Bryce Canyon National Park Art Journal Page

On this page, I wanted to pay tribute to Bryce Canyon National Park, which has a special place in my heart. I started with a background of blue paint. Then built up layers of brown, peach, metallic copper, and white to build the hoodoos of the park. I used acrylic ink to write the title and for the ink drops. I stamped a text border along the edge. Then stamped some tissue paper with a text stamp and used semi-gloss gel medium to apply it to the page.

Art Journal Page With Halloween Gift Bag

I made an art journal page with a Halloween gift bag. Since the bag had cute little bats on it, I made a page about how I feel about bats. I used gel medium to “glue” the cut outs from the gift bag into my journal.

I like bats, but NOT in my house. Luckily, I haven’t had any try to take up residence.

An Addiction to Seasonal Paper Goods

I love seasonal paper goods; cups, plates, napkins. Halloween, Christmas, the Fourth of July, Autumn, Summer, Winter, Thanksgiving, Easter. Love. Love. Love.

So I made this art journaling page recording this addiction. I decoupaged a Halloween napkin onto to the page. Aren’t those little images on the napkin adorable?

Scrapbook Page With Watermark Ink and Metallic Paint

This page started with the colors teal and copper. I was inspired by a photo on Pinterest. I usually don’t start a pages with a color scheme, but  a vision for this page wasn’t coming together for me. So I tried a different approach.

I started with a piece of teal cardstock and stamped it with VersaMark ink. VersaMark ink is an embossing ink, but it can also be used for watermark, tone-on-tone stamping. This technique works better with some colors than others so test a scrap or the backside first to see how it will work with your cardstock color. I used a polka dot stamp from Prima to add more interest to the cardstock.

I cut a piece of kraft cardstock to frame the title and the photo. I love kraft cardstock in general, but I particularly love it on fall pages. When going through my fall themed papers, I found this older one from Bo Bunny. The colors worked perfectly with my page. It was on a sheet of printed border strips, the bottom of the strip was wavy, but the top edge was straight. I love the wavy look, so I cut the top edge wavy too. I think it adds a nice movement to the page, like the fall wind blowing gently through the trees.

I LOVE metallic paint, and one of my favorite colors is the metallic copper. The paint I used  was from Folk Art. I used a foam brush to apply the paint to the tree stamp. The tree stamp is a large foam stamp mounted on an acrylic sheet made be Prima.

I waited for the paint to dry and mounted the photo. I assembled the page. Then stamped the title word, Hayride, with VersaMark ink and applied copper embossing powder. Then I used my embossing pen to write, going on a, and applied black embossing powder. I LOVE my embossing pen.

Then I stamped embellishment circles and a journaling spot using three different ink colors for interest.

I finished off the whole page by adding some stitching. I used both zigzag and straight stitching. I kept it neat on the edges and flowing straight stitches on the border strip.

Roasting Mashmallows A Scrapbook Page With Hand Stitching

For this scrapbook layout, I knew I wanted to have a center mat bordered on every side by a patterned paper, clean lines, rounded corners, and a hand stitched border. I chose a busy plaid from the “B side” of the old Mr. Campy line by Cosmo Cricket with a center mat of kraft cardstock.

I then knew where I wanted the photos and worked from there. I also wanted to use an old tag Bo Bunny’s  Roughin’ It line. The tag is acting as the title for the page. I decided it really needed to overlap other element to add interest instead of trimming it down to fit.

I wanted a paper for a block at the bottom. I needed it to have an element of interest, but I didn’t want to add another patterned paper. I decided on a piece of Core’dinations cardstock that matched the light green in the plaid paper. I LOVE the embossed Core’dinations cardstock. The embossed cardstock adds interest through texture, but won’t compete with patterned papers. Sometimes, I sand the embossed cardstock, which is a messy process, but I love the results. It becomes distressed with embossed areas revealing the inner core color. This time I just inked the cardstock to emphasize the embossing.

I decided to cut the journaling block into two pieces rather than leave it whole under the title tag. I think this emphasized the tag. I also added some stickers from the Mr. Campy line to the journaling block and one to the embossed cardstock for embellishment. I also added some brown brads to the bottom corner, since it was looking a little bare. I think the brads help balance the layout.

I finished off the page by adding the hand stitched, embroidery floss border. I’m a slow stitcher, so this took a LONG time. BUT I love the results.

Swims Like A Fish Scrapbook Page With Messy Machine Stitching

This was a fun page to make. I was inspired by the colorful, bright towel in the photo. I had an older piece of patterned paper from the Snorkel line by Cosmo Cricket. It had some great wave-ish shapes to cut out.

I started by spraying lily pad and turquoise Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels on some blue cardstock. Then I cut and arranged the wave shapes and photos on the page. I strategically adhered the waves to lessen the amount of adhesive that I would sew through. I did some messy machine stitching on the waves and added a page border.

Then I adhered the photos. I used a chipboard sticker from K & Co. for the title, mainly because I thought it went well with the towel. I also used some circle epoxy stickers for the fish’s air bubble.

I used a die cut from the Joyride line by Collage Press on which I wrote the journaling. I finished off the page by adding outlining to the elements on the layout with a pen.

Using An Embossing Pen To Create A Title On A Scrapbook Page

I found a font at dafont.com that I wanted to use for a title on a scrapbook page I was creating. But how to get it on the page? I don’t have a die cutting machine (although I dream of owning a Silhouette one day). I didn’t want to print it on cardstock and stick it on the page. So this was my solution:

I printed the title on paper in a variety of sizes to see which one worked best. I cut out the one I liked most. Then I held the paper up to a window. I traced the letters with a dull pencil on the back of the sheet. I could have covered the whole back with pencil “scribbles”, but I didn’t want smudges on my pink paint.

I positioned the title paper where I wanted it on the painted area. Then I went over the front on the letter edges with a pen. A stylus would work for this, if you have one. This transferred the pencil lines on the back of the title sheet onto the scrapbook page.

Then I used an embossing marker to trace the pencil lines and fill in the letters. I used some leftover packaging to see if red or black lettering would look best on the page. For the test, I wrote with markers in red and black and positioned it over the paint. I liked red best, so I used red embossing powder to make the title. I finished off the title by adding some shading with a gray marker.

It was a bit time consuming, but I got the font I wanted!

Smash Book

I have been waiting for the Smash book to be available in stores. The Smash book is a cool place to record your daily life or whatever you want.  You can glue in images that inspire you, quotes, tickets, receipts, etc. I love that some of the pages have a design to add interest. I think if you are an avid art journaler you already do this on your own. I think this will be a great crossover product to get scrapbookers and ‘tweens into art journaling. I can’t wait to see the accessories that might be sold to go along with the Smash.

I want a Smash to keep with me to play with while waiting for appointments. I am not an art journaler who carries my journal around with me. Carrying my journal around doesn’t work for me since I am too paint intensive and a lover  of working in a messy way.

Well, Smash was supposed to hit the stores in April, but there has been a production delay. So K & Company, the makers of the Smash, gave away 400 mini Smash books on this Smash blog a couple weeks ago. And I was lucky enough to get one! I just got it in the mail last night. Even the cardboard envelope was cool! This should tide me over until I get the real thing.

You can check out the Smash on this video.

Art Journal Page With Glitter Stickers

I love glitter! The blog IS named Glitter N Glue, so I’m sure you assumed that. I found these awesome glittered foam leaf stickers at the dollar store, so I had to use some of them on an art journal page!

I started with a background of Folk Art metallic copper paint. I LOVE this paint. The color is super, and it is so shiny. I wanted to add a path of a paint across the page that was lighter and dull copper-ish. I mixed various paint combos, but nothing came out right. I was getting frustrated and becoming surrounded by little pots of the wrong colors. So eventually, I gave up and went with the mix that I liked best. This one was a bit to pinky for my taste.  I added the stickers, and then filled in extra space with spirals.

Halloween Candy Art Journal Page

I made this page in November with some packaging I had saved from Halloween candy. I loved the graphics on these little boxes, so I wanted to play off the images and preserve them on an art journaling page. I recorded some random thoughts about the candy too. I used a cellophane image from the bag that the candy sticks came in too. I love the black background. I used some Neon Chalk Markers by Cadaco for the title. The markers are made for black dry erase boards. I LOVE these markers. I found them at a local surplus/salvage store. The blue was disappointing. It doesn’t show up well on the black, but all the other colors are awesome!