A day from the past....

Hello Crafty friends…

A bright, cheerful welcome to all of you…that’s how it is here in this part of the world! How about you???

Today, I have an art journal page to share with you inspired by some lovely challenges.

The mood board at SATW just triggered the childhood memories in me, especially the bicycle! The moment I saw that on the mood board, I knew what was coming.

I had ordered for some lovely decoupage tissues online and patiently waited for it to arrive so that I could do this page!

And so…I went about altering one of the pages from the children’s story book (yet another childhood possession of mine) and so happy to see it bulging with my works, lol!

Here is how I started! I got so carried away in the creation, I forgot to take the step by step pics..

Step1 – since it was a printed page, I wanted some of the text and image to be seen in the bg. I applied 3 colors of gelatos Lavender, snow cone and lemon randomly on the page and then blended it with gesso to arrive some translucent pastel shade! I loved the fact that I could still see the layer beneath.

Step2 – Adding more layers with stencils and inks. I use Archival blue, green, brown, black and went about creating textures with burlap and hearts stencil from TH and ferns stencil from Color Box . I liked the breezy look of the palm leaves in the back drop…so reminds me of my holidays at the back yard of my aunt’s house!

Step3- Some stamping with Bo bunny text and kaiserKraft butterflies and music notes. I watered the gesso and with a small round cap created circles here and there. Then came the texture paste and TCW bricks stencil and I also applied some crackle paste on the bricks randomly for some more texture. Now this was beginning to look more like a back yard! I added the postal seal to give it a vintage feel, after all it’s a day from my past!

Step4-  Now comes the interesting part. I tore the part I wanted from the napkin and adhered it to the page with gel medium. The page suddenly came alive! I could almost visualize myself playing there as a little girl! The breezy palms, the cozy bench, lovely flowers in bloom, the green grass, the brick wall, music in the background, butterflies hovering, a few dragon flies too and oh yes! The bicycle parked…Does that ring a bell in your memory too???

Step5- I went about inking the edges on the page with walnut stain and then black soot and took out my Visual artistry stitches stamp. I stamped the faux stitches in black in some places and then added a few more straight stitches in white with gel pen. To me this looks like water colored image on fabric and adding the stitches was the perfect finishing touch!

Step6- Embellishments…how I LOVE them! I made some white flowers with modge mold and Plaster of Paris. I got a bunch of tiny white flowers and inked the edges with DI worn lipstick and mustard seeds.

I stamped some tiny butterflies on text page and again inked with DI worn lipstick and peacock feathers and had them placed dimensionally on the page as if they were flying.

And finally…a tribute to all our childhood. 

Since this page took me back in time, I added a tiny metal clock charm, heart charm(cos I LOVE that gilrlie bi cycle) and tied it together with a white twine to make the smallest bow possible and attached it to the flower basket on the bi cycle with a tiny flower too! Oh! This is my most fav spot in this page…

Step 7- The quote. Simple and sweet and nothing more! I stamped this with alphabet stamps that I purchased recently and love the fact that I can now make my own sentiments and quotes with it. A few color spalts in black and white and my page was ready.

 I hope this page strikes a chord in all you and if sis give you a glimpse of your childhood, give me a shout out!

I want to HEAR it!

I am riding my bi cycle to the following challenges…

Scarp AroundThe Word – I can’t thank you enough for the lovely mood board this month…you brought my childhood back!

Simon MondayChallenge – home grown summer (here is a page from my back yard!)

Try It OnTuesday – stencils challenge ( loads of it for texture)

Frilly andFunkie Challenge –stitch in time ( I have a 2 tone faux stitches with which I have tied all the elements on the page and that little clock charm that reminds me of my childhood)

Stamps andStencils – Time flies ( yes, how it flies..I am glad I could go back in time to create this page)

FantasticTuesday Challenge – Ag with butterflies ( have lots of them, few stamped and few fussy cut ones hovering all around in the back yard)

Moo Mania – embellishments ( LOVE them, the tiny POP flowers and my metal charms)

Hope you had a great time in my back yard!

Until my next creative journey,

Happy Crafting and re cycling.

Cheers.