Art journal page - Love, Harmony, Happiness and Home

Hi and welcome :0) Today I can finally show you a bigger project. This page is ca 12.5"x10" (31x25 cm). It is an entry for Simon Says Stamps´s Monday challenge "Make your own background".

I found these beautiful kimono pictures on Etsy and instead of making four pages I combined them in one. I love the outcome and I must addmit that it was refreshing to create something bigger :0)

I started with a simply colored paper from my stash - green, yellow, blue and red. I embossed the paper with Tim Holtz´s 3D embossing folder. Than I found some Archival ink pads in darker tones than a paper and rubbed them on to enhance the embossed pattern of the quilted leather. It changed the look of the paper a lot, but beautifully :0) Then I cut the papers with AALL & Create new cutting dies for background shape and another one from black cardstock to make a frame. I painted the black shapes with black acrylic paint and rough sponge douber to create a texture on it. I glued both layers together, added the kimonos and stamped and embossed chinese characters for each word with Ranger´s Gold queen embossing powder framed with a black liner pen. I added the same words in english and cut out and glued together 3 layers of the black cardstock for the central symbol of Longevity. Top layer I embossed with the same gold embossing powder. To let the colours shine even more and protect the printed pictures I used Distress micro Glaze on top of them.

I mounted all five elements on brown wood patterned paper which I darkened with Gathered twix ink from Tim Holtz. Finally I added black frame painted again with black acrylic paint and sponge douber - the page frame are actually 6 left over pieces from an old wall callender and I´m happy that I used them this way. This page was really a pleasure to create and I enjoyed every minute of the process :0) 

So thank you for your visit, have a nice weekend and see you next time :0)

18.4.2024 Love, Harmony, Happiness and Home

Creative week 10 - "Lady in Roses"

Hi, welcome back again :0)

Lady in Roses, today's art journal page is one layer stamped page from my Seawhite hardbound 7.5"x7.5" (ca. 20x20 cm) journal. I chose randomly a few stamps from my stash and combined them into the page. Because I mostly think a lot about my pages, most of them are "story telling" ones, this was a bit challenging, but mostly very freeing :0) The colour combination is also a bit unusual for me, but I like, but surprisingly for me, I like how they work together.

This page would be in my journal normally, but since last page - Golden Stars of California - I decided to enjoy more of the creative freedom and I unbounded my journal completely into a separate pages. It was sooooo relaxing... and this way I can use all the media I want without any boundaries :D Of course, I kept the cover of the journal and all the finished and unfinished pages are stored in it... so I think I can still call it " a journal book" .o)

So I used black Versamark and Ranger Dye ink, stamps from Paper Artsy and Chocolate baroque and Harlequin stencil from Tim Holtz as a background, together with Distress inks and markers, Caran D'Ache Neocolor II water soluble pastels  and Marvy Uchida markers for colouring. To enhance the look of the stained glass I also applied Distress micro glaze on the image of the lady, so the colours are brighter and "shine" a bit more from the rest of the page.

Enjoy the day and see you next time :0)

05.10.2017 Lady in Roses

Tim Holtz Creative chemistry 103 adventure ends....or maybe not :0)

So here are my tags from Tim Holtz's Creative chemistry 103...

Day 1 techniques:

Distress DIY ombré (tags 1-3), Distress highlight stamping (tag 4), Distress off-set stamping (tag 5), Distress washed watercolor (tag 6), Distress Micro-glaze resist (tags 7-8)

Day 2 techniques:

Distress paint resist (tags 1-2), Distress paint lifting (tags 3-4), Distress stain rub resist (tag 5), Distress luminous mica (tags 6-7), Distress marker spritzed watercolor (tags 8-10)

Day 3 techniques:

Distress layered collage (tag 1), Texture paste coloring (tag 2), Texture paste embossing (tag 3), Texture paste resist (tag 4), Distress grit-paste grunge (tag 5)

Day 4 techniques:

Distress crayon smudge (tag 1), Distress crayon gesso fresco (tags 2-3), Distress crayon texture resist (tag 4), Distress crayon watercolor resist (tag 5), Distress crayon blended background (tag 6), Distress crayon layered coloring (tag 7)

Day 5 techniques:

Alcohol ink stamped resist on Yupo (tags 1-3), Alcohol ink texture resist on Yupo (tag 4), Alcohol ink painting on Yupo (tag 5), Alcohol ink faded layers on Yupo (tag 6-7), Alcohol ink liquid landscapes on Yupo (tag 8), Alcohol ink splattered florals on Yupo (tag 9)

Playful art journal page 11

Today a slightly different page - with a little bit more painterly look. Although it was not intended to be like this, I learned a lot with this page - especially about "how important sealing the layers" is :0)

This page started light blue - I wanted to use Faber-Castells gelatos, but I was not completely satisfied with the intensity of colors. So I dried this first layer and used Distress inks over it in two shades of violet - Seedless preserve and Wilted violet. I used "halloween" stencils and moved the page into a little bit "darker" mood. Than I painted a moon, stamped the crows etc.... The page was almost finished and everything was good as long as I decided to make a final sealing of whole page with clear gesso, because without it I was not able to achieve pure white color of the birds and feathers. Every coat of white became slightly violet after I applied it. And then it happened. Even if my brush and all layers on the page were completely dry, the violet colors of Distress inks smudged or disappeared and the covered first layer of light blue gelatos became visible again. Quite a disaster. And the white moon? There was no white anymore :0O
What happened? It emerged that gelatos, even dried, did not hold Distress inks well. It was only sit on the top of gelatos. If I would sealed gelatos first with the clear gesso or mat medium, it would be much better base for Distress inks and if I would later sealed Distress inks with e.g. microglaze, it would be even better.

So what I did with it? I left the "clear" gesso coat to dry and than started with violets and black again. Of course, It changed the background pattern of the page a bit, but the outcome was not so bad at the end. Than I stamped my crows in white and black and when the stamped images were dry, I sealed only the white part of the crows (it was not important that they become violet again, because when the sealer - mat medium - was dried, the violet color was finally and safely locked into it and was not smudgeable anymore) and repainted it again with white marker. Success :0)) And do you see the flash of genius - when I did not sealed whole page again but just the crows, so there was no danger that I will move the Distress inks again? .0)) That kind of clever ideas is usually coming when you really need to solve some problem or save something you accidentally destroyed :D

So in fact I should thank this accident for opportunity to learn something new. But to be honest, next time I would prefer things to go more smoothly and cleanly .0)

16.5.2016 Playful art journal page 11

Playful art journal page 8

This journal page has two topics - resist and spring :0) Resist is the first one, because it was the inspiration for the background I made for this page. When I saw the set of samples done by Michelle Remy I knew I want to try it, because the range of mediums which can be used for this technique is really impressive and inspirational. And I love my result I must say. For me it looks like an old tapestry. And sometimes if I do something I like so much, I really want whole page to be in harmony. That's why the second topic is spring/love, because that is the feeling I had from the background when I finished it and because Spring in all his beauty is finally here all around :0). 

Resist technique is a combination of more mediums in this case. First I applied Dylusions paint Dirty martini with Ranger foam applicator. In the lower right corner I already had thin layer of Dylusions After midnight paint, so the final color is darker. I did not use any water and this coat of Dylusions acrylic paint really help to this technique and my lighter journal paper to absorb next layers without damage. Next I stamped text and rose stamps with Dylusions archival mixed media ink pad in Dirty martini color. Ink is darker than paint in the same color, so it is nicely visible. Around edges I went with Jet black archival ink pad, again with foam applicator. I dried the page with heat tool and than I stamped Flourish background stamp from Tim Holtz with Finnabairs clear gesso. I put it on the stamp with roller, so the coat was even. This is my resisted part. Finnabairs clear gesso is smoother than others I have and does not have such a rough "tooth" when dried. That is significant for the last, most important layer - Dylusions Dirty martini spray heavily applied with foam applicator. The paper must be really saturated with this liquid layer, so the resisted gesso part can become visible. During the application I also moistened my applicator with a few drops of water, so the final coloration is lighter in some parts and darker in others. When the page is completely dry, I fixated all with coat of Ranger Micro glaze. I put it with my fingers and than buffed with dry cloth. 

Corners, text and element are stamped with Jet black archival ink and embossed with Wow clear detailed embossing powder. For the flourish I made an extra piece of paper with Dirty martini paint, black archival ink and Wow clear embossing powder. Than I put a double sided tape on the back side and cut two flourishes with Tim Holtz Mixed media 2 Thinlits. I did use the cut out pieces of the flourish and because I wanted the segments turning left and also right, I cut one flourish from the front and one from the back side of the paper and flattened the rougher edges with my Big Shot. Than I had enough pieces to play with so I made my own flourish. Some butterflies and corner picture are from Graphic 45 Mon amour collection stamps and are colored with Dylusions sprays in waterbrushes. Last white touches I made with Uni-ball signo pen. 

And that's it....I really hope you like it and thank you for your patience with so looooong article :D

7.4.2016 Playful art journal page 8

Playful art journal pages 4 and 5

Another two small art journal pages today. It is mostly about background. I wanted to try a Versamark or Watermark ink technique with a combination with Distress ink pads and Pan pastels.

I need to say, that first trial - Nr. 4 is a quite out of my comfort zone - red color for the background and green (complementary color) leaves in foreground, that is definitely not my cup of tea. On the other hand I wanted something a little bit romantic what would fit with my background Vintage alphabet stamp. Unfortunately this time I did not the technique correctly and the final result was not according to my expectations, so I also used some stencils to finished it. But I like a lot the watch and squirrel :D

Second trial - journal page Nr. 5 - is much much better :D. I like it a lot. I used Distress ink pads, stamped the lattice background stamp with Versamark ink, spritzed the page with water and dried it with heat tool and paper towel. I used Distress ink pads again a little bit to softened some lighter spots. Than I stamped the leaves and applied the white Pan pastel with Distress foam applicator. The result was magical, especially when I burnished the whole page with dry paper towel, so the Pan pastel was fixed on the stamped places and the colors became a little bit more pastel. Finally I used this technique again with music notes stamps. For the image I wanted to use a one layer technique, so I stamped Gorjuss girl stamp, masked it with low tack paper mask and stamped a beautiful tree stamp from Chocolate Baroque over it. The tree stamp was originally bigger and there were two birds, but i masked them out with masking tape before stamping and than I used just a part of the stamp, so it is narrower now :0)

For both pages I used Seawhite hardcover art journal again (25x19 cm / 10"x7.5").

20.3.2016 Playful journal page 4

23.3.2016 Playful journal page 5

Art journal page - Winter

Hurray, hurray, hurray :0)

My mini series is finished - today I would like to share with you the final - Winter - art journal page :0). I need to say, that this is an awesome feeling, because I was not able to thing about creating anything else before finishing this mini series of journal pages - Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter. It started very innocently with nice magnolia stamp I wanted to use, than I named the page Spring and that was, surprisingly, just beginning :0)) Anyway this page shows my favorite winter - a lot of tea and books, pleasant view from the window in a warm room - watching the sparkling snow and the snowman we made this year - winter paradise :0))
This time I used books stamp from Sheena Douglass, snowman from Stampendous, tree stamps from Chocolate Baroque and snowflakes from Winnie and Walter. For background and textures I used Tim Holtz Knit texture fades which I really love and wood grain embossing folder from Crafter's Companion. Beautiful sparkle on the snow and text (unfortunately not so visible on the photo) is Ranger's Clear Rock Candy on the sticky embossing powder. And all images are colored again with Distress mini ink pads used on my craft sheet as a palette. At the and of the coloring I covered some parts of the pictures with Ranger Distress micro glaze, so they become waterproof and the colors intensified. Textured background is gently sprayed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Glitz Spritz (Steel Shimmer).
Square 28 x 28 cm (cca 11" x 11")

I hope you've enjoyed this series and if you want, please leave me a comment - I would be happy to know what do you think :0)

Art journal page - Autumn

Hi,

today I have an art journal page with autumn theme. I wanted to make an impression of changing colors of the autumn nature. Therefore, I have a two-tone background this time :0) I used leaves stamps from Penny Black and some old clear (no name) stamps, mushrooms from Chocolate Baroque and Sheena Douglass and rose hips and chestnuts from Chocolate Baroque. Trees are just hand drawn and for more interest used a wood texture stamp from Kaisercraft.  This time I colored all images with Distress ink pads - I used mini ink pads, put them on my craft sheet and used them as a palette. The alcohol markers I used just for shadows of the object on the background. For better control of the color intensity I used just an ordinary small round brush dipped in water droplets, not a water brush. At the and of the coloring I covered all the objects (except trees and mushroom legs) with Ranger Distress micro glaze, so they become waterproof and the colors intensified. Background is a combination of two Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays (Bayou Boogie Gold, Cajun Carnelian Red), Prima Marketing Color bloom sprays (Sorbet, Gilded), gesso and water droplets.

Square 28 x 28 cm (cca 11" x 11")

I hope you like it and I would be happy if you would leave me a comment :0)