Bluebird Journal Pages - Nicole Watson

I can’t believe it’s already the middle of December and my last guest artist post for 2021! I’ve loved sharing my ArtFoamies creations with you this year, and I hope they’ve inspired YOU to create with these amazing foam stamps.

For these journal pages, I began with some papers that I had previously watercolored on (I linked that video in the process video.) along with some handwritten ledger pages. 

I added some gesso to imbed the papers and then grabbed the positive image from the “gibberish” set to stamp it all around the pages with gesso.

Then, I stamped several times around the border of my pages with the rainbow/arch looking stamp from the “make your mark” set of stamps using Payne’s gray acrylic paint and layered even more stamps as the design developed. To soften the stamping and add a little grunge, I added some watered-down paint around the stamped images.

Because I knew I’d be using the flower from “bluebird and branch” as one of my focal points, I also stamped it with gesso a few places on my pages to tie the focal point and the background together.

With the background finished (or so I thought!) I began to work on my focal point. First, I added some white gesso to a flash card. While that dried, I stamped the bluebird on watercolor paper with Payne’s gray acrylic paint. I stamped several so I could pick my favorite one and have some extras for the future! T color the birds, I used some blue and orange acrylic inks.

While the birds dried, I decided to use some of the leftover orange inks to stamp on my background (nope! It wasn’t finished!) with the asemic writing stamp from the Make Your Mark set. I found this stamp to be more versatile than it appeared! To make the writing look different, I used parts, the whole, and even turned it upside down!! What an amazing little stamp. This fun writing helped bring some of that orange color from the birds into the background.

When the birds were dry, I cut out my favorite one and worked on the focal point. I stamped the branch with Payne’s gray on some gummed brown packing tape, cut it out and layered it with the flashcard, a piece of paper and the bird.

Finally, I wanted to add a poem or quote to the left side, so I grabbed the Tim Holtz clippings stickers and created my own little poem. I added some more Payne’s gray to that page and then topped it all off with some ink drops.

Check out the process of creating these journal pages here. [If the video isn't showing below, click HERE to watch it.]

I hope this inspires you to add some ArtFoamies to your holiday wishlist! And, I’d love to see your creations with your new ArtFoamies inspired by my technique. All the supplies are linked in my videos if you’d like to use the same ones. When you do, tag me on Instagram so I can see your amazing art (@nicolewatsonart).

-Nicole
http://nicolewatsonart.com