December Daily Album Part 2

Hi, everyone! :)

okaaaaayyyyy. before you think I've gone off the deep end, making something Christmas-related in July, I must say that this project I am about to show you is a continuance ofthe StencilGirl/Imagine Crafts Christmas in July blog hop yesterdayyyyy....okay?  :) :) :)

I have been having so much fun prepping my December Daily journal. I want it ready for quick documenting in December.
My previous post
HERE
describes much of it, but in this post, I will include three things:

1. Give you more details on how I made the book.

2. Show you a few of the pages I've prepared, including some step by step photos.

3. TWO videos: a before and after flip-through.

Book Assembly

I used the same method as the first book I ever made. Here: My Coptic Stitch Bound DLP Journal
and here: My Handmade Journal for DLP.

For the front and back cover, I simply used one of the gelliprints. I didn't explain this in my previous post, but of the 15 sheets of cardstock I gelliprinted, three of them are coldpress watercolour paper. I folded one of the watercolour prints and glued it shut, doing the same for both front and back. This creates a bit stronger cover. Note: you might want to use a stiffer and thicker substrate, like chipboard and decorate however you want.

I learned the coptic stitch method from these videos:
How to Make a Sketchbook: Coptic Stitch

and the assembly from this one:
Coptic Stitch Binding Tutorial by Sea Lemon.

Keep in mind that it requires practice to get perfect results. I don't mind that my book isn't perfect bound. It adds whimsy. ;) In fact, if you watch my video flip-throughs, the book is quite wobbly and loose.

Spine

For the ribbon I simply cut a 24"length of sheer ribbon, hand-dyed, opened the book to the middle, threaded one end through the second and the other end through the second last coptic stitch, pulled both ends through, and tied a bow on the outside spine. :)

 Inside Pages

Since I first printed each sheet of paper front and back, then folded the papers and sewed the book "signatures" together, the design of each two-page spread don't exactly work together, left to right, so I will alter each page so they coordinate, as I like the look of unified pages.

Here is an example of what I mean:

Day 1 and Day 2

Before

Looking at the spread above, I make observations:

Red on left, lots of pink on right. No turquoise on left side.

My eye demands that I need to have a visual triangle of colours and images spanning the two pages.

After

1. I smoosh some pink paint on left side, covering up more of the white area at the top.

2. Another turquoise flower on the left, using THIS GORGEOUS STENCIL and for the third element, I add some of the turquoise paint on top left corner with a stencil (of course;) ). There. Now I have three places with turquoise. :)

Circles, same thing. Date circles (uneven - asymmetrical) and the circle cluster at the bottom right. :)

For the circles, I punch out circles from an old Christmas craft book, paint with some color, stencil, glue to page, doodle with white gel pen, and draw the number on an old painted book paper and cut out. Add some shadowing with black Pitt marker and black Stabilo All pencil. 

I made this cluster of circles after watching Rae Missigman's latest video on StencilGirl Talk. She paints very loosely and she also uses pencil to add more detail marks, so I do the same. I love her loose and carefree style!

I start with four various-sized white circular smudges. Then I add purple smudges with a Silks acrylic glaze, then apply the marvelously fun Amplify Neon by Imagine Crafts, brushing it with some golden metallic paint. Lastly, some turquoise dots, white gel pen and pencil squiggles.

I looked at this lily stencil and thought it looked close enough to a poinsettia. A modern and funky twist on a traditional Christmas flower. :) I first stencil with white paint to make it pop from the red background, then with the turquoise (Americana Bahama Blue craft paint). Next, I add dots with Golden Fluid Iridescent Gold Deep (Fine) paint. To finish it off, I made some loose marks around the petals with a brush and white paint.

Day 3 and Day 4

Before

Observations: 

I love the blocking the 6x6 Decorative Folk Flower Screen stencil achieved.

I like the contrast of the turquoise thread in the middle (messy stitching of the signatures).

The dark green on lower right makes the whole spread unbalanced, as there is no other spot with that colour value.

Too much white around the whole spread.

The gold chevron washi tape is there because I pulled the thread through the paper too tightly while binding the signatures. LOL. An oopsie made pretty. Will add more gold in other places to make it look on purpose.

After

I feel like I have too many patterns and textures going on, which is partly from the high contrast of white and red in the middle there. When I go back to fill in my December 3rd and 4th, I will fill in more areas with solid colour. I'll probably journal and put photos in the middle, leaving only some of the lovely pattern showing in a few places. Won't see much of the grid, which I might regret...

 

The mini scallop shapes are made using one of the cute designs from the StencilGirl April 2016  Private Collection 16.2 club sheet.

I added more dimension to the square in middle with the Amplify stuff, further framing the square in middle.

The filigree design is stenciled with the Decorative Filigree Ornament Stencil by Gwen LaFleur. 

December 16 (I skipped to this page in my book, as I had ideas for this page. :)

Before

Observations:

That big swath of pink in middle left will need to be toned down.

More turquoise on left to balance the amount on right.

I will need to go off the page on right with a similar colour value as the image on top left corner.

After

Step-out picture below:

I apply that lily stencil again to top right, starting with white. This stencil and mask is part of a set, and they all work nicely together. 

I add pinks and purples with stencils and finger smooshing. :)

First purple, then pink mini scallops, then the funky hot pink puff balls. Christmas ornaments, right? ;)

Squiggles with pencil and white gel pen.

Here I add the puffy stuff in different shapes.

Have you seen the little video I made demonstrating this product? Here it is:

Pink mini scallops on white edge. All so yummy and textural and colorful.

I made a little video flip-through of my pages before I added the extra embellishing and refining.

And another after:

I hope you enjoyed my very long blogging here. I am totally loving this little work in progress book! 

Don't know what I mean with a December Daily journal? Check out Ali Edwards' plan. She journals daily through the whole month of December in a scrapbooky style, with photos and journaling. I hope to include both in this journal. We'll see, though. I change my mind so much. I might just use it for fun art journaling.

Thanks for visiting! I appreciate any and all comments and questions! Bring it on!

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

Christmas in July Blog Hop

Hi all! Welcome to the StencilGirl and Imagine Crafts Christmas in July Blog Hop! :)

I have had an amazing time with making my project for this fun hop. I have never participated in a Christmas in July project, so it was bit of a learning curve. But can it get any better? I get to play with my favorite stencils (from StencilGirl, of course!!) and some great products by Imagine Crafts! I am so excited to show you what I've made. 

Three things:

1. I love gelliprinting.

2. I love creating handmade books.

3. I have attempted a December Daily journal but I overthink my design every time, and so I don't get one ever finished during December, as it is a busy month!

So....this blog hop gave me the opportunity to pre-make one, and that's what I've done.

So the first pic is how my book looked originally. Then I got more ideas. And more ideas. So, it looks different now. I created more contrast and added some additional funky texture. Read on. :)

Step 1: Gelliprinted 15 sheets of white cardstock, BOTH sides. For this step, I did not spend much time thinking about the design of each print, I just got lovely textures, patterns and colours down.

 I used many different stencils (You will see them listed below.), using various colours of Golden paints including: Golden brand Primary Magenta, Teal and Turquois (Phthalo) and at least three crafts paints: Americana Bahama Blue, Americana Neon and Apple Barrel Fushia, plus white paint.

Decorative Folk Screen stencil by Gwen LaFleur.

Decorative Medallion by Gwen LaFleur

Deconstructed Single Lily Mask and Stencil by Traci Bautista 

Deconstructed Bold Lily Mask and Stencil by Traci Bautista

Deconstructed Lily Mask and Stencil by Traci Bautista

and Flicks by Lizzie Mayne.

Many more stencils and pages of course. 

Step 2: With metallic thread, I messily stitched each edge, somewhat along the paint lines on the edges of each print. (The 8"x10" Gelliplate is slightly smaller than the cardstock.)

Step 3: I folded each gelliprint in half, making signatures. Signatures are usually made up of several sheets of paper, but I pretended that each single sheet was one signature.

Step 3:Using the coptic stitch method, I stitched all the pages together with teal metallic thread. 

Now it is ready for my December Daily entries and the decorating!

You already saw the cover:

I added more detail to the initial gelliprint with paint and white gel pen. My favorite part: the puffy shapes you see!! THAT, my friends, was made with this fabulous magic puffy stuff called Amplify Neon by Imagine Crafts! I made a little video to show you how it works. See 

HERE. 

You doodle with it like you would a normal small-tipped bottle, and then you apply a heat gun to it until it puffs up. You stop heating it when it doesn't move anymore. So cool and so fun! See the product here: 

Imagine Crafts

When cool, I added golden metallic paint to it. Yummy!

After finishing the cover, I was fully into Christmas themed mixed media and had to actually work on the inside of my book. 

I have always loved white Christmas trees with pink and turquoise decorations, but hubby prefers Charlie Brown trees, so that's what we always have. So why not use pink and turquoise to my heart's content on my journaling pages? I say YES!! So here are some in process pages:

See the yummy puff balls? That's the Amplify product. 

Well, I had more pages and photos to show you, but my phone is being glitchy tonight! I will blog more about this project soon.

Thanks for visiting and do not forget to enter the giveaway! ;) :)

Blog Hop Order

July 9:

StencilGirl Talk

Mary C. Nasser

Kristie Taylor

Karen Gaunt

Neva Cole

Nadine Carlier

Monica Edwards

July 16:

StencilGirl Talk

Janet Joehlin

Cindy Giltrap

Anna Friesen

Alison Heikkila

Martha Lucia Gomez

Roni Johnson

July 23:

StencilGirl Talk

Gwen Lafleur

Carolyn Dube

Carol Baxter

Mark Melnick

Jowilna Nolte

Terre Fry

What would a Blog Hop be without a GIVEAWAY??!!!

We'll be picking one lucky winner

to receive $100 in Gift Certificates – a $50 Gift Certificate for StencilGirl Products and

a $50 Gift Certificate for Imagine Crafts!

Take your time and visit each blog showcased July 9, 16, & 23 and leave your comments.

The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!

One comment per blog please.

You will have until Saturday, July 30th at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.

The winner will be notified by email and announced on

StencilGirl's Facebook page on Sunday, July 31st.

Best of luck, faithful followers and new visitors! 

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

Born With Bones and Heart Fused in Deep

I have started another art journal project. Like DLP, this one also has an amazing community of like-minded artists. Every week you get new prompts. We'll see if I make more than one page! LOL!

Check it out here: www.getmessyartjournal.com

I have wanted to add more meaning to my art and telling stories on my pages for a long time.  Ummm...might my blog name suggest my intentions too, perhaps?  ;) I enjoy creating pretty pages, but often they don't have a story. That's why I got interested in this project. 

The first prompt really stretched me creatively and mentally. Get Messy works on six week seasons, with this season's theme bring introspection. 

The dictionary defines it like this: 

So that's what I'll be trying to do. Communicate thought via art journal pages. Maybe they'll be pretty, but they might not be. ;)

So back to my page I completed. 

I go ahead and do the art prompt, make ink blots, and then it sits, me staring at it for a day.  

What do I see?

I see layers of hearts.

I see two pink hearts on each side. 

I see a white one in middle. 

I see a teal arrow pointing down. 

What am I thinking when I look at those blots?

Layers of hearts make me think of things I feel deeply, but keep a lot of it inside. 

Layers of hearts also make me think of all the friendships I cherish.

The two hearts make me think of my marriage. 

Two hearts combined into one. 

Which makes me think of our center: God the Creator. Jesus. The Holy Spirit. 

The mystery of all this that I can't fathom most of the time, but keeps me on my knees, and always evaluating life from that worldview. 

So the teal shape in the middle represents Christ in me, in us, in my relationship to everything.

As I play, adding textures and paint and words, more things pop into my head. 

Then I start to play, getting MESSY. Just playing. Play. Get messy. Repeat. :)

I cut out a laser copy of a photo of myself, and glue it to the heart on right. Then I paint it over with the same pink, as I want to keep the pink heart shape for the overall look. I don't want my vision to "stop" on the photo of me, as I don't want this to be the center.

I peruse the first poem in the altered book I am using and find neat phrases that speak of looking back through my life, which is what I also want to do in this project.

The poem is called The People, Yes by Carl Sandburg.

I spy a cool stencil lying around of the earth encircled by the planets, a StencilGirl club stencil: 

July 2015 The Sky's the Limit by Mary Nasser

 and it gives me the idea of Christ as my center in all things, so I stencil with pink paint on the white center heart and the surrounding book page.

Born with bones and heart fused in deep.

 Hugging the little ball of Earth

Mixed from a bowl of sky blue dreams

Shimmering with phantoms

Out of joybells and headaches

mortgages, house rent, groceries

new generations with names

The living flowing breath of the history

Flicker in the mirrors a few moments

Not sure if my newly "found" poem makes any sense, but each phrase speaks to me, as it gives me the feel of my present life as a mom with young kids and of my generally happy past.

The mesh-like texture on the hearts is white paint through a different stencil, symbolizing loosening the grip of my heart on the things that are inside - a cage, so to speak. Does that make sense to you like it does to me? heehee

April 2016 club stencil by Mary Beth Shaw Private Collection 16.2

I see teal-coloured paint on the under paper (deli paper) dried up and it's peeling off the paper, which makes me think of peeling back the layers of my brain and heart. That'll work! I need to add that to my page! So I brush on matte medium in the teal area above and adhere it. This is FUN!!

I add extra layers around each shape with lots of paint. The pink paint is quite transparent, but I want it opaque and heavier, so I add 3D Matte Gel medium by Prima to it, and hand-paint around the hearts, adding white gesso to create more depth of colour.

Lastly I add white dots around each shape with a white paint pen.

As I was blogging this, all the while looking at my page, and after I took the pictures, I decide that the center teal needs to be an arrow, so I go in to add lines in a diagonal fashion with an Imagine Crafts Brushtix chisel tipped sponge. Cool tool!

The arrow symbolizes pointing down, into my heart, and read what is there. See after picture, below.

I'm very pleased with how this all turned out. What a great exercise of INTROSPECTION. :)

And here some shots of my altered book cover in progress. It isn't finished yet!

The coolest product. You blurp it on, then put your heat gun to it, making it puff up. :)

And there you have it. I enjoyed writing this post as much as I did creating the page. :) 

Until next time!

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

May 9 DLP Challenge: Stitches

This week's DLP challenge is one of my favorites so far: stitching. Well, close behind the Gelli®-printing one, actually. :)

Haven't heard of these DLP challenges? The project is called The Documented Life Project. Every week you get a journal prompt and an art prompt, with monthly themes. It's great for the beginner and the more advanced art journaler. Tons of support on the Academy and on the FB group! It's a wonderful community and place to be! Totally FREE to join!
It's the brainchild of four beautiful artists. Check out their blogs here:

 Sandi Keene,
Lorraine Bell
Roben-Marie Smith
Rae Missigman

Each week they share their take on the challenges.
Check out The Documented Life Project 2015 - The Journal here.

Anyway, back to my page.

I have been busy making little happy mail pockets with my sewing machine, so when I read the May 9th challenge: stitching, I was thrilled!

It all started with this gorgeous Gelli®-print I could not bring myself to use, as I liked all the little details on it so much. I didn't want to cover any of it. Then I started getting ideas on how to use it.

The print was mostly made by removing the paints from the brayer while Gelli®-printing. In addition, I learned how lovely the effect of brayering on top of the stencil on the Gelli® plate. So, lots of that on the background as well. I also added some stamping by covering the plate with paint, then stamping  on to the plate, then the background. Rae Missigman's stamps are so gorgeous, and I was so pleased with how the flowers looked against the other colors and patterns.

For the left side of the page, I attached flowers, and on the right -  an Audrey Hepburn quote.

Audrey Hepburn is brilliant, isn't she?

For BEAUTIFUL eyes, look for the GOOD in others.
For BEAUTIFUL lips, speak only words of KINDNESS, 
and for POISE, walk with the knowledge that you're never alone. 

For the flower: I freehanded the outline of each flower with my trusty black Stabilo All pencil, wet it,  and once it's almost dry, I added more freehand petals with the Bic white-out pen. I say "almost" because I didn't have the patience to wait until completely dry. LOL Then, I added some more color to the petals with Neocolors2 crayons and Gelatos. Next, I stitched around the circle, up the petals and back and forth in the flower middle. For the little dots, neon pink irRESISTable Pico Embellisher. These work so quickly and easily! I want every color! Scroll further down for a link to the product; if you want to know what I'm talking about. :) 

To make those pink circles with the white dots, I simply took a Stabilo All pencil and brought the existing circles forward from the background, adding white with a Bic white-out marker. (Next time I should take a photo of the Gelli®-print before I made changes, like a before and after.) 

The white harlequin texture is modeling paste, smoothed through a stencil. YUMMY! 

For those cute pink stitched circles, I sewed a grid on a piece of pink painted paper, and cut out circles, attaching to the page in a pleasing formation. ;) The purple flower has pink dots, right? They are made with a most darlingest of new art supply in my every-growing supply stash! They're called irRESISTable Pico embellishers.  This product creates sweet 3D texture.

Another close-up of the stitched circles and the modeling paste. Yum.

For the lettering, I used an old Ki Memories alpha stamp set, using a foam brush to apply the white acrylic paint to the letters. The smaller lettering is simply freehanding with a Bic white-out marker. It's my favorite new white "paint pen".

And there you have it. My Stitches challenge. :)