Multi-Mixed Media BAJ and Last of February Cards

Hello friends.

It has been super rainy in Central Alabama.  Lots of flooding and dreary days.  But we are thankful as droughts are no fun!

I really love this BAJ page from Psalms 27;13-14.  I need to hear these words.  I am much better at the waiting and not trying to take charge - I have been super bad at that the last 30 years.  Age and hubby (who waits for everything and is a slow as molasses) have mellowed me.

I was inspired by THIS tutorial/blog post by Preeti Dutt.  Oh my, I could watch videos and look at tutorials all day!  I guess it is a good thing I don't have a lot of time to do that!

I started with gesso on both pages of my bible.  Then I laid down some torn hymnal pages and did another layer of gesso.  Next was some texture paste and drywall tape.  After that dried, I let several lovely colors of watercolor and ink dribble down from the top of the page.  I sprayed them with water to get more movement.  The colors were from Splitcoaststampers.com color challenge this week:  Rich Razzleberry, Pretty Peacock, and Old Olive.  Also some of the colors mixed together and with some neutrals for a bit of contrast and aging.  Some white acrylic and left over water color splatters, a dusting with Perfect Pearls, and some stenciling in Razzleberry finished off the base.

The confidential stamp is from an insurance company.  It is very old and part of set I bought at a garage sale in Birmingham, AL.  I have the spinner it was on and 15 stamps.  I have to guard it because my youngest daughter really wants the set.  I remember I felt that way about my grandmother's ricer.  I still wish I had that ricer!

I typed up the verses, stamped on a few leaves and a few dragonflies (SU!), and added some lovely gears and a key.  I have the word heart in my scripture so I am linking this up as my last creation in the **ART*JOURNAL*JOURNEY* hearts theme. 

I also did a second page in Psalms 26 using the same technique.

I also made a fun Easter card last night:

I used the ink/spray/smash technique for the background along with a diamond stencil and texture paste.  The image and sentiment are from DRS Designs:  Easter Sleepover and Medium Script Happy Easter.  Two little flowers and some Stickles finished it off.

It was a fun weekend.  We had two of young Grandsons the whole weekend - ages 2 and 4.  Lots of crafting, playing cars, and visiting the baby goats and cows at my Sister's.  Lewis, the 4 year old, loves to make cards.  He participated with me in the Splitcoaststampers.com Inspiration Challenge and created this lovely turle card.

He cut the turtle pieces (I had to trim them a tiny bit) and we used a pre-printed saying off a scrap paper in the stash bucket.  Lewis loves my stash bucket - he found the papers while digging through it.

Fun stuff.

Hugz and thanks for visiting!

Thankful thoughts and Emotional Creations

Hello friends.

The last week has been a bit stressful. I was a bit worried about an unusual mammogram result.  When I was young and stressed, I slept a lot.  These days, I craft like crazy.

The second and third scans were good so no more worries.  I feel glad for me, but so sad for the people who didn't get good news.  That was all I could think of when they told me the results - I especially thought of my sweet Mom who had two battles with it.  A little tear escaped - I totally freaked out the technician.

Here are some of the things I made over the last few days. This one represents my freedom from the worry.

The base and the bunny are made from recycled Amazon boxes that were cut, peeled, painted and sponged.  I also embossed the bunny with some Stampendous pink/gold Frantage.  The sentiment is from DRS Designs:  Happy Easter Everybunny  - such a happy font.  The rest of the sentiment is inside over some more bunnies.  Super quick and fun card to make.

I have been obsessed with watching YouTube videos using Dina Wakley Collage Faces (by the way I am buying more on Amazon as soon as I can - I love them!).  HERE is one I watch this week plus I watched several by Dina herself (sh is so fun).  I used my regular old cheap ($6 watercolor set I have had for several years to do my faces but I am getting some of Dina's paints soon. This creation represents the fear I had about the results.

This is my favorite BAJ page in my Bible so far.  I used the color challenge colors on Splitcoaststampers.com to inspire me.  I wrote the entire Psalm 23 in her hair and face.  It is short so it fit.  It also fit my mood perfect. God is good.

For years, I had never heard of Dina Wakley.  Then a new member of Splitcoaststampers.com started posting some ATCs using her stamps and scribble sticks.  She loves Dina Wakley.  I sent Dina an email and told her to check out the ATCs (I was feeling brave that day or something because I don't know her or anything).  Dina actually did join Splitcoast and comment on all her creations.  I immediately went and bought some Dina Wakley scribble sticks, images and tissue papers.  What a sweet girl.  Now my dream is to go to one of her classes.

Thanks for visiting and making it this far in my post.

Many hugz,

Nancy

Flowers and Hearts

I was gifted a napkin that a friend had been saving on her desk for several years.  When she gave it to me, I knew it would make a wonderful BAJ page.  

The napkin had an antique colored background.  So I had to antique my whole page with some watercolors and distress inks.

For my layout, I cased THIS card by Monique (niki1 on Splitcoaststampers.com).  I used her singular inside flower to inspire my flowers on the right.  She had some sparkle in her flowers so I added some gold beads to some of the flower insides and some perfect pearls on all yellow spots on the flowers. I also added some glaze touches and used the glaze pen to do the bible verse.  I found my stipple brush and also did some stippling. 

Psalm 32 - the Psalm of forgiveness.  David understood God's forgiveness is what gives us joy and the chance to feel fresh and new every time we pray.  It is a beautiful feeling.

I also did another page this weekend. It was started as an Ink/Spray/Smash bg except I used watercolor instead of ink.  Next I splattered on some left over watercolor and then stenciled on some pink ink.  The words were done with a green marker outlined in black glaze pen. It was a bit bright next to my antiqued page above so I added a bit more yellow and stippled on some white paint.

Psalm 33 is about praising the Lord and it has some beautiful words.  Since this month is all about love, I pulled out the words - May your love rest on us.  I added in a few hearts.  I am linking this up to the **Art*Journal*Journey* February Hearts challenge.

Hugz,

Nancy

Faithful Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

I finished up my BAJ page on Psalm 25.  A lovely Psalm about dependance on the Lord, His strength, His compassion, His protection, and His love.  Perfect for Valentine's Day.

I started my page with a saved napkin from Tuesday night's Bunco.  I won little Bunco and had some of the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted.  My Sister is a wonderful cook, but she topped herself that night.  The hearts are so cute and I love using napkins on my BAJ pages - so easy and the look is awesome.  I then added a Dina Wakley decopage girl but I altered her to look a bit more like me (if I didn't dye my hair and had a few less wrinkles).  Stenciled on a few numbers and a corner, wrote out some words and it was done.

Showing this on **Art*Journal*Journey* hearts theme for Feb.

I also wanted to share my cute little Valentine's Day frog card that I shared on the DRS Designs blog yesterday.  The background is an inky mop up of distress oxides.  Added some stenciled letters and the Love You More greeting from DRS.  The star is the pink frog though.  I stamped the DRS Frog on a Log and colored her/him up with colored pencils.

The little flower and heart add to the Valentine's Theme.  This is going to my oldest daughter with her new weighted blanket I got her for Valentine's Day.  We have always said "I love you more" to each other so I know she will love this.

Hope your day is special and you get lots of candy and other treats.  We are celebrating big at work today - breakfast with fruit and breakfast burritos for Feb birthdays, pizza for lunch to celebrate a big accomplishment, and a giant candy and sweets table to celebrate Valentines. Just what a dieting girl needs!

Hugz,

Nancy

A Lion in the Thicket!

Psalms 10 - God's Justice - there is some awesome poetry here!

I was inspired by the words "the wicked one" and "he lurks in the secret like a lion in the thicket."  Lots of very visual words too like dragging with a net in the hidden places.  I think David was concerned about his enemies who were hunting him down and attacking his people, but this could also apply to the evil tendancies we have inside us (greed, selfishness), the addictive powers of money and materialism or drugs or so many other things.

I drew my lion/man with a journaling pen, colored him up with colored pencils and watercolor pencils, wrote out some of the verses, did a bit of water coloring around the words and lion, and then I stenciled on some animal prints.  Added in some doodle stamps and a couple of stamped spiders as well.  Super fun page to do.

I am entering this in the Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge#57 - Anything Goes Mixed Media.  I have colored pencil, water colors, water color pencil, marker pen, and distress ink, on my page.  I found this new challenge on Jo's blog, Let's Art Journal.  Jo has so inspired me in the last few weeks - I am so glad I found her blog. 

Thanks again for stopping by!

Hugz and hope your weekend is awesome.

Nancy

Bunny Fun!

I have been doing so much art journaling that it seemed strange to do a card!  I had to make a bunny card as I just got some new to me Tim Holtz bunny dies.  I received an Amazon gift card and purchased these bunnies and the Distress Oxide ink I used for the Ink/Spray/Smash background on this one.  

Aren't these bunnies cute?  There are three different bunnies in the set, but I like these two the best.  I didn't have time to go to Hobby Lobby and get the right sized pom poms so I bought some quickly at Walmart and cut them down.   The greeting is the DRS Designs Happy Tails To You Greeting.  It is $4 unmounted in the store (you can get it mounted too).  

Hubby actually likes this one, but said he was sure hoping I didn't want to mail it or it would cost extra. Like I care (LOL).

Thanks for dropping by.  Hugz,

Nancy

BAJ Water and Flowers

Sometimes you just need a little push to really get going on a project or hobby.  The **ART*JOURNAL*JOURNEY* group has really inspired me.  So many great journaling artists, great ideas, and a lot of encouraging people.  I wish I would have found them years ago - I know I would be so much better in my BAJ if I had.

As I mentioned in my last post, this month's theme is hearts.  I have a page to share today that has subtle hearts.  See if you can find them all (there are 8).  The page is Psalm 18 - a Psalm of Deliverence.  The words in this Psalm are so comforting.  I needed to hear them.  I had a lot of delivering the last year.  The biggest thing was some serious health problems both hubby and I were suffering from before and at the start of 2019.  Today we are healthier than we were the last 7 years. I could go on and on, but that is for another day.

The background is Ink/Spray/Smash.  The fish, coral and seahorses are from the By The Tide SU! stamp set (one of my favorites).  The oars and broken boat are from a die set I got off Amazon and it finally came yesterday.

I have another page to share that I did last week.  I used an old SU! set (circa 2004).  I stamped them in my BJ with some tea stain distress ink and then colored them in with various water color pencils. I wrote in my favorite verses from this Psalm and a few key words.  I think this is my favorite page I have done in the last few weeks.

Thanks for dropping by!  I really appreciate it.

Hugz,

Nancy