couldn’t agree more…

Donna Downey stamps from Unity now available in store.

animal shots…

I’ve just started to sort through some of the shots taken while we were in Florida last summer, and these are some of my favourite animal shots.

 

10% off today...

Just for today, as it's Englands next match , we're giving you 10% off all Stampotique Originals. 

Ends Midnight! 

having a smashing time….

Half term, visitors and ill health have kept my creative capers at bay the last couple of week. Also why the Golden Fluid Acrylics I talked about in my last post haven’t made it on to the website yet. Normal service will resume shortly though and I will get them online!

What has happened in the last couple of weeks is a re-discovery of my Smash books. As in, I dug one out and have actually started to use it!  I haven’t scrapped for so long but it feel painless to chuck stuff in one of these books. So much so I’ve only gone and got myself some more.  I hoard everything possible, receipts, tickets, booklets and they have never made it on a layout, but it’s felt right to document the small things in life and my thoughts about them in a smash book.   Now you may ask then why do I art journal – well, my art journals are a chance for me to be creative with paints and inks. It’s not a quick process, smash is, stick and go. I’m liking that.

 

This week J asked me for a photo of him to put on his “Spy ID Badge” which he’d carefully cut from his magazine. I went to the photo’s on the PC and realised the latest one I had was a school photo from 18 months ago! I do have more, still on the memory cards in my camera bag. Its an indication of how long it is since I last scrapped as I was constantly, to the point of annoyance, was taking photo’s of the kids. This has been a wake up call and I am now on  mission to start recording more of our life.

 

 

Enter stage left….my collection of smash books!

 

I haven’t done anything with all our stuff from our family holiday to Florida last summer. Call me lazy but I really can’t be bothered to trawl through all my scrapbook papers at the moment to create layouts so I’ll use my scraps box and the large folio for that one. Its fab with pocket pages and massive envelopes scattered throughout it.  The little one is headed to Paris with us later this year.

 

I’m not just all about smash at the moment though.  I am playing catch up with the Circle Journal I’m in. This sneak is a piece for Shirley’s Serendipity Journal.  Not quite finished, but it’s almost there and I want to recreate it on a much larger scale in my A4 journal.   I’ve also got a page on the go in my moleskine, more dribbles!

 

I’m thinking this page needs an extra something now I’ve looked at it again, but I do love my dribbles.

G is for….

 

Golden!

I am so excited to be adding Golden Fluid Acrylics and a selection of Golden Mediums to the store.  May take a couple of days, or three to get them all online.  If you can’t wait that long, please feel free to email me at sales@asprinkleofimagination .com for details if you want to place an order before they are online. 

wait a minute Mr Postman…

I seem to be getting less and less time to be creative of late, but as I had received my fab piece of mail art from Sarah, I needed to get on with the piece I was going to do for Shirley. I am happy to say it’s finally gone in the post today. 

I really hope she likes it as I thoroughly enjoyed making it.  Lots of techniques  - collage, handmade patterned papers, stitching, oodles of wax.  Not sure the pictures do it justice, but I found it really tactile.  Perhaps Shirley will let you know what she thinks when she receives it, which fingers crossed should be tomorrow. I’m just hoping it survives with all that wax and this heat!  eek.

just loving…

Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe

This Vintaj Arte Metal Charm

 

The flying pig on this set of Graphic 45 stamps

 

So what’s floating your crafty boat this week?

Happiness…..

is coming home from a hard days shopping (I know, but birthday shopping for a very girlie little girl when you’re not girlie – in the slightest, with the exception of a love for stilettos' and handbags. Ok that makes me sound girlie, but I promise you I’m not, I think I just like having shoes that will inflict damage if required – self defence shoes shall we call them). I digress.

Happiness is coming home and finding fabulous mail art waiting for you….

 

I joined Collabor-ART, the brain child of Sarah, who created this piece for me.  The photo’s really don’t do it justice, but isn’t that always the case. Everything looks better in real life.

One of the on-going projects is a mail art trail. I have yet to create my piece for Shirley, who’s UKS Circle Journal I also have. Looks like I need to crack the pain open very soon.

In the meantime I have done a couple of background in my latest art journal.  Actually I did them a couple of weeks ago, but I just haven’t had time to take photo’s or blog them until today. Dribble free pages, on top at least, so far. Lots and lots of layers though.

 

 

Right, better get back to it! Thanks for stopping by.

fed up with my dribbles yet?

 

I now have a little section in my journal filled with dribbly pages. For now I’m enjoying them.

 

a gentle reminder…

was all it took.   Thanks Ally!

So many of you have asked me to share the whole page from my last dribbly page.  Sorry, I forgot, been caught up in lots of shop stuff since. I haven’t even picked up a tube of paint since.  Well, here it is…although sharing it now is making me think it needs something else.  Think I’ll whack some black around the edge.  What do you think?

 

What I do think though is that the left hand one looks like a monkey hanging out of a tree!

More dribbles….

You understand that all this dribbling is acrylic ink on my pages.  It’s not actually me dribbling.  I’m not that bad.

 

A simple painted background for this one then I got out my beloved acrylic ink to doodle and dribble.

In answer to the questions about the page I shared yesterday, the letters are indeed letter stickers.  Old BasicGrey Motifica one’s to be exact.  Now you know how long I have had them! So what are you waiting for, get all your old letter stickers out and create some texture with them.

now what…?

One of my problem pages. As I mentioned before I’m on a mission to add more texture to my pages, and this is one of them, but I’m stuck again.

 

I envisaged it being a black and white page when I started.  That alone is rare as I never envisage anything when I start a page. Needless to say I should stick to that as it didn’t work first time around. So it got covered with the trusty gesso. 

Then I added colour. Didn’t like it.

More colour. Yeaaah, that was ok.

Needed more.

More colour.

Now I’ve added black to it. Yes! Like it now.

But what to do next.  Guess for now it will stay as a background waiting for the next round of inspiration to strike.

loving texture…

I’m on a mission to bring more texture into my pages, along with more dribbles because I love them so.

My journal pages seem to be hitting a roadblock as a result though. I’m getting the textures I want….but then what? I have a few on the go at the moment that are just gathering lots of  layers of gesso as I white wash everything out and start again.  I’m not disheartened though, I’m quite liberated by the whole situation as it’s allowing me to free myself up and settle into my creative style a little more.  These things always take time….and paint, and LOTS of gesso!

Did I mention it’s my turn again on UKS Art Journey? No? Oh, well it is.  This time we’re looking at hiding your journaling in plain sight.

rubber and dribbles…

 

 

 

Finally I didn’t just find time, I made time to play in my journal. It was a page of layer as I started and liked, carried on and hated, got out the gesso and palette knife and covered up most of it.  The more layers I added the more I liked what was being created.

When I was happy I whipped out the rubber stamps as this page didn’t scream “write on me” and I had a nagging feeling that if I did I wouldn’t like it so much any more. 

Tim’s stamp said what I needed it to say as right now I’m working hard to follow some life long dreams. It’s hard work and I have been told that I beat myself up to much when something doesn’t go to plan.  And the little girl, she represents me, as well as being my favourite stamp.  She’s becoming a fond friend in this journal.

 

stars, stripes and circles

 

A work in progress, but I thought I’d share it all the same.  This one is using off cuts and chopped up tags to create of focal point.  The background was painted in with dabbers in aqua, pool and stream.

It still needs some work on it, but I’m waiting for that inspiration to strike. Maybe I’ll crack out the inktense pencils for it.