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

L'amour est la cle

When it comes to craft supplies I'm a hoarder.  I can't bear to part with the smallest scraps of paper or a bit of ribbon that came with a gift or some old cardboard that could be used for some project or other.  So in an attempt to destash I decided to make a heart wall hanging out of old cereal boxes that I've been putting aside for a while.  

I made a large heart template on a piece of A5 card and then traced around that on the large panels of the cereal box.   After cutting them out (4 of them) and punching holes so that the finished piece could be hung, I stuck the 4 hearts together to get a thick, chipboard type of effect.  I also used the heart template to cut a heart from a piece of woodgrain effect paper.  NOTE - I suggest placing the heart stack underneath something heavy to prevent it from warping as the glue dries.

I cut the flowers with my ScanNCut using a pattern that I designed myself and coloured them using Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, before layering them together.  The leaves came from another die set.  I also used some Katy Sue Flower Soft for the flower centres. 

I gave the padlock die cut the same treatment as the hanging heart in that I layered up several die cuts - 5 from plain white card and one from gold mirror card - to get some dimension.  I then went over the front and sides with copper gilding wax to take away the white edges. 

The lettering was die cut using Sizzix Brush Alphabet dies and then I added a few freehand hearts to finish it all off.  I decided to go with French as it was a present for my (French) friend's mother.  To finish it off I used some thick string, which gave it a bit of a rustic feel.

In case you're interested in any of the supplies that I used:

• Sizzix Brush Alphabet dies: upper case / lower case
• Tattered Lace Lock & Key dies
• Layered Flower SVG file - download for free
• Wood background papers*
• Coloured wood grain digital papers*

*affiliate link