Grunge it Up!

I've gone through phases in my crafting.  I've played with vintage, color, industrial, mixed media, feels like a lot more.  I don't know if I can say grunge was ever a technique I loves, but I don't mind it in small doses or if it has some good color along with the grunge.  I also will say I have a sailor's mouth, so I don't shy away from cursing, including in my art supplies.

The 12 x 12 patterned paper that I flipped over and just went to town with mixed media I then cut into a bunch of ATCs to continue playing with.  I took one for a new challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

I did a lot with this ATC, before it was actually an ATC.  I had stamped a pattern stamp from Dylusions with my tinted Ranger Embossing ink pad and Ranger Clear Embossing powder.  Then I added some paint and some Dylusions ink spray in London Blue, Lime Green, and Postbox Red.  I also took a stencil from a Polish company that's now defunct called 3rd Eye.  The stencil is block letters in all caps, that says "Foolishness and Fuckery."  I used black gesso on the stencil, but didn't try to make a completely clear impression with the stencil.  I thought adding the black and keeping the stencil a little cloudy, so to speak, would add to the grunge factor in that area.

 

After I cut it into ATC size, I added some stamped images from Badass Art, also a Polish company.  The "Blah, Blah, Blah" was stamped onto a ghost gelli print and cut out.  The "wtf" is a digi image that I added a little color to with my Tombow markers.  I used an orange paint marker from Uni Posca to fill in some of the stars I stamped, some doodle markings with both my water-based white Sharpie paint marker and my Fude Ball pen.  I absolutely adore my Fude Ball pen.  It writes on just about any surface.  I also added some dot stickers from Fancy Pants and some paint spatters using the same white Sharpie paint marker.

I really hope you enjoyed my attempt at grunge with my ATC.  I think it came out really well and I think I managed to keep the color vibe while going grunge.

You can find the challenge link below and see what everyone else has to offer as well.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

I have included affiliate links to many of the products I used to make this card.  If you use the link and make a purchase, I make a small commission, with no price increase for you.  I really appreciate your support and thank you for taking a look. 

Mini Art Journal Day 17

Hi there my crafty friends!

I'm so glad you're visiting!  I have another page in my mini art journal for the Art Marks Challenge from Rae Missigman and Sandi Keene.

Day 17 - Poise

 

I'm also entering my page into the following challenge:

Creative Fingers Challenge #262

For some Art Marks Challenge history, you can click here.  And Rae's Instagram account here shows what's she's making for each prompt.  For those who haven't seen my previous posts yet, I'm working in a mini art journal I made out of envelopes, but you can use many different things, including scrap or underpaper, so some pages already had stuff on them.  A hole punch and some baker's twine later and a mini art journal for the challenge ready for art!

I've mostly posted individual pages, and I do plan to post them all.  This challenge has been very interesting thus far, because it makes you think.  Not that I mind thinking.  Sometimes a good brain dump on your art journal page is just what you need.  Whether it's actual writing that you incorporate, writing and your art covers it up, or the art itself represents the brain dump.

For this day's prompt, Poise, what defines poise to you?  What gives one poise or how is it expressed?  Being poised could mean to be balanced.  It can also mean holding oneself or an object in a certain manner.  I've heard being poised and being graceful can go hand in hand, which is certainly one way to look at it.  I like that my page shows being balanced between having fire while not sacrificing respect for yourself.

My background is another gelli print, a simpler one.  I was experimenting with sprays, which I really love.  I love the effects you can create with them.  They dry fast, but depending on how you spray, they can stay wet long enough to mix colors.  I also love using the top part for adding drips or tiny drops.  I was using a Dylusions stencil with some Heidi Swapp Color Shine sprays.  They're sparkly, but not overwhelming.  I don't mind some sparkly, but I don't necessarily go fully glitter, sequins, etc.  So these sprays are really nice.  I used Teal with the Dylusions stencil.  The Color Shine sprays came in many colors, like Sweet Mint, Raspberry, and Ocean.

 

I added a border out of gelli printed deli paper that I made using various paint colors, some die-cuts, doodling with my Sharpie pen and my Uni Posca white paint marker.  The butterfly is from a package of corrugated cardboard shapes from my stash, colored with a red paint marker.  I also added stamping with Archival black ink.  The tag is actually an experiment.  I used an acrylic stamp from Badass Art on some scrap and I really liked it, so I cut it into a tag to use later.  Enter later.  My Sharpie outlined the edge, I added a tiny heart from Oddball Art.  I also traced a Dylusions girl mask near the bottom for some added punch.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my art journal page.  Bye for now!

Mini Art Journal Day 15

 Hi there my crafty friends!

I'm so glad you're visiting!  I have another page in my mini art journal for the Art Marks Challenge from Rae Missigman and Sandi Keene.

Day 15 - Evolve

 

What does it mean to evolve?  Usually it means what you don't need anymore goes away and what results is something better.  For some reason, a butterfly immediately came to mind, or rather the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.  My brain works kinda weird, because I was then thinking not caterpillar but work, and that led me to bookworm.  I love books.  My taste in books have definitely evolved.  Perhaps it's inevitable because some books you grow up with you also grow out of.  Or the books help you on our journey through life.  So I decided to make a book butterfly with lots of doodles.

I'm also entering my page into these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge

The Crafty Addicts Challenge 5

For some Art Marks Challenge history, you can click here.  And Rae's Instagram account here shows what's she's making for each prompt.  For those who haven't seen my previous posts yet, I'm working in a mini art journal I made out of envelopes, but you can use many different things, including scrap or underpaper, so some pages already had stuff on them.  A hole punch and some baker's twine later and a mini art journal for the challenge ready for art!

I've mostly posted individual pages, but I do plan to post them all.  I do hope you're enjoying the pages.  Sometimes it's super easy to make the art, sometimes it's a challenge, no pun intended.  Or maybe I did?  Some challenges are simply design concepts, like stripes or circles.  This challenge has been very interesting thus far, because it makes you think.  Not that I mind thinking.  Sometimes a good brain dump on your art journal page is just what you need.  Whether it's actual writing that you incorporate, writing and your art covers it up, or the art itself represents the brain dump.

 

I played around with a technique I've used before here.  I used a print from a gelli printing session, then used a Royal and Langnickel wash brush to cover the print with Liquitex titanium white and used the opposite end of the brush to make scribbles, allowing the pattern, color, or design to peek through.

 

The background has a lot going on, including lots of doodles.  However, I did use a background stamp of mini stars with Archival black ink in several places on the page.  I traced a Dylusions alpha stencil using a Sharpie pen. My Tombow markers got a workout with filling in the letters from the stencil, the red in the "tell your story" on the butterfly wings and the worm from my butterfly.  I also did a bunch of doodles using a Craftsmart purple paint marker (there's one in this set), a Molotow One4All shock blue paint marker, and the Sharpie pen.

 

The butterfly is a stamp I've used before from an old Balzer Designs stamp set through Impression Obsession.  The worm is a digital stamp from Oddball Art.  Confession: it's not actually a worm, though I thought it was originally.  I trimmed the "tail" to make it more worm-like.  I also added doodles that remind me of Teesha Moore using my Uni Posca water-based white paint marker

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my art journal page.  Bye for now!

Join Me for Day 11!

I'm so glad you're continuing on this adventure with me!  Hello, again, and I've got Day 11 of my Art Marks Challenge journal to share with you today.  It's been pretty busy around here, but having a little creative time is just the ticket.  The Art Marks Challenge is from Rae Missigman and Sandi Keene.  It was technically last month, but I'm still catching up.

Day 11 - Change

 

For some Art Marks Challenge history, you can click here.  And Rae's Instagram account here shows Rae's interpretation of the prompts.  Rae made tiny cards and put them into this gorgeous little pocket journal, which is super thick.  I'm pretty jealous.

I'm going to be posting all my pages.  I've done a few groups, I'm still debating whether I'll do that again, but I'd like to.  

 

 

For the Day 11 prompt of Change, I was thinking of change in my life.  What changes have happened in your life?  Are these changes you wanted?  Or are they changes you needed?  I thought about all the different ways you can make changes and where you start.  You're living life, doing your thing, and sometimes you get caught up in the daily stuff and forget the big picture.  It happens to all of us.  You're on your road and it might take twists and turns, there might be bumps.  But in any road, there's signs.  For actual roads, there's actual signs.  I used road signs as a jumping off point for my page.

 

I used some gelli print paper for my background.  You might be able to see my Dylusions alphabet stencil as well as some green from a different stencil.  I grabbed a bunch of phrase die-cuts from my stash, and used my Badass Art Stamps with my Ranger Archival Ink in black.  I also used my Sharpie pen to do some doodles. 

 

 

 

I've been making a number of changes in my life.  One is an e-mail marketing system called Cliqly and it's great!  And I like toshare things that can help people that have helped me.  I can do it in about 10 minutes a day, I got a list of people to e-mail without having to scrimp and search, and anyone who signs up gets a referral link to help other while earning commissions.  Check it out if you're interested

I've also included affiliate links for the products I've used.  I earn a commission for any purchases you make, with no price increase for you.  I truly appreciate the support!

 

I'm also entering this in Crafting Happiness Challenge.

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my art journal page.  Bye for now!