Smash Our Stash-“Learning to Fly” AJ Page

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by *Vicki*

Hello friends!  My fellow U.S. friends will be celebrating Memorial weekend which means that the end of the month is here already!  Summer is coming very quickly and it seems that time is really flying by!  

The end of the month also brings the monthly AJ page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!  We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” May prompt of: “ephemera/chipboard/cut-outs, etc.“:

With the AJ prompt this month of “ephemera” my first thought turned to the the H-U-G-E pile of packages that I have of those Tim Holtz Idea-ology ephemera and paper dolls packs.  There are actually SO many different pieces in just one package that I decided to concentrate on just one of those packages from the “Botanical” collection. (I did pull in one more layer from the “Snippets” pack as well.)  I actually love the images which pulled me in to purchase them, but there they sit and never get used…so I’m using some today! Yay!  That “Botanical” pack is my fave with the birds and butterflies in there!

For my page background:  I started with my usual 6″ x 9″ watercolor 140# paper with the pre-cut holes at the top for my book.  I glued some of the “Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap” ripped pieces over the blank background first.  I then took a baby wipe and several colors of “DecoArt Media Fluid acrylics” and blended them together until I achieved desired look.  Trying to get another color over top, I decided to pull out the “Distress Oxide Spray Salvaged Patina” after the paint had dried up.  To help spread some of it around, I also sprayed with water too.  I was pleased with all of the coloring in the background, but felt it needed a toned down border because of the Vintage looking ephemera, so I blended some “Vintage Photo and Black Soot Oxide Inks” at the edges.

At this point, I started adding images by working on the stamping around the edges with a script text stamp using a hybrid brown ink in random places.  I also used the same ink to stamp a couple of the flying birds in the background.  This is where I thought it would a good idea to add some splattering with white and brown paint.  I finished it with more splatters of some “Liquid Pixie Dust” which gave it some pretty subtle sparkle all over.

So starting at top of my page, I decided to start adding the images to create my scene.  I ended up die cutting a branch from some dark brown cardstock and attached it to the edge of the page and then took one of those ephemera birds and popped it with foam tape over the branch.  I glued the butterfly above the bird and the “daisy” flowers off to the right were glued down while keeping in mind the placement of the large birds at the bottom.

The sentiment came from one of the stickers from the “Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Sticker Book”.  I used a brown Micron pen to sketch around it, but decided it was too light, so I went around it again with a black one too.

For the bottom portion, you can see that I’ve glued down the little tag under the title. (I added a piece of twine around it before I attached it.) I also glued the corner floral spray in the bottom left of the page.  I’ve used foam tape to pop up the large birds as well as the butterfly above the floral spray.

The last thing I did was to grab the dark brown “Big Brush Marker” to add some shading around some of the ephemera pieces.  I didn’t do anything to the pieces that were popped up with foam tape.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Art Journal inspiration today!  Thanks so much for joining me and Carol for our fun collaboration and you can always have fun following along with us every month!

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and please stop to remember and honor those who’ve sacrificed for us.

I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Birds
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media #82
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Mixed Media
  4. Dragonfly Dreams – Butterflies and/or Flowers
  5. The Corrosive – Anything Goes
  6. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

26 thoughts on “Smash Our Stash-“Learning to Fly” AJ Page”

  4. Very cool page with some pretty amazing colors and elements! I, too, have a tons of ephemera packs (mostly Tim’s) that I’ll probably never use up. sigh

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  8. Fabulous journal page and background Vicki,love all the muted colours and ephemera image -see we both went for splatters but yours gave a better effect and I had two little tags with old money on them to add —found them when clearing away-typical lol-love these challenges with you each month and getting some of the stash used too
    Carol x

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  9. THis is an amazing use of your stash in making this journal page! I love all the wonderful details, including that fabulous background, the tag, and the beautiful birds and butterflies! After what we’ve been through in the past couple years, we’re all going to have to learn to fly again! Happy Memorial day weekend to you and yours!

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  10. What a lovely soft relaxing page Vicki, the background is gorgeous and I love the colours with the textures and print and then the gorgeous ephemera birds and flowers, such a lovely scene….

    Luv CHRISSYxx

    Liked by 1 person

  13. I know what you mean about pulling out TH sets. I have several myself. That man must be a millionaire with the popularity of his supplies. Smile. And I love how you used your pieces Vicki. I see spring garden on your page. It came out great, I’m glad you decided to join us at Art Journal Journey for Matilde’s challenge too. Thank you. I hope you have a great long weekend. Hugs-Erika

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  14. Girl, you just rock your stash!!! This is absolute joy! Love all of the fun little details you used on this amazingly fun creation – great job!!!

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  16. A fabulous journal page with so many awesome details. Thank you for linking with Matilde’s theme at Art Journal Journey.
    Yvonne

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  17. Beautiful – truly depicts Mother Nature at her best. The background is a stunning backdrop to the use of the pretty ephemera and what a way to use up your stash instead of “hoarding it”. Use it or loose it.

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  19. Wow Vicki you certainly have jam packed this journal page. So many lovely elements and so much to look over. Just beautiful and calming.

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  22. Love how all the colors came together on this project. Great embellishments too! Thanks so very much for joining us this time at the Dragonfly Dreams Challenge, elizabeth

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  26. Once again you have proved that you feel great in any kind of art, also MM. Your website looks stunning and has a soothing effect on my senses. Another beautiful inspiration, Vicki

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