Curiosity - Art Journal Page

Where would we be without a sense of curiosity? Since childhood, I have been a naturally curious person and persistently want to know the "why" and "how" of things.  Thankfully the internet makes feeding my need to know so easy to quench.

When I saw "curiosity" as an art journal emotions prompt idea on the Mixed Media Place blog a while back, it struck a chord with me and I sketched out a page idea for later use. I had an opportunity to play last evening and combined my sketched out page idea with the June Moodboard colours over at Scrap Around the World.

I went with a questioning science based take on curiosity and used a bunch of clip art images that fit the subject focus and reflect some of my interests.

Supplies: 400 Series Watercolor Hardbound 11" Art Journal (Strathmore),gesso (Golden), Tim Holtz tissue paper and distress paints, Dylusions numbers stencil, gel medium, Archival Ink (Ranger), whipped spackle and Pitt Artist Stamper's Big Brush pens (Faber-Castell), Specimen stencil (The Crafter's Workshop), question mark stamps (Kelly Panacci, CTMH, Making Memories), chipboard and fabric letters (Prima), sticker letters (BasicGrey), gelly roll pen (Sakura), clip art (misc.)

From the supplies list, you can see that I had a fun playtime using lots of techniques and media.  A few detailed close ups shots:

I would have to say that I went with a more masculine take on this beautiful SATW June Moodboard.

TTFN,

Celebrating Father's Day

Yeah! I am finished my course this weekend and back to having some time to create.  First order of business, create a Father's Day card to celebrate the day.

I made this Father's Day card last night using some Magenta products that totally fit my design idea. I wanted a metallic mosaic look for the base with the embossed aluminum ties sticker as the focal point. I was going for a masculine retro metallic feel for this card.

Supplies: stencil, embossed metal, chipboard letters (Magenta), whipped spackle and gelatos (Faber-Castell), Tim Holtz distress paint and watercolour cardstock (Ranger), pen (CTMH)

I stencilled with a geometric design stencil using whipped spackle. Then once dry, I coloured the rectangles with colour combinations of gelatos (Chocolate and Brown) and metallic gelatos (Silver and Gold)using a waterbrush. It is hard to see in the photo but there is a frosted tile-like finish to the rectangles.  I outlined each one using a ultrafine 0.2 marker to make them pop.

I applied black Tim Holtz distress paint to the embossed metal ties sticker, let the paint set up a bit, and then buffed some way to highlight the ties detailing and give it a distressed metal look. Using the paint, it was super easy to colour the chipboard letters too due to the dabber design. I elected to leave the letter centres in, giving them a bolder look, so that they wouldn't get lost in the busy background.

Decided to play along with Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with this card for the challenge is paint.


TTFN,

School Year Coming to a Close - Magenta June Challenge

Less than a month and school is out and that is precisely the theme of Magenta's June Challenge.  My first thought with this challenge goes to all the thank yous that are in order whether it be teachers, office staff, custodial staff or the crossing guard. That calls for a lot of cards and I like to make them, so naturally I made a card for the challenge.

Supplies: patterned papers, stamps, fabric (Magenta), ink (Ranger), watercolour paint (Artist Loft), Baker's Twine (MME), white pen (Sakura), brown pen (Staedtler), Silhouette cut - font: Chunky Five

I went for a very scholarly theme here with the "abc" school tag stamp and the large fabric A+. I combined two stamps and masked out a part of the tag one to allow the "Thanks" stamp to flow through it. I coloured in the pencil and letters using watercolour paints matching colours in the patterned papers. For the A+, I cut the shape from a Magenta Canvas Sheet that colour coordinates with the colours in the alphabet paper.  I used the font "Chunky Five" and then inlined it with a white pen to give a collegiate look to the letter.  A perfect teacher card!

So whether it's a card, a gift, or gift packaging, make it with the School's Out theme using any one Magenta product and link up here for a chance to win.

TTFN,