Last Day of the Month

Hello Everyone.
Where has this month gone!!!
I can't believe how fast this month has gone.

 

So April's colour of the month was green. Tomorrow I get to share May's colour of the month and some of the design team Ladies projects. Today I am going to share Nat's and my projects for April's the colour of the month. Then I am going to share the projects we have received from you all.

Let's start with Nat.

Nat has a made a lovely tag for us. Just look at the beautiful shades of green she has use on her stunning  project. Lots of beautiful lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powders and sprays. She has used some of our new chipboard flourishes along with one of our hearts and chipboard dragonfly.
Here is what Nat has to say about her tag.

This Month I created a tag using ID chipboard and Lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powders. The chipboard looks amazing with the embossing powder - the perfect combination!

Doesn't it look amazing - I just love the flowers Nat has chosen to match our chipboard flourishes. Everything comes together so well.  Nat always chooses the right elements and has a real knack for putting it all together and making it work perfectly.
Thanks for sharing your tag with us.

Now I get to share my project.

Since I have stopped working full time, I now have time to play. I have started doing Junk Journals again and teach them to a group of ladies once a month. I have about 15 ladies - 12 have never done mixed media before and it is just great watching them having a go and stepping way out side their comfort zone. The are going an amazing job and having a great time.
This month we got to play with jigsaw puzzles. My plan was to buy a few second hand and do them so they could all have a block of different sized puzzles.

 
 In the end it was easier to get my husband to cut me the puzzle pieces from our chipboard. This meant I could make it fit, get the right amount and size. I am thinking that we should consider releasing puzzles. Let me know what you think.
I chose four different sized puzzles. I glued a heap of the puzzle pieces to my journal page. Before they dried I randomly removed a couple of pieces.  I then  gave them a coat of gesso.
While the gesso was wet, I added some white dress pattern paper over the missing jigsaw gaps and painted the paper with more gesso.
Once everything was dry I gave my page a wash with coffee. I mixed 5 heaped teaspoons into 3/4 cup of hot water and once it was cold, I painted my page. Then I used an archival ink pad and stamped a heap of stamps to create a background.

 

You can see the coffee wash above. I also use one of ID new masks and some textured paste. I used the mask that Louise Nelson designed for us. It has a heap of her hand drawn crosses in different sizes. I randomly added the crosses on my page around the outer edge of my page and in the corners.

 



Then it was time to add the colour. I used three different Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays. The colours I chose were Time Travel Teal, Ponderosa Pines Olive and Buccaneer Bronze. I sprayed the colour and let it run down my page.

 

Next I added some dark colour around my page. I used Tim Holtz Distress inks and a sponge block.  I also rubbed some archival ink in teal and green over my page where my textured paste crosses were. I flicked some white gesso over my page.  The photo above is a bit dark - my page is not that heavy.



I used three really big jigsaw pieces for my photo and glued them onto my page.

 I inked my chipboard title with black archival ink. I have found this to be the best way to get a black title. It is permanent and doesn't fade over time. I inked two chipboard flourishes with a green memento ink pad and used a white gel pen to add some detail to them. I used my gel pen to add more detail to my page by tracing around the textured crosses and jigsaw pieces. I also added more highlights to my page with my white gel pen by tracing around my stamps and adding lots of small dots.  It was quite relaxing and I could have spent hours just doodling with my white pen.

To finish my page, I added some journaling blocks, chipboard cogs and some german scrap. I really do love playing with mixed media products. I love the challenge of starting with a blank page and just playing, I don't have a photo in mind before I start but usually find my photos once I have the page finished. This page is perfect for some photos I took at Port Adelaide of my kids. They were posing against the side of one of the sheds there, when Josh decided to give Leah a hip and shoulder. The flow on effect was just priceless. Leah's face said it all, the following photos I took  shows everyone falling over or off the bench they were standing on.

I my journal page just looks like an old wall with graffiti all over it and perfectly matches the back ground in my photo. 

So let me share with you the entry's we received.

 

I have chosen Penny's layout to share with you first.
She chose a beautiful photo of her daughter and granddaughter and four pieces of our chipboard to use on her lovely page.

IDP0173 Gorgeous Smile

IDA0010 Isobel lower case alphabet

IDT0005 Dress

IDF0008 Flourishes Leaves and Circles
I love the flowers Penny has chosen and they way she has clustered them on her page. Her title is perfect for this page and say's it all. Our leaves and circle chipboard looks just lovely tucked under her flowers. Penny's choice of red for her title and chipboard dress really helps them pop off the page.
Thank you Penny for sharing your page with us. I will be sending you another $50 bundle of chipboard.

Next up is Margaret.

 

 Margaret also used our chipboard on her layout. She chose to use our gorgeous peacock feathers designed by Louise Nelson. What a beautiful photo of her peach face love bird.
Here is what Margaret had to say about her layout.

IDD0050 Peacock Feather Small

 

I used Imaginarium Designs chipboard  - 2 packets of the Peacock Feathers tiny. I painted them with gilding polish to match the colours of my peach face love bird.
I used an old collection of  Kaisercraft papers called Provincial Collection as they had plenty of green tones and I tried something new for me  - by layering pattern papers on top of pattern papers and  then I die cut a couple of doily's and placed clock faces in the centre .  I embellished my page with green flowers and added them next to the peacock feathers.    
Thank you Margaret for sharing your beautiful page with us. I love all the layering you have done and peach colour you used on your chipboard feathers really matches your love birds face.
I will be sending you another $50 bundle of chipboard to play with.
I also would like Maureen Wood and Maud's Creations to contact me. I have a $30 bundle of chipboard for each of you.
So back tomorrow with our May Colour of the Month.
See you then.
Jane