Open Landscapes Journal Page

Hi crafters! It is the last day of May. This month went by so fast and saw nature transform very quickly, almost by the day. Today I have an art journal page to share celebrating nature.

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This started out as a page where I used up left-over paint and it ended up looking like an open landscape, almost (but not completely) by accident. It made me think of a clear, but windy, day, and an open landscape not too far from the sea. Somewhere in the distance the sea is hiding. I used Distress Paint, stencils and stamps to create the page. It was done on double page in my large Dylusions Journal. It is 11.5 x 16.5 in.

The page had been coated with gesso already. I try to have a few pages in my journals already prepared with gesso. Using paints left over from another project, I applied the paint with a palette knife, scraping pretty much to cover all the surface with the fairly little paint that I had. 

Stamp trees from Simon Says Stamp All Seasons Tree with green and brown Archival Inks.

Add clouds to the sky with Simon Says Stamp Clouds for Days and texture to the grass with Tim Holtz Burlap stencil.

Stamp birds in the sky with Hero Arts Sunset Over Waves set and the little dog with Potting Soil ink.

Stamp a title with Tim Holtz Worn Text and a whole bunch of sentiments.

Apply texture paste through Tim's Bubble stencil with a palette knife.

Add shading under the trees and to some areas of the sky. Apply green to the trees with a tooth pick. Add some grass around the trees with a black and a white pen.

Stamp Simon Says Stamp Crackle Background in the foreground with Potting Soil ink.

I also added flowers with acrylic markers. Here you can see the leaves of the trees better, applied sparingly with a tooth pick and with an acrylic marker. 

This sentiment comes from Tim Holtz Life Quotes.

Shades of green is my best description of this time of the year. The stamp is from Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery. I also used a few strips of Design Tape Trims.

The texture in the sky acts as clouds, together with the stenciled dots and the stenciled clouds. The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Document It.

Here is a better look at the wind-worn texture of the background.

Don't worry if the stamping isn't perfect, such as the one bird here, it will just look like it is further away.

If you want to, you can make the cloud patterns more pronounced by using darker colors, but I only wanted a hint of them. 

The title was stamped with Tim Holtz Worn Text using Jet Black Archival Ink.

The little dog is filled with joy at the sight of this big field.

Adding a little blue from the sky also to the grass brings the scene together. The blue might be puddles or it might be flowers.

I hope you enjoyed this project and that it inspired you to make a random background from left-over paint and ink and then use it.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Color Wheel Art Journal Page

Hello crafters! Today I have a fun color wheel tutorial to share, made with Distress Paints in one of my art journals. 

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

I worked in my Small Creative Journal, but you can also work on different surfaces, or make a large card. The color wheel was made with Tim Holtz new Wheel stencil och painted with Distress Paints. This was a fun project to work on! I added stamped words and sentiments, die cut arrows, background stamping and splattering.

Start by coating a double page spread with gesso. Let dry and then apply texture paste through the Wheel stencil. Let the paste dry before you do the other side. Don't worry if there is a small gap in the center. 

I used Distress Paint for the coloring, one color per wedge. Start with the outer rim and add more water to the mix to make continuously light shades as you come further into the wheel. 

Continue with the blue and green shades.

Stamp the title with Tim Holtz Worn Text and stamp sentiments, words, and birds here and there on the background.

I wanted just a little bit of texture and stamped Simon Says Stamp Stained Glass Background with Shadow Grey ink here and there around the circle.

After a day or two, I decided that I wanted a hint of color on the background too, and splattered with Distress Watercolor Pencils. Dip the pencil in water and flick a paint brush against it.

I added a border around the page with a black pen.

I used mainly the pure shades of paint, but in a few places, I mixed a little bit of one of the neighbouring colors into the paint.

I needed the word 'in' in the title and cut the letters from one of Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Sheets. The arrows are die cut with Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault World Travel set.

Splatters are always fun. 

This is a great exercise to see how many shades you can get from one color paint, by just varying the amount of water. 'Magical' comes from Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery.

And the greens.

The blues. I hope this project inspired you to make your own color wheel. You can also use other coloring media. 

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Green May Art Journal Page

Hello crafters! It is a new week! We went from cold spring to something like summer in just a week and the world has turned green. I love all the bright shades of green during spring and early summer and today's project is inspired by that.

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

We have an Let's Art Journal theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog this week. I hope you will join us! If you haven't tried art journaling before, give it a try. It is lots of fun. 

Don't miss the gorgeous project by our May guest designer Wanda Hentges.

My art journal page has lots of shades of green and yellow, with a bit of grey. I used a mix of images and words which I thought fit for the theme. The page was done in the Square Ledger Journal, on a dot ledger page. The size of the pages are 8x8 in. I love ledger paper. You could also make a smaller version of the project and turn it into a card.

Start by applying Distress Ink with an ink-blending tool through Tim Holtz new Labels stencil. I use Simon Says Stamp Very Very Low Tack Tape to hold down the stencil. Move the stencil and complete the rest of the page.

Mist and splatter water on the background.

Die cut the wheel from Tim Holtz Vault Picture Show from Backdrops grid paper. Die cut the matte from Simon Says Stamp Acetate and color with Mushroom and Pitch Black alcohol ink.

I stamped a flower in the middle with Fairway Pawsitively Saturated Ink. The letters were die cut with Tim Holtz Vault World Travel from left-over inky paper.

For some texture, the background was stamped with Simon Says Stamp Stained Glass and Watering Can ink.

Originally, I stamped this sentiment right on the background, but messed up and stamped it upside down! I stamped it again on the same paper as used for the wheel and inked it. The birds come from Tim Holtz Mini Ornates.

Stamping various sentiments on an art journal page is a favorite thing of mine. This one is from Impression Obsession Pooh Easter Joy. 

Spring-time means bike rides. The bike comes from Tim Holtz Purely Random. 

This view master reel is very versatile. Add small photos or small stamped images, use it as a background, make a circle card and more.

The first butterflies of the year are here now and had to appear on the page too.

The Vault World Travel set comes with a full alphabet and numbers, with perfectly-sized letters, especially for cardmaking.

Alcohol ink on acetate makes for an interesting look to the little windows.

Finish with some more sentiments and the page is done.

Join us this week in our Let's Art Journal challenge! You have a chance to win a $25 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.