Ugly duckling paper becomes a beautiful Swan booklet

I know it's been more than a month, almost 2 in fact.  I'm only now starting to catch my breath though, life had been non-stop.  In addition to the 3 back to back out of town trips I had, there was the annual goodbye to our son as he left for another year of college.  About that same time our dog got seriously ill between trips 2 and 3, so add giving her multiple meds, getting her to eat and trying to nurse her back to health in general.  Unfortunately despite our best efforts she only got worse and we had to put her down after weeks of trying and several more visits to the vet.  Only a couple of days after that I got the flu, I fine now but I sure wish I had stock in the company that makes facial tissues, I could have easily gotten my money back and then some.

I am going to post a few catch up pics this week but hope to have a more detailed "how to" post soon.

 

I used a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock to create a mini book months ago maybe even close to a year ago, I'm honestly not sure.  I never finished decorating the book though.  I knew when I purchase the pad of paper it came in that this sheet of paper could be pretty but as is, it was too gaudy.  It had  beautiful orange, yellow and gold foil flowers on it but they were way too large and overwhelmed the design.  Once it was folded down to 3 x 3 pages though, WOW!  Suddenly it was too pretty to decorate and cover up.  Which is why it ended up in the 'to be finished eventually' box with other unfinished projects or UFO as the stamping/crafting community likes to call them.

Flash forward to last month; I've been sick, I'm stressed, in mourning and just plain tired but want to be creative so I go digging through that same box looking to see if something will catch the attention of my muse.  The minute I saw that unfinished book I knew I had to complete it.  I grabbed some Susan Branch stickers I had in my stash and went to work finishing pages.  Then I added a bit of bling to the first page and the front of my book.

these pages were the only ones done with cancelled post office
stamps and die cuts as well as stickers

The actual book was done but I had 3 slots for inserting tags left to make.  I started by cutting pale yellow cardstock into tags and then ran them through my Bigshot using a GooseBumpz roses embossing folder.  I then colored and distressed the tags using several different colors if inks and watercolor paints. Notice that I did this on the debossed side of the tags.  Using this side of the tag enabled me to color the roses easier and would make gluing my chosen quotes onto them easier.  I picked three vellum quotes from a booklet of  famous quotes (JoAnns) that I've had for years and cut them to fit each tag.  I then glued them on using matte gel medium.

When I glued the original book together I had used  washi tape on the edges, so I did the same to my tags so they matched the book.  My tags were almost finished all I needed was ribbon for the holes.  While I was searching for ribbon I remembered some tea themed charms I had so I decided to add them to my tags as well.  All that was left now was to insert the tags into the book and take a few pictures.

I'm not sure yet who will receive this as a Christmas gift but it will definitely not be just anyone.  It will go to someone very special.  Have you ever made something ugly beautiful?  If not I challenge you to do so, you might end up with your own Ugly Duckling creation.

Month off

I've decided life is just too busy right now so I'm taking a month off.  I'll start posting again sometime after Labor day when things have calmed down a bit.  Hopefully I will have reorganized my supplies so I can find and use them.

In the mean time I thought I'd share a picture I took recently from my front yard, looking at the top of a tree in my neighbors back yard.  This is a Mississippi Kite, a couple showed up last year on our street.  They returned this year with friends, they are BIG like hawks.  I love watching them soar in circles way above the houses.  Best of all someone told me they eat mosquitoes, YEAH!

Any way thought this picture would be a good one to practice drawing bird shapes and feather texture from.  Have a great rest of the summer and I'll be back in the fall with lots of pics, tutorials and hopefully a regular schedule.

Bright butterfly Days

This page makes me smile everytime I look at it!  It's so cheerful and well... bright, how could anyone that looks at it not have their spirits lifted.

I purchased a pad of Canson Acrylic paper a couple of  months ago and decided to use a sheet in the journal that I'm putting together, so I cut a sheet to size and then monoprinted some new paints I had bought on sale recently.  Then I remembered the copier weight  paper I had in my stash.  Someone had given it to me years ago thinking I would use it up in no time making cards.  As you can tell they're not a stamper/card maker and didn't understand that we don't usually use light weight paper when making cards.  It's the thought that counts though.

I had purchased a daisy die by Sizzix and wanted to try it out and figured why not use the bright paper to experiment with.  Once I had them cut and started to play around with them to make flowers I remembered I had some already made that would match.  When I opened the zip bag with my pre-made flowers I found a butterfly die cut and the cardstock it had been cut from in the same bag.  I'd saved the cardstock to do reverse stenciling with someday and decided that was as good a time as any, so I started painting the butterfly and stencil all over the page.  Next I added a few decorative touches to the flower centers and  glued the flowers onto the page.  The page was now ready for journaling and since butterflies represent new beginnings I wrote words about rebirth and renewal of the spirit all over the page. I used several different pens in permanent and gel colored inks to write with.

Still makes me feel happy to look at this page and yes I know I once again forgot to leave my self a margin for binding, darn it!!




Paper: Astrobright copy paper for flowers and Canson Acrylic cut to size for base
Ink & Paints: acrylic paints by Apple Barrel and Americana / Sharpie pens and Sakura gel pens
Accessories: Sizzix, Spellbinder and Cuttlebug dies : glitter glue : K & Co/Brenda Walton dimensional Stickers
Techniques: Monoprinting, die cuts and reverse stenciling.   The butterfly and the black flower center on the larges flower are from Cuttlebug, the bottom right flower is a combination of Sizzix and Cuttlebug.  The bottom left flower is stamp from Imaginisce/Paper Mania-Snag Em Duo that I cut out with Spellbinder circle and scallop dies and then layered together.  Two of the flowers have star shaped resin centers from K&Co and two of them have glitter glue centers.

All about the inside of a card

I decided to make a pop-up card recently for a birthday.  What fun and they are actually pretty easy to make once you "get" the concept.  Before we get to all the technical inside stuff though here is the front of the card.

The green card base was from a multi color pack I purchased at a convention from Paper Cuts, I created a background by repeatedly stamping an Inkadinkado/PSX foam stamp.  The stamp is part of a set of birthday stamps that I've had forever, sure has been a useful purchase.  You'll see another stamp from this set on the inside of the card too.

The rosette I made using Spellbinder scalloped and circle dies.  Here is a link to a previous post on how to make these: making rosettes.  The "make a wish sentiment and birthday candle stamps are from a Stampabilities set I picked up on clearance a couple of years ago.

I next used a Spellbinder labels 8 set to cut the middle panels.  I found the paint splash paper in my file cabinet.  I tried to find out who makes but have no idea.  I could tell it was torn out of one of those books of scrapping  papers that were popular at one time.  The surprise for you label was created using the smallest die from the Spellbinder Lattice Rectangles die set and a stamp from Post Scrips, long since gone.

Now its time to talk about the inside of the card

First off all of the die cuts on the inside of this card were purchased many years ago pre-cut and ready to use but I did make a few alterations.  I stamped the "Pin the tail on the donkey words/image using the stamp set I mentioned before and I colored the flame on the candle as well as the pom-pom on the hat with markers.  The corrugated finish to the balloons was how they came, all that was needed was strings which I attached on the back with tape.  To give the card continuity I created the same background using the same stamp that I had used on the front of the card.   I also glued the party hat and streamer onto the birthday cake to create one embellishment and then attached the whole thing to the notch I had cut into the base of the card.

There are tons of tutorials on how to make a basic pop up card including this one from Splitcoaststampers so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail but did want to show you that I did two different techniques.  The cake is pretty much the same technique as the tutorial I linked but since I wanted the balloons higher up on the card I use slightly different method which is equally easy and effective.  You simply cut a strip of cardstock that is thinner than the embellishment you are attaching and fold it to create a square.  Glue you embellishment onto one side of your square and then glue the opposite side to your card.  Just be sure you don't place it too high as your pop-up could show when the card is closed, unless that is the look you are going for.

The Happy Birthday stamp is from Stamp Camp.  The package die that I used to sign the card with is raised up on a spring, which is easy to do, a couple of pieces for Scotch tape at both ends and you are in business.  I even made the spring myself from a piece of scrap wire.  I had removes the wire from a piece of ribbon recently and all I needed to do was wrap the wire around a pencil and the spring for my card was ready to use.

Interactive cards are always a crowd pleaser.  You are guaranteed to get lots of smiles and everyone will be very impressed when they find out you made the card.  It's our little secret just how easy and fun they are to create though.

This scene was stamped after attending a stamp convention several years ago.  I really just wanted to see how the river scene stamp I had just purchased looked on paper.  The central foreground is messed up in a major way so I never used the scene.  I also needed more middle ground because the river looks like it runs off into the sky as it is now.  Must remember to keep an eye on perspective and make sure my images are grounded.

Such a shame I messed this one up since I was really happy with how the sky came out otherwise.  Isn't that always the way it goes, get one part "perfect" and mess it up in another area/way.  I decided to go ahead and use this page in my journal, mistakes are part of a stampers journey and are reminders of the "what not to do's".  That is an important part of growth as an artist of any medium.

The central river scene surrounded by trees image in this is from Stamping Sensations and the rocks, pebbles, etc on both sides are various stamps from Beeswax.  The waves in the foreground are from Posh Impressions and Inkadinkado but don't look at that part of the image, lol.  I colored everything with a combination of sponged inks and chalk pastels.

Remember to embrace and learn from those oops moments!

Stormy Seas

The above piece started as a basic watercolor wash and has been sitting waiting to be finished for a while.  I'm still a novice at water-coloring but think this came out pretty good, love the soft green blue on the left side with a contrast of darker blue on the right.  I used a fan brush to add the streaks of rain.  Confession time, if you look closely you can see a reddish streak behind all the rain.  It was one of those oops moments, sigh.  Now that I've added the streaks of darker blue though it looks more like a continuation of the the shoreline off into the horizon. Yeah!!

The girl looking off into the distance and the sea gulls are from Beeswax stamps, the sailboat is a from PSX stamp.  I used Prisma pencils and OMS to color the images but the white pencil did not hide the blue color underneath the birds though so I ended up using white acrylic paint to color them instead.  Much better and as a bonus it gives them some texture.

The seashells in the bottom right and the sunglasses on the top left are pre-made die cuts from my stash.  I purchased them from a dollar store many years ago and decided to alter them some starting with the sunglasses.  I added VersaMark ink and clear embossing powder to the "glass" area of the die and put it into the freezer.  When I took it out I was able to crack the embossed area and then use a sponge with black ink to lightly go over the cracks to make them stand out more.  While I waited for the sunglasses to be ready to take out of the freezer I got started on the beach area of my picture.

The original picture did not have a beach foreground, it was sky and sea only and I wanted a sandy beach.  I grabbed a jar of Deco-Arts sandstone acrylic paste from the shelf and mixed a couple of drops of Ranger Tea Stain Distress ink to alter the color from off white to a golden "beach" color. Now I had a beach foreground that not only was the right color but had the look and feel of sand.  I then glued the seashell die onto the bottom corner and then added a little bit of the acrylic sand paste over the die to help it blend into and become a part of the scene.

The last things I did was to write my journal line and add some white acrylic for highlights.  I painted with a toothpick to create waves/swells in the stormy area of the picture and a small round brush to add watered down white acrylic paint on the beach for sea foam.  I hope there are no storms on your horizon and your summer is full of smooth sailing instead.

A little journal page catch up

Sorry I didn't have a post last week.  My only excuse is it's summer and I have been outside enjoying the weather before it gets too hot.  The last several years it has been so hot, many 100+ days by now.  So needless to say 80's and even low 90's are worth getting outside for right now.  I have managed to do a little creating, though mostly with already started pages from my massive stash of started but never used stuff.  Not much in the way of technique so I'll just post a few pictures and the stamps used.  Here we go:

The dresses on this were created by hand using a brass stencil, sorry don't know who makes it since it doesn't say on the stencil anywhere.  I then hand embossed the hearts on the one and the lines on the other one.  Hats on a pedestal are Inkadinkado and the rose is from Stampabilities.  The lacy border stamp is from Lost Coast Stampers and was added over a scrap of fabric I had added with watered down white glue.  The purple hat and shoes are from Spellbinders.  The only image possibly still available might be the border stamp.  Sorry the picture isn't any better I have tried SEVERAL times but my camera did not like the combination of glossy cardstock, vellum and the metallic/holographic paper in the one dress.  If I get a better picture I'll include it in a future post.

The wings on this are from Stamp Camp, the "each day..." and border are all one wood stamp by Hero Arts.  I have no idea who made the checkerboard at bottom & eyeball on the right as they were a rak many years ago. The rest of the page I drew/doodled myself along with coming up with all the encouragements myfself.

This one was doing with pencils and some pre-made letters that I got from a book of die cuts forever ago.  The hula girl in the grass skirt is from Stamp Camp and the flowers are from DMD/Creative Inc.  The label was cut using Spellbinders dies and stamped with a Studio G dollar set.

All of the stamps on this one are from Beeswax except: the girl playing the flute which is from Stamp Camp and the clarinet, its' from All Nite Media.  This one has Twinkling H2O's on the girls dress and the columns.  It also has some Washi tape alone the left side and bottom, still not sold on this stuff but occasionally I find a project that it works on.

This last one was inspired by an email from Stampington that talked about using corrugated cardboard to make a journal.   It is a LOT of fun to play with, so many options!  I didn't like the look of a whole book done in it though but a few pages mixed in with other types of cardstock works.  The only thing on this page to give credit for is the tulip image which is an embossing folder from Sizzix that I painted with H2O's.

I hope you are having a great summer.  I'm hoping to get another post done this coming week I have so much more to share; journal pages and cards, !

A Mermaid's Life

This post includes 2 subjects: creative writing and making your own textural/dimensional paste.  Lets start with textural paste first.  

I checked a library book out recently that talked about making your own paste by combining acrylic medium with a thickener such as sand, clay or talc.  I've had both matte and glossy gel medium for quite a while now and as they are both starting to get rather thick I figured why not give it a try.  So I grabbed my matte medium, re-inkers and some talc powder and started to play around with the idea.  It was easy to do and the results are amazing!   I don't know for sure buying pre-made paste may be cheaper in the long run but it is nice to know that I can make a small batch to use on a project anytime I want.

See the wonderful bubble texture on the left of this first picture, the right side looked like that originally but I couldn't leave things alone.  There was one little spot that didn't look right so I decided I neede to "fix" it and flattened it out instead.  I should have remembered the "Un-Rules" of mixed media that we started over at SCS:  it doesn't have to be perfect.  I've added another rule to the list, leave things alone until they are dry.  At least I was able to do something with the mess I'd created by taking a craft stick to create fish scales, sort of any way.

The texture on the bottom of the page in this next picture shows how I used both the positive and negative of a stencil.  I laid the stencil down on the right corner to apply my paste and then flipped it over onto the left corner to use the paste that was now on the top of the stencil.  The stencil I used by the way was actually a Cuttlebug die cut out of card stock.  Looks a lot like a fishing net to me, what do you think?  I saved the die cut and will use it sometime in the future, which makes that one die cut a 3 for 1, yeah!

I created the mermaid freehand and am pretty proud of the way she came out.  I followed another "unrule", don't be afraid, just do it.  If  I can do it so can you, I challenge you to to jump in and draw or create something without a stamp or stencil, nobody needs to see it if you don't like the way it turns out but at least you tried.  I learned me lesson, after the mermaid was completely dry I painted her with some iridescent green Twinkling H2O's so she would sparkle and shimmer in the light.  It also helped her stand out better on the page since I used the same color of paste as I had used at the top and bottom of the page, if you look close you can see the green.  I  hand drew a mouth and eyes and she was done.  Hint when creating eyes, draw a larger white oval or dot first then put a smaller dot of your chosen color in the center of the white dot.

I loved the way all the textures turned out on this piece but was stumped at this point as to what to do next.  What kind of journaling goes with mermaids anyway?!?!  This is where the let go and just do it mantra came in handy again.  I grabbed a piece of paper and started writing down what I though being a mermaid would be like and within no time at all I has some free verse of sorts that I knew I wanted written on my journal page so I started writing and before I knew it the page was full.  Now I want to be a mermaid because it sounds like a wonderful place to live.

Art journaling really does help you free your creative nature, the more I art journal, the more I'm finding that teenage girl who loved to doodle and write silly stuff again because while making this page I could feel her stirring, trying to wake up again.  I will definitely be exploring my creative side more.  

About that "letting go and just do it" thing isn't so bad either, I kinda liked it.  Give it a try, I'm glad I did.

Cards with patterned paper

Recently I saw a pack of paper at Tuesday Morning that I just had to have, it was a 25 sheet pack of all the same image.  I rarely use pattern paper, I'd much rather use stamps, inks, etc... to create my own backgrounds but it was such a bargain and it was just so pretty.  I instantly started thinking of all the quick cards that could be make with it.









 It is 12 x 12 and has 6 different images on the page, all of which are A2-ish in size.  That's 6 cards per sheet and I got somewhere around 25 sheets of paper, all for the amazing price of 99 cents.   The paper is not card stock weight but that was fine with me since I would be using it as a layer not the base for my cards.

I've made 2 card with it so far and am playing with a mini book which I'll share another time.  This first card is unfinished and waiting for the "perfect" occasion to come along.  It is 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 and the base layer was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  I had to run it through my Big Shot twice to emboss the entire front side which left seams.  Most of the seam is covered up but the area's at the top and bottom that do show I decided to play up by adding bead ribbon half way only stopping at those seams.  Sometimes it's better to make the best of something and  "go with it" than to try to hide a flaw.

The book was created using a Spellbinder die set and a script stamp from Rubbernecker.  Thought it was finished when I noticed the purple ribbon scrap in a jar over my desk, it was the perfect size to be a book marker.  I then added a few foil flower stickers over similar flowers on the pattern paper.  The maroon layer was punched on all four corners with a Fiskar punch before I glued everything together.  I hope I don't need a sympathy card anytime soon but this would be perfect so I'm putting the this card unfinished into my stash.

The other card ended up becoming a mother's day card for my mother in law because she loves her flower gardens.  This paper has very faint grey script on it so after die cutting the blue grey elements for this card I once again pulled out that Rubbernecker script stamp and stamped them to match.  It is subtle but really helped draw out the script in the patterned paper.  The doily die cuts are Spellbinder and the scroll and butterfly are Cuttlebug.  The Happy Mother's Day I printed off on my computer after measuring the area inside of the scroll die cut, that's what those rulers you see in your editing software are for by the way.  I'm not into making my own paper flowers so I finished it off with a silk flower that I'd added a gold brad to.

If anyone know who made this paper pattern I'd love to know, unfortunately there wasn't any info on the back side of the paper and no info in or on the packaging either.  Have a great weekend everyone!!

Texas Proud

Just a quick post to show a journal page I did this past weekend.  My son is home from college for the summer and we decided to go to the Fort Worth stockyards and wander around for a while as we were catching up.  The area has plenty of history to go around and it always makes me proud to be a Texan after a visit there.  There is so much to see and do there, what a great afternoon.  Here is a link if you want to know more: fortworthstockyards - history.  I did this page that night after dinner, Texas was definitely still on my mind.

First off I know the flag colors are arranged wrong but the gold star that I had looked better over a white background and there are no rules in journaling anyway, right?!

 The blue and red are a watercolor wash and the boots and hat were done with a stencil in chalk pastels.  Sorry you can't dash out to pick this one up because it is one my son got at a birthday party when he was little.  I have no idea where the paper star came from either but because of the two tone colors it was easy to crease and then add skinny slivers of foam tape underneath so that it has the same up and down texture and shape as a sheriff's badge.  Looks so cool in real life.  The longhorn stamp is from Beeswax and the other 2 are from Stamping Sensations.

The page as a whole, including the writing came together really quickly.  Next time you are stuck for a topic try focusing on your heritage or family history.  I'll bet you will have plenty of ideas all of a sudden or you can click on the link above and journal about the cowboys and cattle drives.

Until next time... Yee Haw Y'all!!

Scenic stamping in journaling

I have a quite a few half page scenes in my stamping room.  Most were experiments and not my best work which is why I still have them.  I decided to gather them all up and put them in with my backgrounds for journaling and I've already used one, all I had to do was journal and it is ready to put in my book.

The stone house is from Stamp Camp, the Hula Bunnies and tree are Stamp La Jolla images, the sun is from Anita's Art Stamps and the flower image is from A Stamp in the Hand.  I used several techniques on this piece including water color markers on stamps and on the images after stamping; a chalk pastel background; and colored inks on stamps instead of just black.

The journaling around the page says: Summer is here and the kids are home.  Now I'm back to cooking, cleaning and running all over town every day.  My stamps are abandoned and lonely.    I'll bet a lot of us mom's will be feeling this way soon if not already.

One quick side note/observation.  I keep forgetting to leave a binding margin on my pages, I may have to go thru and draw a line on all the pages I have waiting to be used because no matter how many times I say I'm going to remember to not write in that space when I sit down to do actual journaling I always forget.

The journey to becoming who you want to be

I have a stamp by Stampland of Chicago that talks about it never being too late... and knew it needed to be included on a page.  I'll give you the full quote later but first lets talk about the background of this page.

It is another mono-print and I decided to use some glycerin as my blending medium this time to see what happens and while the page came out pretty in the end, the colors blended together completely.  I'm not sure if I used too much or it is too liquid to begin with.  I'll have to experiment more.   I wanted to use my color wheel to pick my third color and was skeptical of using the color green but it said it was a good choice so I went with it, the colors I used are: burgundy, gold and a small bit of  a light green, I was still skeptical.  Like was already mentioned the paints were too wet and blended together completely, which resulted in the green disappearing and I was left with a golden pinkish burgundy background.  I liked the blend of the red and gold and over all it was pretty but definitely needed to brought up a notch.  That's when I realized the lighter green I had chosen looked like a patina, so I grabbed a sea sponge and dabbed a little more gold here and there for highlights and then added some green "patina" onto the page.  

Maybe that color wheel thing works after all because now my page really popped.   Once it was dry I took a Distress pad in Tea Stain and ran it across one side of the page to "age" it and make it look like someone really had spilled tea on that edge of the page.

Here are the embellishments I decided to use on my page, all of them were leftovers or things I had done previously but never used.  I  did use some of the same color from the background to color the swirl die and the doily die.  The ribbon was actually purple so I dropped it on top of  the same burgandy ink pad that had been used to stamp that heart and pressed away until it changed color.  You can see the difference it made below.

 The above panel was an experiment in double embossing and I love how it came out.  The embossing folders are Sizzix and Cuttlebug and the stamps are Lost Coast and Beeswax.  The flowers are also Cuttlebug, the swirl is Sizzix again and the gold flower centers and leaves are left overs from a Cuttlebug label die.  The flower center at the bottom left is a faux opal, here is a link to the post for making them: http://stampinstacystyle.blogspot.com/2011/12/im-still-in-learning-mode-but-found.html#links


Here is my finished page including the stamp from Stampland of Chicago which says: "It is never too late to become what we might have been" by g eliot.  Words to live by don't you think?  Have a wonderful weekend!

Discovering the story of Me

This is page 2 of my journal and was created using a half sheet of Kromecoat white glossy that I found in my stash, apparently I has streaked blue ink across an entire sheet and then never used it .  I felt glossy was perfect because this is a "snapshot" of who I have thought I was as an artist for years, a rubberstamper.  

The page is mostly stamping with some words glued onto it and the stamps are from many different companies, none of them new:   Stamp Francisco, Lost Coast, Beeswax, Innovative Stamp Creations, Rubber Stamp Tapestry, Lasting Impressions with Panache and lastly the rose bud is from PSX.  There is a small bit of stenciling as well.

 I first glued the photo stamp image and rose onto my blue base page.  They had already been stamped and cut out and were ready to use.  I used something from my stash again, hurrah.  Of course I still have tons but maybe eventually I won't have several shoe boxes full of  bits and pieces, just a small manageable pile, yeah right!!

Then I just started stamping and having fun. I had gone through some ad magazines and cut out a few words and phrases that I thought I could use before tossing them into recycle so next I glued some of those onto my page.  The last thing I did was add a bit of distress ink in Tea Stain around the edges and called it done.

I've already started the next page and hope to have it posted soon.  

I've decided to try Art Journaling and get back into Mixed Media

I have just started getting into mixed media, actually getting back into it.  I did mixed media 10-15 years ago but got distracted by the card making craze.  I have to say I don't know why I ever stopped, I am having so much fun.  Best part is my muse who has been missing for way too long is back and my passion to create has returned.  It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning and the reason I jumped up out of bed.   I needed to check on something I started late last night, what a great feeling!

So far I've not done much with art journaling, only created one page and a few mono-print background but it's a start.  I also pulled background papers I'd previously created with inks directly on paper and never used.  I am putting all my backgrounds together in a folder then when I'm ready to create something my backgrounds are together and ready for the next layer, all I have to do is pick one.  My plan is to make individual journal pages and then when I have enough I will bind them all together, time to dust off that BIA that I've hardly used.  This way I can use a variety of surfaces and tailor their use to the medium I'm in the mood for that day.  I hope you follow along with me on this newest creative adventure.

Here are a few of pictures of what I've done so far, like I said I'm a beginner so not much to show yet.

This is an ink and stencil background, if you look closely you
will see larger yellow squares as well as the little ones.

These mono-prints I did with acrylics on a Plexiglas surface.  I used cheap
craft paint that I already had on hand and I think they came out great
considering the paints were not only cheap but ancient old.

Here is the first page of my journal and except for the background page and a few stamps
was created entirely from things already out on my desk.

The above started with a background from my stash that I had added inks and acrylics in splashes directly to the paper.  I decided to glue bits of tissue paper that had been painted with H2O's here and there then I stamped a large script stamp to cover the whole page.  Next I stamped a corner stamp in opposing corners and my Live, Love, Laugh stamps randomly all over then just started gluing stuff onto the page.  The smile image is a left over from a swap several years ago that I almost used on a card recently but didn't.  The glitter was at the bottom of the dish I had my tissue pieces in, as well as some tiny die cut leftovers.  You know those bit you get when you cut a larger die and think, I should save those I might be able to use them on something.  Can't believe I finally used some of them.

There isn't any actual journaling on this page but it will be the introductory page anyway so that was okay with me.  I'm hoping the "live, love, laugh" stamps I picked will inspire me to do just that when I'm creating pages and remind again to do so once it's been bound into a book so I did sort of have a journal thought on the page.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my first steps into art journaling and come back often to see what I'm creating.  In case you are wondering, there will still be plenty of stamping; the "thing" I jumped out of bed to look at this morning was a stamped image I watercolored very late last night.  Wonder if it will end up on a card or journal page, hmmmm.