Hot mess

I had bought these post it notes on clearance a while ago.  I decided to use them in my art journal on my newest layout! 

I used Mod Podge to glue them down.  My daughter helped me set up the pattern of colors.  I trimmed off the part of the note.  

So, I fill the whole page up with the post it notes and this is where I make the biggest mistake EVER in my whole history of art journaling... which you know has only been like 2 weeks, lol! ;)  I was telling my daughter that the pages were still tacky, even after me blow drying them.  I close the two pages together. DUH!  Slap myself in head moment, because I instantly think, why the heck did I just do that?  I start to peel them apart and of course it starts to rip.  I'm almost in tears now, because it is ripping through to the layout I did yesterday!  ACK!!!!!  I take one of my scrapbooking tools and very gently, as best as I could, peel the two pages apart.  

This is what I end up with. Lots of sticky paper bits stuck on other sticky paper bits! =(

This was the biggest rip that almost went through to the other side!  I very gently used some gloss gel medium and glued it down.  I peeled up as much of the sticky paper bits as I could and covered up the messed up notes with new ones, repairing it as much as possible.  When that was done, I covered both pages in Mod Podge again to seal it and blow dried it dry!

Crisis averted!

I wanted to let it dry some more and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it. I kept looking at it and thought that the neon colors were super bright and I wanted to dull them up.  So, I decided to white wash the page.  (I learned this from Donna Downey.)  I took gesso and watered it down some and then painted over the pages.  You can still see the elements, but it kind of pushes it to the background.

In this picture, I have white washed the left side, but not the right.  As you can see, it is very subtle, but does the job!

Here is the whole page white washed.

Now, I have been wanting to try the dripping technique, but didn't have a dropper, so I improvised.  I used one of my kids' medicine dispensers and put some paint and water in it and shook it up.  It makes for some runny paint.

My daughter held my journal up and I ran the dropper along the top of the page, letting the paint drip down.  If it wasn't going fast enough, I whacked the journal on the table to make it drip more.   I then took my blow dryer and dried the paint.

I also used the ocean breeze color and did the same dripping effect.

I took some bubble wrap and dipped it some paint and used it as a stamp.

I used some corrugated cardboard and dipped it in some paint and used it as a stamp also.

About 2 weeks ago, I made some shapes using my hot glue gun.  I wanted to use them as a stamp, so I painted the heart silver and put it on my page.

Well, it didn't really work.  I think my hot glue needs to be wider to cover more area, but the stencils I made, will probably work well for spraying or misting, so I will try that soon.

I didn't take any pictures, but I spray misted with Tattered Angels Chalkboard glimmer mist in Priority on the corners, using some alphabet stencils.  I forgot to mask off the top right corner, so you can totally see where my fingers were holding it down!  Hey, crafting is messy, and I LIKE IT!

I was digging out my date stamp to put the date on this master piece. I use that term very loosely, mind you!  My stamp has the date and some words.  I was reading my hubbins the word stamps and I saw Hot Mess... I thought how appropriate is that?  This piece is a total hot mess of trying out new techniques, learning which ones work, which ones don't and which ones I even like or don't like.  So bam, that is the title of this piece... here is my Hot Mess!   
I had watched a Donna Downey tutorial and she had wrote herself this note on her piece... dear donna, create art, without regrets.  I thought that is so true.  As I am just learning everything, it is fun to play and try new things. Now, I didn't want to out right copy what she wrote, so I stamped, dear heidi, there are no mistakes in art!  And again, that was me trying something new, because my new alpha stamp set is all lower case.  I had a hard time stamping my name NOT capitalized, but my hubbins was like just do it!!! So I did!

Here is my finished piece!