Art journaling with watercolour pencils

There's no denying - art journaling is certainly very trendy at the moment. I'm showing you a couple of pages I have created recently using an X-Press It Mixed Media Journal.

The first thing I noticed was how lovely and thick the pages are - they can take a lot of water/media without buckling, tearing, pilling or any other disaster I have created in other lower quality journals.

I wanted to play with my beautiful Bruynzeel Design Aquarel Pencils in my journal, and because they are new to me, I created a colour chart of sorts to see how they behave on this type of paper. I started by colouring squares through a stencil:

 Then I added water to spread the colour a little:

I can see where more pencil/water needed to be added, but overall it made a nice background for a short quote using a Molotow marker:

I dried this page off, then started on another one. First I stamped a couple of Darkroom Door coffee stains using Memento ink:

 Then I coloured a scrap of paper (cut from a page torn from the Mixed Media journal).

 I added water to blend the colours and when I was happy, I dried it off with a heat gun.

 I coloured another smaller scrap with different colours:

 I added a lot of water, then sprinkled rock salt on top. The salt pushes the colour back as it dissolves,

 leaving a lovely pattern:

When dry, I stuck these in place on my page using Tripletac:

I traced around these pieces with the black Bruynzeel pencil:

and spread the colour out a little with a water brush:

I put a few drops of water onto an acrylic block, then scribbled the black pencil into it to create a pool of black:

I used a plastic pipette to pick some of the black up, and added a large drop to the top of one of the panels. I tilted the journal forward to allow the drop to drip downwards:

 and I used a paintbrush to pick up some more of the black to add some fine spatter:

I added a piece of Hazel & Ruby washi tape to finish the page off. It's minimalist, but messy at the same time and this style is making my heart sing lately:

The thing I love about art journaling is that anything goes - nothing is incorrect, and it's more about the playing and less about the finished product.

I hope I have inspired you to go forth and create....but first, do yourself a favour and start with a quality journal!

Mini Greeting Cards with Hazel & Ruby

Hello everyone! It’s Robyn with you today sharing a project featuring the wonderful Hazel & Ruby products. I was so pleased to get a bunch of these products in my design team welcome pack and am enjoying using them. My project is a set of mini greeting cards and uses a pack of premade scalloped cards from the local $2 shop – they measure 7.5 cm square and came with matching envelopes but you could easily make something similar from cardstock instead.

My first card features a stencilled zigzag and handmade flower.

The zigzag was done by laying two strips of the chevron stencil mask from the Hazel & Ruby Everyday Shapes sheet and sponging with white paint.

The flower was created by layering a number of punched flower shapes, spritzing with water and then folding them into the centre – once the flower is dry the petals can be opened to create a lovely crinkly flower. I used Hazel & Ruby Wrap It Up Crazy for Chevy – Teals paper, the chevron is a bit hard to define in the finished flower but gives a wonderful texture effect! Pop it onto the card with a stamped greeting from Darkroom Door, a tiny button and it is done.

This cute ‘Hello!’ card was created by painting the card front with a mix of pink and white paint to give a mottled look.

The greeting was trimmed from a roll of the Hazel & Ruby Chalk It Up Fat Roll Washi Tape – the word was simply written on with a white Molotow pen. A handwritten greeting is so easy to customise. Strips of X-Press It Foam tape give the greeting some dimension as it sits over a strip of Hazel & Ruby Swanky Solids Washi Tape. I thought the colours of the two pieces of washi tape blended perfectly!

My next two cards feature stencilled butterflies. The Hazel & Ruby Stencil Masks are perfect for using in this way as they stick closely to the cardstock surface, preventing any bleed through of colour to the card base.

I selected one of the bigger butterflies and placed it at an angle on the card front, painted a mixed of blues over the top and allowed it to dry before removing the mask. The stamped greeting from Darkroom Door was then embellished with a few lines of white Molotow paint pen to make it stand out a little.

The second butterfly card uses a pair of images already placed together on the mask sheet – the scalloped, open circle and a teensy butterfly.

I layered them onto a small square of white cardstock and sponged with two different colours of Distress ink. Simple layering with ribbon and a printed greeting finished it off.
Supplies -
Hazel & Ruby Stencil Mask – Everyday Shapes
Hazel & Ruby Wrap It Up Crazy for Chevy – Teals paper roll
Hazel & Ruby Chalk It Up Fat Roll Washi Tape
Hazel & Ruby Swanky Solids Scallop Washi Tape
X-Press It Foam Tape
X-Press It Double Sided Tape
X-Press It Clear Gel Glue
Atelier Free Flow Artist’s Acrylic – Titanium White, Quinacridone Magenta, Pthalo Blue (Red Shade) & Cobalt Turquoise Light
White Molotow Paint pen
Ranger Distress Ink – Squeezed Lemonade & Ripe Persimmon
Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink
Darkroom Door Wordstrip & Simple Sayings stamp set
I hope you have enjoyed learning how I created this little set of mini greetings! It’s so easy to change out the stamps, masks and colours to suit what supplies you have. Don’t forget we always love to see your projects so please share them to the Inspiration Lane Facebook page or stop by my blog and say hi!
Robyn