Karen Bearse Designs: Art Journal Page to Chase the Blues Away

Monday, February 1, 2021

Art Journal Page to Chase the Blues Away

Hello Inky Painty Fans! For this Mixed Media Monday I have an art journal page for you. It has been a long time since I finished a larger page & it felt good to get back to it! This week is anything goes at Topflight Stamps so let's play with a few fun products. *Affiliate- some of these companies have given me product to use, play & experiment with. The ideas are my own but I tend to work with companies whose products I like so enjoy the inspiration. **some of these links are affiliate, I receive a small percentage from the company at no cost to you. This helps me deliver free content!

I got a new art journal from Art By Marlene & one of the cool things is it is a 3 ring binder. The paper is a nice 300 gsm multi purpose paper which measures 6 3/4" x almost 9".

The outside is vinyl & there is also a zip pocket on the inside to hold your ephemera, cut out stamp images or paper elements pad. I love the vibrant colors of these paper element pieces.

Design Time.

I started by choosing which paper element pieces I wanted and placing them on my page. Taking a photo at this stage is always a good idea to remind you of placement.

Let's Paint!

Next up was dry brushing Fresco Finish paint directly on the paper. I used a palette of blues, yellow & green. This will help the hot colors of the diecut pieces to pop.

Using up the excess paint on a 2nd art journal page means that I have a background already started for next time.

Adding Some Stencil Work

Using some fun Darkroom Door Stencils and a dabber to add some background interest, was up next. I kept the color's similar to the background but I did want the stencil work to show a bit. Again used up the extra paint by adding some stencil work, this time in my daily journal.

Doodle Time!

I really love the circles from the Polka Dot stencil so doodling helped bring out the design a bit more. One of the bonuses of Fresco Finish paint is you can use a pen right way without damaging the pen. Most acrylic paint would need 4-6 hours to dry before you could draw on it.

Rebuild the Elements

Now it was time to add my elements back in & adhere them to the page. Love where this is going so far! The great thing is, these elements are already cut you just have to pop them out of the paper pad. The tea package was made into a pocket by taping the bottom & sides only. I love using everyday ephemera in my work to remind me of things like the tea I was drinking at the time.

Add a Title

Now it was time to add a title using my favorite new alphabet stamp set. The words were stamped on white card stock & cut out. The letters have lots of little details that would get lost by fussy cutting. There is a trick so you won't lose these. This is a great technique to use for example when you don't want to cut out bee antenna, or a birds legs.

Simply stamp the images directly on the background of your art journal page. Now the little details are there. Just adhere the cut out pieces on top. For the letters hot tip the top of the letters have depth & the bottom are just a line. This helps for letters like i or o so you don't stamp them upside down.

The result is very subtle in this case but adds depth & the little details without a white edge showing.

Lastly I used the same color palette to make up my tag. More of the paper elements were used as well as a few quotes from Marlene's Sticky Quote pad.

The tag was coated in decoupage glue so the elements will not pull off when it is removed from the pocket. Don't you love that cute little fish?

The bonus is every Yogi Tea tag has a quote on it. I choose "happiness is an accomplishment" which is a very perfect quote for times like these. That little tag peaking out of the tea pocket makes me so stinkin happy!! Thanks for joining me today, I hope I inspired you to get some paint on! You can see pictures of the products in my Topflight Stamps blogpost.

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