Nature's Heart Art Journaling

Hi! Time for another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, this week we are focusing on inks. A favourite of mine of course and lots of opportunities, so get inky!

My most used inks are Ranger's Archival Inks and Distress Inks. They also work great together and on this art journaling page I used both. I love the versatility of Archival inks, since they are waterproof you can use them on many different projects and for different purposes. Wendy Vecchi's new signature Archival Inks are such pretty colours, and I used most of them here. I really like Dyan Reaveley's small creative journal, the size works really well for me. I wanted to make a page about nature and just went along without much of a plan.

I just got Wendy Vecchi's translucent embossing paste and wanted to use it. So cool. First the pages were stamped with Orange Blossom Archival Ink and a script stamp. Since Archival Ink is waterproof, it won't smear when you apply ink, paint, water or, as in this case paste, on top. Smear embossing paste through a stencil with a palette knife. Since this is a journal, I didn't make it too thick and also made sure that the paste areas are not opposite each other, so that they won't stick together with the book is closed. Leave to dry. The paste dries completely clear.

I inked the page with Distress Inks, the clear paste resists the ink. After inking, I added additional stamping and stencilling.

Archival Inks work great together with stencils. Here I used Wendy's Wildflowers & a Bird stencil and sponged the ink with pieces of Cut 'n Dry Foam, using Cornflower Blue, Fern Green, Sienna and Saffron. The numbers were stencilled with Cornflower Blue.

I stamped a branch for the bird, using just a part of a Tim Holtz stamp (another bird sits on the branch on the stamp). The bird was sponged with Cornflower Blue and Fern Green. I printed a great nature quote by John Muir and cut it into strips. I added more journaling to these pages after taking the photo.

The hearts look so nice and glossy. Since Archival Inks dry on most surfaces, I added another layer to the hearts by sponging Cornflower Blue ink through a stripes stencil. You can see that while the paste resists the Distress Ink, it doesn't resist Archival ink.

I hope you will get inky with us this week! As always, one random participant wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp.

Happy crafting!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Surfaces: Ranger Dyan Reaveley Small Creative Journal
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Cornflower Blue, Fern Green, Orange Blossom, Saffron, Sienna; Distress Ink: Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky, Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz: Psychedelic Grunge, Classics #9, Tiny Things, Mini Ornates, Mixed Media, Urban Tapestry
Stencils: Wendy Vecchi Stampers Anonymous: Yikes Stripes, Wildflowers & a Bird, Never Enough Hearts, Classic Words
Die: Simon Says Stamp: Large Holiday Shapes
Medium: Wendy Vecchi Stampers Anonyous: Translucent Embossing Paste
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Chit Chat stickers
Tools: Ranger Cut 'n Dry Foam