I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Saturday 15 August 2015

Gentle Journey Journalling Again

Hello all.  I've another little catch up post today, sharing a project which originally appeared over at The Artistic Stamper when I was on the DT there.  Continuing from Reliving the Journey, it's another journalling page spread on the theme of journeying.  This one was created in the midst of a very stressful August in 2014, when I was trying to get visas in place in time for my working trip to New York - and I needed a break.  Hmm... given what summer 2015 has been like, I evidently work most when everyone else is thinking about holidays!  Here's what I wrote pretty much this time last year...

I needed to be gentle with myself, and make the most of the little play time I've had lately by creating some soft and simple journalling in the pages of a book.  So here's my offering for you...


All being well, I should be en route to the States later today, and these pages provided a little respite in a crazy August of work and admin and preparation and packing.






I started from the idea of wanting to "preserve" some of the original book text, and I used Katy Leitch's butterfly silhouettes to do it.  They're stamped in Versamark and then clear-embossed.













Next came a wash of Chalk Fresco paint, and while that was still wet, I swept some Turquoise on too.  (Both colours are from the new Limited Edition JOFY set.)













Through all the later stages I did my best to keep them clean and clear so that the text would stay fully present.  I do like how they'll still catch the light and gleam at certain angles.









I used one of the Artistic Stamper masks to create my largest bubbles of positivity sweeping across and up the page spread.  (That seems to be the direction my art journal pages move in - look!)

I sponged through the mask with the Turquoise Fresco and then did some shading and highlighting with pastel pencils.











Over that I stamped the Artistic Stamper Large Random Dots in both the Chalk and the Turquoise.  And finally I did some spattering with the inner stick of the Dylusions White Linen spray.












I seem to be a little bit obsessed with the meadow grasses from Tim's Spring Sprung stamp set at the moment, so they put in an appearance along the foot of the page.  And I used the Mini Polka Dot Background to add extra texture around the sky.






The tags had been soaked in tea and coffee, and then I stamped the beautiful Calligraphy Mat 4 in Sepia Archival Ink.













The large words from Journalling Words 2 are stamped in Sepia, as are the blots and splotches from the Katy Leitch Messy Art plate.  The big words got a bit of clear embossing for that magical extra shimmer. 











Once they were glued down, I used a couple of Inktense pencils to shade and outline them.  I really love how that makes them pop against the turquoise sky behind. And I tied some rustic twine through the tops of course.









There's a little bit of Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs inking all the way around the edge, but that's about it.  This was just a little oasis of calm in my crazy August, and I had a lovely gentle time playing with it!

Back to the present, and thank you so much for stopping by.  I'll be back on Monday with a brand new creation to share, and I'm hoping I might even get some visiting in over the next few days.  Either way, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you soon.

Be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
From Desiderata by Max Ehrmann



30 comments:

Shilpa Nagaonkar said...

Beautiful!! Wish you happy journey and stay at US!

Helen said...

Loved this then and love it now! It's great to see it again. Glad that it sounds like you are getting some time to "be"!!

chrissie said...

Very beautiful spread with very Alison colours and images.It does look relaxing for sure.

Hope you have a good trip and enjoy the states as you did before.

Take care

Love Chrissie xx

Heather said...

Beautiful pages Alison, a gorgeous background and love the bubbles and border grasses........super journal tags!!

hugs
Heather xx

Gitte said...

Beautiful page.

selena said...

magnifiques pages!

Dorthe said...

Such lovely and pieceful pages, wonderful with your butterflys shining and gleaming a bit in the light, a great idea,-and the lovely meadow grass makes me think of childhood playing in the meadow for the food of my parents house!!
The tags are gorgeous too, in brownish tones!
All like a most beautiful summerday ,dear Alison.
Hugs, Dorthe

Sandy said...

Wonderful pages and so gentle on the eyes tool Beautifully done Alison!
sandy xx

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

With simplicity there is beauty! LOVE these pages! LOVE the blue, the meadow scene, and love the contrast of the tags! Gorgeous!

Julia Aston said...

What a wonderful watery bubbly background - love the text showing through and your simple tag adornments - hope you have a lovely time in the US! Julia xx

rachel said...

I adore what you have done here Alison - the wonderful background and the tags look beautiful - gorgeous work. Hugs rachel x

Meggymay said...

A beautiful page it gives a fantastic sense of calmness when you look at it.
Yvonne

Redanne said...

It really does not seem like 12 months since you were in New York! I loved your page the first time round and it is lovely to see it again, the colours are certainly very soothing. Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Hugs, Anne xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Loved this the first time I saw it so it's good to see it again ! I seem to be on a permanent catch up at the moment - mostly because of poor Internet connection - I don't know how you find the time to work and create the fabulous projects you do! ! Hope you get more time to relax soon! Chrisx

Deb said...

So lovely Alison, love how you clear embossed the butterflies to preserve the text and your colour palette is indeed gentle and restful. Thank you for sharing it with us again and hope that you will be able to find some creative time for yourself again soon.

Nalo Souleyman said...

Beautiful work !!

Pamellia said...

Gorgeous Alison!! The resist is so effective on the book page, what a brilliant idea! I love the shading around the tags, really helps make them look dimensional! Stunning shades of blue and brown! hugs :)

Terry said...

Gorgeous journal pages, Alison! I love the embossed butterflies a very effective technique to reserve the text script! The added mini tags are great! Happy Sunday! Hugs!

Mrs.B said...

Wonderful pages Alison, so nice to see them again. It's quite frightening where time goes, can't believe it's a year since you went to work in the States!
Avril xx

Kim said...

Beautiful Alison. I love the soft blues and the use of clear embossing to highlight the text with the butterflies. Such a soothing journal page. So nice to be able to revisit.

Lys said...

Great idea to preserve the text as you did! And I love the grass, it seems it's climbing from the earth. and still you master these colours... Wonderful!

Jackie PN said...

Soft and gentle and soooo Alison!! beautiful, my friend! xx

Julie Lee said...

I love the softness of these pages, Alison, and the clear embossing looks wonderful! The calligraphy is beautiful. What a lovely stamp! Wonderful evocation of nature, serene and elegant - perfectly lovely! xx

Paper Profusion said...

Very dreamy and thought provoking pages Alison. Wonderfully done. Nicola x

Lynne Moncrieff said...

There certainly is a gentleness exuding from the pages, a wonderful dreamy world of good things.
Wishes
Lynne

Unknown said...

Completely gentle and soft and soothing AJ pages, Alison. The color palette you're using is calming and serene and I do adore those butterflies where the text comes through their embossed wings. These are pages that I'm sure helped you keep the peace in your soul during that very hectic/stressful schedule you were maintaining last year! Fabulous pages, Alison! XOXO-Shari

Brenda Brown said...

I hope you are being gentle with yourself this summer. Time we had a meet up xxx

Lisa Minckler said...

OMG! I hate being sick. I've been horrible the past week and the week before that I was running back and forth getting my kids over it, but today I can actually breathe out of both nostrils at the same time ( YEAH!) and so I wanted to spend some time in blogland. I have LOOOOVED seeing the posts I missed. Your tags, bottles, albums, are so sensational Alison. I've decided I'll just move in with you and watch you work. The process must be just heavenly to see. I promise to cook and clean, but oh to watch you craft...that would be something! Hope you're doing well and big hugs to you,
Lisa x

Etsuko said...

This is another beautiful pages, I was always inspired by your creations and ideas. Love the shadow butterflies. xx

Marjie Kemper said...

Beautiful spread!