March Art Journal Pages inspired by 12 Tags of 2015

Good Monday morning to you. I hope you start off your week crafty!


I decided to jump in on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2015 and begin another art journal. Here is Tim's awesome tag above.


This is my March layout.


While I'm still a bit of a dabbler in the art journaling world, I LOVE to try. And I need as much practice as I can get. I'll be honest: when I open my art journal and see those blank pages in front of me, I sort of panic inside. How weird is that? Once I get going, it's usually okay but I still have this thing about something going wrong, or not liking it once it's done. I really need to just get over it, I know.

I think I've found a simple solution for myself: I got a second journal. A practice journal in essence and it really works for me. Now I use one for experimenting, testing, and trying. Then use the other one to do my actual pages from what I learned from the first one. This takes a tremendous amount of pressure off and allows me to play around. No one has to see the first one. Ever.



In my practice journal (not shown) I dabbed the paints right onto the page and spread them around with a baby wipe. It gave a soft blended look to the page, but seemed flat and boring. So for my "real" journal, I tried dabbing the paints onto a small piece of a non-stick craft sheet (I cut an old craft sheet apart into four equal sized pieces) then picked up the sheet and mushed it onto the pages. Whoa! It was bright, but I liked it better than the softer blended one. So I stuck with it.




I did some stamping of hearts next, then did Tim's technique for the March tag. I love that big butterfly and I also love using his masks. 



Great technique with the embossing paste and powder too!



I ended up not liking all the stark white spaces, so I filled in with Mustard Seed and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks with a blending tool. Much better.



I stamped the phrase onto white tissue paper (the cheap gift wrap type) with black archival ink, let it dry, then glued it onto my page with mat medium. Once dry again, I colored inside the word "Discovering" with a white gel pen.



Comments

  1. Gorgeous, such vibrant colours. I had fun with this one too Annette and made mine into a Mother's Day card for my Mum ;0) x

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  2. I really like the idea of creating journal pages instead of tags, it will keep them all in one place for a start! Your page is stunning, the colours are wonderful!

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  3. Thanks for the step outs. This is an amazing page that I would love to have for my own. I guess I need some abandoned coral. So much color and yet its so interesting to gaze upon. I had 2 delusions journals and couldn't bear to use one even though Dyan had us mess up pages in her class. But, I did the exact same thing you did, used one for playing and saved one for the good stuff. I ended up loving my playing one more - I use it all the time. (I think that is the real purpose of an art journal, anyway.LOL)

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  4. Annette, I love your journal pages! Thanks for the step outs...loved seeing the process!
    p

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  5. Annette! You are a GENIUS!! A practice journal!! Fabulous idea!!I feel the same way about my art journals--Panic at those blank pages, and what happens if I 'mess up' or I'm not happy--I'd hate to waste good pages! :) (especially since I'm new at it!)
    Well, what you've done with Tim's tag techniques, on your AJ pages--Wonderful!! I could just dive into these pages! The colors are beautiful and happy!! Thanks for sharing, Annette!! XOXO-Shari

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  6. wow what gorgeous pages... so full of colour and beautifully designed x

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  7. Your journal pages are gorgeous!!!

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  8. Wow Annette what a stunning layout. All those colours together are just amazing and the gold is divine. Love it! Karen.x

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  9. So very beautiful!! You know, the OMG type of beautiful. As we are in the midst of moving to another state right now, I cannot craft for a while - but I can dream!!
    Sandy xx

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