January 2025 “NEW” Art Journal Page-Smashing Our Stash Continues!

Art Journaling, Mixed Media, Other Than a Card, Shopping My Stash, Tim Holtz/Ranger

Hello friends!  I hope you’ve had a great month so far and staying crafty while also trying to keep warm and cozy!  Thank you for your kind support with my crafting journey and I’m so happy you’re here however you like to follow along.❤️

Today is the start of another year of art journaling and I’m thrilled that my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) is collaborating with me again this year to “SMASH OUR STASH”! 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” January prompt of “NEW” (challenge/technique): 

As you know, we are forever trying to “smash our stash” and included within that stash are possibly some “new” stash or something that hasn’t been used before.  But if that’s not the case, then that’s totally fine too because there always seems to be a new “challenge” to over come or something like a new “technique” that you’ve always wanted to try and using up your stash helps with that too!  I’ve done this on my page in several ways…

NEW = art journal book used here.  I have a few AJ books that I haven’t used at all, so I pulled this one out which is a 5.5″ x 8.5″ spiral mixed media book.  I’ve never worked from a book before and not sure I like it as the pages do curl up on me and you can see that I’ve clipped it along the side to keep it from curling.  Going forward, I might make a separate page and then attach it to the book.  I’ve been so used to making my own book, so this was a new “challenge” for me to try.  If you art journal, how do you like to compile your pages together?

NEW = technique used for background with distress crayons.  I have a tin full of those distress crayons and I’ve barely even touched them, so I found a fun technique to try by taking a dotted stencil and applying gesso over the blank page.  I used several colors of the distress crayons to rub over the stenciled paint and then blended it together with a baby wipe.  It was fun!  (I’ve also used a black distress crayon around the edges of the page and went over the words inside the heart with a white distress crayon to mute it a bit.)

NEW = Lunar Paste colors used through a stencil.  I bought several colors of these metallic/shinny pastes last year and never broke them open, so I thought this would be a good time to see what they look like and they’re really pretty!

NEW = alphabet die letters used.  I got these set of alphabet dies with upper and lower case and haven’t had a chance to use them until this page.  I like that it includes both upper and lower because it seems you always have to get them separately.  

A closer view of the heart that I die cut.  I pulled out some cardstock in coordinating colors to match up with the distress crayons in the background and made strips with stamping words and then placing them together on the heart that I cut off the edges to keep the shape.

I was going for a “happy” rainbow style with all of it, but not sure after looking at it as I think it may be a bit too much/busy.  But, I’m just going to go with it and be happy! LOL  

I hope you’ve enjoyed my page today or at least have been inspired in some way!  Thank you for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – DOTS
  2. Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – no cards
  3. Ally’s Angels – #90 Anything Goes 
  4. Love to Scrap – #171 Anything Goes
Published

37 thoughts on “January 2025 “NEW” Art Journal Page-Smashing Our Stash Continues!”

  7. This is a fabulous page full of colours and textures and love the alpha die, I have many and yet to find the perfect one until now, so there you go, love the white spots and the heart design in the middle. gorgeous Vicki..

    Luv CHRISSYxx

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  8. Fabulous page Vicki, unfortunately the only new stuff I had was papers so went with using stash-hope that’s okay? Love the heart and all the background texture. In answer to your question, my journal does have watercolour pages but sometimes like when I stamped with leaves I used another piece of water colour paper as journal is about 3-4″ thick and not suitable for stamping straight onto the pages-so just glue in.

    Carol x

    Thank you for joining us at Love to Scrap.

    Carol DT x

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank friend and for the response! I was thinking that attaching later would be an easier option. Of course it’s perfectly fine to use and play however you’d like with these AJ pages! The prompts are just a starting point or springboard to create from…sometimes I really need that! LOL Thanks for sharing your inspiration friend!

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  9. I love to see your creativity with the art Journal pages! I think using the clip, and then closing the book after all is dry will straighten out your page…. And, if you added Gesso prior to product. I love the colors, the added texture paste and the sparkle is lovely! Great and positive message as well!

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    1. Thank you so much Shelly! I appreciate you stopping by and sharing your thoughts about the curling pages! I think attaching later will be much easier on me! LOL

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  11. This page makes me feel good Vicki. I love the colors and all the positive vibes it sends out. I also like how you set up the post and described what you are using from your stash but that you haven’t used yet. When I was cleaning I came across too many stamps I hadn’t used yet, and I am making it a priority to use them. Sooner rather than later. How do you like the Simon Hurley paste? Have a super start to the new week. hugs-Erika

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    1. Thank you my friend! I do like the pastes as they’re really creamy, but you have to be sparingly with it as it is thin and goes a long way. The shimmer is stunning for sure! Hopefully they won’t dry out too fast before I use again! It’s always great to use that stash!! (This is my goal for this year for sure!)

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  13. What an awesome journal page. So many different techniques. And woud you believe I aid out my distress crayons to use today – great minds think alike.

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    1. Thank you friend! I made a point to use those Distress Crayons this time because I don’t touch them and didn’t know what to do with it…so an art journal page was the best place to start for me! I would love to see what you do with yours! Happy weekend!

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  14. Beautiful page, Vicki! Thank you for entering our challenge at Art Journal Journey.

    Hugs,

    Mia

    Co-administrator for AJJ

    <a href=”https://craftartista.blogspot.com//”>craftartista.blogspot.com {My Blog}</a>

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  15. Thanks for sharing your artsy journal page at Ally’s Angels! It’s got lots of my favorites: pinks, purples, hearts! — Becca

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  16. P.S. there are just 6+ hours left in my time zone for your card meeting the current theme at Heart’s Quest Challenge Blog #69 (HQCB); it’s anything goes with multi-colored hearts. You’ve got the little white enamel hearts but you’ve got the black paper heart shape and the multiple words heart shape. Check it out please! We’d be thrilled to have your artistic talents shared there! — Becca

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  17. Wow, you certainly ‘smashed some stash’ on this creative journal cover; wonderful! Your new technique with distress crayons looks amazing. So happy you shared all the ‘newness’ with us over at Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone. Katrina

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  18. Looks nice and rainbowy to me, and I love how many techniques and materials you were able to use. That font die is pretty and I see those Lunar pastes a lot. Looks creamy, xoxo

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  20. Vicki, your January art journal page is absolutely stunning! The use of distress crayons and Lunar Paste through a stencil creates such a vibrant and textured background. The alphabet die letters and the heart with sentiments add a lovely touch.

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  23. You’ve made great use of your supplies to make this page. You’ve managed to use so many things in this one piece. Great inspiration

    xx

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