Salvaging Ugly Journal Pages

Hello creative friends.  Some time ago I played around with some products and ended up with a couple of ugly background pages.  I tried reworking them both on several occasions, but it seemed that they just got worse with each attempt.  I finally decided to try one last time to salvage them and try to rework them into completed journal pages.  Here is what the first ugly journal page looked like:

 

I reworked the page by covering it with several different colored Gelatos, Ranger inks sprayed through stencils and then finished it off with ephemera and a title.  Here is the finished journal page:

 



Not my favorite journal page, but I do like how it turned out. 

Here is the other ugly journal page that I reworked:

 

On this page I decided to use some modeling paste through a stencil around the edges.  Then I found a painterly image of a women in my stash that I cut out of a magazine and decided to draw and paint a similar painterly panther to go with her.  After the modeling paste dried I colored the page with Ranger distressing ink.  I stamped a title, added the images to the page and added a quote.  Here is the finished journal page.

 



I really like the way this page turned out and I think the title "Begin Again" and the quote are appropriate: "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broke places".  This whole page is about beginning again, even after several disappointments and frustrations, I decided to begin again reworking this journal page into something successful.  So do you rework failed journal pages or do you abandon them?  I would love to hear about it.  I looked at these journal pages for some time debating on whether to trash them or try to do something with them.  I am glad that I decided to rework them.  Until next time, happy creating.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hello creative friends.  Happy Valentine's day.  This weekend my husband took me out to dinner for Valentine's day, along with everyone else in town.  And I found time to create a mixed media art journal page for Valentine's day.  I made a video of the process if your interested in seeing how I created it.  I didn't start out with the intent of making a Valentine's layout, I started out just playing, having fun and adding paint to a page.  It sort of evolved into a Valentine's page layout.  Here are pictures of the journal page I created:

 

And here is the video:

 





 

 

Hope you enjoy the video.  So what did you do for Valentine's day?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating.

Journal Page - Play

Hello creative friends.  Hope everyone had a good weekend.  This past weekend I got a chance to have fun art journaling and making ICADs.  I created several video's including one for this journal page.  I saw Jennibellie do a journal page once where she put her supplies on various pieces of paper and used them in the order she pulled them out of a bag to create a journal page.  Me and my granddaughter did the same thing the last time she came to visit and we had a lot of fun.  This is the process I used again to create this journal page.  This process does challenge you and forces you to think outside the box, but is fun to do.  And it gets interesting since you don't know in what order you will pull out what supplies, so you can't really preplan or have any preconceived notion as to what your journal page will be or look like.  But it is fun to see what you end up creating.  This is the journal page I ended up creating:

 

Here are some close up photo's of the journal page and you can better see the under layers created.

 



And if you would like to watch the video on how I created this journal page - here is the video:

I had fun creating this journal page and plan to use this technique again. Do you use journal prompts in your art journaling?  If so I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating.

Take Flight Journal Page

Hello creative friends.  Hope everyone had a good weekend.  This past weekend I did manage to find some time to do some art journaling.  I created the following journal page.

The pages were already painted with some leftover purple paint from another project.  I used acrylic paints to add some white and blue to the sky and then drew and painted the owl.  I stamped the title using purple StazOn ink and added a quote I found somewhere.  The quote says "Every great dream begins with a dreamer.  Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." by Harriet Truman.  So what have you been up to lately?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating.

Challenging Journal Pages

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone had a good weekend.  My granddaughter came for a visit this last weekend and we had lots of fun creating journal pages. I thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves this time. I have been following Jennibellie's Journal Workshop and one of the challenges was to write on several pieces of paper the supplies you have, for example paint, markers, stencils, ephemera, etc.  Then you put the folded pieces of paper in a bag or cup and pull them out one at a time and use the item that is listed in the order that you pull them out.  So we both took several pieces of paper and wrote our supplies on them and began pulling them out one at a time and using the product that was listed to create a journal page.  And of course I pulled the products out in a totally opposite order than what I would normally use them - markers, ephemera, stencils, paint and stamps.  So my journal page came out nothing like what I would usually create.  It definitely challenged me to think outside the box.  But that is the point and what made it so much fun to do.  Here is the journal page I created.



My granddaughter of course pull out the products in the order you would normally use them - paint, stencil, stamps, makers and ephemera.  Here is the journal page she created.

We kept our pieces of paper and plan to do this again soon.  Then we both started another journal page.  However, we only got as far as creating the background, but it provides a good start for when she comes to visit next time.  Here is the background journal page I created.

 

And here is the background journal page she created.

 

We painted different color acrylic paints on our page and then used Ranger sprayed inks to spray through stencils to get some variation in colors and patterns on the page.  Not sure what we are going to do next on these pages, but we will figure something out.  I think with all of the colors and patterns on these pages it is going to make it more challenging to figure out where to go from here.  So how do you challenge yourself in your art?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating. 

Little Houses

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone had a very good New Years.  Unfortunately I was very sick the whole time and missed all of the festivities.  I am recovering, but not quite back to 100% yet, so I've not been very motivated to do anything creative.  However, this weekend I did spend a little time in the craft room and painted these little houses.

I cut them from balsa wood during the Christmas holiday and painted them with gesso.  Then this weekend I used paint pens to finish them.  Not sure what I am going to do with them yet, maybe use them on a journal page or a canvas.  It felt good to do something creative again, even if it was something small.  Hopefully, I will get my mojo back and start getting motivated again to create.  Have you ever lost your mojo and motivation to create?  If so how did you get it back?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating.

Inspirational Paintings

Hello creative friends and Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it.  My granddaughter came to stay for the Christmas holiday and between all of the Christmas festivities, we managed to find time to do some art.  We painted an inspirational picture.  Here is the painting I created, I chose the word Create:

 

The tree is turquoise, but it looks more blue in this picture.  And here is the painting my granddaughter created, she chose the word Inspire:

 

 

We had a lot of fun creating these inspirational paintings.  My granddaughter also created a journal page.  Here is the journal page she created:

 





It's funny she painted a pink page, because pink is not one of her favorite colors.  But it turned out really cute.  I was really looking forward to having time to do some art journaling, but then was not feeling very inspired to create one.  Are there time's when you don't feel inspired to create?  If so how do you get past it?  I would love to hear about it.  We did have a lot of fun doing the paintings, I just wish I was inspired to do more.  Well until next time, happy creating and I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year.