Echinacea Journal Page
Posted: August 11, 2022 Filed under: Art Journal, Finetec paints, gel press, Mixed Media | Tags: Art Journal, collage, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, gel printing 10 Comments
I have echinacea or cone flowers growing happily in my garden and now happily in my almost finished 6″x 6″ art journal. A friend recently gave me a great big dictionary for cutting up so I ripped out the ‘book’ page and the ‘journal’ page and used them to cover the whole double page spread before I did anything else.
There were a few words I didn’t want covered up so when I was ripping then gluing I took care to keep them exposed. The word ‘boomerang’ appeared so I didn’t cover that one up even though it has nothing to do with this journal page. I am an Aussie after all. ‘Bookish, bookmark, bookshelf, bookworm, book-club and bookend are all visible, some of them highlighted. Somewhere in the gluing I lost the word ‘journal’ but ‘journey’ is still there.
I used a black all pencil to darken the edges of the torn pieces and softened it with water. I also added white gesso over the top to mute the background a bit. I should have done those two steps in the opposite order so the gesso didn’t reactivate the pencil. I blended some tea dye or possibly antique linen ink around the edges and then wished I hadn’t, after all I don’t have to vintagefy everything!
I cut the petals, cone, and green bits from different gel prints using a photo I’d printed out to guide me with the shape. After everything was glued down I used black, white and gold gel pens to add details and metallic paints on the cone details as well. I added white and gold splatter and a mix of washi tape and gel print circles dotted around the the place.
Hope you are surrounded by books and flowers…if you like them as much as I do!
Supplies
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Art Journal variations on a theme
Posted: July 27, 2022 Filed under: Art Journal, Mixed Media, silhouette birds, Tim Holtz | Tags: Art Journal, Mixed Media 7 Comments
The three journals featured in today’s post are getting quite full. One contains only projects completed during my art journal adventure workshops and the other two have a mix of workshop pages and other experiments and explorations. I have enjoyed art journalling for years but in the last twelve months it has captured more of my interest. Possible techniques or layouts continue to pop into my head waiting for a chance to be tried in the newer 6″x 6″ Ranger journals or the 6″x 9″ Fabriano journals I started years ago.
Sometimes I design a page especially with the art journal adventure in mind. Other times I look through the journals and decide to feature a technique, theme or mixed media material. By the time I have tried the page once or twice then completed fresh ones during the workshops I have four or five pages made with the same theme or technique. I am not keen to make the same thing more than once so I am always thinking about different ways to approach each page.
The five spreads featured today started with the one below (featured in more detail in a previous blog post). The technique remained the same for at each workshop, but the shapes, colours and layout varied from one session to the next.
Of course not only are my pages different from each other but every page in the class is unique and I am always inspired by the colour choices, additional elements and different approaches each participant takes. Inspiration abounds. Can you tell I am enjoying myself?
Supplies
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Off to School journal page
Posted: July 15, 2022 Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Darkroom Door, Mixed Media, scratches, tickets | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Mixed Media 15 Comments
Some of you might recognise the artwork on this journal page. I have saved calendars, magazines, greeting cards and diaries over the years and now that I am creating collages and journal page spreads they are coming into their own. Quite a few years back I saw a calendar featuring covers from Good Housekeeping magazines of the 1920’s and 30’s. I thought the covers were delightful and bought two of the calendars. I enjoyed it during the year then tucked it away for future inspiration.
The calendar images are larger than the 6″x 6″ pages in the journals I am currently using so I chose a painting where I could cut out components and create a smaller scene. I cut the two children and the dog and glued them onto a collaged and painted background. I used floral paper mainly around the edges, blue paint for the background. The fence and cobble stone path were created with texture paste through a stencil. I used a few different Darkroom Door stamps to add vintage details across the page.
I did have to do more fussy cutting than I usually care to but these sweet images were worth it. Once they were glued down I used a black marker to go round the edges of the cut outs and immediately smudged the ink with my fingers or a damp brush. It’s a technique I have seen Vicky Papaioannou do many times on her journal pages. I used a white gel pen to add highlights, another trick from Vicky.
If you want to see what the original artwork by Vernon Thomas, just search good housekeeping magazine with the date I have added to the bottom left corner of my page.
Supplies
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Coffee art journal page
Posted: June 9, 2022 Filed under: Art Journal, coffee time, Darkroom Door, Mixed Media | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Mixed Media, Ranger archival inks 7 Comments
I’ve been having a delightful time in my art journals and in the Art Journal Adventure workshops. We have gone in three different directions so far and the next one is coffee or tea themed. You can see an example of a tea themed page on my classes page and here is my first coffee page.
It doesn’t show up in the photo but the red cup is embossed and glossy and I want one just like it in real life! I used distress embossing glaze for both the words and the cup then had to create a visual triangle in red, do you see it?
I am currently not a coffee drinker which actually makes the quote all the more apt for me. I love the aroma! For Christmas I gave my husband a coffee subscription and each month the coffee comes in a cardboard package which smells delightful as does the mailbox !
If you are interested in joining in the art journal adventure please check out my Classes page where you will see the next two sessions or click on the Crop A While classes page.
Supplies
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Remember when we all had library cards?
Posted: April 22, 2022 Filed under: Art Journal, bookshelf, bookworm, Darkroom Door, library books, Mixed Media | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Mixed Media, Ranger archival inks 9 Comments
I have always loved the library, perhaps now more than ever. I remember as a child having my own library card at the Civic Library in Canberra as well as library cards at school. Filling a library card with date stamps seemed a worthy achievement and then I would get a fresh new card. If only I had kept those cards for forty years later when I wanted to put one in an art journal! I worked in my 9″x 6″ ‘literary themed journal’ for this one not the 6″x 6″ I’ve been sharing a lot lately.
The library card on this journal page I made with a new Darkroom Door stamp, but I’m guessing you already knew that! The new set ‘library books’ includes a library card stamp, two stacks of books, an open book and three quote stamps. What can I say; it’s a delight.
This page was not a delight most of the way through but as I tell the participants in my art journal adventure classes this is often the case. Many pages really do not pull through until the very end. It is an example of a collage page which is what we will be doing in Art Journal Adventure Episode #3. All the dates are listed and linked on my Classes page including a couple of Episode #2 sessions next week.
I began this spread by gluing down pieces of old book pages. If you look at the top right corner of the photo above you will see the aged rounded corner of an old page. It has been become one of my favourite collage tricks to stick the book corners over my page corners then cut away the journal page behind to leave that soft round corner. I did it on all four corners of this page. After the old book pages I added stamping, paint and a couple of photos of books from magazines. More paint then more books using stamps from the DD set ‘bookworm’. I had already stamped my library card, distressed it and set it aside.
The stacks of very old books I made by stamping the DD ‘bookshelf’ border stamp on some gel prints. I cut them out (fussy) and defined some edges and spine details with markers. Once everything was glued down I added splatter and ink blending and some partial stamping with the DD world map stamp. Last but not least a wonderful quote.
I couldn’t end a post like this without asking for a couple of book recommendations. You have helped me before so please leave a recent favourite in the comments below. A few months back I read the first two books in a trilogy and now I am very keen for the third to be published. They were The Lost Queen and The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike. I also enjoyed The Salt Path by Raynor Winn and have The Wild Silence, her second book, waiting for me at the library. I’m in the middle of Roots & Sky by Christie Purifoy which introduced me to her story telling podcast. That’s enough from me; I want to hear from you.
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Butterfly Gold journal page
Posted: January 19, 2022 Filed under: Art Journal, Butterflies, Darkroom Door, honeycomb, mesh, Mixed Media, Stencils, transfer sheet, Wings | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, Mixed Media 6 Comments
I have a new spread in the 6 x 6 art journal today though not a seasonal one this time. These pages include a couple of photos from a magazine along with some layering of stamped tissue paper, book pages, stamping and some transfers.
I began by stamping butterflies on white tissue paper in black archival ink then ripped up the paper before gluing it to the pages. I also ripped up some old book pages and accidentally ended up with a strip mentioning butterflies
Over the paper layers I painted with white gesso and acrylic paint before stenciling gold paint through the Darkroom Door honeycomb stencil.
I glued the butterfly photos down and painted over the edges to soften the transition from journal page to photo. I used a black fineline pen to sketch over some of the stamped butterflies and added random texture using the DD mesh stamp.
The page was almost finished at this point but the two butterfly photos were at opposite sides of the spread with a lot of space in between. A visit to Crop A While ended up helping me out. I wasn’t there looking for anything butterfly related but after talking about transfer sheets Carole showed me the Vintage Butterflies sheet from ‘Dress my Craft’ and I had the final elements for this page.
I had not used transfer sheets in a very long time, they work just like the temporary flag tattoos my children applied to themselves on Canada Day years ago. Unlike the temporary tattoos these ones should stay stuck rather than gradually looking rattier and scrappier over a period of weeks!
I used three of the transfer butterflies to create a visual path across the two pages then finished things up with quotes from the Darkroom Door ‘Wings’ set and of course some black, white and gold splatter!
Thank you for all the kind and generous messages about the cardinal card; it is always lovely to hear from you.
Supplies
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Winter Tree art journal page
Posted: January 13, 2022 Filed under: 6"x 6" journal, A blizzard, Art Journal, Darkroom Door, Dies, French Script, Mixed Media, Snowflake trio, snowflakes | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Mixed Media, Penny Black creative dies 12 Comments
I continue to create and experiment in my 6×6 art journal, definitely inspired by the current season and view. When I started this page I had a technique in mind but no picture in my head of how it might turn out. I couldn’t be happier with the end result!
I am trying a range of techniques and methods in my art journals because that is what they’re for and because I have a series of workshops coming up this year (temporarily postponed until restrictions change). On this spread I started by layering and gluing torn papers on the pages. I pulled blue pieces from my considerable stash of papers, some old (Penny Black 6×6 packs) and some new (decorative rice paper) along with Dina Wakley printed white collage paper. After gluing the strips here and there I added modeling past through a stencil and let that dry.
Over the papers and paste I painted white gesso and then a couple of blues from Dina Wakley’s acrylic selection. You can see some of the patterns show through from the papers and in real life you can also see the texture from the stencilled paste. I added stamping in blue and white with Darkroom Door background stamps, ‘snow flakes’ and ‘French Script’.
I had started the page with a vague idea of adding a picture from a Christmas card or magazine. In choosing the tree picture you see included I fell down a rabbit hole of memories going through boxes of saved cards! I have saved cards since childhood and I was sorting and reading for quite a while. I didn’t open every single card but I found some adorable and hilarious cards made by my children and some I taught in school, I also found many sweet notes in cards from my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents. The picture I chose of the single tree on a snowy hill was in a Christmas card from a sweet friend.
It is worth noting at this point that I didn’t plan this layout or have this card on hand when I started the painting so the colours did not match perfectly. You know how I feel about the matchy-matchy so I ended up adding paint to the sky around the tree to make the blue a bit more purply and less aqua. I also extended the scene by turning a white area that was already on the page into a clearly defined snowy hill. I used a white gel pen to add more foliage to carry the scene off the little square onto my page. I finished off the page with some die cut Penny Black snowflakes.
I know that is a lot of description that would be better understood with video footage but it didn’t happen this time. As I continue to make pages I will try to capture some of them on film.
Do you save the cards you are given? Do you put them to use making something new? Just wondering…
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Butterfly art journal page
Posted: September 15, 2021 Filed under: Art Journal, Butterflies, Darkroom Door, diamonds, French Script, gel press, Mixed Media, starry night, Stencils, Wildflowers Vol 1 | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, gel press, gel printing, Mixed Media 4 Comments
My art journal is a place where I experiment with new techniques and mediums. It’s also a place for taking ideas further after making a card or creating a gel print. For this butterfly themed page I experimented with layering. I don’t find layering easy so it is a good technique to be playing with in my journal. You can’t see all the layers clearly on this page but there are layers of rice paper under gesso as well as on top of it.
Another technique which I am just beginning to play with is sewing on cards and mixed media pieces. Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door is a master at it and provided loads of inspiration during her recent Artful August challenge. I have tried sewing on paper with my precious Pfaff sewing machine but it didn’t like it so a few weeks ago I bought a second hand machine especially for sewing heavy and unusual materials. The machine is an old one but it is very sturdy and hums along beautifully.
I began by tearing up a large gel print done on rice paper. It featured diamonds on one side and stars on the other, both patterns made with large Darkroom Door stencils. The colour scheme was blues, reds and gold. I glued the torn pieces around the edges with gel medium then painted over them with diluted gesso. After the gesso dried I stamped a few butterflies then added more gesso over the top.
I spritzed over the pages with a faded jeans and broken china distress sprays, only enough to add a bit of speckle here and there, not so much as to cover the colour and pattern underneath. I stamped more butterflies from the DD butterflies set in colours similar to those in my gel print patches.
Once the stamping was done I sewed borders around two pieces of gel printed rice paper then glued them on the pages. I stamped, cut out and glued down sentiments from the DD wildflowers vol 1 stamp set.
Oh, and I stamped the DD French script stamp a couple of times on each page in gold to co-ordinate with the gold on the gel prints. Not a ton of layering or sewing but I am learning how to paint over background layers just enough to make them fade but not so much that they disappear. I realise looking at these photos that the gel print on the left looks like a pocket… it’s not but that’s an idea for another page.
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To Treasure
Posted: July 16, 2014 Filed under: A Pocket Full, By the numbers, Dazzlers, Footnotes, Gelatos, Let's Chat, Life's Journals, Mixed Media, Remember This, Rose, Scrapbook Page, Textures | Tags: Faber Castell gelatos, Faber Castell Textural Accents, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tsukineko Radiant Neon inks 13 Comments
The new Pocket Treasures release from  Penny Black inspired me to do something I haven’t done in years; I created a scrapbook page!  I designed my page around one of my daughter’s prom photos. As the dress was finished the day before prom I still had all the fabric scraps lying around so I incorporated some of them into the page along with watercolouring, die cuts, stenciling and stamping. I used three new background panels from the Pocket Treasures release, text and music from “Footnotes” as well as canvas from “Textures”. I also used several intricate circle designs from the transparent set “Dazzlers”. The cute little notebook pages are cut with a die from ” A Pocket Full” set.
The 12 x 12 panel is watercolour paper. I have a large block of hot-pressed paper so I did all the work on the page while it was still attached to the block then peeled it off at the end and trimmed it to size. Three of the roses are die cut from watercolour paper and coloured with gelatos. The two paler roses were painted onto the page through a die cut stencil with gesso; I then added colour with gelatos.
I used two dies from the “Leaves” set, one to die cut leaves out of tulle (the dress had four layers of tulle in the skirt), the other to create a stencil to paint through.
Supplies:
Stamps:  Dazzlers, Footnotes, Life’s Journals, Textures (PB)Â
Creative Dies:  A Pocket Full , Rose,  (PB)
Gelatos: Metallic Melon, Green Tea, Guava (Faber Castell)
Watercolour Pencils:Â Medium Flesh 131, Pompeian Red, Pine Greren 267Â (Faber Castell)
Inks:Â Memento London Fog, Cottage Ivy & Olive Grove Memento markers (Imagine Crafts Tsukineko), Worn Lipstick distress stains and ink (Ranger)
Textural Accents:Â Gesso, Gel Medium (Faber Castell)
Paper: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, PB Mix & Match Coral Reef Paper
Also:Â Tulle, Satin, Staple
and now for something completely different…
The stamps and dies in the Pocket Treasures release are not just for scrapbooking. I went in a very different direction when using some of the new products on a card. I can hardly bear to keep my soft romantic rosy scrapbook page and my neon grunge style card in the same post they are so contrasting. To create my card I used a brayer to apply blue and pink ink onto white cardstock then cut out a piece with the “By the Numbers” die. I used the same Radiant Neon inks to apply pale blue and pink to a white card base with the brayer. I featured yet another background stamp to add arrows along with canvas in grey ink. I then wiped the grey ink pad along the edges of card base for a distressed look. I stamped arrows from “Let’s Chat” in black and the sentiment from “Remember This” also in black. Finally I cut a speech balloon from “A Pocket Full” set out of brayered pink cardstock and stamped words in black ink.
Supplies:
Stamps:  Textures , Let’s Chat, Remember This (PB)Â
Creative Dies:  A Pocket Full , By the Numbers (PB)
Inks: Memento London Fog ink, Radiant Neon Electric Blue, Electric Pink, Versafine Onyx Black(Imagine Crafts Tsukineko)
Paper:Â Neenah Solar White 110lb card stock.
Summer Sun Collaboration with Faber Castell
Posted: June 12, 2014 Filed under: Fresh Breeze, Fuchsia, Gelatos, Mixed Media, Tutorial | Tags: Faber Castell gelatos, Faber Castell Paper Crafter Crayons, Faber Castell Textural Accents, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tutorial 4 Comments
All this week there is  a special collaboration occuring between Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft and Penny Black.  There are projects on the PB blog using Paper Crafter Crayons and Double Scoop Gelatos AND you’ll find projects from the Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft designers on their blog featuring PB stamps.  Visit both Penny Black and Faber Castell Memory Craft for details of giveaways.
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I decided to create a mixed media panel, a rare occurrence for me. I really enjoyed playing with the Textural Accents and the gorgeous colours in the Paper Crafter crayons and gelatos. (if you click on the tutorial pictures you will see more detail)
Next I spritzed with water and blended the colours with my fingers.
Using stencil plastic I created a stencil using the Fresh Breeze die. (I can’t find the packaging for the stencil plastic so I am not sure what brand but it was sold specifically for creating your own stencils. In order to cut it with a Big Kick I used a metal shim in the sandwich) I applied colour through the stencil with gelatos.
Next I spritzed with water and blended the greens with my fingers through stencil.
​I created another stencil using the Fuchsia die and applied colour to tissue paper with  lime, lavender, grape and guava gelatos, then blended with my fingers.
​I stenciled some Fresh Breeze leaves with ​green ​gelatos on tissue paper and attached both tissue panels to the  main panel with Gel Medium. The gelatos on tissue gave the flowers a background misty look that was exactly what I was after.
In other related and creative news, there is likely to be another lull here on the blog in the next few weeks. My daughter’s prom is in two weeks and the dress making countdown starts today! If I have a chance I will update you otherwise please understand that I am creating with tulle and silky fabric instead of paper and cardstock for the next little while.
Supplies:
Stamps:  Truly Great (PB)Â
Creative Dies:  Fuchsia, Fresh Breeze (PB)
Gelatos:Â Faber Castell
Paper Crafter Crayons: Faber Castell
Textural Accents: Gesso, Gel Medium, Glaze (Faber Castell)
Paper: Thick natural coloured cardboard, White 140lb smooth, Tissue paper, PB Mix & Match Periwinkle Paper
Heather Telford 