
Ranger Archival Ink – black, watering can & fern green
Tim Holtz number
Ranger Distress Crackle rock candy
Ranger Distress Paint – picket fence

Backgrounds, Mixed media

Materialized–an exhibition

March 1, 2014 Robyn Wood

A little while ago one of my online friends posted about working on a challenge based on a swatch of vintage fabric. I was intrigued by the idea and decided to join in.

Materialized – all participants must respond to the fabric, ie; the pattern, the texture or the colour palette, by creating a finished piece incorporating or referencing their swatch.
The material will plant the seed of a creative idea and the final designs will “materialize” as the ideas ger…minate and grow into the finished piece.
The result will be a diverse collection of work that incorporates fashion and clothing, textiles, jewellery, accessories, works on canvas and paper and sculptural pieces.

Here is a peek at my canvas with the swatch fabric.

The challenge was run by Liz Jones at Gleaners Inc, a handmade design retailer based in Brunswick, Victoria. The idea was to create a piece, inspired by the vintage fabric which would then be included in an exhibition as part of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program (boy is a mouthful!)

The exhibition will run throughout March and you can find more details on the Materialized Facebook page.

The exhibition opens on March 7 – if you are a Melbournite I’d love to hear if you visit the exhibition!

	Mazz on Let’s get dotty …
	Robyn Wood on It’s Time to Dream Big
	Godelieve on Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door…
	Deb on It’s Time to Dream Big
	Robyn Wood on Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door…

Until you spread your wings, you’ll never know how far you can fly.

Until you spread your wings,
you’ll never know how far you can fly.