A little bit of journalling does you good!

I've worked in my small Dylusions journal again - I think this might be my 'go to' journal now I've finished my junk journal (I should make another one of those)... and for this spread I worked on another painty spread (where I've cleaned off my paint brush, or used up left over paint from my desk - shame to see it go to waste!)

It started like this:

I started adding some stamped letters (JOFY63) and little bubbles (JOFY45).. and the large flowers left over from other projects were something I planned to add to finish so kept laying them on and taking them off again to see how they looked on the background I was building... (flowers are from JOFY62 & JOFY64).

Next to be added were scribbles (JOFY60) and the stencil border from PS082 - this is a great border to use as whole or using single elements... its also a great border to use a base for doodles.

I used just the seedhead (without the stem, in green paint) from PS083 on each page - no need for the stem and it looks great and delicate in the background..

Here's the spread with the big flowers attached - all it needed to finish off was some white gel pen doodles - everything looks better with a bit of that, don't you think!

The finished spread (though now I'm wondering if it need a few diamantes/stickle spots)

This spread came together in a really relaxed way - didn't faff with it too much, which is unusual because I am a master faffer! lol

Thanks for popping by

ALBOTAT: Life is good, Live it

.. is the mantra on this recent art journal spread

Starting on an existing spread of pale blue I clouded over it with a slightly darker blue before using: Stencils:  Stencil Girl's Marrakech stencil (L177), The Crafters Workshop Mini Circle Grid (TCw203S), Stamps:  JM54 (alphabet block), JM 49 (mini flowers), big flower, text and mini circle clusters are JOFY45.
The grey letters are foam, American Crafts - I really like the dimension of these letters but they made working in the rest of the journal a bit of a challenge! - The journal's pages aren't flat anymore!  But the letters are worth it!

Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative!

Is what I do when art journaling ....

I thought I'd share with you some pages from my Dylusions journal - I am really enjoying working in this at the moment - its taken a while, I think thats because I had two spreads in it I REALLY DID NOT LIKE... and every time I opened the journal there they were right at the front... horrible (they were just. not. me) and so I didn't work in the book... then I thought enough is enough.
I took photos of both spreads (I wanted a reference of 'what not to do!') and glued the spreads shut... with matte medium - there's no getting those suckers open now!... and I am free to work in my journal without being taunted by the ugly spreads......
(and no I couldn't paint over them- I tried - but the dye from the 'bleeding art tissue' kept seeping through! persistent little product! lol)

accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative!

I'm using the Dylusion square journal and each page measures around 22.5x22.5cm so its a nice big space to work on.
I use the pages quite a lot when I'm gelli printing - to clean my brayer, to make ghost prints and clean up prints.... so here are few of those spreads:

This page was a clean up page, over printed with bubble wrap (love a bit of that!).  I added stenciling with Baltic Blue Fresco paint, and added gold emboss for a bit of contrast against the matte paint.

The page has very rough, distressed look... I like it that way - and its distressed in a different way to the spread below:

Gelli print patchwork created with ghost prints and clean up prints - I really like creating these (see HERE for a project I created using the patchwork to create a masterboard).... and you can't go wrong with a bubble wrap print!

This is 1/2 of a spread that I treated as 2 separate pages (reason for the outline), it was created by simply running the brayer over it to get rid of excess paint - easy and I'm sure we've all done that to use up extra paint - shame to waste it! I then, several weeks/months later, doodled on some flowers..

This spread was made during a Gelli plate demonstration at the PaperArtsy Seth Apter event a few weekends ago - a real lets try it all page - its just a jumble of techniques and its fun - I think it'll be the base for more added layers.

Detail of the spread - 2 types of bubble wrap (why use one when you can have two types!), stamping (additive and subtractive), and drawing a my fingernail....

and next, just in case you think all my spreads in this journal are blue... how this for a pop of colour:

Chartruesse and Neon Pink - do not adjust your sets! it really is quite bright!  Love it!  Its not finished - I feel a bit of black coming on! (unleashing my inner punk?!?)

I'll end this post with something a little calmer... my take on Bokeh style.. a spread I created while prepping for a class..

I painted the entire spread, then gave the right hand page a white wash before stamping one of my girls, while the left page was left without. Interesting to see the difference - also black outlines on left page and 'white fire' on right page... but they still work as a spread - the phrase suits the girly I think.


I hope you've enjoyed this look in side my journal - some of you saw me demo in it at the PA/Seth Apter event - now I've glued the nasty pages together I'm happy to take it out in public!

Thanks for stopping by.

x

Poor neglected blog....

.... 'sidelined' because life takes over sometimes doesn't it?! 

Among the paint brushes, pens, rolls of tape, bits of paper, & work-in-progress-projects on my desk (and the occasional cat ) there are a couple of books that I've made following patterns I've found in books or on the www to see how they are made (i like making books). I use them to put little tests and ideas into (and sometimes I use them as a 'work avoidance' technique.. lol).. but they are just little books of stuff. They sit on the desk for a while and get worked in as and when the mood takes me etc etc etc.

This is the one I've just filled up, its reads like a snapshot of projects, articles and classes I've designed & planned over the last 6 or so months, and its quite small - 9.5x11cm.
Its almost like a mini journal.. a notebook about what I've done and lessons I've learned...

I like that the book doesn't close - that bits & pieces stuck in have given it lovely touchy feely quality.  It was made from a single sheet of paper that has been folded several times, then the folds were roughly seperated and the formed pages were sewn together at the centre. I like the 'rough' feel this gives the book - the pages don't quite match up but thats makes the book quite unprecious to work into - a bit rough and ready.

 Bits and pieces left over from my many projects with the Claudine Hellmuth 'Bloom' stamps sets - and there's a bit of PaperArtsy in there too.

This is a Papermania (DoCrafts) die that I wanted.. no, needed when I saw it in a magazine.. but then couldn't find it.. so I forgot about it... until I saw it in a shop last week - so pleased: it was like finding treasure - I couldn't take it to the cash desk quick enough! lol I especially like that it die cuts the entire alphabet in one go - makes a great stencil which is what I was playing about with on the pages.

One of my favourtite spreads - LOVE!! ('flight' was a recent addition - new die, so i was using it on anything I could! lol)

 This is where this book became useful - the right hand page of the spread has been gesso'd.  The same colour distress inks where used on both pages - look how differently the inks sit on the pages - who'd have thought they would be so different!?!

The colour on these pages are so lovely - they were left over from something and I didn't want waste them so I stuck them in...

... same goes for the tag & butterfly on this last spread.. they'd been on the desk, on the pinboard, back on the desk - I was getting fed up with moving them about so I've put in the book!  Waste not want not.

So there you are - my little book of stuff.. and now that one is finished I've made myself another, this time slightly bigger - with doodles, sewing, sprayed pages, more sewing, tabs & comic book pages - love it already - here's a sneak peek:

I'm off - got to make flags for cupcakes (what else would you do on a Thursday evening! lol)

Take care