art journal self portrait...

this is one of those "things" that takes on a life of it's own...

I had a general idea of what I wanted to do for this art journal page...

I cut out a bunch of flowers & leaves, but didn't use any of them...

it's another Ranger specialty stamping paper art journal page...

8 ½ x 6 inches...

***here's a tip...***

if you're making large art journal pages to fit the art parts art journal ...

get the 8 1/2 x 11 paper...

if you cut the pages to 8 ½ x 6, the left over piece makes 2 card fronts when cut in half & you have ZERO waste! not even a sliver...

it started like this...

I first spread translucent embossing paste randomly thru the add a stencil & let that dry...

to make my background I used watering can and tree branch archival...and used the same alcohol ink technique that I've been playing with...

you'll find the tutorial here...  video link

this is my new fav color combo for vintage...

 I had one of tim's people that I had cut out & I thought the background color combo would fit with her...
that's why I chose those colors...

these are the pieces I used...

an art parts bow (pssst...on sale!)...stamped with the coordinating stamp, using jet black...(LCS097 shopping is an art)
it's inked with orange blossom archival...

HER, a found relative...who eventually came to be ...ME...
I cut her out, sanded the edges & added some brushed corduroy to them...

the leaves were die cut with tim's new Sizzix greenery die...
I had a scrap of tan chipboard, so I used that...then inked it with tree branch & stamped the polka dots with jet black archival...

I stamped the fringe flower on a scrap of CFA that was covered with vintage dictionary text, cut it out & inked it with orange blossom archival...

see the button bottom right? that's a vintage button & I think it's even better with a remnant rub added...

and the large Blossom Bucket glasses?
yep...as soon as I pulled them from the drawer, the page went from vintage to FUNKY vintage...

here are the next background layers...

I stamped the large flourishes & the heart with watering can archival...

and used watering can to stencil the checkmate at the top & bottom...

You'll also see in the bottom photo that I added some random stamped text from the artist definition stamp, with watering can archival for that too...pssst...the stamp set is on sale!

and I LOVE jet black archival for my sayings...

and here's my selfie for today...

LOVE the new mini bird stamp...LOTS!

the glasses totally changed where this was headed...

you've heard the saying "art speaks"...

this was so very true today...

and it was very loud & clear...

not at all what I thought it would be...

but I like her...

or is it ME?

I had fun...

try it...create a self portrait art journal page, have fun and...

make art!

wendy