Home: Something new for me - Mix Media Journal Cover

In 1998 when my son was quite young, I wanted to doing something with my time while he was sleeping. I discovered Decorative Painting which was quite popular at the time and then one of my teachers introduce me to oils which I fell in love with because I could dabble and dabble and the paint wouldn't dry like Acrylic does. Then fate intervene while I was looking for school books for my son, I discovered this store that half of the store was for Education Activities and the other was into rubber stamping (sadly the store closed in 2009). Rubber stamping became my life and I had to have every product that came out. I was torn between 2 different aspects of art, painting and stamping. After my husband passed away in 2008, I decided to concentrate solely on stamping, trying out for various Design Teams thinking this is what I wanted to do. Then fate once again intervene and I was given an opportunity to create/design a poster for a gala event in February 2014. Knowing I'm no graphic artist, I decided to do a mix media poster for the event (first time) ever doing a mix media project (sadly they didn't pick my design - out of 3 finalists). This woke up my inner artist; because it gave me the perfect fit of being able to paint and use my stamping products which help feed my addiction (can you say bad habit).. One of my supplies that I used to use in my stamping was Twinkling H20's by Luminarte which I had before and I didn't like them so I sold them all. This past August, I discovered Dion Dior's blog on the Luminarte website and I was drawn to her art. When I found out she used Twinkling H20's on her works of art, I knew I had to sign up when she offered classes. So this October, I signed up and found out how to use those H20's & find out why they didn't work for me. Dion is a fabulous artist by the way and if you ever get the chance you must take some of her classes.

So for my project, I used this sketch book is from Stillman & Birn 'Zeta' series and based my idea on Gabrielle Pollacco video how to creating mix media journal cover. Another fabulous artist by the way. So I started off using 7 Dot Studio paper collection called '9th Wave' for the base. I then applied a chicken wire and swiss dot stencils by The Crafter's Workshop using some Tim Holtz distress inks in the following colours Chipped Sapphire and Peacock Feathers. After it was dry, I applied light moulding paste to the stencils again adding some more dimension. After I heat set, I applied the paper to the journal using gel medium. I added some drywall tape along with some cheesecloth to add more dimension. I started applying various embellishments such as chipboard letters, chipboard bird with branch, metal butterflies by Fabscrap, buttons, bottle cap, Tim Holtz Muse Tokens, TH Word Bands and some Martha Stewart lace using a strong glue to adhere them. Then I took out my white gesso and started applying gesso to all the embellishments so they would except the colorants that I was using. Then I took out my Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst spray and sprayed the journal using Afternoon Delight Denim, Bells of Ireland Green and Tainted Love Teal. Then I added some water my Egyptian Gold H20's so it would be ready for me to apply. I then took out my Silks by Luminarte applied the following colours; Azurite, Key Lime and Teal Zircon which are really transparent to my journal to add more colour. I then took my Egyptian Gold H20 to add some highlights here and there. I added my flowers last and again took out my Silks to add some colour to my flowers so they toned in with my journal. I added some Tear Drops by The Robin's Nest in the following colour 'Baby' to various embellishments.
I then took out my Inka Gold by Viva Decor using Cobalt Blue and Turquoise applied them sparely on the chipboard letters and metal embellishments.