Art Journaling 3

"Gratitude is the sign of "nobile" souls"

Mixed media: water colors, gelatos, gel pens, scribble paint, gesso, 

brush marker, permanent marker

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"The Right Shoes"

Mixed media: gelatos, stamping, inks, alphabet stamps, file folder labels, clipping, gesso, spray fixative, mod podge, permanent marker

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"Teach People How to Treat You"

Mixed media: clippings, gelatos, 

washi tape, stenciling, inks, mod podge, permanent marker

Progression: page build-up, gelato color wash, washi tape, title prompt

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"Pretty vs Beauty"

Mixed media: clippings, gelatos, gesso, permanent marker, mod podge, tag

Progression: A few pictures I liked. Sometimes it all starts with a picture and other times it starts with a title prompt. This one was from the pictures.

25 Amazing Art Journal Theme Ideas

Here are 25 ideas for giving your art journals a "place to go."

1. Retro Journal- Kick it old school.
2. Body Parts- Each page focuses on one part of the human anatomy.
3. Empowerment- Quotes that give you mental strength.
4. Cards- Design a journal around your own version of cards: post cards, game         cards, holiday cards, get well cards, sympathy cards, invitations, etc.
5. Brand X- Side-by-side- their logos vs your version of a logo for the same product.
6. Secret Hoarder- No need to clutter the house, do it in your journal.
7. Poetry in Motion- Use poetry to inspire your designs.
8. My Super Heroes- Mash up some crazy characters and give them outrageous names like Capt. Umbrella or Washer Woman or The Bulk.
9. My Obsessions- Things you obsess over, worry about, or have to have.
10. In My World- Create an imaginary world on each page.
11. Pissy Missy- Things that tick you off. Let it all out. Art is cheap therapy.
12. Life vs Art- Side-by-side layout of a photo and then your rendering of the photo
13. My Spin on It- How you would have designed it, worded it, framed it, dressed it.
14. Positive Affirmations- Only positive words to remind yourself of the good.
15. A Pocket Full- On each page use a different type of pocket to hold whatever.
16. Black and Blue- Only use the colors black and blue to journal things that hurt.
17.Question and Answer- Side-by-side layout. Ex: (on left page)why do birds sing?
(on right page) because they are free to fly!
18. Doodley Do- Only doodles allowed. period. Draw on each page with only one color.
19. Things I Own- Journal about where you got things from or why you bought it.
20. Sans Words- pictures only.
21. Bucket List- Things you want to do before you die. Be sure to have a box on every page so you can put a big red check mark in it as you complete each item!
22. Attitude of Gratitude- Things you are thankful for. Remember the small things.
23. If I Ruled the World- Rules you would make if you were the queen.
24. Song Lyrics- Use the title or a line or two. Or make each page a line from the same song. Songs you loved at different times in your life and why.
25. Movie Lines- Journal your favorite movie lines and create pages for them.

There you have it! My creative juices are flowing. Are yours? Go make some art!!

Quote Designs I've Created

Art Journaling 2

Here are some new pages I just completed. I usually get into moods to either page- build, design backgrounds with color, start off with a picture or text I like, then I do my pasting up. I have several journals and depending on what I am in the mood to do, there is usually a journal ready for me to dabble in.

So for this page I was in the mood to paste up. I found a word strip that I had cut out of a magazine a while ago. it said "Do gooder." I liked it and searched through one of my journals and found a ready page.

Here is the final product and I will show the page progression below.

"I am a do gooder"

Mixed media: floral paper napkin, freehand heart with wings on book page, lettering stickers, ink, Gelatos, Mod Podge

Progression:  I found a package of floral paper napkins at a garage sale. They were a whopping .10¢.

I tore the napkin apart to make corner pieces to frame the page.

As I was in the process of Mod Podging the napkin pieces down, I noticed it was made up of several light layers. So I pulled them apart. On the left corner is 3-ply. On the right corner is 1-ply. As you can see they produce very different effects. Personally, I liked the 1-ply effect because it was lighter weight and went on the page so smoothly.  I applied a layer of Mod Podge first, then laid down the napkin and Mod Podged over it.

 As I continued on, I noticed a very cool part of the paper napkins. Around the edges was a raised textured pattern. I tore it in small pieces and made sure there were no straight edges and added a few to the page.

 Below is the result after the Mod Podge layer. 

 

These are the page design elements. I cut the "i" out of a magazine. I glued it onto a tag I stenciled from a chip board cut-out. I inked the edges.

Below is the final page. I really like how it turned out. 

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Background with Gelatos

"Heroes"

Mixed media

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"Thread of Art"

Mixed media: watercolor and permanent marker

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"One Moment"

Mixed media: clippings, stamping, watercolor, ink, marker Mod Podge

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"Right Now"

Mixed media: acrylic, watercolor, clippings, ink, stamping

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Background: Gesso over page building materials. Then light purple watercolor wash.

Inspiration: Photo of snobby woman with a gentleman kissing her hand.

Next outline the photo with watercolor crayon, scribble with crayon
where text will go.

Next, smudge and rub the watercolor crayon scribbles and outlines with a t-shirt scrap. I used my index finger under the scrap in order to better control the smudging. Top of page, not yet smudged. Bottom of page and around photo has been smudged. See the difference? It really softens things up.

Lastly, paste up and finishing touches with text and marker. Seal with Mod Podge.

 

"Miss Understood"

Mixed media: gesso, watercolor crayon, clippings, marker, photo corners

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Background: Studio ink, then spray ink using a doily stencil.

"Looking at Life"

Mixed media: clippings, Studio ink, spray ink, paper doily, stamping, Mod Podge

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Background: Spray inks through a paper doily. Stamped with a wet doily.

(see bottom left)

"Places to Know"

Mixed media: stamping, inks, spray ink, clippings, doileys, Mod Podge

2-page spread

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"Random Doodles"

Media: Markers

Close up view-

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" Be the Voice"
Mixed media: clippings, stamping, spray ink, masking w/painters tape

Progression: I used ripped painters tape to mask of areas I didn't want color on.

Next I painted w yellow ocre.  

Then I peeled off the tape to reveal the masked areas.

Next, I outlined the white spaces with brush markers and sprayed with ink.

I added some giraffe stamping with orange and brown inks.

Final result: I added clippings and more stamping with white ink.

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"The Game of Life"
Mixed media: clippings from magazines, Monopoly money and cards, brush marker, stamping, Mod Podge, gold star sticker, chip board stencil, tissue paper,
toy Lego block for dots

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I used a new technique. Watercolor paint with droplets of rubbing alcohol. It created the coolest effect.

"Take Chances"
Mixed media: Rubbing alcohol, alphabet stamps, ink, watercolors, gesso, clippings of butterflies, raised dot adhesives, marker

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"Dare to Care"

Complimentary pages

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"Art is Where I Go"
Mixed media: clippings, spray ink, stenciled bird, mulberry paper pieces, doilies, washi tape, stencils, markers, Shimmer Mist, Mod Podge

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"Words vs Thoughts"
Mixed media: water colors, ink, plastic netting from bag of tangerines used as a stencil, gems, ribbon, paper-reinforcer rings, clear sparkly paint outliner, magazine clippings

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"Shhh!"
Mixed media: magazine clippings, shredded paper strips, white out,
washi tape, markers watercolors, ink, stenciling