Hello Maja Design fans and friends!   Nancy Hanttula here again, and I am still on an Art Journaling kick.  Lots of heavy hearted stuff going on in the Hanttula household at the moment, and one of the only ways I can de-stress is to art journal.  So, without going into a whole lot of personal details,  (any and all prayers are so appreciated), I would like to share my latest art journaling endeavor.

I used the gorgeous Vintage Autumn Basics paper collection for my background  papers.

I know I have said it before, but I just have to say it again……if you haven’t tried your hand at Art Journaling, I highly urge you to give it a try.  There are no rules.  It is what you make it.  It can be used to experiment with new techniques.  It can be used to pour out your heart and soul. It is quite amazing how cathartic writing down your thoughts can truly be.  But,really, It can be exactly what YOU need it to be.

Some Art Journaling instructors have said to skip the first pages of your Art Journal.  Maybe some people find the first pages to be just too overwhelming, maybe a bit too “blank”.  Maybe some “fear” messing them up.  Really…you cannot mess up art journaling.  It can be a legacy of who you truly are that will be left behind. or  You can document something so personal that you absolutely cannot share it with anyone else…and then cover it up with layers of paint and ink. What IF it was the most freeing art experience you ever had.   What IF?

So where do you begin?  Quite simply, you can art journal in almost anything….an old book, even a super inexpensive spiral notebook.  The book I used here is a 7 x 10 mixed media art book from Canson.  I like this type of book because the papers are heavy duty and you can get the book in a variety of sizes.

First, I chose the papers I wanted to use on my background.

I placed them down before adhering them to get a feel for placement.  I placed wax paper in between the pages to protect the pages before and after these 2 pages from sticking together.  I adhered them down using Liquitex Matte gel, but other mediums that work well for this include regular school glue, Mod Podge, Decoupage, & Liquitex Matte Medium (but dang that stuff is pricIey.)

Don’t worry if some of your background paper overhangs a bit after you glue it down.  Once it is dry, just turn the paper over and cut the excess paper off from the back using the back of the page as a guide.

Once the background paper was glued down….and dried, I, then,  inked the edges of the papers- I used Prima/Ingivld’s chalk ink in Black Coal.  I also added some quick doodles using a black permanent pen, and added some Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Peacock Feathers to the edges of the paper.

I love to look around for untraditional ephemera or embellishments to use on or in my art.  For this project I used a gift bag that I bought at our local Dollar Tree store (everthing is a dollar in that store…..I love to go through it and look for untraditional embellishments 🙂 ). I bought this bag (and few more actually)

and I decided to fussy-cut the bird out of the bag’s design to use on the page. But before I glued down the bird and branches, I dry-brushed some acrylic paint in “skin-tone” color onto the background of the pages.

I glued the bird down with the Liquitex Matte gel.

Next, I used a Zip Screen screen print/stencil from Hirschberg Schutz & Co. (I bought at Walmart.) and stenciled down the butterflies using purple acrylic paint.

I added a bit more acrylic paint using some Tim Holtz Acrylic paint dabbers in Aqua and Sunshine Yellow…and then finished off with my journaling all over the page.

I love to outline images on my pages by journaling around them.

I hope this has inspired you to try your hand at some Art Journaling.  It has been a blessing in my life, that is for certain…..and I wish all such blessings to all of you.

Supplies used for this included:  Vintage Autumn Basics paper collection: papers:  No I; No X; No XXI; Heritage; Liquitex Matte Gel Medium; Canson Mixed Media Book & x 10; Prima/Ingvild chalk ink in Black Coal, Dry Sand; Precise V5 black pen, Scarlet Lime permaball permanent black ink pen; Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Peacock feathers; Tombow Permanent adhesive; FolkArt acrylic paint in Skintone; Delta acrylic paint in Purple; Adirondack Acrylic paint dabber in Aqua and Sunshine Yellow; CTMH acrylic stamps, Ranger Jet Black Archival ink;

I wish you a blessed and wonderful weekend! Hugs!