Metamorphosis - Junk Mail to Art Journal

You know those little booklets that you sometimes get in the post?  The mini supermarket catalogues, or the insurance policy booklet that you'll never look at again?  Well, I've been keeping a few aside with the intention of turning them into art journals.  

I started with the cover and I love how it turned out!

• To start I put down a layer of Pearl Diamond White acrylic paint.
• It was quite transparent so I went over it roughly with Titanium White acrylic paint, leaving some areas of the pearl white exposed.
• When it was dry I added patches of Mermaid Lagoon and Ripe Persimmon Distress Stain, and Turquoise iridescent acrylic paint, which I blended out with a brush.
• I stamped small circles of various sizes and with various line patterns in teal ink in a cluster toward the bottom left and top right of the page.
• Then I used a paisley and script stamp with black ink to add some additional texture to the background.  To avoid a really bold stamp I used second and third generation stamping.
• I added gold glitter paste through a stencil with small circles randomly across the page.
• For the focal point I chose a printout of a turquoise butterfly that I thought matched the background a bit.  The image had gold areas, which I went over with gold glitter glue for added interest.
• I placed the butterfly at the centre and traced around it with a black gel pen.  I then used a damp brush to soften the outline - making it more of a shadow.
• I stamped the word "metamorphosis" onto plain white card, cut it out and then positioned it in the bottom right corner of the page.
• And that was the page done!

These booklets tend to have decent quality paper and it took the paints well.  I think that starting with acrylic paint as the base layer also helped.  

The underlying print adds some extra interest to the page.  The paint layers are not completely opaque so although you can't see it clearly, the light and dark areas of the original print do show through in places.

I thought that the phrase "metamorphosis" was very apt as it not only described the process by which a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, but also the transformation of the booklet into an art journal.

So next time you get a junk booklet in the mail, don't throw it out. Turn it into an art journal instead!

SUPPLIES

• Junk mail booklet
• Arteza Pearl Diamond White Craft Acrylic Paint 
• Titanium White Acrylic Paint
• Mermaid Lagoon Distress Stain
• Ripe Persimmon Distress Stain
• Arteza Groovy Turquoise Iridescent Acrylic Paint
• Circle, Paisley and Script stamps
• Papermania Dye Ink - Teal 
• Papermania Dye Ink - Black 
• Butterfly Clipart pack (download)
• Arteza Black Glitter Gel Pen 
• Mini alphabet stamp set
• Aladine Izink Diamond Paint - Gold

Heart Flower Collage

14 days of hearts - no. 6

I had some background papers leftover from this project so I decided to make something similar, but on a heart base.  I used a 100mm canvas board heart that I had lying around, but you could use any other type of heart substrate or glue several die cut hearts together to make a strong base.

PROCESS

• Cover the heart in glue and then add strips of old book pages or newsprint background paper making sure to glue down any overlapping edges.
• When dry paint lightly over the surface with white acrylic paint using a dry brush.  The aim is to soften the appearance of the text, but not to completely obscure it.
• Using a dry brush again, paint around the edge of the heart with black paint.
• Cut about 16 pointed ovals (petals), each about 1-inch long, from coloured patterned paper.
• Use a hole punch or cut a small circle from scrap card.
• Glue the (petals) around the circle to create a flower shape.  
• Cut several smaller petals from the same coloured patterned paper and glue those around the centre of the flower. 
• Add additional petals in the gaps between petals (optional) to fill out the flower.
• For the stamens cut thin strips about 1/2 inch long from yellow patterned paper.
• Glue them around the centre of the flower (tweezers would be very useful here!).
• Use a hole punch or cut a small circle from the yellow patterned paper and glue that to the very centre of the flower.
• Glue the completed flower to the canvas base.
• Cut 3 leaf shapes about 1 1/2 inches long from green patterned paper and slot them in behind the flower.

SUPPLIES:

• Heart base
• Old book pages or newsprint patterned paper.  I used the Old Newspaper Textures digital paper set.
• White and black acrylic paint
• Coloured patterned paper. I used: 
• Scattered Gold Shimmers in Green
• Pattys Desert Strips 3 Bundle (sample freebie) [blue-purple paper]
• Glitter Digital Papers [including yellow paper]