Journal Pages - 4th (final) Group

The final group of pages I made for the 4 Girls Art Journal Pages Swap.  These were for Debbie.  The pages are 4.75" x 6".  Theme ideas (that I focused on) were fashion (could be new and vintage) and European accents of London and Paris. Colors - blues, greens, purples and metallics. 

When I met Debbie last year and saw one of her journals I noticed magazine images used on pages so I thought I'd try my hand at that since I really hadn't yet.  I enjoyed it a lot and must do it more!!  

First page - spraying, stenciling, stamping, 'Paris' is in embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi), 'Live Your Dream' (a Wendy stamp) is stamped on tape, torn out, stuck on along with torn off pieces and some paint added.

Second & Third pages - a textured napkin torn and glued on, embossing paste through a stencil, sprays, stamping, stenciling, Inka Gold.  The two panels on the left are both Time To Stamp images stamped on sprayed and stamped cardstock, stitched around the edges and a Wendy Vecchi flourish stamped in the corner.  

The fourth page - scraped paint in the background and then gold paint stenciled on.  Authentic stenciled on with embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi).  Tim's Ideaology Industrious sticker along the left painted and sanded.

Journal Pages - 3rd Group

Today's pages were made for Lori.  She chose a theme of Blue Flowers.  Her pages are 4" x 6".  

I used Wendy Vecchi stamps and stencils on this first page.  Tim Holtz on-the-edge fence die, grungepaper, crackle paint.  A couple of small punches for all the flowers.  

The train is a Tim Holtz stamp.  The leaves and flowers are Wendy stencils with all the leaves and some of the flowers stencils with Wendy's white paste.  Various stencils and stamping in the background.  

The last page. For the background I used paste through a Crafter's Workshop stencil and sprayed the paste with Dylusions and Perfect Pearls Mist.  The flowers are just punched circles with slits cut around the edge.  I don't remember what I did to the paper first.  The stems are Tim's Industrious stickers and the leaves are Ideaology pieces.  Live Your Dream is a Wendy stamp.  

Journal Pages - 2nd Group

These are the pages I did for Nancy.  Her page size is 5" x 6.5".  She didn't choose a theme and said anything but cute. 

This first page was actually inspired by a started page I have in one of my journals.  I thought the colors and the fern leaf were so pretty I just had to somewhat duplicate it (some day I'll finish that page).  The fern leaf is stenciled on with Wendy's embossing paste mixed with paint.  The background has gesso and Dylusion sprays.  Put the fern stencil back on and sponged with ink to give more depth.  Stamped the words (an old PSX stamp), laid a punched heart over it and sponged some ink around it.  Black dots and squiggle lines done with a Pitt pen.  

I think (as in I don't remember for sure) for this background I stenciled translucent paste on the page and while it was still wet sprayed it with Dylusions.  Oh, I'm pretty sure that after I had the paste on I was wiping my fingers with an old kitchen towel and accidently dropped it on the page but when I picked it up the texture it made in the paste was awesome.  Let it dry.  Did some stamping with a script image and dried it.  Brushed on (more like dab so you don't move the color around too much) Golden's fluid matte medium and let it dry.  Rubbed on some Inka Gold.  The words are a Paperbag Studios image inked with Ranger's pigment inks and stamped on white cardstock.  The butterflies were in a book of images to cut out.  

I really thought this page turned out cool.  I must do something like it for myself.  I had the die cut that came out of the packaging for Tim's ornate frame and glued it on the page.  I then gessoed the whole page and while the gesso was still wet used a catalyst brush (#15, B-05) pulling it from the center outward to create textured lines in the gesso to represent sun rays.  Let the gesso dry.  Picked the colors of paint I wanted to use, added them quickly working from the center out and again used the same catalyst brush in the same way to make the colors streak into each other and let it dry.  Stamped the quote with Ranger's Archival Ink jet black, glued on the butterfly, "free to fly" is a rub on and doodled around the edge with a black pen.  

More playing on this page and I don't remember everything I did.  I know I was scrapping paint in the background.  I think I used some crackle (Paper Artsy crackle glaze) around the edges and white paint (Fresco Finish snowflake).  Stenciled Wendy's beautiful flower with Archival Ink.  There's stamping and stenciling with sequin waste.  Don't remember what I did on the tag!!  "Be Yourself" is a Quietfire Design stamp.  

I took a picture also on black since there was so much white around the page.  

Back to the Journal Pages

I talked about a journal page swap with some friends and shared my finished book HERE.  Now I'm going to start sharing all the pages I made (I'm dividing it into 4 days, one for each group of pages).  Today are the pages I made for myself.  My pages are 5" x 6 1/2" 140# watercolor paper.  

The butterflies are stenciled (Prima) with white Embossing Paste (Wendy Vecchi) and a stamped pressed in before the paste was completely dry.  Acrylic paints (mostly Distress) for color.  Leaves stenciled (Wendy Vecchi) with Archival Ink.  Sequin waste used as a stencil for the white dots.  Quote stamp (Impression Obsession) stamped on white cardstock with jet black Archival, cut out, glued on, shadowed with a Stabilo pencil.  Other doodling done with both a white Sharpie paint marker and black Pitt pen.  Viva Inka Gold rubbed over the butterflies and around the edges. 

The second page was mostly play.  Distress Paints, spraying with water, stenciling (Crafter's Workshop), stamping in the background (Wendy Vecchi From A to Z background), circles of paint using lids, the gold diamonds are stenciled (Wendy Vecchi) with gold embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi), quote (Penny Black) stamped with jet black Archival, Pitt pen around some of the diamonds.  

The flip side of this 3rd page is the 4th page (of course) and I actually did the 4th page before I did this one and I stitched around it but that gave me stitching on this page also which was fine and looks great.  I didn't keep notes for any of my pages and I'm having trouble remembering all the details on all the pages... yikes, am I getting that old!!!  Stenciling with paste, spraying with Dylusions, inking over raised area, stamping, stenciling with white, Inka Gold highlights.  The flowers are die cut from music papger, sprayed, stacked and held together with a brad, crumpled, and brushed with white paint.  The "stems" are Tim Holtz Industrious Stickers.  The quote is a Quietfire Design stamp.  

 The fourth page.  I glued a very pretty, very inky paper towel that had been waiting ever so patiently to finally get used onto the page and stitched around the edges.  The paper towel however was not quite as colorful as this page wound up being as some of the color when I sprayed the reverse side bled onto this side giving the extra pops of color around the edge...  it turned out to be a perfect addition.  I used Wendy Vecchi's heart stencil and a Stabilo pencil to draw my heart.  Added paint to the inside with Distress Paint.  Stencil the flower and the word (both Wendy Vecchi) with white embossing paste, painted over the top. Black pen here and there and the center of the flower has some Stickles.  The white dots are also a Wendy Vecchi stencil.  

So there is one set of pages.  If all goes well, I'll share the other 3 sets over the next 3 days.  

Big Birthday Tag

This was fun!!!  I started with a Ranger #12 Tag.  

The background is acrylic paint (some Distress, some Fresco Finish), Crafter's Workshop stencils, a Wendy Vecchi background stamp, vintage mesh, with her Archival Ink fern green, and doodling with a Pitt pen.  

The sentiment is also a Wendy stamp stamped onto a painted scrap with Archival jet black, torn out, white dots added with a Sharpie paint pen.  

The flower is die cut (Tim's tattered floral) from watercolor paper, colored with Distress Stain in a spray bottle, stamped with another Wendy background and held together with an Ideaology knob.  

The stem is a strip of cardstock... got it wet, twisted it up, let it dry, painted it.  

The leaves are die cut (Tim's tattered leaves) from watercolor paper, stained, inked, some paint with a water brush.  

Some twine to finish it off!!

A Merry Christmas Tag

I made several of these tags.  Isn't that girl just the sweetest!!  The girl, the jingles image in the background and "A Merry Christmas" are all stamps from a new set in the Antiquated Collection by Lisa M. Pace for Pink Persimmon.   Background images used on the poinsettia (Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia Die)...  Wendy Vecchi images reversed dots and the background from the set Art Colors Life.  The music image is an old stamp from Me and Carrie Lou.  

For the girl... I stamped a complete image on cardstock and then just enough to get the whole hat on white velvet paper.  Cut them all out.  Some of the coloring was done with Tombow markers and some with Distress Inks and a water brush.  The "fur" on the hat is Sparkly Fluff.  

For the poinsettia I cut them all, sprayed them with Distress Stain festive berry, and stamped them with Wendy's Archival Ink red geranium. The center is 3 jingle bells wired together and the wire thread through a hole made in the center of the stack.  

For the banner I cut strips of cardstock, stained them with Distress Stain shabby shutters, stamped them with Wendy's potting soil, distress the edges and inked them with Vintage photo.  

Now for the background, a Ranger's #10 manila tag.  I created a stencil by die cutting Tim's movers and shapers poinsettia several times from a piece of plastic packaging.  I used this to add Wendy's white embossing paste to the tag and let that dry.  Next I painted the tag with Distress Paints and let that dry.  Then comes Paper Artsy's Fresco Finish Crackle Glaze and after that was dry Fresco Finish snowflake paint  -  aren't the cracks wonderful!!!  Around the edges I've added Distress paints using the blending tool.  The jingles image is stamped with Archival sepia.  I also flicked over the tag with water, dabbed it up and dried it with makes it look like it's snowing behind the girl.  

The ribbon at the top is offwhite seam binding, I dabbed shabby shutters Distress stain just along one edge, dried it and crinkled it.    

4 Girls Art Journal Pages Swap

Over the past few months I've been swapping art journal pages with 3 other fabulous ladies.  We were to make 2 pages, front and back of each, for a total of actually 4 pages for each person including ourselves.  We each chose what size pages we wanted according to how we were going to put our books together and shared that along with a theme if we wanted to pick one, our favorite (or not so favorite) colors and things we liked or didn't like in general.  We each used this information for each person to make our pages.  This was a lot of fun and it was great getting such different pages from each person.  I'm sharing my finished book complete with my pages for myself and the pages I received from everyone else.  I'll be sharing the pages I made for everyone in more detail on other days (this post is already going to be long enough). 

This is my finished book.  I used Wendy Vecchi's large Art Parts cover, Tim's ring binder that fit it, and Sticky-back canvas to put it together.  I added Wendy's white embossing paste to the outside stamping into it while still wet with Wendy's Ornate Dots background stamp and to the inside just smearing it around with a pallet knife for texture.  After it was dry I gessoed the whole thing and then added color with Distress Paints... on the outside I just dabbed it around spraying with water and letting it blend a bit, blotting in places if necessary.  After it was all dry I used my finger to add Viva Inka Gold old gold around the edges and to highlight texture.  For the rest of the front cover I die cut various leaves (Sizzix Branch w/Leaves, Poppystamps Lorelai Leaf, Memory Box Leafy Branch) and flowers (Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Garland) from cardstock.  The butterflies are a punch.  The leaves were colored with Distress Stains.  The flowers and butterflies were colored with Distress Paints.  There are several Wendy Vecchi background stamps used on the flowers, leaves and blue butterfly stamped with various Archival Inks except the purple flower is stamped with white Distress Paint. The quote is an old Ann-ticipations stamp.  The bird is a Wendy Vecchi Blossom Bucket piece colored with Archival Inks.

 On the inside I dabbed the Distress paints around, sprayed them with water and then gently ran a paint brush up and down starting at the left and going to the right only going over an area once as not to mix things too much. Let that dry.  On the inside of the front cover I painted a flower - Distress Paints, white gel pen, black Sharpie paint marker.  The words are a Hero Arts stamp.  The bird is a ggDesigns stamp - white pen for the eye and "wing".  Doodling along the bottom with the Sharpie.

The inside of the back cover uses a flower die cut from an ink filled paper towel that I've had lying around for a long time.  Painted the stem, leaves, and grass - yep, Distress Paints and doodling done with white and black pens.  Enjoy Life's Moments is a Hero Arts stamp.  I stamped it with Ranger's jet black Archival.  The white dots are done with a Sharpie paint marker.  The center of the flower is a Wendy Vecchi Blossom Bucket piece painted with bronze Distress Paint, dried and the Sharpie marker for the white.  

Those we love are the Snowflakes of life

Quietfire Design has some new stamps and this card uses one of them.  You can see the new stamps HERE, as a set, while all the QF stamps are on sale.  Sale info found HERE.  

I've used Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock for the entire card. For all the stamping and sponging of color I've used Ranger's Wendy Vecchi Designer Series Archival Ink in cornflower blue.  The quote is die cut with Spellbinder's Fleur De Lis Squares.  The large snowflake is cut with Sizzix Tim Holtz Snowflake Rosette - after is was put together I also sprayed it with Perfect Pearls Mist perfect pearl for some shimmer.  The snowflakes along the bottom are cut with Sizzix Tim Holtz Snow Flurries On-The-Edge die. Finished it off with 3 self-adhesive pearls.  

Sing and Make Music

I think this card (I actually made two) came out so pretty!!!!!!!  I glued the Tim Holtz music print tissue paper onto cardstock and let it dry.  Sewed the zigzag around the edge.  I then sprayed on a bit of water and dabbed on Distress Paints spritzing a bit more water if necessary but I didn't want the colors to blend too much, just a little.  Dried it.  Stamped the scripture (Roann Mathias) with Ranger's Archival Ink jet black and embossed with clear detail powder.  Stamped the vine (Magenta) repeated across with Archival Ink emerald green.  Attached it to a folded card.  

Butterfly Birthday

A birthday tag for our granddaughter made back in August.  The background is Distress Paints.  Put paint on craft sheet, spray with some water, run tag through the paint and swirl around; if needed, spray more water on tag to help paint blend, but not too much.  Add white paint through punchinella.  Stamp background images (Studio 490) with Archival Ink. Stamp butterfly (Chocolate Baroque) in black and emboss with clear powder.  Add coloring with Sharpie markers and a white gel pen.  Stamp sentiment with Archival jet black.  Stencil lines (Studio 490).  Distress edges and add white paint.  Add white pen stitching.  Finish it off with an Idea-ology metal journey piece.

I think the color looks a little truer with the picture taken against black cardstock.

The back is Distress paint rubbed on with the dabber top.  Dots of DP added around the edges by just pressing the dabber top down.  White pen doodles.  Scripture (Our Daily Bread Designs) stamped with Ranger's Archival Ink jet black.  

And a set of jewelry as part of her gift.  Vintaj blanks and  butterflies embossed in one of their folders, and a large filigree butterfly, all colored with Vintaj Patinas, dried, sanded, and coated with the Glaze.  Add some beads, ear wires, jump rings and ball chain for a fun set.