Some new journal pages ♥

Tags

acrylic paints, art journal, art journal pages, art journaling, crayon technique, finished pages, journal pages, quotes

I’ve been working on some journal pages recently and even finished a few. Pretty rare for me

The first 2 pages were a test run for a new-to-me technique, using a white crayon as a resist to watered down acrylic paint. On the left side I used very watered down paint, and on the right side the paint was less diluted. The paint came off of the wax crayon a lot easier on the left than it did on the right. In fact I disliked the way the right side had turned out so much that it has since been covered up with gelli print collage But it was a fun technique to try and I had a good time experimenting and playing around.

The next spread I painted over a bright background with turquoise, then dripped some water on it, let the paint dry, and then blotted up the water to reveal the colors underneath (probably my most favorite technique from Creative Jump Start 2013 from Nathalie Kalbach! I use it all the time!!). I used a page from a book to write on about my love for spring, and then I layered it with some papers, flower and butterfly die cuts, and washi tapes. I added a few stamps and rubs-ons, then I used two stencils to add some black to the pages and tie them together. Love how this one turned out

This page started out as a place to use up some of the paint I had leftover from a canvas my hubby and I worked on together a while back, and I loved how the colors worked together. I took some painted papers and punched out a butterfly and added a punched border. I also cut out some circles and tore a few strips of the painted paper, and added them all to the page. I added washi tapes and a cloud stamp, then I decided that the stamp was too “in your face” so I toned it down with a bit of gesso. I used one of the circles for a journaling spot and wrote out a quote from Haruki Murakami about “once the storm is over”. I really love this quote, it is one of my all time favorites! I outlined the circles with a micron pen and called it done. I love how this page came together slowly over time, but it feels like that’s how it needed to be. Very happy with it

Thanks so much for stopping by!

From my travels

Tags

abandoned car, abandoned house, old abandoned houses, old barn, old car, old cars, old houses, red barn, road trip, rundown house, rusty car, Travels

My hubby and I made another trip back home recently, and on the way we saw some great old houses and an old car

I love old abandoned houses, and old cars. They have their own stories, and they make you wonder what those stories are.

You can check out some more of my old house pics here and here, and some lighthouse pics here.

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great weekend!!

Gelli printing with minimal stuff

Tags

bubble wrap, colorful gelli prints, gelli plate, gelli plate prints, gelli prints, tags

I was sitting at my desk the other day, wanting to make something in my art journal but unsure of what. I decided to go through my gelli prints, and while I did I realized I didn’t have any solids, or just plain gelli prints without stencils or other patterns on them. So naturally, out comes the gelli plate again I did use a few things on some of these besides just paint, but not much. I used bubble wrap, a stamp, and a circular plastic canvas. Had a great time, just mixing colors and playing with paint!

Even printed a few tags!

I love my gelli plate! Even without stencils or stamps, you can make awesome gelli prints

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Stamping, a mini book, and tags

Tags

gelli print, ink, masking tape, mini book, modeling paste, molding paste, stamps, StazOn ink, stencils, tags, tim holtz stamps

I was feeling a bit stuck after I finished my junque journal last weekend. (This was before my hobby lobby discovery and purchase of dylusions spray inks )I couldn’t decide what I felt like doing artistically, so I pulled out my stamps and ink pads, and set out to play. I had a pile of tags, my journal of gelli prints, some masking tape, and a cute little mini book I made the other day. It was a recipe for a lot of fun!

Here are some of my favorite tags:

And the mini book I made: the cover is heavy watercolor paper, stenciled and painted during a gelli print session, with some colored molding paste on top.   I used random stamps on each set of pages, and StayzOn ink throughout so that I don’t have to worry about what medium I want to use on top of the ink later. I’m not sure what I’m going to use this little book for, but I love how it looks and how the cover feels with the modeling paste!

This is a page from my gelli print notebook that I added some stamped masking tape to, and then more stamps to the page itself.

It was so much fun to sit down without a plan and just play. And now I have a pile of cute tags on hand, some journal pages ready to go, and a little mini book ready for notes or doodles whenever I feel the need If you are feeling stuck, I really recommend pulling out one main supply and just playing with colors on different surfaces!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

New toys!

Tags

art journal backgrounds, backgrounds, dylusions spray inks, feathers, hobby lobby, journal pages, new toys, plastic canvas, spray inks, stencils, tags

Had a happy accident yesterday While running some errands I stumbled across a Hobby Lobby. Never been to one before, and I  thought the nearest one was a few hours away. So I wandered in after my errands and looked around, trying very hard not to jump up and down in excitement to act like an adult. And in the scrapbook/stickers/awesome-stuff-that-can-be-used-in-art-journaling section, I came across dylusions spray inks! 2 for $9.99. You bet I snatched up a couple of those! The cheapest I have found them online is about $650 each + shipping. So 2 for $10 and no shipping made me really really happy. They also had the dylusions journal for $24, which I really wanted to get since I’ve heard so many wonderful things about the paper in it, and it’s a great size. But I talked myself out of spending more money on another art journal, regardless of its awesomeness (Hubby should be proud!) I could have spent so much money yesterday… They had a bunch of stuff there I haven’t seen at Michael’s or A.C Moore, and someday I will definitely have to make another trip down there!

So back to the spray inks. I’ve never used the dylusions before, or really any manufactured sprays, just watered down acrylics, which are great and cheap to make but the colors are not always as vibrant as I would like. With the dylusions, the colors are awesome!! So bright and fun to mix! I am in product love here This morning I spent some time playing with them and some plastic canvas shapes I bought,and a couple of stencils. Love the results!

Even my paper towel I dried the inks with looks cool

Thanks so much for stopping by!

New desk/junque journal

Tags

desk journal, handmade journal, junk journal, leftover journal, mixed paper journal, scrap journal

I have had a fun and busy weekend, with all kinds of art-ing goodness

I was super inspired by journal artista’s video about her desk/leftover journal, and I had to make one for myself!! I went through my box of “stuff”(old calenders, leaflets, pamphlets, maps, users manual in other languages, ect) and pulled out anything I thought would work. Then I gathered up a variety of plain, lined, grid, scrapbook, and gelli printed papers for the rest of the signatures. I have to say, it was a lot of fun putting together all the different papers. I didn’t worry about which ones were together, just folded and layered them until I was happy with them. Many of them have flaps that fold out, I can’t even tell you how ridiculously happy that makes me No idea why, but it does. I used thick chipboard for the spine, since the spine supports the weight of the signatures, and lighter chip board for the covers, connecting them with trusty duct tape. I made the spine wider than I normally would have, to be able to add more signatures if I want, and to allow room for the pages to expand as they get painted, printed, stenciled, and inked. It was about this time that I grabbed our stash of rubber bands only to realize we had about 4. That was kind of a problem, since the rubber bands are what hold the signatures into the book and allow you to take them out and move them around. So I cut some ribbon to use instead until I remember to get some rubber bands next time I go to the store. The ribbon does not hold the signatures into the book as well as the rubber bands do, but it does work well enough for now. The desk/junque journal was already put to use this week when I was doing some stamping in a cute little mini book I made recently (more on that next time ) and when I was doing some painting yesterday. I love it! Its a great way to use up lots of papers and junk mail!

I can’t wait until the pages are covered with painty inky goodness!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

It is always now

Tags

inspirational, It is always now, motivational, Sam Harris, talk, thought provoking, video

This is one of the most thought provoking things I have heard in a long time. “It is always now” by Sam Harris. Since hearing it for the first time, I keep coming back to it in my mind time and time again. Just wanted to share it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

The finished birthday card

Tags

birthday, birthday card, card, Faber-Castell Pitt pens, gel pens, gelli prints, handmade card, orange and teal, pitt pens, washi tape

So I finished the Birthday card I was making, and it is on its way to the intended recipient! But I did remember to take some pics first, before it made its way into the envelope and out to the post office

I used a piece of 140lb watercolor paper for the base, one side colored randomly from cleaning off my brayer while gelli printing. On the outside, I affixed a gelli print that I liked, added a birthday banner in a contrasting colored gelli print, and added some washi tapes. For the inside, I was going to use the orange I used for the banner, but didn’t like the way it looked with the mixed colors that were already there. So I picked another, more mellow gelli print and wrote out the birthday wishes with a Faber-Castell Pitt brush pen. I went back over it with a silver gell pen so it stood out more and was easier to read, then added some doodles down the sides with more Pitt pens.

Names have been blurred/removed to protect the identities of those not involved in the crafty chaos, hehehe

While I was taking pictures of the card, I was messing with different white balance options on my camera to get good lighting in the images. Waffles came over to see what was going on and so I took a few pictures of her too. She was a bit freaked out at all the pictures, and you can see it in her face I love the last pic, just cracks me up!

“What is going on!?!?! Please stop! This is my very serious puppy face….” Such a funny puppers

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

A moment of delusion

Tags

acrylic paint, art journal backgrounds, colorful, gelli, gelli plate, gelli prints, rubber stamps, stamps, stencils, tim holtz rubber stamps

There is an upcoming birthday in our family, and I realized a couple of days ago that I needed to make a card. My first thought was to use some gelli prints! (the stack of prints is getting quite big, so any project that uses paper is a much needed chance for possible gelli print use.) So through the pile I went looking, and eventually found a page I loved that would be a cool birthday card! But,(there is always a “but” ins’t there?) I didn’t have a contrasting color page that I really liked to use for the banner or inside the card. So that meant I needed to pull out the gelli plate for “just a quick print”. Go ahead and laugh, yes I actually was delusional enough to think that for a second I did get the print I wanted, and I made it double sided so I can use one pattern for the outside and a different one on the inside of the card, both in the contrasting color I wanted. But then I had to add more paint for another pull, because I didn’t want it to go to waste….and, well, one thing led to another. Here are some of the prints I made with no plans for:

 

So yeah, the pile of gelli prints got bigger, not smaller :/ Oh well. It was a ton of fun I used some Tim Holtz rubber stamps with the gelli plate, and love how they look!

And the birthday card is nearly finished, despite being unavoidably side tracked

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Be the good

Tags

acrylic paints, canvas, colorful, finished canvas, paint pen, painted, quote, stencils

I finished a canvas I started working on a few days ago, and I love how it turned out!! Saw this on pinterest  and loved it! But I didn’t have any wood, or some place that I could really put something that big. What I did have was a selection of canvases and wall space! So, out came the stencils and paint, and here is the finished piece:

Originally the copper colored letters were turquoise, but I felt like that blended into the background too much. The pictures don’t do it justice, it’s very bright and colorful, and the copper and black letters really pop from the background!! The final layer of the background was molding paste colored with paint and used with a stencil. The texture just invites you to run your hands over it! Since I know I will never frame it, I painted a black border around the edges, and I think it makes it feel finished.

Materials used: 18″ x 24″ canvas, gesso, acrylic paints, molding paste, stencils, sharpie paint pen, and gel pen.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope you are having great spring weather where ever you are!