Happy Bank Holiday Monday! I hope it’s been a good one for you. Today I am sharing my last project for August and it’s another art journal page that I have been working on, on and off, all weekend, in between cleaning out the pantry cupboards and doing a bit of cardboard recycling. At least I had helpers!
This page was inspired by the Tags and Pockets Challenge at Art Journal Journey as I had started thinking about tags + pockets, and came up with the start of an idea. A Vintage Journey also has a Tag You’re It Challenge this month, and I have already entered both challenges with a different page, but this one was my original idea for something with tags. It just took a little longer to come together (what with all the cleaning and recycling) so I’m glad I managed to find time to finish it today. At the same time I had noted last week that Funkie Junkie had an It’s a Wrap Challenge where you could use gift wrap and of course I was going to use some of that for sure when I started doing the collage!
Click on the thumbnails for a closer look…
Here’s my original idea that I had on Thursday night. I wanted to use toilet roll tubes as my pockets, so I quickly laid them out with some other bits and pieces and took a quick photo so I wouldn’t forget.
After sorting through my saved paper stash, I ended up with these three papers. The bottom one is one I bought from IKEA and the top two came from a friend who always finds the best papers to wrap her presents with and of course, I have to save it all. The one with the white and lime flowers is a few years old and quite creased as I think it took a beating coming through international post, but I held on to it all the same, so now it can be useful now. 🙂
Fast forward to Friday and I started to lay everything out to see how it would work. I already added my pockets and gave them a couple of coats of gesso. I found some other scraps on my desk so I added those too.
You know, I had every intention of making this pale and neutral with lots of cream and white and just this much green, but the page wanted to be something else.
The page wanted some BRIGHT PINK haha, and apparently some lime green, so who am I to refuse!
Hey ,the page wants what the page wants lol. It was at this point that I decided to leave it to sit for a while since all that pink was a bit of a shock, and tackle the kitchen.
So the kitchen cupboards took way longer than expected and so next day, I had another look at my page and decided to add some white, and finally some gold paint. I love how thick it is and it adds so much texture.
I started laying out the text I wanted to add which tells the story of the page.
Today I actually got to do some finishing touches to the tags and some stamping to the page. Here’s the start of the story.
Here’s a close up of more of the story,
One of the little tag pockets.
And the end of the story. Of course there has to be more…
A secret part of the story is hidden inside the pocket.
Here’s the whole tale, short but sweet.
And now it’s after 9pm and dark outside and I am just getting this post finished finally. The kitchen is still in a bit of a mess but I can see light at the end of the tunnel or maybe in the back of the cupboard lol. I might do a bit more in there before I fall asleep. I’m quite pleased with how much I got done this weekend and even managed to squeeze in some art. 🙂 After writing the title of this post “I will never leave” it occurred to me that it could be interpreted in a different, more sinister way than I intended. It was intended to be a romantic story of this couple who meet secretly out in a beautiful, green nature setting, that is so beautiful that she doesn’t want to leave.
But what if it wasn’t?
Romantic or Sinister? Let me know in the comments what you think. As always, thanks for reading!
CHALLENGES
OK here are the challenges I am entering:-
A Vintage Journey – Tag You’re It (four tags used on the page)
Art Journal Journey – Pockets and Tags (tags and pockets this time)
Funkie Junkie – It’s a Wrap (three different gift wrap papers used)
PROJECT RECIPE:
My art journal
Collage materials – gift wrap, book pages, other paper scraps
Acrylic paint, acrylic ink, alcohol ink
Butterfly stamp, Versafine ink
Gesso
Matte Gel Medium
From stash: anything and everything else!
Wonderful page – love the tags folding over to reveal hidden secrets. Thanks for joining us on A Vintage Journey.
Alison x
Oh my goodness I loved seeing how your initial idea for the journal pockets developed and blossomed into a romantic themed page full of colour and imagination. The ‘secret’ messages are the icing on the cake. Thank you for joining us at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog with this xx
Another wonderful journo spread , Elle . Loving your pockets and tags idea that you have brought to life in such a terrific way with your recycling, fabulous use of colour and great composition.
Thanks for joining us at A Vintage Journey x
What a fabulous journal page Elle, adore the colours that you used and how you incorporated that wonderful secret story inside the tag pockets. Thanks so much for joining us at A Vintage Journey for our Tag Your It challenge, Deb xo
Erika, I love the wraps you’ve saved and used so brilliantly on your art journal page! Who would have thought to add the bright pinks and greens to these subtle shabby chic papers, but wow, it works incredibly well, and the end result is an awesome AJP! So perfect for our It’s a Wrap challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog!
Superb colourful pages and its lovely to have you hop on board with us at A Vintage Journey Challenge Blog for Amanda’s Tag You’re It challenge. Lots of tags, pockets and lovely words.
Best wishes
Annie xx
This turned out so different from when you first started. I love how it morphed into something totally different. I’ve had non-art friends who don’t believe when I tell them the art (or the page) decided to go a different direction. I guess only a mixed media or other artist could truly understand why your page changed so drastically. As with your previous entry, I am in awe of your art. It’s fabulous and I love the recycling aspect of it, too. Thanks for sharing this beauty with us at Art Journal Journey using Alison’s theme. Hope to see you here in September, too.
BTW, my two “boys” don’t like to sit in boxes. I think they are the only cats on the planet that don’t.
Fabulous pockets and tags! You had some great colored dots for a border too. I think of flowers. Perfect. Thanks for joining us at Art Journal Journey. Hugs-Erika