Really...I'm just going to show you how my brain works when I am creating. So when I pull out my art journal, I always cover my pages with some gesso to create a rough blank canvas.
The book I am using is from Fancy Pants Designs and it has a photo sleeve in between these two pages...in case you were wondering, and that second page in my spread actually has a folder.
My next step was to add some patterned paper to my pages. I pulled out the fun School Days collection from Ruby Rock-It for this part.
Because these serve as my background, and I like my backgrounds more subtle, I covered my papers with gesso.
Next, I pulled out some fun treats from our swap partners at Ruby Rock-It. I used a die blank from Spellbinders (the Birds One set) and some Mayan Gold velvet dimensional paint from Art Anthology. I used the die blank as a stencil and painted around it:
Leaving it like this:
Then on the second page in the spread, I hand cut petals out of patterned paper from School Days and adhered to my page to make flowers.
I painted around my petals and hand wrote the word blessed:
I decided I wanted to tone down the black a bit, so I added stitching around the flower petals and painted more gesso over the word blessed.
I was much happier with that look. :)
Then I went back to my first page. I decided to make the third bird in that row stand out, so I used my Birds One dies and cut a bird from patterned paper and added it on top of the third bird. I added paint around the edges and wrote the words "stand out" underneath it.
One of my favorite things to add to my pages are ink rings. So I took some Watermelon Colorations Color Spray from Art Anthology and sprayed some ink onto a small plastic tray. I then took a random lid and dipped it into my ink to create my rings:
I actually think I went a tad overboard on the rings. I usually like to add 3 to a page or 5 to a spread. I did more. :) So here's the second page with the rings and I also tucked some school photos from the boys into the pocket.
And then I also created some 4x6 cards to slide in the photo sleeves in between the two pages. So here's what it looks like:
Well there you have it. :)
Thanks for stopping in today!!!
