Time for a Cuppa with Pam and Sharon.

Because of changed address circumstances, we have had to tweak the sending order of the art journals a little, while Louise is at my home. As a result I have done my work in Sharon's lovely art journal and then I will slip it back to Robyn to do as her June entry.

I began by collaging the pages with tea bags and then I did some stamping in cocoa brown. Then I added my focal points, a bit of outlining and called it done.

Enjoy the little things every day.  Chin, chin!!

I'm a tree...in Sallyanne Scholefield's journal 'Who are you?'

Gosh, Sallyanne's journal is the biggest yet!

 Who am I?

 Good question, but tricky. 

I love metaphors so I choose that of a tree to symbolise who I am.

I also want to explore texture more in this spread so after using white gesso on both pages I add some collage of plants and tissue which I want to provide a textured base.

 I also use wallpaper to create a large tree (me) and a smaller one (my family), this adds even more texture but it needs some colour. I use Ranger's Distress Oxide Inks to do this.

I'm not totally happy with it but I keep going,

 adding leaves to the tree and those falling to show that I'm in the Autumn of my life. 

 I use texture markers to add lines of definition to the leaves and tree trunks...much better.

As text I write my thoughts on watercolour paper in a fine black marker, rip them into lines then outline them in dots with highlights for the words themselves. 

Very pleased. Oh, and there's a sketched selfie too. 

Hope you will like it Sallyanne. xox

Galaxy with Pam May 2019.

Amanda's Galaxy art journal is developing well and becoming very pretty indeed.  I had some thoughts about what to do and my mind went back to a favourite subject which includes some traditional Indigenous knowledge.

 The story of the Emu in the Sky is part of the traditions of many Indigenous groups and as it changes it indicates differing seasons and gatherings, one being the gathering of emu eggs.

And so.....may I present to you, The Emu in the Sky.

The beginning.

On the job.

Melissa Guest's Underwater Journal for May 2019 featuring the Water Babies; by Janie O'Brien

1. 

1. This month I managed to remember to get some shots as I progressed. Melissa provides a humungous journal with more than 120 pages, opening to A3. Too big? Yes I think so; postage is steep at more than $20.00 according to the label when I received it. The paper to work on though is very light and not really fit to paint on. Luckily for me I decided in advance to collage and I chose most of my papers from Pinterest or Google. The above picture shows the background sea water paper I decided for my background. I used photo quality Epson matt papers for my collage elements as these papers display colour really well.

Next I started adding my 'coral' elements

and more......

and more until the bottom 1/3 was filled with coral.

Finally, the top portion of the water was painted in green & turquoise, a snorkeler was added along with water babies fish. Touch ups with marker pens finally added accents.

A nice cup of tea

I bought Sharon's cute and quirky journal down to mama's and on a sunny afternoon we played out on her back deck in our travelling journals. Arting with a friend or loved one is even better than having a cuppa with one, but not by much.

As usual, I jumped in with no pre-planned idea and just went with it. I created a background of book pages, paper doilies, used tea bags and recycled tissue paper- if you have a keen eye you will see the same tissue paper on both my page and mama's page. 

I then played with a brayer and some paint- white and ochre, once it dried I added journalling and the book paper circles I found in my stash and then sketched in a teapot and cup and saucer. Finished off with some doodling and more words-

Enjoy a cuppa with a friend and be uplifted. 

AAJS7 Sharon's Pages in Lisa's "Book Page Art" Journal

Hi Everyone!

 

I'm sharing my pages in Lisa's Journal - I just loved this theme of "Book Page Art" - I always use old book pages in my journal and other creations to add interest to the background!

 

 

I couldn't resist and "Alice in Wonderland" theme for my pages as I had recently bought an old "Alice" paperback novel for 50cents from a second hand book stand!!!!

 

I used pages from the book to cover the entire background - I trimmed the edges once it was all dry.

 

 

Next I used a wording type stencil and texture paste to the background and allowed to dry. Then I added ink sprays to each side and let dry.

 

I used more pages from the book to print the digi images on - before printing I used a spatula to add a thin layer of gesso to the pages so the wording was still visable but dulled off enough for the dig image to be most prominent. I coloured the digis with copic markers. I printed the Alice quotes on plain white card and cut out.

 

I adhered everything to the pages including some added washi tape. I just love the result - who doesn't love "Alice"???

 

 

Lisa I hope you like these pages!!!

 

Sharon



Bats about Deco in Roz's journal.

What a wonderful topic, who doesn't love a bit of Art Deco. Crisp,clean lines and plenty of glitz and glamour. 

I started my page with a covering of gesso to add a bit of texture. 

Followed by some stencilling. 

First coat was a turners yellow and then hightlighted with a brighter orange/Yellow.

I found this lovely image in an old magazine. There is a black and white image beneath the coloured verson,so she stands proud. 

Added a splash of  gold and bling and she suddenly came to life. Just one thing missing, 

A stylish bat..( thank you Jenny's Mum for the design and Jenny's Dad for the carving ) and we are all done. 

I hope you like it Roz.

An Underwater Storybook

Book Page Art Journal Page for Lisa by Jenny

I'm not fond of ripping up books, even ones I don't like... so I'm grateful to have been given a few sheets as part of a swap. Plus if I (we) ran out, Lisa has kindly put a few unusual book sheets inside the back pocket of her book for us to use.

To start my page in this fantastic book, I lightly sponged some Tim Holtz Distress Paint in 2 blues (Peacock Feathers and Tumbled Glass) over the page, leaving speckles here and there of the paper. A smart girl would wait for things to dry... I then splattered Dylusions Ink Spray in Lemon Zest and White Linen over the page before misting with water and splattering Dylusions Ink Spray, London Blue. I used the seasponge to mop up the excess liquid.

When it was almost dry, I lightly pressed a sheet of paper towel over the whole page... ours has wavy lines embossed, so any marks left behind would look like waves.
Still not dry, but why wait? Next I used a spiral shaped foam stamp with light blue Distress Paint (Tumbled Glass) and printed spirals over the page.

Now I had to leave it dry or the page would just get soggy! While waiting, I created my scenery and characters.

On one of the pages I drew daisies (because it was going to be a garden until I opened the bottle of paint) and dozens of scribbly circles with blue pencil (a regular pencil so it wouldn't disappear if (when) it got wet). Each circle was cut out by hand with scissors, drawing more circles until I felt I  had enough and putting leftovers to one side (they ended up being rocks and seaweed).

I don't have a before and after photo of the stamped narwhals, crab and books... but this is how they were created ...
I stamped the narwhals and crab in black Archival ink and the books in brown Archival ink. The crab was cut out and had his edges and feet inked with Distress Ink (Walnut Stain, dark brown), while the narwhals had their edges and tummies inked with a grey Distress Ink (Pumice Stone).
The books were blended all over using a warm brown and very dark brown Distress Ink (Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso) and spattered with water, then had black ink brushed over them. The pages of the open book were blended with brown and grey as well, only lightly though as it was really absorbent paper.

FYI, the stamps I used were ... Narwhals by Jane Davenport, Crab by Dyan Reaveley (Under the Sea collection), books by Darkroom Door (Bookworm collection and Open Book frame stamp).

The background was dry and so to add more book themed elements and create the illusion of seaweed, I used stamps by Tim Holtz and a mid green Archival Ink Pad. The writing you can see is the background image from Tim Holtz's Entomology Set (the gorgeous insects collection) and the halftone dots along the bottom is from Tim's Psychedelic Grunge Set (groovy background images).

Using a gel matte medium, I glued down torn pieces of Tim Holtz collage tissue "Melange" (its beautiful, full of butterflies, moths and music, perfect for this page). I then fussy cut and tore some rocks and seaweed out of the leftover book pages and stuck them down before gluing down the crab, books, narwhals and bubbles. All with the gel... thankfully it takes a little while to dry as they moved around a bit until everything was where I like it (or was too stuck to move). I then left it to dry overnight, crossing my fingers that the colour of the pages dried much lighter (and it did, phew!).

The next day... totally dry and the colours were ok again :) The quote on the right hand side are stickers by Finnabair (Sentiments pack), altered to say "Give a Voice to Your Story".
At this stage, I added some of Ranger's Glossy Accents (a 3D shiny varnish) and used Distress Inks to add a bit of extra colour here and there. I also added a tiny paperclip from Tim Holtz's Idea-Ology collection with a Distress Ink stained piece of muslin.

Glossy Accents was added everywhere... even the books have "water" dripping over them!

The narwhals had a pretty glitter glue on their horns then a splash of Glossy on those as well. The crab was given shiny eyes and his book dunked in "water" aka Glossy while the bubbles were coated with a Gloss Texture Paste.

This is when I thought it was finished, ready to post to Sharon... then I had a delivery with a whole new collection of treasures... Tim's Baseboard Dolls and Transparent Wings! The page didn't feel finished anyway! lol :)

The paper doll sitting on the stack of books is one of Tim's Idea-Ology Baseboard Dolls wearing a pair of his Transparent Wings (with glitter glue underneath). The doll has splashes of Glossy (it got everywhere) and a Distress Ink stained hat. I glued the doll down and lifted her to add the wings, then lifted her again to add the glitter glue to the wings... then once more to add the ends of string underneath. I don't recommend this "technique" but luckily she's a tough dolly and didn't hurt her a bit!

The yellow string (some sort of paper twine) was stained with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and sprayed with water to get it to blend. Before it dried, I had it curling around on the table, hoping it would dry how I shaped it. Five minutes later it was still damp but I couldn't wait any longer... I glued it to the page using matte gel medium. Then finally, left it all to dry.

So here it is... my finished art journal page. Its the story of a little crab sharing his books with his fairy and narwhal friends. With the name Tolstoy at the top of the pages that I used to cut up, it could be a real epic!

Thanks so much for reading and checking out my journal page for Lisa. I hope it makes you smile too!

Have a wonderful, happy creative day!
:)
Jenny

Vintage Under the Sea

This is my Under the Sea for Melissa Guest inside her amazing book. I love creating underwater worlds, something to do with the gorgeous greens and blues and all the awesome critters and plants! Everything really, its an incredible part of our planet.

After adding a strip of white washi tape along the centre spine, I covered the whole double spread with clear gesso to preserve that beautiful oval frame and to make sure the watercolours and Distress Inks didn't go through the paper. It seemed to work well :)

Once that gesso was dry, I sprayed the pages with green and blue Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spray Stains (Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron), using a paint brush to spread it to the edges of the pages. Once dry, I spritzed it with water which made it look more washier (that's a real word), which was fine because it was supposed to be water!

Using blue Distress Ink Pads (Faded Jeans and Peacock Feathers), I stamped Darkroom Door Background Stamps (Polka Dots, Peeled Paint and Circles) without a clear block so I could press the rubber stamp onto the paper easier. Clear blocks are perfect to use when your surface is flat but get in the way when working on hills and valleys!

Using a much darker green Distress Ink Pad (Pine Needles), I stamped Darkroom Door Background Stamp, Weathered Wood across the bottom edge of the both pages, again without the acrylic blog... and then liking what I saw, I called it seagrass :)

With the ground and water basics done, it was time to add some creatures... more Darkroom Door stamps! I used the Sea Shells stamp set with Distress Ink Pads (Forest Moss, Lucky Clover, Walnut Stain and Pine Needles), using the acrylic block about half the time.

The above photo shows how the background once I'd finished, just before adding the bubbles, seahorses and their friends.

Its under the sea, so it needed some shiny watery elements... out came the Ranger Gloss Gel Texture Paste and the Dylusions Stencil (Holes, one of my faves). I applied the gloss gel through the stencil with a palette knife (Tim's of course!) then waited for it to dry.

Getting there... I wanted to keep the page with a vintage feel so instead of using black, I stamped the seahorses (Tim Holtz SeaLife Stamp Set) straight onto the page in a dark brown Archival Ink. The quote from Darkroom Door, "Believe in the beauty of your dreams" is stamped in black onto mixed media paper before giving the paper a wash of green and blue, edging in brown.

What to do when waiting for layers to dry? Stamp, colour and cut out your friends! Everything was stamped onto mixed media paper using dark brown Archival ink, then each one was colouring in watercolours, Tim's Distress Inks and Jane Davenport's Mermaid Markers. Once dry, they were all cut out with fine sharp scissors and had their edges inked with Distress Ink (Walnut Stain). This seems to help them blend into the page better.

This is the final page... you can't really see, but the bubbles are still there, all shiny and raised and the fish and a few other areas have spots of Glossy Accents on them. Everything is glued down with gluestick. The crab couldn't help himself, he just had to have a chew on the sign while his friend eyed off the seahorses with his newly drawn on eyes (black pen).

Hope you like it Melissa :) It was fun to create.

Thanks so much for visiting and reading this far! I do hope it helped you smile today!

Happy Creative Arty Crafty Day!

:)

Jenny