Category: Art Journal
Easy Painted Papers For Crafting
I recently had the urge to get up to my elbows in paint since it’s been such a long time. I decided to make some painted papers to use as journal pages and to tear up for collage fodder. These two videos show the processes I used to make a whole bunch of fun papers. The paper, tools and paints are all basic supplies that most crafters readily have on hand. No gelli plate was needed so no worries!
This first video shows how I made the base layers of paints.
In this second video I demonstrate how to add fun details on top to make your painted papers extra special.
I hope these simple steps have inspired you to get out some paper, paints, pens and markers and have a good old time. Enjoy!
Fun Prayer Journal Spread With A Confession!
Right now I’m going to cling to the old saying that no one is perfect! I had all the opportunity to choose the right thing to do and I blew it. I decided to listen to my selfish natural self instead of listening to the crystal clear voice of the Holy Spirit. Here’s what happened!
Playing With Trash
Who knew that playing with trash could be so fun? I have been working in some of my trash journals and am having a blast. Using just trash really stretches my creativity.
What does one use in a trash journal? To me it is anything I would otherwise throw away. I also allow myself to use things like old book pages because I have enough to last three lifetimes.
I hope you’ll step out of your comfort zone and give trash journaling a try. There are no hard and fast rules so you can define “trash” for yourself. Have fun playing with your trash!
Getting My 2018 December Daily Ready
This is my sixth year keeping a December Daily. I have written posts about some of my previous December Dailies in the past but this is a new Christmas to document and I’m as excited as ever. Here are just a few quick pictures of my set-up.
Decorating the cover
I usually use old book covers for my December Dailies. The cute snowman image is a piece of a Christmas napkin I decoupaged to the front cover. If you want to decoupage a light-colored napkin, tissue paper or thin paper on a dark background you may want to paint a layer of white underneath. If I hadn’t painted white underneath this napkin I would have ended up with a light green snowman. I just painted a section white and dabbed the edges to soften them and somehow it just looks like snow around the snowman. Of course I added chunky glitter to make my snowman glittery!
Select assorted papers
I selected about forty assorted pieces of paper for the pages. Not all are scrapbook paper however, some are vintage Christmas cards, envelopes, Christmas book pages, Christmas carol pages, old advertisements, etc.. I like to document my entire December and not just through Christmas day. I’ve made sure I have enough “pages” to have at least one a day. Sometimes I may use two pages for one day if a lot was going on and some days I may only use one side of a page. If I don’t have enough pages I can always add more and if I have too many I can take some out.
Arrange papers
After I’ve picked the papers I want to use, I spread them all out on the dining room table and then put them together in an order that is pleasing to me. When arranging the pages I consider color, size and type (such as book page or Christmas card) so I don’t have two of the same type near each other. I make sure my nativity pages are approximately around the 24th of December. I can always fine tune the location of pages as I go along.
Add a place to stash goodies
I like to attach a small decorative paper bag to the inside of the back cover. That gives me a place to stash embellishments I want to use in the journal. When my journal is completed the bag gives me a place to put items I want to keep that didn’t make it onto a page.
Add binding of some type
I use O rings to keep my journal together. They allow me to make my journals good and chunky and give me the freedom to add or take out pages as needed. Sometimes I will remove a page to work on it if I’m going to use wet mediums like paint or spray ink.
So now that I’ve shown you my “naked” December Daily, I hope to post throughout the month and give you ideas and hacks for ways to embellish your own journal. Just keep in mind the rules for keeping a December Daily:
- There are NO rules
- Don’t stress if you can’t do it everyday. Maybe just keep track of the highlights
- There is no right or wrong way to keep a December Daily
- Don’t compare your journal with anyone else’s journal
- HAVE FUN!!!
My DIY Traveler’s Notebook
Most people who are in the arts and crafts or planner worlds know what a traveler’s notebook is. There are tons of videos and blog posts about how to set up your TN (traveler’s notebook). And what you use them for is only limited by your imagination. I have watched many YouTube videos showing pretty TNs filled with TN inserts and paraphernalia all which add up to the cost of a new car! I’m not kidding, the bare bones TNs, without inserts, sell from $30.00-$70.00. Yeah, I’m so not cool with that.
So I decided to make my own TN. Basically all they are is a piece of leather or vinyl and some elastic cord. So how hard could it be to make my own? Not hard at all. I used two pieces of sample vinyl wallpapers from one of those huge sample books. First I glued them backsides together so I have a pretty cover and inside. Then I followed a video detailing how to attach the elastic pieces.
This is what my bare bones TN looks like.
Okay, I know it doesn’t look great yet, but that is because I haven’t worked on any of the pages inside.
I am using my TN as a prayer and Scripture book. But if that’s not your thing, you can use them as day planners, art journals, junk journals, glue books, etc…
Here are some of the pages I’ve made for my journal. As my prayers are private, I photographed these pages before I wrote my prayers on them.
Traveler’s notebooks, however you deem to use them, are a great way to use your creativity as well as use your stash!
If you don’t already have a TN, check out some videos about them. I bet you’ll get hooked just like I did!
DIY Masks For Mixed Media
In my last post I up-cycled some manila file folders. I cut out shapes from a magazine and used them as masks on my mixed media background.
I really like how they turned out, but the magazine paper was very thin so the masks wouldn’t last very long before they just turned to mush.
I came up with an idea of how to make my own masks that will last for a long time.
I used some clear contact paper that I had picked up at a thrift shop eons ago. At the time I didn’t have any use for it but thought it might come in handy sooner or later.
I sandwiched each picture between two pieces of contact paper and then cut them out leaving about a 1/4″ border. You must leave a border so that the contact paper can stick to itself and seal in the cutout.
These are the masks I made using magazine pictures.
And here are some I made using pictures from old pattern sleeves.
I had this background already done in my art journal so I just rubbed around this mask with some black archival ink using a make-up sponge. Obviously the page isn’t finished, but she makes a great focal point.
This piece is in my faith art journal using the Scripture Psalm 91:4.
I love making these masks and I am thinking of finding some pictures of animals and objects to add to my diy mask collection!
If you have some old contact paper, or laminating sheets lying around, try making some of your own masks to add something different to your mixed media projects!
Drawing Whimsical Animals
Recently I had the opportunity to take a two-session class on drawing whimsical animals. Seeing as I can’t even draw a good stick figure, I felt a “whimsical” class would suit me better than taking a “realistic” animal drawing class. Besides, I feel whimsical animals are better suited to my mixed media pieces than realistic animals.
We worked on the basics like eye placement and how changing the eyes and eye brows can totally affect the mood portrayed by the animal.
Testing out eye placement and eyebrows.
After copying different animals the instructor provided, we worked on our first mixed media piece. The teacher asked that we include at least two animals and there be some kind of story between them. This is what I came up with.
My first attempt at drawing whimsical animals.
Putting clothes on animals is a sure way to add whimsy. I even gave my rabbit red boots to wear with her flowered dress.
We had a week between classes so I practiced drawing all kinds of whimsical animals. Here are some of my practice pieces.
This skyward looking bunny actually started out as and owl.
Kitties
Owls
More owls
And yet another owl.
Whimsical donkeys
The second session had us copying one of the instructors pictures. The funny thing was, I thought her animal was a deer and my other classmate thought it was a rabbit. The teacher said it was actually a peacock. Since only the head was showing, we all saw it a different way. So our instruction was to copy her picture, but make the animal into what we wanted it to be. Here is just the head shot of my funny deer.
My whimsical deer.
I had a lot of fun in that class and I am quickly filling up a journal with funny animal doodles. My goal is to create several animals in a style that is completely my own.
If you are in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area. You can find the drawing whimsical animals class at Lord and Lilly’s, 611 Caroline Street, 540-371-1333.
Drawing whimsical animals or people is an ideal outlet for those of us who are stick-figure challenged!
The Lonely Queen
If you have followed my last couple of posts you will know that I am making lots of journals for the shows I am doing later this year. I had made a stack of hand-bound journals using coffee stained papers. It just so happened that I had a stack of the papers left over that were not the right size for the bound journals. See the stack with the holes in it?
Stack of coffee stained papers.
What to do? What to do? Well it so happened that the holes all lined up perfectly so really all I needed was to find a cover that fit and some book rings. I found an old book called, “Asylum For The Queen”. I never read it but I loved the title. Here is the finished journal.
Journal from old book.
I had to add pretty ribbons and charms, including a crown as the title dictated.
Bees remind me of Marie Antoinette.
On some of the pages I stamped images that remind me of old royalty.
More stamping.
This journal has blank pages, except for the few stamps, to allow for lots of journaling or space for smashing other ephemera.
I’m so happy I was able to use every last piece of the papers I had stained from that project!
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…Already!
I am already making items to sell at my shows this fall. Gifts items and Christmas decorations are what I am concentrating on. Because the biggest show I am doing is a very expensive show to participate in, my theme for making items this year is, “Something out of nothing”. What this means is I am using up my stash of craft supplies and up-cycling and recycling everything I can in order to offset my expenses. I am not buying much of anything to complete my items. It does not mean, however, that I am producing anything that is not up to my standards. It just means I’m being more creative, which is actually quite fun!
Here are some pictures from one of my first show projects.
Stacks of coffee dyed papers and envelopes.
Coffee dyed papers and envelopes sorted into equal stacks. Each book will have twenty pages.
Inside pages of hand bound junk journal.
Ten finished hand bound junk journals with different covers.
Finished stack of junk journals bound up and ready to pack!
These junk journals were made only with stuff I already had on hand, so my only investment was a little time.
This is the first completed set of books I made. I will be making many more junk journal/glue books of various styles for the shows. I absolutely love making journals and can’t wait to start my next project!
Just Messing Around
I was lucky enough to purchase this big bunch of old hand written and typed letters recently.
Big bunch of old hand written and typed letters.
I really had no idea what I was going to do with them. I looked around my craft desk and my Twinkling H2o’s (shimmering watercolor paints) were still at hand so they were the medium of choice.
Twinkling H2o’s ready to be used.
So I just sat down and made a big mess with lots of paint and water. It was really quite fun.
Water color paints on an old letter.
I used every color of H2o’s I had in different combinations. After playing and letting the letters dry, this is what I had.
Yummy pile of shimmery water colored papers.
But now what? I knew I could tear some of the papers up to use in mixed media pieces or my art journal but I had another idea.
Little Stampin Up stamp sets I got for my birthday.
These fun little stamps were also still on my craft desk so I decided to use them on some of the paper and make a bunch of small embellishments.
Little embellishments to use in mixed media or my art journal.
I think they turned out really cute and they have an awesome crackling paper texture. Now I am ready to made an art journal page using some of these cute little embellishments that were made from just messing around!
glitteronmyface 