2020 #11 Handmade Pocket Journal with ETS {by Autumn Clark}

2020 Topic 11: Calming Colours

Can you have a calming feast? Well I reckon Autumn has brought one for us. Just using the photos alone, there are so many fabulous ideas and plenty of inspiration to make your own soothing journal.
~ Keren

Hi everyone, it's Autumn Clark from SewPaperPaint with you today, and I'd like to share with you a great way to use up a day's worth of gelli prints by making a useful little pocket journal.

I decided to stitch together a few prints, mainly because I needed a new journal to work though some thoughts and I was sure that our calming colors topic would be a perfect place to start!  Using light colors for your prints give a great backdrop for handwriting and layering, so lets get to the details.

I simply cannot put this journal down!  I've been adding new thoughts daily and look forward each day to revisiting it.  The concept is easy to replicate.  I picked out the thinnest cardstock in my stash and cut it in half, then used my 8x10" gelli plate with a beautiful array of PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Finish Acrylics in Taupe, Blush, Concrete, Hint of Mint, Sage and Waterfall and made a batch of two-sided prints.

This palette conjures the essence of escape for me!  My half-page cardstock pieces were about the same size as a particular book I use to brayer off my paint during the gel printing process.  I love using a book for this purpose so I can incorporate the text, as well as the color, into my finished work, in this case as full pages in my journal.

I kept some prints with solid color and also used several stencils and masks to get a variety of patterns/textures.  Those include PS095, PS106, PS108, PS092, PM006 and PM007.

 

I carefully decided on the order of my prints, mixing in the book pages, then used the three-hole pamphlet stitch to group them all together.  There are many advantages of this stitch for a journal.  1. The pages all lay flat when opened.  2.  The stitching can easily be removed if pages need to be added or taken away.  3.  It is incredibly simple to achieve, but the result is quite a strong binding.

As if gel printing and playing in paints isn't fun enough, the best part is adding the stamping, journaling and ephemera.

I focused on PaperArtsy Eclectica³ {Tracy Scott} Collection ETC39, ETC31, ETC27 and ETC25, all over-sized insects and flowers, perfect to make a big impact on a small journal.

I have always loved making art from "junk", so turning my least loved cardstock, an old book and a few drops of paint into a journal I can treasure brings me so much joy.

I have found that journaling even the most mundane thought can clear my mind to make room for more important things.  I find myself picking up one of my bottles of Frescos and finger painting here and there and love that I can continue to build layers and interest as I go.

This will not be the last of this type of journal for me!  In fact, I am inspired to continue in this size and colorway and make a group of these journals to use as inserts in an even larger journal.  Perhaps this lofty goal will encourage me to continue with daily journal entries and promote better mental health, and in return more creativity.  Do you find that you are more creative when you've actively reducing stress in your life?  I think it may true for us all and hope you will try this process for yourself.  I just know you will find the practice a rewarding one.

Until next time,
Autumn Clark

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2020 #11 Let Your Life Lightly Dance with FP and EAB {by Alison Bomber}

2020 Topic 11: Calming Colours

Gently moving us into the calming colours topic, Alison has created a thoroughly tranquil double-paged spread. It's a masterclass in its own right for how to achieve a soft multi layered look with lots of clever details ~ Keren

Hello all, it's Alison here with you today from Words and Pictures, and I'd like to share some art journalling with you.  If ever there was a time when we needed some calming colours, it is now (bravo, Leandra, on the timing!).  For me that means soft blues and purples and, of course, the greens of nature.  

I had a vision for these pages in advance (unusual for me) and it has ended up pretty close to where I saw it going (even more unusual for me!).

I knew I would be using two stamp sets by the fabulous France Papillon, and from the outset I envisaged the leafy stems of FP008 silhouetted against the scribbly "moons" of FP 006. 

Cut to the end and that's what I've got... three times over, because three is a harmonious number, calming like the colours.

I had a whole array of Fresco Chalky Finish Paints lined up on the craft table.  Not quite all of them ended up in action, but the majority of them did!

Since I was working with France Papillon stamps, it seemed right to play in the altered book I created on a workshop with her back in November 2014.  I started by gluing the pages to the ones behind for extra sturdiness and then giving the whole spread a coat of gesso.  Yup, I ended up with bumpy bits from hasty gluing, but it all adds to the fun!

Next some watery brayering - six colours to form an ombre of sky-type colours going down the page.  The first trio, from the top, are Lavender, Wisteria and Blue Bayou...

The next three are Glacier Ice, Seaglass and Waterfall (added to the craft mat below the Blue Bayou to pick up a touch of overlap).

And here's the brayered page after I'd splattered some of the leftover paint and used a credit card to scrape some more it right in towards the spine of the book where the brayer couldn't reach.

I used the stamps themselves to decide on approximate positioning...

... and then used a circle stencil to sponge on Snowflake paint for my three "moons".

Not particularly 'moony' yet, so I added some shading; finger-painting around the edges of the stencil with the same paints plus some added green.  Circles are another calming element, their shape is calming to the eye.

I used tissue tape to give each moon some wispy clouds around them.  Subtle in the final pages, but worth it, I think.

Time to stamp the wordy outlines.  They're stamped in Watering Can Archival.  I was eye-balling it... didn't get the large one quite on point, but it's close enough to me, and these are heading into the background soon anyway.

Pretty pleased with the result on the other two though!

Each of the two stamp sets has a cool splatter/rings stamp to add texture to a project with, so they've also been in action in the background, stamped in Snowflake alongside lots of scribbled white pen words.

The scribbling is more visible when the light catches them. I'm not telling you what the words say, but I meant them!

I daubed a wash of Snowflake over the scribbly moons to send them a bit further into the background before stamping the leafy stems in Olive Archival and clear-embossing them.

I then used mainly Spring and Beanstalk to fill in the leaves.

Then I spritzed what was left on the craft mat with water and used that to add a watery wash underneath the stems to ground them.  It needed a little touch of the darker Winter Green to extend out the base of the stem for a firmer hold.

And finally - apart from the statutory white spatter - I added some words from one of my latest sets, EAB19 Life & Living, released just last week.

It's a quote by Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, writer, composer and painter.

I felt I should tell you, since I've chopped his name off the end of the quote this time.

I think it's a beautiful thought; and I hope I've served it well with Olive Archival (nature's green) and some clear-embossing, to catch the light and lightness he mentions.

This was definitely a calming page spread to create, and at the start of June, that was really important.  And it makes me pretty calm to look at it now too - I hope it does the same for you.

When we are creating we sometimes get caught up in judging ourselves or trying to compete or compare, but we should really let all that go.  Creativity, at its best, should be a calming process of being in the moment and following the flow.  You can help that along by choosing colours which make you happy and calm, and shapes which curve and swoop.  I find working with wateriness is another way to soften and soothe - it gives everything flow... quite literally!  I hope you'll enjoy finding ways to create with calm colours, or at least in a way which brings you calmness.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  It's always a delight to read your comments and feedback, and I'm looking forward to lots more calming colours for all of us to enjoy this fortnight.

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