She Found Her Wings ... Art Journal Page

Hello there!  I know I've not posted in a while, but my  hubby and I took my 82 year old Mama on a camping/fishing trip last week, and all the prep and packing just took all my time.  And while I had planned to schedule this post ahead of time, it just did not happen, so here it is!

I made this page on a Saturday morning when I woke up very early and couldn't sleep.  I rarely do that any more, but this time I was happy to get up and play because it was such an inspired and fruitful morning!  I actually had the inspiration for the verse and made a tag, but once it was finished I knew I had to make a tag inspired art journal page!  And here it is ...

Isn't it lovely!!!  The base is a mono print made using my Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate ... of course!  But I did some stenciling with paint onto the top the print using some punchinella, 'holey' drywall tape, cement board tape, and a paper doily.


All of the papers for the elements you see here were also made using gelli plate prints.  The hummingbird body and wings were from a print made onto a magazine page.  I simply freehand cut the body, then kind of sketched out the wings before cutting them.  The leaves and flowers are also cut from different gelli prints.

I painted the wings with a bit of Mod Pdge, then added some very fine gold glitter for a bit of shine, then I did the same with the red flowers, but added red glitter to the blooms.  The 'beak' is a sliver of black card stock, and the 'eye' was made using the wooden tip of a paint brush handle dipped into purple paint, letting it dry and then dipping the tip of a very small paintbrush handle into titanium gold paint and touching it to the center of the purple spot.

The quote is in honor of a sweet friend who is going through some struggles, but is beginning to find her wings, and I know ... KNOW ... she is finding her wings and soon will be flying on her own and showing her strength and courage with grace and dignity!

Products used are paints by Anita's All Purpose Craft Paints, Mod Podge, Prismacolor pen, and my favorite toy, the Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate!

I hope you've enjoyed this project, and hope you will come back soon as I have a few projects that I made while on our camping trip last week to share with you .  See you soon, and Blessings,

Becky

Technicolor World ... Art Journal Page

One night last week I was looking at video tutorials about using the Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate and someone had used old magazine pages for making prints.  And of course I had to try it!

So last Thursday when I was at my LSS I gave it a whirl, and oh, how I loved the end result!  Even though the acrylic paints are deep colors, somehow, when you put them on the gelli plate and pull prints, they are almost clear in that you can see objects from the paper below.  And it is very cool!  The page that I used as the base for this art journal page has probably three prints, but still you can see elements from the page.  Here, take a look for yourself ...

The quote is 'She wanted to LIVE in a technicolor world!', which I believe was fitting!  The house is kind of plain, but with the roof and windows reflecting the colors of the surrounding sky.  Do you see the text, and the bench and bowl that are part of the magazine page?  I'll show you that in closer detail later on, but first, let's talk about some of the elements and details on the page ...

As the background is a gelli plate print made on a thin magazine page, I first adhered it to 110# card stock using Mod Podge.  The white edge of the paper stood out so brightly that I took coordinating colors of paint and thinned them with water to make a wash, and alternated the colors in a 'frame' around the edges of the page.  I love how you can still see the 4 stars and 'fresh picks' on the printed magazine page.

 

The house is just a piece of ecru card stock that I cut freehand, then inked with a piece of 'holey' dry wall tape to get the dots.  The roof and windows are actually (and this is so cool!) cut from the back page of the magazine where I had been cleaning off my brayer!  It had a real 'raibow' effect that came through well.  I used scraps of card stock for the awnings over the window and the door, and a tiny piece of purple cut from an ad in the magazine for the purple chimney.  The tree is a leaf stamp that I made by cutting the design with my Cricut and then tracing around it onto some fun foam and cutting it out.  I did extend the 'stem' to add more of a trunk for the tree.  The paper for the tree is cut from another gelli plate print.

For the 'LIVE' words I created a stamp using fun foam for the word, but didn't like the print I got with paint, so I added the glitter and outlined the words and liked it more.  Do you see all of the circles in the background?  For one of the prints I used a stencil that I made using my Cricut by just cutting rows of circles and ovals.  Because it looked kind of like a lot of moons, I highlighted the larger circles under the quote by using gold metallic, white metallic and other colors of paint to give them a luminous look that ... sadly ... doesn't show in this photo!

I promised I would show you elements from the magazine page and if you look closely here you can see text, and then up in the top right hand corner you can see the leg of a bench that goes straight across the top of the photo.  I tried to use the colors from the bench cover in the page.

It is always amazing to me how you never know how a gelli print is going to come out!  You may plan it one way, picture it in your mind, but I guarantee it will come out looking just the way it wants to!  I hope you have enjoyed your visit today, and will come back soon!  Blessings,

Catch Up Saturday ... a few more pages!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, but when I had time to spare I was spending it making art journal pages!  And of course I spent my Thursday at my 'LSS' or Local (Independent) Scrapbooking Store playing with an amazing group of girls!  But that's another story for another day.  Today I just want to share some of my latest art journal pages.  All were made using a background created with my Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate, acrylic paints, scrapbook papers, etc.  Here we go ...

Bloom Where You Are Planted with 3D flowers ...

Sing It Like You Mean It ... inspired by a wren on my back deck, telling all the world how happy it was!  I am proud of the fence!  I actually made the 'stamp' using fun foam, and stamped it with white paint onto kraft card stock, then outlined and detailed with a brown sharpie.  Here are the stamps ...

They were very easy to make!

I was actually working on this piece on Monday when I heard about the bombings in Boston.  How surreal to be working on such a piece right when that happened.  Folks, we all CAN be a source of light in a dark world ... go for it and see what happens!

 

remember .....  The quote (written around the sides) says "Remember those who have served and fought and gave their all in the name of freedom ..... and remember ..... Freedom is NEVER free!  Just remember the cost!"

I actually started out just wanting to do a poppy, and I remembered that poppies stand for remembrance, and I took it from there!

So there are a few of my latest pieces ... I have a couple more I will do in separate posts.  Thanks for visiting, and don't forget, if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them!  Blessings,

Sleeping Under The Stars .... Art Journal Page

Hello!  Back again with another art journal page that I made using my Gelli Arts - Gel Printing Plate for the background.  This background is special, because I experimented a bit and LOVED how it came out!  Before I put the paper on the plate, after rolling on the last coat of paint, I used a water mister with a very fine mist and sprayed just a couple of mists of water onto the gelli plate from about 18 inches above.  What I got was a beautiful sky full of  'stars' that was perfect for this page.

Another reason this page is special is because of a cute gift a sweet friend, Karen, gave me for my upcoming birthday.  Karen works on Thursday mornings at Altered Angel, the local scrapbooking store that I spend most of my Thursdays at playing with my friends.  And  last week she gave me a sweet little gift that, while it wasn't a very expensive gift, the thought she put behind it was the real gift!  It was a little bag of car air fresheners (with a lovely lemon scent) that were in the shape and design of a vintage camper.  She knows I love campers, especially vintage ones, and that is why the gift was so special!

Anyway, as soon as I opened the package I just KNEW that I had to make an art journal page inspired by the cute camper air fresheners.  Here is the art journal page I made ...

 

Isn't it the cutest thing???  I really just traced the air freshener onto white card stock and then 'built' the details on top of that.  The papers are all My Minds Eye, except the card stock which is Georgia Pacific for the base, and Bazzill Basics, the yellow and orange of the door.

 

Can you see the 'stars'?  They look much better up close, but you can see how cool the effect is!  I really love the bits of color you get from 'past prints' such as the gold metallic and touches of red.  Using the gelli plate is just plain addictive!

I used a few of the new Christy Tomlinson rub-ons ... the diamond pattern across the center of the camper, the little loopy flowers just along the bottom of the door, and the half circle in the center of the tire.  The outlining was all done with a Prisma Color marker, and the hand written journaling was done with a Micron pen.  The quote says ...

"Whoever said that sleeping under the stars meant you can't do it in a cozy, warm, dry camper?"

My sentiments exactly!

So, tell me what you think!  Do you like this page, hate it, think my outlining and handwriting skills are really bad ... and yes, I am aware of that ... or even have a question ... please let me know!

Have a great one!  Blessings,

Be Joyful .... and Bliss!

Wow, I'm running behind on sharing my art journal pages with you!  Or maybe I'm just running to fast at getting them made!  Whatever it may be, I have two art journal pages to share with you today.  The first one is ...... Bliss ......

 

As usual, the back ground was made using my Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate.  The diamond pattern was created using one of those metal grill 'plates' that you put on your grill when cooking small things like veggies or shrimp.  It works great with the Gelli Plate!  The starburst sun is made using Liquitex Modeling Paste and a stencil that my friend Kathleen loaned me last week when we were playing together at our local LSS.

The patterned papers are all from My Minds Eye, and the 'cabochon' flowers were purchased ages ago from Pick Your Plum.  All paints are Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paints.

A list of things that make for a blissful day!

And now on to ... Be Joyful ...

 

Sorry for the bad picture, but the sun wasn't cooperating!  The patterned papers are all from Jillibean Soup, and paints are Anita's, as usual.

This scripture is one of my favorite ... it helped me through a rough time about 9 years ago, and I believe that we need to give thanks even for the bad times!

And this is my motto!  Be Joyful!  If you are waiting to 'feel joyful' you'll never get it!  You have to make it an attitude!

This little garland on the top left corner is made of Liquitex Modeling Paste and some paper lace t hat I've had forever.  I painted the flowers and leaves with acrylic paint.  Sorry about the white gunky stuff, but the Mod Podge was still wet when I made the picture.

So there are two of my latest art journal pages.  I hope you like them and will come back again soon to see another project!  Blessings,

Happy Fourth Blog-iversary To Unscripted Sketches

This truly is a special day!  My friends over at Unscripted Sketches are celebrating their fourth anniversary blog-iversary!  Unscripted Sketches was my very first Design Team assignment, and I loved my time there and made some great friends that I still keep in touch with via Facebook.  So I am so excited to join their birthday sketch challenge with a mixed media art journal page I made just for them ... here is their sketch ...

And here is my project ...

 

As my background I used a print I made a  while back using my Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate and inexpensive acrylic paints.  The patterned papers are all from Simple Stories and the ribbon is from American Crafts.

The # 4 is from Bazzill Basics, but it was red so I painted it with turquoise acrylic paint.  The button is from Buttons Galore.

I want to wish Unscripted Sketches a very happy blog-iversary and all the best for their continued success!  Love you folks!!!

Blessings,

Sunshine In Her Heart ... Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Hello there folks!  I am back here again with ... yes, once again ... an art journal page that I created using my Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate for the base.  This one is bright and shiny and so pretty and feminine!  Here is a picture so you can see for yourself ...

 

I love this piece, full of citrus-y orange, green, yellow and pops of turquoise, and a cute, frilly dress form and a bright and shining - glowing even - sun  The dress form was was cut from the Forever Young cartridge on my Cricut Expression, and this is the second printing on the gelli plate, so I got the texture from the texured cardstock and the strong outline.  I added patterned paper cut into narrow strips (@ 1 1/2") then misted with water and crumpled up and pleated for a skirt.  Mod Podge added in a couple of layers made the skirt firm so it will hold it's shape.

The sun was made using a round plastic canvas needlepoint shape that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  You simply use modeling paste (Liquitex) to fill the holes in the mesh, remove the plastic and it will leave the texture.  Then I painted it with Sunshine Yellow, Tangerine, and some Titanium Gold acrylic paint, and coated it with Mod Podge for a final coating.  I really love how it turned out!

The quote is "She Started With Sunshine In Her Heart" and that is a reminder to me that my days are better if I start my day with sunshine in my heart!  Before I get out of bed each day, I try to turn my thoughts in a positive direction ... and yes, I have bad days - WE ALL DO!  I mean, we are human and people and things around us can turn us to face the darkness in a second, but if we keep looking back to the sun ... whatever that is for us, be it faith, family, friends, creativity ... WHATEVER!, we can change our direction and make our day better.

So, this piece is for you today ... remember to face toward the sun and fill your heart with sunshine, and make your day better than it might be in other circumstances.  Have a great weekend, and Blessings,

Products:

• Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate
• Paints - Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint
• Modeling Paste - Liquitex
• Patterned Paper - My Minds Eye
• Ribbon - ordered from eBay 
• Card Stock - Georgia Pacific 110 pound (Walmart)
• Marker - Micron

Kicking Art Journaling Up a Notch ... or Maybe A Few Notches!

Have you ever made anything ... could be a card or album, or maybe something you sewed or painted or ... whatever ... and realized that you had just kicked your creativity up a notch or two?  Well, a few days ago I finished an art journal page that made me feel as if I had truly stepped up my artistic side quite a bit.   When it was finished I felt this sense of accomplishment and creativity I hadn't felt in a while ... and it felt so good!

Remember this picture I shared with you a few days ago? ...

It is a close-up view of an art journal page I finished recently, and as I was working on the flowers on the birdhouse pole, I realized the paper I was using seriously looked like flow blue or delft blue china.  So then and there I decided to make a mosaic 'something' out of the remainder of the paper.  The really fun part of this is that the paper I was using for the flowers was a page I created using my Gelli Plate, a paper doily, a strip of wide paper lace, and some cobalt colored acrylic paint.  It wasn't much in an 8.5" x 11" format, but torn into small pieces and glued together in a mosaic pattern, it becomes something special! 

Isn't it lovely?  The background is another print from my Gelli Plate, one that wasn't much on it's own, although it does have the pretty paper doily design up in the top right hand color.  The long white stripes were created by simply pressing a Starbucks cup sleeve (inside, corrugated part) onto the wet paint. 

The process for making the mosaic vase was simple, yet a bit tedious!  I sketched a vase shape that I liked, then cut it out and traced it onto the background with a pencil.  Next I spread modeling paste over about 1/4 of the vase and placed small pieces of the paper that I had already torn into shapes.  As I filled up one section I would add more modeling paste and more paper, until it was finished. 

For the leaves, I used a stamp that I made from fun foam and stamped onto a gelli print that I really didn't care for that much.  Next I cut out the shapes and adhered them to the page, just above the mosaic vase.

The flowers are circles cut from another gelli print that had red and some gold on white.  I simply cut them into a spiral and adhered them with Mod Podge, twisting and curling them as I held them in place.  It's not hard, but just a tad tedious. 

The quote on the page says "She took all the broken pieces of her life and made something beautiful", which just fits the mosaic piece so much.  I covered the whole thing, including the mosaics, the flowers (I say they are camellias) with a nice coat of more Mod Podge and allowed it to dry.  And when it was finished, I truly felt like an artist ... making beautiful things from bits and pieces of very basic, simple items.

So tell me, what do you think?  Do you love it, hate it, or just not get it?  I would love to hear your thoughts.  Thanks so much for visiting today ... Blessings,

Products:

• Card stock - Georgia Pacific 110 pound (Walmart)
• Paints - Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paints (Hobby Lobby)
• Adhesives - Mod Podge Glossy
• Modeling Paste - Liquitex
• Gel Printing Plate - Gelli Arts

Home Is Where Your Heart Sings ... Art Journal Page

I know, I've said it before, but I am really loving playing with my new Gelli Arts Gelli Plate and making backgrounds for art journal pages.  Before I got the gelli plate I could not make an art journal page background for the life of me!  But now that I am printing designs on paper, it is so easy! 

Anyway, today I wanted to share with you my favorite art journal page thus far ... and I really do love it!  I hope you will too!  Here goes ...

So, what do  you think?  It was 'inspired' by one I found on Pinterest, and I think it was by Christy Tomlinson, but I've seen so many art journal pages lately that I couldn't begin to tell you for sure!  My favorite part of the page are the blue flowers on the birdhouse pole.  They are circles (imperfect circles) that I cut from one of my gelli plate prints, then cut into a spiral.  I adhered them to the page using Mod Podge, then curled up the spirals to give them some dimension.  Here's a close up view for you ...

Another favorite part are some elements I made by cutting out bits from a painted over paper doily that I had been using for making gelli plate prints.  One is at the top of the birdhouse ... I wanted it to look as if it was a star glowing to show the birds the way home ...

I painted it over and over with different colors from yellow to pink to red to gold, and feel like I got the 'glow' I was looking for.  And the other bits I made from the doily are the flowers at the bottom of the fence ...

The flowers were actually around the center of the doily, so I painted them pink (with my fingers) and glued them to the page with Mod Podge.  They were still wet when I took this picture, and look much better once they dried.

I got hubby to make a picture of me ... in my apron ... with this latest page.  He thought I was crazy, but after almost 29 years together, he should KNOW that already!  :)

So that's my most recent art journal page ... thanks so much for stopping by today, and I'm sure I will be back with another page (or something) to share very soon.  Blessings,

Products:

• Base Card Stock - Georgia Pacific 110 pound (Walmart)
• Paints - Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paints
• Patterned Paper - For the fence and the base and roof - Bo Bunny Prairie Chic
• Patterned Paper - (All Others) My Minds Eye
• Mod Podge Glossy
• Gelli Arts Gelli Plate
• Sharpie Micro Fine Marker - Black

Art Journaling Play Date with Mary Ann!

Yep, it's official ... I'm obsessed!  Maybe even addicted!  I really do LOVE printing my own papers using my Gelli Arts Gelli Plate, and then using the papers for art journal pages!

This past Thursday I went to my friend Mary Ann's and spent most of the day getting messy with paint and inks and making pretty papers.  We had so much fun, and I am so grateful for her hospitality ... especially for letting me play in her great 'craft cave' in her basement.  It was a great day!  Here is a picture of Mary Ann getting her hands messy ...

 

And here she is really intently working with her gelli plate ...

She made a really pretty art journal page and some cool printed papers as we played, and she took me out to lunch at a local restaurant for an 'early birthday' present.  She's a sweetie, and I am thankful we met through our LSS, Altered Angel and have had the opportunity to get to know her and call her friend.

Here is the page that I finished that day ... I had actually started it here at home ...

It's not one of my favorites, but it came out okay.  Can you see the 'shadow' of the girl just to the right of the text girl?  I liked that so much that my journaling says 'And one day she just knew she could no longer stand in the shadows of her life'. 

My favorite part of this page is on the left hand side, about 1/2 way down the page.  Can you see the texture?  My friend Karen, who I also met through Altered Angel, told me I had to try using modeling paste on pages, so I finally broke down and bought a jar of it and ... oh, she was so right!  You can do all kinds of fun stuff with it, but what I did on this page was lay a paper doily onto the page and spread the modeling paste over it, then pulled up the doily.  It left some great texture ... here's a close up look ...

The paste dries and hardens and really leaves some great texture. 

So yes, I am addicted! 

Thanks for visiting today, and Blessings ...