BOOKS AND BLOSSOMS FOR CREATIVE CARTE BLANCHE

Greetings all!  Welcome to a new challenge over at Creative Carte Blanche!

It is our mission to inspire and support each other in this community.  We love to share our ideas, our techniques, our knowledge of products and get to know everyone who is traveling this art journey along with us. I hope you will join us and share your talent with us.

It is not our intent to recommend one product over another.  We, like everyone else, have certain products that we have found we love but they may not be the same ones you love.  So, please, by all means, use what you love and share them with us!

This month, the lovely and multi-talented Hels Sheridan is hosting our art adventure.  I think Hels is known for many things but particularly her beautiful dimensional flowers that she so often uses on her art pieces.  I for one love them!  So her theme of "Books and Blossoms" is a perfect theme from her.

I decided to create a couple of simple art journal pages for this theme because sometimes less is more and I really wanted to experiment more with my concentrated watercolors.  More about those in a minute...

I began by brayering white gesso and then some DecoArt Media Cobalt Teal Hue and a touch of Hansa Yellow Media Acrylic Paints onto the surface of a child's paper back book that I am altering into an art journal.  I let this dry and then moved on to the next step...

I brushed Matte Medium (any brand will work) onto the surface of the art journal pages and then pressed a piece of Tim Holtz' Terminology Tissue Wrap over the surface of the two pages. I chose this particular Tissue Wrap because I thought it was perfect for the "Book" portion of the theme; book text glued into an altered children's book!

I didn't want the book text to overpower my images that I would soon be adding to the pages, so I randomly scraped some white gesso over the print and let it dry.

Now for the "Blossoms" portion of the theme.  I sketched a flower pot and placed the stems from Tim Holtz' Flower Garden stamp set where I would want them to be arranged in the pot.

Next I painted the flower pot to look like a terra cotta pot using DecoArt's Media Fluid Acrylics.  First I brushed on a coat of Vermillon followed by Transparent Red Iron Oxide to add depth and shadows. Then I added Burnt Umber lightly along the shadowed sides and in the center to represent the dirt.

Next I masked the gentle curve of the flower pot so that when I stamped the stems in place using Jet Black Permanent Archival Ink, they would not stamp over the pot.  Next I painted the stems with DecoArt Titanium White Fluid Acrylics to cover any orange pot or brown dirt going up the stems.  When I paint them with green paint, I wanted them to be a uniform color of green up the entire stem.

Next I stamped three different flower tops from Tim Holtz' Flower Garden stamp set on top of the stems (using Jet Black Archival Ink) and heat set them.  

I broke out my Dr. Ph Martin's Concentrated Water Colors and began brushing color onto the flowers.  The concentrated colors are really vibrant and fun to manipulate with water and a small brush.

I moved from flower to flower, adding color, shading and bringing them to "life".  Then I heat set them dry.  Now, if they were to be touched with water again, the water would activate the watercolors, so I sprayed them with Krylon's Workable Fixative to seal them.

Next I sized some images of vintage seed packages that I saved on my computer.  I cut a piece of scrap paper to the size of the seed packets, cut the printed images a little larger than the kraft paper, wrapped the printed imaged onto the kraft paper and glued them in place using 1/4" Scor Tape.  I then distressed them using Ranger Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks on the edges.  I would be using a couple of them shortly on my art journal pages...

I wanted to add a little color to the background of my pages.  So using Ranger's ink applicators first with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink followed by Fossilized Amber, I created a soft, gentile background.  The left side is colored, the right side is not.  You can really see how the inks warm up the background.

I decided to use this sweet vintage girl from Tim Holtz' Found Relatives cards on my art journal pages.  I cut her out and colorized her using Neocolor II Watercolor Crayons.  This was a little tricky as there is a slick finish on the image.  So, I sprayed her with Workable Fixative first to sort of seal her and hopefully give some "tooth" to the surface.  It helped a little and I was able to add the color from the crayon and then smudge it in place using my fingertips.  When I tried to use the water brush, the color would just bead up.

Here is the arrangement of the vintage little girl amongst the seed packets and some little foliage from one of Wendy Vecchi's Build A Blossom stamp/stencil sets.  They are colored with a combination of the concentrated watercolors and the watercolor crayons.

Here is a photograph of the art journal pages at this point.  I have also added black acrylic paint around the edges of the pages to frame them.  But the top right has a very distinct bare spot.  That is where I planned for my sentiment to go.

I sketched "BLOOM" in place and then computer generated "where you are planted" to be cut and glued underneath "BLOOM".

I outlined the letters with a permanent black pen and then filled them in using a small detail brush and DecoArt Carbon Black Fluid Acrylics paint.  I really love how the black letters and black blocks pop on the page!

And once again...here are the finished pages.  Books and Blossoms ...
Bloom where you are planted.

I hope that your creativity blooms as you contemplate what you will create using this theme.  Then join us at Creative Carte Blanche by linking your project to our blog.  That way, you can share not only your art but your techniques and your step by step with everyone else.  It's so fun to learn new things from each other.

WANDERLUST 2016 WORD PROMPT PAGE ~ WHAT I AM MOST GRATEFUL FOR

It's the start of a new week and I wanted to share some art journal pages I recently finished.

I am loving my Wanderlust 2016 year long art journal.  We are given prompts approximately every other week.  They are thought provoking and sometimes a real challenge to put my feelings down on paper in art form.  But I love doing it!  For me, it's a very introspective and creative process.

"What I am most grateful for ..."  Just think about that for a few minutes.  SO MANY things come to mind ... what I am I THE MOST grateful for?  

It took a while for me to really consider ALL of my blessings and I came upon the one thing that I think is at the root of all other things that make me grateful.

~ UNCONDITIONAL LOVE ~

I created this simple tree of life covered in hearts.  Life and love are so intertwined.  I cannot separate the two.

At the center of my tree is a cross with a heart in the center representing my faith in God and my belief that from Him, all things are created, given and blessed.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 is a beautiful scripture often referred so as "The Love Chapter" in the Bible.  I thought these words were so appropriate for these pages.  They truly express what unconditional love is all about.

It begins with my Heavenly Father: the creator of life and was then passed onto me through my loving parents.  What a gift!

I pray that I have been able to share this type of love with my family and friends.  

So what I am MOST grateful for is the unconditional love that is at the foundation of everything:  happiness, harmony, understanding, joy, compassion and so forth.

I began these pages by covering my art journal pages with some different Tim Holtz' Tissue Wrap papers.  I glued them in place using DecoArt's Media Matte Medium.  Then I brushed over the pages to seal them.

Next I added some torn cardstock, book text, portions of a doily and some corrugated paper to the pages.  I glued them in place using DecoArt Media Matte Medium and then brushed over them to seal them.

Once dry, I began adding DecoArt Media White Gesso on top of the pages in random strokes ... not covering up all of the colors, pattern and textures of the papers below.  Let dry or gently heat set.

I added more texture to the pages by using some DecoArt Media Modeling Paste through Tim Holtz' Bricked and Bubble Stencils.  I randomly added the bubbles towards the top of the pages and the bricks across the bottom to create a wall effect on either side of the pages.  Let dry and immediately clean your stencils.

When the Modeling Paste was dry, I began to add color to my pages.  I started with the corrugated paper that was going to represent the Earth and grass and the brick walls.  I experimented with a combination of DecoArt's Media Fluid Acrylics and Dr. Ph Martin's Concentrated Water Colors.  After I had colored my bricks, I added depth to the mortar with a Stabilo black pencil and a Detailer Water Brush.

Now ti was time to add some color to the sky.  I experimented with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Titanium White and Dr. Ph Martin's Turquoise Blue to create a wispy blue sky.  I did not want to cover up the musical notes and other images below so the water color was a wonderful semi transparent blue.  I dabbed some solid Titanium White to add a cloudlike texture along with the stenciled bubbles.  I loved the varying hues of the blue sky!

Then I sketched my Tree of Life onto the pages.  I off set the tree to the left of center so that I could add my scripture to the right of the tree.

The tree began to take shape as I used DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics to paint it.  These colors are more opaque and really made the tree stand out against the wispy sky.

The tree was painted using DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Burnt Umber for the tree bark, Pyrolle Red for the hearts, Hansa Yellow Medium for the cross, a combination of Blue Green  Light and Yellow Green Light for the leaves.  I then added a black line around the tree and the hearts.  

A little trick ... I sized the scripture to fit in my space on the right side of my page.  I then attached a piece of plain tissue paper to a piece of copy paper by taping it around all of the edges using 1/4" Scor Tape.  Then I ran the tissue paper taped to my copy paper through my printer and it worked perfectly!

I then tore the tissue paper around the edges of the scripture because the edges of torn tissue paper melts better into the background than does cut paper edges.  I brushed DecoArt Media Matte Medium over the area where I would be laying down my tissue paper.  Then I laid the tissue paper in place, made sure there were no wrinkles over the letters and then brushed over the top of the tissue paper with Matte Medium to seal it in place.

Here is a closeup of the left side of the pages.  You can see alot more detail in the background in this picture and also the depth that the corrugated paper and stabilo pencil shading add.  I also added a dry brush effect of DecoArt Gold Metallic paint around the cross.

I hope that you are having a lovely day and you are finding some time to create!

WHEN I LOOK IN THE MIRROR WANDERLUST 2016 PROMPT PAGES

Hello everyone!

I've been playing with my Wanderlust 2016 Word Prompt Journal recently and added a few more pages.  I wanted to share a couple of them with you.  I have found these to be very insightful and thought provoking.

Wanderlust 2016 is a year long art adventure featuring video classes from various artists, new techniques, informative product information, an interactive community of questions and sharing art and of course, one of my favorite aspects of Wanderlust; the bi weekly word prompt journal.

The word prompt given was "What I See In The Mirror".  This really is quite introspective if you think about it.  What is that reflection you see when you look in a mirror?

Here are my pages I created for this theme.  I am looking in a hand held mirror at a reflection of myself as a young girl; with her whole life ahead of her and enjoying something as simple as a summer day.  The ornate mirror was created using Tim Holtz' Ornate Frame die cut on to two heavy white cardstock pieces glued together.  I colored the mirror frame to look antique gold using DecoArt's Media Fluid Acrylics Burnt Umber and Metallic Gold.

The pages began with DecoArt Media Gesso scrapped onto them then lightly sanded particularly where I was going to draw the image of myself.  I then added various Washi Tape pieces.  Finally I added Tim Holtz' Flourish Stencil to scrape DecoArt's Media Modeling Paste over the stencil using a palette knife.  Once dry, I used a baby wipe and DecoArt Media Quinacridone Red and Titanium White mixed to create a soft pink color.  I randomly swiped that onto the background and then added areas of DecoArt Media Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide to give an aged, sepia tone.  When dry, I placed the Flourish Stencil back over the Modeling Paste and using a small sponge, I added DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Paynes Grey over the flourishes to add some beautiful dark grey tones.  The background sort of reminds me of old wall paper.

My image was colored using Neocolor Watercolor II Crayons and a Detailer Water brush.  They were fun to experiment with.  Then I also added a little DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Hansa Yellow Medium, Raw Sienna and Titan Buff to the hair.

The pen work was done with a Black Permanent Ink Pen and the shading was done with a Black Stabilo Pencil and a Detailer Water Brush.

I created this verse and attached it to the "mirror" so that my thoughts could be better conveyed through my art on the pages.  This verse freely hangs from the mirror.  It is attached with a Tim Holtz Antique Copper Ball Chain and fastener running through and Copper Eyelet that was attached to the cardstock using a CropADile.

For me, the symbolism of these pages is significant.  I see a woman that has lived a wonderful life yet my outward aging appearance does not reflect my youthful inner spirit or thought process.  I still find myself full of wonder and amazement at the simplest things.  I can still do everything I pretty much want to do but it takes me longer because I have an aging body that just doesn't want to cooperate to get things done in a timely manner like I could do when I was younger.  That sometimes can be frustrating.

But I have so much to be grateful for ... my family, my friends, my health and the blessed life I am living.  I just hope that I can continue to age gracefully and always maintain that childlike wonder of the world around me and share that with my children and grandchildren.

BREAK OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!!

Hello everyone!

At Creative Carte Blanche, we're all about discovering and embracing your own creative voice and style.

I've recently been working on some art journal pages with that idea in mind.  Sometimes we get so caught up in a new really cool product or someone else's style that we try to imitate it.  And we may have fun with that but we don't feel fulfilled.  That is your OWN creative voice telling you that the art you are creating is someone else's ... not yours.

That is why it's so important to experiment and play with different mediums, colors, styles and designs until you find something that really makes you happy.  Oftentimes that means you need to step outside of that "safe zone" where everything becomes easy and repetitive but not fulfilling.  When you find that artistic vein in your life's blood that makes you happy, you will have NO DOUBT that you're onto something special that brings you great joy.  THAT is when you know you're on your own artistic path.

So now, I'd like to share with you the art journal pages I've been working on and hopefully they will speak to you, too.

While I didn't photograph every step in the process of creating these pages, I will be glad to share the steps with you and the products that I used.

Most of the products I used were DecoArt.  I am on their Media International Design Team but I also love their Media products and use them quite often.

I began with plain art journal pages and sketched the area where I would have my hands breaking through the bricks.  These art journal pages are made of a heavy manila paper so I did not gesso them first.

Next swiped a baby wipe and some DecoArt Media Dark Grey Value 3 over both pages minus where I had sketched for my hands breaking through the bricks to be.  This dark background would serve as mortar between my bricks.

Instead of first using DecoArt Media Modeling Paste to create more distinct and dimensional bricks, I simply used DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste.  This stuff is awesome! It has a gritty feel, like real brick.  I've often first used Modeling Paste and then brushed over it with the gritty Texture Sand Paste.  But today, I just scraped the Texture Sand Paste throug the Bricked Stencil using a palette knife.  Let it air dry thoroughly and immediately clean your palette knife and stencil so as not to ruin them.  

When the bricks were completely dry, I chose random bricks to add a second layer of the Texture Sand Paste.  To do this, I simply used a small brush and brushed on a thick layer so that those bricks would stand out, creating more interest on that brick wall.

Here is where I got so absorbed that I forgot to photograph the process.  Sorry about that!  When the bricks were completely dry, I first wiped over busted out area of the wall with a baby wipe and DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Paynes Grey.  Then I began adding color to the bricks with a combination of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Cadmium Red Hue and Burnt Sienna using a baby wipe.  This gave a nice brick red hue.  Then I added random areas of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Yellow Oxide to give some of the bricks a different hue.  A little more of the Cadmium Red Hue and Burnt Sienna combination followed by touches of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Titan Buff to give a weathered effect.  Then a little more of the mixed red hues.  I just kept playing with it until I got the brick colors I liked.  

After I achieved the color of brick that I liked, I began adding some shadows around the raised bricks using a black Stabilo pencil and my Detailer Water Brush.  I also added some shadowing to the center of the pages and a little around the edges of the pages.

I found some clip art hands online that I liked so I sized them to fit my pages and printed them out on an inkjet printer.  Next I brushed DecoArt Media Matte Medium over both sides of the hands, letting them dry inbetween.  This sealed the hands so that I could paint over them.  Once I painted them with DecoArt American Flesh Tone Paint on the hands and DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Metallic Silver and Medium Grey Value 3, I let that completely dry.  Then I drew over the black lines of the hands using my Permament Black Pens.  I brushed over the hands again with Matte Medium to seal them and then glued them onto a piece of heavy cardstock.  Next I cut them out and they were ready to add some "handcuff chains".

I also had created more bricks by scraping the DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste through the brick stencil on a piece of heavy white cardstock.  Once it was completely dry, I added the brick color as I had done on the book pages and cut out around the bricks.  These would later be used for even more dimension on the art journal pages.

I created the chains using some of Tim Holtz' Link chain, a couple of jump rings and some some wire.  I clipped the chain onto the jump ring and then added a piece of wire that would stretch onto the back of the hands.  Here, I taped and glued the wire in place and added some adhesive dots to hold the hands and bricks up off of the art journal pages.

Here you can see the construction of adding the handcuff chains and the adhesive dots to the back of the hands.  

The chains were glued in place using DecoArt Media Matte Medium.  It is a wonderful glue and dries clear.  So, I just brushed the Matte Medium where I wanted the chain to lay, then laid the chain in place, brushed away the excess glue around the chain as much as possible and let it throughly dry.  In this photograph, the Matte Medium is still wet but in the final photograph, you cannot see any of the remnants of the Matte Medium around the chain.

While the Matte Medium was drying around the chains, I added my extra bricks by adding adhesive dots to the backs of them and gluing them in place.  I also added a dot of Glossy Accents to the bottom of the dots right before I pressed them in place just to give them more reassurance of sticking in place.  Then I used my black Stabilo pencil and the Detailer Water Brush to add a bit more shadowing around them.

Finally, I added the words "BREAK OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE" using Permanent Black Chisel Marker.  I made up my own graffiti style letters.  I may add more words on the opposite page at some point but for now, I'm happy with how the pages turned out and they will be a reminder to me to always keep playing, experimenting and discovering new things that make me happy on this art journey.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're getting outside of your comfort zone!  How else will you ever know what you might be missing???

ART JOURNALING DECOART AND YVONNE BLAIR INKY ART JOURNAL

Hello friends!

Welcome back to my blog and a very special Blog Hop and Giveaway Event for a very special lady and dear art sister ... Yvonne Blair of Life's Little Details. 

I was blessed to have met Yvonne at Ranger U in 2011 and we've been "soul sisters" ever since.  Yvonne is one of the most sincere, kindest ladies I have ever met and I am proud she asked me to help her launch her amazing new line of art journaling products.

** TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN THE GIVEAWAY, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT ON EVERYONE'S BLOG POST.  IT'S THAT SIMPLE!

Here are the lovely ladies and artists also involved in this Blog Hop Giveaway.  Each has created something wonderful using Yvonne's products. And...you will recognize almost all of the names on this list as members of the Curiosity Crew from the recent Compendium of Curiosities III Challenges!  By the way, stay tuned because most of the crew will be back together in the new year with some really fun stuff!

Annette Green
Cheryl Boglioli
Cheryl Grigsby
Linda Ledbetter
Susan Mostek
Yvonne Blair

This giveaway is celebrating Yvonne's launch of her own product line including her new Art Journal Buddy Tool, her amazing Inky Art Journals and her stamp line with Impression Obsession.  For more information about ordering the Art Journal Buddy Tool and the Inky Art Journals, contact Yvonne at yblair@gmail.com or go to her website (link above).  Her wonderful array of stamps are available through Impression Obesssion. 

I have created an art journal spread using Yvonne's wonderful new 6" x 8" Inky Art Journal.  I totally LOVE her art journals because they lay FLAT when you open them!  No matter where you open the journal to work ... FLAT!  The cover is made out of plain chipboard so that you can alter it in any way you like ... really making your journal your own! The 32 interior pages are a wonderful manila shipping tag material.  These pages are sturdy and it  takes a ridiculous amount of wet ink or paint to bleed through these babies!  I have yet to have it happen to me. 

Yvonne's Inky Art Journals come in three sizes:  6" x 8", 8 1/2" x 11" and her brand new size, 4" x 8". 

Want to know how I created these art journal pages?  Well, here's a tutorial to show you how ...

Here is the list of supplies you will need:  

• Yvonne's 6" x 8" Inky Art Journal
• Seth Apter Faded Fragments stamp set from Impression Obsession
• D17042 Stamp from Impression Obsession.  
• DecoArt Media White Gesso
• DecoArt Media Matte Medium
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Titanium White, Titan Buff, Cobalt Teal Hue, Cadmium Orange Hue, Cadmium Red Hue, Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Umber, Diarylide Yellow, Hansa Yellow Medium, Yellow Green Light, Yellow Iron Oxide
• DecoArt Americana Dark Chocolate and Flesh Tone Acrylic Paints
• Various Book Text and Emphemera
• Fabric Scraps
• Lace Scraps
• Cardstock cut into a heart shape
• Tissue Tape
• Neocolor II Watercolor Crayons
• Hickory Smoke Distress Marker
• Permanent Black Ink Pen (for detail work)
• Paint Brushes 
• Stylus
• Black Cardstock
• Permanent Black Ink
• Specialty Stamping Paper
• Black Thread and sewing machine
• Detailer Water Brush
• 1/4" Scor Tape

You will begin with a blank page spread in the 6" x 8" Inky Art Journal.  Notice how FLAT the journal opens!  I can't stress enough how easy this book is to work in and how beautifully your art flows across the pages!

Next I sketched my idea of the girl coming out from behind a big heart in the center directly onto the pages of the art journal.  Then I traced them onto a piece of tracing paper for later use.

I then brushed DecoArt Media White Gesso over the pages.

While the art pages were drying, I cut out a big heart out of scrap white cardstock.  I tore strips of fabric to create a homespun quilt like heart.  Using Matte Medium and a brush, I glued them in place on the cardstock heart.  Then I set it aside to dry.

Here is the backside of the heart as it was drying.  The fabric hanging over the edges would be cut shorter and frayed later.

While the fabric heart was drying, I began working on my art journal page layers.  Using Matte Medium and a brush, I began with torn book text.  Then I started adding little pieces of ephemera that I liked.  Not too many...just a few for interest.  Remembering that my girl would be peeking out from the center heart on the right hand side, I didn't need to add a lot of ephemera on that page.  Then I added some patterned cardstock for more interest.  Once I had those items in place, I brushed over them with Matte Medium and sealed them in place.

Once the heart was dry, I cut off the straggling ends and left enough fabric to fray all around the heart.  Here I have just laid the heart on top of the pages to get an idea of how everything is taking shape.

I removed the heart from the center and added some more fabric strips to the art pages to tie everything together.  I added them by brushing Matte Medium onto the pages, adding the strips and then brushing Matte Medium over them to seal them in place.  Matte Medium dries clear and is a fantastic glue and sealer.

For more pattern and interest, I added some 7 Gypsies Tissue Tape to the mix.

Now here are the basic art journal pages, layered with lots of different elements, pattern and color.  Everything is sealed with Matte Medium and set aside to dry.

The colors on the fabric heart make my heart happy but they were very vivid.  I wanted the focal point of these art journal pages to be the sentiment and the girl, not the heart.  So, to soften the colors, I added a wash of water and DecoArt Titanium White Fluid Acrylic Paint over the heart.  Then I let it air dry.

While the heart was drying, it was time to transform the art journal pages into a colorful union.  So using a baby wipe, I first swiped Titan Buff mixed with a small amount of water over the pages followed by Cobalt Teal Hue mixed with a small amount of water to make the colors more semi transparent.  I also wiped away some of the color from the pieces of ephemera.  I continued to add more color until I was happy with the background.

Laying the heart on top of the newly colored pages, you can see how everything really is starting to come together!

Next I did some messy machine stitching using black thread on the heart.  I laid the heart in it's place at the center of the pages but I did not glue it in place yet.

I laid my piece of tracing paper with my girl on it under the one side of the heart and using carbon paper between the traced image and the art journal page, I traced the girl onto the art journal page.

Here you can clearly see the outline of the girl on the art journal page.

I painted a basecoat of DecoArt's Media Fluid Acrylic Titanium White on the girl so that the colors I would be adding would be a truer and more opaque.  Then I began filling in the colors ... first her face with DecoArt's Americana Flesh Tone Acrylic paint.

And here is the way the art journal pages look at this point.

I painted the hair using DecoArt's Dark Chocolate, Titan Buff and a touch of Quinacridone Gold and then I started adding the facial shading using Neocolor II Water Color Crayons and a Detailer Water Brush.

Next it was time start filling in her dress. I decided to combine the Cadmium Orange Hue and Cadmium Red Hues to create the dress color and shading.

To give the art journal pages more depth, I added Hickory Smoke Distress Marker around the exterior of the girl and where the heart would eventually rest.  I smudged the gray using my finger and a tiny amount of water if necessary to create a feeling of depth and shadow blended into the background. 

Here you can see the effectiveness of the Hickory Smoke shading.

Next I added some small little flowers using a small paint brush and Titanium White paint.  I outlined everything with a Permanent Black Pen.

Then I added some scrap vintage lace to the neck and sleeve of the girl's dress using Matte Medium to hold them in place.  First I gathered the lace for the sleeve with a needle and thread and secured it with a piece of Scor Tape. Then I brushed over the collar and the gathered taped area of the sleeve with Matte Medium to seal them in place.

I stamped the sentiment, and the inspiration for these journal pages from Yvonne's wonderful stamps, available at Impression Obession a couple of times onto a piece of Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper using Black Permanent Ink.  Then I cut out the sentiment and glued it onto a piece of black cardstock. I cut it out again, leaving a black edge around each of the words. Those were then glued onto the heart.

The girl's dress was really sweet but it needed something else.  So I added polka dots using a stylus and DecoArt's Titan Buff Fluid Acrylics Paint.

Now to finish off the left side of the art journal page by adding some whimsical flowers ...
I stamped Tim Holtz' Flower Garden large stem and just the small flower from Wendy Vecchi's Ticket To Art flower directly onto the art journal page using Black Permanent Ink.  The leaves on those stems are from Tim's stamp.  Then I colored the flowers and stems in using a small paint brush and DecoArt's Fluid Acrylic Burnt Umber, Diarylide Yellow, Hansa Yellow Medium and Yellow Green Light paints.

I also added some really cool black designs from Seth Apter's Faded Fragments stamp set from Impression Obsession randomly around the perimeter of the pages.  Here is the almost completed art journal pages.  They just need the sentiment heart in the center.

Here is a closeup of the heart that has been glued to the center of the art journal pages.

And once again, here are the finished pages.  I just loved this sentiment from Yvonne's various stamp sets and as I said earlier, it was the inspiration for these pages.  

Please take a few minutes to visit the other blogs and leave comments so you can be eligible to win and Art Journal Buddy Tool and the new 4" x 8" Inky Art Journal.

Good luck everybody!