Add a Napkin to your Art Journal

Hello there, it's Renee with @thediyday and I am all sorts of ready for Halloween.  I'm even bringing the vibes into my art journal using an appropriately themed decorative napkin and a few StencilGirl® stencils.  If you're new to art journaling, have never used a paper napkin as art, or looking for inspiration, keep reading - I'm sharing some of my favorite techniques.  

I am often asked what type of journal I use for art journaling.  The short answer, I'm using a book of poems I bought from a garage sale.  I liked the minimal amount of pages (80) and the words in the book serve as a background design.  Don't get me wrong, there are many wonderful art journals to choose from and I may use one in the future, but for now, this book works just fine.

Before I started designing my page I added a thin layer of gesso to the top and allowed it to dry.  Gesso hardens the page just a bit and it gives the paint something to stick to.  

Next, I peeled the front layer (skull layer) from the back layer of the decorative napkin, tore it to size, and brushed on a coat of Mod Podge.  With the Mod Podge still wet I placed it onto the page and added another coat right on top of the napkin.  

After the Mod Podge dried, I blended a light coat of Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink on the entire page followed by Black Soot in random areas.  

Now it's time for some stencils.  The first one I used was Antennas 6 Stencil.  This stencil reminds me of crossbones which works great with the skull paper napkin.     

  

Then I covered the entire page with dots using What's the Point? Stencil and a medium coat of Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink.

To complete the overall creepy Halloween look I used the Scarab Beetles Stencils in various colors throughout the page.  

On a side note, Mod Podge is often sticky for a few days or even longer depending on the thickness of the application.  Be sure to leave your art journal open to air dry to prevent the pages from sticking together.  

Have a wonderful day and a happy Halloween!

Renee 

Dwell in Possibility - Kraft Journal Spread by Laura Dame (LauraMixedMedia)

If you're anything like me, you are in love with kraft paper, and this kraft journal from Dina Wakley is no exception. To me, kraft paper is so awesome because it's basically a built in background, but I have heard so many people say they don't know what to do with it, so I decided to share this process with you!

StencilGirl Products Used:

Words to Live By Stencil

Protea Mask with Stencil Outline

Supplies:

Dina Wakley Media Kraft Journal

Dina Wakely Media Collage Tissue

Liquitex Fluid Matte Medium

Liquitex Basics Gesso

Matisse Fluid Acrylic - Australian Salmon Gum, Unbleached Titanium

Charvin Acrylic - Caribbean Pink

Stabilo Pencil - Black

UmWow Studio Chipboard - Layered Chevrons

Liquitex Spray Paint - Black, Viridian Hue Permanent 7

YES! Paste

Cheesecloth

Tim Holtz Quote Chips

Step One: I used Liquitex Matte Fluid Medium to glue down some Dina Wakley Media Collage Tissue papers. I just love these floral prints! Don't worry that you can see a discoloration where the matte medium is - you won't see it when we're done!

Step Two: Using gesso, stencil wherever you'd like over the background. I stenciled along the sides and a little across as I didn't want everything to be covered - I wanted to leave a little blank space. I used gesso instead of white paint because, in my opinion, it's easier to layer over. 

 

Step Three: I used three different colors to layer a floral stencil over the background. This time I stenciled along the bottom portion of the spread. I used three colors as I didn't want the stenciling to look "flat" - adding more colors (and not necessarily mixing them) gives some values to your stenciled image. 

Step Four: Using a Stabilo pencil, I drew some botanical stems. I then used water to activate the pencil and added gesso to fill in the leaves. 

Step Five: Spray paint your chipboard shapes in a contrasting color. I used this turquoise-green color as I loved the pop against the pink. And you of course don't have to use spray paint, you can use whatever you'd like!

Step Six: Next, I spray painted some splatters in black. You could also use watered down paint or gloss sprays

 Step Seven: Now it's time to glue things down! I like to use YES! Paste for gluing down "heavy" items such as chipboard. I feel it gives a stronger hold than a glue stick or fluid matte medium. A gel medium would work well, also. I glued the chipboard shapes along the sides, then added some painted cheesecloth and a Tim Holtz quote chip. 

And that's it! 

I hope you enjoy the tutorial, and that you feel inspired to start playing with your kraft papers! 

Laura Dame (LauraMixedMedia)

Frieda Oxenham: Art Journaling with StencilGirl® Stencils

The part of Ben Okri’s poem that I’m illustrating this month tells us: “So dream a good dream today and keep it going in every way”.  This is definitely not an easy task considering what life is throwing at us all and having positive dreams seems at times far too much to ask. But I still think that trying to find at least one good thing to concentrate on every day might help us with trying to have at least some positivity in our lives and is good for our mental health.

This page faces the one made for February’s project and here you see them together.

This is the tutorial for the right hand page:

1.      Cover the page (8 x 11.5”) with gold acrylic paint using two layers for good coverage. You could also use gold gesso.

2.      Stencil all over the page using blue acrylic paint and stencil L024 Damask, and when dry splatter with pink fluid acrylic paint (I used the one from Golden).

3.      Add more colour using transparent acrylic paint using a brush or your fingers (which is usually what I end up doing).

4.      Remove the paint with a baby wipe through the large stencil of the September 2018 StencilClub set.

5.      Glue on a face torn from a Stamperia rice paper sheet using matte medium.

6.      Add stenciling around the face using the same stencil as in step 4, with a mixture of titanium white and pale blue paint.

7.      Outline the stenciling from step 6 above the head with a blue Sharpie poster paint marker.

8.      Using previously made coloured papers (I used the leftovers from last month’s project) and the large stencil from the March 2020 StencilClub, mark out the flowers on the paper with a permanent black marker and cut out. Glue onto the page at bottom right, using a glue stick.

9.      Outline the flowers with a turquoise opaque paint marker.

10.  Write the words of the Ben Okri quotation using a Dymo writer on transparent tape.

11.  Glue on butterfly postage stamp as shown.

12.  Edge the page with large pink Posca marker and also rub some on the page itself.

© Frieda Oxenham 2021. To see more of Frieda's work, please visit her BLOG.

Not In Kansas - A Travel Fairytale In Fabric for 2020 by Geri Beam

Hi!

This project was created around the theme of travel and portals and passages as part of the challenges given to the StencilGirl® Creative Team. 

Since travel is not a common activity for many of us these days, I created a fairytale using fun and fabric. 

Not In Kansas – A Travel Fairytale In Fabric for 2020

A woman wished she could travel to meet her new friend in St. Louis. However, she was stuck in a faraway kingdom, unable to travel due to a horrible plague upon the land. She had once heard of a little girl who traveled to a far-away place by means of a tornado.

She had been told that the Mighty Crows knew how to travel and could do so unimpeded. She took her wish to the Crows and asked what she could do.

No sooner had she voiced her wish to the Crows when a terrible firestorm burnt a portal in the sky. She was magically shrunk to fit on the back of a crow who flew through the portal.

On the other side of the portal embers fell and scorched the earth. The crow and the woman flew around the world until St. Louis came into sight.

On the ground, the new friends were delighted to meet in person. They worked together to create beautiful works of art that soothed the souls of many.

The Beginning of New Adventures in Art

Here are the details about the project. The size of the piece is 16.5 inches wide by 6 inches tall. It sits on an easel also made from fabric. Two buttons on each side of the piece allow the middle page to be held open by the magic thread from the portal.

Not in Kansas - A Travel Fairytale in Fabric (Pages 1-2)

Not in Kansas - A Travel Fairytale in Fabric (Pages 3-4)

Not in Kansas - A Travel Fairytale in Fabric (Back with support)

A note about the back of the project and construction of the fabric easel: 

First, the batik fabric was a perfect fit for invoking the firestorm and burning the magic portal. Sometimes magic is just lying in your stash waiting to be used.

However, when trying to figure out how to make the project stand alone on a desktop, I needed help. I enlisted the assistance of my clever husband Kent. The support needed to be strong enough to hold the project but not be seen from the front. A piece of coat hanger was fused to the back of the piece to keep it stiff.

The easel was made from the same base fabric as the project (72F Peltex® II Two-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer). Many paper models were tried until the final design which solved the issue.

Supplies Used in this Project

StencilGirl® Stencils

·      Three Crows a 6”x6” stencil created by Kimberly Baxter Packwood

·      Petite Oval Wisteria Vine Mask a 4”x4” stencil by Trish McKinney 

·      Latitude and Longitude a 6”x6” stencil by Mary C. Nasser

·      Going Global Small a 6”x6” stencil by Mary C. Nasser

·      Metro Map a 6”x6” stencil by Mary C. Nasser

·      Mary C. Nasser’s ATC Mixup a 9”x12” stencil

·      Carol Wiebe's ATC Mixup a 9”x12” stencil

Fibers

·      72F Peltex® II Two-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer

·      FF79F2 Pellon® Flex-Foam™ 2-Sided Fusible

·      100% Cotton Muslin (painted with white gesso)

·      100% Cotton Commercial Batik fabric

·      Black rattail cording

·      Midnight YLI Candlelight Metallic Yarn

Mediums and Ink and Pad

·      Bob Ross white gesso

·      Golden Fiber Paste

·      Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

·      Aleene’s Ok To Wash-It Permanent Fabric Adhesive

·      StazOn Jet Black Solvent Ink

·      Aladine, Izink Dye Spray - Licorice (not in photo)

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints – Chalk Acrylics

·      Stone

·      Bougainvillea

·      Granny Smith

·      Midnight

·      Haystack

Lavinia Stamps

·      Fairy Orbs

·      Blue Orbs

·      Fairy Thistles

·      Fairy Thistle

·      Crow Set

Tools

·      Make-up sponge and PanPastel Sofft Art Sponges

·      Nuvo Silicone Media Spatula

·      Plastic pallet knife

·      Paintbrushes

·      Karen Kay Buckley scissors

·      Derwent Graphik 0.5 Line Painter – Tickled

·      Uni-Ball Signo white pen

·      Farber-Castell Pitt artist pens – Warm Grey Cold Grey

·      Stabilo Aquarellable – Black

·      Uni Posca pens – Black, White

Now that's a tale with a happy ending.

Enjoy!

Geri