Hello Canadian Scrapbookers! I have been intrigued and inspired by art journals lately. Although I am a true novice at this craft, I have been dabbling a tiny bit and learning a few techniques and about some of the main mediums. I am a dive in and give it a try kind of girl, so don’t look to me for authority on ‘how to’ and ‘you should’. If you do, you will be disappointed. BUT, if you are looking for someone to give you permission to try it out, explore and see what can happen, then I am your support team. Here are the steps to my first creation, where I figured if playing on paper and tucking it away in a book was good, then how awesome would it be to create something for the wall. Go ahead, and give it a try! What is the worst that can happen if you do?
Step 1
Choose your surface. We have started a sign gallery by our entrance and have made wooden surfaces out of pallet wood. Thanks to my hubby for this part! They are about 15’ x15’, or somewhat bigger than a scrapbook page. This is what my beginning looks like. There is no reason you can’t play on canvas or heavy cardstock (like Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine’s Superstock, which will take all the fun stuff on top without warping).
Step 2
Mod Podge some paper over the entire surface. I chose old book pages, but you can choose whatever you like! Cereal boxes? Sure! Sheet music? Yes! Scrapbook papers? Do I even need to reply? Don’t worry about neat edges. We will fix that up near the end. Let it dry.
Step 3
Now take some gesso and paint it over everything. What is gesso? I think of it as a primer first of all. Any color we add on top of it will be truer and brighter because it won’t sink into the paper. You can also use it as a color-toner-downer. A thin layer of gesso over a busy but beautiful patterned paper will keep it from overwhelming your scrapbook page. You can also use gesso to add texture to your project. There are thicker formulations for this type of application. Let it dry (or heat gun it if you are impatient).
Step 4
Now the real fun begins! Pick a couple Clearsnap Spritz in whatever colors fit your fancy and spritz away merrily. You can leave it spotty. You can spray heavily and then tip it up so it drips down your project or you can do what I did and smudge the ink around a little. Or you can make up your own thing. Here’s the thing to remember: this is a bottom layer, so it belongs in the background. You can cover up all kinds of things you don’t like with the steps to come, or if you are really disenchanted with a spot, you can apply gesso on top and start over. In short, don’t think too much! I did leave the bottom right corner a little less colored, because I had other ideas for that spot. Let dry (naturally or artificially as your product can sustain).
Step 5
Stamp some other textures/images in a new color. I added some purple blotchy things. They don’t stand out at all, but do add a little more interest and depth to the background. (If you are curious, I used the ‘Rugged Edge’ stamp from Indigo Blu.) I stamped with Clearsnap Fluid Chalk inks because I wanted their soft, deep colors.
Step 6
Now we are going to get ready for another medium- texture paste! This is kind of like the stuff you put on ceilings. It’s a little like gesso in that it takes color well and you add texture with it. You can buy texture paste in different colors, but I just use white, and add a bit of acrylic paint to change it to what I want. Glob, stir and you are ready to go!
Step 7
Pick a few spots on your project where you want your texture and color to go, and apply! I used a Crafter’s Workshop stencil in a few spots (applied through the stencil with a pallet knife. Okay, I actually used my Cricut lifter because I couldn’t find my pallet knife. Sometimes you do what you have to!) and just spread it on with my ‘knife’ in a few other spots that looked like they needed color.
Step 8
Here is a fun way to get a nice stamped image over a bumpy background. Stamp on some tissue paper and then tear them out! Use a glue stick or liquid glue to stick them down. Archival ink works great for this if you want a precise image. I didn’t, so I used my Clearsnap Fluid Chalk ink again and gave a little spritz of water over the stamped image to soften it a bit. I used ‘Jumbo Butterfly Trio’ by Stampendous for this part.
Step 9
It’s time to finish up the background. I applied a bit more ink to a few places with my sponge applicator and I sanded the paper overhang off. I also sanded a few spots on the project to add distressing and vary the intensity of the color.
Step 10
Your background is now ready for your embellishment. I simply finished up with my title (Prima Canvas letters colored with Inka Gold), a few messy stamped butterflies in the background because I decided I needed a touch of black, a few Bo Bunny Pearls, and a painted then spritzed piece of chipboard (by Dusty Attic). I had some other things planned, but in the end I decided against them because I didn’t want to cover up the background. Sometimes that happens;0)
Step 11
Hang and enjoy! As you can see, we have a way to go on our gallery wall!
To See more of Jayme’s work visit her blog – CLICK HERE
Comments
cool:)
Interesting! Looking very nice. Have fun with the remainder of the pallets. Hope you will show us the completed wall.
Very nice! but don’t you mean to say “Now hear this”?
This is a very cool project go ever I believe you have the wrong here on it. I think it should be hear. Thanks for posting though.
I intentionally used ‘here’ as a play on words. My intent with the phrase ‘now here this’ was to be a reminder to be in this moment, to be here for this, so to speak. I thought I was being rather clever, lol!
I also wanted to correct your spelling Jayme…. How about if you put a comma after each of the words – Now, Here, This….
It would prevent people from getting hung up on hear/here?
Thanks for sharing your idea. I like the idea of mixed media for the wall where everyone may see it versus in a journal hidden away.
Take Care!
Judy