Art Journal Prompt Cards

 Hello everyone,

Today I have some journal prompt cards for you, made from the gel prints I made a few weeks ago. So first we make the backgrounds and then we turn them into the cards.

Introduction and Collage

If you do a lot of art journaling then it can be helpful to have a set of journal prompt cards. 

Start by gathering the monoprints from the previous tutorial.  I had nine prints but I will only be using three prints on each page.

I made two bases using 300gsm watercolour paper.  For the first one, I chose three of the backgrounds in complementary colours and torn them up and arranged them on the watercolour paper.  I took a photo at this stage to remind myself of the layout in case any of them moved.

When I was happy with the layout, I pasted them all down using matte gel medium.

Next, I moved on to the second background and repeated the process. 

Repeat the same process as above, tearing up the prints and laying them out on the watercolour paper until you are happy with how it looks and then paste them into place.

Once they are dry, use some gold size to cover all the white bits not covered by the collage.  If you don't have gold size, you can use glue that dries tacky.

Adding Gold Leaf and More

If you don't have gold leaf you can use gold acrylic paint.  Add the gold leaf, pressing it down on top of all the parts that are sticky from the gold size/tacky glue.  

I use my hands for this and then brush off the excess with a paintbrush.

Use the brush and your fingers to rub the gold leaf down into all the sticky bits and off of the collaged bits.  I felt like my backgrounds needed some black so I took a black stabilo and scribbled on it.

Then I activated it with water and a brush.

I did this to both pieces and left them to dry.  Please note:  stabilo pencils are water activated so you may want to seal them with a spray sealant at this stage or you may want to wait till the end and spray both sides.  

Decorating the reverse side

As the reverse side is where the journal prompts will be written, I decorated them too using some chalk paints in complementary colours.  

I added the paint and then smoothed it out using a brush and then a brayer.

Then when they were dry - they dry very quickly on their own or you can speed it up with a hairdryer - I added some stencilling in white chalk paint using a sponge.

The stencil I used is A4 size, the same size as the paper.

Here's a look at the pages after stencilling.

Making the Cards

Now to turn these pages into cards. If you are also using A4 paper you will be able to get 10 cards out of each sheet if you cut your cards to be 2.25 x 3.5 inches.  This is narrower than the standard ATC size which is 2.5 x 3.5 inches, but I wanted more cards and less waste.  If you want ATC size, you will only get 8 cards per sheet. If you are using a different paper size, you will have to do some calculations!

I cut them at the smaller size by first cutting them into 5 x 2.25 inch wide strips, and then cutting those into cards that were 3.5 inches long.

So now I have 20 cards ready to go.

And the reverse side looks like this...

I like to round my corners, so if you have a corner rounder, do that now.

To hide the white edges and tie them in with the front of the cards, I dry brushed some gold acrylic paint along the edges.  This is easy to do if you hold all your cards together and using a brush with very little paint on it, carefully brush along the edges.

Then just leave them to dry which should only take a few minutes.

Journal Prompts and how to use the Cards

Using a black waterproof pen, write your prompts on the cards.  Here's a look at the prompts I chose but yours can be anything you like.  There are two colour cards, one offers a choice of black or white and the other has six colour options - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet - or any colours you prefer.  For this one you can either choose your favourite or roll the dice!



To use the cards, shuffle them like a regular deck of cards and then select one or more and follow the prompt/s. The cards can also be hole punched and stored on a ring or you could keep them in a box or a small bowl.  They would also make great gifts for a crafty friend.

Hope you like this project.  Let me know in the comments below and I would love to see your cards if you decide to make a set.

Till next time,

Elle
Empire of the Cat

Project Recipe:

PE126ES Seaweed Circle *coming soon*
PE129ES Oceanic *coming soon*
watercolour paper, matte gel medium, gold leaf, gold size, stabilo all, Paperartsy chalk paint, stencil, black waterproof pen, gold acrylic paint,
Other: paper trimmer, corner rounder(optional)

Stencilled Mini Journal

 Hello everyone, you might remember that in my last post I showed how to use a chipboard element as a stencil.  So today I thought I would make a mini art journal and use some of the stencilled prints to decorate it.

To make the small journal, I am using the chipboard set called Altoids Book Cover C2F and some of the stencilled paper from my previous chipboard printing session.  In addition to the gel printing, I also used the chipboard stencil in two other ways - firstly with ink and a sponge:



Then with texture paste:

So I ended up with these prints in addition to my gel prints:

I cut down the top print down to fit both sides of the book cover leaving a little extra on the side.



I used PVA glue to adhere the pieces to my cover leaving a small gap in between so that my journal would lay flat and also close properly.



Here's how it looks on the outside with the paper overlapped on the spine.



For the inside, I repeated the process using a piece of watercolour paper already painted.



Then I took the texture paste print and cut a piece to fit on the spine with a little extra to wrap around to the front cover to make it more interesting.



Position the shaped side where you want it to be and glue that down first.  Once that is dry, glue the rest to the spine making sure that you can open and close the book.



I used wax to colour the edges of the book, but paint would also work.

I used watercolour paper (9.5 x 12.5 inch size) to cut 6 x 4 3/8 inch pages that I folded in half.



I cut 14 pages in total to make 7 signatures.  There are a number of ways to assemble the inside of the journal.  The signatures could be stitched together, or they could be held firmly in position as in the photo below and glued together, then glued to the spine.



But, since I wanted my pages to be removable, I used elastic cords to hold my pages in place. 



For this size book, these hair elastics are the perfect size!



Slide the pages through the elastics and the mini journal is ready to use!



The pages can be removed to work in them and returned to the journal when finished.



To finish off my journal I added another hair elastic to hold it closed and attached a tassel leftover from another project.

 It's a nice size to carry around or pop in a handbag or a pocket.  The pages are 6 x 4 3/8 inches and the journal will take at least 14 removable pages to work in. 

 I hope you liked this little tutorial, let me know in the comments!

Elle
Empire of the Cat

Project Recipe:

Altoids Book Cover C2F
PE126ES Seaweed Circle *coming soon*
PE129ES Oceanic *coming soon*
acrylic paints, texture paste, PVA, 
From stash: pre-painted watercolour paper, hair elastics, pre-made tassel, 

Monoprinting with Chipboard Stencils

Hello everyone, today I have something a little different for you - a technique tutorial which does not result in a finished project, at least not yet!  This post is all about using your chipboards for stencilling and in particular, using them with gel plates to make lovely backgrounds.  The two chipboards I am using are below.

I often use homemade stencils made from cardstock and they last a surprisingly long time.  Here's an example of some of my homemade stencils which have been made using cardstock and cut using dies and have been in use for well over a year!  

Using Chipboards as Stencils

So for this post, I thought I would show how you can also use your chipboards for stencilling and how to prepare them to last a bit longer and give them some protection.  I am using these two chipboards which have been designed to use as stencils.  Here they are out of the packaging and there are two in each package, so I put one of each away to use later.

Preparation

Before getting started, I gave them both a quick wipe with some paper towel to remove any soot leftover from the laser cutting.



The chipboards will work as stencils just as they are but to make them last a bit longer and stop them absorbing paint etc, I like to give them a good coat of matte medium on both sides.



Apply the matte medium on one side, then leave to dry (or if you are impatient like me, dry them with a hairdryer) before repeating the process on the other side.



For this tutorial, you will need a gel plate, any size will do.  I will be using this rectangular one:

Example One - using acrylic paint

Using acrylic paint and a brayer, apply some paint to the gel plate, making sure to keep it light and even and smooth, then place the chipboard stencil on top.



Place a piece of paper over the top and use the brayer to burnish over the entire top of the gel plate.  My brayer happens to have paint on it still since I don't really clean it but if you want, you can clean off your brayer on some scrap paper first.  You can also just use your hands to do the same thing.

Carefully peel off the paper and your design will be printed on the right side of the paper.

Now carefully lift the stencil to reveal the pattern left behind on the plate.



At this point, a print is also possible just the paint left on the plate, which will result in the print on the right.  There is still paint left on the plate which can be left on there for the next print.

Example Two - water soluble crayons

Next option is to use water soluble crayons to create a watercolour background.  Dip the end of your crayon in some water and then use it to scribble over the surface of the gel plate. The water activates the crayon and will result in something similar to this:



Place some printer paper on top and burnish with the brayer or your hands, same as before and voilà, a nice watercolour background.



Next, apply a layer of acrylic paint on the plate, and then add the stencil on top and burnish that as well.



Next take your "watercolour" background and apply it on top of the stencil and burnish.  Carefully peel off the paper to see what has been created!



Another masterpiece!   Each print is one of a kind and you never know exactly what you will get which is part of the fun!

Bonus Example! Using the chipboard negatives for printing

Here is a lovely Leafy Swirl chipboard which I will use in a future project but in this example I am going to use the negative piece for a quick print.  As this is a waste piece, I have not prepared it like the first two examples, so this is just the unaltered chipboard.



This time I am using two different colours of acrylic paint - magenta and gold.  


 
Brayer the paint until it is blended smoothly and covers the whole gel plate.



Place the negative chipboard piece on top of the plate and burnish it firmly onto the plate.  Carefully remove it to reveal this lovely pattern underneath.



Carefully cover the plate with another layer of paint - I used gold - then pull another print using some printer paper as before, burnishing on top.



When you pull the print, it will reveal the lovely design of the negative piece with the background colour (gold) behind it.

So now I have a lovely background printed and ready to use with the positive chipboard piece if desired.



Here are all the prints I made using these chipboard stencils.  



Warning - monoprinting can be addictive! 



For these examples I used regular printer paper, which I like to use for collage, but you can use many different types of paper including deli paper, Bristol paper, cardstock etc. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that you will try this out for yourself.

Till next time

Elle
Empire of the Cat

Ingredients:

gel plate, acrylic paint, neocolour II crayons, brayer, printer paper
PE126ES Seaweed Circles *coming soon*
PE129ES Oceanic *coming soon*
Leafy Swirl C7G