Joan's House Journal

Beginning the new Round of Travelling or Circling Journals.

The new round of traveling journals begin in AASG on July 1st.  It was with both excited anticipation and anxious nervousness that most of us waited to pop our journal in the mail box on or close to the 1st.  As I had only a few days previously welcomed home my traveling journal from 2015 I felt a bit like I was just doing the next journal in the round.  My new theme was "House" not "Home" as I had done a journal called home some years ago in another group.  After deciding on the theme a month or so ago, I was still a bit uncertain what I was going to do in my journal myself. I am in round #4 group.

My journal is a handmade one  created especially for me by Julia Deane.  It is Stonehenge watercolour of 285gsm so should stand up to any  mixed media thrown at it.  It measures 9inch by 9inch and is about 10 double page layouts including the cover.

I painted the front and back cover in dylusions and other  acrylic paints.  The front was done in colour blocks and the back was just a "lets put paint on and see where it lands" situation. The colours I used were greens, yellows, orange and blue.  I then used various wall stencils to further enhance the back and front. 

I used house stencils from Mike Deakin Art on the back and a couple on the front of the cover.  The beach house stencil, was one I had in my stash for about 20 yrs and originally used on tiles in a kitchen I renovated in an previous house I lived in.  I stuck some chipboard stickers to spell house on one of the colour blocks and coated them in glossy accents.

The front cover has a wide flap on inside and I painted it orange and used another Mike Deakin Art stencil.  I then painted, stenciled and doodled on  the inside of the cover in turquoise and orange. I printed out my contract on one side and mailing order and backstory of my journal on the other side of a piece of paper and put it in a plastic bag which was then put in the pocket.  I left the inside back cover unpainted and stuck a recycle piece of packaging to the back page to form a pocked for tags for other artists to write their details on.

I printed out a digital postcard I created for a swap some 15 yrs ago . The verse was from a poem I wrote when I was about 12yrs old, so you can see I have been obsessed with the theme for a long time.  As I had very little ink left in my printer the card printed in very muted colours so I used paint colours to blend in with it. I covered my page in old dictionary pages.   I used impasto through 3 different stencils to create texture in the background, then painted over it leaving the word house from the dictionary page exposed. I used pink, pale blue, grey, and turquoise paint.  I then used a little bit of Inka Gold in silver and lilac to enhance it. I layed down a couple of small doilies and some paper embellishments behind the postcard and off centered it as the focus of the page.

My two page spread was a row of little paper pieced houses.  I used watercolour for the sky and acrylic paint for the grass.  I stenciled over the grass with two colours using a stencil from China.
I use Tim Holtz washi tape for a dividing border.   This page was inspired by a previous spread I had done in another of my journals which in turn had been inspired by a spread done by Lynne Gray at a crafting weekend we attended in March. I did not like how this one turned out as much as I liked my originally one but it was done.  I am looking forward to seeing what the other artists in this round create in my journal.

Tales of Brothers Grimm - a Beginning

I love fairy tales, old odd stories, legends of old and make believe... so many that start with Once Upon a Time.

For my theme, I chose to feature the two brothers, Jacob and Wilheim, who travelled far and wide during the 19th century, searching and collecting old tales of folklore. They published over 200 stories including popular stories Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin and The Frog Prince.

I had my page all worked out with a pumpkin and gorgeous starry dress with mice, a lizard and a fairy godmother - but then I started flicking through our old books...

The more I read, the more stories and ideas I wanted to do, the more intruiged I became... so many stories I hadn't heard of before and others I love that just begged rereading! As if I'm not time poor enough without getting sidetracked like this! lol :)

So eventually, after deciding upon The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel then The Fisherman's Wife (and a few others), I started on Briar Rose.

Its made of Distress paints, stains and inks, stamps and watercolours. And glitter glue :)

The castle walls are built with Tim's stone background stamp. I used a fine tipped marker to add the elements and shading with watercolour paints.

The flying heart started as a stamp, as did all the roses. 

The climbing roses were stamped and painted in place, while the flowers in the top right corner were stamped, cut out and stuck down. I used a brown pencil to add depth.

The words 'Briar Rose' and the groovy tree are also stamps :)

More details were added, words from a set of washi tape and a splash of glitter glue finished it off.

As always, its been loads of fun. I was strung out when I started but feel so much better now! I love Art :)

Annabell's journal

Better late than never as they say!

How lucky I feel to be able to join in on this fantastic journal swap.

I have made my journal loosely based on Teesha Moor's 16 page journal. The main difference being that my pages are not sewn in but just tied in with string. I make all my journals this way so I can remove each page as I work on it,of course you can leave the page in the journal too, but I am a messy artist and find I prefer to work out of the journal that way finished pages can remain safely out of the way.

I had a hard time setting a theme for my journal after reading about everyone else's, I thought how great it would be if everyone just did their own theme in my journal so I would have a great record of the swap. In the end I decided that I would like everyone just to be themselves but I have had trouble coming up with a few words that mean that other than 'Be You'

I never decorate my covers until my journals are finished so I just slapped some paint on, did a bit of stencilling and painted a flower, I may add to it when it comes home.

I have got the contract and posting order inside the front cover and my first page is all about feeling at home and being ourselves. I put an envelope on the back inside cover with some goodies inside for everyone to take some on it's way round, I have kept it light !

I hope you all have a great time in my journal as I have had putting it together for its journey!

AAJS5 - Under the Sea

I am excited to be joining in for Round 5 of journal swapping.  My chosen theme is Under the Sea and it's my first time participating in this type of swap.

I made my journal using Mixed Media Paper for my signatures and covers adding a little cardboard for the spine.  The outside covers have been created using a mix of torn gelli prints and tissue paper with a little stamping.

I then glued on a mermaid tile I had created a while back this was created using stamps from the Mailbox Muse and the edges had been gilded with some foil.  Washi tape was also added to the edges and spine of my journal for a little more contrast and detail.

My inside front cover include our contract and list of swap participants. 

The background of this page includes a Gelli Print Border and just some plain blue cardstock.  My title page uses some sea themed papers I had on hand with a colourful fish cut from a napkin and some die cut letters.

At the back of my journal you will find a little stamping and colour with a thank you note and tag.  My note tells my fellow swap participants to take a tag from the inside back page pocket as a thank you for their contribution to my journal.  

My tags were also made from some Gel Prints with a mix of stamping and collage.  It was the first time I had inked the Darkroom Door Seaside Squares Collage Stamp which was used for the main focal image on these tags, I stamped them in black and then colored them with alcohol markers.

I am really looking forward to this swap and the pages created by my swap partners and I am also looking forward to the further inspiration that will be shared here on the blog over the coming months.  Now off to the post office I go.

Danie xx

My Silhouette Journal

This is the temporary cover as I am going to use some beautiful cloth that Janie sent to me. I'll do it when my journal comes home.

Front Cover with images from The Graphics Fairy and letters stenciled with black gesso and cut out. Also added some splatters with Cosmic Shimmer Powder in Midnight Sky.

Inside back cover - I used White paint on red card and squished both sides together to get some texture. After that dried I added Cosmic Shimmer pixie powders and spray inks and copper paint.

Back Cover

1st page - this is a photo I took a few years ago. It is printed on copy paper and the journal page underneath has a coat of black gesso.

2nd page - Info about silhouettes in art and the figure is a Dyan Reavely stencil done with black gesso, cut out and adhered to the page.

3rd Page - Another one of my photos. I took this some years ago and also did the editing then so I can't remember exactly what I did. I knew that I wanted to use this photo as soon as I had decided on Silhouettes as my theme. 

Lesley Alexanders Empowerment Journal

Hi Everyone,

I'm very excited that this round of the art journal swaps is finally starting. this is the first art journal swap that i have participated in and I  can't wait to see all the lovely artwork when my art journal is returned to me.

The subject of my art journal is " Empowerment " .

The term empowerment meaning the authority or power given to someone to do something, " Individuals are given empowerment to create their own dwellings". The process of becoming stronger and more confident,especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.

So basically I would love you to create a journal page that makes you feel empowered, feel awesome about yourself. You can use your favorite empowering quote.

Here is the inside page with the contract and an explanation of my theme.

Here is the first double page in my Journal " I am Bold, Brave, fearless and strong.

The last page in my Journal using one of my favorite Dina Wakley stamps. " You have to make room for growth " .

And finally my back cover.

Have fun creating in my Journal and I look forward to returning home in a few months.

Mermaids & Seahorses.....

Hi Everyone!

I'm sharing pics of the journal I made for the Round robin - theme of "Mermaids & Seahorses" - can't wait to see what everyone creates! I used a cut down manila folder for the cover and I inserted/sewed in 3 signatures - some pages have a flip part and others don't - entirely up to the participants to create on whichever double page spread they like. I plaited the long wool lengths left over from the 3 hole sewing and it wraps around to sort of hold it shut - we'll see if that still works when it gets home - maybe it will be too fat!!

Here is the front cover - all collage elements are by Art Tea Life available from Etsy - one of my fav Etsy shops! I added paint, muslin cloth, embossing powder, fishing net and fishing line "bits" plus the collaged mermaid - the mermaid was put together using elements from the collage set - like a paper doll.

Her is the back cover also using more elements from the collage sheets and paint, cloth etc. I do have to tell you a story about the lovely large gold embossed part of this back cover!!!!! I squeezed my bottle of embossing fluid way too hard - the lid popped off - and you can only imagine what happened from there!!!!! Anyway I like the gold so it was not ruined but I did have to "drain"off the excess back into the bottle!!!

I made flaps for the front and back inside cover 0- the front has the contract and order of participants and the back has little tags for the creators to "sign in" and decorate then pop back in the pocket!

 

 

Below is the front page of the actual inserted signatures which were made from watercolour paper - nice and thick. this page has paint background and paint through a stencil. I ink sprayed some white card and printed the digi seahorse and wording (both from Vera Lane Studio at Etsy) onto the sprayed card and fussy cut and added to the page with cloth, sticky mesh and pearl drops. I started the very back page with paint and when the journal returns home I will finish that one off too!



I can't wait to start receiving journals each month to work in and will look forward to the return of this one!!!