Hello Maja Design fans and friends!  Nancy Hanttula here, and I am back again.  This week I would like to share some art journaling pages I have created using the Vintage Autumn Basics paper collection.

Art Journaling is very grounding and creatively inspiring for me.  And I find that when I need a true creative outlet and focus, the best thing for me to do to re-center myself is to break out my art journals.  I bought this book by Pam Carriker a while back called, “Creating Art at the speed of Life” and it has been calling to me for quite some time.  So I challenged myself to crack open this art journaling adventure and use Maja Design papers for my backgrounds.  Well, I really didn’t expect it to be as easy as it turned out to be.  The amazing patterns on the Vintage Autumn Basics papers were absolutely perfect…and it wasn’t hard for me to choose the papers I wanted to use.

Over the course of a week, I created 6 art journaling pages…all with lessons outlined in the book….and although many layers and colors were added to the original papers, what I loved the most is how amazing the gorgeous papers held up to the wet mediums I explored and how awesome the prints added to the over-all texture, dimension, and interest to the pages.  I know that each one of the pages simply would not have been the same had I created them on simple watercolor paper.

My first 2 pages were created using the Vintage Autumn Basics papers No. XXI and No. X.  I glued them down to my art journaling book pages using decoupage glue.

Here are the pages after:

My 3rd and 4th pages were created using the same paper collection, papers No. XVI & No. XIII.

Here are the pages after:

And the last 2 pages I created during this art journaling marathon, I used the papers No. XIII & No. XVIII.

And here are the pages after:

If you have not tried your hand at art journaling, I highly recommend it.  There isn’t a right or a wrong way to art journal.  It is your perfect opportunity to try new techniques and mediums.  It is the perfect place to jot down ideas for future projects, record favorite quotes, preserve words of wisdom, or tell your true secrets.  AND, you won’t find better patterned papers to explore your art journaling endeavors than with the Maja Design papers. The papers are thick enough to handle repeated wet medium applications, glue, layering, stamping, image transfers, and the like.

Other supplies used here included:  Sharpie white paint pens in various sizes; Pan Pastels; Tim Holtz butterfly tissue paper, Decoupage glue Faber-Castell Pitt pens in various sizes all black India ink; ephemera from my stash; Bic permanent markers in various colors; Scarlet Lime permanent black pens; Neocolor II watercolor crayons; & chalkboard stickers from Michaels.

Until next time, I wish you all a super creative day!