ART JOURNALING DECOART AND YVONNE BLAIR INKY ART JOURNAL

Hello friends!

Welcome back to my blog and a very special Blog Hop and Giveaway Event for a very special lady and dear art sister ... Yvonne Blair of Life's Little Details. 

I was blessed to have met Yvonne at Ranger U in 2011 and we've been "soul sisters" ever since.  Yvonne is one of the most sincere, kindest ladies I have ever met and I am proud she asked me to help her launch her amazing new line of art journaling products.

** TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN THE GIVEAWAY, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT ON EVERYONE'S BLOG POST.  IT'S THAT SIMPLE!

Here are the lovely ladies and artists also involved in this Blog Hop Giveaway.  Each has created something wonderful using Yvonne's products. And...you will recognize almost all of the names on this list as members of the Curiosity Crew from the recent Compendium of Curiosities III Challenges!  By the way, stay tuned because most of the crew will be back together in the new year with some really fun stuff!

Annette Green
Cheryl Boglioli
Cheryl Grigsby
Linda Ledbetter
Susan Mostek
Yvonne Blair

This giveaway is celebrating Yvonne's launch of her own product line including her new Art Journal Buddy Tool, her amazing Inky Art Journals and her stamp line with Impression Obsession.  For more information about ordering the Art Journal Buddy Tool and the Inky Art Journals, contact Yvonne at yblair@gmail.com or go to her website (link above).  Her wonderful array of stamps are available through Impression Obesssion. 

I have created an art journal spread using Yvonne's wonderful new 6" x 8" Inky Art Journal.  I totally LOVE her art journals because they lay FLAT when you open them!  No matter where you open the journal to work ... FLAT!  The cover is made out of plain chipboard so that you can alter it in any way you like ... really making your journal your own! The 32 interior pages are a wonderful manila shipping tag material.  These pages are sturdy and it  takes a ridiculous amount of wet ink or paint to bleed through these babies!  I have yet to have it happen to me. 

Yvonne's Inky Art Journals come in three sizes:  6" x 8", 8 1/2" x 11" and her brand new size, 4" x 8". 

Want to know how I created these art journal pages?  Well, here's a tutorial to show you how ...

Here is the list of supplies you will need:  

• Yvonne's 6" x 8" Inky Art Journal
• Seth Apter Faded Fragments stamp set from Impression Obsession
• D17042 Stamp from Impression Obsession.  
• DecoArt Media White Gesso
• DecoArt Media Matte Medium
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Titanium White, Titan Buff, Cobalt Teal Hue, Cadmium Orange Hue, Cadmium Red Hue, Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Umber, Diarylide Yellow, Hansa Yellow Medium, Yellow Green Light, Yellow Iron Oxide
• DecoArt Americana Dark Chocolate and Flesh Tone Acrylic Paints
• Various Book Text and Emphemera
• Fabric Scraps
• Lace Scraps
• Cardstock cut into a heart shape
• Tissue Tape
• Neocolor II Watercolor Crayons
• Hickory Smoke Distress Marker
• Permanent Black Ink Pen (for detail work)
• Paint Brushes 
• Stylus
• Black Cardstock
• Permanent Black Ink
• Specialty Stamping Paper
• Black Thread and sewing machine
• Detailer Water Brush
• 1/4" Scor Tape

You will begin with a blank page spread in the 6" x 8" Inky Art Journal.  Notice how FLAT the journal opens!  I can't stress enough how easy this book is to work in and how beautifully your art flows across the pages!

Next I sketched my idea of the girl coming out from behind a big heart in the center directly onto the pages of the art journal.  Then I traced them onto a piece of tracing paper for later use.

I then brushed DecoArt Media White Gesso over the pages.

While the art pages were drying, I cut out a big heart out of scrap white cardstock.  I tore strips of fabric to create a homespun quilt like heart.  Using Matte Medium and a brush, I glued them in place on the cardstock heart.  Then I set it aside to dry.

Here is the backside of the heart as it was drying.  The fabric hanging over the edges would be cut shorter and frayed later.

While the fabric heart was drying, I began working on my art journal page layers.  Using Matte Medium and a brush, I began with torn book text.  Then I started adding little pieces of ephemera that I liked.  Not too many...just a few for interest.  Remembering that my girl would be peeking out from the center heart on the right hand side, I didn't need to add a lot of ephemera on that page.  Then I added some patterned cardstock for more interest.  Once I had those items in place, I brushed over them with Matte Medium and sealed them in place.

Once the heart was dry, I cut off the straggling ends and left enough fabric to fray all around the heart.  Here I have just laid the heart on top of the pages to get an idea of how everything is taking shape.

I removed the heart from the center and added some more fabric strips to the art pages to tie everything together.  I added them by brushing Matte Medium onto the pages, adding the strips and then brushing Matte Medium over them to seal them in place.  Matte Medium dries clear and is a fantastic glue and sealer.

For more pattern and interest, I added some 7 Gypsies Tissue Tape to the mix.

Now here are the basic art journal pages, layered with lots of different elements, pattern and color.  Everything is sealed with Matte Medium and set aside to dry.

The colors on the fabric heart make my heart happy but they were very vivid.  I wanted the focal point of these art journal pages to be the sentiment and the girl, not the heart.  So, to soften the colors, I added a wash of water and DecoArt Titanium White Fluid Acrylic Paint over the heart.  Then I let it air dry.

While the heart was drying, it was time to transform the art journal pages into a colorful union.  So using a baby wipe, I first swiped Titan Buff mixed with a small amount of water over the pages followed by Cobalt Teal Hue mixed with a small amount of water to make the colors more semi transparent.  I also wiped away some of the color from the pieces of ephemera.  I continued to add more color until I was happy with the background.

Laying the heart on top of the newly colored pages, you can see how everything really is starting to come together!

Next I did some messy machine stitching using black thread on the heart.  I laid the heart in it's place at the center of the pages but I did not glue it in place yet.

I laid my piece of tracing paper with my girl on it under the one side of the heart and using carbon paper between the traced image and the art journal page, I traced the girl onto the art journal page.

Here you can clearly see the outline of the girl on the art journal page.

I painted a basecoat of DecoArt's Media Fluid Acrylic Titanium White on the girl so that the colors I would be adding would be a truer and more opaque.  Then I began filling in the colors ... first her face with DecoArt's Americana Flesh Tone Acrylic paint.

And here is the way the art journal pages look at this point.

I painted the hair using DecoArt's Dark Chocolate, Titan Buff and a touch of Quinacridone Gold and then I started adding the facial shading using Neocolor II Water Color Crayons and a Detailer Water Brush.

Next it was time start filling in her dress. I decided to combine the Cadmium Orange Hue and Cadmium Red Hues to create the dress color and shading.

To give the art journal pages more depth, I added Hickory Smoke Distress Marker around the exterior of the girl and where the heart would eventually rest.  I smudged the gray using my finger and a tiny amount of water if necessary to create a feeling of depth and shadow blended into the background. 

Here you can see the effectiveness of the Hickory Smoke shading.

Next I added some small little flowers using a small paint brush and Titanium White paint.  I outlined everything with a Permanent Black Pen.

Then I added some scrap vintage lace to the neck and sleeve of the girl's dress using Matte Medium to hold them in place.  First I gathered the lace for the sleeve with a needle and thread and secured it with a piece of Scor Tape. Then I brushed over the collar and the gathered taped area of the sleeve with Matte Medium to seal them in place.

I stamped the sentiment, and the inspiration for these journal pages from Yvonne's wonderful stamps, available at Impression Obession a couple of times onto a piece of Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper using Black Permanent Ink.  Then I cut out the sentiment and glued it onto a piece of black cardstock. I cut it out again, leaving a black edge around each of the words. Those were then glued onto the heart.

The girl's dress was really sweet but it needed something else.  So I added polka dots using a stylus and DecoArt's Titan Buff Fluid Acrylics Paint.

Now to finish off the left side of the art journal page by adding some whimsical flowers ...
I stamped Tim Holtz' Flower Garden large stem and just the small flower from Wendy Vecchi's Ticket To Art flower directly onto the art journal page using Black Permanent Ink.  The leaves on those stems are from Tim's stamp.  Then I colored the flowers and stems in using a small paint brush and DecoArt's Fluid Acrylic Burnt Umber, Diarylide Yellow, Hansa Yellow Medium and Yellow Green Light paints.

I also added some really cool black designs from Seth Apter's Faded Fragments stamp set from Impression Obsession randomly around the perimeter of the pages.  Here is the almost completed art journal pages.  They just need the sentiment heart in the center.

Here is a closeup of the heart that has been glued to the center of the art journal pages.

And once again, here are the finished pages.  I just loved this sentiment from Yvonne's various stamp sets and as I said earlier, it was the inspiration for these pages.  

Please take a few minutes to visit the other blogs and leave comments so you can be eligible to win and Art Journal Buddy Tool and the new 4" x 8" Inky Art Journal.

Good luck everybody!