Unstoppable

Morning folks!  It's Kim here with today's art journal project!  I wish I had step-by-step instructions but I confess that once I got going on this baby...I didn't even think to stop!  However, I'm happy to share some tips on how this was created (and I'm working on some videos too!)

I ended up being able to take Catherine Scanlon's Gelli Plate class, held at our studio, a few weeks ago and let me tell you...it was fabulous!  If we have Catherine back for another round of classes...you need to attend!  She's an amazing artist and a great teacher, we had so much fun!!  Anyway...during the class (which was an all day event) I ended up making 23, yes 23, pages!!  This all served as backgrounds for what will be finished art journal pages.  (We used an inexpensive spiral bound journal book, which we took apart.  Once finished, I'll rebind the journal.)  So the background of this page was created using a Gelli Plate and stencils.  And see that light shine in the upper right hand corner of the photo...metallic paint!  Oh, man it's fabulous!

Once I got my background pages home, I spent many hours just staring at them...my youngest said to me one morning, "Mom, why are you just sitting there starting at those pages?"  LOL!  Seriously, I had a breakdown of creative mojo!  And then, just like that, during dinner one night...an idea popped into my head!  Actually, it was more of a thought that I needed to add a big text circle to this page (this background is one of my favs).  I found some heavy weight text paper that I had in my stash and cut out the circle.  Then I stamped one of Dina's new girlie stamps (links at the end of this post) on to the paper and colored her in with watercolors, which is becoming one of my fav new tools.  I attached the circle to the far right of my page and cut off the excess.  Then I used that "magic pencil"  (yes, I promise I'm getting these for the store!!) around the circle and used a waterbrush to blend the black...a strong black line makes everything better!

Then I remembered that I had one of Dina's text stamps in my stash and the shape of it fit perfectly around my circle...ohhh...journaling love!  I added the sentiment, cut apart of course, from Dina's stamp set and then I found a Blossom Bucket embellie hanging around and lo' and behold, it was the perfect hair accessory!

And there you have it...my very first completed Gelli Plate art journal page.  And I've had so much fun with these backgrounds...that I've made a bunch more pages.  Can't wait to share!  Want to grab some of the products that I used on today's page...See the links below:  Enjoy!

Gelli Plate (8x10)
Adirondack Acrylic Paints
Scribbly Women Stamp Set
Earnest Stamp Set
Antique Buttons (Blossom Bucket)