Studio 12 at Polkadoodles- a Christmas project....

OK I'm not usually this organised,  I wanted to find ways to use the fab digi papers on the new Studio 12 Christmas CD.

Remember how banners were really "in" this summer for the Jubilee? Well I thought a Christmas banner might look kind cool too! I used a pre-cut template, but it's easy enough to cut your own.

The papers are downloaded from the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 Gingerbread Twist CD- I'm a sucker for polka dots, so they were first choice, and the other papers co-ordinated so well I was spoilt for choice. I just tore sections out and stuck them on- easy peasy!

The NOEL letters were roughly torn out and inked with Distress ink.

I added lots of gems and dew drops, glitter and ribbon to embellish and make it SPARKLE!!!

For more Studio 12 inspiration, head over to the blog!

Studio 12 by Polkadoodles- there's goodies up for grabs!

For this Studio 12 by Polkadoodles DT piece, I've made a couple of art journal pages, using the Picknix collection Volume 1.  I wanted to show that art journal pages can be made using anything! I went for a colour theme and chose digi papers and elements from the CDs that fitted in with my theme.

They're all about my beautiful daughter, who got up on stage on holiday and sang a song in front of a packed room. As she's always been extremely shy, it was a huge break through, and worthy of commemoration in my journal!

I do like the natural elements on this CD, there are lots of drawn items which are lovely, but sometimes, especially in an art journal, you want a photograph of something real to tat about with!

I'm entering this into the Allsorts challenge - Anything but square.

A fern ATC

Been a while since I showed you an ATC I've made! 

This one is made with a printed out fern from the Picknix Studio 12 CD. I wanted to show that you can just go simple and bright and get a lovely effect. I used Portfolio oil pastels and drawing pens to colour and decorate it. I do love me a bit of bright!

Choices, choices...... Studio 12 at Polkadoodles

Here's my latest Studio 12 at Polkadoodles DT project, another page in one of my smaller journals.

The fab signpost from the Picknix CD is a real find for me. This one is quite large- printed onto card and sketchily coloured with fineliner pens. The background is just swiped of Distress Ink pads straight onto the page.

I doodle with a black drawing pen and just go for it right onto the page, after all, if it all goes wrong,  I can always colour it in, right?

So.........my word's of journalling wisdom today? Well, the gist of it is that if you have a choice to make, weigh up the options and then go for it, there's no prizes for being timid in this world!...... and if it all seems to be too much, just keep swimming- it worked for Nemo!

I'm loving the Olympics- hence the colour scheme! Particular favourites are the swimming, the road and track cycling and the athletics of course- did anyone else do the Mobot with Mo Farah? Don't knwo what I'll do when it ends.......

Studio 12 from Polkadoodles- a giveaway

It's giveaway time over on the Studio 12 from Polkadoodles blog. It is a very easy one to enter..... you need to follow the blog, put a note about the Studio 12 blog on a post or in your sidebar and leave a comment on the giveaway post.

I came across this gorgeous green countryside image on the Picknix CD, and it reminded me of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. I'm already obsessed, I lurve the Olympics, and I enjoyed the opening ceremony immensely. For me, it was a slice of what it feels like to be British, a little bit tongue in cheek, self-deprecating, but very proud to be part of our country. So, I made a journal page to celebrate!

The red and blue swipes are Distress Ink pads- Festive berries and Salty ocean. The clouds have doodled strings, to echo the ones that were led round the Olympic stadium. The green hills and tree have flags made from sections of the fab measuring tape image. I did a little bit of journalling, but not much as I wanted it to stay quite open and clean.

Go Team GB!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Secret Crafter Saturday challenge- Bright and cheerful

Crafts and Me challenge- Anything goes

Try it on Tuesday- So very British

Polkadot flowers for Studio 12

Time to share my latest DT piece for Studio 12 at Polkadoodles.

OK, bit of an admission here- this gorgeous spotty paper is my first ever digital paper print off! Well, you know how it is, pretty as it was, I still had to get my inky mitts all over it- I blended a couple of colours of distress inks round the edges and then stamped lots of circles on- I just use a pen top and a glue stick top- plus some splodges and lines made with the edge of the inkpad lid for good measure. I'm a big believer in adding your own personal touch to things, and that's what Studio 12 is all about!

The bunting was cut out and the colours toned down a little bit with more Antique Linen Distress Ink blending, then stuck on- I redrew the line they're hanging off with a black gel pen. The little pearls give a bit of shine and texture without being too bling.

Finally a spot of doodling for flower stems and a border. I'm really pleased with my first printed out paper! Everything came from the Picknix CD.

Flowers, flowers, flowers..... at Studio 12

Today I want to show you all a card that occurred to me when I saw the wooden fence image on the Picknix CD. I've been looking for a good fence for aaagees. So versatile!

I printed the fence out twice and overlapped them, so that they fit the 6x6" kraft card blank, and coloured it with watercolour pencils- I love watercolouring, the pencils are so forgiving!!! I used 2 colours of brown and a dark grey to add some shadowing. 

This card is a bit of an ode to recycling- the blue strips are from a colour catcher sheet from the laundry- I have a blue top that keeps on running! I always have a couple of flower and leaf punches  on my desk and I punch any scraps of coloured paper instead of throwing them away, so I have a big pot of flowers ready to make summery cards! 

I added green and blue glitter glue, and some fab little doodle dewdrops for flower centres. These are really easy to use, I just stuck them on with some clear adhesive, and they give the card an extra bit of shine and texture.

Studio 12......a competition

OOoh, first of the month. that means a competition over at the studio12 blog.

Here's my DT project to help celebrate! I think I've said before that I'm a bit weird about bookmarks (actually I think I could have stopped at I'm a bit weird, ha ha ha.....). I have a new one for pretty much every book I buy and it stays in the book, like a little flat friend.

Soooooo, new book. Actually several new books. Which means new bookmarks......

I love the signpost on the Picknix CD, just looked like it was pointing out my page......

Lots of doodling, sort of reminded me of layers of soil and rock under the ground. The background is a scrap left over from another project, and it's sprayed with cosmic shimmer mists. I used watercolour pencils on the sign and black and white pens to doodle.

Right, so off you pop to the Studio12 blog, check out what the rest of my team mates have been doing and see what the competition is..... it's my first one, so I have no idea how it all works!!!

Studio 12 for Polkadoodles- my first DT project

Oooooh, here's my bit of good news for the month! The lovely Nikky Hall from Polkadoodles has invited me to join her new Design Team for her spanking new Studio 12 range. Lucky me eh? Now I know what some of you will be thinking- that's a digital range- and yes, tis true, I'm working with the Picknix CD, but Nikky has designed it to fit in with the arty, inky, messy crafting stuff I know and love. Hybrid crafting. So.......worth a try, eh?

First project- an art journal page.

I used one of the gorgeous ferns from the Garden kit in the Picknix collection, and enlarged it to fill the length of an A4 white card sheet.

I sprayed the whole fern with lime green and yellow inks- you don't have to be at all perfect about it, any extra splodges outside the lines will be covered up. When it was dry, I painted masking fluid onto the leaves and stem- the masking fluid dries as a rubbery coating and protects what's underneath it.

I then sprayed orange, red and black inks over the top, covering everything, including the masked off leaves. It needed a bit more texture, so I added some torn pages from an old telephone directory and white tissue paper, and sponged through some sequin waste with ink from red, black and white inkpads. 

Now it's time for the magic! Using clean fingers, I gently rubbed the masking fluid, it peeled off to reveal the green leaves underneath. The final touch was the doodling and journalling- the quote is from a film from my teenage years- anyone else remember Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

My idea was to bring some digital elements into my everyday messy crafting. That's what hybrid crafting's all about for me!!!