Art Journal Page Featuring The Crafters Workshop Stencils

Hey strangers! I know, I know...it's been a long time yet again. This whole moving to one state and back again thing has a way of killing one's ability to be very productive every day, especially when it comes to crafting!

We're getting fairly well settled into our new home, but are continuing to work through boxes that have been packed for months. We had the downstairs painted last week and I'm finally able to start hanging things on the walls. However, we are planning a kitchen redesign so I still have lots of stuff that needs to remain packed until that process is complete. Not that I know when I'm going to find time for that kitchen update...LOL!

And...it's summertime! School is finished and we have been enjoying spending lots of time outdoors, visiting parks and the lake. Who has time for decorating anyway! Maybe by me saying out loud that we're doing re-doing our kitchen will inspire me to get planning in a way other than visions in my head and on Pinterest...humm...

Well, until that happens...let's check out some recent artwork I created for The Crafters Workshop. This project was posted on their blog Saturday, but I thought I'd share the process photos on my blog today. Let's go!

The jumping off point for this spread was an Inspiration Wednesday video. During this video, Donna used watercolors, which was where I started. I was thrilled with the soft, summery colors that were produced using the watercolors, and the rest of the spread transpired from that point.

I started by adding some masking tape to both pages of my journal, and covered everything with gesso. I used Peerless watercolors for my painting. If you don't owe these watercolors, get them! They are papers infused with pigment, the activate when you touch them with a wet brush.

I used a very wet brush and variety of colors to create the background. The gesso keeps the watercolor from soaking into the paper, which keeps the colors light and bright. I loved the look of the background so much I didn't want to add anything else to the page!

Since I liked these pale colors so much I didn’t want to add anything with a drastic contrast so I used sections of the 12×12 Screen Print stencil (TCW525) and Tea Dye Distress Ink to add some subtle shading.

Next, I used a gold paint pen to trace around a few of the images. This added just the tiniest bit of shine and highlighted the designs. I also used Wendy Vecchi’s embossing paste, in white, to add the dragonfly image (also from the Screen Print stencil).

Once the embossing paste was dry, I put the stencil back over the embossed area (basically using the stencil as a mask now), and painted the dragonfly with various shades of Distress Paint. I added two dragonflies to this spread, one on each page.

I added more stenciling in the background, using the Believe Script stencil (TCW541) and Wendy Vecchi’s Watering Can Archival Ink. I also added some stamping, from some random Tim Holtz stamps, and gold paint flecks. Lastly, I added some shading to the dragonfly using some Faber Castell Big Brush Markers. I added a quote using alphabet stamps from Tim Holtz and black Archival Ink. See the rest of my photos below!

I hope you enjoyed today's art journal project! Happy crafting!