Carpe Diem

During the long hols I had a bit of an epiphany and decided that I was stuck in a bit (LOT) of a rut with every day being too much like the last and no sign of change on the horizon - a bit of a depressing thought really!

So I decided to shake things up a bit and get out there and make a difference to my days. Hence my rediscovery of my love of crafting and creating and a new positive outlook on life.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had been dabbling in Art Journaling - and although I am still VERY MUCH a beginner I am picking up hints and tips as I go along, both from the Interwebs and from my trusty Craft Stamper Magazine (CS) (a favourite source for inspiration).

I came across a journal page tutorial by Kate Crane in the January 2012 issue of CS and as both a learning exercise and wanting to get my epiphany down on paper I attempted to re-create one of her pages. Of course, Kate is WAY more talented than me, and of course I haven't got access to the FABULOUS range of supplies that she has (although I have asked Mrs Claus for the full set of Dylusions spray inks for my Christmas prezzie (BIG THANKS Mrs Claus x x) but this is my journal page - inspired by a new desire to do more with my life - and to have the courage to make the most of any opportunities which come my way.

You can just make out Kate's page on the open magazine in the background.

 
And now for the deets:

For the background I used Reeves water soluble pastels on watercolour paper which had been primed with white gesso. I scribbled areas of colour across the page and then used wet wipes to "activate" the pastels. I found that using a large nibbed water brush and fingers worked best for blending the colours together as the wet wipes tend to take a lot of colour off the page.

I then sprayed Cosmic Shimmer Teal Wash through a circle template and stamped Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink (DI) circles (using the end of a piece of plastic tubing) randomly over some of  the stenciled circles and allowed to dry naturally (it was the wee small hours at this point and I didn't think Mr M would be too chuffed to be woken by ye olde heat gun!)

Next (day) I stamped the cogs (PaperArtsy minis - Ink & The Dog MN60) and border (sorry don't know who made it) in black archival ink and the quotes (PaperArtsy - Ink & The Dog Clocks 3) in Wild Honey and Broken China DIs on to the background and then printed off, cut up and inked the edges of my journaling.

I made the clock faces by stamping a clock face (I think this was a Crafty Individuals freebie mini stamp) on to white cardstock which I had coloured using Wild Honey DI and a blending tool, and cut out removing the fob.

The tape measure border (Toodles & Binks La Couture) was stamped using black archival ink on white copier paper which was then lightly inked with Old Paper DI to knock back the bright white a little. The tape was then trimmed to fit over the border stamp. All collage elements where adhered with matt medium (this made the Distress Inks smear a bit as they are not waterproof but I wasn't too worried by the effect).

Although my colours are not as intense as Kate's Dylusions background and I haven't used any focal point stamping or images I'm really pleased with how this page has turned out, I wanted my words to be the focus of the page and I think I've achieved this, whilst picking up some new techniques along the way.

TOP TIP#1: When using Reeves watersoluble pastels, put plenty of colour on to start off with and don't try adding more whilst the page is wet as the pastels just scratch the surface and don't lay down colour smoothly.

TOP TIP#2 If you're just starting out on Art Journaling (as I am) you might find a spiral bound sketch book easier to manage than loose leaf pages - I find loose leaves slide around on your craft mat, picking up stray paint etc and ruining your hard work on the other side of the page :-(

More anon...