A little collage work

Hi everyone! Today I thought I would share a couple of my collaged journal pages. I created these when my hands wouldn't cooperate for colouring or doing much doodling because of the side effects from treatments. I still wanted to make art because that helped me find the joy and kept me sane (ish) so I turned to straight collage using printed images.

I re-discovered my love for the collage sheets by an Etsy seller called Art Tea Life (One Crabapple). She has awesome sheets with separate body parts and other elements so you can creatively put together your own style of images. I had so much fun auditioning bits and pieces until I arrived at what I wanted for each page.

I had a pad of thinner designer paper which I was unlikely to use for anything else. I cut the 12 x 12 papers to 9 x 8.25 inches which is a little wider than a traveller's notebook size. After I created my focal image and tacked her together, I chose one of the cut papers, folded it lengthwise and began to make it my own. Stamping and stencilling with both inks and paints was followed by adding borders of washi tape or paper scraps.

Details were added to both the background and the image with scraps or bits and bobs left over from other projects. Some were die cut, some punched, some rub-ons and some were gems or enamel stickers. I just played and had fun. I also added outlining  with black pen to make things stand out or add my own spin.

The wording on most pages was TH stickers or other sticker alphabets, although stamped letters and acetate words were also used. Anything that was easy, simple, and involved little fuss was fair game. I decided to use my planner punch to create the openings for these pages to be joined together with discs which ended up being a pain. The punch wouldn't go through the multiple layers of paper at the edges so I will soon switch to a similar size but less fiddly format which I will show at a later date.

I do love the size of these pages and how well the Art Tea Life images fit on the pages. I also love the quirkiness of the characters, although I have kept them fairly tame so far. They are a great way to express myself creatively and even though my hands are improving, I know I will continue to play...just for the sheer fun of it.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie