by Linda | Apr 6, 2010 | my creative journal
Happy Tuesday to everyone! It’s time for me to share some art journaling pages I’ve been playing with this week. I started with random backgrounds on several pages…collaging in some papers and painting with whatever colors I had lying around. The nice thing about art journaling is not having to plan anything really…just let your hands create and lead you forward naturally. Last week I created a super bright collage of flowers, so this time I went with kraft paper and more muted earth tones, even though I couldn’t help putting in some bright red! I first glued papers onto my pages, then rubbed paint around with my fingers. It’s fun to just put down layers without thinking much of how I was going to finish it up…after everything was dry I could go in with pen and ink for details and journaling.
This first spread still has the flowers and brightness of Spring incorporated…I guess I can’t help it. I was listening to the podcast by Jamie Ridler interviewing Carmen Torbus while working on this…hence all the positivity! You can see the photo of background alone up top and then my random doodles that were added in. I was using a new black pen that turns out to be super super inky, which I like for how true black it is, but the inkiness actually flicks around because of the texture from the paint…pretty weird!
You can also create cool textures on your backgrounds if you use crinkled paper to take away some paint from the surface when it’s all still wet. That’s what I did below to get a speckled wall type of texture all over my pages. It’s pretty rough and crazy looking, but sometimes you can also find interesting shapes in the textures.
I actually made myself a doll template to play around with because it helps me visualize various positions for drawing. I know you can buy one of those real wooden dolls for modeling, but it’s just as easy to make yourself a paper doll and put it in different positions. Feel free to download my PDF doll template for your personal use. This little activity turned into thoughts about not liking dolls in general – they are scary to me! I never played with dolls as a child…never owned a barbie and was much more into plushies or playing with plastic figurine toys. Maybe because I have older brothers and it was easier to just play along with their toys!
In the end, I don’t feel totally satisfied with these pages yet, but I know I can always go back and add to it. Always remember that you can keep working on pages for as long as you like, in whatever order you like…that is the beauty and freedom of having a personal art journal. It’s definitely my place to play with freedom and without the pressure of having to finish. I also started another background…not sure where it will take me yet…
I hope you will experiment with playing in an art journal and making random backgrounds – in fact many people work on backgrounds all the time and fill them in when they feel like it at a later date. It’s definitely fun and liberating when you can just play with color on a page and not have to think about composition or the final layout. I do that often when working on other pieces and have leftover paint to just smear onto pages. There are also plenty of techniques to explore in creating backgrounds…try them out and have fun!
by Linda | Apr 2, 2010 | my creative journal
Hi folks! To kick off national letterwriting month and I consider it also send your cards month, here’s a super simple Mother’s Day card you can make. I am really big on using digital elements because of the ease of being able to download them immediately and also because I can create my own matching designs if I’m missing something. However, I also love the real paper, textures and touchy-feeling elements of handmade cards. So the best of both worlds in my opinion would be hybrid cards! Combining both sides of cardmaking I think really maximizes the potential for all of us to create. To start this lovely month of stationery and card goodness here on BackToPaper.com, here’s a super easy peasy way to use digital elements. The idea is to make a simple card by combining elements digitally for printout, but then adding a real-life embellishment to bring out the handmade feel.
To make the card above I used the free Sketch Tulips digital element from Hero Arts, my own designing in Photoshop and simple embellishments I had lying around already.
- I wanted a distressed style, so I created the faded music paper background in Photoshop and put that behind the Sketch Tulip element in Photoshop.
- Then I added a simple sentiment to the bottom with the basic text tool and added a drop shadow in white – so really it’s a glow to make the words pop a bit more.
- I planned to add embellishments in the middle, so that’s why I left the space there, so now my is ready.
- I printed out onto white cardstock in the size I wanted for my card.
- I cut out the graphic a bit smaller than my white card base and added some dimension by inking and distressing the edges.
- Then I added my real-life embellishment of string with a bright button around the center with a simple bow.
- I glued that whole finished panel onto my white card base and tah-dah! All done!
Really easy, right? You can download the faded music paper background I created below, just click for high-resolution JPG. Feel free to use for your personal projects or paper crafting projects. I know sometimes it can be intimidating to use Photoshop or related programs, but this same card could have been done by simply printing all elements out and cutting them out individually to combine by hand as well. I really like simple hybrid cards like this, especially if you need to make 50 thank you cards, for example. You can quickly print out 50 copies of your design. I hope this will inspire you to use those digital elements out there and make a hybrid card. Enjoy and stay tuned for more hybrid projects like this one 🙂
by Linda | Apr 1, 2010 | my creative journal
Did you know it is the month for letterwriting?! I think a heartfelt handwritten sentiment goes a long way any time of the year, but having a whole month dedicated to the art gives us pretty good motivation as well. If you are cardmaker like I am, it’s a good time to send them out to friends and family. RedLetterDayZine has a great post all about this April month of National Letterwriting. There are great links for more information at the end of the post as well.
I can’t believe April has already started because I feel a bit behind in my letterwriting already! I have my dip pen and wax letter sealing kit ready…but want to create some new stationery for the occasion. Watch out for some more lovely printable stationery here – I will be posting my designs! Also, stayed tuned for some hybrid cardmaking print-outs or kits, because sending a card counts as well. Let me know if you have any themes of topics in mind…until then!
