Art Journal Hearts

Did you all read Emily's intro to Art Journaling post? Well, after a year, I am finally getting my feet wet. Last summer I was in Toronto and made a stop at the boo-tique and only Dena was there with her art journal. If you think it looked yummy on Em's blog, you should see the inside! Like OMG! On the way home I said to Mark, I wanna do this. So I went out and bought some stuff (NOT like I needed anything) and pulled out some magazines and tried to get started. I loved Dena's, it was very collagey (if that's a word) and she used a lot of magazine clippings and wrote a lot of words.

I plopped myself on the floor with my stuff and got looking thru magazines, but you know what, I am NOT good at collage. I really need a paintbrush or marker or stamps in hand so I put the stuff away UNTIL recently when I took Christy Tomlinson's 3 Hearts Workshop. She uses the STUFF I love, fun stuff....paints, markers, inks, stencils, stamps....the kind of stuff that makes me happy and so I began this journey. A friend of mine mentioned the other day that she wants to journal because all the cards, or scrapbook pages she does are given away to someone, and this would be for her. And you know what...I think THAT is what I love about it the most, I never have to give it away. It's MINE!

So after reading Emily's post the other day I thought I'd show a couple pages I did last weekend. This page is how I thought (maybe still think!) about the whole process. I spend too much time thinking, planning and wondering and then I decide to jump right in fearing the unknown outcome and start to play! I've learned that it's REALLY all about playing. These words are all stamped from Julie's words to live by.

The background was done with pan pastels and stencils. The hearts were cut free form out of an old book. Shading on the hearts was done with PITT pens.

This second page was a double experiment. I applied gesso to the page, painted loosely with fluid acrylics then attempted image transfer with Mod Podge. Apply Mod Podge to the printed side of a piece of patterned paper and glue it down. When it's good and dry spritz it with water and rub off the paper and you are magically left with the image! AMAZING....there are several ways to do this and just google 'image transfer' to find a wealth of info on it. Then I stenciled some scrolls, stamped some of Isabelle's crackle in the corners (GORJUS!) and applied a few hearts that were all glossed up with clear UTEE.

Done and DONE! I don't have any words on this page yet, but I will as soon as I come across something that inspires me.

Back to Emily...her journal challenge is for us to use crayons! OMG....my boys are 21 years old so there was not a single crayon to be found in the house so I went out and bought a small pack. Now I'm off to get waxy!

For those who came to see a card, not to worry....I'll have one of those on Friday!