Turquoise and Silver Mixed Media Journal Page Spread

Hello friends and visitors! Thank you for all your lovely comments on my recent posts. I'm doing the best I can to get around to see you all.

 My super talented friend Autumn (SewPaperPaint) invited me to join her and 6 other friends from around the USA to participate in a round robin journal project. Each of us made an art journal, and we each chose two colors to work in (you can see my journal covers here (my pages from my album will be posted in the future), Autumn's  blue and green pages here, and a wonderful tutorial for her handmade journal here). We complete a spread in our own journal and pass our journals on to the next on the list. It just so happens that I send to Autumn, but I won't get hers for many more months. For the journal I received to work in from a very talented mixed media artist Sheila Sams Mallow, we are to use turquoise and silver. These pages are so big! Oh, boy! I had artist's block for weeks! But a couple of days working out in the garden restored my mojo, and I was inspired to journal about God's gifts I see in nature.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, because I have soooo many photos to share with you), I didn't take any process shots. I wish not to bore you with my how-to, so feel free to just look at the pretty photos if you wish. I wrote this tutorial more for me than you, because I will never see these pages in person again, and I'd like to recall how I made them!

This page was a little hard to photograph because it was somewhat warped from all Sheila's beautiful mixed media work on the opposite side. I'm hoping to publish a post showing her beautiful pages and cover in the near future.

 I began by adhering torn vintage sheet music--'My Lord is Waiting in the Garden' to my pages and giving it all a coat of DecoArt White Wash acrylic and Golden Cobalt Teal fluid acrylic paints using a cosmetic sponge, blending as I went along.

Next I used a Prima stencil, black and white gessoes, and a cosmetic sponge. I adhered Tim Holtz Melange Tissue Wrap, and did some stamping using Picket Fence Distress paint and archival ink. I added texture using a couple of stencils (Tim Holtz and Recollections) and texture paste. While the paste was wet, I sprinkled with three different embossing powders--light blue, silver and silver tinsel. When the paste was dry, I heated the powder until the paste just started to bubble for extra texture.

  I used  Dylusion spray and DOX applied with a paint brush to color my butterfly and this time it didn't blend (so happy for that!), even without sealing--go figure! You'll read further along colors I used and the happy accident I had with DOX.

 

I love those splashes of color!

Background stamps include Tim Holtz 'Nature', 'Little Labels', 'Seamless Experience',  and 'Boundless Flight', BoBunny 'Rough It Up'. Many of the images include numbers, so Frilly and Funkie can 'Count Me In!'. I've included lots of close ups so you can see those numbers, Frilly and Funkie girls, because I made these pages with your challenge in mind.

I added more color using Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise spray and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide. The yellow quickly turned to green here when it hit the turquoise because I didn't seal between the layers. I like the look, but lesson learned. I adhered some torn paper napkins and gave them, my title, tree branch, and the tissue wrap butterfly shadows with a watercolor pencil and water pen.

I love how some of the spray settled on TOP of the embossing here--so deep and rich.

'Blessed' chippie (a lone one I serendipitously found at AC Moore a few days ago) was given it's crackle with Distress Crazing medium and Distress Crayon in Walnut Stain.

You can spot a number 7 on the blueprint tissue wrap and some numerals from the post mark and measuring tape stamped images if you look closely at the photos above and below, although the stenciling does obliterate some of them.

I zoomed in on more numbers on the musical score and center of the postmark below.

And more...

I gave the same crackle treatment to the Tim Holtz (Bird Branch) branch.  I added a pair of blooms from a hoarded stem. Although I know they are not, they reminded me of the dogwoods so profusely flowering in my garden. It's a great year for dogwoods in Wilminton, NC this year! We just may have to swap out the name of our renown 'Azalea Festival' this weekend to 'Dogwood Festival'.  The azaleas have either all turned brown from our recent snowy/freezing weather a few weeks ago or what blooms didn't die have all blown off the huge shrubs today. Ditto with the camellias. I think I'll skip the garden tour this year. I digress...

My 3D butterfly is Tim Holtz Detailed Butterfly stamped in archival ink with Tim's numbers 'Reflections' stamp using the old kissing technique--I think that's what it's called. I colored it using Tumbled Glass Distress stain and Fossilized Amber DOX. These two products pair beautifully.

 

A few rub on's from my stash add the second part of my title, an underscoring flourish, and a few more numerals.

A splatter or two of watered down black gesso finishes my journal pages off. And into the mail it goes, off to Autumn where she will make a spread using the same two colors! I can't wait to see what she will make! What fun!

 I took some of these photos outdoors on a very windy day, so my flowers are flapping in the wind, and bits of tree debris have fallen onto my backdrop. 

I'm sharing my journal pages with 7 other round robin friends and these fine challenges:

Frilly and Funkie-Count Me In!

Stamplorations-Stencil Sunday #90 + April Mixed Media Challenge

Penny Black and More-April Challenge-Spring

Love to Create Challenge #7- Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

Artistic Stamper April's Creative Challenge-Backgrounds

Creatalicious Challenge #112-Anything Goes with Optional Add Flowers

That's Crafty-Foliage and Flowers Challenge

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #276-277-Anything Goes

Creative Artiste Challenge #25-Anything Mixed Media Goes

Lost Coast Designs Challenge #35-Favorite Background Technique  layering with stenciling, stamping and splattering

Thank you for stopping in today and for all your amazing comments! I read and appreciate each one of them!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily