Jan 2023 Art Journal Page-TIME

Hello there friends!  Hope that you’ve been having a great month so far to start off your year! I’m so relieved that I’ve gotten my sound up and running on the computer now!  Also…today I’m very happy to be continuing on with making my monthly art journal pages (plus using my stash!) and to be continuing the partnership with my sweet crafty friend, Carol!  I always love to see how each of us interprets the monthly stash themes.

If you’re not familiar, I post an AJ page each month along with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), as we get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles!  We use a prompt each month and post them.  I know she will have some great inspiration, so please check out her blog for an AJ page too!🥰  Here’s my first Art Journal inspiration for 2023 with the “SMASH OUR STASH” January prompt of “Sprays/Stains/Paints” :

So this one is a bit different for me, but I wanted to try out a “minimalistic” style and very soft with the colors that’s almost pale.  Not sure I achieved what I was thinking, but fun to try anyway.

Background:  With the prompt in mind, I had no problem pulling out a few Distress Spray Stains that I have so many of but hardly use.  So I started the background with a stencil and added some texture paste to the two opposite corners over a gesso painted 6″x9″ 140# cold press paper pre-punched with holes for book.  I then took the spray stains and went over the two opposite corners with them.

I found a cool photo online of the eye with the clock.  The outside of the eye has repetitive “tick tock” wording over it.  Before attaching this photo and the wording elements, I stamped a very large pocket watch image (Whimsy Stamps retired) with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink.  Since the sprays and ink are water based media, I covered the page with Distress Micro Glaze to make it permanent before adding some collage medium to attach the other elements. I also used a Big Brush marker to go around the edges for shadows. The pocket watch detail is a laser cut chipboard that was sprayed with black distress spray.

I took some more paint to add to the colored sprayed edges along with some black and white paints to randomly splatter over the entire page. Lastly I took some silver metallic rub to go over the raised areas and make them stand out a bit. The page has a sheen to it because I went over it with a coat of collage medium.

I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration today and thank you for stopping in!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Use a photo (eyeball)
  2. More Than Words – It’s About Time
  3. Country View – Time
  4. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  5. Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
  6. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles20 Comments

End of the Year-Dec AJ Page-SNOW+Book

It is here!  The end of 2022 has arrived weather you are ready for it or not!  I know as I’ve gotten older the time seems to pass more and more quickly.  Each year I usually go through all of the things that I didn’t have time to do.  This year I’m going to look at all of things that I DID do instead!  I look forward to a wonderful year ahead and I hope you are as well!

  • For this entire year, I’ve had such a wonderful time creating my AJ pages at the end of each month with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)!  Thanks SO MUCH to her for the wonderful inspiration and joining in the venture with me!  I know she’ll have something wonderful, so please check out her blog for an AJ page too!🥰  We’ve gotten creative by using up our never-ending stash piles! (I look forward to doing this for another year each month in 2023 and I’ll hope you’ll be here too!)  Here’s my final Art Journal inspiration for 2022 with the “SMASH OUR STASH” December prompt of “Oldest Stash” :

It’s a bit challenging for me to FIND my “oldest stash” as I’ve been a bit of a collector over the years.  So I’ve pulled out a very old, but favorite stamp set of mine from Stampin’ Up! called “Lovely as a Tree” from 2001.  The container broke when I opened it up to take a stamp out! LOL  I’ve also pulled out my Pearl Ex powders and some gilding flakes from my older media stash.  It’s a good thing that powders don’t go bad otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to use them!🙄

For the Background – I’ve used some mix of paints and splattered some white paint over it for the snow.  The trees at the bottom were stamped over vellum and then I cut it out and attached that to the bottom of the page so that they were a nice vibrant black as I didn’t think they would stamp over the paint very well.  I did take a snowflake stamp (not too old) and stamped a few randomly over the background in teal ink. (water-proof)

For the Pearl Ex Powders – I mixed some Misty Lavender Pearl Ex with embossing paste and used a snowflake stencil to randomly add this to the background.

For the Gilding Flakes – I die cut some snowflakes with double sided adhesive sheets will make the front sticky.  This made it so I could rub in the gilding flakes over them.  They did turn out very pretty!

The “SNOW” letters were die cut and I found a neat winter clipping from my sentiment stash to add below it after I sponged some teal ink around it.  I also die cut another tiny snowflake in the center of the ‘O’ with glitter cardstock and attached a tiny teal rhinestone in the center of it.  I rubbed some silver wax around the letters and around the edges of the page.  Lastly, I’ve added some star sequins and filled the centers of those and the gilded snowflakes with some silver Stickles.  I covered the bottom of the page under the trees with glue and covered it with sparkly glitter.

So I thought that since I’ve done an AJ page every month this year that not only did I need to close up the year, but I also needed to close the book to all the AJ pages I made from 2022 by finally finishing up a book to put them all in!

I made the covers with some chipboard along with some “old” chipboard pieces from my stash and did some painting with a bit of mixed media gold wax and stenciling.  I wanted to be sure to add the year to the front and a little quote from my sticker book that says:  “happy in her heart where only the imagination can go”

I fit all of the AJ pages completed this year along with a few extras that were created from before with unknown dates, added the front and back covers and used my Zutter Bind-it-All machine to add the spiral wire for a book.  (This was the reason all of my pages had the pre-punched holes in them when I posted each month.)

That finishes up the 2022 year on my blog.  I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts weather it’s for inspiration or just a smile.  Either way, I’m so thankful that you have joined me this past year and your friendships.  I look forward to a productive and crafty year ahead in 2023!

  • Have a safe, happy and healthy New Year!🎊

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Snowy Winter
  2. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  3. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles19 Comments

November AJ Page-Peace Love and Hope

Hello friends!  Hope that you’re having a wonderful weekend and I can’t believe we’re looking at the end of November already as well as almost the end of the year too!  Since I’ve been doing most of my post this month with guesting for Inky Stamper, it’s time to change it up a bit.

At the end of the month, I do an Art Journal page and collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for her AJ page 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” November prompt of “washi tape/stickers/border stickers, etc” :

So with the Smash our stash theme, I went through and pulled out so many stickers in my collection…and then realized that I’ve had some of these things for such a long time!  I couldn’t use them all, but I made something work with a fun Christmas theme in mind.

For the background:  I started out with my pre-punched holes at the top of my 140# cold press paper sized 6″x9″ and covered the bottom portion of the page with some Tim Holtz Christmas themed washi tape.  I thought it was a bit too bright and went over it with some white paint and a brayer.  I also took a collage paper of Christmas music sheet paper and stamped a couple of different images over it to further the collaged background.  I also covered this area with a thin layer of mixed media silver paint.

I die cut a pine tree and sponged some inks around the edges and turned that as well as the die cut sparkle snowflakes into stickers using my Xron machine.  I stamped the two deer in black ink and heat embossed over it a clear EP.  I then took a Tim Holtz stencil and used some sparkle texture paste over it for snow. (Before I attached the larger snowflake stickers.)  I also splattered the page with some white paint too…lots of snowfall going on!

For the wording:  I had some black thickers (as they call them, which are thick foam letter stickers) for the “PEACE” and then the other words are stickers from my stash.  The heart is from the thicker sheet too.  I took some silver rubbing paste with my finger and went along the edges of the page as well as the thicker letters to add some interest.  Lastly: I made a “snow ground” for the deer by applying some glue and covering it with some glitter crystals.  I also added some black gem stickers to the center of each snowflake sticker.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page today and have been inspired in some way.  Thanks for much for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – Collage Fodder and/or Food and Drink (collage fodder here)
  2. Mixed Media Lovers – Letters/text/quote 
  3. Creative Artiste – Anything Mixed Media
  4. Creative Moments – Winter
  5. Arty Divas – Anything Goes
  6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – NOT a card

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles25 Comments

October AJ Page-Believe in Fairytales

Hello friends!  It’s almost Halloween, can you believe?!  Today is actually hubby & my 23rd wedding anniversary that we are out celebrating and hanging out having fun right now.  So the theme of my page was designed to fit with this in mind today.

Hard to believe that the end of the month is here and also time for a monthly Art Journal page and 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” October prompt of “UNUSED MEDIA from stash” :

As I was thinking of this month’s prompt, I was checking through my media to see if there was something that I had NOT used at all yet, but for the most part, I have. So then my thoughts turned to what I haven’t used in quite a while.  So after going through bottles and bottles of liquid watercolor…and throwing several away that were no good…I used some colors to create the background on my page using a 6″x9″ sheet of Bristol Smooth Watercolor paper with pre-punched holes.  I added drops of the watercolor on my glass mat, sprayed with water and “smooshed” the paper to create the look I wanted and let dry.  I wanted the smooth texture because I knew I was going to stamp over top.

Another media I haven’t used in a while is the Faber Castel Gelatos, which was used to create the moon.  I took a circle scrap, traced around it and then scribbled on a white and shimmer white gelato with my finger and rubbed into the areas I wanted.  I also pulled out several of the Lavina Stamps which were all used to create the scene over my watercolor background.  I had these stamps for quite some time, but have never used any of these images.  So I stamped stars at the top, the moon, the castle, the stage coach and the tall grasses.  BEFORE all the stamping, I did use some gold paint to create splatters at the top.

After stamping the images, I took some torn scrap paper and sponged in the “ground” areas for my images.

For the quote, I printed out the “in fairytales” on my computer, added a die cut “Believe” sentiment cut from some gold glitter cardstock and attached it above the computer generated wording.  I tore around this sentiment and sponged in some dark blue around it.  I finished off the page with some gold Stickles around the edges and drops randomly over the star areas.  I also took a glitter brush pen to add some sparkly highlights to the castle, ground areas and stage coach.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my AJ page today & been inspired in some way.  Please check out Carol’s page for more inspiring fun!  Thanks so much for dropping in!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Fairytales, Folklore and Fables (Mine is based on the Fairytale Cinderella)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles18 Comments

September AJ Page-Embrace Change

Are you a winner from my TE Background Stamp Give Away?  Check post below or CLICK HERE!

Hello friends!  As of Thursday, Fall has begun!  It actually really does feel like Fall with the cooler temps settling in on exactly that same day too!  I’m looking forward to all of the wonderful changes it brings with it!  I enjoy going out in nature and seeing the trees change into their colors.

It’s also that time for a monthly Art Journal page and 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” September prompt of “ANY kind(s) of scrap papers!” :

Like many crafters out there, I’m sure we all have those never ending piles of papers! I especially have a very extensive collection of pattern papers and MANY within those piles of little left over pieces that never seem to get used and just thrown back into the package!  I not only have packages, but I also have several card kits that ALSO have packages of papers in them too…so I pulled out a past kit and was happy that I’ve used pretty much all of the left over scraps from it!  One down and a trillion to go!!😅

For the Background:  The page is a 6″ x 9″ Canson 140# cold-pressed paper with the holes prepared at the top for later book binding.  I’ve used Distress Oxide Sprays and used the left over spray on my glass mat with water until I soaked up all the ink.  I’ve also splattered some Gold and Ivory acrylic paints over top once dry.  I stamped a couple of the tiny leaves with green ink for a bit of depth in the background.

Vicki-SYS-SeptAJ-paper scraps-close

For the Image Elements:  I used the Simon Says Stamp “Woodland Whimsy” stamp set to paper piece all of the image elements with the tall trees on the right, the leaves, the bear, the bear’s belly and ears, also with the berry and leaf branches next to him.  The trees were fussy cut with scissors and the other images were cut with coordinating dies.  I’ve used Copic markers to add a bit of depth and dimension to some of it. Some were glued down while some were popped up with foam squares.  I’ve also taken the Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Leaves dies to cut out a few extra and sponged around them to add to the scene.  I’ve also used the same papers I’ve used to cut those leaves out and added it as a layer behind the two sentiment quote squares.  The quote was printed out from my computer and the “Autumn” sentiment was cut out from pattern papers using the Lawn Fawn henry’s ABCs dies along with more papers to make an “off-set” shadow behind them.

The “ground” was just fussy cut with scissors and ink sponged around the edges.  Lastly, I’ve taken some gold Stickles to create “berries” on the leaf branches and randomly over the page.

I really enjoyed creating this page as it has inspired me to go out in nature for a walk!  I sure hope you’ve enjoyed it as well!  Thanks for stopping in today!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Fur or Feathers (I went with fur, but love both!)
  2. Country View – Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness
  3. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  4. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  5. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  6. Snippets Playground – Anything Goes using snippets (Happy to use up “snippets” of my pattern papers for the paper pieced images!) YES PLEASE!

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles32 Comments

August AJ Page-Childhood Imagination

**IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN MY GIVE AWAY OR LOOKING FOR IT, CHECK OUT MY POST BELOW OR CLICK HERE.  ENDS SEPT 22nd**

Happy Saturday friends!  I hope you’re enjoying your weekend and maybe doing something crafty too!  I actually can’t believe that next weekend we’ll be into September already!  Fall is coming which means hubby and I can enjoy some football game time!

Hard to believe that it’s time for a monthly Art Journal page and 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” August prompt of “liquid drops/enamel dots/brads/eyelets” :

Yes, it’s the never-ending supply of those enamel things, brads and eyelets!  I didn’t even use any eyelets on my page today, but at least I pulled out a few brads, enamel dots and even some liquid enamel drops too!

So I could take you down that “rabbit hole”😁 of how this page came about from seeing a couple of mushrooms out in our backyard that just weirdly keeps popping out randomly the last few months, but needless to say, I ended up with this page.  As a child I have always loved Alice in Wonderland and imagined myself secretly finding these amazing new worlds and having conversations with odd characters.  I do enjoy getting lost in a good book!

The background page was printed out with adding the Cheshire Cat image over top. (The wording was also printed out with the cat.)  I stamped some other wording over the printed background, splattered some paint and took an empty plastic roll dipped in gold paint and randomly stamped that all over it too.  I used my finger to also add some gold paint along the edges.  The mushroom image is from Power Poppy which I’ve printed, colored with Copics and fussy cut them out with the one in the front popped up with foam tape. I die cut a grass border at the bottom and tucked one of the cut out mushrooms behind the grass blades and then cut off all the excess.  I’ve attached this entire page to a heavy weight 140# cardstock that was ink blended with chocolate ink around the edges.  I took a strip of Graphics 45 Alice in Wonderland decorative paper and attached it to the right side of the page.  I was then able to punch out the holes at the top for my AJ book.

So when you look at the bottom of the page, you can see the mushrooms and how I’ve added some white Nuvo Liquid Drops to the red tops.  I think this really makes them pop and give dimension!  With the same Graphic 45 decorative papers, I’ve cut out the “tea set playing card” image, blended around the edges and added a blue brad in each corner of it.  I also added a bit of sparkle to the flying horse.  This cut out playing card was attached below sentiment over the background mushroom and grassy border.

You will also notice the “Eat Me bottle” at the top of the mushroom which was printed out separately from the background page, Copic colored and fussy cut out.  I attached it over top of the large mushroom and added a ribbon enamel at the top of it.  I also took my glitter brush pen and added something rising from the bottle…mysterious?!

Here’s a closer view of the enamel bow at the top of the bottle along with the mysterious glitter coming from it.  I’ve also added some of the glitter brush pen to the Cheshire Cat’s eyes too.  I thought I had room to add another three sparkly gold enamel dots to the top right and call this one done.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my AJ page today or have been inspired in some way!  Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – When we were Young
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Mixed Media
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Mixed Media
  4. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring (mushrooms)
  5. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  6. Simon Says Stamp Mondays – Mixed Media

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

July AJ Page-Leave The Trail

Happy weekend!  Where in the world did July go?!  I can’t believe we are at the end of the month already.  It’s really been a busy Summer this year and I know that Autumn is a favorite season of mine which will be busy as well, but that’s all a good thing.

It’s now that time for a monthly Art Journal page and 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” July prompt of: “decorative papers/collections/kits, etc” :

OK, I don’t really know how much of a “challenge” it is to use decorative papers on anything…but I have such a HUGE stash of papers and I’m always trying to find different ways of using it up instead of always hoarding it!  The papers I’ve used on this page are exactly that…I hoarded it!  It’s just too awesome NOT to use!  I purchased this pack of Stamperia Sir Vagabond 8×8 papers when they came out and haven’t even touched it!  Now is the time!

I used my traditional 6×9 size with the holes pre-punched at the top to fit with the book I’m making.  I ran out of my usual 140# watercolor paper, so I’ve switched to another pad from my stash which is Strathmore Acrylic paper…very thick and made to use with paints. (I like the canvas texture it has.)

For the background:  I started with some old paint from my stash and brush blended the different colors.  I didn’t want them to be too bright which I thought would take away from the paper images.  After it dried, I covered the entire page with some Tim Holtz Postage Tissue Wrap.  I thought it ‘stood out’ too much, so I painted over it again using the same paint colors.

For the Journal Prompt with the papers: I cut out pieces with scissors that had interesting images I wanted to use like the circle map, the “Vintage Travel” strip, the hot air balloon with train, the “mountains” at the bottom, the circled compass, the sentiment and then I ‘ripped; a piece for the top of the page and then re-punched the holes.  The compass circle, hot air balloon/train and ripped newspaper edge was sponged around the edges with Toffee ink.

Before placing the cut paper images, I decided to add a fun textural window image.  I stamped the window with chocolate colored pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Collage Medium was used to attach all of the different paper images except the balloon/train, compass and sentiment.  I used Pitt Big Brush Markers to go around these collaged images for some shadowing.  I then used some white and chocolate paints to create splatters over the page being careful to cover up the window area.

Before attaching the sentiment strip and the compass, I used some Aged Brass Metallic Wax to go around the edges.  I also used this around my entire page and over the shutters on the window.  I attached the sentiment strip and the metal cogs with 3D Matte Gel and then used foam squares to pop up the compass and balloon/train.

 – Really fun AJ page to create and I hope that you’ve enjoyed it too!  Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Challenges:

  1. Country View – Travel
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  4. Arty Divas – Anything Goes
  5. NBUS – Anything Goes + Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (papers!!)
  6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Your Own Sparkle AJ Page

*This is a scheduled post as I’m away for my son’s wedding and don’t have access to Internet at this time*

Hello friends!  Here we are towards the end of June already and in full Summer mode now!  Time has went by so fast!  I do hope you’re all doing well, staying safe and enjoying your time however you’re spending it.

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” June prompt of: “buttons/sequins/gems.“

So who doesn’t have oodles of sequins in their stash?  (I probably had enough to cover the entire page, but left it strictly for the fish scales and “bubbles”.😄)  I was inspired by the Art Journal Journey challenge prompt this month of “FISH” and with the stash prompt in mind, it had me thinking of a book I had gotten for the kids years ago, perhaps you’re familiar with “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister? 

In the book, the fish’s scales were very shimmery and it made me think to add the sequins to a fish, so I actually found a fun and free “coloring page” fish image to print out and color for my page!  I used Copic markers to color that fish and the sequins are a glittery silver sequin that were topped with some silver Stickles as well as the “lines” on his fins.  I also added some clear iridescent sequins for the “bubbles” above him.

For my background – Since the goal is to use my stash, I pulled out my set of gelatos that I’ve had for a few years to create my background.  I found it fun to blend them and smudge them with my finger. I also used a piece of punchella trim for stenciling with them too.  Of course, since they’re water soluble, I needed to cover it with some matte medium using a spatula rather than a brush.  Once the matte medium dried, I added some printed vellum pieces ripped up over it and then used some white and silver paint for splatters and stamping an empty roll circle.  I also went around the edges a bit with the silver paint for shimmer.  For a little bit more texture, I took some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and heated up a few “piles” of the crystals and melted them…I haven’t used that in a long time either!  I needed to be VERY careful with my heat gun because of the matte medium…it started to smoke a bit!😮

For the background fish – I had a few extra cut out fish pieces from a previous project I made using the Taylored Expressions Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo with dies and adding them to the scene.  I also added some sparkly fish that was die cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish dies. (I haven’t posted this project yet, but I will later on!)  I took a micron pen to add a fishing line coming down from the top with a hook. 

Here’s a closer view of the fish as well as some of the details in the background.

For the sentiment – it was printed out along with the fish and then I just ripped around it and then using the same ink colors as the background fish, I blended over this piece.  I also used the same UTEE on it as the background.  I took a white Big Brush marker to highlight the letters and underline.  I also used it for highlights on the fish. I used different colors of the Big Brush markers to add some shading details around the fish.

All of the sequins and silver Stickles were added very last to the page.

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Fish (will have to link later when I get back!)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles22 Comments

Smash Our Stash-“Learning to Fly” AJ Page

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

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

April AJ Page-Does Anybody Know Time It Is?

Hello friends!  I feel like I’ve been so busy, but it sure doesn’t seem that way on my blog here!  Hopefully, I’ll be able to show more things later…however, I think it’s about time for this month’s Art Journal page…don’t you?!

Today I’m sharing my monthly Art Journal page and collaborating with my blog friend Carol as we both try and get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So please hop over to her blog to see some more Art Journal inspiration with our “SMASH YOUR STASH” April prompt of: “recycled items/thrifted items to upcycle/pieces of magazine, gift wrap, etc.“!  So here’s what I’ve come up with:

I absolutely LOVE The Peanuts Gang characters!  I have a desk calendar that I use every year next to my computer and it has the Peanuts Gang on it.  I was thinking this would be a perfect way for me to recycle it by fussy cutting out some of the characters on it and incorporating them on my AJ page this month!

So I’ve started out by creating my regular 9″x6″ sized page with thick watercolor paper and pre-cutting the holes at the top for my book.  This time I’ve turned it in the landscape direction to work on the design. I took out a musical notes style stencil and added paste for texture to the background, but it turned out to look more like bricks instead..but I let it dry and used it anyway.  I decided to pull out my Brushos that just sit on my shelf and never get used.  I’m always amazed at the results with them just by sprinkling them and adding water. 

I also took some printed vellum and attached ripped pieces over the background with collage medium.  This is where I’ve also added a clock image that I cut from a magazine to recycle as well as the background Peanuts Gang characters (Snoopy & Sally).  I then stamped a few musical notes and scribble stamps in the background using Archival ink.  Lastly, it was also splattered with gold paint and set aside to dry. (Snoopy & Sally were covered for the splattering.)

The next portion was to create the piano going across the bottom for Lucy and Schroder to be on top.  I took some black metallic cardstock that has been in my stash for years and free-handed the slope cut.  The piano keys were simple with a white cardstock strip that I scored every 1/2″ and then I used a Word Window Punch (Also had for years from Stampin’ Up!) and punched out the black keys to add to the white scored piano keys over top.  Attached this strip to the bottom of the page and then used foam tape to attach the black slope over top.  At this point I had to punch the holes again at the top of the page for my AJ page book construction.  This is where I glued and foam taped Schroder and Lucy over the black section of the piano between Snoopy and Sally.

The wording is something else that goes with the theme of my page.  I had actually saw a video on You Tube with the Peanuts Gang singing the song by Chicago “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and that’s where the musical theme came to my mind when cutting out the characters from my desk calendar.  LOL  Thought I’d share it if you’re interested in singing too:

For the wording on my AJ page, I just used my label maker and cut out the words to arrange on my page and then outlined each word with a black waterproof marker.  I also took the same black metallic cardstock and cut out the letters to emphasize the word “TIME…” and glued it over the textured stencil.

But before I glued the black lettering over the brick texture, I took some metallic brass wax and rubbed over it to bring out the textured areas.  I also used it around the edges of the page.

I thought the large black slope of the piano looked a little plain, so I made a flower using a scallop circle punch and cutting each scallop edge with my scissors to make “petals” from a musical sheet paper that I also sponged with black ink and splattered with gold paint.  I also took more of the wax around the edges.  Punched another circle with gold metallic cardstock for the center and topped the center with a black enamel dot.

I think it’s so fun to be able to incorporate just about anything into your art journaling and I’m glad to be able to pull out some of my neglected stash as well as find something to recycle rather than just throw away.  It makes it so fun to be able to incorporate something different to suit your own ideas/thoughts/style too!

I hope you’re also enjoying the AJ pages too!  Maybe you’ve been inspired to see something in your everyday life that you can turn into something creative…or maybe you can sing your own tune while you create!🎹

Thanks so much for stopping in today friends!  So happy to share with you!

Tomorrow is inspiration from a new challenge for the month to try…see you then!

Challenges for today’s AJ page:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – “Play it Again Sam” (based on movie or song)
  2. Try It On Tuesday – “I Can Hear the Music”
  3. River of Creativity – Anything Goes (not cards) optional: Spring
  4. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles22 Comments