Hello friends! I hope you’ve been enjoying your month so far! We’ve had a few really nice days this month, but it’s still a tad bit chilly and hopefully it will warm up more next month! It’s hard to believe we are already headed into May for this year!
That means it’s time for the monthly Art Journal Page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month. I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” April prompt of “HALF” -(e.g. 2 halves to create whole item/half of something):
Yes, coffee please! I’m a coffee lover and so is my husband! I don’t think we’d be able to start a day without it! I know there are lots of people who don’t like coffee and that’s OK…as long as there will be some somewhere for me, I’m good! 😉☕
It was my husband that inspired this page for me when I asked him what his favorite shape was, and he answered with a circle. Looking down at my coffee cup was the circle I saw and decided to take more inspiration from a coffee cup we purchased at one of our favorite local coffee cafes you can see in the top corner of the photo. To achieve the look, I took a cardstock color matching the cup and splattered white paint over it. The “HALF” is obviously the coffee cup that was cut out with circle dies. I cut another piece of the handle which makes it look like the view you would see from the top of the cup. The other “HALF” of the cup was placed in the corner area at the bottom and this coffee is more of my husband who likes plain black coffee. But this is certainly how we start our day together which is great since he’s retired now. The other “HALF” cup has the latte art, and I did that one with light sponging around the edge and then took my colored pencils to free hand the design. Not sure if that’s exactly what it looks like, but I gave it a try.
- For the background: I’ve used a strip of wood plank pattern paper from my stash, and I’ve also heat embossed a coffee bean background stamp with, of course, coffee embossing powder that I’ve had for a very long time, and it was a great time to use it! I’ve also heat embossed the “coffee” sentiment and quotes with it. Below the embossed coffee is a sentiment that says: “Take life one cup at a time” and the other two at the bottom say: “First we drink coffee, then we do the things”😂
- The coffee cup-stained background, I’ll share more about below.
I also took a big brush marker to go around the edges of the cups and the sentiment strips. I wanted the heat embossing to stand out a bit more over the brown cardstock, so I took a white Tim Holtz crayon and rubbed over top of it to brighten it up.
Have you ever made backgrounds with coffee? I had such a fun time playing with it and decided to make several different backgrounds that I could use for later!
I don’t drink instant coffee, but I have some in my cupboard because I like to make a chocolate cake that has instant coffee in it…so good! I took some of this instant coffee and made the coffee cup-stained background for my page to create more circles that went with my circle coffee cups.
I also decided that since I had a cup of it, that I would go ahead and make more backgrounds with it and just play around with different things. I splattered, I smooshed, I’ve added salt along with a few other things and let dry and make patterns with. Once dry, I cleaned them off and here are the results of my play. I wish I had done another cup circle background though.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page and been inspired in some way! Thanks so much for dropping in! Have a great weekend! Mine will be busy!
Challenges:
- Art Journal Journey – Geometric Forms
- Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
- Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
- Try it On Tuesday – Inspired by a Song (Can’t think of coffee with the “Coffee Song” by Frank Sinatra!)
- Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
- Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
What a delightful art journal page! Your coffee-themed creation is not only visually appealing but also reflects the comforting ritual of starting the day with a cup of coffee. The incorporation of coffee stains for the background adds a unique and authentic touch, and your husband’s love for coffee shines through the design. Thanks for sharing your creative process and inspiring us to find beauty in the everyday moments. Wishing you a wonderful and productive weekend ahead!
LikeLike
Coffee is clearly not just for drinking! LOL I love this card and everything about it, because I’m a big coffee lover too. I just love all the details, including the little beans at the bottom but that big cup looks like a perfect way to start the day. My husband and I always started our day drinking coffee and having those morning chats over the steaming cups in front of us. Nothing was better than starting off the mornings in such a relaxing way. This is a great journal page and your hubby’s input makes it even better. Great job on those extra pages for the next projects too! Coffee really is fun 🙂 Enjoy your weekend!
LikeLike
Such a creative idea-love it! I love how you did the art on top of the coffee too! Very cool.
LikeLike
OMGoodness, I totally love this page! Ed and I love our coffee in the morning but two cups is my max for the day because of insomnia for 35+ years. I found out recently during (another) sleep study that coffee half-life stays in the body for 9 hours, so as long as I have my two cups early in the morning, I’m good, lol! I love the backgrounds you created, too! It’s been a few years since I’ve made coffee and tea backgrounds but they are so fun and every one is different! I can’t wait to see what else you create with yours! Happy weekend, friend!
LikeLike
Beautiful page, Vicki, and I love that background!
xxx Margreet
LikeLike
Fabulous journal page and theme. Great theme, never a morning without coffee and having a cup now at 1pm as I need some energy. Great use of real coffee on it.
LikeLike
I don’t drink coffee, but I do admire your creations. Made me smile to see the use of instant coffee.
LikeLike
Hi Vicki, your page today has really wowed me, and to boot you have used coffee too, wonderful! I’m sure those coffee pages you made smell good, too – now I have coffee thoughts in my brain and it’s too late to drink coffee – help! Thanks so much for sharing this yummy piece with AJJ. Really inspired to mix coffee with geometry, yesssssssssss! Hugs, Valerie
LikeLike
Oh wow Vicki, those coffee stained pages are fabulous. You ended up with some gorgeous color. And you coffee page is great also. You made some super coffee rings. I also like how you used the crayon to create that late look. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I can appreciate the page. Funny, I love the flavor of coffee but not a cup of coffee. Like you, I use instant coffee in chocolate cakes because it does make so much more chocolaty. YUM. Now I want a piece of chocolate cake with vanilla frosting-smile.Thanks for linking up to Valerie’s AJJ challenge, and enjoy the rest of your weekend. hugs-Erika
LikeLike
A fabulous coffee themed page. The mix of natural colours, coffee rings and heat embossed beans have come together wonderfully for you.
Thank you for joining in with our April challenge “Anything Mixed Media Goes” at <a href=”http://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.co.uk/“>Creative Artiste Mixed Media. </a> Good luck! x
LikeLike
This is FABulous Vicki I love the coffee stains I have seen this done in the past but never tried it myself I really love this creation makes me feel like I want a cup, lol. super work
hugs
lolo x
LikeLike
Coffee, chocolate cake, what are you doing to me Vicki, I love the coffee papers with colours, blotches and splatters and love your page with that steaming cup of coffee, I can smell it from here..and that is a lot of miles away, if fact going to t put my jug on…great halves on your page too, I really like the effect of only half of something. .fabulous project..
luv CHRISSYxx
LikeLike
This is just awesome, Vicki! Your page is definitely an ode to coffee! 🙂 Love that you’ve used various coffee-inspired mediums in here, including real coffee!! (I’ve done both coffee backgrounds and tea ones, and they’re incredibly fun.) Thank you so much for sharing your page with us at our Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge on Creative Artiste!
LikeLike
Well first – when I get up it is trip to the BR then turn on the coffee and then let Buddy dog out – in that order. I am usually up at least 1 1/2 hour before hubby so that is my quiet time.
Love your journal page and love how you made backgrounds with the instant coffee. Would never have thought of that.
LikeLike
This is brilliant! We are both coffee lovers too! I can imagine the fun you had making those backgrounds. Thanks for sharing at both Try It On Tuesday and Art Journal Journey, hung, Chris
LikeLike
Ooops sorry Vicki can’t believe I didn’t comment!!! Fabulous coffee journal page, love the half cup of coffee and great idea with the latte image and embossed coffee beans.Love the coffee cup rings and brilliant coffee stained backgrounds.I have my coffee mid day with chocolate dipped in lol. Thank you for the lovely comment on my post, into some kind of routine now and just waiting for a bed to be delivered so he can be downstairs with us instead of upstairs on his own.
Carol x
LikeLike
A brilliant page Vicki,love your background,the coffee cup rings a great idea with the coffee bean paper and latte. Sorry I’ve missed a few posts haven’t been getting email notifications.
LikeLike
Such a fun card! The coffee rings are perfect and creating all those papers must have been fun 😊. Happy wishes ❤️. Hugs, Jo x
LikeLiked by 1 person