First things first. . . I have added a new badge to my sidebar!
I am thrilled to announce that I have joined the Inspiration Team for Inspiration Emporium! I am so excited to be working with Jay and the other amazing ladies on the Inspiration Team! If you love all things Tim, you definitely want to check out this store because they have it all and so much more! With the announcement of the new team today they have also launched a new blog, the Inspiration Journal. I hope you will take a peek and check out the other members of the new team.
Now, how about a new art journal page?
One of my two words for the year is Happiness. When I think about happiness I always think of bluebirds. Quite a few years ago I remember watching a made for tv movie Can You Feel Me Dancing staring Justine Bateman as a blind girl who overcomes several struggles to become a strong and independent woman. In the movie there was a song with the line, "Bluebird of Happiness sing me your song". I always loved that sentiment. (I have never been able to find the song online. There is one from the 40s that has a similar line but it is different, or at least not how I remember the song from the movie.)
So as the new year begins and I think more on my word and about some changes I am challenging myself to make, I find myself kind of adopting the bluebird as my mascot for the year. As a part of my personal challenge to myself, I have decided to make myself journal about life and challenges and document discoveries along the way. I am a computer kind of girl so I decided to do my journal as a blog. I am a pretty private person and at first planned to keep the blog private. I changed my mind and decided to make it public just on the outside chance that someone might find my ramblings interesting. I can't promise that they will be, but in case you are interested, you can find that blog under Bluebird Songs on the menu above.
For this page, I started by covering my base page with patterned paper from the Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby Paper Stash. This is one of the pages that is a soft taupe color. As I was envisioning this page, I knew I wanted to use Distress Inks to add blues, yellows, and greens to paint a "scene" behind the bird. I also wanted a pattern but nothing strong like a stamped image that would take away from the bird. As I was flipping through the paper stash I had kind of an a-ha moment. This paper with its muted color was perfect for inking and adding color to. For the blues, I used Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood. For the "sun" I used Old Paper. For the green, I used Peeled Paint and Bundled Sage.
I cut my bird (Caged Bird Alterations die) from Grungepaper. I used Faded Jeans and Wild Honey for the body and Walnut Stain for the legs. I used a black Zig Marker to add a simple black eye. I added a small bit of Glossy Accents to the eye and beak to add a touch of shine.
I cut a branch freehand out of Grungepaper and inked it with Faded Burlap and Walnut Ink. I topped it with Crushed Olive Distress Stickles. For the flowers, I took pieces of Idea-ology Foliage and inked them with Ranger Adirondack Pigment Ink. I used Lettuce for the leaves and a combination of Red Pepper and Sunset Orange on the flowers. I used my Heat It craft tool to dry and set the ink.
I next sprinkled Distress Embossing powder on the pieces. I added Tattered Rose to the flowers. I didn't have a green in the Distresss Embossing powder so I used Antique Linen. Once I heat set the powder I went back over the leaves with my Lettuce pigment ink and then heat set it. It gave the Antique Linen a nice light green color. I gave the flowers a second coat of powder using Ranger's Bridal Embossing Powder to add some color variance and sparkle. I colored the brads for the flower centers using the Bridal Embossing Powder.
The patterned paper had a really soft and subtle swirl pattern in it. I traced over each of the swirls using Ranger Star Dust Stickles.
For the phrase, I used my single letter stamps that I have been using on all of my art journal pages. I think that by using them on each page it brings a real unity to the pages in the book as a whole. I stamped the letters for three of the words using Ranger's Archival Jet Black ink on a scrap blue piece of paper from the same paper pad. I inked the edge of each with Vintage Photo. I wanted to add a period to the end of the phrase but my set doesn't include one. I could have used a pen, but I wanted to be sure the ink looked the same. I grabbed a small embossing stylus (like the kind for the brass stencils) from my tool box and touched it to the ink pad and then my paper. It made a perfect round dot. I liked the look of it so much that I added more in a fun wavy pattern. The really nice thing about using the stylus for a stamp was that it made all of the dots perfectly round and consistent in size.
I finished off the page with a touch of Vintage Photo around the outer edges.
----------Supplies----------
- paper: Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby Paper Stash; Grungepaper
- bird: Sizzix Alterations Caged Bird Die
- embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Foliage
- stickles: Stardust and Crushed Olive Distress Stickles
- embossing powder: Bridal; Antique Linen and Tattered Rose Distress Embossing Powders
- ink: Adirondack Lettuce, Red Pepper, Sunset Orange Pigment Ink; Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink
- Distress Ink: Vintage Photo, Old Paper, Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage, Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood, Faded Jeans, Wild Honey, Walnut Stain, and Frayed Burlap
- stamp: unknown single alpha stamps
- adhesive: Therm O Web Super Stick; Tombo Mono Aqua
- misc: Glossy Accents
