Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Distress Ink, Distress Oxide Ink, Ecoline inks

Vintage Label Inspiration from Darkroom Door

Hello!

Today I’d like to share with you a trio of cards I have created using the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp. I have quite a collection of Frame Stamps from Darkroom Door and find they are designed to work beautifully with many other images in the collection. Each will accommodate a number of the Quote and Eclectic stamp images and they are great to layer with stamped images and ephemera as I have done for this trio of cards.

First off, I’d like to share this simple card featuring the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp and images from the Home Sweet Home set. I stamped the quote and houses onto some neutral coloured patterned paper and fussy cut before layering over the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp. A few brads, some extra patterned paper as layers and the card was complete.

I love to layer stamped elements over the edge of other pieces, and I’ve used that technique for this card. I had stamped the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp over a background made using Distress & Distress Oxide Inks and tore one of the longer sides to give the card extra texture. The feathers come from Darkroom Door Feathers stamp set

and were stamped using Ranger Wendy Vecchi Make Art ink then fussy cut. A stamped and layered greeting from Darkroom Door Happy Birthday stamp set was a finishing touch.

There is something about butterflies mixed with shimmery backgrounds that brings out the happy. For this card, I stamped the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame image over a background created with Dylusions Shimmer Sprays. A trio of butterflies from Darkroom Door Fine Butterflies stamp set was stamped onto watercolour card using Ranger Archival black ink and coloured with Ecoline Markers. They layered beautifully with the frame stamp and a greeting from Darkroom Door Birthday Word Block stamp.

Supplies used:

I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of inspiration for using the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp. Make sure you pop over to Darkroom Door to see the rest of the January 2020 release!

Art Journal, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Ecoline inks, Gelatos, Quotes

Inspiration for Darkroom Door Number Medley Stamp Set

Hello!

I’m just popping in with a pair of projects featuring the recent Darkroom Door rubber stamp release, this time I’ve been creating with Number Medley stamp set. I love the variety in this set, from printed sections to little snippets of hand-lettered numbers there are lots of options. This set will likely slot in nicely with many of the Darkroom Door sets you already own so I’ve decided to showcase it using two older stamp sets – Steampunk and Venetian Vol 2.

First up, let’s go adventuring! I created the background for this one by spreading my page randomly with texture paste and allowing it to dry. Then I applied a few colours of Faber-Castell Gelatos and smooshed them together to cover the background. The Gelatos spread easily and pick up the beautiful texture from the initial layer. 

Next, I stamped over parts of the page using elements from the Darkroom Door Numbers Medley stamp set using Ranger Archival black ink. I also stamped a number of the elements from the Darkroom Door Steampunk and Number Medley stamp sets onto smooth white card. 

I added a touch of colour to the adventure word, gentleman and balloon then fussy cut the stamped elements before adding to my page. Edging around the page with black Archival ink finished it off nicely.

I enjoy layering different elements to create a journal page and creating unique options using rubber stamps helps my vision for a page come together in a cohesive manner. Limiting options to a few colours and stamps helps the page to work together to tell your story.

For this page, I began by randomly painting my page with colours that played happily together such as pink, orange, blue and purple. I was careful to add the blue/purple sections after the orange parts had dried so I didn’t create mud! 

Next, I went in search of some plain patterned paper that would match the colour palette and found some sheets of lovely old Basic Grey. I stamped the sheets randomly with images from the Darkroom Door Number Medley stamp set, then cut them into scalloped sections to use as a border.

A bit of watery ink gave them a lovely grungy look. 

To complete the page, I stamped and coloured some images and the quote from the Darkroom Door Venetian Vol 2 stamp set. The scalloped borders and stamped images were then layered onto my page along with Tim Holtz Idea-ology pieces and some ornate trim. The page came together very quickly once all of the separate parts were prepared.

Supplies used:

I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of inspiration. Make sure you pop over to Darkroom Door to see the rest of the January 2020 release!

Art Journal, Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Distress Ink, Distress Oxide Ink, Quotes

Let’s get dotty …

Hello! 

I have another set of projects to share from the recent Darkroom Door rubber stamp release, this time I’ve been creating with Abstract 07 Stamp. I really like the format of these stamps as it allows you to use them as a long strip to cover the edge of a journal page or across a card front but you can also bend it up to use just parts of the image as you hand stamp with it. I’ve used it both ways to create a set of projects to share with you.

First up is a cute card where I’ve curled the Darkroom Door Abstract 07 Stamp up a bit and stamped all over a cardstock panel in different coloured inks. Then, I took one of the colours and sponged the background to help incorporate all the different hues. I thought the chaotic collection of dots needed a bit of extra, so I added a sprinkling of tiny buttons. The card was finished off with some layering, a ribbon and a sentiment from Darkroom Door Warm Wishes stamp set.

For the next pair of cards, I stamped Darkroom Door Abstract 07 Stamp across a card panel using two different coloured inks. 

I love the variety of Eclectic stamps created by Darkroom Door, they give so much scope for using them in different ways. For this card, I stamped the Darkroom Door Crayons Eclectic image a couple of times and cut the crayons apart to make colouring easier. Each was coloured separately and attached over the cardfront to create a fun, happy card. 

Swapping around the ink colours and using a flower image from Darkroom Door Fine Flowers Vol 2 stamp set gave this card a very different look.

A quote from Darkroom Door Botanical Script stamp set finishes the pair off nicely. 

A simple mix of complementary colours always brings a pop to a handmade card and I’ve used that technique to create the colour scheme for this card.

I often make a bunch of backgrounds ahead of time and used a Distress Ink one for the blue panel in this card. The dotty panel was created by stamping with a variety of blue inks using the Darkroom Door Abstract 07 stamp. I had curled it up with my hands so that only a small portion of the image was in contact with the card. A layered flower image from Darkroom Door Bright Blossoms 2 stamp set and sentiment from the Darkroom Door Word Block stamp completes the card.

I’ve discovered that I love to create simple, minimal pages sometimes in my art journals. I’ve found it quite a meditative process, especially as I keep the colour palettes and techniques really simple.

For this final project using the Darkroom Door Abstract 07 stamp, I simply dripped runny paint across the top of a page in a Dylusions Dyalog Black Insert Journal and set it aside to dry. The colour needs to be quite opaque and pale for this to work. I stamped Darkroom Door Abstract 07 Stamp randomly over the top painted part of my page using an orange Distress Oxide ink. The Distress Oxide inks have a wonderful opacity that makes them visible over darker backgrounds.

A simple botanical shape sketched in white ink and quote from Darkroom Door Botanical Script stamp set finished the page. Nice and simple.

Supplies used:

  • Darkroom Door Abstract 07 Stamp
  • Darkroom Door Warm Wishes stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Bright Blossoms Vol 2 stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Fine Flowers Vol 2 stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Botanical Script stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Crayons Eclectic stamp
  • Darkroom Door Word Block stamp
  • Dylusions Dyalog Black Insert Journal
  • Ranger Distress & Distress Oxide Inks
  • Ranger Archival black ink

I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of inspiration. Make sure you pop over to Darkroom Door to see the rest of the January 2020 release!

Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps

Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door – a new 2020 release

Hello and Happy New Year!

2020 seems to have started quickly with January almost over in the blink of an eye. I’m popping in to inspire you to get your year off to a creative start.

Darkroom Door has released a brilliant new collection of stamps and stencils and Rachel has kindly gifted me with some stamps so I can share a bunch of new projects with you. First up are some projects using the wonderful Darkroom Door Warm Wishes rubber stamp set.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door – January 2020 new release projects. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

I love the fineness of line in these stamps, they are so delicate and I think will become a firm favourite with me and hopefully many of you. They are so easy to create with, simply stamped onto book paper as in this tag trio or coloured up with any of the myriad of supplies available.

There is something about simple black and white, classic and modern at the same time. To create this trio, I simply stamped the stems onto book paper then glued it onto small tags. A bit of black ink around the edges, some sentiments and a bit of fussy tying at the top and the trio were done. Warm Wishes comes with a nice set of words and phrases that will suit a range of occasions.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door – January 2020 new release projects. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

The lovely long stems make it so easy to ink different parts separately. I’ve done that with the stem for this tent folded card using Wendy Vecchi inks. The bottom was shaped using a Spellbinders die but you could just as easily add a punched edge instead.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door – January 2020 new release projects. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

The stems from Warm Wishes work well as single flowers but also in pairs and trios. I’ve used a pair of similar size for this colourful tag, simply stamped onto book paper then fussy cut. I love the soft creaminess the book paper gives to the images.

If you are wondering about the background – it was made using Dylusions Shimmer spray. I simply sprayed a couple of colours over my tag then laid some crinkled clingwrap over the top. Once it was dry, the tag had a wonderful abstract background with a beautiful shimmer. Of course, being Dylusions smearing a scrape of gesso over to knock back some of the colour results in a faded, pastel type effect. I love the tone on tone effect in this type of background – perfect for my flower stems.

Supplies used:

I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of inspiration. Make sure you pop over to Darkroom Door to see the rest of the January 2020 release!

Art by Marlene, Art Journal, The Crafters Workshop, Tutorials

Make the Impossible Possible

Are you a glass half full or half empty type of person? I’d like to think that I usually see them as half full – full of possibilities and endless opportunities. I’d like to share a new art journal page with you – this time it has been created in my mini Art by Marlene journal. I’ve also used Art by Marlene stamps and one of Marlene’s stencils from The Crafters Workshop. I love how all of Marlene’s products play so nicely together.

The format of this journal makes so many techniques possible – such as the one I’ve used for this page! The pages are easily removable and are made from a wonderful watercolour paper.

Follow along as I share how my page was created… the background technique gives a wonderful, subtle effect.

After choosing a stencil for the background pattern, I gave the page a layer of colour using watercolours. Keep the page quite wet with colour and quickly layer the totally clean stencil over before it dries. Allow the stencil and page to sit flat until fully dry.

Once removed, the stencil leaves a lovely, subtle pattern on the background.

You can get different effects by overlaying with plastic wrap or bubble wrap and changing up the colour palette to a darker, more saturated colour looks amazing.

I needed a little something to cover the areas at the top & bottom of the page where the stencil pattern didn’t quite reach – spotty circles fixed it nicely!

Marlene’s stamps often feature swirly patterns and doodles, they are so cute and I love using this bird stamp. Perfect for watercoloring so that is what I did;) Stamping the image onto watercolour yardstick with permanent black ink means the image was easily coloured without smudging.

In keeping with the colours on my page, I inked the edges a little with some permanent ink. Of course, a birdie needs a wire to sit on so a swish of black paint gave her somewhere to perch.

I felt the birdie needed a bit of sparkle – glitter gel pens to the rescue! What did we do before this glittery product?

I also added a bit of white detailing using a fine Posca pen to parts of the bird, including the whites of her eyes.

I love using quotes on my pages so selected one from Marlene’s sticker books and matted each of the words with a bit of cardstock I’d coloured with watercolour. Once trimmed, each word was also inked around the edges. Some foam squares gave them a little dimension and the page was done.

Supplies:

  • Art by Marlene A5 journal
  • Art by Marlene bird stamp
  • Art by Marlene sticker book
  • The Crafters Workshop Botanical Dream stencil
  • Black paint, watercolours, glitter gel pens, white Posca pen, permanent black ink

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have enjoyed learning how my page came together.

I thought it about time I made some more videos for YouTube. You will find one for this project on my channel shortly.

Art Journal, Bella Paperie, Monoprinting, Paper Artsy

Mixed Media Art Journaling Workshop – Fun with Sheeple

I love quirky images and the Sheeple stamps from Paper Arsty caught my eye recently so I decided to create a page around these fun, dancing characters. I’ll be teaching how to create it this Sunday at Bella Paperie and I’d love you to join me.

The class will start with a few basic techniques using the Gel Press to create a subtle background and then we will add some stamped imagery to enhance the page, finishing it off with a quirky Sheeple trio.

Bella Paperie is located at Shop 33, 302 South Pine Road, Brendale. Phone 3205 5911 to book. Class runs 10am – 2pm, September 9 and costs $30 with some supplies provided. You can find information on what to bring along to class here on the store blog.

Art Journal, Bella Paperie, Paper Artsy

Mixed Media Art Journaling Workshop – Just Fly …

I’m popping in to share details on the mixed media art journaling workshop that I’ll be teaching this Sunday at Bella Paperie. We have recently received a shipment on the wonderful Paper Artsy products, so my class will feature techniques on using them – especially the mercurial Infusions powders.

For this class, we will be creating a pretty stamped and stencilled art journal page featuring a butterfly garden and crackle embellishment. I’ll be teaching how to combine stencilling and stamped images and share a few tricks for using the Paper Artsy Infusions powders in an art journal.

Class runs 10am to 2pm, July 8 with a short break for lunch. Please contact us or leave me a comment below if you have any questions. Bella Paperie is located at Shop 33, 302 South Pine Road, Brendale. Phone (07) 3205 5911 to book. Class runs 10am – 2pm, July 8 and costs $30 with some supplies provided. Details on what to bring are on the Bella Paperie blog.

Just Fly mixed media art journal page by Robyn Wood #mixedmedia #artjournal #purplesalt #robynwood

 

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Acrylic inks, Art Journal, Bella Paperie, Dina Wakley Media, Quotes

Mixed Media Art Journaling Workshop – Wishes are the magic…

What will you wish for??

Do you wish to spend a glorious day painting and laughing while learning a few techniques for your art journal? Why not join me in class this weekend to create a colourful art journal page featuring a variety of techniques. This time we will be mostly using acrylic inks instead of paints and I will teach you how to create the beautifully layered backgrounds that come easily with these inks. You will also learn some easy ways to use rubber stamps in your journal and a quick and easy doodling technique.

 

We will be working in an A4 sized journal and you will need to have the following on hand –

  • Acrylic inks in a variety of colours for background. We will have a limited number on hand for use. Bella Paperie stocks the beautiful Amsterdam acrylic inks but other brands will be suitable.
  • A variety of acrylic paints in colours to complement your inks
  • Dina Wakley Scribble sticks will be handy for exta colour – Gelatos, Tim Holtz
  • Distress Crayons, NeoColours or similar will also be suitable and I will have some to share.
  • A variety of stencils with open patterns and one with a small pattern
  • Rubber stamps suitable for adding a scroll/flourish type patterns. I will bring some to share.
  • Quote stamp if you wish to use something different to the one I have used.
  • Neutral toned printed paper for collage. I have used paper from a Prima paper pad but a few sheets of scrapbook paper will be suitable.
  • A variety of paint brushes including a wide one suitable for gel medium
  • Black Stabilo or black watercolour pencil/charcoal pencil – Bella Paperie now has these in stock
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Grey permanent stamping ink if you have it (Ranger Archival brand preferred, not Stazon)
  • White gesso
  • Matt medium
  • Texture paste
  • Liquitex matt gel medium (available from Bella Paperie, usual matt medium will not be strong enough)
  • Paint palette – one with separate wells will be very useful
  • Paint spatula
  • Sponge for stencilling
  • Non–stick craft mat
  • Spray bottle for water
  • Baby wipes
  • Paper towel
  • Container for water
  • Heat tool

 

Bella Paperie is located at Shop 33, 302 South Pine Road, Brendale. Phone 3205 5911 to book. Class runs 10am – 2pm, June 17 and costs $30 with some supplies provided.

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Art Journal, Bella Paperie, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Darkroom Door Stencils, Quotes, Stencils

Mixed Media Art Journaling Workshop – Dreams Have Wings

Do your dreams have wings?

Perhaps your dreams are full of colour and texture and you would love to capture that feeling in your art journal? This might be the class where you learn to delve into another world and play with collage and paint for the pure fun of it!

Why not join me this Friday as we jump into the wonderful world of mixed media and art journaling. This will be the first of regular Friday classes featuring mixed media and art journaling at Bella Paperie. Although aimed as a ‘beginner class’, my regular students and ones familiar with mixed media will still find lots to learn and challenge them.

If you already art journal – bring along your usual kit, if not come along to this weekday class to learn what you might need to purchase as the materials list is a brief guide. You will need an approx. A4 sized journal to begin with – please check in store for details or we can provide a sheet of heavy watercolour paper to get you started.

For this first weekday class, I will bring along most of the supplies to share but please bring what you have from the materials listed to save time waiting. I have listed a kit of ‘basics’ that you will need to bring to every class. As always, the listed supplies are available to purchase from Bella Paperie before class.

We will be working in an A4 sized journal and please have on hand –

  • 2-3 acrylic paints for background – I have used shades of pink
  • 2-3 stencils with small patterns for background
  • Dye based markers for colouring butterflies, Ecoline, Tombow or Distress markers are perfect. We will have some on hand to share.
  • Chalk inks in pale flower & leaf colours (if you have them)
  • Fine scissors for fussy cutting butterflies
  • White gesso
  • Liquid glue for adhering butterflies

Basics – required for each class

  • A sense of fun and the will to get painty;)
  • Pencil, rubber
  • A variety of paint brushes in different sizes. Bella Paperie sells great starter packs of brushes.
  • Aquash brush is handy to have on hand
  • Sponge for stencilling
  • Paint palette – one with separate wells will be very useful or a small plastic plate
  • Paint spatula
  • Non–stick craft mat
  • Spray bottle for water
  • Baby wipes
  • Paper towel
  • Container for water
  • Heat tool (only if you have one)
  • Apron

Bella Paperie is located at Shop 33, 302 South Pine Road, Brendale. Phone 3205 5911 to book. Class runs 10am – 2pm, March 23 and costs $30 with some supplies provided.

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

Dina Wakley Show Us Your Media – January Challenge

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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