With so much fear and darkness around, I am using my art journaling as a bit of an escape. Jane Davenport’s whimsical characters and bright color palette inspired me to create a magical world of fairies and animals. I worked with new Whimsical and Wild stamps and layered all the fun characters. Check out the process video over on my YouTube channel:
Layering stamps is a relatively easy process, but you do need to kind of think through your page in a backwards way. First, create a “mask” for each stamped image by stamping it on a spare piece of paper and fussy cutting out the image. Before you begin stamping on the actual art journal layout, you have to plan what images will be in the front of the layout and stamp those down first. After each image is stamped down, use the fussy cut spare image to cover up the stamped image. I like to use rolled up Washi tape to secure it in place.
I followed this process for all of the animal stamps that I placed along the bottom of my layout. Each “mask” remained on the stamped down images. Once all the stamping was done, I came back with Distress Oxide spray in a variety of colors to create a fun rainbow effect. I’ll be completely honest…the background got a bit out of control. My intention was to use some Dina Wakley collage backgrounds to add over the Distress Spray. However, the collage backgrounds in white did not really show up like I thought they would. Then, when I added a collage background with black accents, it ended up feeling really heavy.
But, the great thing about art journaling is that you can keep adding and layering until you are happy with a page…even if you have to cover it with black paint! I decided to layer over the top of the collage papers with mermaid markers and gold acrylic paint. While it ended up being a bit bolder than I had originally planned, the gold acrylic paint actually served to tone down the background a bit….who would have thought?!?
To finish off the page, I used Prismacolor pencils to color and shade the animals and their fairy friends (At least I saw them as fairies!). Prismacolor pencils are so wonderful to use and shade with. These were some of the first higher quality art supplies that I ever purchased, and I have loved them for about 4 years. Such a fantastic investment!
Although this art journal entry did not really come together as I thought it would, I’ve come to expect that from art journaling. The page sometimes takes a different direction and you have to learn to roll with it. If you keep at it, and just keep working until you end with a product you are proud of, it always finds a way to work out in the end!
Keep it creative,
-The Scrappy Wife
Supplies: (Some of these are affiliate links…thanks in advance for supporting my channel!)
- Tim Holtz glass media mat
- Jane Davenport Art Journal
- Panda Thank You Stamps
- Horse Hug Stamps
- Elephant Dream Stamps
- Giraffe Wisdom Stamps
- Mad Confetti Stamps
- Fairytale Fox Stamps
- Versafine Onyx Black Ink
- Acrylic Ink Blocks
- Dina Wakley Background Stamps
- Distress Oxide Spray (candied apple, picked raspberry, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, mermaid lagoon, dusty concord) –
- Pixie Spray
- Ranger Mini Mister
- Jane Davenport Metallic Mermaid Markers
- Jane Davenport Mermaid Markers
- Gold acrylic paint
- Texture paste
- Prismacolor pencils
- Jane Davenport Glitz-Sea Markers