4 Inches of Art Space

I have watched some art play by others in a space of 4 inches.

I wanted to give it a try.

I found only one place to obtain materials/supplies for this size journal.  That is at Joggles.com.  It’s a great journal system.  The pages and disc binding can be purchased together or separate.  There are paper choices and sizes of mixed media white and black and watercolor paper.  What I love most about it is that I can work on a page outside of the journal then add it in so easily.  Or even remove a page so easily.

My first page was successful and that was so encouraging to keep going.  The background is Distress Inks and Oxide Inks.  Black Distress Spray Stain sprayed through a stencil and modeling paste pressed through a stencil.  The butterfly is punched adding a key hole and brad body.  A small talk sticker completes the page.

(The next two pages were not so loved, so they are languishing in a drawer.)

But these next keeper pages turned out okay.  Such sweet Tim Holtz paper dolls children.

Then I had some ideas that are even more to my liking in style.  I’d gotten some new background stamps.  

The flower is a die cut painted with various colors of Distress Inks.  The man was stamped on tracing paper then cut out and glued to the background.  Ephemera pieces glued to his coat.

I love me some black and white and red.  The heart is die cut then stamped and embossed in white.  I added a Washi dots strip, Washi butterfly and Washi hearts.  White dots made with a Posca pen, black dots made with black acrylic ink and shading with the black Stabilo All pencil.

The facing page is all stamping with some shading with the black Stabilo All pencil.

I’m hooked.  It’s been quite fun playing with this size art page.  And the ease of use of this journal system is a dream.  The pages snap in and out so easily.  The mixed media paper is a good quality.  I definitely can recommend this system.  The discs come in a variety of sizes.  My journal is starting out with the smallest discs but can so easily grow and the discs can be changed to accommodate a growing number of art pages.

I’ve been surprised at the amount of art that can fit in a 4” space.  I’m not sure personally that I’d want to go any smaller.  This is a nice, fun size to work within.

I’m linking my little journal project to:

 Creative Artiste Mixed Media - Anything Goes

More Mixed Media Challenge - Anything Goes

Cute Ghosts Tag

On the challenge blog, Tag Tuesday , the challenge for this fortnight is to use the color combination of orange and blue.  I like this color combo.  I didn’t plan to go in the direction of Halloween, but that’s the direction it went in anyway.

I did the smooshing technique where you smear some ink from your ink pad on a non-stick surface, spritz it with water then drag or tap the tag into the inks.  Drying between drags and taps so that the colors layer.  I used these ink pad colors.  I then stamped the web with Pumice Stone Oxide.

I stamped the tree limb with Walnut Stain Oxide going over that color with Black Soot Oxide for a deep brown color result.

I then stamped stars with Chipped Sapphire Oxide as well as inking along the outside edges of the tag.

The word letters are die cut from blue card stock.

When the two tag sides were finished I glued them together back to back.  I like a sturdy tag finish.

I inked a length of white seam binding in Chipped Sapphire Oxide ink on half the length and Orange Marmalade Oxide ink on the other half.

I used posca pens to make white dots throughout the background.

This tag was specifically created to use a couple of 3D ghost stickers that have been in my stash for a several years.  As well as some bat stickers and of course Washi Tape.

I put a ghost on each side of the tag.

Because my tag went in the direction of Halloween, I kind of struggled with using blue ink instead of a brown or black.  But I like that this challenge took me a bit away from the standard.  I’m happy to have these guys out of storage and ready for October.

Little Things Art Journal Page

It’s the little things that make life big.

The theme this month at Art Journal Journey is TYPE.

The 3D embossing folder I used to emboss the cardstock is type letters from the good ole days.

A 3D embossing folder works very similar to regular folders but it makes a deeper impression.  Very cool.  

(See Tera, I paid attention when you explained.)

I then began to add color to the paper.  First by inking one side of the inside of the folder with Distress Ink Tumbled Glass.  I spritzed the paper lightly with water then inserted it into the folder and ran it through the BigShot.  The ink transferred to the paper.  I repeated that process to get more ink on the paper.  With a blending tool I rubbed on Distress Antique Linen over the letters and some on the background.  I also blended some Distress Oxide Cracked Pistachio on the background.  I highlighted the letters again with Distress Ink black soot.

I then used an Stabillo All pencil and a water brush and my finger to add the blacker spots and make drips and darken the outside edges.  When I was ready to add this to a page in my journal, I thought I wanted a checkered border around the page.  That looked waaayy too busy.  So I painted over the checks with heavy body white acrylic paint a couple of coats or so.

I used Washi tapes on the outside of the book page.  That added to making the checkered board more subtle in the background.

Then I glued the embossed paper to the page.

And added the Tim Holtz paper doll girls, shading around them with a graphite pencil.

  At the top of the page I added the typed small talk sticker sentiment.

Definitely got my grunge on for this page.

Linking to Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Anything Goes

Linking to More Mixed Media Challenge Anything Goes

Awful Art Rescue

Another awful art rescue.

It began as an art journal page.  But I got ‘ART’ crooked on the page.  I couldn’t live with it.  It was the only part of the page where modeling paste was used so it really stuck out.  I literally tore the page out of the book and put it in the trash.  Of course the next day I pulled it out thinking I could save part of the page to make a postcard.

I cut the page in half.  I added modeling paste through a numbers/alpha stencil.  I really liked how it looked.  So much so that I knew I would never mail it.  That bit of success encouraged me to try and fix the other half into a postcard.  

‘ART’ is still crooked, but not quite so much as it was and I can live with it.  Had I straightened it more, then the other parts of the card would be crooked.  I needed a happy medium for all elements.  I did a bit more fine tuning on both postcards.  They were then decreed keepable together.

Since I was not going to mail these postcards, I decided they needed to turn back into an art journal page.  My new struggle was to create a background for the postcards.  There’s quite a bit of paint adjusting on that page...too light...too dark...not light enough...then finally just right.

For this journal page I used acrylic paints, Gesso, modeling paste, stencils, Distress Spray Stain, rubber stamping, Distress Ink, Distress Oxide Ink and Distress Crayons.

I’m linking my journal page to the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey for this month’s theme TYPE.

Creative Artiste Mixed Media where the challenge is always ANYTHING GOES.

More Mixed Media Challenge ANYTHING GOES with BRIGHTS

July 2021 Calendar Journal

Adventure Art Journal Page

I’ve managed another keepable art page spread in the stitched journal.

2 spreads down, 23 to go.

The pages in this journal are pre designed.

I’ve brayered on some heavy body white acrylic paint to disguise the web design.  Then glued down some left over strips of printed papers from another project.  I then sprayed Scattered Straw Oxide, then at very close range I sprayed Worn Lipstick Spray Stain.

Stamping on the mixed mediums for the solid black figure left light and dark sections of the image.  I’ve tried to disguise that fact as best I could.  I used archival ink so I’m not sure why that happened.

I’ve stamped the alphabet on the rough side of tracing paper with Distress Ink Black Soot.  Then tore around the edges.

   

I glued that to the page.

I added some number stenciling and stamping.  Lastly I added the small talk sentiment.  Oh, and a torn strip of text at the bottom to cover up a slop mess that didn’t turn out well.

I’ve also made a mixed media adventure postcard

Although tight rope walking will not be my great adventure, I’m up for closer to the ground adventures.

I’m linking to Art Journal Journey where the challenge this month is TYPE.  As text is a favorite part of journaling for me, I expect to participate with more than a single entry this month.

Challenging Art Journal

I used this particular Dylusions journal for 2 years of calendar journaling.  I thought I would use it again so I ordered another.  Then I changed my system ... again.  So I have the journal.

I’m going to try it as an art journal (it’s original intended use).  The challenge with it is that I can’t just tear out bad pages.  The pages are stitched.  This is why I like a spiral bound journal.  I can discard bad art pages.  

So I began altering the cover.  I found some text gift wrap tissue to glue over the existing cover.  (Sorry Dyan Revealey)

   

Then I stopped.  I realized I didn’t want to put the time in to put art on the cover if the inside pages might not work out.  My personal challenge with this is all double page art spreads.  There will be 24 page spreads.  They all have to be keepers.  That’s the scary part for me.  My art pages are not always keepers.  They don’t need to be perfect, just keepable.

One down, 23 to go!

The inside covers need to be used and they are not designed.  They are an off-white color.  First challenge was to figure out how to blend it with the existing color and design.  I used Distress Spray Stains.  Good enough (keepable).  So I did some stamping and stenciling.

Next I wanted to use this guy.  I stamped him on the rough side of tracing paper.  Then cut him out.  I like the transparency of the tracing paper when it is glued down.  I used spray glue.

I then added some ephemera.  These pieces are all from a Tim Holtz spiral bound stickers booklet.  The stickers are quite thick.  I wanted them quite thin so I peeled the design layer away from the sticker layer.

And a little more ephemera.

I wanted some words but didn’t know what.  I searched the internet for man quotes or sayings.

I finally came upon this quote by Luvvie Ajayi and knew right away it was the one.  It has meaning for me.  The words in black are die cut and in white they are handwritten.

I now have my first keepable page spread!  I’m so happy.  But will I be able to do this 23 more times???  I will certainly try!

I’m linking this mixed media art page to Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog

Altered Junk Mail and Craft Bags

I’ve had a bit of play with these junk mail return envelopes.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos then dove right in.

I was about to write a letter to my pen pal so I decided to present it a bit unusually.  

You seal the envelope, cut it to the size,  then trim the open corners.  Fold down one of the top flaps.  You then have a pocket.

Cover the various parts that show with decorative papers and embellish as desired.  I tucked my letter inside the pocket then put it all in a regular envelope for mailing.

   

I next made tags for birthday gifts.  They are made the same way as the letter pocket.

   

These were fun to make.  They are kind of tedious to make but it’s so surprising to see a big transformation from a junk mail envelope.



I had some fun altering boring craft gift bags.  First I slapped some Gesso on the bag fronts.

Next I chose some ephemera pieces to glue on collage style.  These are stamped and/or photo copied onto tracing paper.  I like the transparent look that tracing paper provides.  I glued all the pieces onto the bag, added some stamping and finished the bag with a die cut greeting. 

   

The second bag is made similar.  I began by gluing a piece of decorative paper over the Gesso.  Then added a bit more Gesso over the paper design to mute it somewhat.  This bag includes some washi tapes and a small talk sticker.

   

The backside of the bags looked so plain.  I made tiny tags to hang there.  

The tags are decorated on both sides so if they get flipped, they are still fun looking.

   

These are not very large bags.  About 8” tall and 5.5” wide.  I have a lot of them to use up.

   

I don’t really have many occasions when I actually give a gift (other than these two people).  So I don’t know how many bags I will get to alter.  These bags were returned so that I’d fill them again next year.  Ha!  Maybe I’ll try some Christmas bags next.  I hope to improve on my altering designs.