Vintage style page dividers

 I have been working on some Vintage tabbed inserts for a vintage journal that I want to make this year. I have been making all sorts of pockets and tabs to add to it.

I have a lot of card that I like to use up for these sort of things. I reuse all sorts of card and cardboard, once it is covered you would not know anyway. To start for this cut any size you like as it is going to get covered in book paper. So on my card I went around the edge with the Helmar Premium Craft Glue then pressed it onto my book paper. Then I trimmed with my scissors around the edge. I did the same with the other side but this time it was just coffee stained paper I used. I used this so I could have it blank to journal on. Then on top of the book paper I added some Tim Holtz washi tape to just get a start on some collage.

Next I selected some ephemera that I have collected. I have a small box I collect things I like the look of. This is sometimes just scrapbook papers that I cut down to fit in the box. I find it easier to use when I look at smaller pieces. I cut it to the size I wanted and then went around all the pieces with my blending tool and my distress ink.

I place the pieces on to the background, then take a photo. This way when I remove them to glue them I have a reference of were I had them. Often it is in layers so a photo really helps.

So starting with the bottom layers I added the Helmar Premium Craft Glue smoothing out with the tip of the bottle. I like that if you pop too much on you can just rub off the excess with your finger.

I wanted a little pocket on each of them so I cut some cardstock in a triangle and just glued with the Helmar Premium Craft Glue along the bottom and side edge. That makes a lovely little tuck spot to add a tag or some tickets.

To add a tab at the top or side I use a die and run it through my bigshot die cutter. I use this die a lot it is one of my favourites. I always do the 2 of them and add the small one to my stash for later. Just fold in half and burnish with a bone folder. Then I use the distress in and blending tool around the edges. Pop some of the Helmar Premium Craft Glue around the edges and in the middle and press on to your project were you want it. I think they are a cute addition. I often add numbers or pop a eyelet in so I can use a bulb pin and trinket.

I really enjoy layering ephemera and collaging it all onto scrap card to make something. So hope you have a go and use your ephemera collection.

Have a great day
Vicki-Ann :)

Letter Journals...

Thought I would put a few of the pages from the Letter journals that I have been working on in the last few months and pop around and say hi over at Paint Party Friday  Have you had a look at all the amazing art that is posted over there.. No!! Well follow the link and have a look around. Everyone is welcome and we love seeing what everyone is up to during the last week. 

I had fun on these black pages at first I was a bit tricked then when I thought about how well the signo white pen works on black I just had fun doing lots of dangles.

Stamped on paper with my alphabet stamps and cut and pasted. 

Always fun doing circles. Scribbled words around them. 

More dangles added some Gelli plate printed hearts. I wanted to play with some Kaisercraft Die cuts. So I put them over the background and then painted and blended them in. 

All paint used was Decoart Americana Acrylics, they come in some fabulous colours and such fun to use. 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Collage fun.

So I often get asked what do you do with the ICAD cards when you are finished with them. Well I like to copy them on my printer for collage. Such fun images to go in my collage art journals. I make the journals out of watercolour paper and have them for the size that they fit in my fauxdori. They are the Travelers notebook size.  I am in The Artstronauts Club it is fabulous for collage. Teesha is very generous with her wonderful collage sheets and I love cutting and piecing pieces together to make something new. 

Thought I would show a bit of a progress shot in the picture below. 

I got a bit stuck with this one and it was a few weeks before I came back to it and finished it off with the bird in the bottom left corner and the writing. More dots and lines a few more trees and it filled that big spot that at the time I had no idea what to do with. 

It was a fun page and I have done another one that I will pop on my blog in the coming days,.

 

This is my Fauxdori that I made out of my old leather handbag. I just love the soft leather on this and I am glad I was able to reuse the leather. Its great to take with me in my handbag and slot different notebooks into as I need them. 

Linking this up with Paint Party Friday. Hi everyone.

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Wood Art Bookmarks.

For more details, photos and a list of items used check out the Helmar Creative Team page.

I have been raiding our wood box again.  We have a wood fire and we get wood off cuts from a friend who builds staircases. When the wood gets inside I am always finding bits that I want to paint on. This time it was these thin strips of wood.
They are approx 8 3/4 inches, (22 cm) length by 1 inch, (2 1/2 cm) wide. They are quite thin ranging from about 2 mm.

I sanded the edges first and then it was just a layer of DecoArt Media Gesso and I was ready to let my imagine take over as to what to put on them.

I painted a tree for the background of the owls.  Then I drew 3 owls on book paper and painted the inside, cut them out and used my Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste to glue them on the branches. Then when this was dry I drew the faces and outlined the owls.

I painted the cat and flowers with DecoArt Americana paints adding a little bit of stenciling with a TCW stencil for interest on the background.

For the third one I painted the background then used my Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste to glue some half circles of book paper on. Then I doodled around the book paper to make flowers.  I filled in the petals with white Gesso.

I then got the fan brush out and did splatters (fun stuff) with watered down white Gesso on 2 and added black Gesso splatters to the flowers.
I then sealed them all with 2 coats of  Helmar Crystal Kote Matte Spray this keeps them sealed and protected from fading, yellowing and dust.
I think this project would work well with those wooden paint stirrers too.

Linking this up with Paint Party Friday. Hi everyone.. :)

Have a great day
Vicki-Ann :)

#41 to #50 of the Index Card A Day Challenge.

I have been doing the Daisy Yellow Index card challenge. This is my third year and I really enjoy the challenge of doing a small index card art every day for the months of June and July.  Here are numbers 41 to 50 of my Index cards to show on my blog. If you would like to follow me on Instagram at @sandybeachart I have been putting them up on there daily. 

#41 Off prompt

I started drawing robots and then I just kept going back to drawing them for a while.

#42 Off prompt

#43 Off prompt

#44 Rainbow making machine

#45 Play on Words

#46 Off Prompt

Watercolor blending practice in some circles. 

#47 Off prompt

#48 Off Prompt

Practicing faces with watercolours. I like the heart on her face. 

#49 Off Prompt

DecoArt Acrylic paints. 

#50 Off Prompt

Strips of left over collage. 

So looking back I really just did my own thing in this lot of Index cards. There was only 2 prompts used in this block of 10 index cards. Last 10 I will pop on the blog next week.

Linking this up at Paint Party Friday. 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Recycled art...

I thought I would post what I did the last few days. I had this huge piece of card that was going into the recycle bin and thought I would have some fun with collage and painting on it. I am not sure what it is going to turn into yet but I sure had fun adding all the circles, arrows and dashes.

First I covered the whole thing with collage with my Helmar Decoupage glue, then let it dry overnight. Today I just grabbed some of my favourite coloured DecoArt paints and filled it all in with random lines and circles. Lots of doodling and dots with pens. Had to finish off and add some splatters at the end.

So just a quick post adding a bit of colour to your day.

Have a great day
Vicki-Ann :)

Closer...

Fun collage and layering today.  I got 2 new stencils so they had to go in my art journal.  I have been after that Balzer Designs Mini tiny circle one for a while. I just love the way it looks. Think there is something about circles and splatters yep, I know, I am hooked on stencils.  

Started off with DecoArt Media Line Gesso on both pages. Then I used the DecoArt Americana Desert Turquoise and the Margarita coloured paints and painted that on with a paint brush, blending together with a bit of Blue Mist here and there. Then it was stencil time and used the Tim Holtz Argyle stencil with the Blue Mist paint and a makeup sponge. I very lightly went over the background on both pages, leaving some spots empty.  I then grabbed the Balzer designs Mini Tiny circle stencil and the Lamp black paint. Just randomly stenciled here and there. Then it was time for a focal point. Some collage today. So I found this great quote in amongst my stash of papers from Kaisercraft and painted some book papers to match my background. I went around all the papers with Tim Holtz distress ink in Tea Dye adding a layer of hessian and a piece of a hexagon die cut, torn into pieces. I used Helmars Tacky craft glue to piece them together let them dry thoroughly and then sewed around the quote and in random places. I then used more Helmars Tacky craft glue and stuck them down in my Moleskine art journal.  To finish off I covered my collage elements with scrap paper and used some watered down Gesso and a fan brush to add white splatters. I always think it ties it all together nicely at the end. Then with my round blending tool and black momento ink I went around the edges of the pages. That's it, all done for another double page spread. I really like the way these colours blend and the way the Argyle stencil in the Blue Mist used both in the background and through the stencil looks so like it is supposed to be there.

I am linking this up with Balzer Designs, Art Journal every day. 

Have a great day 
Sandy :)

Ditto Project # 2...

Using my Travelers notebook art journal (it has watercolour paper). Today I set out to do more of the ditto project from Teesha Moore. Teesha gave us some collage in The Artstronauts Club and asked us all to use the same pieces of collage, do pen work and see what we all come up with. There is 5 pages and this is the second one that I chose to do.  I used DecoArt Americana in Wisteria. I blended it on with a baby wipe on the background just to give me colour. I changed the hair on the person on the left. My printer played up and put lines all through the red that was supposed to be there. So I replaced it with this bit of collage and then that inspired me to go all black and white. I added butterfly wings but that was the only changes I made.. All the rest is just doodling and adding words. Lots of spots and swirls they were fun. I liked the flowers and the way I could pop the words in between the lines. I enjoyed kind of anchoring my collage together with the web like lines and intertwining them. That kept me busy while I was listening to music this afternoon. I am looking forward to doing the next set of collage.

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Ditto Project...

Teesha Moore last week gave us some collage in  The Artstronauts Club. Teesha asked us all to use the same pieces of collage, do pen work and see what we all come up with. There is 3 pages and this is the first one that I chose to do. Will be fun to see everyone's variations of the same thing. I popped another piece of collage at the bottom on the right and then pretty much doodled over the whole thing. But I did like the pattern and then that kind of went over the whole thing. You just never know what you are going to end up with when you start to doodle. I really like the freedom and the relaxation of it all. I was going to do drips at the top on the left but they kind of turned into those pod, reed kind of things. I used DecoArt paints with a baby wipe on the background just to give me colour. I bought some pan pastels and I used the blue and pink for shading. That will take some practice. I also used coloured pencils. Lots of spots, I kind of like spots can you tell. 

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Circles...

Well thought I would make some pretty file folders for me to use. As why not have them pretty to hold my papers in.. So now I have a lovely bright file folder all in my favourite colours with lots of circles. Yep think I have an addiction to these colours and doing circles. I am also really liking that little triangle stamp. Wonder how long I have had that and now it is on everything. 


First I collaged with some random left over papers that were on my desk. When it was finished I sewed all around it then one end as I wanted to have it so that I can keep it on my desk and not have everything fall out. Of course when I went to sew it my thread kept breaking.. Think I threaded my machine about 6 times till I figured out what the problem was.. The bobbin thread was running out and it wasn't getting the tension. So just swapped it out to white because I thought it was the thread.. So its black and white thread hey it all adds to it in the end.. 
I used the DecoArt Americana Acrylics in
Purple Pizzaz
Vivid Violet
Wisteria
Sea Breeze
and of course Black and Snow for splashes with the fan brush. 
I used a few different stencils today spots, triangles and the Andy Skinner Code Breaker with Black.

So day 19 of the #90daysofblogging accomplished. If you would like to pop over and see what the others joining in on this challenge are up to today.. 

Here are the links...
Tamiko McCurry
Donna Lueders
Sandee Setliff
Sharon Estes
Yvonne Armatage Gebauer 

Have a great day

Sandy :) 

Random art...

I just thought I would have a bit of a play with some stuff I have had sitting around unfinished. Thought I would add a few more layers and see where it went after that. I used collage, stamps and some DecoArt Americana Acrylics. These are on big Index cards so bit of a warm up for Index Card A Day that starts on June 1st. Have not heard of Index Card a day? Get all the details about it at the Daisy Yellow blog. Tammy runs it and we get a prompt every day. All you use is index cards and any Art supplies you have. You can do anything you like on the index cards, you don't even have to follow the prompts. The point is to do ART every day from June 1st to July 31. Awesome fun to do.. I did every day last year and it was a eyeopener for me. It was the first time I realised that you know what.. I can draw!! Yep I was always one of the people who thought I couldn't. Since then I sketch something just about every day.. Crazy characters are my favourites to do. Oh and Zendangles of course. 

So come along and join in the fun because that is all it is just pure fun. 

Hope to see you there. 

So day 18 of the #90daysofblogging accomplished. If you would like to pop over and see what the others joining in on this challenge are up to today.. 
Here are the links...
Tamiko McCurry
Donna Lueders
Sandee Setliff
Sharon Estes
Yvonne Armatage Gebauer 

Have a great day

Sandy :) 

Helmar

Hi all a sneak peek of my Design Team project over at Helmar today. Pop over to the Helmar blog post for all the details and see where this little guy ended up. 

I had a lot of fun doing this project.. It took me a lot longer to do than what I had anticipated. Lots of detailed cutting up of pieces and doodling. I have made things like this before but never with Helmar glue. They have fallen apart and I have never attempted to make them for ages. It is so disappointing when you just cant get them to stick properly. I tell you what though, I am so impressed with the way the Helmar products worked, it is so rock solid. There is no way this is falling apart. This will be the first of many of these desk caddy's that I make.  

The Helmar products used in this project where
 Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste,
 Helmars 450 quick Dry Adhesive
 and the Crystal Kote Matte Spray they all worked a treat..

Have a great day 

Sandy :) 

aka Vicki-Ann :)

Books...

I have been on a bit of a splurge looking for books that I can use in my collage.. Thought I would do a bit on what I have found for inspiration for drawing and just for use as collage fodder.. I know some people will be going oh no you cant do that to a perfectly good book.  My friend was so horrified when I used one book by her favourite author in my collage pieces.. That book has gone on everything for over a year now and it still has a few pages left.  It has great paper in it. 

Yep Star Wars you say? Well last year in ICAD I drew R2D2 and found it was great to draw robots and this has lots of robots and spaceships for reference for drawing. 

This is a fabulous book on Dragons I so want to have a go at drawing some dragons in my sketchbook.  I love the embossed cover it shines and has so much texture. Might do one of those pencil rubbings of it. This is one I think I would have trouble ripping up. So to the reference shelf it goes.

This has the cutest little drawings of people and food in it and is quite hilarious to read the descriptions of the cooking utensils and food. 

Eg. G for Gadget...Any mechanical device that performs a kitchen task in one-twentieth the time it takes to find it.

After folding the washing the other week and flicking the towels as I was folding them.. Well a spider landed on my neck and bit me twice, it was so darn quick.. Big red lump and a rash developed but nothing else thanks to the advice of taking a antihistamine tablet from the chemist.. Had to keep an eye on it to make sure it did not get infected. But it was just fine in 24 hours.  So think I will have a lot of joy in ripping this one up to pieces.. Will be very cool legs for some of my collages.. 

So my $4 was well spent I thought.  I was there for ages looking through all the books. It was an everything on this table $1 sale, so thought what a bargain.

So day 6 of the #90daysofblogging accomplished. If you would like to pop over and see what the others joining in on this challenge are up to today.. 
Here are the links...
Tamiko McCurry
Donna Lueders
Sandee Setliff
Sharon Estes
Yvonne Armatage Gebauer 

Have a great day

Sandy :) 

Art is...

Nothing better than when I get to just play in my Art Journal.. When I made my other little flip out journal. I had this one open to rub off the DecoArt Andy Skinner code breaker stencil. I was using the DecoArt Media Line Black Gesso and I had it all over the stencil so I just kept going with it on each side of this background. I always seem to have a few things going at once. The blue background was rub offs from another stencil page I did. I then thought hmm think I feel like doing some stamping today and I have hardly used the terrific grab bag of stamps I got from Teesha Moore. So I stamped the girl and coloured her in with Dylusions and my waterbrush. Fussy cut her out and stuck her on. The wording across the top of her is a stamp from Teesha too it says. Real art has the capacity to make us nervous. Then I grabbed one of the artstronauts collage sheets and matched some colours cut and pasted. I love trees, so popped that one on and then just took a pen and drew it off the piece of collage onto the page. Added some swirls to the little blue heart with my Gelli roll pen to make it sparkly. Then I just did some doodling with my black Pilot pen. Used the white signo uniball for some dashes.. Wrote the quote that I thought suited the page. Quote says "Art is not what you see but what you make others see." So more fun with some coloured pencils too.  Just for a bit more blue here and there and even a bit of shading with some Neocolour II around the girl. Liked the way it looks a bit sketchy around her. 

Going to pop this over at Paint Part Friday.
Joining in also at Balzer Designs
I was asked so nicely to join this blog post over at Art Journal Journey so popping a link in there.. 

Happy Easter 
Sandy :)