Are you ready for an art journal page ?

Real messy, and a lot of steps! So, grab some coffee!

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NOTE – I use a bigger page, but narrow it down with sticky paper to 18 to 25 centimeters. It gives a white edge to the art journal page. I kind of like that!

Steps picture 1.
Add a layer of gesso to the page. Leave to dry.
Cut a swirl out of magazine paper, and adhere it to your page. Leave to dry.
Dab black acrylic paint through the Sketch Grid stencil. Leave to dry.
Scribble marks on the background, I used a black pen to scribble some journaling.
Add a black edge to the swirl with a black acrylic pen.

Steps picture 2.
Sponge yellow and green acrylic paint to the background with the Harlequin stencil. Remove the stencil.
Use the same sponge to color some areas with the same colors of acrylic paints.

Steps picture 3.
Sponge with distress ink worn lipstick over the background. Don’t fill it all up.
Spray water at the top of the page and let the water run downwards on your page. It will make your distress ink run.
Leave to dry.

 
Steps picture 4.
Add some white gesso over the page to tone down some areas with an old credit card. Scribble in it with the edge of the card to add some texture! Leave to dry.
Adhere torn strips of tissue wrap to the left side as shown.
Add gesso with a tip to the edges of the upper part of the swirl, to accentuate the edge. Leave to dry.
Accentuate the rest of the edges of the swirl with a white acrylic marker.

Steps picture 5.
Add watered-down blue acrylic to the upper part of the swirl, and dry brush it to the edges of the page as well!
Splat some blue paint to the page.
Leave to dry.
Remove the sticky paper, see how crisp the edges of the page are now?

Picture 6.
Finished? No!

Steps picture 7.
Add some color to a few of the sequins with a watercolor pencil to make them pop. Doodle around the sequins and the stenciled harlequins with a white acrylic marker!
At this stage I added in writing :
” Life is… focussing on what matters ! “

Steps picture 8.
Cut out a few more sequins from the magazine page and adhere to left hand side of the page to get some balance to the page.  Cover them with watered down gesso. Leave to dry. To make them pop too, see steps with picture 7.
Cover all the sequins with glossy accents to make them glossy and stand out.
Adhere 3 custom made clay buttons to the page.
Tie scrappers’ floss to the holes of the buttons.

DONE!
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To be able to see the depth, I added a light source to photograph the page.

Look at those yummy buttons.

 They were stamped into (with my own text stamp!) before the clay air dryed.

Look at all that rich color!

I LOVE the effect of the glossy accents, but look at the stencilled harlequins as well! They’re awesome!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this, and go grab some stencils!

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Have you seen the newest stencils from The Crafter’s Workshop yet?
Next time I will be using (some of) them, so stay tuned!

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Stencils used:
TCW456s – Sketch Grid stencil
TCW202 – Harlequin