Sunday, March 18, 2012

SIMON SAYS CREATE A HANDMADE BACKGROUND

It's another Monday and Simon Says "Show Us A Handmade Background".  Once again, I am way out of my comfort zone...COLOR and (for the first time) attempting pages for an ART JOURNAL.  I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing on this but I'm having fun doing it! (smile) 
 
I am still waiting on my new Color Sprays by the lovely and multi talented Dyan Reaveley.  Those little suckers must really be popular! (smile).  I LOVE Dyan Reaveley's techniques and her products!  I wanted to try them for this background challenge, so I improvised on the color sprays with my own concoctions using Distress Reinkers and water in a Mini Mister.  I used Canson's 9x12 Mixed Media paper and folded it in half; creating two pages, 9x6 each.   After I have made several of these, I will create my own Art Journal by binding them together.



Here are my first ever Art Journal Pages ~ Three Finished and one that isn't so you can see the transformation Dyan's stamps add!

 
This is my first attempt at creating Art Journal Pages.  These are the pages "BEFORE" I added any of Dyan's cute little critters or ladies to them


This is the "AFTER".

As I said, I used a variety of my own concocted color sprays to create the background.  Those colors included:  Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, Worn Lipstick and Mustard Seed Reinkers.  I also used some various stencils I had (because I am waiting on Dyan's stencils) to provide some subtle patterns with the sprays.  I used Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist with stencils to achieve a ghost effect with that subtle iridescence. Then I added different texture with Blank Canvas and Classic Teal Studio Paints. I painted Blank Canvas right onto the harlequin stamp from Dyan's Basic Backgrounds stamp set and randomly stamped it onto the background.  I did the same thing using the polka dot stamp and Classic Teal. 

You can see the random stencil patterns achieved from using the sprays and 
paint stamped patterns more closely in this picture.

I next used the letters from Dyan's Basic Backgrounds and randomly stamped them onto the background using Jet Black Archival Ink.  Next I added more random stamps from Dyan's Around The Edge and Inbetweenies stamp sets.  The doodling was done with a Sakura Souffle White Pen.  I really like the pen but I wish the tip was finer.


Here are more of the random images I used from Dyan's wonderful Word Love, Bordering On The Edge and Bits and Bats stamp sets.


Then I finished these two pages by adding some really cool houses from Right Up Your Street stamp set and...


colorful toad stools from Doolally Dorris.  All images were stamped using Jet Black Archival Ink onto Ranger's FABULOUS NEW STAMPING PAPER.  They were colored with Tim Holtz' New Distress Marker colors:  Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters and Wild Honey.



The sentiments were also stamped on the Specialty Stamping Paper, cut out and then matted on black cardstock.  They are from Quintessential Quotes.  I then used a Posca White Opaque Pen that was give to me, to doodle around the edges.  LOVE this pen!  It has a nice, fine tip and works beautifully!

Here is my next attempt at Art Journal pages:


I used the same basic colors on the background and the images.  These pages are in various stages of completion.


The left side is complete.  Dependable Dotty is the character.  However, because Dyan's stamps are so interchangeable, I had fun creating a whole new character!  I completely changed Dotty's look by replacing the abstract "Always" bird on her head with strands of hair created from a border trim stamp from the Inbetweenies stamp set.  I gave her a different set of legs from the Pondering Petunia stamp set.  I also gave her wings courtesy of the Doolally Dorris stamp set. 

The pendants are from Dyan's Bags of Bunting stamp set and I popped them using Pop Dots.  Instead of using Dyan's sentiments on this page, I journaled my own thoughts in a couple of spots.


From the time I created the first background to creating the second background, I received a partial order of Dyan's stencils.  I used the 9x12 sized Dotted Flower and Letter Jumble stencils in this background.  I added some more Blank Canvas harlequin stamping and some Modern Red Studio Paint polka dots.  This page is still a work in progress...but I think this Art Journaling is going to prove to be very addicting!

So...those are my handmade backgrounds.  Pull out your paints, your sprays, your inks...whatever you feel like using and create a background for a tag, a journal page, a canvas...whatever your heart desires.  Then post it to our challenge at SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW!  You could be our lucky random winner and win a ... 


If you are chosen as one of the TOP THREE creations, you will be recognized for your prestigious achievement!  Please take a minute to stop by the challenge at SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW.  The Design Team has really worked hard to create some unique and inspiring backgrounds for you.  Really beautiful stuff!!!

Good luck and HAVE FUN with this challenge!!





 

28 comments:

  1. Welp Candy, you have inspired me yet again! One of my next artistic ventures is art journaling. I have 2 Dvds from the UK by Kaz waiting to be watched. I have been slowly amassing supplies......including Dyan's sprays...I got them this past Friday. I have some of her stamp sets and stencils on order. I'm doing Tim's online classes for the next 2 weeks and work is going to be busy too. But I WILL make time to start my art journal too! Your pages are gorgeous!
    Hugs
    Heidi

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, Wow, Wow Candy - this is superb, I saw Dyan this weekend in her shop and I can tell you she would be VERY impressed with your work - you should post a note on her blog to ask her to have a look at this. You will love the inks when you get them, they are scrumptious.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AWESOME pages - love your backgrounds!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I saw this on the Simon Says blog this morning. I am blown away by your attention to detail! I am slowly building my list of Dyan's products. NEED them all!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. My sprays have just arrived in the house lol. Your own mix of inks are fabulous Candy, I love the vibrancy of the colours in your background. Your white pen highlights are so striking on the vines and around your pages, makes everything pop and gives another layer of interest, WOW. Love how you have mixed the images too. Hope to see more of your journaling Candy. Tracy x

    ReplyDelete
  6. Candy this is jaw droopingly fabulous! Wow! Wow! Wow! Love it you are so in your comfort zone.......more please xx

    Kaz x x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, these pages are so bright and cheerful! Quirky...not my style of art but always fun to look at and see what element I could use to make it more style. Hope to try art journaling real soon - thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh how much I love your journal pages made with Diane's stamps and stencils! i wished i owned the whole bunch of those stamps! very lovely pages. I love the colors also!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Candy,my friend,you TOTALLY rocked this project!!!! Dyan would be extremely proud....AMAZING WORK!

    ~LINDA

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi candy your art journal pages are quite amazing. I have not purchased any delusions, but I have a birthday coming up so perhaps .......! I love the colours and images. Thank you so much for sharing. Annie :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Candy.
    Wow I think your journal book pages are gorgeous. I did my first pages like this for Kate Cranes blog a few days ago.
    I have just visited Dyan's shop on Saturday and all her goodies had just arrived, so should be on their way to you!!
    If you want to later on this week I will be putting a photo of me, Kate and Dyan on my blog.
    Debbiexx

    ReplyDelete
  12. WOW Candy!!! If these all don't contain handmade backgrounds, I don't know what does!!! Love you art journal and love your style!!! Fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yayy Candy gorgeous pages babe xxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Now that is what I would call having the greatest fun Candy with fab results....you go girl and have a good splash about.............xxx

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hey there my amazing teamie, well I gotta tell ya YOU did it AGAIN my goodness, what some fabulos colors you have used, Really amazing, so colorfull I just love it. Fabby sentiments too and Diane's stamps are totally amazing wwowzeressss Hugs Terry xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wonderful creations woohoo my dylusions sprays arrived but I'm still waiting on the markers.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Meant to add thanks for all the Fabby detail. Love all the colours and layers. Maddy x

    ReplyDelete
  18. OMG, you are a natural at this candy! These are fabulous pages. I wish I had just started on paper and then bound them together myself instead of working in the book I bought. My paints and inks tend to soak through my already done pages and make a mess.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Fabulous pages Candy - so colourful, expressive and really oozing fun and enjoyment. I love all the layers and textures...and the funky-haired lady is an absolute doll! I think this could be a rather pleasurable new obsession!!! Great work and very inspiring...

    ReplyDelete
  20. You are so silly - out of your comfort zone, ha! You look like you've been doing this all your life. Totally gorgeous pages!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I think I hate you....lol... this is your FIRST attempt??? Holy crap, I wish my 20th attempts were this good.. well done, gf...the colors are just so gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh what a gorgeous piece, Candy! You would surely make Dyan proud! :) I really love the bright colors and the layers on top of layers are just fabby!!

    *mwah*
    Steph
    Simon Says Stamp!

    ReplyDelete
  23. You did a GREAT job. I really enjoyed your backgrounds and the content of your journal pages!
    Fondly,
    Suz

    ReplyDelete
  24. These are wonderful journal pages. Great work for just starting the art journal creating.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Candy - these are fantastic! I love the whimsy of your journal pages! amazing! Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thank you for leaving me such an awesome comment Candy, you really made my day coming from someone so talented. Your journal pages are totally cool. Very detailed and full of very interesting things to see and notice. I like pages that just keep you looking for ages. Journalling is addictive, I've only just discovered it myself. Righto, I'm off to do more! Michelle xx

    ReplyDelete
  27. These are gorgeous Candy!! Love the bright colors & layers!! Great job!!

    ReplyDelete

I am so happy that you stopped by my blog! I truly appreciate your time and thank you for leaving a comment! Have a wonderfully blessed day!