January Art Journal Page Swap

I'm hosting another year of the art journal page swap at the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group.  For January, my page is a vintage theme, with nature. The images are from Collage Stuff and Mischief Circus.  I used a variety of stencils with acrylic paints for the backgrounds.  Stamps from Tim Holtz and Rae Missagman were used in the backgrounds.  Some stamped images were heat embossed.  The white doilies, blank raffle tickets and computer punch cards are available at Collage Stuff.  Thanks for coming by to view my January art journal page.

happy place art journal page

Another art journal page.  Sometimes I think we look outside ourselves for our happiness.  It comes from within us and it's up to each of us to make our worlds happy places.  At least that's what I think.  I had fun making this page.  For texture, I included a napkin and floral fabric tape. I used lot of acrylic paints, some metallic paints too. Thanks for coming by my blog to see my "Happy Place" journal page!

Write Your Own Story Art Journal Page

I started out with this art journal page using cool blues, some browns and decided that was boring.  So out came the Dylusions pink to liven things up! The stencils are all from Stencil Girl.  The women images are from Prima Marketing.  Thanks for coming by my blog today!

Vintage Women ATC's

At the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group, we're swapping vintage women ATC's for the December swap.  I created a background on vintage text using acrylic paints and stencils.  I printed a Collage Stuff image as a transparency and applied the transparencies over various backgrounds.  The words are Tim Holtz stickers.  Thanks for coming by to see my ATC's!

Another Christmas Card Design

I made the background using my gelli plate, acrylic paint and stencils.  The word stencil came with the Dina Media Christmas bird stamps.  I stamped the birds on watercolor paper with black ink and clear embossed.  After cutting them out, I used watercolors and a water brush to color the images.  The "hello december" is from the Tim Holtz small talk occasions.  I added some washi tape with jewels for the bird to stand on.  I added glitter glue to the white portion and puff on the Santa hat.  I hope you're having fun making your own Christmas cards and thanks for coming by my blog today!

Christmas Card

Time to start working on Christmas cards!  First I made some gelli prints with red, green and gold inks.  I overstamped with a swirly stamp in black ink.  I painted the white card edges and the white doily with the same red paint.  The couple is from a Collage Stuff collage sheet.  I added the Tim Holtz holiday flashcard, mirror stars, and small talk occasion sticker.  Have you been working on your Christmas cards?  Thanks for coming by my blog to view my holiday art!

Child's Play art journal page

Last night, I was playing in my art journal.  I go where the page takes me.  I think it's important to take the time to just play in our art.  I used acrylic paint, modeling paste, stencils and a pico embellisher.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

Shine Art Journal Page

I made this journal page a couple of weeks ago.  This page has grown on me over time.  It is layers of paint, and modeling paste using tons of stencils.  It seems my art journal style is to just keep experimenting and playing - seeing what I end up with!  Thanks for coming by my blog!

2016 Calendar Swap

At the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group, we're making a calendar for 2016.  All the pages are hand-made.  They are 4" x 6".  I started on my pages last night.  I have 6 completely done.  I stamped the birds and paint brushes on Ranger watercolor paper and clear embossed the images.  I used my Inktense Pencils and a water brush to color the images.  The background is made with a variety of stencils and acrylic paint.  I outlined the images with a Fude Ball Pen.  The handmade calendar swap is my favorite swap each year.  Thanks for coming by to see my calendar pages!

December Art Journal Page Swap - Nature

My December person has a nature theme for her art journal.  I used Dina Wakley stamps, tons of stencils from different manufacturers, acrylic paint and Inktense pencils.  I'm done with my pages for the Art Journal Page Swap for this year! Thanks for coming by to view my nature page!

November Art Journal Page Swap - Children

Here is my November art for the Art Journal Page Swap.  The theme is children.  I used images from Hidden Vintage Studio that used to be at the Deviant Scraps website.  I used lots of paint, many stencils, rubber stamps, colored pencils, glaze pens etc.  Thanks for coming by to see my art with children!

Mermaid Art Journal Page Side Two

I had fun making this page!  I designed the mermaids from elements from a Crow-About Studio B digital image kit.  All of the images are from the kit.  The background arches were made with a negative impression of a Stencil Girl stencil on a gelli plate.  The black stenciling was made with some Tim Holtz stencils and the white circles used a Stencil Girl stencil.  I outlined the images with colored pencils and a Fude Ball Pen.  Thanks for coming by to see my mermaids!

"Mermaid" Art Journal Page Swap

This month's art journal page swap has a "mermaid" theme.  I love the new Dylusions stamps that have the cat and dog heads on human bodies.  I used these heads and made the tails from the "Doodle Delight" stamp set. The images are colored with colored pencils.  I used black and white glaze pens on the dog image.  I finger painted mostly Dylusions paints in the background.  I used Dylusions and Stencil Girl stencils.  The vintage dictionary page was cut sort of in a wave fashion. The words are a Tim Holtz sticker.  My take on mermaids is different, but different is good! Thank you for coming by my blog!

Victorian Tea Party Gluebook Page Swap

At the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group, the October swap is a Victorian Tea Party Gluebook Page Swap.  I used images that I purchased several years ago on Etsy from Itkupill.  The background is made up of vintage dictionary pages and scrapbook papers.  The little letter cards are Tim Holtz ephemera. I printed off the definition of "tea party" on my computer/printer.  For this swap, there can be no embellishements, just images glued down on the base.  I'm glad you stopped by my blog.  Thanks!

Easy Halloween Cards!

I just finished up making my Halloween cards for this year.  I used Tim Holtz Halloween ephemera, washi tape, some cool spider webs I found at Michaels, stick-on spiders from Target, and various papers.  Halloween is my favorite holiday!  Happy Halloween and thanks for visiting my blog!

Trio Art Journal Page

I started out this background smooshing some pink paint around and lifting some back off with a stencil and baby wipe. I put a few drops of white, black and gold acrylic inks down and mashed the pages together and pulled them apart.  I added some purple perfect pearls mist and some gold spray ink.  I used some Stencil Girl stencils in the background.  The stamped images are from Dina Wakley. I added some circles and Tim Holtz word stckers.  I finished off with a Stencil Girl stencil around the edges.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

Houston Art Journal Page

Having some fun in my art journal last night!  For the background I used a Stencil Girl stencil that has different sorts of cars, buses and train representations.  I stenciled it in different colors with the stencil rotated various ways. I printed an old map of Houston off from the internet and applied it in various places. The city view stencil is from the Crafter's Workshop.  After the paint dried I went back in with a white glaze pen.  I used another Stencil Girl stencil in the background that looks like dots and dashes.  I like the graphic feel of the car images in the background.  If you don't look closely, I think you could miss the fact that the images are of cars, etc.  I'm glad you stopped by my blog!  Thanks!

Modeling Paste Leaves Page

I wanted to try something different, so I used a Stencil Girl leaves stencil with modeling paste.  I colored them with various paints.  I painted the background orange and then covered it up with vintage text.  I used a few more Stencil Girl stencils, added some circles and details with a white gel pen.  Thanks!

Greeting cards

It seems like I always need some sort of a card for something. I made some greeting cards that are pretty generic that can be used for almost any occasion.  I started out with a sheet of watercolor paper.  I stamped the Dina Media round stamp and embossed with black embossing powder.  Next I applied watercolor.  I cut up the sheet into card size pieces and I didn't like them.  No problem!  I cut the watercolor paper into strips and more or less randomly glued the strips to a card front.  The cards looked kind of plain, so I stamped the round stamp again in different places on each card.  I followed that with some black watercolor speckles.  I have a Tim Holtz stamp set with many different salutations that I can use to add a message to each card.  I popped up the "thinking of you".  Using the thick watercolor paper strips also adds texture the the cards. These cards will also work for both genders. Try this!  I think you'll like the results!  Thanks!

Journal play!

Just playing around this morning in one of my art journals!  There's some vintage text and strips cut from an old calendar in the background.  Mostly Stencil Girl stencils and one The Crafter's Workshop template.  I used modeling paste, stencils, Dylusions paint (my favorite paint), Dina Media paint, a geli print and a few pens.  It's relaxing to just play in a journal!  Thanks for viewing my play!

Junk Journal

I bought a Carolyn Dube DVD on how to make Junk Journals.  So I made one this weekend!  I used cardboard from a box for the covers.  For "pages", it has envelopes, scrapbook papers, geli prints, vintage text and journal pages, cardboard cut from boxes, tags and blank cardstock.  I'll show a few of pages as they are now.  I will be arting all of them up!

This photo shows a page with a vintage ledger,

This photo shows a calendar page on the left, more or less blank papers, and an pocket for a tag made out of part of an envelope.  I'll post the pages after they've been arted up!  Thanks for coming by my blog.

September Art Journal Page Swap

For September, the person's theme is fairy tales.  I couldn't really think of a way to do a fairy tale, so I did fairies instead.  The doilies and German scrap are available at Collage Stuff.  The beauty of white doilies and white German scrap is that one can color them to match the project.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

Swirls and Hearts Journal Page

I started out with my Golden Fluid Acrylics in the squeeze bottles and used them to draw on my page.  Instead of using water to get them to drip, I used a purple Perfect Pearls Mist.  Lots of shiny purple that you can' really see in the photos. Next I used modeling paste and the Dina Media heart stencil.   After that it was filling in with Stencil Girl stencils, little paint rings, and splashes of black paint.  I had fun creating this page.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

Leave the Past Behind Art Journal Page

This is an art journal page made using a vintage dictionary page, a geli print, vintage ledger page bits, Dylusions-Stencil Girl-Dina Wakley stencils and Dylusions paints.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

Art Journal Page

This is a page in my larger art journal.  I used Stencil Girl stencils, vintage text Dylusions paints and glaze pens.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

September Halloween ATC Swap

At the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group, the September swap is a Halloween-themed ATC swap.  Here's one of my entries.  The witch is from the Collage Stuff "Cursed" collage sheet - one of my favorites! The mini doilies, witch charms and orange bingo markers are available at Collage Stuff.  The Halloween definition is from Hidden Vintage Studios.  I used a punch for the number "31" and colored the numbers orange with an orange paint marker.  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!  If you'd like to join in this swap, click on the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group on the side bar for more info. Thanks for coming by my blog!  Boo!

August Art Journal Page Swap

For my August art journal page, the recipient's theme is "silly birds".  On this page, I glued down an old dictionary page, and used a circle stencil with Dylusions green and orange paint.  The yellow is Dina Media paint.  I used a Stencil Girl word stencil here and there.  I applied a light orange washi tape in several places.  The birds are from the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamp set.  I colored them with watercolors.  I used a Dina Media stencil with glitter bead gel.  Love that stuff!  The saying is from Dylusions.

This page is all Dina Media - stamps, paint and stencils.  The hearts are cut from a vintage book.  I used an orange inktense pencil and a yellow china marker for highlighting some of the elements. The birds are painted with the Dina Media paints.  I used an alphabet stamp that is NOT Dina Media for a little texture.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

Out of Focus Art Journal Page

I call this art journal page "Out of Focus".  It's not really out of focus, but at first glance.....  I used some Golden High Flow acrylic paints to put down some background color.  I used the Stencil Girl Trio of Houses stencil (I think that's the name of it.) with blue and then black paint with the stencil shifted down and to the right slightly.  I used a Stencil Girl flower stencil at the top.  I cut up some pages from a vintage book in half circles and strips and glued then down to frame the page.  Hot pink paint over the text next.  I used a Stencil Girl word stencil around the edges, then painted black paint around the pink parts.  The rest was adding paint and letter stickers in different places.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

Pondering Art Journal Page

This is a page in my 9x12 journal.  I started out making a background with Stencil Girl stencils and Dylusions paints and kind of overdid it.  I recently bought the Stencil Girl Bold Flowers stencil that is a stencil plus masks.  I used 3 of the flower masks and black paint.  I used a white glaze pen to doodle and add journaling.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

Asian-themed ATC's

The August swap at the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group is an Asian-themed ATC swap.  I sent all of the participants a mini collage pack with Asian items that were to be used in the ATC construction.  I included joss papers, pages from a vintage Japanese/English dictionary and Japanese vocabulary cards.  I made backgrounds with these items,and  added some red paint with stencils.  The main images are from some Asian-themed playing cards at Collage Stuff.  I scanned in the playing cards and sized them to fit on my ATC's.  It will be interesting to see what everyone does with the same collage materials.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

My World Art Journal Spread

Here's a spread in my small Dylusions art journal.  The paints are Dylusions paints applied with a cosmetic sponge. All of the stencils are from Stencil Girl.  The butterfly images are Dina Wakley stamps.  I used glaze and paint pens to doodle and embellish. I added red/white washi tape in a few places.  Thanks for coming by my blog!

The Big Picture Art Journal Spread

I started this out with some printed scrapbook paper and applied drops of Golden High Flow paints and smashed the pages together.  I used a stencil and a baby wipe to remove some of the paint.  I used stencil girl floral stencils with white and purple paint.  I between the flowers I used a sort of honeycomb stencil girl stencil with white paint.  The black center image is a Stencil Girl stencil with a piece of white floral lace applied in the center.  I used a white glaze pen to highlight it.  I applied the floral stamped image randomly with black ink and added a few purple circles.  The bee image from Dina Wakely.  I colored it in with purple and yellow paints and a gold paint pen.  I used a yellow china marker to add yellow around the words and the bees.  I finished the bees off by highlighting them with the gold paint pen. Thanks for coming by my blog!