Three Things - Art Journal Page

Hey guys!

I'm back for the next day in a row.

I'm really trying hard to keep myself on task and post on here daily.

I was doing really good there for a little while, and had gotten into a habit.

But, like it's commonly said;

It's a lot easier to break a habit than it is to start one.

And in my opinion it's even harder to pick one back up.

But anyways. 

Back to the page of the day.

I made this page a few days ago, but since I didn't work on my art journal all that much today, I thought that it would be a good idea to post this one on here.

Basically it tells three things that you should know about me.

This is also the 5,000 Question Survey prompt journal.

I'm planning on filling up a whole series of journals using these.

I really love the way I've been doing them.

Maybe I'll make a video of me doing one of them. :)

I know you guys like videos.

I like videos.

Making them and watching them.

I think the very least I could do for you guys is to make you a video. 

That's right.

I'll do it.

Prepare yourselves.

Because I'm going to make a video on my PROCESS!

So that's all I've got for you guys today.

If you have any questions about anything - the page, or a certain technique;

Feel free to leave a comment. 

I try to answer all of them.

So I'll see you guys tomorrow!

Bye!

Art Journal Prompt Page

Hey guys! I'm back here with you guys today with a page that I was working on today. I started another journal (I know, again. I need to stop that. But I'm out of blank journals now, so that should help) a few days ago, and I'm filling it using the questions from the 5,000 question survey as prompts. I think that it's really cool, and I'm really enjoying the process. This is something I just started today, and I love the way it looks. I'm not sure if it's done yet or not. I think I'll add a title and some journaling yet. This is the fourth page in the journal. I worked on this for about an hour today, and already I'm this far. :) I think it's pretty cool.

I kind of like the color combination, even though I didn't have any type of idea for the page when I started it. It just sort of evolved on it's own. It's cool. I don't really have all that much to tell you today, but I just wanted to share this one page with you. And I'll see you tomorrow. :)

Layering With Leftovers

Hey, hey hey everyone! Jordan Hill is back in the blogosphere, and happy and excited as ever to share MY art with YOU! Okay, I know that intro sounds a little bit corny, but I figured that you needed something to make it up to you from me not being on here for who knows how long. But in addition to perhaps adding a little bit of a chuckle to your day, I'm giving a content full post today. I'm going to show you how to add some layers to some of your pages, and how you can use the leftovers from a specific page to do so. In order to do that, I'm also going to be giving you a couple photos of some current work that I've been working on today, so you'll get some of my current work! Let's get started, shall we?

If you look at the photograph above, you will see one of my most current pages. When I was first doing the base layer of journaling for this page (something that I will focus more directly on in a different post), something called to me. It told me to make a pretty pink and purple page with lots of hearts; using a stencil of course. But, being me, I proceeded to make fake nauseous sounds to myself, thus making myself look like a total fool. As I am not fond of pink. If you know me, then you will know that this is so.  However, as that is where my muse was telling me to go, I proceeded to do so. After probably thirty something layers later, I couldn't stand it any longer. It looked horrible, and I hated it. So I went over it with a translucent yellow poster paint. AND I LOVED IT! I did this layer today, as I made the decision last night, and decided to sleep on it. After that, I added some polka dot stamping with a burnt orange color. Then, to finish off the page, I stamped the title with a bright, contrasting blue with foam stamps. However. As I completed each step of the page, I was left with some remainder paint. The rest of this post is what I did with it.

The first thing I would like to focus on was the layer of translucent yellow. Yes, that was the finishing touch to my previous page, and I love to use it to tie all of the layers together. However, that does not mean that you can't use it in the layers of a page in the very beginning. For example, with the yellow, I flipped to a page in one of my other journals, and found a page that only had a single layer on it thus far. It was a layer of light pink paint over the entire page. I thought the colors worked well together, and I then stenciled on multiple flowers to create a layer and a new beginning to a page.

Now we proceed to the burnt orange polka dot stamping. I used that as the next to last layer in my latest page. However, I'm not sure how many more layers I'm going to have to put on here before it's done. It may be almost done. Or it may be just the beginning. If you were wondering, I did use a stencil for the gear portion of it. A gear stencil that I made myself, mind you. I used a Cricut cartridge by the name of Paper Lace 2. I just cut the stencil at size 10 1/2", because it wouldn't let me do it any bigger. If you were wondering, this page was previously showcased in it's VERY beginning stages here.

 And last, but certainly not least, we have the color that I used to put the title onto my page. I used it as the very beginning of a page. A fresh new start. A new beginning. A beautiful, beautiful beginning. I love the way the color works with my personal style, so I know that I'm going to be able to do a lot with this. But anyways. That's really all I have for you guys today, and I hope that you enjoy it! :) See you later!

'Tears' Art Journal Page

Hey everybody!

Sorry that the picture I've got for all of you today isn't the greatest. 

Today, I sadly didn't have any time to work on anything creative.

It was my first day back to school after Thanksgiving break, which lasted for a week.

The teachers assigned tons of homework.

And I still had to get my words for NaNoWriMo.

 But I'm still posting.

Hopefully after November is over, my art count will go up.

Except I will still be working with my book.

Finishing the thing.

And editing and crap.

But anyways.

Back to the point that I was going for.

I'm sharing a page with you today that you may or may not have already seen.

I posted it a little while back, but I added to it.

You also may have see it on the journal flip video I posted a few days ago.

I added the white dots to the title.

Also, the two pieces of ephemera are new. 

Other than that, it's the same that it's always been.

I know that it's not that cool today, but I thank you for checking in with me here!

You guys really don't understand how much your views, and more specifically your comments and suggestions mean to me. 

If you ever have any suggestions for the blog; any suggestions at all.

Make sure to leave me a comment.

I'm always checking all of the posts (there's a setting that allows me to do that).

And it makes me happy when I see a new one.

But anyways.

That's what I've got for you guys today, and I'll see you tomorrow!

Bye!

"Experience Bliss" Art Journal Page

Hey all, I'm back with you guys today with another art journal page!

I've been working on this one for a while. 

If you watched my journal flip a couple days ago, you probably saw it. 

I've added a title, a little heart, and a bunch of journaling since then.

I went into a bunch of different thoughts in the journaling on this page.

I know that when I first started art journaling, 

I didn't journal on the pages that much.

I did a lot of art backgrounds, just playing around with color.

And all that good stuff. 

But as I got more and more "into" art journaling, I thought it would be cool to start the actually journaling process.

I love the way that it looks, and even though the title and the entire color of the page is not really my style, I decided that I like it anyways.

I sort of went into a lot of that in my actual journaling.

Which I thought was pretty cool.

Of course, I'm also biased.

So that's really all I've got for you guys today, but I'll keep you posted.

BTW, if you look opposite of the page I just finished, you'll see an interesting looking page (hopefully!!) that I've been working on.

You'll probably see something of that sometime soon.

See you later!!

Layering Experiment

Hey everybody!

Jordan is back with you guys today.

I'm sharing with you a page that I was working on today.

It was sort of a sample/experiment thing that I was doing for my art journaling e-course that I'm working on.

I've already done a couple videos for that course BTW. :)

It's getting so exciting!

I was playing around with different layers and stuff.

I used some markers, gesso, water, and oil pastels.

Not that much into it thus far, but I really liked the way it was turning out.

I randomly picked the beginning colors with my eyes closed.

And they turned out being my favorite colors!

Blue and green.

With blue being my absolute favorite.

Pretty cool huh?

So I hope that you guys liked the video that I posted yesterday, and I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with some more cool stuff to show you.

Journal Flip I

Hey everybody!

Jordan is back with you guys tonight! 

Yeah!

Okay. So here's what I've got here.

A video journal flip.

Of my favorite, biggest, fluffiest journal.

:)

So yes.

This is my favorite journal.

And I just did a bunch of pages and a flip of the entire thing. 

I'm sure you guys will enjoy it.

And even though that's what I've got for you today, I'll talk to you later.

I'm Baaaackkk!!

Hey everybody!! 

I'm back!!

At least for now. 

I'm sure that you guys are probably wondering where I've been.

Well you see;

I've been working on NaNoWriMo.

That's right all, I'm writing a book.

I find myself very busy with the book and homework.

So it's hard to find time to post on here.

But I hope to do that more often now. 

I have quite a few things to show you.

Including some new storage that I found for my hand painted papers!

A while ago on twitter I was looking for ways to store it.

And I finally came up with something.

I love it so much.

And it works really well.

Especially in comparison to just laying in stacks everywhere.

I know that NaNoWriMo isn't a very good excuse for being gone this long.

And I'm kind of sorry that I haven't been on here so much.

I miss it. 

But those days are gone.

All I can actually make up for is the future. :)

So get ready guys.

I'm going to take you guys for a ride you weren't expecting.

For the next month I'm going to TRY and post every day.

There will be all kinds of interesting content.

Art journal pages.

Manga drawings that I've been doing.

Writing tutorials.

Art journal techniques.

Lists of books that I've been reading and think are good for you to read.

Notes on the book that I'm writing this November.

Updates on my word count.

Pictures that I've taken.

Random things that I just feel like sharing.

It's going to be fun!

But are you ready?

Prepare yourself... because the epic - ness starts now!

Painted Papers and a Blotted Paper Towel

Hey everybody. :)

I was working in my studio a bit more today, making some more papers. 

Today I worked with markers and water soluble oil pastels.

I love the way they turned out, and I worked with a plastic sheet this time, so the effects are slightly different. 

Today I did six different pages in several colors.

I did a bunch of things, working with experiments. 

You know the drill.

Another thing that I was working with is coming up with a blotted effect on paper towels.

And I sort of achieved that goal.

You know what I mean. 

I think it's my favorite part.

I did this in different shades of purple using markers.

Yep. 

That lightened version from markers.

You'll see how I did it eventually. 

Mwhahaha. :D

That's all I've got for you guys today, and even though it wasn't that much, it's still something, right?

:) See you guys tomorrow.

Painted Papers II

HEY EVERYBODY!!!

I'm back!

Finally, I know.

It's been a while. 

And I've missed it, I really have. 

I've just been really busy with school and volleyball stuff.

And busy planning for NaNoWriMo.

But more on that later. 

It's just good to be back after being gone. 

It feels like longer than just a few days though.

Today was actually my first time doing anything with paint in about a week, so that was good for me too. 

I was basically just playing around with papers and stuff.

Making up some new techniques.

And working on some stuff for my Layering tutorial. :)

So yeah. The page above is probably one of my favorites.

Basically to make it was pretty simple. 

I took a plain sheet of printer paper and a white crayon.

And then, using the crayon I drew hearts over the whole thing.

I made some watercolors and went over then whole thing with a light pink.

The crayon resisted the paint.

Then I used a darker pink wherever the hearts were. 

I love it.

This one used pretty much the same technique.

But I used another color.

And I drew a different shape.

In the last one I did some basic hearts.

And in this one I did some Traci Bautista inspired doodle flowers. 

If you've ever seen Traci's work, you'll know what I'm talking about.

If you haven't seen her stuff, you really should look her up.

She's an art journaling genius.

Really.

Here are some index cards that I was playing around on.

I love the size. 

They're just so small.

And cute.

So yeah. I'm not going to describe the techniques I used on these cards,

Because if I did, then I'd be up all night.

Because, if the truth be told, I really don't know.

I was just messing around, and I used several different techniques per card.

I was just trying to develop some ideas.

If you know what I mean.

This is a dyed paper towel that I did real quick to use up some leftover washes I had.

I didn't want to be wasteful.

Yet I didn't really want to do anymore washes either. 

I basically just took a paper towel and folded it up.

Then I folded that in half.

I dipped one end in blue dye.

And the opposite end in a black one.

I really like the way this one turned out.

The white stripes are the white of the paper towel showing through.

This is going to be fun to use.

And last, but definitely not least, we have a paper that I made using a homemade stamp.

You can see it above.

The little flower doodle into foam.

How cute.

I made this paper, and even though I love the way it turned out, I have no idea how I got that effect.

I wish I could remember. I'll have to do some experimenting to find out.

All in all I think I did seventeen papers. 

Cool, huh?

Anyways.

Like I said in the beginning, I haven't been around much because of NaNoWriMo.

I did it last year. 

It's basically a challenge to write a 50k novel in the month of November.

And I've been planning. 

Planning like crazy.

Doing the plot, and the scenes, and trying to layer the story.

Yeah. I think this is going to go well.

Layering Art Journal Post

Hey guys!!

I'm so glad that I'm back after that break I took for a few days.

I was working on planning out a few things for NaNoWriMo.

That's a challenge in the month of November.

It stands for National Novel Writing Month.

I did it last year. 

It's the goal to write a 50k word novel in November. 

I succeeded. 

And I plan to again this year, writing a prequel to last years.

Then I'm going to rewrite that one.

Yeah.

Anyways, I do have some stuff to share with you today.

Actually, only one thing.

It's an art journal spread.

I did it using some of the techniques I'm going to be featuring in my Layering ecourse.

:)

This is a sort of example of some of the pages you might come up with in the duration of the course.

I used about a bazillion layers on this page, and it's not done yet.

I actually used a lot of blue on this page, but it turned into lime. I'm not telling you how. :P

Here's a bit of a close up of the corner.

I love how the layers show through better here than anywhere else. 

Sooo... that's all I've got for you today, and I'll see you later.

Bye. :)

Paper/Fabric Collage Fodder

Hey guys!!

What's going on with you guys today?

I haven't done much crafty stuff today, but I did take a few pictures for the blog.

I pulled a bunch of stuff out of my pile of supplies, and made a few piles. 

I've now officially decided to start a sort of series on collecting supplies for working in an art journal.

In other words, an series on collecting art journal fodder. 

For now, I think I'll just share with you guys what I've found so far.

Then I'll do other occasional posts about how to find and collect these things.

Are you guys ready for this?

Okay then.

Let's do it then.

Let's look up at the picture above at the first little collection I found.

I just pulled a few of the first things that came to my hand. 

I have a piece of magazine picture.

Some apple stickers.

Some printed black and white borders.

Some color scraped fabric.

Some watercolored book paper.

And a strip of colors.

There isn't as much in this picture, but I still like this selection.

I have a dyed paper towel.

A butterfly die cut.

Some pink polka dotted tissue paper.

A pulled photo paper.

And a homemade stamp that I made using craft foam and a toilet paper tube.

This was so much fun finding all of this stuff out of my stash;

So far I've just stacked it all up in a giant stack,

But I'm planning to start organizing soon.

I'm gonna try sorting by color in some type of horizontal paper storage.

But that's all I've got for you guys today.

And I'll see you guys tomorrow. :)

Color Challenge Reveal + E-course Update

And hello people of earth.

Yes. 

I just said that.

I'm back with you guys for yet another day here on the blog. :) 

I miss being here when I'm not around a lot.

Plus I start to feel like I'm letting you guys down.

Which I definitely don't want to do.

So today I have something really important to share with you.

I'm doing a color combo challenge with the one and only Lorri!

She was the next to volunteer.

Next will probably be Kerri. :)

Now, I know Lorri from twitter and ustream.

And she's an amazing artist and is actually hosting an ATC swap on her blog.

So make sure you check that out.

So now that we've got that intro done and over with, let's get to the good stuff shall we?

Today I made a spread instead of my Dede page, when I did a single page.

I love the way this page turned out, even though I only did a total of four layers.

It's not really done yet.

But anyways. I guess I'll list the colors.

We used a bright red, an olive green, a primary blue, and a light orange/peach.

And yes, I did use all of those colors.

The color that looks like orange here is actually red.

It was just weird lighting.

It was a fun page to work on and I loved the challenge Lorri!

And one thing before I go;

I just wanted to show you guys how much I've been working on my ecourse.

I have about 4 pages like this.

And that's just the intro to the course!!

I'm sure you guys will think that it's great value for a total of only five or ten bucks!

I've got a lot planned for this, and I hope you guys will plan on participating!

But that's all I've got for you guys today, and I'll see you later!!

Bye!

Online Art Journal Course - Introduction!

Hey everyone!! 

I'm so sorry it's been so long since my last post;

I was doing so good, but then I kept putting it off. Ugh.

But I'm doing it now.

So yeah.

What I've got for you guys today is a bit of a surprise;

I'm doing an online art journal course! 

That's right all.

I'm hosting it!

It's gonna be really cheap;

Probably only five or ten bucks.

What do you guys think about that?

Basically, it's just going to be a course on layering in your art journals.

That's sort of my thing.

Layering.

So today, I just wanted to sort of do a review of some pages I've done in the past.

A bit of a reminder. 

I'll be able to show here some of the different techniques I've used in the past, and give MYSELF a sort of reminder of the possibilities.

So here it goes.

Of course this isn't nearly the amount of stuff I have hanging around here, but I thought it would be enough to hold you guys over til tomorrow.

I'm definitely posting tomorrow since I have the reveal of another color combo challenge.

:)

See you guys tomorrow.

 Bye.

Fearless Art Journaling - 21 Secrets

Hey guys! What goes on? 

Sorry I was gone for a couple of days, but sometimes, especially on weekends, I just get lazy.

Generally I don't do much on the weekends when it comes to art, but today I just went crazy!! 

I was really bored, and didn't want to sit around all day like I normally do.

So, I grabbed a bunch of art stuff and just started to play.

I'd say that I was probably working on art for three to four HOURS today!! 

I was a happy camper.

I worked on a bunch of art journal spreads, as well as a bunch of collage papers. 

I worked on some index cards (didn't really finish any),

and glued some pages together in my new art journal that I'm doing.

I also worked on a bunch of things from 21 Secrets.

I realized that if I didn't get to work on that soon, I'll have wasted a bunch of money.

For example.

The art journal spread in the picture above was for a course in 21 Secrets.

It was titled Fearless Painting, and I really like the way this turned out. 

She suggests getting a really LARGE art journal.

But that's not really my thing.

So I just did the same process in my normal art journal.

Because I wanted to see how that would look.

I like it I think.

Really random and free. 

I work like that a lot, but sometimes I feel like I need to just let EVERYTHING go.

You know what I mean?

I worked on a few other things today as well, including a couple of loose collage papers.

This is one that I did today. 

I started out by just putting down a layer of blue acrylic paint; just to put some color down on the page.

I had this idea for a technique, and I decided to try it out, since I was experimenting anyways.

I took a hand carved stamp that I had made out of an eraser.

And I colored in the sections with a Portfolio oil pastel.

I'm just gonna go out on a bunny trail here to talk about Portfolio oil pastels.

They are crazy awesome.

And crazy cheap.

My two favorite things when it comes to art supplies. 

They're so creamy, and rich, and smooth, and buttery.

And you can actually buy them at Staples.

Actually, as far as I know, that's the only place you can buy them.

Anyways.

So yeah. 

After I colored in the sections, I wet the oil pastel with water and stamped onto the background.

It gave a really cool watercolor effect.

And I simply love the way it turned out. 

Personally.

Of course though, I'm biased. 

:P

And then, of course; the last thing I have to share with you today.
I'm leaving all the other stuff for another day.
This right here is a type of monoprint that I've been working on perfecting.
I take a paper towel that I've dyed, and then place it in between two sheet of paper.
Then I just press down.
Depending on how much pressure you put, you get different effects.
For the above effect, press with a moderate pressure.
Lighter will pick up less paint, and heavier will pick up more.
Obviously.

Anyways, as that's all I've got for you today, then it's time for me to say goodbye.
So see you guys later. :)
See you.

Collage Fodder Pages

Hey guys!!

I'm back, and this time with some collage fodder-ish pages.

Ha. 

You guys are such enablers.

Thanks to Kerri and Dede, I ended up making about 12 paper for Dede's paper swap she's been hosting.

You basically just make a bunch of papers in an 8 1/2 x 11" size, and send them to her. 

Then she swaps them out.

You can probably contact her on her blog for details I suppose.

Anyways, I had a lot of fun doing them so please;

DON'T STOP ENABLING ME!!

:D

But to be serious, I did have a lot of fun on these pages.

They encouraged me to play and mess around and just have some all around fun.

I did some color scrapings, some magazine pages, some scrap material pages (tutorial MAY be coming soon) and some monoprints.

Monoprints are seriously my new favorite thing to do.

Link to any tutorials you know of in the comments if you would.

I would literally be eternally grateful.

Ha. 

Now we're in the Toy Story movie.

Anyways. 

Here's a second batch that I was working on.

I think that they all turned out pretty cool.

One of the ones in the first photo I actually have posted on here before, but I decided to post it again.

I used all kinds of paper too. 

I used copy paper, cardstock, lined filler paper, paper from a dictionary, and photo paper.

The ones above show the cardstock, filler paper, and copy paper.

The others I'm going to save for another day.

I did a bit of experimenting with different techniques on some pieces from a dictionary;

I have a little dictionary that I bought from Goodwill to tear up for pages.

I know it seems bad at first.

Especially for me.

I'm a book lover at heart, so to tear the pages out of one almost killed me.

But it's like anything else.

It gets easier with practice. :P

Just kidding.

But seriously though.

It's not so bad after a while. 

And the results are totally worth it, in my honest opinion.

Though I don't know how much my opinion means to you guys.

But it matters to me so...

Yeah.

That's all I've got for you guys today, but I'll see you tomorrow!

Bye!

Art Journal Spread

Hey everyone!!

I'm back here on the blog again for the next day in a row. :)

Today is just a sort of add on from yesterday's post.

I added more onto the first spread in my journal.

Actually I finished it.

It took a bunch of layers to get it this way, but I'm good with it now.

The colors didn't seem to work at first, but with enough work, anything can work really.

I like the way it works in this page.

It's pretty cool.

I had a bunch of layers already, but I like the way this looks.

I added a bunch of collage layers, and some paint.

Here's a close up of the title.

I used orange paint to stamp the title "Clueless"

I love the way the orange compliments the green of the rest of the page.

And here is a close up of my favorite part of this spread.

I had glued down a photo, and went over it a couple times with different acrylic paints.

Then, I put some paper over the top and pulled it up.

Doesn't it look cool?

I thought so.

Anyways, that's all I've got for you today.

See you guys later. :)

Art Journal Progress and Pulled Papers

Hello my friends. :)

I'm back with you guys today with yet another blog post. 

Today I worked on the first page in my new art journal, and I was so happy with what I achieved thus far.

It's not as cool yet as it will be, but so far there's only three layers. 

It will progress.

And I'll probably share it here with you guys. :)

If you guys are wondering how I do layers,

Then ask in the comments any specific questions you have.

I'm thinking about doing a little mini series here on the blog about layering.

Let me know if you're interested.

Since there aren't that many layers in this page, then I might as well list them here.

Basically I just started with some yellow poster paint.

It's a thin paint, but makes really good glazes/washes.

I went over the entire base of the page with this color. I loved it.

It's a good base.

Next I took some primary blue tempera paint and sort of blended it into the still wet yellow background with a paintbrush.

It turned a sort of green color and blended into the rest of the page.

While that was still wet, I pressed two sheets of printer paper into the wet paint (more on that later), and pulled them up.

Then I added some stamping with a zig zag rubber stamp and some olive green paint.

I randomly put it everywhere.

I kind of like the effect that it gives the whole thing.

And HERE we have the pulled pages. 

Yep.

I made the spread above and got two extra papers from it. :)

I just think that's SO cool.

The thing is, the effect it gives the actual art journal is just amazing.

So the extra papers are just a bonus.

You could do any number of things with these papers.

You could cut them up and collage them into your work.

You may want to color copy them.

Or maybe do some sort of weird transfer thing with them.

I don't know.

ATC's would be cool too...

HEY!

If anybody's interested in doing an ATC swap, let me know. :)

I'll host.

But I need to know if there's interest. :)

So that's all I've got for you today;

Leave any comments/interest checks in the comments below.

Comments make me happy. :)

See you guys later.

Bye.

Art Journal Cover - Volume 001

Hey guys! I finally managed to get on here after a LONG day of practicing volleyball.

I literally left at 10:30 and didn't get back until 5:00.

Very tiring, but I had some time to reenergize, and now I'm on here again. ;)

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but sometimes my Saturdays sort of slip away from me.

I keep putting stuff off because I think I'm always going to have time.

But as we all know, this certainly isn't the case.

Unfortunately.

Anyways, enough with the apologies and the comments about my social life.

Let's get down to business. 

The artsy-craftsy part. :)

You know what I'm talking about.

Today I did quite a few things.

But I'm only going to share two of those with you guys today.

The first being a journal COVER.

This is pretty different from I normally post;

I normally do art journal PAGES and maybe an altered book page.

Depending on my creative mood that day.

You know how it is.

Some days you've got it, and others you don't.

And you just have to push through. 

Anyways.

Yes. 

I have an art journal cover for you guys today.

In the past, I've actually never done fancy covers.

I generally just paint them black, and use a bright color for the spine.

It's a nice simple look, and it's fun.

But today, as I start a new art journal for a course I'm doing on Wild Precious.

I just thought it was appropriate.

Here's a picture of it a bit closer up.

For my first 'Volume' I also found it appropriate to do it in one of my fave color combos;

Turquoise, Black, and Red.

Mostly turquoise, a little bit of black, and hints of red.

I know this is a common combo.

But I love it.

It's so perfect to describe my style.

Bright and airy, yet sophisticated.

It works well in a grungy layout.

Or in a clean and simple one. That's good.

Because I do both.

This is more of a grungy cover, and I do a lot of my stuff that way.

But sometimes I do go simple.

Anyways. 

I did a lot of layering of stamping with paint on this cover.

I thought that it should be perfect because I would have to be looking at it for as long as I'm working in this journal.

Another thing about this journal is that I'm thickening the pages.

While in the past I haven't.

What I'm doing this time is gluing two pages together.

And then collaging a bunch of phone book papers on top of it.

Then add gesso.

The pages are super thick, and AMAZING texture is added.

So far I haven't worked in it yet,

But since I did some prepping I probably will soon.

The second thing I have for you guys today is an ICAD card.

I know what you guys are thinking. 

FINALLY!

I know. 

I'm totally physic. 

I'm just cool like that.

Anyways.

I did this card today using a technique that had been left in the comments section of one of my posts.

Before I go one, let me say one thing about comments.

Thank you for leaving them.

They inspire me, and I really do read EVERY SINGLE ONE.

I do a blog run through, just to see them.

Thank you. 

They are so inspiring, and if you leave me a technique to try, I WILL try it.

Try it.

Leave me a technique in the comments.

Anything. 

I will get back to you on it.

Anyways.

Back to the point at hand.

One of my viewers left me this comment, and I was so intrigued I had to try it.

Basically what you do is you take your base.

And color all over it with different color of crayons.

Be completely random.

Then paint the whole thing with black paint.

Then scrape all the paint OFF.

I used a toothpick.

And that's it.

Isn't the effect cool for such a simple technique?

I love it. :)

It almost looks neon.

And if I haven't said it on here before, I LOVE neon.

So yeah.

Anyways, that's all I've got for you guys today, and I hope to see you tomorrow!! 

Bye!!

New One on One Challenge Intro

Hey guys!! I'm back here with you guys once again with yet another post.

I've probably shared this page with you before, but I don't really care. And I haven't even added onto it yet. But I didn't really work on anything today.

Sorry about that. 

But I was so tired after I get home from school today that I didn't want to do anything.

Plus tomorrow is Saturday, and I'll have plenty of time then.

So I didn't do anything today.

I just looked through some of my journals and found this page. :)

I thought it would just be a cool page to show up above. If you know what I mean.

A post without pictures is kind of dull. 

I don't know what you guys think, but that's just my opinion. :D

So anyways, I just wanted to check in, and maybe let you know that I'm gonna be starting a new one on one challenge here. It's another color combo.

It'll be cool. :) So anyways... see you guys tomorrow. :)

ICAD Card

Hey guys. I'm back again.

And I'm using the new format again.

I like it a lot more, and it sort of makes short posts a bit longer.

It's kind of stupid, but it's true. :/

So today's post is pretty simple. It's basically just this one card. 

The reason for that being that I was gone ALL DAY today practicing my volleyball.

And then after that I had a game. So I'm sure you guys get it.

Now onto the card.

This was a really fun card to make, and it was really simple. I used a dark green paint, a light blue paint, and a bright red paint. 

I actually just dabbed it on with a paper towel.

It looked pretty cool.

Then, before the paint dried, I sprinkled on some gold glitter.

Then added the word down in the corner.

And that's it.

That's what I've got for this card.

Actually, that's all I've got for this POST. 

See you guys later. Bye.

Paper Towels and ICAD Card

Hey guys! I'm here with you guys again, and, even though today's post is a bit shorter, I'm kind of excited about it, since I pretty much love everything I'm sharing. I worked on quite a few things today, but these are the only things that I'm sharing today. 

Let's start off with the index card, shall we? I think we shall. 

Today's index card is a fun one; most of the ones I've been making are kind of bright and in your face. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that... it's just that I wanted to try something new.

You know what I mean?

Yeah. So today's index card is quite a bit different. It's darker.

The background (the initial base) is a technique that I've been working on perfecting.

I know, I know.

Another technique. You're probably sick and tired of hearing of me inventing new techniques by now.

But then again, maybe you're not. Maybe it depends on the person.

Anyways, getting back to the initial subject.

My index card background. I was working on taking some paint (I've been trying out student acrylics), and actually mixing them directly with glitter.It takes some manipulating;

But you CAN get the paint to show...

As well as having the glitter show too. It's tough though.

That's why it's a technique in process.

And not a tutorial.

Anyways. Again, getting back to the index card (Sorry about my rambling).

After that I actually went over the top of the whole card with plain black poster paint.

Then rubbed it around with my fingers. I thought it looked pretty cool.

After that I simply stamped the word "Dance" in the corner.

And colored around the edges with a glitter crayon that one of my friends sent me.

Another thing that I want to share with you guys are a few more paper towels. 

Yep.

More paper towels.

I'm sure you guys are probably sick and tired of paper towels by now as well.

Or then again, maybe you're not.

I tried a couple of the suggestions in the comments of this post.

Including one about using the paints undiluted.

And it worked like magic!!

See.

This is why I have a blog. Without you people, I wouldn't know WHAT to do.

You can see a couple of the towels I did above; 

A cool black flower with an orange and blue background. As well as some green and blue 

pieces in the back.

I think you can see them.

At least I know I can. *shrugs*

Another idea I saw in the comments was using FOOD coloring to dye the towels.

I personally thought that idea was GENIUS.

So far I haven't gotten to it, since I've been so busy with volleyball.

But I will get to it. I will. I swear.

Speaking of volleyball, my first game is actually tomorrow. Wish me luck.

I think I'll probably need it. 

Actually, if you're a reader of this blog, you'll probably notice I'm using a new format.

Do you like it?

Let me know. 

ALSO!! THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!

If YOU are interested in doing a one-on-one challenge with me,

Like I did with Dede,

Let me know in the comments. 

I'm looking for a new partner. Okay.

See you guys later. Comment away.

THE BIG ONE ON ONE CHALLENGE REVEAL!!!!

That's right my friends. I am here. For a while at least. :) And, if you look at the headline/title of today's post you'll see what's going on today. You remember about a week ago when I told you all about a challenge I was doing with the one and only Dede? Dede is pretty much a hero of mine when it comes to art, and so when she said she'd love to do a challenge with me, it made me pretty happy. :) I didn't tell you guys what the challenge was going to be, but now it's time for the REVEAL!!! Looking at the edited/words added picture above, you can see the color combo for the very first time; Navy Blue, Hot Pink, and Yellow. Now mind you, when I was DMing with Dede on twitter I picked those colors right off the top of my head, with no thoughts about how hard it would be. Dede probably came up with something totally awesome with no trouble. :)))) But I had a little difficulty with this combination for some reason. I think my problem was that my yellow kept mixing with the navy and making lime. :) But after enough layers I finally came up with this:

Yeah. I like it. A lot. It was really fun to make, and it ended up exactly as I had visioned it. Pretty much. Actually, I've been dropping a bunch of hints about this color combination. Probably about three or four. :) I wanted to see if anyone would see a pattern in my work. I would actually show some things with those colors in it. For example, I think I did an index card, a loose paper, and I told you about one of the homemade stamps I was using. You can see it as a border around the top half of the page. The journaling was just done on white cardstock with a regular sharpie. I glued it down, then ran over the top with yellow paint.

Here's that just a bit closer, and you can see some of the scattered glitter pieces around the edges of this piece. I love the way the glitter went around the page though I sort of focused it in this corner:

And here it is. :) For you followers of my blog, you may see (or at least sense) something a bit familiar in this page. If you haven't been reading my blog you probably won't. But this corner was collaged with... you might have guessed it... the paper towels I dyed a few days ago!!! Yeah. It is. Doesn't it look cool? I just loved the texture that it added, and I thought it looked pretty cool. I'm glad that I finally worked up the courage to push through and actually use one in a piece of art. If you remember, the paper towels actually looked really light in color. But what I found is that when I collaged them into my piece, they turned darker, to a hot pink. It was pretty cool. So... make sure to hop on over to Dede's blog... she'll be posting her page for our challenge after I. :) No ICAD today, but hopefully one tomorrow, when I'll see you guys again!! And that's all she wrote.