Hi all,

So nice that you stop by! This month it's my turn to experiment! So, I used the free cut file that was given during the June Clique Con event and started painting a "galaxy"! It's super easy to do, so tag along!
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For this layout, I used the Limited edition Little One kit, not just for babies as you see!
If you are looking for some great shimmering galaxy paint, check these out, awesome colors!
So let's start. 
You don't need much:

• square brush
• palet 
• black cardstock (or canvas, or prepped paper with gesso)
• 3 colors paint light-medium-dark
• white paint
• old tooth brush or small brush
• piece of sponge (I used a kitchen sponge)

Start with adding the lightest color in a circle (or what looks like a circle haha) and add the other 2 colors around it. Give a good layer because you want it to stay wet...

Now the fun begins! Take your piece of sponge and start dabbing in circular motions from the light inside to the dark outside. Don't worry if it doesn't look smooth. If you want, you can add a little extra light in the middle to create that sparkle. Make the edge of your darkest color a bit "rough" as on the picture, that give a more spacious effect.

Now it's time to create some "stars"! Water down some white paint and take that tooth brush or your small brush and start splattering. The tooth brush makes tiny tiny splatters which look like litte stars, perfect for our galaxy!
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And that's all there is to it! 
​I cannot wait to see your galaxies in our Facebook group! Thanks for stopping by, and if you have any questions... let me know!

Love
​Petra

First of all, I used some acrylic white paint on the blue paper and stitched it in the yellow and white stripped paper. I love  stitching papers, definitely one of my favorite techniques. 

I also used a digital  cut file Fun in the sun from Clique kits .
Did you know there are a lot of beautiful cut files on the store? Check it out!
In this one, I just used the letters inside the cut file and stitched them on the blue paper.
​The pink letters in the middle are alphabet stickers from this amazing kit.
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I added some paper layers behind my photos, tag, chipboards and phrases stickers from the kit and drops of clear Nuvo to give more texture in the project.
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Hope you enjoy it!
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Have a crafty and beautiful day!
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Hi everybody! Happy Thanksgiving! Nicole here with a variety of art journal spreads I created using my gel plate, acrylic paint and Art Journal! I created these spreads during the month at different times. Whenever I felt the need to get messy, I grabbed a page and started playing! I recommend playing with paint whenever you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed with life. It really does help!
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When playing with gel plates, a tiny drop of acrylic paint goes a long way. Grab some paper and just play... Don't worry if the images aren't as clear...just play and add layers of colors and patterns or whatever you want to do!
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Use a brayer to help apply pressure over the art journal page. 

You can play with your stencils too... to create a fun background!
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Here are a variety of pages I created using paints and stencils and anything else I could find. :) If you're looking to try something new, try playing with gel plates! We have some available in the shop and I believe we have a few Gelli Printing Kits and art journals as well! Grab them while you can.

For this page, I used the gel plate and pulled the green, pink and purple colors onto the journaling page. Then I used the Light and Fluffy Modeling Paste from The Crafter's Workshop over the 6x6 stencil to create the patterns. Once the paste was completely dry, I used a gel medium to glue down the embellishments. Super simple and fun to make!

I used a blending tool to blend in the wheat stalks using a small drop of paint. The circle was created using light blue paint on the gel plate stamped on the page. The Gelli Printing Explore & Learn Kit is on sale in the shop!

I used the Limited Kit, Bliss to create these fun mixed media pages. That lace trim is sooooo beautiful I didn't want to cut it... We still have a few acrylic paints from the Bliss Limited Edition as well.

Are you ready to play with gel plates yet? Don't forget to wear an apron before you start or you'll end up with paint on your favorite hoodie...just saying! Thanks so much for visiting today!

These are the stencils I used on these journal pages in case you wanted to know.
TCW865S Asian Floral
TCW912S Wheat Stalks
TCW882S Fantasy Tile
TCW925S Nature's Circuitry
TCW861S Happy Dandelions
TCW923S Celestial Sun
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Hello crafty friends! Rita here today with a fun step-by-step tutorial to make a summery art journal page. I used my new Media Journal (Blue Edition) by Dina Wakley, but you can use any art journal you already have or like. There are even some in the Clique International Shop: 
Vicki Boutin Junque Journal Starter Kit
Bad Ass Art Journal Kit | Bad Girls Couture
For this project I used acrylic paints and stencils. Here you can find the stencil I used: Basic Texture Kit 
Here are the acrylic paints: Dylusions - Last but not least I used the Mermaid Kit and the Yellow Roses paper by Pebbles. 

I started with lots of paint as you can see. LOL Beforehand I just knew I wanted to make a summery spread and using a photo of a recent trip to Lake Constance. So this is where the experiment started. I used an Indigo color, but it was too dark, then I added pink, some yellow, white. This is the cool thing about Art Journaling, everything goes and often if not always you just go with the flow. I let it rest for a while so it could dry. But when I came back later I wasn't fully satisfied. And that's ok. I would paint it over. No big deal! But before that I used a stencil (from the Maggie Holmes "Sunny Days" collection, which you can find here) and some structure gell gloss. You can also use the Molding paste in the "Basic Texture kit".  

After drying the gell gloss became transparent but there was enough texture, so I painted it over, because it was too dark and bluish for me. 

I like that the blue paint is still shimmering through a little. Also the right side is a denim page. It was a little flimsy, but easy to work with. 

I added some mint and yellow. It looks totally different to how I started out, definitely brighter, and I liked it much better. I usually work on Art Journal pages for days. I add something, then let it dry. Sometimes I paint something over like in this case. Sometimes I have a new idea or find a new embellishment. It's a work in progress and a real nice opportunity to let your creative juices flowing. 

Afterwards it was time to embellish and use some stamps. I used mini stamps by "Flora and Fauna". Unfortunately they are already sold out in the shop, but you can find some Flora and Fauna products here: 
Stamp-tember Kit | Flora and Fauna 
More Stamp-tember Kit | Flora and Fauna 
They are high-quality and easy to use. The most important thing when stamping on paint is to use waterproof ink pads. You can find them here: 
Obsidian Pigment Ink Pad | Altenew 
Archival Mini Ink Pad Kit 1
Archival Mini Ink Pad Kit 2

As you can see, I used a lot of die cuts from the "Mermaid Hair" Kit, but also some fussycut flowers. 

For my title I used an older Alpha Stamp from my stash, but I also like handwriting or adding some florals with a waterproof pen. Here I was satisfied with the black stamping and all the little details. Let's look at the full spread. I hope you like it as much as I do. 

I hope you feel inspired to try this technique for documenting or just meditating. It's so much fun! Thanks for stopping by today and happy crafting! 

Hello crafty friends! Nicole here and today I'm sharing a super fun mixed media layout.  If you follow my work, then you already know that Mixed Media is my middle name. Almost every project I create uses some form of paint on it somewhere and today's layout is no different!  I've recently started to explore geli plates and I'm in love. They are so interesting and you really never know how it's going to look in the end.
Using geli plates to create a background is a great way to use up all of those bits and pieces of ephemera left over from a collection when there's no full sheets of patterned paper left.  I've created a really easy background for any level of experience for this layout.

After I removed the paper, I used a flower stencil and white acrylic paint to add a few areas of interest.  I also used my paint brush and created large splatters of the pink, lilac and periwinkle.  After this was all dry, it was time to layer, place my photos and add all of the fun details! I finished the layout by adding a white border around the whole page.

Thanks so much for joining me today! 
Here are links to the products used in today's project:
Dylusions Acrylic Paint: Laid Back Lilac
Dylusions Acrylic Paint: Rose Quartz
Dylusions Acrylic Paint: Periwinkle
6x6 Geli Plate Kit
(Please note that I used a 12x12 plate for this project. The 6x6 is a great kit because it gives you a plate, brayer and stencils! )

Hello everyone. Nicole here! Today I have a fun art journal spread to share with you. I created this spread one morning...I was feeling like I was in a funk with everything going on in the world... I just felt sad and unmotivated... I wanted to scrapbook something, but then I didn't... so I grabbed some paint and a chipboard art journal page and just let my hands do the work. I had no idea where I was going with the page... I just selected colors that made my heart feel lighter. 

We have a few Art Journals in the shop available for purchase and Gia has marked down the price so if you're thinking about giving art journaling a try, grab it now! They are beautiful and they look gorgeous on my shelf. Click here to purchase yours today! I used the Vintage Vibe Ephemera Pack from the shop too! I fell in love with the butterfly napkin... I carefully cut the butterflies out and adhered them to the art journal spread using matte gel. 

To begin, I simply colored the entire page with different colors of acrylic paint. WE have a variety of beautiful colors in the shop. Check them out here. Once the paint was completely dry, I covered some of the colors using white acrylic paint to tone it down some. Then I used Metallic Silver Modeling Paste and a stencil to add the birds and flowers. I love the metallic modeling paste. It is beautiful!!

Once the modeling paste was completely dry, I added the flowers and writing using rubber stamps by Paper Artsy and then I splashed some Raven Coloration Spray here and there. 

To complete the spread, I added some cork heart embellishments, gems and a button. I am very please with how this turned out and it definitely brightened my mood! Thanks for stopping by today! I hope I inspired you to try art journaling!

Hello crafty friends! Nicole here, and today, boy do I have a treat for you! How about something different, bright and colorful today?! I'm here to give you just that!

Today, I'm sharing not only my experiment using neon acrylic paints, but also a step by step process of my layout, my thoughts, what I liked and what I didn't like about the process.  I have an accompanying YouTube video that's linked below my photos to share the "real-ness" of this process.  It gets mess (yes, I literally dropped a bottle of paint on my palette), I create something that I didn't like at first that took me three times to fix, and lastly, all the cuteness of these embellishments and the process I took to lay this out just right!
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Here's a look at the close ups and I invite you to watch the video below to share in this experience with me!

 Hello scrappy friends! Nicole here and today I'm sharing a layout that was inspired by an element in the Over the Rainbow kit.  There is a tag in the kit that had all these colorful rainbows, clouds and water drops. That was my inspiration to create a larger background version on today's layout.

Lastly, I added my title that I created using the semi transparent stickers in the kit and added my journaling!

I actually have a process video to share with you all today! Be sure to click below to see how I created this layout, including the painting of this background!

Good morning everyone. Nicole here with a super fun mixed media layout I created. 

A few weeks ago, I saw this beautiful layout created by Anett Gelencser  and loved how colorful and vibrant the  layout is.  I am a sucker for circles! She used the Noteworthy collection from Pinkfresh Studio which was the main  collection in the Skies of Blue kit.  The kit is sold out but the paper is available here. 

Before I show you how I created the background of my layout, let me share the layout with you! Here is my take on Anett's layout. As you can see, I lifted certain elements from her layout. I did not copy the layout exactly how she created hers. 

For this layout, I am using the Rainbow Connection Kit and the Rainbow Connection Add-on kit, featuring Vicki Boutin's texture paste. To begin, I cut the patterned paper to measure 8 1/2x11" and a piece of white cardstock to measure 8"x10 1/2". I mounted the white cardstock to the center of the patterned paper. Then, I punched several 2" circles from white cardstock and placed them onto the cardstock, adhering them with glue.

I applied a thick layer of white gesso all over the base. It's OK if the circles start popping up at the edges... let them pop up to give the layout more texture and dimension!

Next, I added a tiny bit of the paste and mixed it with a water using a paint brush to water down the paste. For this layout, I wanted to see if I could get more of a watercolor effect from the paste. I love how Vicki's mixed media products can be used in a variety of ways! 

I used a piece of paper towel to lift the excess water from the circles. I splashed some yellow water color all over the back using the end of my brush. Then I tapped a few drops of yellow spray around the background. Once the circles were completely dry, I added my photo and embellishment along with some stamps for my title work and journaling!

I hope I inspired you today with my scrap lifted layout and showed you that you can do so much with mixed media products. I love working with mixed media products. They are fun to play with. Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

In focusing on people and events I don't often enough  create layouts to document  memories of the natural beauty around me on Maui. The Gaia kit gave me the perfect inspiration to pull some of these photos of nature off my phone and stick them down onto some layouts. This is a picture of some fragrant white ginger flowers growing on the side of the road to Hana.

The base of my background is the Gaia wood texture paper and I layered a mandala cut file from Handipaper on Etsy  over it which I partially colored with some Bad Girls Couture acrylic paint. 

The transparent stickers from Studio Forty in the kit were perfect for embellishing with pops of black around the page.

I love how the Gaia kit includes some unexpected bits and pieces from other collections that coordinate beautifully! Like the glitter butterfly and wax seal puffy sticker from Maggie Holmes Heritage collection 

I layered some recycled brown paper bag and corrugated cardboard from kit packaging in this layout because it makes sense for a kit about nature to also be about protecting our beautiful planet by reducing, reusing, and recycling as much as possible even in our scrapbooking! 

Here are some of the products used:

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