Blog: A Look Back

A Look Back – Just Stencils and Words

A Look Back – Want to know a great recipe for an art journal page? Just stencils and words. Yup. That’s it. There are days when I feel the urge to sketch and other days I am in a stamping mood or feeling a layering vibe. And then there are days when I just want to get my words down and I want a background that is straightforward and comes without too much exertion. Not everything needs to be complicated. Let’s take a Look Back at a few art journal pages that use just stencils and words.

This art journal page was part of my Stencilbop challenge and uses two different stencils, Chicago and Exchange Place, along with acrylic spray paints. I love how fast it is to use spray paint with stencils, and shifting them slightly to create a shadow effect is a pretty cool trick. Where to journal on this one? Just follow the lines on the stencil :)

Two stencils work in harmony in this art journal spread that you wouldn’t necessarily think to put together: Art Deco Wallpaper and Circuit. I think it came together because Circuit is “playing second fiddle” in this case and just providing a more delicate detail to balance the assertiveness of the Art Deco fan pattern. BUT the star of the show really is the boldly stenciled words. Play with what takes center stage – it could be a stencil or your journaling.

What is a stencil? In this spread I used my Toledo stencil but also a template to a shrine kit that I had. Think about what you have around that could work like a stencil when you are creating. In this case the shrine shape made the perfect spot to journal in.

One stencil, bold colors, black spray paint, maybe a little paint splatter… Looks pretty sweet, right? When you have a cool pattern (like the Hamburg one here), you don’t need much else. Leave a spot to journal and you have a winner. Check out the original post for this spread here.

Okay I had to sneak this art journal spread in too just because of course you can go a bit further. Maybe you need a little something extra in there and no worries – you’re the boss! Here I used my Chicago and Santiago stencils with spray paint, added a white area and my journaling, but also discovered how nicely my Floral Tile Small stamps fit the stencil pattern. So I added stamps too because some days all you need are just stencils and words… and stamps ;)

Now it’s your turn: make some art journal pages using just stencils and words. Here are some of the supplies used in these spreads:

Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it will be fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

Leave a comment

A Look Back – Hand Carved Stamps

A Look Back… at hand carved stamps! I love using my rubber and foam stamp designs in my art journal pages. They add pattern and detail and another element of my style into what I’m creating. Sometimes though, I don’t have the motif that I’m looking for in a ready made stamp so… I carve my own! It’s a fun process and it can give you that look and ease of use that is so great about stamps, but it usually also has a slightly imperfect look that makes it special. Here is a Look Back at some pages where I mix up hand carved stamps with my other favorite art making materials:

Here in this art journal page, the sinuous design in the background is a hand carved stamp. It looks like iron work or an architectural detail and was perfect for creating a background. I mixed in a little of my Manhattan stencil to soften things and blend the foreground and background elements.

Just like any stamp, a hand carved stamp doesn’t need to be a single use tool. As you can see I used that guy again in the background of this art journal spread. The double impression reminds me of a gate or doors behind the figure. I stamped it in yellow and then gave the design some more oomph (but not too much) with a fine white acrylic marker.

Speaking of architectural elements, that’s how I made them in this art journal page: hand carved stamps! You can go quite big if you use a product like Speedy-Carve that comes in sheets. It’s almost like linoleum printing but the material is so soft and easy to work with.

The figure above is a hand carved stamp, along with a hand cut stencil, and my Groovy foam stamp. I like how they all work together in this art journal spread, with similar line weights, curves, and scale. Don’t be afraid to mix up and layer your hand carved stamps with other stamps and stencils. They can be the focal point or a supporting actor on the page ;)

I’m finishing up with a double-header of an art journal spread: two pages that are celebrating hand carved stamps. The one on the left is a straight up impression and the right has cut outs and layering (and hey, recognize that figure from before?). Like I said, it’s fun to go big. These are both scenes from my hood and subjects that I definitely wanted to explore as stamps.

Ready to try making and using hand carved stamps? Here are some of the supplies I used in the above posts:

Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it will be fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

Leave a comment

A Look Back – Got the Blues

A Look Back – I’ve got the blues. The art journal blues. No, no, I’m not sad or anything :) I’m talking color today! I’m keeping it simple and taking a look back at some art journal pages that are blue. All shades of blue, but definitely LOTS of blue. Let’s have a look:

Let’s kick things off with this spread from 2019 where I created a background with blue acrylic paint and gesso, mixing them on the page to create some tints. On top I stamped my Jazzed and Gnarly foam stamps but blue is the dominant color for sure. Take a look at the whole page here.

This is another spread from 2019 that began with blue acrylic paint right onto the page. Then I used my Space Age Modern stencil with white acrylic paint and collaged on top of all of that. I called this spread Fantastic Bad Ideas hahaha and you can see the whole thing here :)

Cyanotype or sun printing creates one of my favorite shades of blue and in this page I combined sun printed fabric with some stamping in blue too. Both patterns are created with my Triple Play foam stamp set. You can check out more of the story behind this spread here.

Blue plays so nicely with lots of other colors and I love to experiment with colors that harmonize and colors that pop. Here I started my background with blue acrylic paint, then used my Wabi Sabi rubber stamps in black, an aqua posca marker with my Star Struck stencil, and finally finished things up with peach colored acrylic paint and my Kyoto stencil. I love how that last one really stands out too! You can see the whole spread here.

I wanted to end with this spread because I think sometimes simple can be very powerful. Here I was just working with blues and white. I painted my background with those colors and then stamped my Midtown and Midtown Minis foam stamp sets on top in white. You can read more about this page from June 2020 here.

I hope you enjoyed this Look Back post all about the blues :) Maybe you’ll be inspired to pull those blue paints and inks out of your stash and concentrate on letting them shine in your next art journal page or mixed media piece.

A Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it will be fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

Here are some of the supplies used in these projects:

Leave a comment

A Look Back – Layering Stencils

A Look Back – Lots of times I’ll reach for a stencil when I want a quick background in an art journal or mixed media piece. Pair a stencil with some acrylic spray paint or acrylic paint and a makeup sponge and it’s almost instant success. But then there are times where I want the background to be a bit more complex and I’m not in the mood to start layering in lots of collage papers or stamped impressions. Layering on another stencil is my secret weapon in these cases. Let me show you some examples:

In this art journal page I chose my Signals and Space Age Modern stencils to layer on in warm colors. The scales are similar in terms of the marks and it doesn’t really read as two patterns, but one more complex pattern. I think it’s a nice effect. You can see the entire spread here.

I love finding two patterns that can work together in my stencils and I did that here in this art journal page with my Chicago and ATC Mixup stencils. I first put down the Chicago pattern with a blending tool and one color of Distress Ink, then used one design on the ATC Mixup stencil in the diamond part of the Chicago stencil with another color of ink. Instant complexity. Then I also took it further with one of my Fan-fare rubber stamps and a dot from my eraser.

Two more stencils that seem born to layer? Beacon and Toledo – the patterns just line right up. This is also a cool combination because the Beacon is a delicate design and Toledo so dense. I definitely recommend putting the dense design down first as your base and then the delicate one on top to add details to the layered pattern. Check out the full art journal spread here.

Here I used Hamburg and Chicago and I like how they are similar in line weight and all those right angles, but obviously not the same. The tension between the two stencils totally activates the page. It’s like a hole in the one pattern and a patch job that doesn’t quite match. Here’s the post so you can see the whole spread.

Here’s another example of two layered stencils that also have similar line weights, and it makes for a pretty interesting combination. It gets a bit confusing as to what pattern is what and I like that. For this page I used Flower Maze and Exchange Place, all of it in warm colors. You can see the full spread here in the original post.

So there you go: some ideas on layering stencils for when you want a nice way to oomph up those backgrounds.

A Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it will be fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

Here are some of the supplies used in these projects:

Leave a comment

A Look Back – Playing with Lettering Part 2

A Look Back – Today I’m revisiting a topic I covered once before: how you can play with lettering in your art journal or mixed media projects. You don’t have to have amazing handwriting skills to mix things up and create some impact with your lettering. Below are 5 ways to do it whether you are John Hancock (US history reference lol) or not :) ENJOY!!!

Sometimes it is as simple as just choosing the right medium to do your lettering. I got big juicy results from using Liquitex acrylic ink in a metallic copper here in this art journal. The metallic inks have some body to them from all the flake in there so I got nice bold letters without needing to work very hard. Some inks are thicker than others and will work in this way. Try some out and experiment!

If you want a bit more character to your writing, try another layer – use a contrasting colored acrylic marker to add dots, stripes, squiggles and more. In this art journal page I used a big white sharpie over black acrylic paint. I had already varied the letters in the word so I chose to vary the additional marks too. Sometimes more is more and the way to go.

Do you struggle with keeping your writing straight and all neat and tidy? Throw your ruler out the window and embrace movement! Draw a series of gently wavy lines as I have in this spread, then eyeball the spacing between them and don’t stress – they can be even or totally different. Then use those lines as your guides for writing. Now your undulating text is a design element and intentional. Play with how you space your lines, how wavy they are, and how angled they are. Push the limits and have fun!

Another way to create a guide for writing is to follow a design element in your page. I love how Creative Squad alum Jennifer uses the diamond shape to journal around in this spread. It emphasizes the shape and her writing isn’t meant to be read so it almost looks like a frilly edge around the shape.

Creative Squad alum Nicole has a couple more cool ideas in this spread. Where should your journaling go? Work in the space between two design elements – here she tore a piece of collage paper, glued it down with a gap in between the two pieces, and did her journaling in the chasm. Also this is a great reminder to consider the impact that letter stickers can have instead of handwriting. This application is bold but there are so many options out there these days that they can fit almost any style.

I hope you enjoyed our Look Back today and have some ideas for lettering in your projects. It’s a great way to mix things up!

A Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it will be fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

Here are some of the supplies used in these projects:

Leave a comment

A Look Back – Let’s Make Patterns!

A Look Back – Sometimes I get on a pattern-making kick, either because I come out with new stamps that lend themselves to patterns (like when I released the Triangle Love rubber stamps) or maybe I just need a more meditative art activity than the usual. The repetitious activity can be very relaxing, especially if you don’t get hung up on perfection. Let’s take a Look Back at some pattern fun on the blog through the years:

Back in April 2021 my friend Sarah Matthews and I created an April ArtFomies Challenge and I used it as an excuse to make lots of patterns in my big ledger art journal. It became like a guidebook for the stamps and I’m really glad I did it. You can see a flip through of the book I worked in and see the other posts too here on the blog.

I designed my Mini Hex foam stamp set with patterns in mind and when I finally got the set to try, I couldn’t help myself :) I had to try them all… ALL the pattern possibilities. Just the Clam Hex in the set is a powerhouse.

A similar thing happened when I came out with my Hex Set Small and Large, Fantastic Large and Small, and Floral Tile Large and Small rubber stamp sets. I made patterns. Every day for a month in April 2019 I explored all the different ways these stamps could work together. And I only scratched the surface. But in it I found how nicely shapes can play together and how an exercise like this can open your eyes to color combinations too. Have a look at all my April Patterns here.

I did it again in 2020 and made some short but sweet videos when I released my Triangle Love and Mini Motifs rubber stamps. Until you really play with your stamps a whole lot, you may not even realize what is possible to make with them. I don’t always know how my designs will work together so making patterns just for the sake of play is very helpful. Watch the first batch of those mini videos here.

I cranked out the patterns for a couple weeks and got to know my stamps better in the process. Here was the second batch of those mini videos.

What next you might ask? Well, for this play date Kim and I used one of my pattern books as a reference. We paged through and chose patterns to replicate for stamping on shopping tote bags here. It was fun to see the patterns take on a new life.

I hope you enjoyed this Look Back. Just remember, even stamps that are representational can be worked in this way. Repeat them, rotate them, and flip them in every different way. I do it with rubber stamps and foam stamps alike. You’ll be surprised what happens!

Here are some of the supplies used in these posts:

Leave a comment

A Look Back – Clothing I’d Like to Wear

A Look Back – Often I will include a figure in my art journal pages and hey, they’ve got to wear something ;) Usually I reach for my stamps and stencils to give their clothing a little pattern and style and sometimes the art magic happens and their clothing turns out pretty nifty. So nifty, I wish it actually existed in my own closet to wear! Maybe someday I’ll try to replicate one of these looks for real life:

This art journal page from 2018 is one of those serendipitous moments where something just happens and it looks so good. I did some practice paintings of florals with watercolor and decided to sketch the legs on one of them with acrylic ink, and then I stamped over it with some of my Stroll Through the Hood and Stroll around the Block stamps. These pants are pretty wild but I totally dig them.

In this art journal spread I created a dress using my Grove St and Valley Road foam stamps and then thought it could use a bit more texture, so I added the Craftsman stamp from my Stroll Around the Block rubber stamp set. I guess more is more here and it came together nicely. Yup, I’d wear it!

In this art journal page I kinda made things easier for myself and stamped my Millie stamp from the Actually I Can set onto deli paper. I positioned her skirt over the Amsterdam foam stamped part and the top half of her body over the painted section. Check out the completed page here to see how I finished off her look and then incorporated her into my art journal.

Creative Squad alum Jennifer Gallagher created a bunch of different looks for Millie’s dress here in this post. It totally brings me back to paper dolls and I love the variety of dresses she’s made using Posca pens.

Even just a tiny part of a stencil, carefully placed, can take a plain top and give it a unique style as we see here in Creative Squad Jordan Hill’s art journal page. My Art Deco Empire stencil looks really cool as a pattern around that scoop neck. Once again, I’d wear it :)

I hope you enjoyed this Look Back post and will think about how you can use stamps and stencils to give the clothing your figures wear a finishing touch. And maybe like me, you’ll wind up loving what you create and think about how you might be able to make something like that in real life.

Here are some of the supplies used in these posts:

Leave a comment

A Look Back – Acrylic Ink in Action!

A Look Back – Supplies are one of the things that really inspire me and it’s easy to amass a ton of them… and then kinda forget what you have. When I moved recently I was reminded of all the wonderful acrylic inks I have that are good for so many different techniques. It is such a useful supply that I include it in my Art on the Go Kit too lol. Anyway, all this inspired me to work with them again but also to put together this Look Back post focusing on Acrylic Ink.

Sketching with acrylic ink is a favorite of mine. I like to use a bamboo sketching pen and work on deli paper. It’s a loose and freestyle sketching that takes a bit of patience and multiple dips in the ink to complete, and when it’s done I can use matte medium to seamlessly add it into my art journal. Acrylic ink won’t reactivate with water so then you can go in and add color and detail with all different types of media. Here’s the original post for this art journal page.

The density of color in acrylic ink is really appealing. I made a video here back in 2015 showing just how yummy it is to use acrylic ink over gesso. Backgrounds with this technique can be bold and bright or subtle depending on your color choices. It’s fun to experiment!

Acrylic ink plays well with lots of other media. In this art journal page I began with white spray paint and my Flower Maze stencil. Once the spray paint dried, I spread acrylic ink on the page and then wiped the ink away using a baby wipe. It had soaked into the blank page but wiped to reveal a lighter blue where the spray paint was. I like this two-tone effect.

For a more dramatic resist technique, I like to pair it with embossing ink and a foam stamp like my Mid Century Squared stamp. Do your embossing and once it’s set just brush on acrylic ink and gently wipe. The smooth embossing will resist the acrylic ink and reveal the stamped embossing pattern. Check it out here in this Foam Stamplifier post.

Playing with this resist is also a fun way to finish a page. Here in this art journal spread I used spray paint with a hand cut stencil and acrylic paint with my Groovy foam stamp. When everything was dry I painted yellow acrylic ink over the whole thing – it doesn’t overpower anything but ties it all together. Done :)

One more example of sketching with acrylic ink above :)

I hope you enjoyed this Look Back post and will try your hand at some of these techniques. Acrylic Ink is super fun, versatile, and comes in the whole rainbow of colors to fit anyone’s aesthetic. Here are some of the supplies I used in the projects above:

A Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it’s fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

Leave a comment

A Look Back – April Flowers

A Look Back – Here in the US they have a saying that goes “April showers bring May flowers” but hey, I’m ready for the flowers now LOL. My neighborhood is right there with me and in fact there are trees and bulbs making a colorful show every where I look. So I thought I’d also search for blooms in my art journals from years past and we could have a little flower show.

So here we go, April Flowers for all of you :)

Let’s kick things off with some good advice that a friend once told me. This art journal page was from way back in 2014 and I started with a spray painted background and layered on some acrylic marker drawings of plants that I had done. I think the simple style of it really matches the sentiment quite nicely.

Skip forward to spring 2018 with this art journal page. My background uses my Kassel stencil and then I painted those blooms with acrylic paint and gouache. I might not be flowery (like the journaling says), but I sure do love fresh flowers and always try to have some around the house to brighten things up.

Also that year I became smitten with all the pink cherry blossoms in my hood. They were everywhere and so I picked up a brush, some acrylic paint and acrylic ink, and created this art journal page. The scale of the flowers may be a little generous, but my enthusiasm for them couldn’t have been bigger!

Does painting flowers seem a bit intimidating? One of the easiest ways to create a few blooms is to use a stamp like my Fan-Tastic Small rubber stamps and just add a stem. Instant flowers that are perfect for card making or wherever. This card was from my Deck of Cards (greeting cards that is) challenge back in 2019 here on the blog.

And lastly, flowers never have to be pigeon-holed. They are too fun and happy to just be in a bunch or a vase. Why not wear one like a hat? Why not? It’s your art journal. You can do whatever you like just like I’ve done in this page from 2020. I created a nifty pattern background with my Triangle Love stamps and then added my whimsical drawing of a girl wearing a flower hat.

I hope you enjoyed this little bundle of flowers from me to you and maybe it’s inspired you to add a floral element to what you’re creating.

A Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it’s fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Leave a comment