Soldiers Are True Heroes - Art Journal - #TTC9

Hi Friends,

Its a new month and a new challenge at The Twisted Challenges. #TTC9 is a very colorful challenge: Thankful/ Grateful + Use All 7 Colors of Rainbow.

A lot has been happening at India's border over the last few weeks and it made me realize the amount of sacrifice the soldiers do for the safety of the country. As a citizen, we should acknowledge their unrelenting hard work and we should be thankful to all of them for being our saviors. Hence, I created an art journal as a dedication to these brave soldiers and to thank them for their selfless duty.

Soldiers Are True Heroes - Art Journal Page

List of Supplies:

• Ranger Distress Ink: Candied Apple, Faded Jeans, Pine Needles, Black Soot
• Ranger Distress Oxide Ink: Broken China, Wilted Violet 
• Artisty Inks: Orange Popsicle, Lime Kiss
• Ranger Archival Ink: Jet Black, Cobalt 
• Concord & 9th: Perfectly Penned Stamp Set
• Just Rite: Vintage Travel Stamp Set 
• Stencil: India Map
• Sakura White Gel Pen
• Sakura Micron 08 Black, Sakura Micron Black Brush Pen
• Blending tool, Water mister 

Steps to create:

• Outline India map and color it using Sakura brush pen & Black Soot ink.
• Blend the inks in rainbow colors and spray with water mister.
• Once dry, do a second generation stamping using Vintage Travel stamp and Cobalt Ink. 
• Stamp the sentiment using Concord & 9th stamp and Jet Black Ink.
• Doodle dots around the ink map using white gel pen.
• Doodle a border using Sakura Micron and distress the edge of page using Black Soot Ink. 

I hope you liked my heartfelt dedication.

For more inspiration and details of challenge, hop on to The Twisted Challenges blog. Last date for participation is 31st March.

Love,
Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta,
Crafty Flirtations
&
The Twisted Challenges 

Art Journal: You Make My Heart Flutter (TTC8 challenge)

Hi friends,

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. I am back today with another Art Journal page for the February challenge at The Twisted Challenges: Valentine's Day + No Red/ Pink.

Its a blessing to be in love. That jittery, fluttery feeling that you feel when with your loved one is what I have presented in this simple & fun art journal page. If you ask me what are most favorite techniques to use when creating an art journal page, I would say they are Inking, Stamping & Doodling. As this page is all about Valentine's day and love, I have combined my top 3 favorite techniques to create this page.

Art Journal: You Make My Heart Flutter (TTC8 challenge)

List of Supplies:

• Ranger Distress Oxide Ink: Broken China, Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron
• Ranger Archival Ink: Cobalt Blue
• Sakura Micron 05
• Concord & 9th Perfectly Penned Stamp Set 
• Butterfly stamps & Embossing folder
• Art Journal, blending tool, water mister, glue

Art Journal: You Make My Heart Flutter (TTC8 challenge)

Steps to Create:

• Using a round blending tool, apply Twisted Citron, Broken China and Wilter Violet Ink (Left to Right) on an art journal.
• Spray with a water mister and let it air dry.
• Doodle a large butterfly using Sakura Micron on left side of page.
• Die cut and emboss butterfly and color them using the same Distress Oxide Inks and adhere them on the art journal page on right with glue.
• Doodle around the butterflies and the entire length of the page.
• Stamp the quote with Cobalt Blue Ink and re-write over it with Sakura Micron for added depth to finish the page.

Art Journal: You Make My Heart Flutter (TTC8 challenge)

Hope you liked this art journal page. To know more details of the ongoing challenge, click here. Last date for participation is 28th Feb.

Art Journal: You Make My Heart Flutter (TTC8 challenge)

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta

Smile Layout - TTC#7

Hi Friends,

I am back after a long long break. I hope you have missed me :) Well it was my birthday on 31st December and I spent my birthday crafting an inspiration for the January challenge at The Twisted Challenges. The theme this month is:  Something Old,Something New, Something Borrowed/Gifted and Something Blue.

I created a positive layout for my room, with a simple word "Smile" as the focus and kept the whole piece pretty simple. 

• I used an old wedding card insert for the base (Something Old) and stamped the word SMILE using Versamark ink and WRMK alphabet stamps.
• I then heat set the sentiment using Ranger Clear Embossing powder. 
• Thereafter, I applied Ranger Distress Oxide Inks: Broken China (Something Blue), Picked Raspberry 
• I also did 2nd generation stamping using a retired Stampin Up Stamp (Something Old) and Ranger Archival Ink Cobalt Ink (Something Blue)
• I then adhered butterfly die cuts which were cut using dies that I borrowed from Tejal (Something Borrowed).
• I finished the layout with iCraft clay star sequence that I recently brought (Something New). 

I hope you are inspired to join us at The Twisted Challenges. Last date to participate is 31st January. 

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta

Crafty Flirtations &

The Twisted Challenges 

Ganeshotsav #TTC4 - Art Journal Page

Hi Friends,

We are back with a fun theme this month at The Twisted Challenges. The theme this month is "Celebrations + Monochrome", i.e. you need to create a project on any festival or occasion that you celebrate and use only 1 color and its variations to create your project. 

For inspiration this month, I have created an art journal celebrating my favorite God "Ganpati" and favorite festival for which I wait all year long "Ganeshotsav". Ganpati, the elephant God is believed to be the Destroyer of All Obstacles and is considered "Pratham Pujniya" i.e. God that you worship 1st before commencing any new work. If you have ever lived in Mumbai or ever visited Mumbai during Ganeshotsav, you would know why it is my favorite festival. Mumbai comes to life during festival. All streets are lit up with lights, there are pandals everywhere with "Sarvjanik Ganpati" (make shift tents having big idols of Ganpati where public can offer prayers) as well as people get Ganpati idols at home for worship. Friends and family visit each other's house to offer prayers. This festival also brings together people of all religions and faith. Mumbai becomes 1 during this festival. If you are in India, and you want to see true Mumbai spirit, you should visit Mumbai once during Ganeshotsav. It is one big festival celebrated for 10-11 days before Ganpati is bid farewell. Entire Mumbai is literally on streets on last day and when everyone shouts in unison "Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudchya Varshi Lawkar Ya" (hail lord Ganpati, come soon next year), it gives you a different high which you can only experience by visiting Mumbai.  

Here is my art journal page to inspire you.

Ganeshotsav Art Journal Page

Some steps to create:

• I stamped the Ganpati Image from CrafTangles Stamp "Ganpati Bappa" using Ranger Archival Black ink.
• I colored the image using Cretacolor pencil colors in shades of blue. 
• I outlined image with Sakura Microns to thicken the outline.
• Once I was happy with the image, I colored the background using Ranger Distress Oxide Ink Broken China using a blending tool.
• I stamped one of the Ganesh Mantra (prayer) (custom stamp from Mudra) in Broken China ink to add texture to the page.
• I then stamped Om and small Ganpati stamp from a custom stamp from Mudra using Ranger Cobalt Blue ink.
• To finish the page, I doodled around the edges using Sakura gel pens and Sakura brush Microns.

I hope you loved this simple page & my interpretation of our theme. Hop on the "The Twisted Challenges" to read all about the challenge, rules & some stunning inspiration from other design team members.

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta

Crafty Flirtations

& 

The Twisted Challenges

This Too Shall Pass - Art Journal Page

Hi,

Time is one of the most essential and expensive commodities that any person has. It is essential cause you need time to do any work. A lot of us dream for doing so many things in life, but most often, we complain that we dont have time. This is specially the excuse when its about doing something for your personal self - like physical activity or yoga or a hobby or meditation.  However, if you manage your time well, you would never have this excuse and you shall have time for all that you want to do. I also call time expensive, cause once time passes, it is never coming back. You cant relive yesterday - today nor will you be able to relive today again tomorrow. You also dont know what is in store for you tomorrow. All that you have is the current moment that you are living in.

This Too Shall Pass - Art Journal Page 

This brings me to the 3rd aspect of time - "Time Changes" with every single moment. If you are not healthy today, you can change your diet/ activity pattern and get healthy in time. If you are not rich, you can be one if you work hard enough. If you are ill today, take medical treatment and you can feel better tomorrow. Its only a matter of time, how situations and life changes. And that's what the next page in the art journal that I made for Tejal represents.

This Too Shall Pass - Art Journal Page 

"This Too Shall Pass" is Khushboo's favorite quote. Even though I have never interacted personally with her, she is the 3rd musketeer in the trio of Tejal, Saumya & Khusboo and I felt that this art journal would be incomplete without including her favorites. So I requested Saumya to get information from Khushboo. Thanks a ton Saumya for the help.

This Too Shall Pass - Art Journal Page 

As this quote was all about time, all that I have used on this page is clocks. I used various clocks (its just one stamp from Heartfelt Creations, but I think its retired) showing different time points in a day to further re-enforce the fact that time changes. This page is one of my most favorite pages from this art journal.

Supplies used:

• 6 by 7" card stock/ chipboard
• Little Birdie 2 in 1 texture paste (used as gesso)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Stencil 
• Heartfelt creations  Numeral Clock Stamp and die set 
• Ranger Distress Oxide Ink: Broken China, Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo
• Ranger Distress Ink: Wild Honey, Seedless Preserves
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink 
• Basic Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions Paint Pens - 6 pack
• Ranger texture paste
• iCraft Floral Natura Cardstock
• Blending tool and foam, glue, water mister, palette knife 
• Printed sentiment/ quote 

This Too Shall Pass - Art Journal Page 

Steps to Create:

• Apply gesso on card stock/ chipboard base and set aside to dry.
• Apply Ranger texture paste through  stencil on page.
• Once dry, apply Oxide inks with help of a blending foam. Use water mister to get desired effects.
• Once dry, do 2nd generation stamping using clock stamp on page with black ink. 
• Stamp clock stamp on white card stock using black permanent ink and die cut.
• Color the clock die cuts using Distress inks. 
• Adhere the clock die cuts and sentiments on page using glue.
• To finish the page, add faux running stitch on the page with paint pens.

This Too Shall Pass - Art Journal Page 

You can view the other pages by clicking captions below each image.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

I hope you loved this page and are inspired to believe that there is a better time awaiting you in future.

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta

Crafty Flirtations 

P.S. The page contains some affiliate links without any extra cost to you 

Books are secret magical world - Art Journal Page

Hi,

I am back with another Art Journal page.

They say that books are a man's/ woman's best friend and I so agree to that. I am a book lover & hoarder. I have more books than what I have actually read. I mostly have books on Cooking/ Nutrition/ Health or Art & Craft. I also have read a lot of fiction. I specially love sci-fi/ mythological/ mystery books when it comes to fiction as they open up a magical world wherein you set forward on a journey along with the characters in the book. I am also little crazy and possessive about my books and take the most care of them. I hate it if a page bends or it soils. I hate dog ears in books. You can say, I have OCD when it comes to books.

Books Art Journal Page 

A book with warm cup of coffee is absolute solace for me. I also know that Tejal and Saumya enjoy reading books and are crazy about books as I am. So when I was creating the Art Journal for Tejal, I knew I had to create a page exclusively with books in focus and use a quote that would specify the dream world that books bring forth with them.

Books Art Journal Page

Supplies Used:

• 6 by 7" card stock/ chipboard 
• White card stock 
• Little Birdie Home Decor Chalk Paint - Pink Ballet (Used in place of gesso as a base coat)
• Carabelle Studio - Alphabet Stencil
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology mini stencil 
• Ranger Distress Oxide Ink: Seedless Preserves
• Lindy's Starburst - TiffanyLou Blue, Hydrangea Blue
• Ranger Archival Ink - Black 
• Your Next Stamp - Bookworm Rules 
• Ranger texture paste
• Blending tool & foam, palette knife, glue, water mister, heat gun, paint brush  
• Sakura Gel pens & Steadtler Fine tip pens 
• Printed sentiment/ quote 

Books Art Journal Page

Steps to create:

• Apply chalk paint on the card stock/ chipboard base and let it dry. 
• Once dry, apply Oxide ink on the left half through Tim Holtz stencil.
• Using a palette knife, apply texture paste through Carabelle Studio stencil on the right half and let it dry.
• Once dry, color the texture paste using Lindy's spray. Use water mister to get your desired effects.
• Stamp the image on a card stock using black ink and color using Sakura & Steadtler pens.
• Adhere the image on the page.
• To finish the page, adhere quotes using glue. 

Books Art Journal Page

I hope you loved this page on books as much as I loved creating it. You can view previous pages from the Art Journal by clicking on links below. 

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

I shall be back with Page 6 soon.

Love,
Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta
Crafty Flirtations

Father's Day Card

Hi Friends,

Its Father's Day on 17th June. I am here with a masculine card that you could make for your father on this special occasion.

Supply List:

• Bielo Smooth Card stock
• Ranger Distress Oxide Inks – Iced Spruce, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo 
• Ranger Distress Ink – Black Soot
• Colour Box Frost White Pigment Ink
• Archival Jet Black Ink
• iCraft MDF gear embellishments & Metal watch embellishments 
• Inka-Gold Jade Green
• Sentiment Stamps from Peek-A-Boo
• Fine paint brush, Foam tape, Mini-mister, Glue, Blending Tools

Steps to Create:

• Cut and score card stock to create 5 by 7" card base 
• Using a blending foam, blend Distress Oxide inks on 5 by 7” white card stock.
• Add white and black splatters on the card panel using Black Soot and White ink. 
• Distress edge of the blended card panel with Black Soot Ink and colour gears with same.
• Add highlights to gears by rubbing and buffing Jade-Green Inka-Gold.
• Adhere gears and metal watch on card panel using glue.
• Blend Distress Oxide Broken China on a small piece of card stock and mist with water. Stamp the sentiment with Black ink and adhere on the card panel.
• To finish the card, adhere the card panel on prepared card base.

Hope you liked this card.

(PS. This article was 1st published in the June 2017 issue of "Our Idea Book" Magazine)

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta,

Crafty Flirtations 

A Feathery Great Day

Hey Friends,

I am back with a neat and clean card today.

Supplies:

• iCraft Floral Natura card stock 
• Die Versions A Great Day die
• Spellbinders Die - Feathers
• Ranger Distress Oxide Ink: Spiced Marmalade
• Ranger Distress Ink: Candied Apple
• Nuvo Mousse Fresh Copper
• Foam tape, glue, water mister, heat gun 

Steps to create:

• Cut and score Natura paper to create 4.5 by 5.25" side folding card base.
• Smoosh Distress ink and Oxide ink on craft mat, mist with water, place white card stock on the ink to colour it and dry using heat gun. Repeat the layer till desired colour is achieved. 
• Once the desired colour is achieved, die cut "A Great Day" and some feathers from it.
• Die cut 2 "A great day" sentiment from white card stock and stack and adhere on top of each other. Adhere the coloured "a great day" on top of stacked white die cut.
• Adhere the sentiment to card base using glue. 
• Rub & buff some Nuvo mousse on feathers. Arrange and adhere feathers on card base to finish the card (adhere 2 feathers using foam tape for added dimension). 

Hope you liked this card.

Love,
Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta
Crafty Flirtations 

Beauty Emerges From Something Completely Falling Apart - Art Journal

Hello all,

I feel that in life one of the most essential things to be happy is to have "Hope" & "Faith". Hope that even if you are in tough times, better times awaits you. Hope that if you are unwell, you shall get well soon. Hope that all your wishes would come true one day. Along with hope, one also needs to have Faith. Faith not just in God but also in one's own ability to achieve what you want from life.  Faith that even if you fail at something or make a mistake, there is always a chance to succeed next time or correct your mistake.

Page 3 in the art journal that I made for Tejal is all about Hope and Faith. Both me and Tejal have been through difficult times this year. So, this page was a reminder for both of us that even if all doesn't seem okay at the moment, we should have hope and faith that things shall get better soon. And what signifies Hope & Faith better than a butterfly.  Butterflies represent Endurance, Change with Time, Hope and Life. Also, Tejal loves butterflies and hence was an added bonus to use them on this page.  

This page truly did test my hope and faith in myself too while I was creating it as I got some ink marks and texture paste marks on the page which werent as per my plan. But than when I added Butterflies to the page, these marks werent visible. Hence, whenever creating Art Journals dont get scared if you make mistake. You can always rectify it. 

I also wanted to use Khusboo's (Tejal's friend) favorite flower "Lavender" on this page. Lavender are symbol of refinement, grace, and elegance. The last 4 months have taught us that however difficult the situation is, we can always face them and come out as winners with grace and elegance. Hence, field of Lavender flowers was perfect for this page on Hope & Faith. 

Supplies Used:

• 6 by 7" card stock or chipboard
• White card stock 
• Distress Oxide Inks: Broken China, Twisted Citron, Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick 
• Itsy Bitsy 2 in 1 texture paste (used as gesso)
• Memory Box Stencil: Delphinium (#88571)
• Kaisercraft Butterflies stamp set
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Violet Acrylic Paint 
• Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions Paint Pens 
• Ranger Black Archival Ink
• Sakura Water Colour Pens
• Scissors, Glue, Foam tape, Blending Foam, palette knife
• Printed quote/ sentiment 

Steps To Create:

• Apply gesso on the card stock/ chipboard base and let it dry. Blend oxide inks on the background.
• Mix texture paste with violet acrylic paint and apply through stencil using palette knife. 
• Once the texture paste is dry, draw stems using paint pens.
• Stamp butterflies using black ink and fussy cut. Color using water colours (I used Sakura pens).
• Adhere quote on the base using glue. 
• Finish the page by adding butterflies. Add some foam tape between 2 layers of big butterflies to add dimension.

I would life to thank Saumya for lending the Memory Box Delphinium stencil to create the look of Lavender flowers :) I shall soon be back with the 4th page. 

View page one

View Page 2

I would like to enter this art page at 

• Art Journal Journey. Theme: Flora & Fauna

I shall be back soon with Page 4. 

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta

Crafty Flirtations 

Bees come where flowers blossom - Art Journal Page

Hi Friends,

Last time I shared process of creating the above rustic & grungy art journal page with you all. However, once I finish the page, I realised I adhered the sentiment sticker upside down and being an art journal, I had to correct it so that when I flip through the journal, I can read it correct. So, I removed the sentiment stickers & edited the page to add flowers & some bees. Here is the updated page & process for same (beyond what is described in the previous post).

Supplies:

• White card stock
• Floral Die Cut Outs
• Ranger Distress Oxide Inks: Twisted Citron & Salty Ocean
• Ranger Distress Ink: Black Soot
• Ranger Black Archival Ink
• Concord & 9th Perfectly Penned Stamp
• Sakura Micron, Markers & Pencil colours for colouring, Water Mister, Heat Gun, Glue. scissors

Steps To Create:

• Smoosh Oxide inks on the craft mat, mist with water and colour floral cut outs by dipping them in ink. Dry them using heat gun. Repeat the process till you achieve the desired effect. Add some dots on flower center using black Micron. 
• Smoosh some Black Soot ink on the craft mat, dilute with water and make splatters on the page. 
• Draw some honey bee on card stock, colour using markers or water colours and fussy cut.
• Stick the flowers and honey bees on the journal page.
• Add shading around the flowers using colour pencils.
• Finish the layout by stamping sentiment using black ink. 

I hope you love this updated version as much as I love it. 

Please leave your love & feedback in the comments section.

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta

Crafty Flirtations 

Quick & Simple Christmas Cards

Hi Friends,

As crafters, we often get presented with opportunities where we can bring that extra smile & happiness to some.  I recently visited an old-age home in my vicinity that presented me with one such opportunity. As Christmas is around the corner, along with my friends, I decided to make & donate some Christmas cards for the elderly at old-age home. I didnt have any Christmas themed supplies, so I dug through my stash to create these beautiful cards

Materials Used:

• Ranger Distress Oxide Ink: Candied Apple
• Art Anthology Dimensional Paint: Brick (stone effect), Emerald (Gem Stone) 
• Ranger Red Geranium Archival Ink 
• iCraft Rose stencil
• Unity Sentiment Stamp
• Sequins from Mudra & Papericious
• Wink Of Stella 
• White Card stock, Acetate Sheet & Glue

Steps To Create:

• Make a triangle stencil from an acetate sheet.
• Cut and score card stock to create a 4 by 6" told folding card.
• Place the rose stencil on the card and over-lay a triangle stencil on it.
• Either blend Distress Oxide ink on the card or apply a layer of dimensional paint through the stencil to resemble a Christmas tree.
• If using Distress Oxide Ink, once the ink is dry, paint over using Wink Of Stella to add Shimmer.
• Stamp the sentiment using Archival ink.
• To finish the card, add some sequins on the card to resemble ornaments.

Hope you are inspired to dig through your stash to create cards. 

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta 

Stamping with Distress Oxide Inks

Hi Friends,

I am back with another card today using Ranger Distress Oxide Inks. Oxide inks are absolutely fantastic for stamping. However, one must remember that these inks stay wet for a long duration so one should not touch the stamped image till the ink drys to avoid smudging. Heat tool can also be used to speed drying process. Hope you like the card.

Best Regards,
Dr. Neha Sanwalka
Crafty Flirtations 

Stamping on coloured card stock with Oxides

Hi Friends,

Today I am sharing another card made using Ranger Distress Oxide Inks. As Distress Oxide inks are a blend of pigment and dye ink, they work great for stamping & what's more fantastic is that they can be used for stamping on coloured card stock too.

Supply List:

• Blue textured card stock
• White Iris Card stock 270 gsm
• Ranger Distress Oxides: Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint & Broken China 
• Glossy Accent
• Hero Arts Cling Stamp - Scattering Leaves 
• Lawn Fawn Summer Time Charm Stamp 

Hope you all love the card.

Love,
Dr. Neha Sanwalka
Crafty Flirtations 

Distress Oxide Cards

Hi friends,

Ever since I brought Ranger Distress Oxide inks, I have fallen in love with them. I have tried various techniques with them and one of the techniques that I enjoyed trying was by by "Stamp N Ground Crafts By Echo Noble". Here is my try with the technique.

Hope you all like the cards.

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka Rungta

Crafty Flirtations