Overcoming a Fear

For as long as I can remember, there has been a little shelf in my scraproom which serves as home to a host of inky/painty/stampy goodies.
I have a confession to make - that shelf and those goodies are very much neglected, as I'm really not very sure what to do when it comes to inky/painty kinda projects and will avoid them if I can.
I'm fearful of messing up and making huge mistakes when it comes to inks - time for another confession - I don't own one single drop of alcohol ink - the reason being I haven't a clue what to do with them! LOL!
When I look at the work created by Dina Wakley I'm soo inspired to get out my ink pads and sprays and have a go - but what I make only ends up in the bin!!

The past couple of days Ive tried to spend as much time as possible huddled up on the sofa with my hot water bottle and Kleenex, as Ive been hit by the dreaded lurgy and have a cough from hell......sofa time gave me the prefect chance to surf the net.
Over on the worlds adventure playground that is Facebook, I spotted a post by the ever so talented Tammy Tutterow, where she was sharing an art journal page she had created.....its so beautiful - you can see for yourself right here.....and Tammy has even shared a tutorial of how she created her page - you can see it right here.

Ping! No matter how bleurgh I felt I wanted to play.....so those dusty ink pads and bottles of colour wash came down from the unloved shelf and after watching a couple of You Tube videos and lurking on a thread over on UK Scrappers - I had a go!!!

Please be gentle - this is my first attempt at creating an art journal page......


An old music sheet was covered in gesso - I used this as my base.
I added some ripped sheets from an old book and gave that area another coat of gesso.


Then I added some paint....stamped a little and then inked a little bit more.
I sprayed Ranger colour wash at the top of the page and let it drip.....the heart was cut from some metal mesh and inked to tone down the shiny silver surface.


The bird is from a pack of Ranger Grungeboard, which I pounded with a Tim Holtz distressing hammer, before painting, inking and dusting with pearl pigments.

The leaves I painted, inked, added glitter and then sprinkled with some Blonde Moments Pearl Pigments.
The Grungeboard alphas were given a few coats of paint, inked and then machine stitched in place....I added a Tim Holtz metal keyhole to the chest of the bird to signify me unlocking my fear of all things inky!

The journaling reads -

Fear no more
Unlock that door
explore the colours & textures
of my imagination
This is my art
where colour, thoughts and emotions
belong to me

I quite like it - its mine and I made it.....and that's all that matters really.

Thanks to this horrid cough I was awake at silly o clock this morning and spent my time watching the amazing Suzie Blu on You Tube - I'm really tempted to take one of her classes and experiment more with my inky/painty/stampy things.


Don't forget to leave a comment OVER HERE if you want to be entered in to the stash giveaway to win all you can see in the photograph above - one winner will be drawn at random on Sunday night.

I'm heading back to my paints - I don't really know why I was so scared to play and think I may have overcome my fear of inky/stampy/painty projects - its fun :D

Thanks for dropping by.
T.x.