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!

Just don't look down and you won't fall!

What can I say, I'm addicted!

I bought my first modeling paste.  Using my dollar store "pallet knives", I spread some over my stencil.  I choose the stars and the hearts for my first go! 

I let it dry overnight and this is what it looks like when it dries naturally.

This is another Donna Downey inspired piece! This one was super fun to do to! I chose some cool colors!  Royal violet, white, neon pink, ocean breeze and charcoal!

I dripped and drizzled paint all around my two page spread.   

I thought it needed more, so I added more!!!

Now comes the fun part!!!  You take a piece of paper (I used some cardstock) and swirl the paper around in a circular motion. 

This is just my cardstock paper, but look HOW PRETTY is that????? Love it!

Here is my art journal!  It is so pretty! But as you can see, the one side wasn't done, so we (my girl was helping me) added more paint and swirled away! ;)

Again, it makes for some very pretty cardstock, that I can also use in my journal!

I dripped some more paint on top of it all and then dried it with the blow dryer.  I used my fingers and painted some of the outer edges where the stars and hearts were.

I used a polka dot stencil and spray misted the corners in Tattered Angels Chalkboard shimmer mist in Amethyst and Heidi Swapp Color Shine in teal.  It just gives it a little more umph! ;)

I used an alphabet stencil and spray misted on top of that with Heidi Swapp Color Shine in black.  I am hands on with my crafting, so it tends to get all over the place! ;)


This week, I have been listening to Air1 radio, which is our local Christian music station.  I heard this song that I really liked and the lyrics stuck in my head.

Here is the video of the song.
"Edge of My Life" by Manafest

I used a Crayola fat marker in black and then highlighted it with grey, to write out the the lyric.  I  like how it turned out! It was so fun to make!

Create your own sunshine

Hello, it's me again.  The funny thing is that since I have dived into the world of mixed media, I think everything I see can be used in my art journal.  I walk through the dollar store and think of what normal everyday items I can buy to use in it! Crazy right?!?  Maybe... maybe not!  I guess repurposing things isn't such a bad thing!

So in that frame of mind... let's talk about my newest piece!  Saturday night, I was coloring my hair.   I was opening the box of hair color and I pull out this cardboard piece.  I look at it and immediately think of how I could use it in my journal!  So, it brings me to this! 

I started off by gessoing my page, of course.  I then Mod Podged the piece down and then gessoed over the top of it. 

It's a piece of cardboard, so it's very thick and was pulling up from the page, so I just added some more glue.

I had previously made (for my Bible journaling) a sunburst stencil out of a cereal box.  Well, as it was to fit my Bible, it was too small for the journal, so I made another larger one! 

I used orange craft paint and a piece of a makeup sponge and dabbed the paint using a polka dot stencil.

 

I then laid the sunburst stencil on top of the orange polka dot page, masking or covering up the other side and spray misted with Heidi Swapp Color Shine in gold.

So sparkly and pretty!

I had watched a Donna Downey Inspiration Wednesday video and was inspired to try out a new technique!

I took Elmer's white school glue and drizzled it in random design all around the page. 

I forgot to mention that I ripped up a dictionary page and put in the center of my "flower" and Mod Podged it down. I thought it was funny, because two of the words showing are whimsical and window!  And that is what this piece is! 

I had just bought some liquid glitter watercolor paint at Michaels. It was marked 75% off, because it was missing one of the 4 bottles in the set, so it was a great deal! While I was talking to my mom, inspiration hit me.  I decided to use my finger and fill in the half circle sun part with the yellow.   I just brightened up the page!

After letting the glue dry overnight, this is how it looked.  I had plans for it, but things change! 

I picked out some fun scrapbook paper for my petals and glued them down.

I used some Tattered Angels Chalkboard Shimmer Mist and painted the page.  Now, my idea (from the tutorial) was to peel up the glue and it would leave these cool squigglely lines all over the page in white with the blue as the background color. Well, as I started to peel up the glue, it was ripping my page, so I stopped and just left it.  I like how it looks!    
I trimmed the flower petals down and outlined some of the details on the paper in pen.

I used a brown ink pad and smudged the edges of the petals to dirty them up.  I glued down some bits of scrappaper to make the stem of the flower and then smudged green paint on it.  I doodled in the inside of the flower using my Micron orange pen and Sharpie hot pink pen.  Now, when I took this picture, it didn't look right to me, so I wanted to add some more details, but I will get to in a sec.

I had bought a clearance alphabet stamp set a Michaels and was using it for the phrase on the sun page.  I have learned that when you put your cling stamps on the acrylic block, you turn them upside down and tap the ink pad on them.  It keeps you from getting ink on the edges of the stamps and makes your stamping less messy!

Create your own sunshine!

Here is the two page layout, but again, I wasn't happy with my flower!

I took some leftover petals from my project last week and trimmed them down to size.  I doodled some leave designs on them and glued them on.  I then outlined them in green paint.   So much better now!

Here is my finished piece!

Tag, you're it! ;)

Once again, I was inspired by a Pinterest pin! 

I had some tags that I traced onto some card stock paper.  I cut them out, so I would have lots of extras! 

I Mod Podged them onto my page and then gessoed over them.

I had started this last week, but couldn't figure out what I wanted to do, so I let it sit.  Then, inspiration hit! 

I had some watercolor pencils that I had bought at Michaels, but never used!  After watching a Donna Downey YouTube tutorial (she is an AMAZING artist!), I was inspired to try them out.

I had my 8 year old daughter help me pick out a rainbow of colors.  This is right up her alley, since she has been obsessed with rainbows since Kindergarten! I took my tag page and scribbled across the page with all the Roy G. Biv colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).

Then, I took a spray water bottle, and one by one, I sprayed and slowly blended the colors.  My daughter did the yellow and my son did the blue section.  When I was done with all the colors, I gently took a roll of paper towels that I use for my art and rolled it across the page to soak up the major wet spots.  I then used my hair blow dryer to dry the page.

I then drew part of a heart on the page.  The cool thing about the watercolor pencils is that they can be used wet or dry.  I dipped the tip of the black pencil in water and drew the heart.  Then, I gently smudged the line with my finger.

I picked out a quote from Pinterest and dug out some old sticker letters.

When I took this picture, the letters were just not popping off the page like I wanted.  They were not very bold.

"Create art one color at a time"

I took a black Sharpie pen and outlined the letters and cut some of the bigger ones down.  I then dripped gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist onto the page to give it a bit more of a pop!

It was fun to try something new!