Category Archives: Art Journal

Two Flip-Flop Junk Journals

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Junk journal spread with pockets and tags

Inside flip-flop junk journal displaying pockets and tags.

One of the spreads in a junk journal I’ve made for a friend’s Christmas gift. I can’t stop making these now and have run out of people to make them for. My daughter suggested I begin selling them but I wouldn’t have a clue how to start. Plus I doubt there’s a market for them in the UK.

I recently sent our almost-here new granddaughter’s journal to her parents in Australia, along with a pretty crocheted cot blanket. Oh, and I also made another journal for her big brother so he wouldn’t feel left out. It’s full of pirates and creepy-crawlies… just the thing for a nine-year-old. I hope he enjoys ferreting out all the little hidden things.

Meanwhile, I’m working on another whimsical journal for me, I suppose. It’s got lots of Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass elements in it, but it’s not just Alice.

Inside cover of my 'blue' journal showing quotes and pockets with tabs.

Inside the blue journal cover.

The overall theme of this one is ‘blue’. Although it’s not just blue. The Stamperia Alice Through the Looking Glass papers can be purchased at Amazon (affiliate link).

'Alice' spread with cut-outs of Tweedledum & Tweedledee, Humpty-Dumpty, the Mad Hatter, and Alice.

Alice spread in the blue journal.

Did I mention that making these is my latest addiction? I go to sleep thinking about what I can make the next day. I watch YouTube creators and eagerly copy and adapt their techniques. I consume videos about the best glues, for goodness sake. And I’m spending an awful lot of money on Etsy. The availability of printables and journal kits is simply too tempting. I even bought a new fancy-dancy printer.

One of the things I like doing is creating my own background papers. I start by collaging my paper scraps, and boy, do I have a lot of scraps. Let me share a photo of where I am working right now…

My very messy work surface.

I know, what a complete mess…

I always clean it up at the end of the day, honestly. All the scraps go into a tin ready for my next session. I have to write here too and when doing that, it has to be tidy.

I’ve been reminded that I’m not the only member of the family spending time making useless things. My partner just brought this:

A chestnut man

The Chestnut Man, made by my partner.

He loves the series, ‘The Chestnut Man’, that’s the only explanation I have.

Before I was interrupted by whatever that is, I was talking about the background papers I make with scraps. I collage them to a piece of cardstock, scan them for future use, and print it as often as I wish. Here’s one I made yesterday.

Collaged and stamped masterboard ready to scan, print, and cut up.

Background, ready for whatever I want to do with it.

This one has some collaged moths and also some stamped images as well. Journal makers and scrapbookers call this a ‘masterboard’. I wish they’d come up with some other name. Anyway, it can be used for tags, covering envelopes, journal covers or whatever.

Going to stop waffling now.

Junk Journals Revisited

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old collaged junk journal

The cover of my first junk journal.

Note: This post contains links to Amazon from which I earn a small commission.

I made my first junk journal years and years ago. The cover image shown above has been repinned a multitude of times. Back then, they were made from scratch with, well, junk mail, old magazines, and scrap paper. And the basis of it was a cheap Paperchase notebook. Bits fell off when I pulled it from the shelf so I have had to glue parts down and add some scraps to fill in the gaps.

Anyway…

When my eldest son was small he had a book called ‘The Jolly Postman‘. It had lots of pockets and hidden letters hidden within the pages. My son loved it and treated it gently. It was passed down to my other two kids, who were less careful. But 35 years on and missing a few treasures, it now lives in Australia with my grandson.

My second grandchild is due in a few weeks (Oct 23) so I decided to make a journal for her mother along the lines of ‘The Jolly Postman’. She can add to it–photos and text, and one day can explore it (and the hidden treasures) with her little girl.

Here’s the cover with a wrap-around, lace-trimmed tuck spot, hidden paperclip, and a couple of cards from the Botanical Inspirations deck. You can probably guess the baby’s name by the general theme.

Pink rose-themed junk journal cover.
Rose-themed journal

I used scrapbook papers from Stamperia’s House of Roses pad, bits of lace, and rose washi tape.

Journal with pocket holding heart cards
One of the inside pages with a pocket holding heart journaling cards.

There are lots of spaces and places to add photos, text, and any other small mementos. Of course, it’s not suitable for a young child to play with but will be lovely for her to sit with her mother and explore all the details.

There's family photo gallery in the journal.
I included lots of family photos that I’d printed out in sepia.

Several inserts are made from envelopes and junk mail brochures. I trawled through my photos and selected a few to print out in ‘sticker’ size and pasted them into one spread in the journal. You can’t see them all in the image above.  I then printed them out on photo paper, eight to a page, trimmed them, and popped them all into a pocket held in place with more hidden paper clips. The photos on the right are pasted onto a multiple-part tag that came off a jacket.

The book is a ‘flip journal’ so when you reach the end, you flip it over and there are more pages like an accordion book.

I really enjoyed making it and have been bitten by the junk journal bug again. More to come.

Coloured pencil playfulness

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Have fallen in love with Päivi‘s art – see her blog Peony and Parakeet. She has revived my interest in coloured pencils. I adore the way she uses them in her inspiring abstracts. Without trying to copy her style, I have made some of my own in a handmade journal.

Art supplies used: black fine liner pen, coloured pencils (some are watercolour pencils) and a corrector pen. The first image, “Steps to Happiness” has some collage and stenciled elements too.mixed media journal page

 

art journal collage and paint

mixed media journal page

 

coloured pencil mixed mediamixed media colored pencilmixed media w/colored pencil

This creature formed itself out of watercolour paint drips. I was trying to make a sort of tree and suddenly, there he was. All he needed was a few defining pen strokes.

Mixed media journal with colored pencil

This page was created by splodging on watercolour randomly, then picking out bits to colour with pencil. Some doodles started to reveal all the hidden monsters.

Art journal page color pencil abstract

I called this one “Patterns of Thought” as I was listening to some metaphysical blog radio at the time.

Patchwork art journal

Here is the cover, inspired by Teesha‘s fabulous journals. There are odd little pockets on the inside where I overlapped squares to make it the right size.Fabric journal inspired by Teesha

Rough puff patchwork

Life Book 2014 exercises

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Life Book 2014 Week 10

I made three attempts at this one. Blimmin’ awful! We had to use magazine photos of faces and paint over them. The back grounds are paint, collage and gesso. I spattered and dripped, splodged and crayoned but I could not get them to look  how I saw them in my imagination. The premise of the exercise was ‘Life Connections’. Obvs I focused on my family and home. Why the little house on the right looks like it’s on fire, I have no idea! Anyway – crap!

Life Book 2014 Week 11

Week 11 was a short bonus lesson based on ‘The Tree of Life’ Tam’s demonstration was a lovely whimsical girl on a swing and her ‘cohort’, Gracie, gave us a lovely video of a more abstract tree. I’m not  alover of drawing figures, so I sort of combined the two demos for the image on the left. The one on the right was just me playing with some ideas in my journal – nothing to do with Life Book.

Life Book 2014 Week 14

You might notice I skipped a couple of weeks. That’s because the exercises for the missing weeks didn’t really appeal & I didn’t have the necessary materials for them. I can always go back to them if I feel the urge later on.

This was Week 14, a bonus lesson by Dyan Reavely. Much fun. Quick and easy. Dyan’s flowers were three dimensional but I made mine flat as I am working in a journal, rather than on loose sheets of paper. I cheated even more – the flowers, leaves and tree were created out of  four large sticky labels. I journaled on them – freewriting all sorts of crazy stuff. The flowers, etc., were doodled, painted (Tombow markers) and cut out. Of course, they simply stuck down without me having to bother with glue or gel medium. I like the effect so it’s a technique I will use again.

The background was created by spraying diluted Brusho (powder) watercolour paints. Sorry, Dyan, but I can’t afford Dylusions right now. Brushos work just the same, last for an eternity and you can do lots of different effects with them. There are several videos on YouTube which demonstrate how to use them.

Readers in the US can buy Brusho paints here.

Life Book 2014 Week 15

Week 15 was so much fun. I loved making these Quirky Animals! This was a lesson presented by Tam… I dreaded trying to do these, but the way she explained and showed us made it super-simple. Again I used my trusty Brushos for the background, spraying them through stencils.

The creatures are made with simple shapes with added quirk. Some are painted with acrylics and some are watercolour and/or watercolour pencil.

I added white pen all around, and some gold dimensional paint on the background.

I’d love to do more of these and frame them for imminent grandbaby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Book 2014 Traci Bautista's lesson

Week 16 was one I’ve been looking forward to. I’ve been a great fan of Traci Bautista for a few years now. I just which I could create art so… well, so artfully as she does. Her’s always seems unforced and easy, whereas when I try the same thing it looks like a dog’s breakfast! Think I’ll give this one another go,

Life Book 2014 Week 19

Missed a couple more weeks – this is Week 19. Week 18 was an interview with Carla Sonheim.

This lesson was presented by Danielle Danielle. I quite enjoyed it, even if I can’t get the hang of crossed legs. Pretend she’s wearing great baggy yoga pants, please! The background was created with lots of collage, hence the very textured nature. There is a torn piece of collage that runs right though the girl’s face – argh!

Acrylics, gesso, collage, crayon & pen.

And I am all caught up – yay!

Life Book week 8

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I have caught up – yay! This week’s lesson was created by Alena Hennessy, author of Cultivating Your Creative Life, and it was all about intuitive painting. She gave us a guided meditation, which I’m ashamed to say I haven’t partaken of yet (I’m a meditative wriggler) and a free form exercise using collage, acrylics, crayons and pen.

Mixed media abstract

I had a lot of fun with this – it’s one of favourite ways of making art. There was a stage (which I oughtta be used to by now, you’d think) where it got extremely ugly and I was about to bin it. I kept telling myself to press on and it would be okay in the end. Well, it’s not great, but it’s okay.

Journal of Simplicity

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Hand made journal

Here’s an old journal I made. It’s only partially filled, but it’s the one I turn too when a bit bored. The pre-prepared backgrounds make it easy to get started. The journal was made by laying down a full size Imperial sheet of Fabriano Artistico, then spraying with diluted inks through stencils. When the first side was dry, I turned it over and sprayed again. Drips and runs very much appreciated.Sprayed ink journal

I used a straight edge to tear the paper into… mm… 8″ x 16″ pieces. I folded them in half and sewed them at the spine.

Journal of Simplicity 2

Sprayed ink journa

Handmade journal

I love that the background suggests images to me – do you see faces in your bathroom flooring too? So when I want to do some art but am not particularly inspired, I can open this journal and ‘see’ something – all I have to do is let it out.

Hand made art journal

Life Book 2014 Week 6

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Week six was another couple of exercises from Tam – she’s always fun. This week we were dripping and flowing ink. She used Dylusions; I haven’t got any so I used my diluted Brusho paints. Brusho is a powdered watercolour/dye that can be used in many ways on paper and fabric. It can be diluted and kept in spray bottles – you only need to use a little, or you can sprinkle it onto wet paper for some lovely effects. We had two projects; here is the first.

Wk 6 inksplash sml

I used homemade tape, fabric tape, rubber stamps and my Brusho paint. I’ll post the second piece as soon as it’s done.

Life Book Daisy Diva

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Here’s my girl. I thought she’d be a nice ‘Daisy Diva’. I don’t like cupcakes and sweet stuff much (‘cept chocolate), so couldn’t bring myself to use sugar as an art theme.

Life Book Week 5 Diva

The background was painted charcoal (white gesso mixed with black acrylic paint as I have no black gesso). Then a fuscia pink layer over that. Some fabric tape for a border, plus loads of Neocolor ls. More gesso, more paint  – this time teal blue.

I collaged my girl, gave her a fabric dress, cut out some shapes vaguely resembling arms and legs. Coloured them with pen. Doodled on her dress and daisies all around. Some more Neocolors and that was it. Much fun, although I wouldn’t want to hang her on a wall – too scary!