If you follow my blog you know I've been having an issue with my muse going on vacation without my permission. One of the things I do when my muse is absent is glue. I don't like to throw away pretty pieces of color so they pile up on the side of my work space. This page is a result of pretty paper and glue.
I started with a gessoed page that I stamped with the the background lines from Stampin' Up's Gorgeous Grunge. Next I just started taking different piece of paper and gluing them randomly on the page. This page has pieces of napkins, tissue paper, book text, gelli prints and a Stampin' Up image on watercolor paper.
The grid on the left is a matte medium transfer. The splats are another stamp from the Gorgeous Grunge set and the swirls are a very old Angel Company stamp. The only color I added to the page was the bright yellow which is a kid's quality gel watercolor crayon. The last touch was to stamp numbers randomly using a Hero Arts stamp.
All the ink I used was Archival Ink. This was a very easy fun page. I just glued and pasted until I thought it was finished. I love this technique. It is so relaxing and all that color just makes me happy.
Link to Paint Party Friday, The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge, Moo-Mania & More Challenge
I love working with acrylic paint. I like how once it dries it doesn't move or change. You can paint over it without making mud. It is easy to clean up and even inexpensive craft paint works really well in art journals.
This birds are from a Sale-abration set by Stampin Up. I stamped them on an old encyclopedia page. They are painted with craft paint.
The background is pieces torn pieces of encyclopedia paper which are also painted with craft paint. The leaves and flowers are leftover pieces of a paper napkin that I used in another project. I love how the words show through the napkin.
It does my heart good when I realize I've made a page with mostly recycled items. Do you recycle in your art work?
Link to: Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Everyday
I love paint. I love to see it spread across paper, wood, waxed paper and even my fingers. I love how it mixes together to make yet another cool color.
When I was growing up I shared my space with my older sister, who was messy and I was obsessively neat. I'm talking, everything on my dresser was line up like little soldiers waiting for inspection. I lived like that for many years.
I am not neat at all now. In fact, if my sister walked into my house/studio... she would probably have a stroke due to the shock. I could probably tell you all kinds of psychological reasons for this change in me. I had control issues, I was the third and baby of the family for many years.... bla bla bla..... you get the idea.
These days I'm going with.... I've embraced my inner artist and she gets so wrapped up in color, texture and the fun of the process that she doesn't give a fig about how much of a mess she makes. Remember Pig Pen from Peanuts? That is what my floor always looks like when I'm creating. I can clean it up 15 times and still tiny pieces of paper seem to be everywhere. (just the floor... not me personally. :))
The reason for this long story, you might be thinking? Part of my mess comes from never wanting to throw away a piece of paper that has color on it. I don't see it as trash. I see it as a potential background.
This entire page was done with leftover pieces of other projects. I was running out of space to work. All those papers were creeping into my work area on the table. This type of project is therapy for me. I go to this quiet place inside myself and I just tear paper and glue. It is so soothing.
The large blue butterfly was left over from another project. The little butterflies were made using two Stampin' Up punches and more pieces of leftover paper. Butterflies are a go to for me. I had this background and not idea what to put on it... so once again... the butterflies appear in my journal. Maybe I use them because they remind me of freedom.
If you feel stuck or the blank page is scaring you, try this technique. Don't think too much, just tear paper and glue. You'll end up with a wonderful and unique background. That background might be the finished piece or the jumping off spot for another piece. Either way, you've created!!
Link to: Spring Cleaning over at Journal 52 and Paint Party Friday
I think you can probably tell that I'm a big fan of Halloween. I love the colors, the cooler air and all the darling little characters. Each fall, I have to force myself not to buy more Halloween stamps.
The grass on this page was made by using a piece of craft foam that has a wavy texture to it as a stamp and green craft paint. I added extra texture by stenciling with a darker green.
The sky is a light blue craft paint. I tried to leave some white space to give the idea of clouds. Then I used a stencil that my friend, Ann made for me using her Cricut and a darker blue to give the sky more texture.
I finger painted the tree on a piece of book text and the cut it our using my deckle scissors. The Owl is a Stampin' Up stamp and punch. The pumpkins, mummy and scarecrow are dollar stamps I've collected over the years. The ghost and the large pumpkins are The Angel Company stamps and the frog is an Oriental Trading Company stamp.
The sign is stamped with a Recollections wood grain stamp. I tore the edges to give it a rustic look.
Thank you, Debbie Roach for the idea for this page. She suggested that it would be fun to see characters peeking around the trees.
Link to: Artist Play Room
A piece like this has been rummaging around in my head for a while. It's inspired by several different artists. Tim Holtz and his patchwork pieces, Marjie Kemper's recent post with the lady, Shelly Hickox and her embossing.
I like to try out new ideas in this altered book. I think one similar to this might end up on canvas soon. I already see things I'll do different next time. I'd also like to make it more 3D with trinkets and things hanging off of it.
It was made by embossing cereal and cracker boxes and then embossing them with the Big Shot. The embossing folders were made by Sizzix, Stampin Up, Paper Studio and Cuddle Bug. I painted the embossed cardboard and some of them I sanded to distress them a bit. I painted a few of them with Perfect Pearls. They are not shiny because I decided to put a Golden's Titan Buff wash over the whole page and the dulled the finish on the Perfect Pearls.
I'm one day behind on posting my art each day for November. This is day 3's project.
Link:
Art Everyday for a Month
