Stop Thinking - inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! It had been so long since I had created an art journal page from scratch with an image I coloured and a background I created that I felt a little overwhelmed and kept procrastinating. My hands, although better than they were, are still not back to "normal" so I was lacking confidence. By nature, I am an intuitive art journaller...I rarely have more than a thread of an idea of what I want to do and just go where the page takes me. The problem was that I was over-thinking the whole process and kept getting in my own way. Finally I decided to just start and stop thinking :) It worked!!

I coloured this fabulous image by Vera Lane Studio called Heads and Borders using my Prismacolor pencils. I added white highlights and darkened the black lines with Posca paint pens and then cut her out. I punched the earrings out of a scrap of green mop-up paper, used an Inktense pencil to shade, and added Glossy Accents to give them a shine. Love her!

She was destined to star on the first page of a 6 x 6 watercolour journal. I used a large mop brush to lay some water in a loose rectangle making sure to leave white space around the edges. Using blue and green Koi watercolours, I filled in the background blending in some places and leaving the colours pure in others. Once dry, I again used my black Posca paint pen to doodle a checkered border around the watercolour. The stencilling on the background was done with a BadAss stencil and Viridian Archival ink. Stamping was done with Garden Patina, Manganese Blue, and Jet Black Archival inks.

The wording, a reminder to myself and perfect for the first page of an art journal, was done on the computer, fussy cut, and matted with black cardstock. Both the wording and the image were adhered to the page with Fabri-Tac glue. I added a little date and called it done :) Not only did I clear that hurdle I had set up for myself but I also had a blast doing it. Go me!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Scrappy Bookmarks

Hello...long time no post! I thought it was about time I tried to breathe some life into my abandoned blog and try to resuscitate it. I have had quite a year health-wise and because of side effects from  chemo, I had huge problems making my hands do what I asked of them. They seem to be getting better (I can actually type now) so I thought I would share one of the ongoing projects I was able to do when I couldn't do my normal art. Collage really seemed to be the answer because it's less precise than say colouring or painting, it could be done in small time segments, and I have an over-abundance of scraps which I have been hoarding (like many other people I know).

Anyway, I decided to make  2 x 6 inch bookmarks on kraft paper backgrounds. There was a lovely volunteer named Donna at Cancer Clinic and she was a wonderful ambassador for my cause which was to brighten the day of chemo and radiation patients and their families/friends in any small way I could. She passed out the bookmarks to people waiting for appointments or treatments along with a hug and some kind supportive words. It felt like a win/win for everyone: for me because I was doing something so positive, to the receivers who were going through some of the toughest times in their lives, and to Donna who was the spreader of joy. I included a message on a heart explaining the thoughts, caring, and wishes behind the bookmarks, and the hope that, like Donna and me, they would take an opportunity to "pay it forward" when they could.

The bookmarks were created from things I already had in my stash...little left-over bits of  designer paper, book text, stamped paper, and lace. Ephemera from collage sheets or from packs I already owned, old buttons, rub-ons...I used anything and everything especially if it was in my too-good-to-throw away bin or sitting in a heap on my desk. Lots of TH Small Talk and Chit Chat Stickers came into play as well as a bunch of simple black outlining. The edges front and back were inked with Coffee Archival and faux stitched with black pen to finish them off.

I probably made close to 100 over the past 5 months and found joy in both the creating and in the giving. The art kept me sane and it felt wonderful to be thinking of others instead of dwelling on what I was going through. And guess what? I made a dent in my scrap and bit boxes...although I know that it's only temporary...LOL

Life is good; so is art. (I believe this more than ever )

Bonnie

Altered Journal Cards

Hi everyone! I haven't been doing as much creating lately as I've been a bit under the weather so I thought I would start back with something simple. Years ago, I bought these Hope Chest journal cards from pinkpaislee at a great sale price. Then I decided that I didn't really like them as they were so I put them away and forgot about them. More recently, I purchased Tim Holtz Botanicals ephemera pack and then didn't know what to do with them either because, like the journal cards, they didn't really suit my style of junk journals, even though they were pretty. Well, the two packs landed on my desk at the same time and I had a blast altering the journal cards with the botanical images. Who knew! LOL

There were 12 cards in the pinkpaislee set plus the packaging was so cute that I cut another slightly bigger one. The thing I didn't like about them was that they weren't dimensional and they were a little plainer and more muted than the mixed media look I usually go for. The first thing I did was cover all of the printed doily parts with real doilies cut up and adhered, then outlined with brown ink. I used the same brown ink to faux stitch around each card's edges to frame them and then added Coffee Archival Ink over that to age and make an even more noticeable frame.

I added stamping to the background with Coffee Archival Ink and also stencilling with either the same ink or Ranger Texture Paste. Words were added in the form of Tim Holtz Big Chat or Chit Chat Stickers, each outlined with black Big Brush Pen.

Bits of washi tape, threaded buttons,  and yellow Stickles were all used to add more texture, sparkle,dimension, and interest to the cards. Several were decorated with the smaller butterflies in the Botanical set and I gave them each a different body style using anything from rusty safety pins, to hooks (from hook and eyes) to cutlery charms or photo turns.

I love the way these turned out and definitely can see me using them in future junk journals. I really like to alter ready-mades or printables to make them my own. While they look good in their original state, they make me smile when I add the "Bonnie touch". Besides...who can resist a chance to play? LOL

Thanks for visiting.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure - Week 24 - Rinse and Repeat

Hi everyone. It's Week 24 of Joggles Art Journal Adventure and this week, my choice for prompts is Rinse & Repeat. Whaaaat???? I'm asking everyone to include a repeated element or design feature at least 3 times on their project. On my page, I added 3 dragonflies but there are also other examples of repetition like with the stamping or the dots. Maybe you want to repeat a specific spot of colour, a shape, or sewing...the possibilities abound :)

I began my 4 x 6 inch watercolour page by pulling out my Brushos which haven't seen any action lately. I have to make a conscious effort to use supplies I haven't played with for a while because I tend to forget about them and get in a rut. I sprinkled Leaf Green and Turquoise in a few places on my page and then spritzed with water to activate the colour. A little tipping of the page, a whole lot of drying and I was ready to move on. Rings were stamped using Manganese Blue Archival Ink and a delicate round stamp. Then, Viridian Archival Ink was pounced through TCW Chicken Wire Reversed stencil to add more texture to the background. TCW Mini Circles stencil was used in two ways: a baby wipe was passed over the stencil openings to pull some of the Brushos colour from the background and also, white gesso was pounced through the same stencil to get more intense white dots in other places.

The dragonflies were stamped with Jet Black Archival onto a scrap of paper used to mop up excess Lindy's Starburst Sprays. The dragonflies were fussy cut and the colour was intensified in places using Distress Markers and a waterbrush or with Prismacolor pencils. White paint pen dots, black paint dots applied with a stylus, and Clear Wink of Stella were added to the wings. The body was highlighted with a gray coloured pencil and then Glossy Accents was applied to give it both shine and dimension. They were added to the page using foam tape to pop them up.

The wording was printed from the computer onto white cardstock, cut into individual words, and matted with black. Each word was popped up with foam tape, creating a natural shadow around it. The edges of the page were inked with Coffee Archival Ink and a simple double border was doodled around the page. I didn't like the look of that because it didn't seem to have enough weight to it so I used my black Big Brush pen to fill in to the outer edge. Then, since repetition is the name of the game today, I added white paint pen dots like I had on the wings. It made a more interesting and stronger frame than the doodled one.

Thanks for popping by today to visit with my dragonfly friends and me. We appreciate that. I can't wait to see how others in the Art Journal Adventure Facebook group respond to the Week 24 prompt, Rinse & Repeat. They always come up with such lovely ideas and art.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

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