Sing Spring AJ Page

Animals, Art Journaling, flowers, Mixed Media, Other Than a Card, Seasons, Spring

Hello friends and a happy weekend!  I really can’t believe that we’re already on the last Saturday of March right now!  This month flew by, but I’m so happy to get even further into the Spring months, how about you?  The chirping birds seem more intense as Spring gets into her song!

Today I’m sharing my monthly Art Journal page and collaborating with my blog friend Carol as we both try and get creative with journaling by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So please pop on over to her blog to see some more inspiration with our “SMASH YOUR STASH” prompt of: “Die cuts/punched out pieces/tags(unfinished to decorate)“!  Let’s get to creating!

Well, I don’t know about you, but I sure do have TONS of those punches that I hardly ever use any more.  I also keep piling up tons of die cuts too!  So this was my focus on my page today by pulling out lots of those to come up with a Spring theme in mind…

I started out with my usual 6×9 thick watercolor paper with the binder holes at the top.  My first thought was to create a blue “watery” background by using my Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to paint an ombre blue.  It was nice to pull these out to play with as I haven’t used them in quite a while.  While it was still wet, I covered the panel with some Sea Salt crystals and let it dry.  After it dried, I scrapped off the salt.  If you’ve never tried it, it makes for a really unique look.  I then took a raindrop stencil and went over it with some blue Chroma Glaze.  I really like how the glaze makes it look shinny.  I mixed some blue and yellow Deco Media Fluid Acrylics to make the green color and sponged it over the bottom to create my grass scene.  I also had a tall grass stamp that I stamped over it with green ink.  Lastly, I used white paint to splatter over the background.

So this is where I moved onto the rest of my separate pieces to create my scene.  I pulled out circle, square, heart, scallop border, birds, leaves, flowers, branch, grass borders, etc and began cutting out all of my pieces!  The yellow bird at the top was stamped and then punched out.  The birdhouse on the right is all punches and the daisy flowers at the bottom are all punches.  The larger birdhouse with the bird and flower vines is a die set by Lawn Fawn, the branch and leaves at the top right is a die set from My Favorite Things and I’ve also used a couple of different grass die cut borders at the bottom from My Favorite Things.  This is my very first time using that birdhouse die set and I’ve had those grassy border dies forever but use quite often.

I was also quite happy that I was able to pull out several pieces of scrap papers from my stash to punch and die cut all of them too!  That’s a good way to use up more of your stash when you’re using punches and dies!

Trying to zoom in a bit so you can see the background and how it looks with the watercolor salt technique as well as the shine from the raindrops.  For the birdhouse posts, those are just strips of woodgrain looking pattern paper that I’ve cut into strips and then ran through an embossing folder.  I used a sander to bring out the texture.

I stamped the music notes next to the birds and also stamped the “sing” letters in the center of the birdhouse.  I’ve got both of the birds popped up with foam tape.  I’ve glued the birdhouse posts to the page, but popped up the large birdhouse with foam tape as well.  You can also see where I’ve went all the way around the edges and I sponged brown ink around everything.  I also stamped a random image around the edges with brown ink too. 

At the bottom of the page, you can see that I’ve taken a brown marker to write “Birds can sing on the darkest of days because they believe in” and then I stamped “SPRING” over a strip of pattern paper and attached at the bottom and used the brown marker to create the dash lines.  Also did this on my made up punched birdhouse.

Both the last grassy border and the leaves above on the branch were die cut from green cardstock, but I’ve also used some green mica spray and sprayed over top of them which gives a pretty shimmer to them.  Before popping up the yellow bird at the top, he was also sprayed with a yellow mica spray.

To finish it off I’ve added all of the white gel pen details and along the edges of the page. Lastly, I used some yellow Stickles to center each of the daisy flowers as well as the flowers on the birdhouse.  I used black Stickles to the bird’s eyeballs.

Really enjoyed putting this one together and playing around with more stash items!  Hope that you’ve enjoyed as well and have been inspired in some way!  I thank you so much for stopping in!  Have a great weekend!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Spring
  2. River of Creativity – Anything Goes but NO CARDS
  3. A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
  4. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  6. Simon Says Stamp Monday – Bright and Cheerful
  7. Everybody Art – Spring

Published by *Vicki*

I'm so happy you found me! I love to share smiles with my handmade cards! I also enjoy papercrafts through art journaling, scrapooking and mixed media projects too! Thanks for stopping by!

Published

33 thoughts on “Sing Spring AJ Page”

  1. This is absolutely beautiful! I love the blue & green backgrounds with all the birdhouses and birds, as well as the grasses at the bottom. The details are a treat for the eyes and I love what you hand wrote at the bottom! What a wonderful nod to the warmth of spring that’s soon to be here! Simply beautiful and way to use all those punches and scraps to create such a pretty page! Well done!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Love this! I’ve seen the salt technique many, many times over the years but have never tried it… not sure why because the results are always amazing. And I have a set of pearl Gansai Tambi paints (5+ years old) that I’ve never used. You’ve really inspired me! Plus I got some 165# cardstock a couple weeks ago to make a new 3-ring art journal so I’ll be sharing some pages soon, I hope!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Brilliant journal page Vicki love the background salt technique,love all the dies you used for the Spring scene-fabulous inspiration-love it-enjoying our shared inspiration each month!
    Carol x

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Love these singing birds and their sweet birdhouses!! What a gorgeous spring design, Vicki! Life has been challenging here and I don’t get by much at present, but know that I will check in each time I get the chance to see your beautiful work!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Wow, your page is intense. So many details! I’ve done the salt thing with my girls (art plus science) and it’s a great technique. I can see the raindrops and they are lovely. Both your houses are so cute – the entire page is so artistic.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Your card is full of hope. I believe that people have an inexhaustible amount of happiness, love, goodness and optimism. Sometimes we just need to remove debris from everyday life. Thank you for that card and that message, Vicki

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Beautiful AJ, Vicki. Love that background with seasalt. Also love the birdhouses, the grass and flowers.
    Great spring art journal.
    xxx Margreet

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Just been looking at Carol’s page so it is really nice to see you join us at River of Creativity with your companion page. So happy even the raindrops look pretty. Big fan of texture so am loving all the different textures you have here as well as enjoying the bright cheerful colours. Thank you for joining us. x

    Liked by 1 person

  13. What a great, fun, in the sun, gorgeous page Vicki, with the fabulous blue background and those wonderful and cute birdhouses, especially the yellow, love that, and little birds, grass and flowers, just love it all, a gorgeous scene..

    Luv CHRISSYxx

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Gorgeous Vicki! A really fun art journal page. The little bird houses are so sweet. They’re Whimsy right? I think I have that set. Looks amazing on your journal page. Hugs, Wends xoxo

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you sweet Wends! They’re not Whimsy birdhouses, the large is a die cut set from Lawn Fawn and the smaller birdhouse is just punches. HUGS

      Like

  16. I had to smile when you spoke about the collection of dies and punches that don’t get used enough. I’m with you on that one. I’m glad you used some to make these wonderful journal spread. I am loving your birdhouses and those cheery birds too. This is really a wonderful spring page, and I am glad you decided to join us for Valerie’s challenge at Art Journal JOurney. Thanks Vicki. I hope you enjoy the rest of the month. Hugs-Erika

    Like

  18. Hi Vicki, a superb journal page, love the mix of die-cuts and punches you have used. Thank you for joining us at Lil Patch of Crafty Friends, good luck in the prize draw… Megan DT LPoCF

    Like

  19. LOVE that blue and yellow combo, Vicki, and your design is fabulous! Wonderful salute to spring. Our last 3 days have included record breaking heat (91, 90 & 89) and it feels like we jumped from winrer to summer without any spring at all. But they say temps will drop drastically and we may even get rain on Monday. Thanks for a look at spring, my friend. 😊

    Like

  20. Such a lovely fresh colour palette and pretty Spring scene, lovely to see you at River of Creativity, many thanks for joining in.

    B x

    Like

  21. Just love your page- so sweet- I love love bird watching : ) Your colors are so pretty- love the dies and punches and the bird too. Wonderfully created my friend! I cannot wait for a warm up!

    Like

  22. Wonderful and sweet journal page, Vicki. Love the bright colors and super cute bird and bird houses.
    I especially love the sentiment!! Nicely done…

    Hugs
    Sue

    Like

  24. What a splendid spring scene! I can hear the birds singing and I can image they start picking some material in order to build their nests. I love the blue and yellow combination. And your background is so awesome. I tried to do a salt watercolour background but I never succeeded in getting a beuatiful result. I´m really thrilled.
    Thanks a lot for joining the EAC challenge.
    Hugs Uschi

    Like

  25. What a happy page and love all your details Vicki x. The raindrops look fabulous, love those cute little birds and those adorable little ‘homes’ you made for them x. Yes I am so glad to see Spring arriving my end x.

    Like

  26. Wow, Vicki, this is just soooooo fun. I love your background and all the dies and birds. So much to look at and so perfect for Spring. You are rocking the art journaling!!!! Hugz

    Like

  27. Cute as can be! I’m so eager for spring! Having just spent a week of 80 degrees and sunshine in california, I’m actually craving warm weather and sunshine! Great card, Vicki! Love it!!!

    Like

  29. A beautiful artsy card! I love your background and those pretty birds and bird houses. Thank you for joining in our challenge at Everybody Art with this lovely entry. Hugs, Lesley

    Like

  30. Every now and then, as I am scrolling through my blog feeds, a papercrafting project genuinely makes me gasp aloud. This awesomely charming springtime greeting is one such creation. What an upbeat, awesome stunner!!!

    Autumn Zenith 🧡 Witchcrafted Life

    Like

  31. Beautiful journal page! I love the background with the pretty bird houses, birds and flowers – you captured spring so beautifully 😀. Sorry I’m so late visiting, I’ve been away visiting family. Happy and creative wishes! Hugs Jo x

    Like

Comments are closed.