Inspiration Wednesday

Hi! :)

When I first started art journaling I found a lot of inspiration, and learned a lot, from Donna Downeys Inspiration Wednesday videos that she posted once a week for free.

And now she brought them back, for a small membership cost, and I joined in! Eeek! :) This is soo exciting!

I bought my journal from Donna and I've added an extra signature to my journal, since the workshop is for 25 weeks. Love how thick it feels now, can't wait to feel it when it's all filled up with 25 Inspiration Wednesdays. Yum! :)

I've added the second signature with the help from this video, and I used a purple ribbon. :) Cute!

 

A detail of the journal - the luscious fabric covered button. Love the colors - Orange, green, pink and teal. :) 

My journal is ready, and I'm ready to start this artistic journey. Bring it on! :)

I can. I will.

There is a lot of inspiration out there on the internet - different blogs, instagram and facebook to name a few. So if you ever get a scrap block - get yourself out there! :)

This is an Art Journal page where I was inspired by a blog post over at the Faber-Castell blog - created by Mieko. Faber-Castell makes a lot of yummy color/media products, like the Pitt Artist Big Brush Pen, different fun medium and Gelatos.

On this page I worked with Gelatos. Gelatos is kind of like a creamy crayon, with the consistency as a lip stick. It is colorful, and dissolves easily with water. That is also where it gets permanent.

I colored some wood hexagons, from Studio Calico, with gelatos. Then I painted with a water brush on top to make the color permanent.

When everything was dry, I spread some UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) and Fragments (Shaved Ice) over the hexagons and heated it with an embossing heat gun. Use a pair of tweezers to hold on to the hexagon with, cause this will get HOT! ... and other tip: Heat it from below... otherwise you will have glitter and UTEE all over the place (pretty sure of that! ;)

Doesn't it turn out pretty cool? :) Kind of like small pieces of candy!

I found this quote on Facebook a while ago. And it is sooo true - For me it means that if I put my heart and soul into whatever I'm going - I will make it! :)

Have a great day! :)

Stop it!

The theme for the 51st Sodaliciuos Art Journal Challenge is...

... "Cut it out".

And when I found the perfect image of my interpretation of that theme, I couldn't wait to play along. :)

 For me the theme represent that sometimes you need to stand up for yourself. To just say "Stop it!" when you've had enough of something or someone. That is your right to do that, don't forget it! 

I'm working in an Art Journal album from Sodalicious, with different papers inside, and I love the grafic wood pattern. To create the background I dripped some orange paint on both pages, and then I used my brayer to spread it out unevenly. Then I picked up a Sodalicious stencil and used green acrylic paint on top of that. I like the combination of orange and green. :)

When that had dried, I added some bits and pieces of washi tape, and then I added the cut out girl with modpodge and did some doodling around her.

A close up of all the yummy layers of pattern, paint, tape and letters. Love it! :)

Love is tough

Is love tough? ... I would say it is. It is hard to find, and when you find it you have to work with it to keep it alive. But it is worth it!

I have created an Art Journal page with that thought in my mind. Cute hearts, with dark and rough edges, revealing or covering a mess inside...

.... I know, kind of deep... ;)

This Art Journal is created for Scrap-Perra and on this particular project we had a special theme in the Design Team. We all got the same three papers to create with, from American Craft - Dear Lizzy - Daydreamer. It is so much fun to see how different all the projects turned out, even though we started with the same base. :)

Photo borrowed from Scrap-Perra.

This is one of the Project Life pages that Maria/Miis in the Design Team created... can you see what inspired me to do my Art Journal?

I really loved the card in the top middle, so I had to make my own version of it. :) ... I really like the one on the lower right as well... Cute! :)

I had this really messy mop up page that I didn't know what to do with...

... this was the perfect way to use it, since only small parts of it showed through the hearts.

There is some really yummy texture and lots of layers in the mop up page - Liquitex Texture Gel Blended Fibers, Dylusions ink, Deco Art Acrylic Paint and different masks/stencils from The Crafters Workshop and Prima. :)

I wanted the letters to really stand out. They had a soft pattern in white at first, but I painted them with a Faber Castell Big Brush Pen in hot pink to make them pop.

As a small decoration I added some wood veneer hearts from Studio Calico...

... and did some doodling around everything. :)

Have a great day! :)

5 more kilos

Do you remember this Art Journal page from a couple of months ago?

Well.... I have reached another part time goal - I have lost five more kilos. Happy! :)

I like making these motivations pages.... and it is with motivation that I get through my challenges.

On the background I used a technique that Dyan Reavely shows in this video. She is soo funny and good at what she do... I would love to attend one of her classes. :)

The technique basically is about using the Dylusions inks without misting with them. You screw of the "misting lid" and draw with the riser on your page, picking up more color as you go.

She shows two versions of the technique in the video. One where she first mists water on the page, do the drawing, and then mist more water. That gives it a brighter feeling.

I used the second version, where I first mist with the White Linnen mist, then draw, and then mist with the white mist again. This gives it a more pastel look, softer. I like it! :)

I then wanted to add some white to my page, so I added some Liquitex Modleing Paste over a TCW mask. When that was dry I splattered yellow acrylic ink over the page and let it run. 

I use the same "number five" on all of these motivational pages... from my gyms own magazine,  giving it kind of a connection to all my working out time.

The name of the gym is SATS, so the title is a little play with that name... giving the Swedish word for "Go for it". 

A yummy bonus photo! :)

Beautiful captured wildness

The Art Journal challenge #48 at the Sodalicious blog is all about creating around the word: WILDNESS.

This is my contribution to that challenge. :) I used a photo of dewy spider web on a fence - Beautiful Captured Wildness.

 
I played with Liquitex Paint Markers in an Art Journal album from Sodalicious - it came out soo coool! :)

I have seen Donna Downey use this technique with this kind of markers. I didn't draw with them. I stomp them against the paper letting the paint out, and when there is enough paint I do a big stomp to make that happy splatter effect. :)

I do each color separately, letting them dry before I use the next color.

Isn't this soooo cooool?! Love it! :)

I have never used an actual photo on any of my Art Journals before... but for some reason I thought of this photo when I saw the theme of this challenge.

Usually I use a cut out from a magazine, or something like that, but this worked for me. Even though it kind of look like a small version of a double layout...

Dewy spider web can be so beautiful, when you can see all the little strings that the spider weaved. I took this photo an early morning going to work.

To give balance to the page I wanted to have big bold black letters, so I used mistable letters from Heidi Swapp and Dylusions mist Black marble. I hand wrote the other words in italics to give a big contrast to the bold letters.

I also added some ribbon that was laying on my scrap table, and some twine that I let run wildly across the page. 

To finish the page off, I did some doodling - three circles in clusters.

*Happy happy happy* :)

Bloom

Today I wanted to show you a version of doodling...

... something I'd like to call Mandala flowers, kind of...

I was inspired by Alica Burk, an amazing artist that loves to doodle in her sketch book. 

I'm working in my mini Dylusions journal. :) I just picked up a black pen and started doodling.  Don't you think it looks kind of cool with the 3D effect on the flowers? And as usual I'm working in a visual triangle. 

I wanted to have som color on the flowers... so I dabbed with a light pink - Cotton Candy Distress Paint, misted with water and then I let the paint flow across the page.

I didn't mind that the dabbing marks stayed. They are there because I hadn't primed the page with gesso first, the page had to much tooth in it... but since I covered the page with acrylic paint and gesso after the Distress Paint they disappeared.

When everything was dry, I did some splatter with three different Dylusions mists over the page.. by taking the lid off and hitting the riser on a pencil. Yummy colors, right?

A close up off one of the flowers. :)

Donna Downey inspired

Donna Downey is one of my biggest inspirations... and I constantly learn from her and try to do something similar to what she does.

Today I want to show you an Art Journal that is inspired by this canvas that she made. I made it almost a year ago, for SweScrap, but now I'll show you. :)

I started out by covering the whole page with mists and a ton of different masks and stencils. Unfortunately I used mostly Dylusions mist.... do you know what will happen when you ad paint ontop of those mists? ... they color the paint.. oh, well I worked with that.

On top of this mess I drew three circles and stamped with a Donna Downey stamp - poppy.

Then I started adding paint around the circles and the flowers, and painting the flowers. This is when I first thought I was finished....

.... with the mists and masks showing through the circles...

... but then I wasn't so happy with it, so I added more layers of paint..... and some more... and with this I was finished. :)

But the blue dots with Dylusions After Midnight mist colored a lot of the background blue/purple ish. This was hard!

I covered the inside of the circles with gesso and more swirly paint. Now I'm more happy with them. :)

This is a close up of one of the flowers. The small dots really gave it that finished touch. I made them by dipping the end of my brush in paint, choosing different sized brushes.

These dots makes me sooo happy. Happy happy happy! :D

As I said, that Art Journal was made almost a year ago... and this one is one that I made at a live workshop with Donna Downey in October of 2013. (!!! :)) I got a lot of great tips, so I need to try to make a third version of the Art Journal above, from the start this time. Fun fun fun! :)

This is me with Donna in October. I can't believe that I met her, and got to see her live. A little bit star struck, but she is a great women filled with so much love for this hobby that she'll happily share.

I guess I neeed to take her 48 weeks long workshop...