The Peanuts Gang – Stamped Smiles

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: