For these art journal pages, I’ve chosen to use Traci Bautista’s Paint & Swatch stamp set with permanent ink to stamp the images of circles and rectangles, then filled in these shapes with watercolors from Wildthorne and Traci to create color charts.

I am enjoying the soothing process of painting with handmade watercolors, experimenting with opacity and transparency and subtleties in values, mixing and blending color variations that range in depth and softness, swatching and recording colors from my collection of paints. I’m also really enjoying experimenting with a calligraphy nib and watercolors for creating mark-making. It’s such a treat to combine these artisan stamps and handcrafted watercolors!
​
While I love color theory and color relationships, I continue to be drawn to variants of blue. I feel deeply connected to Wildthorne's Voyager and Ocean sediment palettes.

​Below are details of these pages:

Although it still may be a while before we are able to journey again, I am able to voyage in my heart and imagination and in my art journaling.

I would love to explore the foreign shores of Ireland and the Wild Atlantic Way, and this page celebrates that dream. I visualize the lush green landscape, blue ocean waves, the ancient and rugged terrain, the Cliffs of Moher, clean air and long summer days of 20 hours of sunlight.

I’ve layered green and blue hues of Wildthorne watercolors and Traci Bautista’s color reactive crystals along with bits from vintage atlases, some Irish postage stamps, and a compass sticker. I also stenciled the words to wander from my Let’s Go 2 stencil along with waves from my Water's Edge stencil, and Land, Sky & Sea stencil from StencilGirl® Products. And I pounced white gesso through my Map Stencil along the upper right border of the page to add patterning to the layers of watercolor, too. Lastly, I wrote in some song lyrics from Van Morrison that came to mind while reflecting on this destination I wish to see.

This journaling prompt came from The Ruby Dahlia Society.
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and Happy New Year,

Patterns of life: painting layers of pattern exploring various brush sizes, hues and tints in watercolors.
​Making marks with my tiniest round brush and Indigo; I love the rich depth of this hue.

Handmade watercolors from Wildthorne and journaling prompt from The Ruby Dahlia Society.
Thank you so much for visiting my blog,

Reflecting on small everyday rituals, one that has brought me immense joy has been my daily walks outdoors in my neighborhood and in nature. These walks are both restorative and inspiring. This new art journaling celebrates those walks, layering collage, ink, washi tape, watercolors and acrylics, incorporating vintage book pages and repurposing beautiful paper packaging from Wildthorne. 

I also used my Map with Roundabouts stencil, my Neighborhood Map stencil, and ATC Mixup stencil I designed for StencilGirl® Products in this page, too.

Below are details of this page:

I had fun experimenting with mark making with watercolors and calligraphy pen nib.

And I even added a small grouping of pine needles I found on the ground during one of my walks:​

I am so honored and excited that Rae Missigman asked me to be one of twelve Creative Contributors for The Painted Paper Project, a free online course she created with Sandi Keene. The Painted Paper Project is dedicated to spreading joy through art! It is a project that promotes kindness and gratitude. The idea is that you make a project and either mail it or hand-deliver it. I love both happy mail and practicing gratitude!
​
I hope you enjoy my Mixed Media Postcards project and make your own Mixed Media Postcards, too!
​Have fun and happy creating!

Art Supplies I used in this video:

• Strathmore 400 Series Toned Tan Mixed Media Paper Pad 6" x 8" cut in half to postcard size: 4" x 6"
• Strathmore 400 Series Toned Gray Mixed Media Paper Pad 6" x 8" cut in half to postcard size: 4" x 6"
• Strathmore 400 Series Toned Blue Mixed Media Paper Pad 6" x 8" cut in half to postcard size: 4" x 6"
• StencilGirl® Stencils: Map with Roundabouts, Map Stencil, ATC Mixup - Nasser, Let's Go 1 and
  Let's Go 2
• Vintage maps and gel print on newsprint (for collage ephemera)
• Metal Ruler (for tearing)
• UHU glue stick
• Yellow scraper
• PaperArtsy paints in Buff and Mermaid
• Utrecht white gesso
• 6B pencil
• Cosmetic sponge, InkBlusher and sponge dauber
• QOR watercolor in Pthalo Blue (Green Shade)
• Liquitex Heavy Body Artist Acrylic in Turquoise Deep
  
• Black uni-ball pen
• Pam Carriker's acrylic ink in Turquoise
• StazOn Ink in Jet Black and Blue Teal
• Black IDenti-Pen
• Map stickers: Vintage Hemispheres
• Wow! Embossing Pad
• Aegean Sea embossing powder
• Teal Golden High Flow Acrylic in Fineline Applicator (for splatters)

Thanks so much!

I pounced a cosmetic sponge onto the WOW! Embossing Pad then pounced through this through my
Navigate Stencil and Water's Edge Stencil directly onto the journal pages.
Next I poured Seth Apter's Sea of Tranquility embossing powder over the inked area,
tapped off the excess powder and melted it with a heat tool.

​Below are details of this spread:

In the detail below, you can see where I used Seth's Mixed Media Embossing Brush from WOW
with his Crusty Copper embossing powder:

In my third spread, I used I used my Map Stencil and Sailboat Stencil,
Seth's Mixed Media Embossing Brush from WOW and Etched Platinum embossing powder:

In my fourth spread, I used my Water's Edge Stencil and Sea of Tranquility embossing powder:

And here are more details:

And be sure to check out the blog posts and creations by WOW! Embossing Powder's Creative Team HERE, too! 

I’m excited to be participating in this hop and sharing two art journal spreads I created!

It was such fun to experiment with StencilGirl® stencils and Seth Apter's new IZINK
​ICE Translucent Gel Glazes, Dye Ink Sprays, and Permanent Pigment Inks from Aladine!

For my first spread, I worked in my 8'' × 5½'' Softcover 500 Series Mixed Media Art Journal:

In the upper-left corner of this page, I created a sun print on a vintage map with Blue Moon Dye Spray and my Map with Roundabouts stencil. Just below, I used a cosmetic sponge to pounce Celestial Blue Pigment Ink through my Maps Stencil. To the right, I collaged the word “Maps” from a vintage book and a piece of 1920s ledger paper from a Sea Captain documenting his ship's travels. On the bottom and right edge, I added Crystal Waters Ice. I incorporated my own mark-making with a soft graphite pencil.

In the upper-right is book paper I spritzed with both Honey and Tea Dye Spray and water.
Once dry, I used a sponge to pounce Roasted Chestnut Pigment Ink through my Map with Roundabouts stencil.
I outlined the pattern with pencil and applied Whiskey Frost Ice on the left edge with my plastic palette knife.
​The phrase “sea charts” is collaged from another vintage book; on the left side I added Glacier Green Ice,
​and below the phrase I added Crystal Waters Ice.

The lower half of the left page is composed of book paper spritzed with both Honey and Tea Dye Spray,
​and Roasted Chestnut Pigment Ink through my Map with Roundabouts stencil
​and Celestial Blue Pigment Ink through my Maps Stencil.

The lower-right side has more gesso and mark-making,
a vintage map with some Whiskey Frost and Glacier Green Ice,
​along with more sun printed vintage map paper using Blue Moon Dye Spray and Map with Roundabouts.

In the upper half of the left page, I collaged a vintage map I’d spritzed with Seaspray Dye Spray and water, let dry, then pounced Celestial Pigment Ink with a cosmetic sponge on my Water’s Edge stencil. I also pounced Celestial Ink through my Map Stencil on the left border, and brushed this same ink onto the page’s edges and sprayed with water. In addition, I brushed some Stratosphere Ink around the phrase “BOAT SAILING” collaged from a vintage book and around the painted map. I also applied some Glacier Green and Crystal Waters Ice to the collages’ edges and added my own mark-making in the wet gesso above, and with a permanent black pen below, writing illegibly.

The top right has more Celestial Ink pounced through my Map Stencil. The vintage book page was spritzed with Seaspray Dye Spray and water. Once dry, I used a cosmetic sponge to pounce Ultramarine through my Sailboat stencil, then outlined the Ultramarine shapes with graphite. Again, the edges of this page have touches of Glacier Green and Crystal Waters Ice. More mark-making in wet gesso and Celestial Ink pounced through my Map Stencil are to the left of this page and lower right. The upper right corner has book paper I spritzed with both Honey and Tea Dye Spray and water. Once dry, I used a sponge to pounce Roasted Chestnut Pigment Ink through my Map with Roundabouts stencil and outlined the pattern with pencil.

The collage in the lower half of the left page was created by spritzing manila drawing paper with Seaspray Dye Spray and water, then dripping Blue Moon Dye Spray on top. Once dry, I pounced Atlantis Pigment Ink through part of my Water’s Edge stencil. Glacier Green and Crystal Waters Ice were used to treat the edges of the collage paper once it was glued onto the page.

The lower right side of this spread consists of a phrase from a vintage book framed in Stratosphere and Roast Chestnut Pigment Ink, Glacier Green and Whiskey Frost Ice. There’s also collage from a vintage atlas and another piece of book paper I spritzed with Honey and Tea Dye Spray with Roasted Chestnut Pigment Ink pounced through my Map with Roundabouts stencil.

What do you have to do to enter?
Just leave a comment below by Wednesday, June 3rd at 11:59PM Central Time.
The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!
One winner will be chosen at random from all blog comments!
(One comment per blog please.)

Winners will be announced on
StencilGirl® Product's Facebook page and Seth Apter's blog on Thursday, June 4th.