Saturday, January 2, 2016

January Leading Lady Virginia Lu | Take One

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Today we are excited to introduce our January Leading Lady, Virginia Lu.   Virginia is an extraordinary crafter and such a shining light in the papercrafting community.  I remember encountering her online through Flickr several years ago and she was so welcoming and encouraging.  We are so excited to see how brightly Virginia will shine throughout this month!  

Over the next few Saturdays in Virginia will be leading us on a journey of her own design and imagining.  Make sure to visit her blog, Yes, Virginia, to see more from her and for a chance to win a giveaway! 

Give Virginia a big round of applause to welcome her as she steps onto the stage for her first performance as our January Leading Lady!    

Hello, Winnie & Walter friends! I am SUPER excited to be your Leading Lady for the month of January. What an honor to help kick off 2016 with a great start here! First of all, just a little bit about me-Virginia Lu (Yes, Virginia...). I am an avid stamper and have discovered stamping 20 years ago. I became active in the online stamping community in 2009 and I have been enjoying every minute of it. I am lucky to have been published a few times and have won some challenges and competitions in the last few years. My card-making blog has become my addiction and I am passionate about stamping.

For the January Leading Lady feature, I would like to try something NEW! I love card-making and scrapbooking. However, I am always intrigued by art journals. With the versatile designs from Winnie & Walter, this provides me with the perfect chance to dive in! Why art journals, you ask?
These are a few things I think might make you consider giving art journaling a try!

~Make it YOUR own: There is no rule as to how you want to keep your art journal. After all, it’s YOURS! You can use store-bought art journals or simply make your own pages with heavy card stock.
~Try new techniques/supplies/sketches: you can experiment with new things in your art journal. Jot down your ideas and run with it! NO judgement.
~It’s therapeutic: working at your own pace is also what makes it fun and relaxing. You can spend as little or as much time as you want in one sitting. Your page is as elaborate/simple as you want it to be.
~Use your old and new supplies: the blank pages are your canvas and playground. You can try any supplies that you have or try using new stuff!
~Get inspirational: your art journal serves as a great source of inspiration. Perhaps this will help you come up with something new and amazing!
~It’s FUN!

Here is my creative process:

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I got a good deal on the Faber Castell Art Journal and it is a perfect one for beginners like me. This album allows me to take out the pages one at a time.  The only supply that you might consider getting is Gesso. It is like a paint primer for paper. Gesso mixes well with Gelatos, Watercolors and Distress Inks/Markers. As you can see,  you can emboss, apply stencils and stencil paste, glue paper...in an art journal. Let’s see what I came up with!
The cover of my art journal:

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1. Use Gesso to prepare the surface.  I applied a layer of Gesso with a paint brush. I then used my fingers to make sure the Gesso is evenly applied.
2. After the Gesso was dried, I started to add details. In this case, I stamped some text background with the set Happiest of Holidays with Evelin T Designs.
3. I used Canson watercolor paper and made a die cut with Cover Model: The Leaf Effect Cutaway. By using various Distress Inks with water, the cover was quick and easy to create.
4. A bird house was stamped (from Happiest of Holidays with Evelin T Designs ) and a scalloped die piece ( Goldie Trim Cutaways) were added to complete the design.
This first page may appear to be flat, but it has some interesting depth and dimensions.

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1. Create a colorful background/frame with Scenery: Madison Creative Screenings with various Distress Inks and Ink Applicator.
2. Stamp the images with Our Town. I used MISTI for the multiple color inking.
3. I then clear-embossed the church/house images and applied orange ( Ripe Persimmon) and yellow (Squeezed Lemonade) Distress inks over the houses.
4. With Scenery: Madison Creative Screenings, I applied white embossing paste (Wendi Vecchi) partially over the images and dusted fine glitter over the paste.
5. The sentiment “HOME” was created with two stacked dies from In a Word : Home Cutaway.

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I hope to share more of my art journal in my next few posts. You can always apply the ideas and inspiration to any of your projects.
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Lastly, I want to finish my first Leading Lady post with a card “Happy Everything”.

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This card is nearly one layer. I started by stamping the flower image and leaves. I then used the backside (yes, flip them over and stamp!) of the flower stamps to add assorted colors. This can be achieved with a stamp positioner such as MISTI or Fiskars Stamping Press. The sentiment was stamped with The Big, The Bold and The Happy. I die cut a piece of foil paper with Goldie Trim Cutaways and layered it with a piece of color card stock.

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I hope you enjoyed my first post as much as I enjoyed playing with these awesome products. Shay is so generous to offer my blog followers a $30 Winnie & Walter gift voucher. Please stop by my blog "Yes, Virginia..." and leave me some love for a chance to win this fabulous giveaway! See you next on Jan. 9th.

Here is a sneak peek:

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Thanks so much for stopping by!


w&w-supplies

32 comments:

  1. Beautiful project, Virginia!! Love the idea of the art journal - I picked up one on clearance sometime last year and have yet to start it. Thank you for the inspiration - maybe today I'll get inky and messy with it! :) Love your card - especially the foil paper trim!

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  2. Fantastic!! And there are those darling Anna's blooms! On my wishlist!!!
    =]

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  3. How fun to have Virginia as the leading lady this month. I have never (until now) considered starting an art journal.

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  4. Wow! The art journal and card are so gorgeous! xxx

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  5. Thanks for the inspiration! ;-)

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  6. Yay for Virginia, a fantastic choice as your Leading Lady this month! V, congrats!! What a great idea for this month, I'll be watching!

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  7. I am a big fan of Virginia's and I love seeing her try something new with art journalling. Fun!

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  8. Virginia is an excellent choice for Leading Lady, because she is. She's fearless and innovative as evidenced by this new art journal she's preparing. It's really a winner.

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  9. Virginia, congratulations. I love your art journal and look forward to seeing more of your creative projects for us. Thanks for the tips about your techniques.

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  10. Yay, Virginia, so happy to see you as leading lady this month! I love what you did using your W&W products with your art journal, the colors and techniques are so fun!

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  11. It's so exciting that Virginia is Leading Lady for January! Her Art Journal is amazing, and her card is absolutely gorgeous! I'm really looking forward to her next post :)

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  12. I'm so excited to see Virginia as your leading lady for January--what a great way to start the new year! Love her projects, and I look forward to seeing her work her creativity with W&W!

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  13. YAY!!! Virginia seriously ROCKS!!!! Love ALL of the projects!!

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  14. Love Virginia, she IS a sweetheart!! Beautiful work today and looking forward to more!!

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  15. Beautiful projects with awesome W&W goodies, thanks for art journal encouragement and tips!

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  16. yay Virginia.. these are all fabulous.. your amazing

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  17. How fantastic to see Virginia here at W&W ... and with such awesome ideas and projects ... so fabulous! Looking forward to next week already! Anita :)

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  18. The page with the homes looks stunning!!
    Cheers
    Dr Sonia

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  19. You did good by choosing Virginia as the Leading Lady for the month of January. She will not let you down.

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  20. You did good by choosing Virginia as the Leading Lady for the month of January. She will not let you down.

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  21. Woohoo, Virginia!! AMAZING projects!! Love!

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  22. Fabulous pages--love the colors.

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  23. I love Virginia's work. So pretty!

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  24. WOW... Virginia rock the first week! AMAZING projects with beautiful designs and colors.

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  25. Very beautiful, Virginia! Love your art journal! I'm also planning on diving deeper in my art journal pages, it's one of 2016 decisions. Will love to follow your process and progress in art journaling!

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  26. Wow awesome art journal pages Virginia!! Thanks for the inspirations!

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  27. You're always an inspiration, Virginia--thank you!

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  28. Virginia, your art journal is absolutely amazing! I've never done one but you're certainly provided sparks of incentive to do so! Thank you for the inspiration and, especially, the tutorials! Love having 'starting point' ideas!
    ~carol

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  29. Oh my goodness this is all so lovely! What beautiful work????

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  30. Oh my goodness this is all so lovely! What beautiful work????

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