Use it already! ~ collaged art journal pages

Hi everyone! Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of "stuff" I have accumulated from past projects, future maybe projects, and "this is cool" moments....things that I thought I might "need" someday so I've kept them. Scraps and bits...piles of them. I decided that I was going to make a dent in these piles and use things that I've been collecting...or pass them on to someone who will use them.

With that in mind, and because I love to collage and don't do it often enough, I have decided to begin a new "just for me" project. I have taken one of the TH binder covers with the rings inside and cut 4.5x6.5 inch pages from left over patterned paper (I have a few of these binders and tons of papers that have been kicking around for ages), punched them, all ready for collaging. I was inspired by one of my favourite YT channels, Nairobi, where she is doing something similar and is fabulous at collage.

It's a great way to use up things collecting in a bin on my desk (or the bin in my closet...or the one on my shelf...) as well as things I have tucked away and forgotten about like rub-ons, stickers, gems, and the larger TH paper dolls. So far I have created 4 pages and I have loved every moment because it's pure play and I like the challenge of pulling random bits and trying to make them work/play together. There is a huge satisfaction in that.

The other bonus is that I am rediscovering supplies and things I've been hoarding as I go in search of "what else do I have" :) It's great fun and another opportunity to use my creativity. Win/win!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Star and Heart - new releases by Vera Lane Studio

Hi everyone! There is a new release in the Vera Lane Studio shop called  Heart and Star. Oh my word, they are the cutest little sweeties. I created two projects, one for each of the two images and used one of the two sayings that come with the set. Star is featured in an art journal page and Heart is starring on her very own ATC.

Both Star and Heart were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils with the exception of Star's hair which was paper-pieced from mop-up book paper. The stars on her head were printed onto scraps of ink sprayed papers and shaded with coloured pencil. The images were fussy cut leaving my usual narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut a second time, leaving a narrow black border.

The art journal page is 6 inches square. It was spritzed with Lindy's Cotton Candy Pink Starburst Spray and once dry was stencilled using Studio Light Mask MB03 and Magenta Hue Archival Ink. Tiny Xs were added in a few places with black pen using an Alexandra Renke stencil as a guide. Crafty Individuals Script stamp was added here and there with Deep Purple Archival Ink.

To give Star a place to stand, wide washi tape, matted with black, was placed behind her. This was layered with a strip of book text muted with white gesso and a black negative piece which was left from punching a scalloped border. 

The sentiment was cut into individual words which were matted with black. The scalloped border was added under the word begins both to add a second pop of black, and to emphasize that word.  Small stars and a cluster of stars were die cut from the same paper scraps as the stars in her hair. These were shaded with coloured pencil, highlighted with Posca Pen, and outlined with black pen. The page was finished with a doodled border and edging with black Big Brush Pen.

Heart's ATC background was a mop-up 2.5 x 3.5 inch rectangle of white cardstock. It was stamped with Wendy Vecchi Open Dots stamp using Deep Purple Archival Ink. Torn book text scraps were adhered over the background and the text was pushed back with white gesso. Heart was popped up on foam tape and strips of washi tape weree used to ground her and pick up the heart colour. Another pop of pink was added with an epoxy heart in the top left corner. The tiny TH ChitChat stickers were matted with black and glued next to Heart. The ATC was finished by inking the edges with Deep Purple Archival Ink and edged with black Big Brush Pen.

Thanks for popping by today. Star, Heart, and I appreciate that. When you get a minute, stop by Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop to check out these beauties as well as the other fabulous images and collage sheets. Come and visit the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group, too, where there is new and wonderful inspiration daily. 

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 26 ~ Half

Hi everyone! Happy Canada Day! It's Week 26 in the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and that means we are half way through our year of art journal pages. How amazing is that! Because of that, the prompt for this week is half...could be half way, half and half...anything we want to mark the occasion. I decided to divide my page in half and link them with a stamped image which seems to also have different styles on each half.

I began by gel printing the 6x8 inch background with Liquitex Brilliant Yellow Green on one half and Light Blue Permanent on the other. Then I gel printed Studio Light Mask L13 using the opposite colour on each side. I added more of the blue, green, and some Titanium White to both sides from the gel plate. Once these layers were dry, Jet Black Archival Ink was applied to one of the Indigo Blu Tasty Textures stamps to create a border on both sides. Another stamp from the same set was added to both halves of the page with Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink. Some of the circles from the gel printed stencils were highlighted with either blue of green Pentel Milky Pops pens. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through Kaisercraft Dots and Dashes stencil in a few areas.

To separate the two halves of the page, a length of black and white striped washi tape was adhered to white cardstock to take away the transparency and adhered down the center vertically. A TH Sizzix die was used to cut distressed hexagon sections which were added to the top or bottom of each half. A simple black border was doodled around the outside edge and black Big Brush Pen was used to ink the outer edges.

Before printing this TH dragonfly blueprint stamp onto dictionary paper torn from the section about half, white gesso was applied to the text to push it back so it would compete less with the Jet Black details from the stamping. A circle was punched from some of the same dictionary paper which had been used to clean off my brayer. It was placed into the center of the circle from the stamp to help tie the image to the background. Once adhered, the paper was outlined with black pen.

A few of the negative black pieces from the die cut were adhered in two groups to add another couple of pops of black. Two Big Chat Stickers, one white and one black, were added to create the phrase fly free. The finished page was then adhered to the black background which serves as a frame for the spread.

Thanks for stopping by today. When you get a chance, pop over to the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group to see the wonderful art created by other members of our community. We would love to have you play along with us.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

I'm so grumpy ~ Inspired by a Mo's Digital Pencil image

Hi everyone! I have had this image sitting on my desk partially coloured for ages...no wonder she looks so annoyed! Anyway, I decided that today was the day to finish her and give her an art journal page to express her feelings. She is called Just Sylvia and is found at Mo's Digital Pencil. Clearly she has had better days!

I coloured Sylvia with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and trimmed out leaving a narrow black border. This helps her stand out against any background no matter how carried away I get.

The 6x8 inch mixed media paper background was spritzed with Lindy's Dephinium Turquoise and Sweet Violet Purple Teal Starburst sprays. Once dry, white gesso was stencilled through Studio Light Mask L13 to break up the more heavily sprayed places. White Posca pen and Black Pitt pen were used to emphasize some of the circles. Cactus Flower Archival Ink was applied to a grid stamp from Studio Light Tropical Jungle set and Jet Black Archival was used on a Crafty Individuals script stamp.

To give Sylvia a place to sit, a torn scrap of pink gel printed paper was layered over a strip from the top of a watercolour page which was layered over the blank part of an old book page. Black pen was used to doodle around these layers as well as add a simple border to the page. Other pieces of the watercolour page topper were added to the mid left and upper right corner of the page to create a visual triangle as well as adding texture and brightness. A punched photo corner was added to the bottom left corner.

The sentiment (which I will continue to relate to until allergy season passes) was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. Like Sylvia, the words were popped up with foam tape to create dimension and shadow. To add emphasis to the first part of the saying as well as repeating the black from the photo corner, a punched scalloped border was adhered just below it. Black Big Brush Pen was used to edge the page before it was matted with black cardstock to frame it.

Thanks for joining Sylvia and me today. We are delighted that you did even though we are too grumpy to show that :)  Be sure to pop by Mo's Digital Pencil to check out the other amazing images she has. There are so many stories they want to tell :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Give Peas a Chance...inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone. This month in the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group, we made ATCs following a Beatles theme for our monthly swap. I like to make a card for my swap partner so I can include a little note. This time, I followed the same Beatles theme, only I modified the lyrics slightly to suit the Snap Peas image I chose...just a bit of fun!

I coloured the two Snap Peas images with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut leaving a white border, and then matted with black cardstock. The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black as well. Both the peas and the wording were popped up on foam tape.

The background was a piece of white cardstock which had been used to clean the Linsy's Starburst spray off of a stencil. Why waste all that yummy ink?It was stamped using an Indigio Blu Tasty Textures stamp with Sunflower Archival Ink. The same ink was applied to the edges of the card front. A border with hearts was doodled around the outside edges and Jet Black Archival was used to stamp Bokeh Circles with an Ellen Hutson stamp. To bring a little of the pink from her dress into the background, small circles were punched from pink mop-up paper, shaded and highlighted with coloured pencils, and edged with black Pitt Pen. These were scattered across the card front which was then matted with black, and popped onto a cream card base.

Thanks for joining the Snap Peas and me today. When you get a minute, be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio shop to see the huge array of fabulous images to colour as well as the pre-coloured collage sheets. There's sure to be something to spark your mojo and calls to you :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Travelling to Amsterdam...an art journal page inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! I am not much of a traveller except virtually. I did thoroughly enjoy Janet's photos when she went to Holland recently so when she released the Amsterdam image in the Vera Lane Studio shop with these gorgeous buildings, I knew just who I wanted to have visit them. I chose to feature the image called The Traveller. She is one of my favourite VLS images. I love the look of awe on her face and imagine her as just having arrived, making her way to her hotel, and having to stop and admire the sights.

I coloured the Traveller with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, using the same pencils to shade the buildings which had been printed on ink-sprayed mop up paper to give them additional age and texture.

All three images were fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and trimmed out leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was used to pop up the images, adding dimension.

The 6x8 inch background was originally used to soak up Lindy's Starburst sprays which had been spritzed over Stamperia Wall Effect stencil. The holes were sprayed through on another background and then flipped over onto this particular mixed media page. Stamping was added using Sunflower Archival Ink and one of the Indigo Blu Tasty Textures stamps. The same ink was sponged through Carabelle Studio Toujours des Ronds stencil. Border stamping was done with Coffee Archival and another stamp from the Indigo Blu set. Stampotique Dotted Squares was applied with the same Coffee Archival Ink. To bring a little of the blue from the buildings into the background, splatter dots were added with a Rubber Moon stamp and Cornflower Archival Ink. A length of wide washi tape was added to the background to ground the buildings.

One of the two sentiments from the Amsterdam digi set was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. Foam tape was used to pop the sections up. Two rub-ons from Idea-ology were used to frame the wording top and bottom. A border was doodled around the outside edge which was also inked with Coffee Archival and black Big Brush Pen. To balance the design and add another little pop of blue to the page, a puffy triangle sticker and three black gems were adhered to the top left corner before the background was matted with black cardstock, framing it out.

Thanks so much for joining the Traveller and me today on our virtual trip to Amsterdam. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did :) Be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio shop and Facebook group to get more inspiration and find some must-haves. Both are wonderful places to visit.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 25 - Music

Hi everyone. One more week and we are at the halfway point in the Joggles Art Journal Adventure. Hard to believe but I have the huge stack of art journal pages to prove it :) The prompt for Week 25 is Music. While I am not musically talented, I do love music and am one of those people who sings at the top of my lungs when I am driving. I also always have a song in my head and have been known to randomly burst into song, either a real one, an altered one, or one I made up...just ask my husband...LOL. So this prompt was one I wanted to respond to in a way that showed what music does for me as well as how it fills up my head.

I started by adhering music themed wrapping paper to a 6x8 inch substrate with matte medium. Once that was dry, white gesso was brushed over the top to knock the music into the background while still letting it peek through. To add a little interest and grunge it up, Coffee Archival Ink was sponged through Sheena Douglass Distress Grid stencil in several places and also sponged around the page edges. After cutting a silhouette from black cardstock, the shape was traced onto the background so that I could stamp some curlicues coming from her hair and then add my own musical doodling. The stamping was done with Jet Black Archival and the doodling with black Pitt Pens. The silhouette was adhered in place and the pen was used to add more curlicues and also streamline the joins where the curls came from her hair. I also added a heart punched from a scrap of mop up paper. A simplified version of the stamping was done on the right side of the page but I wanted this side to be less busy to show how the world gets turned off.

To ground the silhouette, a length of black and cream striped washi was added at the bottom of the image. In order to show clapping, either along to the beat or in appreciation of the musicians, a pair of wooden hands were overlapped in a clapping formation and adhered to the bottom right corner. A punched photo corner was added to that same corner and a doodled border drawn from the two points.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into individual words, and matted with black. Foam tape was used to pop up the words and scraps of a punched scalloped border were used to emphasize the words on and off. Three treble clef brads were added to the music doodles before the background was added to the black page of the journal.

Thanks for stopping by today. I had such fun creating this page...definitely out of my comfort zone but it did what I hoped it would do. To see what other talented members of our Joggles Art Journal Adventure group create for the Music prompt, be sure to stop by our Facebook group. We have such a diverse group with very different styles and it's wonderful each week to see the many directions each prompt leads us. We'd love it if you joined us!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie