Inspiration post at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, I have an Inspiration post over at Stamps and Stencils today, please hop across to check out some of the quick cards I've been making. Ruth x

Grungy Christmas at PaperArtsy....

Hi everyone, I'm delighted to say I have a post this evening over on the PaperArtsy blog, the current challenge topic is 'foiling'  I love foiling and I've been playing with some of Seth Apter's new stamps and created some Christmas cards with a grungy twist! Hop across for all the details and also click on the foiling link for lots of inspiration. Here's a sneaky peek...

Hope you enjoy. Ruth xx

Remember, remember the 5th of November...at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, time for our November challenge over at Stamps and Stencils, hosted by the lovely and talented Toni. Here's what Toni wants us to do.

I've got a 'bonfire night' challenge for you this month. As a child, I used to love bonfire night. My dad would come home from work with a box of fireworks and packets of sparklers for us and we couldn't wait to get outside and enjoy the show! I'd love to see your art works based on fire and fireworks. Think bursts of colour. Let rip with the colour sprays, glitter, and paints. Let's have a bit of fun and brighten up these dark days with COLOUR ! Just remember it must be mixed media and include stamps or stencils or even both.

Now I haven't gone down a traditional route and stuck strictly to the fireworks brief but I have been inspired by the colours and splashes of brightness against a dark sky that you get with fireworks and created some journal pages using bright...and I mean BRIGHT colours.

 I used black gesso to cover some white pages and I was certainly impressed with the new Pebeo black gesso I had bought, great coverage! I wanted the colours to pop against the night sky.

I then used gelli printed deli paper to cover the pages.

I stuck to pinks, purples, orange and a touch of turquoise...the wrinkles add texture.

More printed paper and fluorescent and pearlescent paint. I retrieved my foam stamps that looked like a Catherine wheel, but in the end I didn't use them...that's the joy of going with the flow on an art journal page. Layering up.

Finger painting is always great fun.

I punched out circles of colour to add even more contrast.

One of my most used stencils is a joggles one and I think it looks like fireworks exploding.

Hopefully you can see all the layers building...and hopefully reminiscent of fireworks exploding in colour.

Having added all this colour I now needed to rein it in and create some contrast with black...

and white.

I painted some blocks of black so I could add more contrast and add some words. Now the words have nothing to do with bonfire night unless you need to brave on Bonfire night! The words of Dina Wakley seemed appropriate for me personally at the moment, be brave, be strong, but most of all...be kind. A little kindness can go a long way in this world...and on that note I wish you a happy crafting time and hope you'll all join in and be inspired by the Design Teams fabulous creations.

Ruth xx