Use Your Stash – Art Journaling With RIBBON! + Video

Yep, you read that right.  Art journaling with RIBBON!  I was given the challenge over at Art Geeks – to use a yard of ribbon in my art journal.  So, not only did I step up to the challenge, but I videotaped it, too!  :)

 

AND, here’s the video:

Video Tutorial – Make Your Own Art Journal

By request, I made a video tutorial on how I make my own art journals.  My technique is a combination of Teesha Moore’s pamphlet stitch, used in her 16 page journal, and Effy Wild’s canvas cover. 

I WON!

I entered a draw over on Pam Carriker’s blog, for a chance to win two of Pam’s most recent stencil designs, produced by Stencil Girl Products!   AND, you guessed it!  I won!    *happy dance*  Take a look at these stencils!  They will be fabulous in my art journal!

I think I may have to add a few more stencils to my package…I have wanted to order some of their stencils for a while…what better time than now, to save on shipping, right? 

Jane Davenport <3

Aren’t you shocked?  Blog posts two days in a row?  WTF?  lol  Today’s post is about the art I have created while participating in Jane Davenport’s classes.  I’m taking almost all of her classes, and love them!  My drawing skills have improved so much.  This first piece isn’t my best work, but I like parts of it.  It is from the “I Heart Drawing” course.

My next piece is from her newest workshop – “Express Yourself”.  This is quite an advanced course.  I recommend you do “Supplies Me” before this one. This lesson was “drawing realistic eyes”.  I have a ways to go, but did okay, I think.  I drew/painted/colored the eyes in an altered book (an old UK atlas).  I used a Crafter’s Workshop stencil for the brick wall, with some Golden fluid paint in Cobalt Turquoise.  The black is Dylusions spray.  The eyes were drawn and colored with prismacolor pencils mostly, with a bit of Copic marker and Sharpie paint pen.

I Heart Drawing 29 Faces in September

So, I kind of cheated a bit, in an effort to get caught up with the 29 Faces in September challenge.  In conjunction with the challenge, I am participating in Jane Davenport’s “I Heart Drawing” class.  This class is absolutely phenomenal!  I am enjoying her instruction so much.  I feel like I’ve grown leaps and bounds with my drawing skills.  So, one of the assignments was to do a bunch of small faces, so I did a whole page of itty bitty faces with varying amounts of detail.  There are eight faces in total on the page, which brings me almost up to date with the 29 faces challenge! 

I have another face almost complete.  That means I have done 10 faces so far, and it’s September 10th! 

I’ve also been making journals.  I altered a children’s story book that I got from my Mom.  She had given it to my late sister in 1976, so it has special meaning to me.  Although it seems a bit weird to “ruin” a book, if I hadn’t altered it, chances are it would have just sat in my Mom’s bookcase forever.  I made a “Joynal”, as part of another one of Jane Davenport’s classes.  I love how the cover turned out!  I started with a coat of gesso, then added some letter stickers and Thickers from my stash.  Then, another coat of gesso, followed by a spray with my Dylusions spray inks.  I then outlined the letters with my Pitt big brush pen in a turquoise colour.  It looks so cool! 

I also made a couple of journals from scratch.  I used the bookbinding method taught by Julie Prichard in one of her online courses.

The larger one (it’s 11 x 15″), is filled with Arches hot press watercolour paper.  I haven’t finished the cover yet, but can’t decide what I want to do next.  It is canvas, which is primed, and I stenciled some Golden glass bead gel on the cover.  I think I will go in next with some pan pastels, and see where that takes me.  I’ll post the final version.

The smaller one (it’s 7 1/2″ x 11″), has some of the same watercolour paper, along with some marker paper.  The covers are chipboard, covered in washi tape.

I think that’s it for today.  Thank you so much for stopping by!  If you have any questions about any of these projects, feel free to leave me a comment.

Marker Storage Tutorial!

Today, I am going to show you how I went from this:

To this!

Materials/Tools:

• Six wooden tissue boxes, sliding lids removed
• Gesso (I used Liquitex)
• Acrylic Paint (I used Golden Cobalt Teal)
• White Craft Glue
• Cardboard for backing (I used a heavy mailing envelope)
• Washi tape
• Golden Gel Medium (Matte)
• Golden Matte Medium (Gloss)
• Sanding Block
• Foam Brushes
• Scissors or Craft Knife

Instructions:

I started by giving the boxes a light sanding, inside and out, using a sanding block.

 

Decide on your configuration.  I used 6 boxes, and arranged them in two horizontal rows of 3.  Obviously, you could use as many boxes as you wish, and use any configuration you wish.

Coat the insides, and all outside panels with gesso.  Allow to dry thoroughly.  Sand lightly.  Paint all insides and exposed outsides with acrylic paint, using a disposable foam brush.  Mine required several coats (2-3) to get a thorough coverage.  Allow to dry thoroughly.

Adhere boxes together with a generous amount of white craft paint.  Allow to set overnight (or at least several hours).

Decoupage outside with washi tape and gel medium.  Apply a top coat of matte medium (gloss).

Paint cardboard backing, first with gesso, and then acrylic paint, and adhere to back of unit with white glue.  Trim off excess with either scissors or a craft knife.

VOILA!  I think I am going to make another one! 

Marker Storage! Tutorial to follow…

I went from this:

To this!

All it took was some dollar store kleenex boxes, paint, washi tape, and my imagination.  I took photos in progress, so I will be posting a tutorial soon.

Remnants of Mixed Minded

I just had an amazing weekend, taking three consecutive workshops with Donna Downey , at Mixed Minded, organized by Karen Ellis of The Art House Studio in Kitchener, Ontario.  Here are the remnants of my weekend:

We worked in two journals, and made a canvas.  But, most of all, I met some amazing women.  This was the first time I had participated in a weekend of arting.  So rejuvinating.

 

 

Oh My…I Have a Lot of Journals lol

So, just out of curiosity, I decided to see exactly how many journals I have on the go right now.  I like to work in several journals at one time, but I think I’ve gotten a little out of control as of late.  You be the judge:

I really do enjoy art journaling!    Taking these photos lead me to blog about the various journals that I enjoy working in.

First, my Smash journals.  I seem to fill these quickly, just because most of the work is already done for you.  All I generally do is slap in some ephemera, add a little washi tape, and I’m done!  I’m in the process of making a Youtube video flip of my beloved Smash journals.

As you can see, one of them is full, and the other two are move than half full. 

Next, premade journals.  There are so many options out there!  When I began art journaling, I was a little overwhelmed by all the options.  Over time, I have played with a number of different journals, and, depending on the type of journaling I do, they all seem to have their purpose.

For journaling using wet mediums (acrylic paint, sprays, watercolor crayons, inktense pencils, etc.), my absolute favourite is my watercolor Moleskines.  They come in several different sizes.  Of course, I have them all lol.  The biggest one is HUGE…12″ x 16″!  The smallest one isn’t in the photo…it’s about 3″ x 5″?  I also like the one with the purple label.  The paper is thick, but not watercolor.  It is a nice off-white color, and will hold up to a fair bit of wet mediums.

My next favorite pre-made journals are the Strathmore mixed media journals, and the Strathmore Visual Journals (140 lb watercolor).  Strathmore really has done a fabulous job…the paper is nice and thick, and holds a TON of watercolor-type mediums!  The only thing I am not crazy about is the spiral binding, but I’ve learned to work with it.  The Robert Bateman Sketchbook is good for dry medium, and will also hold up to a fair amount of wet stuff.

Next, handmade journals.  I should give a little shout-out to Julie Prichard.  She introduced me to journal making.  Her online courses, offered at The Land of Lost Luggage Ning site, are awesome.  I made three journals in one of her classes.  I also made Teesha Moore’s famous 16 page journal,(see her Youtube videos – the first one is below) and the fabric quilted one at the back is based on one of Teesha’s journals.

Last, but certainly not least, are my Letter Love journals, made while participating in Joanne Sharpe’s Letter Love classes.  She has a new class starting soon, and I can’t wait!

Sooooo…..there you have it.  (Almost) All of my current journals.  My name is Kim…lol

Thanks for stopping by!  If you have any questions about art journals, please feel free to ask.  If I don’t know the answer, I will find it for you!  Cuz that’s just how much of an enabler…er….friend I am!

Monkey See

I have wanted to make a sock monkey for years! Lol! My sister has a childhood story around a sock monkey, so I decided I would make her a sock monkey for her 50th birthday. He he…better late than never!

So, here is my purple sock monkey….purple being my sister’s favorite color.

Isn’t he cuuuuuuute? I think so.  I hope my sister likes it, and that she doesn’t read my blog!