Gelli Collage Stencil Play

This week my art journal got a twofer. The prompt for The Documented Life Project was Gelli Prints and Journal 52 was Collage.  Ta Da..... my twofer.

I think I'm finally getting toward the end of the many, many gelli prints I made when I first got my gelli plate. That means it's will soon be time to start a whole new batch. This page is a combination of three different prints that I tore horizontally and collaged on watercolor paper. 

I've said before that tearing and gluing is a very meditative experience for me. It is so relaxing to loose myself in the process. The original prints were made on recycled copy machine paper with inexpensive craft paint.


The flowers are a Donna Downey I-Stencil stencil and craft paint. The bottom two flowers were stenciled, then I painted them and then stenciled again to get the crisp lines. I let all the glue and paint dry overnight and then I stenciled the dots and zig zag lines using Artist Loft embossing paste.  

Link to: Journal 52, The Documented Life Project, Party Party Friday, Gelli Print Party

The Documented Life Project

I've been in a bit of a slump as far as my art goes. I couldn't seem to get myself to the art table to play with paint. I don't know why I because as soon as I started getting painty I felt ever so much better.




I signed up for The Documented Life Project.  Click the link to learn more about it. This is the cover of my journal that I plan to use for the project.

I started with a Strathmore Mixed Media Journal.  I'm using it because the paper is thicker than plain planner paper.  It will take gesso and paint a bit better than light weight paper.  I used old book pages* to cover the front. I used gesso and matte medium to glue it down.  A watered down light purple paint is the next layer. 

The flowers are a Donna Downey stamp and I used Ranger Archival ink to stamp them so they would be permanent for my next wet layer.  The quote was found on Raw for Beauty facebook page.  I copied it into MS Publisher and changed the color so that it would go better with page.

The 2014 are The Angel Company stamps.  The green leaves are a Crafter's Workshop Stencil.  I used bubble wrap,  a piece of rubber rug backing and a medicine bottle lid to make the other decorative marks in orange, pink and yellow.  All the paint was inexpensive craft paint except for a bit of Golden's pink High Flow Acrylic.

* Part of the book paper is from an old book I found at the library for 50 cents. It's an old construction manual that is full of page after page of numbers.  I think it's formulas for mixing concrete and other building materials.  These days all of that figuring would be done on the computer.  I smile every time I use one of those pages because I know it must have been very important of some engineer years ago.

Link to: The Documented Life Project, Creative Every Day, Paint Party Friday, Artist's Play Room

What the heck is a Cereal Box Canvas?

"What the heck is a Cereal Box Canvas?" you ask.  I cut a Cheerios box to the size I wanted and then primed it with gesso like it was a real canvas.  I used it to get over my canvas fear. This drip background has been sitting here for two weeks waiting for a focal point.  

I am so excited because my Donna Downey Unity Stamps arrived today.  I knew these large poppies were what I've been waiting for all this time. I stamped them with Versa Mark and embossed with Yellow Commotion Embossing Powder. 

I wanted some large happy words to go with the flowers.  I used an embossing pen and hand wrote the word rather large.  Then embossed them in the same yellow.

Over all, this piece represents happy for me.  Bright colors and big bold flowers and words.  Just looking at it brings a smile to my face.

Link to: Creative Everyday, APR, Art journal Every Day, Anything But a Card