Vintage Art Journal Page

Hello my crafty friends!!  This is Leslie from www.scrapnlifeaway.blogspot.com !!   Happy 2014!!  Thank you so much to Sheila for having me today!!  Well, as many of you know, my son got married in November and I have over 600 photos to sort threw to scrapbook!  So, before I dive into that project, I felt the need to play in my art journal!!  This page does not have a photo in it.  I also did not go out and purchase anything extra to make this page!  I only used what I had in my stash!  I think it's a good thing to go through what you already have and use it!!  What I love about this page is that it started out as just a white blank page!!  I did not know where I was going to go with this, but as I began to dig through my stash of papers and embellishments, a picture began to form in my brain! This does not happen often lol !!

This is the completed page!  I will try to point out a few tricks I used!  I apologize for not taking photos while creating this, but I was in the moment and my camera wasn't handy!  I started out by tearing 3 different patterned papers and randomly layering them in the center of the page.  I used Golden Mat Gel to adhere them to the page.  I find that works better than my ATG gun when I know I will be adding water to my work!  I then added a floral frame for the page out of more paper from my stash!  Before laying down the frame I distressed the edges and inked them with Vintage Photo Ink. I used two different stencils on this page as well.  For that aged/vintage look I used modeling paste by golden on Prima's crackle stencil.  On the post card I cut out, I used modeling paste mixed with brown acrylic paint and the mini ledger stencil from The Craters Workshop.  I then gave them a good shot with my heat tool to dry all the modeling paste I used!

One of the next things I did was mix more brown acrylic paint (cheap cheap cheap) with water.  Then using my fingers, i spread that mixture all over my page!  I used my fingers to make sure that the brown paint mixture got into the nooks and crannies of the texture!  Then I brought out my heat tool again!!  The wood gate is from kaiser Kraft and I just used my black chalk to give it the wrought iron look!

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this cluster of flowers!  All the flowers are from my flower stash, most of them are prima, but there are also some others from my stash I threw in there too!  I loved adding some gems to the middle of the flowers for that little sparkle!!  I also found some bling in my "bling bin" and cut them all apart and fit them in and around the cluster of flowers!  I think it adds a really nice touch!  All the tags and journaling are just pieces I cut out from random scraps I had in my scrap box!  I try to not waste anything!  To add just a little more texture, I paint on glossy accents here and there, to make things pop!!!

In this photo you can get a better view of how I got the brown paint mixture into all the nooks and crannies using my fingers!!  The Simple Things Is What I Love really speaks of who I am!  I  hope you enjoyed my journey on this journal page and that it will inspire you to just sit down and create!  I started in the middle and worked my way to the edges!  Take a jump and see where it takes you!!  So many of these tricks I plan on using on the wedding album, and what better place to try them out than in my art journal!

Have a safe and crafty January!!  We are in a deep freeze here in Indianapolis.  For those of you experiencing this extreme cold, stay safe and stay warm!  The wind chill is only -10 here right now, which is better then the -40 we had earlier!  Craft on my friends!!

Always,

Leslie