Completed my Smash/Art Journal

I started this bad boy back in 2013 or thereabouts.

That is Creative Cafe paper - and that

has long been defunct.

And then it laid around because I am

seriously not that talented but here are

a few pages in case you care.

 Over New Years we went camping and my first

thought was not to take anything scrappy-wise.

And that was okay until we had to return to the house

because hubby forgot something important 

(which I now forget what that was)

BUT...

in those few seconds I dashed back in the house and changed

my mind.

I only had a few seconds so I grabbed this album 

a bunch of different colored sharpies.

When we made a stop a Walgreens and I picked up a small

Crayola watercolor set and that was it.

I was gonna grab the watercolor from home but had second thoughts then.

Now I have one to keep for other road trips.

This is more journaling than anything else with some

*coughcough* art.

I'm glad I completed this book FINALLY.

It was a long time coming and its really just a random,

no theme or consistency (except the drawings are bad LOL)

album that need completing.

Mixed media travel journal

Remember this journal?

It turned out to be my right hand man for memory keeping

along the way - there were days that

I couldn't access the internet nor scrap sooooo

its amazing how fast one forgets things.

This is the Tim Holtz journal and I am rather annoyed

because the little band that held it together

broke - and I wasn't even using it as I kept the journal

open at all times in order to jot things down.

 I was going really neat with the penmanship at the end of day

and that presented two problems.

1. Memory again. Lots of things were forgotten.

2. It was hard to find things written really neatly on the misted background.

 After we made a Walmart run I snuck a couple of sharpies

in the mix and they helped alot - I kept a couple

inside the open book so I could jot random things down.

It sort of helped with the memory.

There was always a case of either too much information or

the big one - not enough information.

 I added tickets, receipts and other ephemera along the way

but basically I had the book all tricked out before we left.

I also started making notes in shorthand - things I wanted to remember

later that other people didn't really need to know

or when I was whining. 

So if you can translate it - keep it to yourself...

please :)

It did really help when it came time to scrap- especially

names of places, i.e., cities, rivers, national parks and forests

we flew through that I was able to

take driveby pictures of.

I even have some empty pages remaining.

Gasp.

I highly recommend using one - and setting it up prior to leaving.

One of the things I learned from traveling/camping

is that its not always conducive to anything creative

or doing anything at all either at the end of the day

or beginning - your either setting up or tearing down

and then moving on.

And all internets and wifis are not created equal.

Mixed Media Journal

It is finally completed for our road trip.

I'm not sure I'm diggin' the cover - but this is going to be in an RV

for a couple of months - therefore its bound to get mussed up so

while its growing on me - if I don't like it when I return I'll do

something different - white paint covers alot of sins.

This was the original - and I just didn't like the way some of the flowers

turned out with the watercolors. Unlike the pages I didn't gesso it

and the colors soaked in - which was cool because it

looks rustic - except for the yellow that I tried to cover with a brown.

Inside there is a nice size envelope that I'll fill with

goodies - scissors, adhesives and maybe an alpha stamp set.

 I plan to fill the journal with ephemera from the trip

so I really don't need alot of embellishments.

Also, I think I filled the pages with enough embellies.

As  you will see.

 This is the page inside the journal cover.

I'll be on twitter - hashtag let's go (I'm thinking I need to add Murphy 

or you + me or something to specifically ID us in there)

Still pondering. 

What do you think?

This is the only page I used enamel paints on.

I decided I really was crazy about the texture and the it took

way too long to dry. 

So all the remaining pages have mists.

Lots of mist.

 And stamping.

I used alot of stamps that I had never ever used.

And die cuts.

 ooo oo another trick Dyan R. shared was to sop up the excess mist

with a tag - and don't they just add a little something-something.

 I used up alot of leftover embellishments.

I have a lot more to go.

 I also used some stuff that really is frivolous and fun.

 And this is the last page in the journal.

As the pages turned and got bulkier it was a bit harder to stamp

and some weren't sooooo great, but an art journal - 

I'm thinking perfection is overrated.

And the back of the journal.

My desk before.

My desk after.

With my new Studio Calico kit waiting in the wings.

 It was a lot of fun - and that journal had 100 pages in it.

All waiting.

It's enough room too if I can't put one day on one page.

I also have my favorite pens on order - Uni Jetstream 101's

in blue and black a multitude of them in boxes.

Blue is my favorite and I don't care what anyone says

it writes better than black - but black

is everyone's go to for journaling.

I'm thinking of going rogue and using blue.

JillyArt journal

And here it is....

My son's girl is not only an amazing photographer

and pretty

and a great mom 

she also draws.

I'm hoping it'll rub off on me. bwahahaha! How annoying that she's so talented and I'm totally jealous. 

She didn't get back to me on the title so I took the liberty. And I think it fits. I also went old school with foam stamps and it appears that I need to practice maybe. Or not. It kinda fits.

And now the pages. I added some colors and tags and buttons.

Mists and a Tim Holtz mask that I had forever and some avacado bag mesh.

Tried some stamping and had some issues where some white paint actually saved the day.

I had a great time smooshing and swishing.

Watercolors are very forgiving and I used a spider stencil, fern stamp and the flower stamps and some swirls.

I thought the white clever and pasted some snowflakes down and just smeared some color over them. Sort of an embossed look.

Tim Holtz gear masks, and love the drips. Don't the make you swoon. And of course the Tim Holtz die cut houses with a map stamp overtop.

I used some modeling paste and another stencil.And one of those gold doilies.

Another stencil with the bird cages that I really adore because its not perfect. And those clouds look better in the photo than in person. Maybe Jill can do something about them. I didn't let robin's red breast dry enough before I turned the page.

My bad.

More stamps and stencils.

Used these paintable butterflies with some gear mask and added some snowflakes and sequins. The swirls are all mine. 

More stencils and stamps and a cute Martha Stewart doily. 

And the back I added some stamps and a touch of white paint.

I'm hoping to get it out to her and I'm hoping she actually uses it and sends me photos so that I can update you with how it REALLY turned out in the end.

I'm really excited.

The start of an Art Journal

Yeah Yeah I know you're saying another one well let me tell it did NOT start out with this in mind. I was going for a "snow" album and the Tattered Angels Glimmer Glass Album - Frosty Memories fit the bill.

And it started out blank. And as I surfed the net looking for some inspiration it seemed that there was a lot of glimmermist going on.

Sadly I do not have a lot of glimmermist so I thought watercolors may do the trick.

So I started with snow flakes on the back cover and I used a 2way glue because I wanted to remove them after I had painted over them.

I was also going for some sort of hombre look that didn't quite work out. I did without thinking use primary colors. So blue, red and yellow turned into other colors depending on how messy I was with the water.

 And I got messy. What's the fun without the mess? So I blended and swooshed and pulled off the snowflakes.

And seriously it didn't look too bad.

I decided why not some glitter. And that turned out pretty good.

I basicially mimiced the same on the front cover because why reinvent the wheel when something is working. 

I got to this point and the $64 question of the day was....

NOW WHAT.

In reviewing the photos I printed out it didn't in my mind seem to want to work, however, I high hopes.

Continuing on with the same technique (watercolors) basically, I did the inside cover and the first page using a die cut as a template for dots on the first real page.  I decided I was loving this and having a real good time with it all, I confidently continued on..........

Stay tuned to the same bat channel tomorrow for more....