Hello there, lovely friends; It’s Lydia Cost today. I wanted to share something I little different with you today. I don’t frequently share my art journal pages with the world, because they are so heartfelt, but this one was way too much fun and pretty not to share with all of you.
As soon as I had the Carta Bella Summer Market collection in my hands, I was instantly in love. I really couldn’t help myself; I was just so giddy looking at all those gorgeous illustrations. I was instantly drawn to the florals and fruits on the papers, and I knew I wanted to fussy-cut them to my heart’s content. Thankfully it suited my art journal perfectly, because I have always been a sucker for mixing paints with paper florals.
For this art journal spread, I began layering on some paint, india ink, and stains, and watercolors onto my background in similar colors as my florals. I based my background with a pretty sparkly yellow; I then built on top of that with a few great greens and blues. When you’re creating any mixed media project, white acrylic paint is your best friend, so I always lots of it on hand. To tone done the colors, I brushed on some white paint to add a nice subdued background for my fussy-cut florals to lay on.
I used the amazing “Summer Day Floral” paper in the collection for my fussy-cut florals. I chose about 3 large clusters of florals and then a couple other small pieces to tie the three together on my spread. Next I pulled out the amazing “Market Stripe” paper, and I fussy-cut out some of the amazing lemons in the collection. I really wanted these to accent my three points for my art journal spread.
Before adhering on my florals and lemons, I went about adding some amazing texture to my page. I ran some pink texture paste through the great EP 6x6 “Sunkissed Spots” stencil on my background. This little stencil has become one of my all-time favorites. I then pulled out a couple EP stamp sets, and I began adding some pops of red and black to tie in the rest of my art journal spread.
I finished up my spray painting on three numbers for my journaling topics. I adhered the lemons next to these numbers, and then set out to adhere my florals down. I used both heavy-duty fabric tape and mod podge to get those florals perfectly adhered! To finish up I pulled out the collection’s die set and die-cut the word “Happy.” It was the perfect representation of my spread.
This spread was all about the things in my life that make me truly happy. These pages are so filled with love and heart, and the Summer Market collection felt so inspirational to me! I hope it inspired you to go outside your comfort zone and get a little messy and play with your papers.
Supplies:
Summer Market “Summer Day Floral” Paper
Summer Market “Market Stripe” Paper
Summer Market “Best Summer Word” Die Set
Summer Market “Happy Summer” 4x6 Stamp Set
Summertime “Sunkissed Spots” 6x6 Stencil
