Tag : art journal

267 posts

We flew

Lately most of my time has been spent creating journals, writing in them or thinking about them…but not art journals.

I tend to do this…I get completely obsessed with one thing and virtually abandon the rest for a time. Art journals and mixed media always find there way back to me. They are my true calling.

Today though I knew I wanted to art journal. I started out with some dress pattern paper and gelatos for that lovely aged yellow color. I added bits of torn fabric and papers in opposite corners of my spread. I then added some red and gold with a variety of sprays and golden paints.

After that I wasn’t really sure other than I thought I needed another color…something contrasting. I came across a tattered book mark in my stash. The colors of the flowers matched perfectly and the blue gave that contrasting color I was looking for.

After I decided on the wooden bird for the opposite page I dug out my sealing wax just for fun. I haven’t use it in ages. My cousin and I got little sets back in the early 1980’s when we were girls and wrote letters to each other. I still have my set and a few more seals that I’ve picked up over the years just because they are pretty and kind of a unique thing to come across at a rummage sale.

I happened to find a journal tag that was the right color blue to act as a perch for my bird. The words we flew jumped out at me from my box of found text. I thought a bit of loopy thread gave some nice texture and was a bit reminiscent of a nest.

The tag looked a little boring so I used a bit of distress ink on a script stamp for a little more vintage feel. I didn’t have a brad the right color so I dipped a white one in paint then sprinkled with baking soda. once it dried It had a nice muted appearance in just the right color.

I’m super happy that I gave in to my impulse and got creative today.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Vintage or Modern

Art Journal Journey

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A secret society

I got my vintage vibe back today. I really felt like art journalling. Getting paint covered fingers and messy grungy pages was all I could think about.

I didn’t really give a whole lot of for thought other than wanting to use some really watered down sprays so show off the texture I was going to create.texture on art journal page

In the end I used gelatos and water color crayons as well to add the depth of color I sought.

I layered strips of yellow and blue scraps on both sides of the spread before adding the first layers of color sprays. Layer upon layer until I got the look I desired.  After I found this woman on a pattern envelope I knew she needed something sort of snarky to say. She just had that look about her.Then this image from one of the Reader Digest books I tore apart magically appeared. Well not magic but darn close…it was basically the first image I saw in the stack. 

 From where I’m sitting it looks to me like a secret society

Yep…in those days the ‘good old boys club’ pretty much was a secret society to women.

 

Art Journal Journey
Linking up to with Art Journal Journey for this months theme for Vintage or Modern.

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T Tuesday: completed journal recap edition

I am finally finished….as in completely finished with another journal. The inside pages have been done for a month or so but I had not been inspired on how to pretty up the outside until now.

As you can see this was a big improvement from the original.

The pretty paper came from a flower Mini-me received at the end of her first campus tour.

They have a cool tradition there that every Friday local florists bring single flowers for the students to purchase and place in each others mailboxes. Since it was a Friday, each of the kids on the tour got a flower. Hers was wrapped in the lovely pink floral kraft paper.

I wanted to keep the original inscription so I used washi tape to adhere the paper like a book jacket. Remember covering textbooks with grocery bags…same concept. Just prettier.

Mini-me and I are both a little obsessed with washi tape. Sometime I’ll show you our collection.

I received some happy mail from a dear friend of mine the other day. She was doing a major purge and thought of me. Yay! Thank you!!

On a recent thrifting excursion I picked up a couple goodies for my stash. The journal is really cute but a little small. Not sure if it would work for me to art journal with as my original thought was for it. I’m always on the lookout for a new book to journal since I don’t work cover to cover in a methodical manner. I tend to jump between several journals. The one I shared today was started Nov 2016 and considering there are only 8 spreads…I definitely jump around.

Mini-me and I had our first taste of Fall with a Pumpkin Iced Crafted Press. So yummy!!

Tuesday we both head back to school. I’m ready for the schedule. I almost feel more productive at home when I’m working.

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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Yes I loved it

Today’s art journal page was all about me wanting to play with some of our new washi tape.

Mini-me and I picked out 12 rolls at Michael’s the other day when we stopped in to pick up some twirly sticks for my planters along the front walk. Yes I know summer is half over but I still wanted them.

Anyway..back to the journal page.  I simply love the look of dress pattern paper over text so I knew I had to leave a good portion of that revealed on my page. I loosely framed the page first with paint then with washi over the top. Some of the wider washi tapes I tend to tear into thinner pieces and apply in a slightly random fashion.

A clothing tag serves as both a backdrop for the first part of my sentence and the date stamp. I think I may need a new Staz-on pad…that stamping didn’t turn out very well.

I used a needle tipped bottle with thinned white paint to create this heart. After it was somewhat dry I laid the washi over the middle. And true as the statement across it…I loved it.

This page put a smile on my face. Yet another reason I keep creating. Just for me, just art for art’s sake.

 

Art Journal Journey

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AJJ: art of arts sake

Taking time to play in my art journals has been a challenge. I’ve been suffering from bouts of extremely busy schedules followed by times of extreme sloth. No, I’m serious. I’m not sure what’s up with that but I find if my schedule or to-do list isn’t packed with stuff, I have a hard time getting motivated. I justify it to myself as “I’ve just been so busy, I’ll just sit down for a bit and __(fill in the blank)__.  These options often include a screen, but of course not a useful screen such as learning something…no, just time wasters.  Netflix, Pinterest, phone apps, iPad games. WHY!!??!!

Ok…now that I got that confession off my chest I’m ready to move on since I actually have broken my slothful ways the past two days. Taking time to create. Let’s hope it continues, shall we!

This page went together as so many of my recent. I begin with what is around me. Gluing pieces down as the mood strikes.

Next comes the color. My fingers are truly my best tool….second best being the baby wipes I use to clean them off.  As I add paint with my fingers I remember the joy this brings me. I recall why I consider art my own private therapy.  I let go. Let it happen naturally.

I honestly cannot walk away from a page with adding words. They don’t have to be mine. They can be a quote, a sticker, handwritten or stamped. You may not even be able to see them. I often will “journal spill or mind dump” on a page. Sometimes its so messy that it’s illegible. Other times I cover it up with paint or papers. Just the act of writing it out helps ground me but really what it says is no ones business but my own.

These words struck me. Not in the way they were likely meant to.  For me it was more about how creating is good for me, for my soul.

And that is a beautiful thing.

Linking up today with Art Journal Journey is Art for Art’s Sake hosted by Chris of Pearshapedcrafting.

Art Journal Journey

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Art for art’s sake

Early Sunday morning I sat down to create. Getting my fingers full of paint and glue rejuvenates me. I used what was at hand.

 Scrapbook paper, magazine cuttings, ribbon and washi tape just to name a few.

After creating this page I notice that the current theme for July on Art Journal Journey is Art for Art’s Sake hosted by Chris of Pearshapedcrafting. Don’t you just love it when things fall into place. It doesn’t always happen that so when it does…woohoo!

Art Journal Journey

 

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Inspired by Summer
As I sat down to create in the midst of a summer that I hadn’t planned, my mind wandered to the beautiful things. The things that make me appreciate summer. Beautiful colors. Flowers. Birds singing. Breeze blowing through open windows.
All this had me in the mood for an explosion of color. I used my fingers to loosely apply paint in a tribute to a gorgeous sunrise or sunset. The colors were a little too bold. Too in your face so using a baby wipe I blended and softened the page until it made me happy.
I pressed uninked rubber stamps into the paint to create some interest on the background as the stamps pulled even more of the still wet paint away with them as you can see above with the grid pattern.
After heat setting the page I used a harlequin stamp with white ink to lightly stamp randomly around the background using white embossing powder over top to provide a little more kick to the white.
Digging through my stash I found some rub-ons that fit my theme perfectly. The black really pops against the background.
A canning jar full of flowers screams summer beauty to me, Casual, simple, perfect.
I really wanted it to appear that these flowers were indeed inside a glass jar. This gave me a bit of a challenge.
I stamped the jar twice. One was clear embossed for later use. The first was adhered directly to the page. I then stamped my bouquet of flowers onto tissue paper using black Staz-on ink. I adhered the tissue with matte medium and placed on the page, partially “inside” the jar.
Next I cut out windows in the clear embossed jar. I cut a piece of vellum to fit and gave that a bit of shimmer with clear embossing as well. I carefully stacked and glued the pieces of the jar over the original stamped piece. Much to my great pleasure, the stems of the flowers shone through the “glass” as I had hoped.  I used a Tim Holtz word sticker to sum up my thoughts.
The jar seemed to be missing something so I thought about the basket of goodies I carried home from a friends house like Little Red Riding Hood.
The perfect embellishment was right there.
I’m linking up today with Art Journal Journey for Inspired by… the theme chosen by this months host Gil from gibbyfrogettcraftations.
Art Journal Journey

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