Every Friday, I spend time in my art journal, and it is glorious! Art journaling is still very new to me, and I am having such a great time experimenting with techniques and supplies that I’ve never been brave enough to try in my traveler’s notebooks or in my Bible journaling. Sometimes I try out things I’ve seen on YouTube and sometimes I just pull out the paint and let go!
I have been in love with Jane Davenport’s Inkredible Inks ever since she released them, but never really had a reason to purchase them since they bleed straight through Bible pages and thinner scrapbooking paper. But, back in December, Michael’s had them for 50% off PLUS an extra 20% off coupon on top of that. How could I possibly turn down that deal?!? Well, I pulled them out on this particular morning to try a fun technique using a straw.
First, I sprayed the page with water so that the ink would have somewhere to move. Then, I placed sporadic dots of ink across the page, mostly in a rainbow order. And then came the super fun part! Using a cheap plastic straw, I blew on each dot to make it spread out and splatter across the page. When the ink wasn’t moving as much as I wanted, I dropped a few water drops in it and then picked up my trusty straw to give it another go. It was the most oddly satisfying technique I have tried so far, and I can’t wait to give it another shot! I’m wondering if the same thing will work for more muted watercolors splashed across a page…
When I am not quite sure what direction I want to go in, my go-to option is my Dylusions stamp sets by Dyan Reaveley. They are so whimsical, yet edgy, and I absolutely adore collecting them. I find the best deals at Tuesday morning on her stamps and always pick them up when I run across them. I opted for the heart stamps and the silhouette of the person with her arms stretched wide. To make the stamping pop off the page, I stamped the hearts in black and then put clear embossing powder over the top. This gave them a bright sheen that helped the stamped image stand out in all the color.
The only color that was missing from my rainbow splatters was a true yellow, so I added it to the dreamer stamp. I stamped with clear embossing ink and used a bright yellow embossing powder to really highlight that image. I love that the embossing brings out the texture in the stamped image as well.
I have the worst time leaving white space on any of my pages, whether it be in an art journal or a scrapbook layout. Not sure what it is about me, but the white spaces always make a page feel unfinished. To bring this page together a bit more, I grabbed a stencil with non-sensical writing on it and used Hickory Smoke Distress ink to add some impressions across the page. Then I grabbed for a few phrases from Tim Holtz’s Snarky Small Talk booklet and placed them diagonally opposite the flow of the rainbow splatters. This created a nice motion across the page.
A few hand drawn hearts and a doodled border around the page, and this art journal entry was complete! It actually turned out much sparser than my normal entries, but I am pleased with the results. Plus, playing with supplies and trying new techniques always ignites my creativity. I’m learning to look forward to the time I’ve set aside for art journaling as time that I can really “let go”!
Thanks for reading!
Keep it creative,
-The Scrappy Wife
Supplies:
- Jane Davenport Art Journal
- Jane Davenport Inkredible Ink
- Dylusions heart stamp set
- Dylusions dreamer stamp set
- Archival black ink
- Clear embossing ink
- Yellow embossing powder
- Tim Holtz Snark Small Chat
