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

Gotta Love Those Curves!!!

Yes, it's me, and I am back again with my art journal page # 2 ... made using my Gelli Arts Gelli Plate!  I am so in love with this new (to me) artful obsession!

This art journal page celebrates one part of my body that I love!  Let me clarify one thing ... I love me, the person I am, because I am loved ... I was created by a loving God, in His image, and He loves me beyond measure, so because I know I am loved THAT MUCH, I love me.  But I also love the person I have become, all my foibles and failures and everything, because I don't really always make the best choices, but I try to learn from both good and bad decisions I have made.

But ... I don't love most of my 'body'.  But I do love my curves!  By all rights I should probably be very overweight ... it's just in my genes ... but I'm not, and I don't really try to keep the weight off.  Now that doesn't mean I couldn't stand to lose a few pounds, because I could ... definitely!  But, I am content with my shape ... I have curves, real, honest to goodness curves and I love them.

So here is my tribute to my curves ...

Now, one thing you can't see in this image is that the 'light, foggy stuff' is actually a metallic gold and it looks great in person.  You'll be able to see it better in another pic down below.  For the dress form shape, I cut it from the 'Forever Young' cartridge using my Cricut Expression, and used it as a mask.

 

 The patterned papers are all from My Mind's Eye, and the ribbon is from Fancy Pants Designs.

 

I think you can get a sense of the metallic paint on this picture.  I really hate that you can't see it that well, because it is really pretty!

So, there you have it ... my 2nd art journal page using my Gelli Arts plate ... Blessings,

Products:

• Paints are all Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint
• Patterned Papers are all My Mind's Eye
• Ribbon - Fancy Pants Designs
• White Card Stock - Georgia Pacific 110# (WalMart)
• Brown Ink - Stampabilities (Hobby Lobby)
• Gelli Arts Gelli Plate
• Cricut Expression and 'Forever Young' Cartridge
• Micron Pen .05 Black