Getting ready for Spring . . .

It seems impossible that it's already March. For my first project this month, I am using the Gypsy Soul Laser Cut Art Journal.

Designed as an artist journal with removable pages and heavy chipboard, you may use any type of paint or gesso to decorate your pages. Each page will hold up to any medium.

I turned mine into a mini-book. By covering the pre-existing holes and using a Zutter Bind-It-All, I was able to die-cut a series of holes that would hold the pages together with coils.

Here are a few of my pages . . .

I adore this layered window and made it the focal point of the cover. The bottom layer was embossed with gold embossing powder. The top layer was stained with Distress Stain.

This next piece was created to go on the outside of the book. I'm using mine on the inside and decorated it with Shell Border Sticks. They're so intricately cut I feel the need to use Border Sticks on almost every project.

I painted this one with gold paint and added some gathered netting underneath.

This page is corrugated. you will receive 4 corrugated pages in your Art Journal. 

Before adding paper pockets to this page, I adhered some Prima Bronze Crackle paint . Some areas were pretty thick and the page held up very well. After it dried, I added the pockets. The bottom pocket is a piece of masking tape that has been stamped and inked. A torn piece of Prima doily and ephemera was also added.

I added a tag to the pocket. This one was made with Gypsy Soul Laser Cut large tags, but you might want to choose a different tag. There are so many to choose from on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts page.

After covering the tag with paper, I used a Fanciful Fan (coming soon) to the front of the tag. The Fanciful Fan was painted with bronze acrylic paint. I then cut an oval image and surrounded it with crystals from Prima Marketing. I punched a small hole at the top right of the tag and hung some Prima crystals from the top.

Besides doors and windows, another obsession are gates and this one is no exception. With the fleur de lis design, it had to be added to my journal. The entire gate was painted with Prima's Opal Magic Paint in Rose then I added Prima's Copper Micro Beads to the fleur de lis to make it stand out. I used Art Glitter glue then carefully *dumped* the micro beads on top (ha!). Use a tray or they will bounce everywhere. Once that was dry, I added Aleene's paper glaze to the top. 

The gate was added to a page only on the sides so I could slide a tag underneath.

Wanting to add flowers of some kind to the next page, I turned to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts new wild flowers (coming soon). I love this silhouette-type arrangement and first gave it a layer of Prima's Clear Crackle. Once that was dry . . .

I painted over the crackle with green acrylic paint on the leaves and Prima's Metallique Paint on the flowers.

Then I used the negative of the chipboard flowers and added Prima Heavy Gesso to the negative. This will add a shadowy layer to the paper.

Once the gesso dried, I added the painted wild flower chipboard on top of the paper. You can see the white gesso in the background.

Thanks for sticking with me into my foray into this Art Journal. So many more pages to add to my journal now!

See you again soon!

Nancy Wethington