art journal page inspired by the march magpie box

i made a new art journal page for st. patrick's day!  i took my inspiration from the cute leprechaun and green ephemera in the march magpie box.

in the top half, i painted the rainbow with watercolors and colored in the exclusive #lucky diecut with sharpies.  the journaling at the bottom is also a combination of watercolors and sharpies. 

this bottom rainbow is done with watercolor pencils.  the ephemera background was glued onto a piece of cardstock and then attached to the vintage ledger with glue, washi tape, and staples.  it's not going anywhere!

two pages done this year!  woot!  better than last year.  ;)

art journal: vintage ledgers

jenni bowlin saves all her vintage crazy cat lady photos for me.  i'm not quite sure what this says about me, but it says that jenni has a very big heart and it definitely makes me feel loved.

can you believe that i haven't done anything in this vintage ledger art journal since june of 2012.  crazy, right?  i was going through photos from 2012 last night in preparation for calvinball 2015 and those were pretty sparse.  i'm thinking 2012 was the year of the great anemia.  glad i'm taking iron pills now.

i think this is the first time that i have really focused on collage in art journaling.  i think i'm hooked!  i don't know why, but for some reason i was operating under the misconception that art journaling was all about exploring different mediums.  while it definitely can be that, it's so much more as well.  i think i've come to realize that it's more about exploring your creative inner voice and for me that's accomplished more easily with paper, glue, and pen.

haha!  and i think i've mastered the dina wakley technique of writing your heart out and then covering it up with more pretties.  there's not anything profound there, really, but my inner thoughts don't feel quite so exposed when they're not as accessible.  this is all a hot mess of watercolors, distress inks, acrylic paint wash, and sharpies.

pretty clouds always make me happy.  i pencil sketched these, traced them with a black sharpie pen, painted them with acrylic paint, painted around them with watercolors, then traced them once more with the same black sharpie pen.

if you're interested in a vintage ledger of your own, i have a post up on jenni's blog today that lists a few that are currently up for sale.

happy arting!  :)

art journal: exploring collage

this is a little 6x6 collage that i've been working on for a few weeks.  i actually finished the bulk of it in one sitting, but then it took me a while to find the time and inclination to finish embroidering the rainbow.  i was surprised that it came together so quickly as when i sat down to start it i had the proverbial deer in the headlights syndrome.  i had no idea what i was doing and thus had no idea how to get started.  scary.

i decided to cruise through my pinboards and found an art journal page with stitching on it that sparked my interest.  then i remembered a couple little kits that i bought from julie kirk a few months ago that i'd only fondled thus far. these two things gave me just enough direction to relax and let the creative juices start flowing.  this was fun.  i think it's a charming little piece and hope to try collage again soon.  show no fear.  :)

dirty footprints studio's 21 secrets: dina wakley

finally back to the art journaling!  i signed up for dirty footrprint studio's "21 secrets" back in march and finally opened it up and got started last weekend.  thank goodness it's a self-paced class, right?  the class looked like a good deal with 21 lessons from 21 different artists.  it appears that there are videos plus pdfs from each artist.  i did dina wakley's lesson, "intuitive painted layers," first as i know dina rocks it.  she did.  i was a bit scared of this one at first, but i love how it turned out in the end (you were so right briana).  i hope to crank out all 21 lessons this summer.  yay summer vacation!

i can't give away any of dina's secrets as i know how hard she works.  but i did want to tell you of a couple little snippets about my page.  as in i finally scored a julie balzer crafter's workshop cloud stencil and used it even.  la la love.  i love clouds.  i love stencils.  i love julie art.  what's not to love?

i also used several of my new tim holtz distress stains that may and terena talked me into buying.  dina suggests using two similar tones of paint which i mostly didn't have.  instead i used a paint and a stain.  there was a learning curve, but i'm thinking i will be playing with this combo a lot and i'm proud to have used more unused things.

hope to be back with another art journal sample soon!  i'm thinking julie's lesson will be next!  :)

art journal

my poor art journal seems to have fallen by the wayside in the month of march.  i'm not sure how or why that happened.  This spread was actually mostly done in february.  i just threw the bottom of the bee page on last night to call it done.  i think sometimes it's best to just move on and start fresh.  but seriously, i really liked how these were going, so i don't know what derailed me.  the lazies i guess.  hmmm.

the little bee a drew from my bee pinboard on pinterest.  i kinda did this page as a rough sketch of a canvas i'd like to do one day when i actually start doing canvases.  one day.  the background was playing with the watercolor crayons i splurged on and the water colored pencils that i found in my stash and had totally forgotten that i owned.

the clouds were made from gesso swirled in circles.  look closely and you can see that it can leave a nice texture behind.  the stickles i got from jenni.  i didn't think i'd like stickles, but i kinda do actually.

then this page was a fun dabbling into collage.  the frame around the girl is more gesso and stickles.  the background is more watercolor crayon and pencil play.  i (wet) glued down some sewing pattern paper and stamped on it.  that's my favorite mercantile exclusive stamp from last year. 

overall i remember this being quite fun last month.  i need to get back to it.

if you're interested in art journaling, julie balzer's "art journal every day" posts are a great place to start.

art journal

i think i've had a bit of a breakthrough this week.  i feel like these pages have more depth, mainly because i'm learning to mix various mediums.  i've done well with using things i already have.  i did accidentally bring home a few new things from hobby lobby today.  it was bound to happen, right?  new goodies to play with this week!

the rest is a bit about what i did if you're interested . . .

the top section was painted with a wash of a few drops of speckled egg re-inker and a microscopic amount of water.  the clouds were painted on with white paint and then the same blue wash touched on them here and there.

the next section was painted with a mix of greens, blues, and walnut ink.  it came out a little murky.  oops.  i masked it off with mjasking tape.  you'll see that i'm kinda into the walnut ink now.  i have a bottle that i bought back when i first started scrapbooking.  the brown collaged look was way in then.  i've never used that bottle of walnut ink and actually thought about purging it many many times.  glad i kept hanging on to it.

the butterfly is a jbs rub-on single.  a wash of lemon drops was painted over it.  then yellow stickles rubbed over it with my finger.  i scored a couple free bottles of stickles the other day.  honestly, i didn't think i'd like it, but i do actually like it lots.  it's another layer and i'm finding i like layers.

the dandelion seed i sketched from an image in my botanicals board at pinterest.  it resides in a frame painted with speckled egg paint mixed with water.  a wash of the walnut ink is painted on the inside.

the salmon was another wash i mixed up, this time with chewing gum, chili powder, and lemon drops.  this one turned out much better.

happy with the dots as well.  those are lemon drops paint on a jbs foam stamp.  then a drew around them with a regular sized pink sharpie.  i have to give a shout out to the sharpie here.  my journaling is doing with a fine tipped sharpie pen here.  i killed about three of my american crafts precision pens on the first few pages of the art journal.  sharpie's are troopers though.  and my hand likes the way the right as well.  good find.

this is me trying to free paint after watching that strathmore video series.  i'm starting to think i have to free painting bones in my body.  the geometric circle was as close as i could get to free painting.  i had actually misted with a floral mask on the page first and that was a bust.  the good thing about art journaling i've found is you just cover up mistakes.  you can still see the blotchiness back there, but it's all good.  the circles are painted in several layers of three colors of the paint/water wash, some walnut ink wash, and the black sharpie.  i remembered to get out my stamps too.  the center of the circle is stamped with chili powder and a circle cut from a scrap of the new magpie paper.

the heart was cut from a piece of sewing pattern paper and glued to the page.  i did this in several places on the page and really like it.  it's also stamped and i think rubbed with ink of some sort.  the edge is a leftover piece of the new perforated stamps paper and the vintage calling card is from this month's antiquarian kit.

art journal

i really didn't intend for this spread to turn into "ode de cat" but there it is.  the journaling on the left is about g watching four episodes of cats 101 on demand and having a serious discussion with me about the merits of the various cat breeds and which he should have when he grows up.  it was really quite sweet.  the alien eyes in the top left came about when i tried to sketch chichi while she was sitting in my lap.  bad idea.  on the right side is a funny story.  have you seen jenni's new line, "magpie?"  i was over there the other day and found an old picture book out that had the dog and a CAT so i was fussing at her for not including any kitties in the new line.  turns out that wasn't the book she got the artwork from, so i had to let her off the hook.  the next day she had the vintage pic on the right with the post-it note taped up on the wall.  so funny.  but i think i like the old photos in the art journal look.  i remember seeing it once in a somerset studio and liking it quite a bit.  need to go through jenni's old photos and buy a few.  maybe they'll inspire me.

i was very uninspired for quite a while on these pages.  i had slapped those music pages down and for some reason that scheme totally threw me off.  i just couldn't think around it for the longest.  then the cat drawing fiasco bogged me down.  nothing happening.  finally, i was checking out robin marie's blog the other day and noticed she was taking a free art journaling course through strathmore.  i signed up and have watched the first two videos in the series.  i gotta tell you.  i have art inhibitions.  yes i do.  but it has given me the urge to play with backgrounds.  i'm anxious to give it a whirl this week.  and between that and the old pics i was able to slog through finally.  i think it turned out rather fun in the end.  hopefully the next page will be easier.

the rest is technical information for anyone interested in what i've done on this one.

the circles were misted using an industrial sized toilet paper roll as the stencil.  i alternated studio calico piglet and maya road orange.  i also overlayed studio calico white over each.  i then loosely drew the circles around them with american crafts precision pen in .03.  the green you see is a wash made from a bit of jenni bowlin for ranger stick candy and seed packet acrylic paint mixed with water.  the doodled vine is the same pen plus some jenni bowlin for ranger chicken feed acrylic paint.  i also used some of gabriel's colored pencils here and there in the journaling.  i journal with an american crafts .01 precision pen.

the frame here is brushed on with a foam brush and the same green paint wash from the left.  i then used the end of a paint brush dipped in jenni bowlin for ranger chicken feed paint to make the dots.  each is doodled with my .01 precision pen.  the circles on the right were created by first misting the piglet over some jbs doily flowers used as masks.  i then swirled a wash of jenni bowlin for ranger lemon drops and chicken feed mixed with water in a circle over each doily flower.  the centers are a dot of jenni bowlin for ranger chili powder using the end of a paint brush.  then again with the hand drawn circles.  i'm very much liking the circle effect and want use that on a scrapbook page soon.

art journal

behold. my art journal. i'm kinda excited about it. i yearningly watched julie's art journal every day posts all year long in 2011. i even attempted to start one of my own back in february. it didn't take. i felt like i was making a mini-album. you know i really like mini-albums. but a mini-album is not an art journal. i lost interest after a week. i pushed through for another week. then i quit in a huff. depression. bah.

i discovered karen's blog sometime after that. i loved watching her foray's into art journaling. and sketching. i've watched the project life excitement escalating this fall. i had absolutely no interest in that until i read lisa's post about her approach. hmmm. maybe. maybe no. but it got me wanting to record more moments in time. then i found this old ledger at vintagefest. i held it for almost an hour. debating. would i really use it. i wanted to. i finally couldn't say no. it called to me. "take me hoooooooooooome," it said.

not wanting to waste a big ticket investment i was determined to get to work on it immediately. ali's one little word concept seemed like a good idea for the cover. i shall be focusing on joy this year. at least until i find i need to focus on something else. i really like shimelle's thoughts on that . . . "And although the specific project is a word for the year, don't forget that life isn't really ruled by a calendar. I think it's okay to roll with the punches and change things when they need to change. I often focus on a guiding principle for a season or two and then move on when the energy to work on another part of life seems to be calling me. "

my old ki memories felt letters jumped onto the page. i merrily sewed them down. i really thought i should add more. but then i told myself. nope. joy. that is all.

and here we begin my art journaling journey anew. i'm still not sure what i'm doing or where i'm going. but i think that is the point (or one of the many points) of an art journal. i've started a pinboard of art journaling ideas. with that i've noticed that i like light airy pages. i don't lean toward collage or heavily colored backgrounds. i like sketching. i want to dabble in watercolors i think. eventually. right now i'm just working with what i have. the bank account's on a post christmas diet. aren't we all?

the rest of this post will be a play by play of each section. you may want to stop reading now if you're not interested in that sort of thing. but for those of you who like me often wonder, "how did she do that?" well. here it is . . .

here i was trying to replicate jenni's stamping on this layout. i used stick candy paint first with the cabbage flower foam stamp. then malted milk with the same stamp. it didn't come out like jenni's. when i showed jenni this page she told me what you need to do is use the malted milk paint and foam stamp first and then use the cabbage flower clear stamp with stick candy ink. aha!

the background stencil is from crafter's workshop. now i know i need to do stencils a little darker if i'm going to be writing over them. the title is hand done. i painted it in with seed packet and then a little translucent glitter sprinkle. the white bits are gessoed. i didn't like the writing in there so i covered it up. the flowers are cut from very old heidi swapp paper. i also gessoed them to make them a little softer. the words on the side are just printed on copy paper, inked with malted milk, then trimmed out and stuck on.

i drew a pair of my old college dancing shoes. the background is painted with gesso. then with a little soap powder ink mixed with water (top) and spice tin ink mixed with water (bottom). the shoes are painted with studio calico barnwood ink mixed with water. i also brushed a little of this over the blues to dirty them.

here's my first full spread. nothing daily here. i deliberately started on a thursday. and while i'm dating each section with tiny numbers, i'm not making a big deal out of the date. daily makes me manic. not a good thing.

i am liking blocking sections quite a bit. and putting washi tape down the seam seems to be my thing. also, it is surprisingly easy to find spots to sew on the pages even though they're stuck in the book. oh! and another thing. since these are thin ledger pages, i am skipping a page each time so i don't have to worry about bleed throughs or working around sewing from the previous page. i will then attach the two subsequent finished pages for continuous visual appeal. :)

i tried to draw a real feather. it was very difficult to draw a real feather. at least the one i chose. it was very much curved and fluffy in places. i used a regular pencil. then some soap powder ink with water. then went back in with a .01 precision pen. the stencil is a jbs mercantile kit exclusive (those will go on individual sale mid-month). i think the ink is chicken feed with the stencil and then some lemon drops without stencil. i used a .05 precision pen for the quote and colored in the loops with some of g's colored pencils.

the quote says, "plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it." - william feather

i really worked hard on this feather and liked it a lot. i sketched it from an image off my feather pinboard. same process as the previous feather. the alpha stamps are from american crafts. sorry the name of the font eludes me at the moment. i used cough syrup ink. the misty mess is maya road hydrangea and studio calico piglet.

the crafter's workshop stamp again, this time repeated four times. .05 precision pen for the title. all journaling is .01 precision. the pen you choose is VERY important for journaling. try out a bunch and find out what your hand likes. stencil is outlined with the .o1 in the title area. several of g's colored pencils reappear again. the interior letter spots are colored with a sharpie.

in love with my bee drawing. she is the cutest. i almost said he, but you know bees are all sisters. i got her off my bee pinboard. also in love with the tiny october afternoon alpha stamps. can you believe i've had those for a couple years now and hadn't used them? and oops! can't remember the name of these either. but they will be in my art journaling kit for sure. the bee is all pencil and colored pencil. the stamping is in fountain pen. jbs exclusive stencil again with lemon drops.

that's it! hope to have a second installment of ye olde art journal next week!