The Nifty Pixel - The Plus Side Layout

Hello all,

Em Stafrace over at The Nifty Pixel has a competition happening. She is offering these fabulous journal cards and elements as a freebie to use as part of the competition (which closes February 15):



They can either be printed and used in a traditional paper layout or Pocket Page as Em did HERE, or they can be used in a digital layout as I have done:

For more details about the competition, please head over to HERE (at the end of the post).

This layout also uses some new releases from The Nifty Pixel, known as part of The Nifty Tool Kit. You can head over to the The Nifty Pixel blog for more information, or purchase them from ScrapStacks HERE.  Below is a look at the fabulous must haves:

Thank you for coming by today. 

I appreciate your support and any kind words you may care to leave.

Hoping you are having a great day!

Art Journal Page - The Documented Life - Wk 3

Hello all, 

This last week over at The Documented Life, the Art Journal challenge was:

The Colour Wheel

and the Journal Prompt:

 "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way . . ." 

Georgia O’Keeffe

My interpretation:

I used a Jane Daveport stencil for the face on some scrapbook ledger paper.  The flowers and colour wheel come from Rebecca McMeen's digital kits, Bentley and Painterly, which I collaged together in PSE before printing (bit of guess work required for the size etc, but glad it worked out okay). 

It started life like this:

I had gessoed all over the page, added some texture paste through some stencils and waited for it to dry. Then using a mixture of sprays and acrylic paints, added my colours.

Stamping over the paint once dry.

I drew a few circles before painting over the whole page in blue acrylic paint (Jo Sonya - Prussion Blue Hue, one of my favourite colours), and adding my collage and details. A close-up photo:

And that's it! The next challenge is up. Go HERE for more details about this challenge, or HERE for more details about The Documented Life.

Thank you for coming by. Hoping your weekend is a productive and happy one!

The Nifty Pixel - Dreams Come True

Hello everyone,

It's an exciting day today. I am absolutely thrilled for the amazing Em Stafrace of The Nifty Pixel and Page Drafts Sketches, as she is opening shop today. YAY! Her shop is at Srap Stacks, which is also having their opening today, celebrating with 40% off all goods. There are competitions and freebies, be sure to check it all out at The Nifty Pixel, and at Scrap Stacks.

The first collection for The Nifty Pixel that Em has designed, is a mix of vintage and modern with a splash of bling. Totally gorgeous:

[click on the picture of the kit to be taken to the store]

And this is what I created:

This layout is one of my eldest daughter and myself on her 9th birthday. I very rarely have photos of myself, but attempted a selfie for such a special occasion.

YOU & ME

Supplies: The Nifty Pixel | Dreams Come True Digital Kit; Page Drafts Template | Valentine.

NB: The hearts are part of the digital template I used, not part of the kit.

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This layout features my grandmother in the sepia photo, at the age of 17. She was a beautiful, funny and strong woman who experienced a lot of hardship. She loved roses and always dressed beautifully. This kit was perfect for her.

1931

Supplies: The Nifty Pixel | Dreams Come True Digital Kit

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My beautiful daughter. Now nine.

Dream Big

Supplies: The Nifty Pixel | Dreams Come True Digital Kit; Page Drafts Template | 26.5

NB: The butterflies are part of the template, not the digital kit.

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The Nifty Pixel has also released a bundle of templates, Flag A Bunting, Vol 1, available HERE.

[click on the picture of the kit to be taken to the store]

My layout, featuring my youngest daughter and her handicraft work:

Right Now

Supplies: The Nifty Pixel | Page Drafts Template 1-4; Just Jaimee | The Storyteller January 2015.

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And for more inspiration using the templates, please visit The Nifty Pixel blog.

Even if you don't do digital, Em has showed a great use of using digital journal cards on the Nifty blog, along with a freebie. Be sure to check it out HERE (it's towards the end of the blog post). In the course of time, we'll be showing some more uses of using digital goods on a paper-based layout.

Thank you for coming by, and I hope you all have a wonderful, creative weekend. And for all the Australians - enjoy Australia Day!

Art Journal Page - The Documented Life - Wk2

Hello all,

Today I am sharing my week 2 art journal page for,  The Documented Life. The challenge this last week was to use gesso. I love gesso, White, black and clear, I use it all.  There was also a journal prompt, 'The beginning is always today', but I forgot about that as I was just enjoying playing with gesso.

Anyhow, my page:

I used gesso as a background cover and with a stencil, then coloured it with a mixture of walnut stain and black gesso. I used white gesso again around my angel, and again for splatters.

The angel (head, body, arms and wings) is from Rebecca McMeen's digital kit, 'Milla'. I printed it, along with some of the paper on my inkjet printer using 120gm paper, then sprayed fixative over it before using Liquitex Matte Medium. This way, the colours don't run.

The large flower is a Hero Arts digital stamp I bought when I first started out doing digital work. I printed it on ordinary copy paper, brushed it with matte medium, and then coloured it with a combination of paints and pencil. I also used a few rub-ons. This was an experiment in seeing what works, how it reacts and how it sits on a bumpy surface.

I was also inspired by Jane Daveport's mini art lesson for 'gesso' which can be purchased HERE.

A couple of close-ups (I love the colour and texture of her skirt):

Thank you for coming by. The next challenge is due out today. Pop over HERE to check, if interested.

ATC's - Digital

Hello everyone,

Today I'm sharing some digital ATC's I've done over the last few months for monthly challenges held by a fabulous digital designer duo, Sissy Sparrows. About six months ago, they started their own forum to hold their challenges, I have entered all bar one.

These are my ATC's to date:

September

Theme: Oh Deer

October

Theme: Hearts A Mess

December

Theme: Hope

January 2015

Theme: Self

Hope you are all having a fabulous day!

Thanks for coming by.

Art Journal Page - The Documented Life

Hello all,

I have a number of art journal books. They are all empty, full of blank pages that every now and again, I have the thought of making a mark on one of them. But it doesn't happen. That is, until now. In the past, the few pages I have done are all on pages I have torn from a paper pad. But I came across this art journal project via Roben Marie Smith: The Documented Life Project - The Journal, by Art to the 5th Academy.  It's a year long project, with prompts being released every week and loads of inspiration from the collaborative group that heads it. As a bonus for me, they are using the Dylusions Journal, one of the journals I've had sitting on my bookshelf for many months. YAY!

So for the first week, the Art Challenge was to use book paper, and the Journal Prompt, 'Be Your Own Goal Keeper'. The challenge and details are posted HERE.

This is what I did:

To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing.

I took a few snaps of my beginning process, I added some die-cut pieces from my stash on top of my book paper:

As you can see, I made a number of layers, using gesso after each layer of paint. I was just playing and getting comfortable with making marks in my blank journal which is the only reason I happened to do a number of layers - procrastinating about doing something more definitive.

Some of the paper for collage I used was from Roben Marie Smith and Rae Missigman, downloadable from their respective Etsy stores. The other paper, was left over Gelli printing bits in my stash that I had done.

I didn't list my goals, but just wrote some words around the page that I want to be conscious of during the year. Reminders.

The next journal prompt comes out on January 10. Be sure to go HERE for more info.

Thank you for coming by, and lasting this long on my unusually long and wordy post.

I'll leave you with some close-ups:

Hoping you are all having a wonderful day!

The Nifty Pixel - The Nifty Gals Extravaganza V.1 - Sketch Release

HAPPY NEW YEAR

to all!

I hope everyone had a fabulous time entering 2015 and looking forward to a wonderful year ahead.

The new year also brings some changes with regard to Page Drafts and the sketches released.

The amazing Em Stafrace who designs all the sketches and heads Page Drafts has some exciting news. Please head over HERE to read all about it.

Today is the reveal of the January sketches. But also, for those of you who may be thinking they would like to try to do a digital layout, or for those who already know how, Em has also released the digital templates this month to use for FREE! See all the details HERE to grab yours!

The sketches this month:

 

Template #38.5

Template #38.3

& then the same template rotated

for a 2 page layout

To see all the work from the Creative Team for The Nifty Pixels, please head over HERE for loads of inspiration.

Thank you for coming by.