Laughter

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."  These friends certainly enjoy a good time together.  

The page is based on a Gelli print, using a home made foam stamp to remove paint from the plate before printing, to get the word "laugh" down the left side of the page.  (I used foam letters on a thicker piece of fun foam to make the stamp.) An acrylic paint marker provides the dark green ground for the girls to stand on.  The flowers behind them are from a two-layer stencil - I don't know who produced the stencil because there's no markings on it!  The sentiment stamp is from the "Feel Goods" set by Stampin' Up.  The girls dresses are paper-pieced,  and their hair and head bands are colored with Pitt pens.

Sure hope you like these friends!  I had a blast putting this page together.

City Girl

Let's go back to the Prima Doll Art Journal I started in April.  Here's another page:

Sometimes you can get lost in the big-city, but this girls finds inspiration in her surroundings.  I like the quote  "You are braver than you believe, Stronger than you seem, Smarter than you think, And loved more than you know."  when you feel alone and doubtful about what you are doing.

A book page and a piece of clothing pattern tissue was adhered to the card stock base before I added the Gelli printing - it makes a really nice background.  Apparently I used some metallic paint because there's a nice sheen to the whole page.  The house stamp is from Cocoa Daisy - who knows how long I've been hoarding that one.  I used Pitt pens to color the houses and an acrylic paint pen to color the street for the girl to stand on.  The "Today I Am" stamp is also from Cocoa Daisy.  The quote done in yellow embossing powder on the teal cardstock is a Dylusions stamp from  Ranger.  Across the bottom, I added some map style washi tape, outlined with Pitt pens.

Look back at the archives for more Prima girls and stay tuned for more - I just uploaded 4 more pictures for future publication.

Journal by 5's

This is how I spent last weekend - creating an art journal using Shannon Green's idea of journaling by 5's.  Check out her blog:  shannongreen.blogspot.com for more info on the process.  (Sorry - I don't know how to add a proper link.)  I didn't follow her instructions exactly - I forgot to time myself a couple of sessions, and I went back and repeated session one after completing session two.  (Personally, I would switch the prompts for sessions 1 and 2.)  After going through all the sessions, I had a good basis for a journal.  I added scriptures, quotes, stamped images, the instructions on the back of the front cover, my thoughts on the back of the last page, Gelli prints to the front and back covers and a couple more pictures to fill in the blank spaces.  Finally, I rubbed Van's wax on all the pages so they won't stick together - thank-you Donna Downey for that idea.  This was a great exercise and I'd like to do it again in different colors that maybe won't get so muddy.  Maybe I'll do a video of the next journal - have to keep trying new things, right?

Inside the front cover I included the instructions on how to create this type of art journal.

1st page

Back of the last page - I recorded  how I did the journal (because I didn't follow the instructions exactly) and added some ideas on how to maybe teach this type of journaling in a classroom setting.

This is actually the front cover - I used an old Gelli print to hide the Composition Book front.

This is the inside of the back cover - I used some Gelli print scraps to make it prettier.

Butterflies Prima Doll Journal Page

I'm continuing on my Prima Doll/Gelli Pringing Journal journey with this page about butterflies.  The stamp says "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly."  Sometimes we think the same way, all gloom and doom, only to find that God had another plan that was better than we could have ever hoped.

I used the Stampin' Up thinlets dies to cut the butterflies from gelli prints, then added  clear glitter.  For the background,  I used a heart stamp to remove blue sky paint from the Gelli plate before printing, and a Catalyst tool to create the green "grass".  

Connection Group Craft Night

Beginning next Monday, some of the ladies from my Connection Group (Sunday School class) will meet once a month to make a couple of cards.  This is something I've been planning to do for quite awhile, and since things are slowing down at Paper Arts (as far as the number of classes I'm teaching) I thought it would be a good time to start this.  Here's the first two cards:

I used "Sassy Salutations" stamp set from Stampin' Up and  patterned paper from my stash for this card.  Some people may make a purple version since I don't have enough of the flowered paper.  The final version of this card has a red bow at the top.

This card also comes in a pink version - I don't have enough yellow flowers for everyone.  The yellow background is dry embossed.  I don't know where I got the "hello" stamp.

The sentiments are embossed on both cards using a technique that was new to me - apply Versamark to the stamp first, then apply Distress Ink on top of the Versamark to get the right colors, stamp on paper, sprinkle on clear embossing powder then heat.  I'm really pleased with the results.  The hard part will be remembering to clean the stamp before making the next impression - you don't want to contaminate the Versamark.

School Art Journal Page

Since school's almost out for the year, I'd better post this Prima Doll School Art Journal Page before it's summer.

The background is printed from a Gelli Plate - the green reminds me of the wall color that we had in junior high years ago.  The arrows represent the decisions we all had to make in school.  The hardest part of this page was the lockers - done with lots of measuring, marking with a black Pitt pen, highlighting the vents with a white paint pen and coloring the number plates and handles with a silver Sharpie.  I used a Montana acrylic paint marker for the floor and numbered Washi tape across the very bottom.  The stamp is from Hobby Lobby - I liked the sentiment and thought it was good advice for everyone.  The Prima dolls are stamped and embossed on cream paper.  The clothes are stamped on different color/patterns of paper and embossed.  The shoes and hair are colored in with Pitt pens.  I really like Pitt Big Brush pens because they are permanent when dry, but stay wet just long enough to blend a little, if you want.

Steps Journal Page

"Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."  Proverbs 3:5
This girl is climbing the steps of life with doubt about her future.  I think we've all been there.

I used two Gelli printed pages - the blue wavy background with copper arrows, and the creamy paper with "bricks" and other stenciled layers.  On the blue background, I stenciled brown and aqua hexagons using Caran d'ache watercolor crayons. The gate and sentiment are stamped and embossed in black.  You can't see it too well, but I used a glitter pen to decorate the doll's headband. Proverbs 3:5 is written between the bricks of the steps.

On another note, I took the picture above on my deck, with the iron railing and trees in the background.  On the table on the deck was a smashed bird egg, directly below the ceiling fan - is there a nest up on the fan?  I couldn't see one, but the egg was pretty fresh. This last fall, a black bird flew over the table on the deck and hit a dining room window, killing itself.  However, the bird's beak was stuck in the window screen.  It scared me when I first saw it - a bird hanging from the window screen about 5' from the floor.  Was it a precursor to Hitchcock's "The Birds?"  You be the judge.