Working It Out.....

 Hi Everyone!

I don't know about you but this past week was somewhat trying for me.  No matter what I started, my craft projects just didn't want to come together.  Ever have those type of days?  Well, I was having one of those weeks!  The result was a great learning experience.

Because I've been working in my homemade art journals, I've not had a chance to work in my Dylusions Art Journal.  With no clear idea of theme or even color palette, I grabbed my Dylusions Ink Sprays and Inksessential Mini Mister and just started.  And didn't like it.  I could have gesso'd over the pages but instead I decided to just use this art journal spread as a means to play with the new goodies from eP.
I added random spots of paint using Prima's Donna Downey 12x12 Chevron Grunge Art Stencil. .  Next I added the Bert and Flossie silhouette stencils using Claudine Hellmuth paints.  I mixed some Blank Canvas paint with Gesso to get a gray color I liked for Bert.
Then I got an idea.  What if I used  Pan Pastels with stencils instead of ink sprays!  Why not, this spread was after all a 'learning experiement'.
 I layered the Bert stencil with the Flossie stencil then added TCW Mini Cursive Alpha stencil on top of all of that:

(I add blue painters tape along the edges of some of my stencils - helps my little fat fingers :-) hang on better)
I also used Pan Pastels along the edges with Dylusions Number Stencil.

I LOVE - LOVE - LOVE how the  Pan Pastels work with stencils.  The only thing to remember, is to apply fixative (I used hair spray) or the chalk will rub off as you can see in the picture above.  I outlined Flossie with the white Faber-Castell Gelato and was rubbing some of the chalk off before I realized it.

If you are wondering why the funky handwriting, it's actually my personal journaling.  I kept writing in the same area - over previous writing.  I wanted to keep the journaling personal and this way I know what I wrote but anyone looking at it would have a hard time deciphering it (I hope anyway :-) ).

All in all, I learned something even if the overall spread isn't all that pretty.  Honestly, I threw everything but the kitchen sink on the pages but it allowed me to play with all my new eP goodies AND it got me inky.

I hope this inspired you to step outside your comfort zone, to create just for the "what if", you never know what you might discover.

Supplies Used:

InLinkz.com

You are Loved

Good morning, its Mary-Ann here with a little mini project honoring bright cheery colors!  My tulips have broken ground but there is still snow everywhere.  I needed these bright colors to get me out of my slump!  I was inspired by the trendy palette and gorgeous floral patterns from the Collectible collection of My Mind's Eye - Notable.  I mixed it with bright colored ribbon, twine, and a few pins.  Scotch foam tape  helped with stability and dimension.  I applied Tim Holtz distress ink to the edges of my papers. I also added a few Inkssentials tags to the album to create more pages for memories.

Check out all this foam tape I used!

Here are a couple pictures of the inside.

Hope hope your neck of the woods is warmer than mine.  Thanks for looking!  I believe you will be able to purchase this mini in the e-kit section of the website very soon!