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