AJC10 Philately will get you anywhere ;)

I also collected stamps as a child, poring over books to find out what each stamp was, identifying the country it came from and then looking in the Atlas my paternal granny had given me to find out where in the world some of the countries were. I would buy a bag of stamps, soak them from their envelopes if needed, then put the stamps in a ring binder, in country, then year, order. My original collection was thrown out by my 1st (ex-) husband - he had a habit of declaring clearouts and then thrown out my stuff, but none of his - I wrote a poem about that http://ajewelshiningthrough.blogspot.com/2009/06/lets-have-clearout.html ;) I still collect stamps from correspondence, from friends and family - so mostly my stamps are from the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Australia - but I don't catalogue them anymore: I have them in a plastic box and use the spares for embellishments. The collage was made mostly with real stamps, some of which I trimmed to fit the spaces.

Credit:

Background paper (mostly covered over with stamps but just peeking through in places) - Me and My Ideas, Vintage Scrappy Chic, Silver grey diamond patterned Collage Paper Collection

Tag - K & Co, Cut n Paste assorted tag sheet

"Love" and "Imagine" stamps - Pebbles inc. Real Life, Adhesive Die Cut Stamps, Random

Other stamps - from my spares stamp collection

AJC10 Week 5 - a New Leaf?

A new month and this week's theme is nature-based, so a new leaf seemed to be a good shape to be the divider for this month.

Credits:

Front: Dreams paper - Hot off the Press Earth Tones pack

Sunflower - freebie from a magazine
February metal sticker - Making Memories

Quote, ribbon, metal shamrock charm and "Follow your Dreams" charm - purchased on Ebay from various sellers

Back: Pink paper - K & Company, Amy Butler Belle Designer Paper

White flower shape and silver flower - freebies from a magazine

AJC10: Back of the January divider

To match the front, I used the same altered background paper and the airplane appear on the back of the "Ticket to travel" Tag. The heart shape I distorted using photoshop to produce a longer shape.

Credits:
"Follow your Dreams" and the painted heart elements, from Tangie Baxter's Journal Anthology
(As before: Background paper - Tangie Baxter, Journal Anthology papers no. 11, Arrow tag, part of a six pack of Keychain Coasters to which I added 2 further punch holes - Maya Road, "Ticket to Travel", part of Travel Dipsticks tag set - We R Memory Keepers, Ribbon - freebie)

AJC10: Start of the Journey - January, only way is up

Today I've managed to catch up with ideas, so I've been able to put several pages together, and get my computer working to upload the photos I had taken onto the gallery for the Art Journal Caravan project. I wanted to do a divider for each month and found some chipboard arrows that will fit my scrapbook and its theme. The idea came to me a few days ago - I've just been waiting until I got to that bit of the scrapbook. I took some of the colour out of the original paper download using Photoshop, because I wanted it to be pale to contrast with later pages. As a child I found it difficult to get strong colours mixes for my Art lessons at school so favouring watercolours. The use of the lighter palette is reflect the prospect of breaking free from the past, hence the crossing out of bound, here being seen as bound with shackles.

Credits:

Background paper - Tangie Baxter, Journal Anthology papers no. 11.

Arrow tag, part of a six pack of Keychain Coasters to which I added 2 further punch holes - Maya Road

"January" Metal embellishment - Making Memories (I think)

"Ticket to Travel", part of Travel Dipsticks tag set - We R Memory Keepers

Ribbon - freebie

xx

AJC10: Prologue - page 2

This page follows on from the quotation layout on page 1. I wanted to explain and capture my earlier blog of today, so that the quote tied in with the Art Journal project. I used Photoshop to alter the size of digital art elements to fit into my 6x6ish format.

Credits:
Background paper - Tangie Baxter, Art Journal Caravan Steamer Trunk Papers
Altered Word card - Tangie Baxter, Art Journal Caravan Parcel 1
Travel Journal book element - Tangie Baxter, Art Journal Caravan Steamer Trunk Elements
"Admit One" ticket tag - 7 gypsies
"Destination Unknown" wooden tag, part of Travel Dipsticks tag set - We R Memory Keepers

AJC10: Prologue to the journey - page 1

My first page is actually a prologue to my journey and is a quote from the Alanis Morisette song "Thank U". It's a quote that close to my heart and reminds me that although letting go can be scary its rewards are greater.

Credits:

Background paper - C'est Magnifique, Rhonna Farrer (cut down from a scrapbook page 12x12)

Black glittery Lettering - Making Memories (I think)*

Spidery handwriting - my own with ZIG Memory System Black acid-free Writer pen

Tags - designer/supplier details not known now*

Flower dimensional stickers - Whimisical Flowers, Jolee's boutique*

Hole punch - Crop-a-dile

*Purchased over 12 months ago, may no longer be available