Romantic Rose

Hello!

Last week was a busy one as I worked on projects for future blog posts and finally today was able to work on something "just because."  I'm going to lose several days this week to an upcoming exciting trip to Houston for a Gecko Galz crafting retreat and was so anxious to get something made and posted, so here 'tis, my latest art journal pread.

The background was colored with various shades and tints of Neocolors which alone right there is a whole bucket of fun.  I do love spreading the colors around with a wet paintbrush.  

There is stamping with black archival ink, decoupage (butterflies from my favorite paper guest towel  which I've been using a lot lately), and some 3-D copper metallic molding paste put through a stencil.  There's even a bit of doodling around the edges, though it's clear that there's work to be done there.  I'm such a beginner...

Isn't she pretty?  I can see I'm going to be using this stamp set (Stamper's Anonymous "Classic Favorites") quite a bit as the images are all so wonderfully romantic.  I first stamped her onto gift wrap tissue paper then decoupaged her onto the page.  The tissue paper disappears and all that's left is the image.  It's the foolproof way to stamp on paper that isn't perfectly smooth, and I'm giving all the credit for this technique to my mother who recently shared it with me.  There is no risk anymore of smudging stamps onto these journal pages!  Her swirly "hair" was stamped directly onto the page as were the stars.

The butterfly is a bit of the top layer of a fancy paper guest towel.

This rose was torn from the box that contained my favorite hand cream, Tokyo Milk.  The image was just too pretty to discard.  Actually, the whole box is gorgeous and you will no doubt be seeing other parts of it in upcoming projects.

The butterfly is another from the paper guest towel.

A little more stamping.  Not sure why it appears a bit blurry, but the sentiment is crystal clear on the actual page.  That's because I stamped it onto tissue paper and decoupaged it to the page, just like the face image.  No chance for smudging!  The light pink swirls are archival ink put through a stencil.

You can see the bottom edge of the metallic molding paste that I applied through a stencil.

And that's it for today's project.  Thanks so much for joining me and I wish you a day full of beauty and lovely moments, big or small.

Happy crafting!

A Garden is the Music...

...flowers are the notes.

Hello!

Today I'd like to share with you my latest journal page.  I like journaling.  It's not for anyone else but me and is a way to experiment and learn about how different products and media work.  I learned a lot on this page, but first, the page itself.  Well, the two-page spread (but we'll call it a "page" for convenience sake.) 

Pretty colorful, yes?  I wanted to convey leaves and flowers blowing up and around in the breeze, and I wanted them made of different materials.  Of course there had to be birds and a white picket fence (it's my dream to own one and a house that fits such a fence). 

Lots and lots of pictures and techniques, and I won't spell them all out (I'd need more space), but the birds were made using my newest favorite technique to color them with Neocolors and coat them with three layers of UTEE.

Real music and book pages were used for some of the leaves and flowers, cardstock for others...

... a MacDonald Plaid Stamp grocery store coupon book from the 1950's was used for some...

...and there's even a bit of the back label from a bottle of Scotch whiskey. 

The base coloring was done with Gelatos over gesso, and some general stamping was done first before the flowers and other die cuts were applied. 

The fence was painted with shimmer paint, and I did some general doodling on many of the flowers.

Most everything was smudged around the edges with charcoal pencil, while the page edges were smudged with Gelatos.

I wasn't happy with the page until my daughter suggested I put a textile on it (I love textiles on paper projects), so I applied a small piece of vintage lace that my mother gave to me with spray adhesive which dries very hard and allowed me to spread a bit of clear glitter glue on with a finger.  It doesn't show up well, but it gives a lovely sparkle in real life.  There's no real reason why there should be a piece of lace on a design like this except maybe to indicate that a lace tablecloth blew off of the clothes line where it was drying.  Yes, that sounds plausible.

Pearls and Liquid Pearls finish things off.

Thank you for joining me today as I learn about this thing called "art journaling," and here's wishing you a lovely, colorful, sparkly day.






Things I learned on this piece:

1)  Don't use waterbased media as the base color when you're going to apply upper pieces with waterbased gel media.  It smears the color below (which can look nice too but is frustrating if you liked it to begin with).
  
2) Also don't use waterbase ink to stamp background images.  You lose those too.

3) Cardstock is too thick for something like this with lots of layers.  At least it was for me.  These flowers would have done well on a canvas and I would have done well to use thinner paper for the paper elements on the page.

4) Invest in another bird cage die.  I'm getting tired of this one.  :)

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Carnival (I think of the colors as such)
Fussy and Fancy #95 - Bingo Board (almost everything's there, but let's go with Pearls, Free, Lace)
613 Ave. Create - Anything Goes

StampNation - Inspiration Challenge Week 3 - Inspiration photo

Birds of a Feather...

Hello!

My project today features something I haven't done before - art journaling.  There are so many wonderful paint/media techniques out there, and I want to try them all, so art journaling is the way to go.  I can try out new techniques and then use them on other future projects, be they canvases, wood panels, etc.

This will fit the current challenge going on over at Frosted Designs well as their theme this time is "The Great Outdoors."

The background is various colors of Dylusions Spray Inks sprayed on a gesso base.  Note to self: do not gesso the base first if I want vivid colors.  It tones them down considerably, thus requiring more spray.  I was wearing all colors by the time I finished.

I used a stencil to remove some of the color, then I stamped the hexagons in blue Archival Ink using Inspired By Stamping's "Hexagons" stamp set.

The sentiment speaks for itself.

The little birdie is from the Tim Holtz die, Birds, and I decided he should wear a party hat.  He is perched on a branch and looking towards the tree, the branches of which have been stamped using the Inspired By Stamping set "Sweet Aviary."  The bird's own branch is from this same stamp set, and both the tree and the branch have been stamped several times to get the proper effect.

The leaves are sticky back canvas painted with several colors of Gelatos, and the pink flowers are actually bits of white tissue paper with gold metallic spots which I sprayed with a homemade pink shimmer spray before tearing up into little pieces.

I drew the tree trunk freehand then applied gold and rust metallic pastes to both the trunk and the branches for texture.

This is an interesting stamp from the Urban Chic set from Stamper's Anonymous on which I applied metallic gel pens and then the date.

And that, lovely readers, is my very first ever art journal spread.  Looking back, it's pretty simple without a lot of background texture, but that will change as I learn this craft.  Baby steps.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I wish you a lovely weekend full of fun and crafting happiness!

Happy crafting!!

Challenges entered:

Frosted Designs - The Great Outdoors
Oozak #18 - Anything Goes w/Texture
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
Divas By Design - Anything Goes
Crafts and Me #139 - Anything Goes
613 Ave. Create #29 - Anything Goes