Friday 21 June 2013

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Letter U

Hi everyone. Seems like such a long time since I was here. All sorts of things have been getting in the way of blogging and creating. Life is sometimes like that isn't it? So much going on and the thing you most love to do has to take a back seat. Hopefully, life has settled down a little now and normal activities can be resumed!

I couldn't miss the Alpha Challenge at the Craft Barn. We are asked to use the letter U and depict the definition in a visual manner. I have chosen to work in a secondhand dictionary but you can use other ways to display your work as long as you include the definition.

For my letter U, I have chosen the word 'URBAN' as I happened to have a stamp plate which fits the bill perfectly designed by Sam Poole.


The word and definition were masked off. Two shades of DecoArt Traditions paint were then used to roughly coat the pages. I made sure that the two colours weren't mixed but used side by side on a craft mat then blended straight on the page.

The definition after the masking tape was removed.
The sketchy stamping was achieved using archival ink.


The letters were die cut, painted with Fresco snowflake followed by stencilling with DecoArt Traditions paint. Archival ink was then randomly applied with cut and dry. Once attached to the page, each letter was  outlined with a black waterproof pen and some edges were shaded with a black pencil.

the footprints were stamped onto old book pages, cut out and glued into position. Carbon black DecoArt paint was applied using an Andy Skinner stencil onto both pages.

More stencil work was added using the same paint. A white pen was used to outline the stencil work.

An image reflecting the word definition was stamped onto old book paper, cut out and attached. Black pencil was used around the edges to add shading.

Script was stamped in the background with DecoArt Traditions paint. It gives a great effect using the paint for stamping. You can also see the shades created with the two colours of paint used in the background.

Not entered the Craft Barn Apha Challenge yet? You can join in any time, so why not have a go?

Thanks for everyone's patience and I'm sorry to have missed so many wonderful pieces of work. I will catch up with you all again but please bear with me! 

24 comments:

  1. Fabulous imagery Julia and great colours. Hope all is ok with you.
    hugs Brenda xxx

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  2. Terrific atmosphere on these pages and very urban feel to it all

    Love Chrissie x

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  3. Gorgeous colours and a great journal page Julia. TFS

    Sending you best wishes
    Annie x

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  4. You certainly created a great urban feel Julia, love the footprints and tyre tracks and the wonderful colours. Hope all is well with you. Hugs, Anne x

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  5. Superb Julia. Love the boldness of the colours and choice of images. Great to have the text showing through too. Hope life gets back on an even keel soon. Hugs, Jenny x

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  6. A totally amazing page...again Julia!!!! Everyone...this is only a little book but Julia crams so much into it!!!

    HUGS xxx

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  7. this is gfabulous and funky - love the colours and text and everything really - brilliant xx

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  8. Gorgeous pages Julia, I love the cool blues you've used. Lol the footprints made me chuckle, sooooo like Max's!!
    Huge huggles x x x x

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  9. Fabulous masking and stencil work Julia :)so nice to see your work again :)
    Von ♥

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  10. Another really cool page, what a wonderful book you are creating, hope all is okay with you , hugs trace x xx

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  11. Wonderful pages Julia, love the bold blue colour and the footprints.

    Sylv xx

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  12. If dictionaries looked like this when I was at school, I may actually be able to spell now ;)
    Another fab addition to this little master piece. Hope all is well now? see you at the weekend?

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    1. :-D Now that would be a great idea, to make dictionaries like this. My daughter's homework this week was to make single letters of her vocabularies into little matching drawings. Suzanne xx

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  13. Wow... fantastic urban grunge, Julia... you really can turn your hand to any style and make it sing!
    Alison x

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  14. Well it's for sure you get to walk a lot in an urban environment - but not so much back here in the mountains!! Wonderful page and I think this is so much fun!
    sandy

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  15. Fantastic choice of word and I just love those footprint images - wonderful pages

    Sam xx

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  16. That's jaw-droppingly gprgeous, Julia! I so love it ... the great texture, the colors, the dea ... just everything about it. Love your work! I hope I can make it today, didn't have much time for crafting this week ... Big hugs, Suzanne xxx

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  17. Such interesting pages with all the details Julia.
    I do hope you're doing well at the moment...glad to "see" you again :-)
    All the best my dear friend!

    hugs, Alie :-)

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  18. What a fabulous page...great theme Julia! See you tomorrow! :o) xx

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  19. Great pages Julia with a very beautiful color and a lot of greta details.
    Greetings Janny

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  20. URBAN cool! Love the tracks and city scene! Very cool pages!

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  21. Great pages Julia, love your choice of stamps/stencils with this word.
    Avril xx

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  22. Really gorgeous, love your pages.

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  23. So cool! Love the footprints and tracks, plus those dreamy blues, of course.... lovely!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Juliax