Year in Review

Limor Weber posted a challenging challenge, lol

December Challenge : A Year in Review

Using any type of journal you choose. Mine is a Maya Road chipboard mini album.

I want to start off by mentioning that I don't do art journals. I don't make "all about me albums". But in the last 3 years I have undergone some changes that were forced on me. So 3 years ago, I did make some "all about me" lay out pages, and I did make an mini album full of quotes that helped me get through a very rough time in my life.

So I was at first concerned with being able to do this challenge. If it wasn't for the prize that's offered, I don't think I would have even tried, ( so you can see how badly I want to try out Pan Pastels, lol ). But now I am glad I did because I can see the proof that I am evolving, changing for the good. I started off with my "word for the year" for 2012 which was FOCUS, so I titled my album
"Focus on the Possibilities".

The front of the album is acrylic so I adhered a Creative Imaginations overlay using Aleene's Tacky Glue to the front, ( dried crystal clear!! )added a Prima flower, Ranger's stickles and glitter sticker letters by Recollections.

I used Ranger's Watermelon alcohol ink to color the back of the heart and outlined the wings with stickles. Left side was easy, the right side on the other hand had proved to problematic, I was trying so hard to be creative that it failed miserably and I ended up painting it with black acrylic paint. In hindsight, using a gloss paint and shiny gold foil letters by Pioneer was just not a good combination. Just too hard to read. But I do like the puffy butterflies from K&Co. that accent the theme of the quote about Happiness.

 

On this next page, I think I finally started to enjoy the process, and discovered that by using by Pinterest quotes I had collected, I could virtually trace my last year and I began to enjoy seeing how my attitude was last year compared to where I am now. I began to relax and have fun.

 

  First I put down a layer of gesso and then crumbled some blue Conte pastel on top, using my credit card applicator ( very fancy tool ) to smooth it out. I really liked the outcome, it looks like wood grain. Very cool.

The next page was a lesson I already knew but had forgotten which is, Ranger's Dylusion spray inks need to have a fixative sprayed on them before you add a gel medium on top. Yeah, I know, lost my beautiful background but kept working anyway, no time to cry over spilt milk. I became a woman on a mission.

 

Encouraged by the gesso and pastel mixture I decided to try a similar technique but with my modeling paste. I combined red and yellow pastels and mixed it together, spread it out over my brick stencil. Loved the effect. Used Ranger's Distress Marker and Faber Castell PITT pen for the wording.

 

This page was also a "oh wow" moment for me, lol First I covered the chipboard with masking tape  and then drew with my Conte Pastel pencils. It had a VERY smooth finish to it. I have learned that pastels and masking tape go well together, go figure, huh? Finished off with Faber Castell PITT pens. Background and flowers all done in pastels.

 

The heart was gesso'd first and then 3 different pastel colors crumbled on top, be careful to try and not blend them together when smoothing them out. The background of the page is colored in with pastels and blended together with my fingertip. A mixture of pens and stickers to finish it off.

 

The next page was more of a play in Faber Castell's gelatos. They covered the plain chipboard very well :) I did use some pastels to shade the bucket and the tone down the word strips.

The last page's background was created with assorted sprays. I printed the seahorse clip art on some text book paper and colored in the image with my Faber Castell PITT pens, the seaweed is made with Liquitex Soft Body Cobalt Teal acrylic paint and added some gold micro beads. I used pastels to shade in the edges of the book print and around the edge of the page itself.

So there is my year in review...not such a bad year...I can see myself becoming more positive and achieving more goals!