Birthday Art Journal Page Tutorial

Hi crafters! The sun is shining and there is spring in the air. I hope the ice on the paths will melt since it makes my walks less pleasant.

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Both my boys have their birthdays in February only about a week a part and I wanted do document that in my art journal. I was inspired by new products from Simon Says Stamp Be Creative release, in particular the sentiments on the Big Old Birthday set. Birthday sentiments aren't only for birthday cards, but are also great for art journaling, scrapbooking and sometimes also for other themes. I worked in my Dylusions Small Creative Journal.

Start by white embossing the Simon Says Stamp Parallellogram background on the entire page. 

Apply Distress Ink on a non-stick craft sheet in three horizontal lines, for an ombre effect. Mist with water and press the paper into the ink.

When dry, color some of the parallellograms with colored pencils. I used Faber-Castell Polychromos.

Finally, splatter the background with Distress Watercolor Pencils. Dip the pencil in water and flick a paint brush against it.

I wanted to use the new Simon Says Stamp Clear Acetate from the Be Creative release and stamped the large sentiments with Cotton White StazOn ink. Stamp two sentiments from Big Old Birthday.

Die cut with the coordinating dies. 

Turn the acetate around and sponge orange paint through the Simon Says Stamp Brush Strokes stencil. I went over the design a couple of times until I was happy with the coverage. 

To make the clear sentiments stand out better, I die cut the mat from Simon Says Stamp vellum and inked it with Mermaid Lagoon.

Glue the vellum and acetate to the background. I liked that the large sentiments aren't a stark black on this page, but I would have liked the white to have stood out a little more. My Cotton White ink pad is old and stained, even after reinking, and I think I need to get a new one so that the ink will be more white.

I stamped some of the small sentiments here and there, without reinking in between. 

The additional white lines that you see here and there were made with a white paint pen. The sequins come from Lucky Charm from the Be Creative release.

The title has a lot of texture and the vellum helped it stand out from the background without covering the background completely.

I also used Birthday Wishes Reverse sentiment strips, also from the Be Creative release.

Their ages were cut from Tim Holtz Label Tape.

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

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