Working in Pam's Journal "Monotones"

Hi everyone,

Wow, talk about nerves galore when I received my first ever journal to art in that belongs to someone else...and a theme to follow !! Well, she's arrived...I've opened the careful packaging and found the most beautiful handmade journal. The cover is luxurious and the paper is to die for !! Once I opened that journal I just couldn't wait to get started...what a silly waste of emotional energy earlier haha !!

Firstly, Mishmash shared a picture on Facebook of baby owls...haha, the idea started to sprout. I just love baby owls...don't you? Anyway, I thought, I can do a monotone with brown baby owls. The drawing part came pretty smoothly and the coloring was so much fun but I didn't know what I would do with the rest of the page. Luckily, stamping, printed book paper and a poem finished it off. I favoured Derwent Inktense (without activation) pencils, gouache paints, and acrylic and water color paint.

I really hope you enjoy it Pam as much as I did creating it !!

Love Natalie

Working in Joan's Journal - Creatures of the Bay

I was very excited to received Joan's journal in the mail about a week and a half ago!

As this is the first journal swap I've been involved in, it took me a while to get up the courage to do anything in it!  Joan provided some pages (on the right) that could be used in the journal, or for inspiration.

Once I decided on my pages, it flowed pretty well.  Joan's instructions requests (instructions seems a harsh word!) for her journal included something to do with the inhabitants of the ocean, and that, though she was really interested in conservation, this didn't have to be part of the theme. 

As the journal has a really wide double paged spread, I wanted something that would flow across both pages.  To start with I reinforced the pages with plain paper that Joan had provided.  I had some wide tape that I thought would be suitable to put down the spine of the two pages.  I then gessoed the whole thing.

I decided to do an octopus, and used the big stash of gelli printed papers that I had. 

A bit backward; should have done the background first but I hadn't decided what I wanted to do yet!  Thus I did a light blue green background afterwards, and added dots through a stencil for the air bubbles.  Almost finished I thought... and then discovered that the tape I used was too smooth, and the gesso and paint were peeling off!  Bugger.  To rectify this I peeled the paint off, lightly sanded the tape, and glued a strip of plain paper over the tape, and some of the page (hoping this would tie it in together).  I used gel medium which I've found to be pretty strong, so hope it works!  I then re-painted over these areas and finished off with a thick white outline and a thinner black one.

I didn't have anything conservation based in my spread, but I found a quote from Jacques Cousteau that I thought was appropriate.

And here's the finished spread.  Thanks Joan, I enjoyed working in your journal; I hope you like it!

Cheers, Lisa

Tattered, Torn and Treasured - Books, Toys and Teddies

Tattered, Torn and Treasured... Another one done and ready to post.

I started with layers of green and blue acrylic paint with two different types of washi tape. The wide one is pretty cool :) Then I slathered on Distress Crackle Paint and left it to dry. So wrapped with how it dried ... I hope they last the journey home. 

The pages were scrunched and ripped a bit before inking over each piece with 'walnut stain' Distress ink.

The bears you will recognise I'm sure :) They're Forever Friends bears ... I found them in a scrapbook paper pack I bought about 7 years ago. Still adorable after all these years :)

The book is from a Darkroom Door stam with glued rolls of paper under the pages to hold them in place. I've used watercolour pencils for the "inked" edges, extra colours and added shadows.

It was a great theme to create, thanks Roz! Hope you like it :)

Wonder what journal I'll get next? Loving this swap, thanks for organising us Louise!

The Garden of my Imagination Lee's page

Rachel's delightful little book arrived this morning and will be leaving in tomorrows mail!

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Lisa's Enchanted Journal

Hiya! I've made my first ever round robin art journal page today, in Lisa's delightful Enchanted journal! Gee, I was nervous...still am, hoping so much that she likes it. I'm pretty new to art journaling so I'm a bit short on confidence about working in someone else's journal!! Shriek!

So, here it is. The paper is a bit on the thin side, so I chose to adhere a page to the back of the first one, behind Lisa's own gorgeous page at the beginning of the journal. I used a cut-out of a fairy and some printed paper, together with some fairy stamps which I coloured in.
On the opposite page I've used a wonderful Wizard image that I've been saving for something special (like Lisa's journal, of course!), onto a painted background, decorated with some 'bling' and paper bits. I had to glue two pages together though, to give it all some stability.

Sorry that the image is a little blurred, I think the blingie bits may have prevented it lying flat enough on the scanner!

Hope you like it, Lisa, and your daughter especially too :)
All the best
Rose

AAJS Round 3: Natalie's Journal "Emotions"

Hi everyone,

Hi everyone,Hi

I’ve never blogged like this before but here goes. In fact, I’ve never journalled before either...until now. I’m pretty excited to be a part of this swap, and have chosen the theme of ‘Emotions’ for my journal.

 Emotions rule my world and are, usually, the basis for most of my decisions...some good and some not so good. I’ve always been proud of my emotions as they are what make me ME !!

 I’d love for you to share the emotions that have made you YOU !!

 I want you to use whatever products you love the most, and it’s a 30 page journal so you can do more than 2 pages if you like. I’ve not included any bling, etc as I want this to be your interpretation not mine.

 My journal is a cheap journal made from recycled cardboard and paper...and its awesome value for $10 from Big W!! The folder can also be pulled apart to remove the pages (now that’s a bonus).The covers were done with lots of texture and cheap paint lol ! I also used a black inkspray. I found this really funky textured paper so I tore it up and stuck that down too !

 I love my Derwents and chose to do a drawing called “Control” using the Inktense series. The poor girl just needs to cut those binds !! (I'd add pictures but I seem to have lost them somewhere in Windows 10 !!

I’ve not done a title page either so if you could all write your titles on the loose leaf page I have pinned to the back page that would be awesome, thanks !!

 I look forward to participating in this awesome lil adventure !!

 Thanks heaps,

 Love Natalie

Lee works in Jans Faces and Figures

Figures and Faces

is moving on.....................

cant get it the right way up?

detail

Thanks for looking!

Inspiration is Everywhere

Life As I See It... My page of Gail's journal is finally finished :) I'm happy with it now, so tomorrow I'll pop it in the post to Sharon. 

Sorry it took so long! It arrived at the same time as 2 of the others, so I've probably put it all out of order too!

After white washing over most of what I'd done before, I pulled a few things off and added new layers with pics and words. 

I found great inspiration for the theme in the Flow magazine extras (notebooks). I got really stuck with the theme but after I let go of trying to analyse what it means, I found things that reflected my beliefs. 

I crossed out 'not' and wrote 'make' because to get everything done I want to do, I need to make time. I cut apart a few lines of text for the various words on the page including "take a deep breath and focus on the positive". 

Must remember to write my name and date before posting :)

I hope you like it!

Happy Creative Day!

:)

Jenny

Pam's Monochrome Journal.

First may I say thanks for having me as a latecomer.  I was gifted a semi-made journal by my lovely daughter Louise, so I have spent some time finishing it off.  I added end papers, stitched the signatures in and lined the edges with lace.  Very feminine  :)

I worked on my Title Page with stencils and paint

and printed off a copy of an earlier piece to illustrate my title.

Then I needed to do my spread.

 I had a hard time deciding which one colour I would use as usually I paint a rainbow.  

Eventually I settled on a turquoise colour. 

 I wanted lotuses and butterflies.

Finally found a quote I liked and there it is.

Hope you like it and I hope you all enjoy working in it.

Ros,s Maps Journal Catch Up

 I know, I know.  I have been slack on the blog front but lots of things have happened to my journal package.  When I decided to go loose leaf I gathered some great mixed media papers together and felt quite pleased with myself.  But not pleased enough. There was a strong urge to do my own page on something I walk past regularly on my trips to the nearest shopping centre.  To be honest I have picked these maps up and brought them home before because the paper is yummy.  I can relate to the maps and I felt one should be in the box. So, my partly prepared map I was working on is now a gelli print in the pile of gelli prints I have to chop up and I worked on "The Map".

This was taken in the early stages.  I used two maps, one to plan my page and the other to make the final masterpiece.  Is it a masterpiece? No, it is not but it is interesting.  I hope. This led me to rethink what I had put in the box for others to use.  When you receive my journal package you may well be surprised.

I am a great believer in art journalling with what you have at hand.

The advantage of 'The Map' was it folded out to a large spread on which I placed the Island called Roslyn. I could have got all personal and delved into the deepest chasms of my life but I didn't and you don't need to either.  If you don't want to map yourself you can use your own wonderful imagination and conjure up some fictitious being with interesting characteristics.

I packed my box of goodies and then decided the box was too deep so traipsed around the Back to School sales looking for an A5 document wallet. Officeworks were giving out balloons and the aisles were full of Mums with booklists in hand, and kids waving balloons.  Several balloon bumps to the head and a long wait in a queue and I was out of there. Everything fits in nicely. I am now happy with myself.

Lisa G's First blog .. theme Enchanted

Hi ladies ,
Well this is my first time ever blogging, but not journaling..
I run a 4 journal circles of my own ,on facebook and have worked with many of you doing ATCs etc.
So I am very excited to start this one with you all..
As I said I have never blogged before so it may take me a while to get the hang of it..
My theme is Enchanted , I choose this because I have an autistic daughter who is obesest with fairy's and unicorns etc.. So when this comes back she wants to look at everyone's way of interpretation of enchanted make believe land...
I didn't do the front cover of my journals I find it gets knocked around in post sometimes, but above is my first page done it . My journal is A5
Cheers
Lisa Griffin-Gledhill

Deb's Inspired by Pinterest Blog!

Hello Everyone! 

This is my first time on this blog with these awesome ladies and its a great feeling! When i got confirmation that I would be included in this Round of Journal Swap, I actually did a little happy dance (insert here: Awkward Jig) then had to get going. The theme for my Journal is "Inspired By Pinterest" (It should actually read DISTRACTED by Pinterest) . I must say that i love the fact that i can search for almost anything on this site and find information in the shape of videos, pictures, tutorials etc to help me on my way.

SO..here are a few Pics of my first Pages. the front page is self explanatory.

 The middle page is a double spread that included distress paint,

 

and a resist stencilling technique, using Luminarte silks acrylic glaze paints and Twinkling H2o's. 

I then doodled using Posca paint pens and wrote my Journal instructions  for everyone on there.

I wanted to incorporate so many techniques/ideas that my brain almost exploded.. which inspired my last page of Brain Explosion. I used a misture of some of my favourite stamps, handwritten words and finished off with Thickers Alphabet stickers.

In my Posting Package, I have included A4 sized mixed media paper that I have asked people to fold in half. There is no pressure for people to fill both sides of these pages. If you feel like you have more 'heArt" to give, feel free to fill in any blank pages that someone else may have left. I will bind the book using the ribbon binding method that Louise posted links up for when i get it all back.

Happy Journalling in 2016 Everyone!

Sharon's page in Rachel's Garden of the Imagination

Rachael has created the cutest journal. It's cover is split down the middle like a garden gate. However the book itself opens like a regular journal. 

I wanted to create a child's garden complete with toadstools and fairies. This was fun. I just glued, and cut and drew. I was remembering the movie about the two little girls who took photos of fairies and their insistence that you just had to look closely and they were there. 

This was my favourite bit. The toadstool had craft paper top with butter muslin frill. 

The bird cage hanging beneath was a piece of washi tape. 

The two little toadstools are wooden cut outs

Finished page. 

But then I couldn't help my self and created one more. 

A dreaming person thinking of their ideal garden. 

I hope it's okay. There are lots of pages in this fabulous little book. I'm sure we won't run out of space. If you look closely at the background you can see a piece of paper from Wendy from our black and white swap. Two artists for the price of one.