Hello friends and happy Monday...
I can't quite believe that we're already in March!! Where did January and February go?!? It's crazy how time flies in lockdown but at least there has been some light at the end of this long road and this week, I'll be having my Covid vaccination.
But before then, it's time for the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week our theme is Art Journaling! The DT are showcasing Dyan Reaveley products within their projects, which is something you can do but it's not essential ~ you can join in whatever product you choose to use!
For my project, I used Dyan's Small Creative Journal to create a collaged, layered vintage journal layout using Tim Holtz ephemera. I love to create this style of art journaling, it's also a fabulous way of using up my offcuts and scraps of paper that sit in a box for "one of those days". I also chose to use a photo from the Tim Holtz Found Relative photo set, but there's no reason as to why you can't use a precious photo from your own collection and create a page that is all about family!
So, let's get started and here's how I created my journal layout..
I started my layout by using a few of my scraps and offcuts of paper from the Abandoned Paper Stash and adhered these down the centre of the double pages, together with some strips of Tim's Remant Design Tape using Matte Collage Medium, which I also used to seal the papers. I then applied some Crackle Paste, around the paper edges and concentrating on that central area.
Once I was happy, I put this to one side for the crackle to do it's thing whilst I colour tinted my photo.
The photo that I used is from Tim's Found Relatives set and I just adore this image of mother and child, it's so beautiful. To add colour to the image, I applied a coat of clear gesso to prime the surface and then used a damp fine detail water brush and Distress Crayons and basically watercolored the photo, adding Aged Mahogany tints colour to their cheeks, Faded Jeans to the background and just adding colours of my choosing to their clothes ~ it just brings the b&w photo to life.
After adding some machine stitching around the edges of the colour tinted photo, it was time to go back to my journal, where the crackle paste was now dry and crackly, and I could complete the background.
I used the Pumice Stone and Walnut Stain Distress Crayons to add a touch of vintage to the background and to accentuate the crackles that the paste has given. To blend the crayons and get rid of any harsh lines, I used a water brush and a semi dry baby wipe, and just applied this over the surface.
I completed the background by flicking a small amount of watered down Black Soot Distress Paint across the pages and allowed for everything to dry thoroughly and I also added some machine stitching. It wasn't the easiest of things to do...the book and my machine had a few hissy fits but I got there in the end and obtained the look I wanted. If you scroll through the photos, I hope you'll be able to see how I stitched onto random areas of the background pages.
Now it's time to move onto telling the story of these two beautiful people...mother and child!
...and firstly, I gathered my supplies! I used flowers, labels and a butterfly in flight, all taken from the Field Notes Ephemera and Snippets Ephemera sets and once I had the ones I wanted to use, I arranged these, together with my photo onto my pages, adhering them directly onto the background using Matte Collage Medium and placing them so they hung over the photo and just framed it perfectly.
I completed the arrangement with a tiny butterfly in flight, that I added to the top right hand corner of the photo and a vial label that I layered over the top, placing it so it slightly overlaps the photo. I then added a small amount of Mummy Cloth, (from the Halloween Trimmings set) dyed with Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stain, and tucked this underneath the label.
I then added a small button, with pink thread stitched through the holes and a postmark that comes from the Specimen Remnant Rubs pack.
For the finishing touches to this layout, I added the large number 2 which is from the Urban Layers pack and adhered this to the left hand page. I then used one of the new products from Tim's idea-ology range, Metallic Stickers and I took the "Happy Together" sticker and placed this underneath my large number.
Finally, I added a Stitched Scrap in the top left hand corner, complete with a mini pin...
...and added some white pen doodles down the central spine of the pages.
...and that is my journal layout complete. I hope you've enjoyed the walk through the process of how it was created and how I built up texture, dimension and layers in this journal, but all the time keeping the pages quite flat so that the book will close.
Recipe for project:
