Art Journal Page: Swim in the Sea

Hi everyone, Heidi from www.makeyourlifecolourful.com here, today I’m showing you an art journal page which reminds me of long summer days and nights at the sea with friends, nothing to do, just have fun and enjoy great company!

Today I’m working in my 7gypsies Architextures “Vintage Pink“ Mix and Match Book and I choose a page with a cool damask background. The fun thing about this Mix and Match Book is that you can take pages out while you’re working on it and you can put it back in when you’re finished. And even though the pages are not made out of watercolor paper they can handle a lot of water, so that’s always a plus! I really enjoy working in this art journal, it’s one of my favourites!

Step 1:

To get my page started I applied a thin layer of The Crafter’s Workshop “White Gesso“ with a brush over most of the page but not all, I do want the damask pattern of the page showing in several places. When the gesso was dry I applied some The Crafter’s Workshop white “Modeling Paste“ over a The Crafter’s Workshop stencil called “Damask“, using a palette knife and setting that aside to dry.

Step 2:

After the modeling paste had dried I’m going to ad my colours to the project: I applied some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in the color “Pink Coral“ to my project with a brush and sprayed with water, this makes the color run. I dried when I was happy and repeated this procedure several times until I liked what I had. Then I splattered with this same color Glimmer Mist and also Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in the color “Navy Blue“, using a brush, and drying in between colors.

Step 3:

Now I’m going to work on the elements that I’m adding to my page: as my focal point I choose one of the images from the 7gypsies American Vintage paper called “Go & See“, I cut this piece in a size that I liked and I’m distressing the edges a little with an edge distresser (but you can also use your scissors). I cut a piece of about the same size as this focal point from some 7gypsies American Vintage paper called “Across USA“ and I distressed the edges.

From the Canvas Corp paper called “Sails & Shells Stripe on Ivory“ I used the three big quotes, which I matted on Canvas Corp paper called “Tan & Ivory Damask“ using liquid glue. I distressed the edges of this tan damask paper. From the same “Sails & Shells Stripe on Ivory“ paper I used three sea shells, those I fussy cut leaving a small border.

Step 4:

Now it’s time to put my page together: I edged the different elements with Archival Inks in the colors “Coffee“, “Cobalt“ and “Jet Black“ using a foam applicator tool. First I adhered the quotes above each other on the bottom left corner using one millimetre thick foam tape, then I added some Canvas Corp “Natural“ Jute Cord to the page and adhered on the back with regular tape. Next I adhered the two paper squares onto each other using liquid glue and then adhered them over the jute cord using one millimetre thick foam tape.

The only thing I now have to do is to adhere the fussy cut sea shells using one millimetre thick foam tape and liquid glue and edge the page itself with the same colors of ink that I used before, so that all the elements on the page fit together well.