Forest Texture

Art Cards 98 - 106

Here is the latest batch of nine artcards. They are part of my #365somethings2018 project on Instagram where I hope to end up with 365 cards, one for each day of 2018. If you want to see them appear individually each day you can find them all on my Instagram feed.

I have to say those nine days seem to fly past. Every time nine cards are ready to be shared here it takes me by surprise. And we have passed the 100 mark too. I need to grab 2018 by the neck before it too vanishes without trace! 

It has a Song

The Joggles Art Journal Adventures prompt last week was to incorporate a bird. As you can see I added quite a few! I knew from the start which birds would make it as focal points. Several years ago now, I bought someone else's scrap journal in a second hand book shop. In a book about Belgian art this unknown person had glued in images from all kinds of (unknown to me) sources. Fortunately after many years the glue had deteriorated enough for me to be able to gently remove the images. I loved these birds immediately (sadly artist again unknown to me) and this proved the perfect opportunity to use them.

The background was collaged first using a variety of vintage pages, maps, wrapping paper and music sheets. The next step was made by adding water soluble oil crayons as well as paint and then removing them using stencil L565 Loopy Leafy Vines Background by Stencilgirl® Then I added the leaves etc. from a piece of scrapbook paper coming from a Somerset Studio magazine. The big birds were glued on and outlined. Hopefully with the much better archival glues we have nowadays they will stay put this time.

More little birds were needed to fill the background and they came from the large stencil from the May 2014 Stencilgirl®Club while the circular leaves pattern originated on the large stencil from the June 2014 Club stencil set. 

The quotation I used was printed using the computer. It's by Maya Angelou and reads: "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song". 

The magic forest

Spring is in the air

Four Seasons Joggles Journal

It was a great pleasure to be asked by Joggles to do a project for them to promote their gorgeous Joggles disc bound watercolour journals and art parts in conjunction with Marabu art sprays and art crayons. What fun! Specially as I love all these products. I love that the sprays are permanent, and the richness of the colours is simply stunning. And at the moment most of these materials are on sale! What could be better.

Joggles send me a kit containing 6 Marabu Art Crayons, 3 Marabu Art Sprays, one Joggles 6” x 9” Disc Bound Journal, and one Joggles Watercolor Art Parts – Bare Tree. I already had some art crayons and sprays by Marabu and used those too. Joggles stencils were also a perfect addition to the mix. You can find a full list of all the materials that I used at the end of this post.

Here are the finished pages of my journal. The inspiration came from the song Turn, Turn, Turn by The Byrds. A very catchy tune!

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Here are the instruction for my project: a journal about the Four Seasons.

The first thing I did when the kit arrived, was watch a Joggles video about how to put the watercolor disc bound journal together. It proved to be oh so simple and at the same time so ingenious! Then I took it apart again (although I left 2 pages in the journal that I wasn't going to use and these made putting the journal together at the end a whole lot easier)

Also notice before we start I always make sure that each layer that I'm adding is completely dry before I add the next one. With spray paints I prefer not to use a heat gun as that can make the spray move so I simply leave the pages to dry naturally.

Gesso one side of 10 of the pages, 5 with the indentations on the right and 5 with them on the left. Then set aside one of each for the moment. They will be your front and back cover in due course.

Summer

Glue on some of the vintage papers of your choice (see Materials list below) with a glue stick. I stayed with my theme and used dictionary pages about the seasons, music sheets as well as vintage flower books. I like to tear my collage papers rather than cut them. Don't cover the entire page but add them randomly. Make sure to extend the glued on papers over the indentations here and there (and when dry cut it out again). Add some washi tape with suitable seasonal imagery too. (see picture above).

Autumn

Use 3 colours of Marabu art crayons for each season and one of the Joggles stencils (see full list of materials at the end). Rub on colours with the crayons and remove some of the colour again through one of the stencils with a baby wipe. See above pic.

For Spring I used pink, sunshine yellow and kiwi crayons with Branches stencil
For Summer I used sunshine yellow, orange and pomegranate crayons with Woodcuts stencil.
For Autumn I used chilli, turquoise and plum with the Secret Garden stencil
For Winter I used black, apple green and aqua green with the Leaf Stalks stencil.

Spring

Moving on to the Marabu art sprays spray the following colours this time spraying directly through a stencil. (see pic above).

For Spring use Sky Blue and the Woodcuts stencil
For Summer use Cherry Red and the Secret Garden stencil
For Autumn use Tangerine and the Branches stencil
For Winter use Silver and the Woodcuts stencil.

Whenever I used art sprays during the making of the pages I made sure to mop up any remaining spray paint left on the stencils with the white ribbon (see Materials list below) and also with the 2 pages for the front and back set aside in the beginning.

Winter

Repeat the step above this time using:
Spring - Orange spray and the Secret Garden stencil
Summer - Apple Green spray and the Branches stencil
Autumn - Tangerine spray and Woodcuts stencil
Winter - Sky Blue and Secret Garden stencil (see above pic)

Spring

Add more texture by using Carabelle stamp SA50002 Circles and Dots, roll on the art crayon to the stamp, lightly spray with water and stamp on the pages. (see pic above)
For Spring - Gentian art crayon
For Summer - Apple Green crayon
For Autumn - Chilli crayon
For Winter - Gentian crayon.

Summer

Now for the focal images: the bare tree watercolor art part (see above pic).

Remove the bare tree art parts carefully from their background by cutting the connecting tabs with scissors. Retain the background as well as the art parts.

For Spring: spray sunshine yellow and apple art spray on a tree part.
For Summer use the background as a stencil and spray straight onto the page using apple green art spray
For Autumn spray tangerine, chilli and apple green spray on two tree parts
For Winter use the background as a stencil and spray directly onto the page using silver spray.

Don't forget to mop up your extra spray with the 2 pages that will become the front and back, as well as with the white ribbon.

Enhance the colour of the sprayed trees with art crayons in matching colours and once dry glue the trees onto the backgrounds (as per the finished pages shown at the top of this post) using matte gel. Once that is dry, outline the trees (both the art part ones or the stencilled ones) with a permanent black marker.

The pages that you set aside for the front and back and with which you have mopped up spare spray paint as well as wiped stencils should now look something like the picture above.

Spread titanium white paint over these pages with a brayer and then remove the paint with a baby wipe and through stencil Leaf Stalks. Let them dry. Outline the shapes with a permanent black marker.

In the meantime glue on images to the following pages using thinned down matte medium:
Spring - glue on flamingo from Stamperia sheet DFSA4273
Winter - glue on unicorn from Stamperia napkin DFT336.

Find suitable text or quotations you want to use on your pages and print them out using your computer. I printed on hand made paper and tore out the words rather than cut them.

Edge the pages with art crayons and smooth out the crayon along the edge:

Spring - Sunshine Yellow
Summer - Orange
Autumn - Chilli
Winter - Gentian
Front and Back covers - Kiwi.

Now layer the pages up in the order they will go in your journal ( making sure they are all the right way up too). Sew the front cover to the first page of spring (back sides together and lining up the indentations carefully), the second day of spring to the first page of summer (back sides together) etc. till you've joined the final 2 pages (second day of winter to back cover). Before sewing the first and last 2 sets of pages attach the now well coloured ribbon to the front and back covers with masking tape. It will be permanently attached with the sewing line.

Sew around 3 sides of the pages and leave the side with the indentations open. Use colours of thread in top and bobbin that match the pages. Use an old needle and sew slowly. Use a walking foot if you have one. If necessary use small clamps to hold the pages together and make sure they are lined up perfectly.

You can of course also use double sided tape for this step of putting the pages together. I just love the stitched line so tend to go for that option.

Now grab the disc bound watercolor journal with the 2 blank pages. Thread on the pages in the right order (you will find this much easier with those two blank pages already there. Once all the pages of your journal are in, remove the blank pages carefully.

Thread your ribbon ends through a bead and knot the ends.

Voila, your journal is done!

You can find a flip through of the journal on my Instagram feed as well as on YouTube

Front and Back Covers

List of  materials used:

Art Crayons in the following colours: Kiwi, Turquoise, Black, Plum, Sunshine Yellow, Pomegranate,Apple Green, Pink, Orange, Chilli, Gentian, Aqua Green
Art Sprays: Sunshine Yellow, Sky Blue, Tangerine, Orange, Silver, Apple, Cherry Red
Joggles stencils: Woodcuts 10-33772, Branches 30-33714, Leaf Stalks 10-33729, Secret Garden 20-33707
Stamperia Rice Papers as mentioned earlier
Vintage papers from a variety of sources, including a song book.
Washi tape
Approx. 1M of 0.5mm wide white ribbon
Sheet of thin hand made paper (to print your text on)
titanium white acrylic paint
matte medium
matte gel
Carabelle Stamp SA50002
permanent black marker

Finally please note that all links to products on the Joggles webside are affiliate links which means that I get a small commission if you buy the product in question. It does not in any way affect the prize you pay!

Blipdogs2018

Flora has hijacked my blog today to tell you about herself for a new feature on the Blipfoto site about Blipdogs2018. Here is what she had to say:

My mummy told me I am to be one of a select group of dogs knows as #blipdogs2018, and I'm very happy to hear that. Hopefully it will mean an extra biscuit!
I'm originally from Romania and am between 3 and 4 years old. I was rescued by some very kind people from Barking Mad Dog Rescue from an abandoned shelter. They literally had to pull me from the mud. Mummy hasn't watched that video yet. She tells me it would make her cry too much. She and I first met 15 months ago when I came to live with her. She loved me at first sight and it was the same for me. It took a bit longer to love my daddy but now I adore him. The highlights of my life are eating and sleeping but I also enjoy my walks, specially in the Penicuik Estate. When I first came I was too frightened to walk but many biscuits (as well as chicken pieces and sausages) persuaded me it was not such a bad thing after all. But I still hate rain! 
I know I'm very much loved and adored and I give as much love back as I can in the form of licks, and hugs. I have a great selection of dog coats and baskets but my most favourite spot of all is at night, under the covers, secure against my mum! She seems to feel the same!