30 days in your journal - continuing the journey!

Because I am in the UK so I could not get the recommended  journal but I already had a a really nice cheap little book from specialist crafts art design www.specialistcrafts.co.uk/products-Economy-Sketchbooks_D... It is A4 cartridge paper and gives me 19 double spreads and was only £1.94!! "Economy Sketchbooks A range of low cost sketchbooks that contain good quality 160gsm white cartridge. Ideal for most sketching and illustration exercises. An excellent low cost bulk usage product. Staple fixed - 20 sheets per book." It has stood up really well to painting, layering, collaging and stamping. I decided to go back to the beginning and add a title page, using water colour washes, paints, stencils and collage, so it leads in to the book now. The background of this double page spread uses  Cuttlebug plus Sizzix Ink-its Letterpress Plates which "combine style and ease to create artful ink-debossed impressions. This easy process impresses paper, cardstock, chipboard, mat board and other soft, thick materials. Elegant enough for any occasion, they provide the perfect accents for cards, invites, scrapbook pages..." I used archival Whispers stamp pads and collaged the  prints on. Then I used the Tim Holtz Sizzix bird cage and bird dies, blue Cuttlebug butterflies and numbers.  Most of these were cut from an old French paperback of "The Witches of Eastwick" as I love foreign text, and I am just going through the book adding watercolour washes to every page ready for use.

Now back to the course!! This spread uses a black background instead of white

 Something I have never done.


I should have used black gesso and watercolour crayons but did not have the gesso and did not want to wait for it! :( so I used black airbrush paint instead - it covered well and has a matte finish, BUT the surface would not take water colour crayons. So I used watercolour paints instead to draw and colour the butterflies, then I decorated and journalled with a white uni-ball signo broad pen. This covers everything, so long as I remember to let it dry first!
My husband LOVES this spread!!