Joggles Art Journal Adventure - Week 22 - the letter B

Hi everyone. It's Week 22 of Joggles Art Journal Adventure and this week, my choice for prompts is the letter B. Now I could have done B for Bonnie but I happen to love bees since I am a gardener. I have the opportunity all summer to get up close and personal with them as they flit from flower to flower and I must say, they fascinate me. That's what I chose to feature on my art journal page this week.

I began by die cutting 7 hexagons from scrap paper, each about 1 3/8 inches big. These were laid out in a design I liked and lightly adhered with repositionable adhesive to the 6 x 6 inch watercolour paper background from my disc bound journal. I didn't want them to move when they were spritzed with Lindy's Stamp Gang California Poppy Gold, Marigold Yellow Orange, and Yellow Rose of Texas Starburst sprays. The hexagon masks were peeled off and the background was dried thoroughly. The honeycomb section of TCW Punchinella stencil was used to transfer a subtle tone on tone pattern onto the sprayed background using Sunflower and Pale Ochre Archival Ink.

To give the insides of the hexagons some interest and texture, Unity Cooped Up Notes stamp was applied with Pale Ochre Archival Ink through the hexagonal holes in the piece left from die cutting. It formed a mask leaving the openings clear but blocking off the background so I could stamp only the white areas. The hexagons were outlined with black Pitt Artist Pen and two Prismacolor pencils were used to shade around the outside edge of each to add dimension and depth. Rusty Hinge Distress Ink was used to edge the page and also to stamp the bzzz words in 5 different spots.

The bee was a free downloaded images which I printed to size and fussy cut leaving a narrow white border. It was then matted with black cardstock, fussy cut again, and popped up with foam tape. Mr. Bee's eyes were coated with Glossy Accents and his fuzzy little body and his wings were given added shimmer with Clear Wink of Stella. The gold sparkles remind me of pollen and I love the way it catches the light (even though that's hard to capture on camera). The wording was computer printed onto white cardstock, cut into phrases, and matted with black. Both Mr. Bee and the wording were popped up on foam tape. To finish the page, a simple border was doodled around the page and some black dots were added using Jet Black Archival Ink and a Paper Artsy Splotches stamp.

Thanks for popping by today to visit with Mr. Bee and me. We appreciate that. You can see how others in the Art Journal Adventure Facebook group respond to the Week 22 prompt, the letter B. Since B is my favourite letter, I can't wait to see what everyone creates.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure - Week 21 - the number 5

Hi everyone. It's Week 21 of Joggles Art Journal Adventure and this week, Barb has chosen the prompt , the number 5. There is also and Optional Twist for this one: Add dots in at least 3 places. When I saw this prompt I immediately thought of a hand with its five fingers and remembered that I had the fabulous Joggles Mehndi Hands Collage sheet in my stash. I love the intricate designs on these black and white images...colouring them is so fun.

The background is one of the skinny pages (4 x 6 inches) from my Joggles Disc Bound journal which turned out to be a wonderful size for the largest Mehndi Hands image. I had been spritzing another background with Yellow Rose of Texas, Marigold Yellow Orange, and California Poppy Gold Lindy's Starburst Sprays so I used the 4 x 6 inch watercolour page to mop up the over spray on my nonstick craft sheet. I usually do this on scrap cardstock anyway so I don't waste all that yummy colour and shimmer. This time I soaked it up with the actual journal page. Rusty Hinge Distress Ink was applied to the edges of the page to darken them and provide a bit of a frame.

Generally, I wait until my page is almost finished before I add a doodled border but I needed the page free and clear of obstructions to stamp the number 5 five times so I did that with Jet Black Archival Ink and then doodled the connecting lines before adding anything else to the page.

The Mehndi Hand I chose to feature was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and them matted with black cardstock which was fussy cut again. I used Sharpies to colour in the design since the tips of those would fit more easily into the small areas. Before adhering the hand with foam tape to add dimension and natural shadow, a heart was stamped onto white cardstock, using one of the Carabelle Studio Hearts and Pebbles stamps and Jet Black Archival Ink. The heart was fussy cut and inked around the edges with Coffee Archival Ink. A small black punched heart was adhered to the center and a white paint pen dot added to that as one of my three places where I added dots to the design. The heart was adhered flat to the page nestled into the hand which was popped up.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. Foam tape was used to attach the sentiment to the page. To finish off the Optional Twist, white paint pen dots were also added to the finger tips as well as to the center of each stamped 5.

Thanks for stopping by today to see my take on the number 5 AJA prompt with the Optional Twist of adding dots in at least 3 places. To check out what others in our Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group create in response to this prompt, be sure to pop by the FB group throughout the next several weeks. It's not too late to join us on our weekly adventure and there is no pressure to catch up or keep up. We just enjoy creating art and appreciating the art of others.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Decorated Small Coin Evelopes

Hi everyone. A while ago, I posted about decorating the larger coin envelopes from my stash and I mentioned that I had a whole box of the smaller coin envelopes if I could only remember where I put them for safe keeping. Well, I found them! Go me!! I decided to go simple on these 2.5 x 4.25 inch envelopes and haven't stuffed them with a tag or other goody yet. I will leave that until I decide where they will be used.

I started by cutting a straight edge above some music notes on vintage paper. I then adhered that straight edge along the upper edge of the top flap and trimmed it to the shape of the flap. The top flap could be inked around after the music paper was adhered.

I took one of the envelopes apart to get a template for the bottom flap so I could cut more music paper to fit. This piece had to be inked around the edges with Coffee Archival ink before it was adhered to the envelope.

The heart embellishment for the center of the envelopes was created by first stamping one of the hearts from Carabelle Studio Hearts and Pebbles stamp set onto white cardstock. Each heart was then fussy cut and inked around with Coffee Archival Ink. Black Big Brush Pen was used to ink around the edges of the cut hearts to prevent any white from showing.

The heart was then adhered to the envelope  between the upper and lower flaps. A small black punched heart was used as an accent under the point of the text frame within each heart. Finally, both edges of the coin envelope were inked with Coffee Archival Ink to match the top and bottom areas. If I was using this as a floating envelope where the back would be visible, I would also ink the edges on the other side.

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate that so much.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Partial Tag Tuck Spots

Hi everyone. I am always looking for new ideas to create embellies for junk journals and art journal pages, especially ones that use items up from my stash. While browsing on Pinterest last week, I found one of those and I loved it so much the way it was, that I barely changed anything. It was originally on a blog belonging to Dorota Kopec, a very talented art journaller and artist. She is from Poland and her blog is certainly worth a good long look as she has wonderful ideas and creations. Her tags clusters were used on art journal pages but I thought they would make awesome tuck spots for junk journals as well.

I started by die cutting partial tags from both white and kraft cardstock. The white ones were 2 inches high and 2 inches wide. The kraft ones were 2.25 inches high by 2 inches wide. Both sets were inked around with Coffee Archival Ink and then Ground Espresso Distress Ink to deepen the edging. They were stamped with a variety of stamps using the same Coffee Archival Ink. Mainly writing or numbers stamps were used on the white tags and images or collage stamps were used on the kraft ones.

White reinforcements were punched to surround the holes on the kraft tags and kraft ones created for the white tags. The tags were topped with very fine hemp and then overlapped different amounts and with either the kraft tag on top or with the white one there. I wanted to change them up a little.

I created a few different embellishments for the tag clusters but before I adhered them, I had to decide the orientation on the page for each one. They would either be adhered along the bottom of the page or on either side. The one above would be adhered along the bottom edge of the tag cluster to allow something to tuck underneath with the tags holding it in place.

The one above would be adhered to the left side of a page. For the black and white heart embellie, I stamped the heart from one of Carabelle Studio Hearts & Pebbles stamp set onto white cardstock with Jet Black Archival Ink, fussy cut it, and inked the edges with Coffee Archival. Then the edge of each heart was inked with Black Big Brush Pen to help frame it. A small threaded vintage button was added over that and a scrap of cheesecloth was layered underneath the heart.

Similar steps were taken using a thread label stamp and also a die cut primitive heart. I also did a few using a tiny crocheted doily topped with a corrugated cardboard punched star. or a vintage white button. I think they all turned out really sweet and can see how they could be further adapted depending upon the tag paper and embellishments used. A big shout-out to Dorota Kopec for the wonderful idea!

Thanks for stopping by today. That was awesome of you :)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure - Week 20 - the letter R

Hi everyone! Once again, it's my turn again to choose the prompt for the 2018 Art Journal Adventure. For Week 20, I have chosen the theme, the letter R.  For my R page, I chose the word Real and the passage from the book, The Velveteen Rabbit, one of my favourite stories. I was working on the back of the kraft coloured journal page from my previous AJA page but I knew that I wanted to use a copied page from the book which I found on the Internet.

For the rabbit image, I used Coffee Archival Ink to stamp one of the Crowned Bunny images by Crafty Individuals onto white cardstock. I added a little colour to him using Inktense Pencils activated with a water brush. He was then fussy cut and accented with black pen as well as Yellow Stickles on his crown. A length of green checked washi tape was used to indicate the ground level. Leaves and one of the flowers from Bo Bunny Flower Garden stamp set were used to add a little interest next to Mr. Bunny. The flower head was stamped onto white cardstock, coloured with pencil, and then sparkled up with Cinnamon and Yellow Stickkles. The leaves were stamped directly onto the background , coloured with green pencil, and outlined with black pen.

Two more pieces of the same washi tape were added to the top left corner of the page and another Bo Bunny flower from the same set was stamped onto white cardstock. It was fussy cut, coloured with pencils, and given a Yellow Stickles center. Two circle stamps from a Bokeh Dot set by Essentials by Ellen were stamped in a few places over the text using Jet Black Archival to add interest to the "book page". A tiny butterfly was punched from mop-up paper, edged with Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink, and given a Cinnamon Stickles body. The butterfly was adhered near the top where Mr. Bunny was looking. Because the page theme is R is for Real, that word was underlined with Turquoise Gel Pen and the phrase You are Real was traced over for emphasis.

I wanted the background to be softly tinted so the sky area was coloured with both Pthalo Blue Tint and Turquoise Pan Pastels. The grass area was tinted with Permanent Green and Permanent Green Shade Pan Pastels. I had difficulty capturing the tinting in my photos ...it's more evident IRL. I also went back and added two tiny pieces of turquoise washi tape under the greeen checked washi below Mr. Bunny. That continued the diagonal line of turquoise elements which starts at the upper left flower and moves through the underlined word to the bottom right corner of the page. This trick really helps the eye move through the page. Before the background was adhered to the kraft substrate, black and white striped washi tape was added to the outside edges of the page to form a playful little border, framing the page.

Thanks for stopping by today. Mr. Bunny and I both appreciate that :) You can see how others in the Art Journal Adventure Facebook group respond to the Week 20 prompt, the letter R. It's always inspiring to see what the talented and creative folks do each week.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Itsy Bitsy File Folders for Junk Journals

Hi everyone! I wanted to create something different from the tags and journalling cards I already had in my embellie stash. I have this very old, rarely used Cuttlebug File Folder die which creates a tiny folder that is 1.75 x 2.5 inches once folded. I thought folders cut from kraft cardstock, decorated on the front, and holding a little "pad" of coffee dyed papers would suit what I wanted.

I cut a dozen of the folders, inked around all edges inside and out, and used a bone folder to make a crisp fold on the perforated lines. Then I had a blast decorating the fronts.

I used the tags and bits and pieces which I had cut mainly from Graphic 45 Children's Hour 6 x 6 pad and matted all but one with black cardstock to help them stand out. They were an ideal size and theme for the focals and looked cute with tiny brads inserted through the holes. I also used scraps of designer or book paper to create some layering and interest.

Coffee dyed cheesecloth scraps added texture on some of the folders. Tiny punched flowers of various colours and with blingy centers were used as part of several designs. Tiny butterfly and bee stickers created more detail and extended the nature theme.

Each folder was given a Chit Chat Sticker as a label for the folder and an Idea-ology Mini Paperclip to keep the folder closed when tucked into a pocket.

To add a bit of journalling space in these little folders, I cut coffee dyed paper into 1.25 x 2.25 inch rectangles and glued three together at the tops only. The little notepads were then adhered to the inside of the folder with the TH Tiny Attacher stapler as shown below.

I love how these little folders turned out and think they will make a sweet addition to any junk journal. Besides that, they were a lot of fun to create! I call that win/win :)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure - Week 19

Hi everyone. It's Week 19 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and Barb has chosen the prompt: add texture to the background using collage scraps, washi tape, or masking tape. That's an easy one for me because I have been doing a bunch of collage projects lately plus I have an over abundance of paper scraps from which to draw :) I use and use them and they never seem to go down in number...magic! The page which I am working this time is a 5 5/8 x 6 inch kraft page in my disc bound journal.

I began by pulling a number of scraps which I thought would play well together. Then I auditioned them in different combinations and places until I liked what I saw. That's when I started to glue. I used scraps of book text and one cut from the pink grid paper to cover the seams where the papers butted against each other and added one of the Laurel Burch Icons stamps in a few places using Jet Black Archival Ink. I like the way it adds a pop of black and pattern both vertically and horizontally.

To add a little more black detail, I outlined the scraps and faux stitched the edges. The bright floral paper in the center of the page needed to be knocked back and blended in a little so I dry brushed white gesso over it as well as adding some to the other sections to create unity. A scrap from the perforated edge of a shipping paper as well as half a punched circle of designer paper were also added and outlined. I liked how the page was coming together.

I wanted to add a silhouette of a dandelion as the focal for the page. I love the joy of blowing dandelion seeds and making a wish at the same time and that's what I wanted this page to reflect. The die used to cut this is Memory Box Dandelion Stem. I also cut the leaves from another Memory Box die called Lorelai Leaf and adhered that over the other stem.

The part of the leaf die which I had cut off was added to the bottom left corner section. White paint pen dots and other highlights were added to the die cuts. I usually like to add wording on my pages and I thought three positive words would fill out the design quite well. I used three different sizes and fonts pulled from alphabet stickers.

White paint pen dots were added to the largest of the three words as well as to the three punched butterflies adhered above the dandelion. The butterflies seemed to finish the design because black touches were then found in every paper section. The final steps were to ink around the outside edges of the page with Coffee Archival Ink and then apply Black Big Brush Pen over that to frame the page.

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate you doing that. You can see how others in the Art Journal Adventure Facebook group respond to the Week 19 prompt to add texture to the background using collaged scraps, washi tape, or masking tape. I can't wait to see where everyone goes with this one :)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Quickie Book Text Belly Bands or Tuck Spots

Hi everyone. I was checking out some mixed media projects on Pinterest and came across one that gave me this idea. The problem was I didn't pin it and couldn't find it again to link it for you and give credit to the artist. I have a lot of round punches as well as circle die cuts and decided to use them to create piles of book text circles. I also had some scraps left from corrugated coffee sleeves which were looking for a new purpose.

The 1.5 inch circles were inked around the edges with Coffee Archival. They were then overlapped and glued to a thin strip of cardstock, not meant to be visible from the front.. The corrugated sleeve was cut into .5 inch x 3.5 inch lengths and each was given a fishtail flag end. This was layered over the overlapped circles glued to the cardstock strip and then messy stitched on the sewing machine. Scraps of coffee dyed cheesecloth were layered under coffee dyed and inked mulberry flowers to finish this set.

The second set I created with a similar start except I glued five of the 1 inch circles to a cardstock strip. For the topper, I cut a just under .25 inch strip of black and white striped designer paper and stitched it horizontally across the overlapping circles. The ends of each strip were decorated with little buttons.

This particular book paper is quite thin so the cardstock behind and the striped cardstock sewn on top give this embellishment more strength.

I had two of the 1.5 inch circles left from the first set so I added one of the 1 inch circles and adhered the three to a strip of cardstock. I also had a 2.25 inch length of corrugated sleeve left over so I fishtailed the two ends, centered it over the three circles and stitched it all together. It could be a little tuck spot or simply an embellishment for a page or a mini notebook cover. The larger circles with three combined are 4 inches in length, the ones with 5 are 4.5 inches, and the last one with 2 large and 1 small circle is 3.25 inches long.  I can see changing these up by varying the shapes, sizes, and papers used...lots of possibilities.

Thanks for visiting today. You know I appreciate that!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Tuck Spots, Belly Bands or maybe Bookmarks

Hi everyone. Recently I found a package of kraft cardstock 2 x 6 inch bookmarks in my craft cupboard. At some point, I was going to create bookmarks for everyone apparently...LOL. Anyway, looking at them with a junk journaller's eye, I realized that they would also make awesome tuck spots if you applied glue to the top and one side and placed it along one of the edges of your page. Similarly, some would make great belly bands where you adhered the two short ends across the middle of the page and can then slide something underneath the band which will hold it in place. I decided to collage some scraps and embellies and I can decide how I'll use them later.

I used designer paper, music paper and some with book text. I also pulled from my folder of left over embossed and punched or die cut scraps. If I've gone to all the trouble of embossing or die cutting, I tend not to throw away any of the scraps I haven't used. Actually, in the first photo, one of the pages looks rusty. That's because I used that particular piece of cardstock to dry my rusty safety pins and some of the rust and marks transferred to the paper. The four above I doodled faux stitching around the edges and to highlight the layers where they overlap.

The next batch had the background layering completed and then were stitched around using the sewing machine. A vintage button, TH ephemera flower and Big Chat sticker helped complete these two. The embossed paper is a scrap of Idea-ology Kraft Glassine which was embossed with a writing folder.

On the left tag above, you can see that I used another piece of the rusty cardstock used to dry my safety pins when removed from the solution. Can you spot the clear impression of the safety pin? I love that! There are also pieces of an inked doily, a little washi tape, and the holey edge of a shipping paper. The fussy cut butterfly was given a metal photo turn body.

On the left tag above, a burlap fishtail flag was added along with a vintage button (threaded of course :)) On the right one, a TH sticker and Chit Chat sticker were added to the bottom along with a punched border scrap. There's a little length of coffee dyed rick rack and a die cut flower topper. Dictionary paper, sheet music scraps, and designer paper are combined with little bits of the kraft background peeking through.

For the final "bookmark" in this set, I folded the bottom 1.5 inches of the rectangle up and lined it with another little piece of that rusty paper. Once I stitched around the edges, it created a little pocket which I filled with two tiny tags, shown below.

Thanks for dropping by today. I appreciate that you took the time to do that. It's always fun to share my latest creations and I love reading comments :)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie