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

Art Cards and a Journal Page by Nicole

HELLO ARTISTS! I am so excited to share another guest artist post with you. When I saw the new ArtFoamies a few months ago, I not only knew I wanted the “twig” stamp, but I also knew exactly what I wanted to do with it!

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy sending mail just as much as I love seeing a hand-addressed envelope in my mailbox. However, I just can’t send store-bought cards. I think I’ve created homemade cards most of my life. My cards have evolved from crayons and markers to rubber stamping and now I love sending small works of art. The art becomes a gift, and the recipient can choose to frame or display their card if they want! With my stash getting low and a couple birthdays approaching, I grabbed my ArtFoamies to begin.

To save time, and because it’s just fun, most of my card making sessions include creating multiples of the same card. This time I grabbed six pre-cut 4x6 index cards. I discovered these extra heavy index cards that are archival for ICAD (index card a day) and have been using them to create small works of art ever since. First, I applied two layers of gesso. I like to apply in one direction, let it dry, and then apply in the other direction. I think this helps with a smoother front and even coverage. Next, I ripped book text and ledger pages and secured them to the front of my cards with matte medium.

Once the book text was dry, I applied gesso again. This time, around the edges of the ephemera and other random other places at full strength and watered down. I also splattered it! I love how gesso interacts with old papers. Adding the gesso embeds the text and provides another layer of interest.

After the gesso was dry, I grabbed the “twig” and stamped it with sepia India ink. I used a small gel plate as my stamp pad and palette throughout the entire process.

Once stamped, I watered down the leftover ink to spatter and paint on the cards.

While the sepia ink dried, I also stamped a twig on each envelope for my art cards along with, of course, some splatters.

To help with contrast and add even more interest, I used Payne’s Gray acrylic paint watered down and full strength around the stamped image, and then I stamped the Writer's Block (Small) ArtFoamie also in the Paynes Gray.

For a final layer of interest, I grabbed turquoise paint and the Right Here ArtFoamie and stamped it. For this process, I used a piece of dictionary paper to mask the cards. This paper actually became important in part 2! I also painted a bit of the watered-down turquoise on the cards.

At this point, the centers of the Twig stamp were becoming a little lost, so I filled the insides with gesso. Also, I splattered large drops of gesso on the top of the cards.

To finish off the cards I added a piece of colored card stock behind with some foam squares. Check out the process of making these small works of art in a video here:

https://youtu.be/Je7WSQHVZd8

I am so excited to send these cards. In fact, I already sent two of them! To add a message on the cards, I simply used some washi tape and a piece of printer paper.

However, I can only send 5, because I did not add the blue cardstock to one of the cards!

Since I liked my small works of art so much, I decided to stick one in my art journal! I opened to a burlap page in my Dina Wakley journal, and I played a bit with some of the off-stamp images (you can see me create these in the video above). In the end I decided to grab that dictionary page I used for masking to layer behind my piece of art.

One thing I’ve learned in creating is to stamp off my images, and save any bits of paper or masking paper to use for future projects. These unplanned papers are always the best to create with!

I stuck the dictionary page down, added some more foam Right Here stamped images on the burlap. ArtFoamies stamp so amazingly well on burlap. Then, topped the pages off with some Payne’s Gray and some sepia splatters. The final step was to adhere my art card and then I added a small sticker that said “the last flowers of summer.” The twig image reminded me so much of the brown, tired flowers from summer in my garden.

Check out the Part 2 video to see the simple process of creating a journal page with one of the art cards here:

https://youtu.be/JxQArmQ_ftY

I hope this inspires you to create some small works of art to mail. I’d love to see your creations with your ArtFoamies inspired by my technique. All the supplies are linked in my videos if you’d like to use the same index cards. When you do, tag me on Instagram so I can see your amazing art (@nicolewatsonart).


-Nicole
http://nicolewatsonart.com

Double Spread Journal Page with ArtFoamies by Nicole Watson

HELLO ARTISTS! I’m back with another guest artist post using FOUR different ArtFoamies! I just love how amazingly well they layer together…but we’ll get to that in just a minute.

Have you been following along or participating in this year’s Index Card a Day (ICAD) challenge? I’ve used ArtFoamies several times on mine and recently created one using ArtFoamies that I knew I wanted to explore again in a larger format. This little card was an experiment, or an accident really, as I was very much losing my creativity!

As I was thinking about what to create for my tutorial, I remembered that ICAD. I knew this was the perfect time to explore (or attempt to recreate!) my accidental card. So, I opened my Dina Wakley Media journal, covered an entire two-page spread with gesso and began.

Today's project features: 

• Balzer Designs | Writer's Block | Foam Stamp (large & small)
• Balzer Designs | Candy Love | Foam Stamp
• Balzer Designs | Croquet | Foam Stamp

First, I stuck down a bunch of book text and dictionary pages with matte medium. Once dry, I embedded these pages a bit with gesso. This gesso layer adds so much interest, it’s amazing! Once that gesso was dry, I realized I didn’t use any of my favorite handwritten ledger pages. So, I grabbed one of those and added a few pieces, again topping with some gesso. One thing that draws me to mixed media is the combination of mediums, layers and “what ifs” that fill the page or canvas. The gesso often helps to create those happy accidents.

Next, it was time to start the ArtFoamies layering! I grabbed the large Writer’s Block stamp and stamped it mainly around the edge of the journal pages using Golden’s new So Flat paint in Red Violet. I used a palette knife to spread paint across the Foamie and also used a piece of patty paper as a temporary ink pad. Using both methods will give you different stamp results with thicker, thinner, lighter or darker strokes, which will all add interest to your background. Don’t worry too much about how this layer looks. If you don’t have even stamping or perfect lines, there will be many more layers on top. While there was still wet paint on my patty paper, I sprayed it with a little water to make it thinner and spread it loosely a few places between the stamps, again to add interest.

To add another layer of interest, I grabbed Bombay India Ink in Sepia and spread it on the page over the Writer’s Block stamp. I left some of the stamped images without the ink on top, and also put some over the white page as well. It looks kind of like a river of India ink. This is where intuition kind of kicks in. In some areas I kept it darker and in others lighter, watered down a bit. I let it dry, and then added a bit more ink where I wanted some darker contrast. Again, this is another background layer to build interest, so it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Then it was time for the next ArtFoamies layer! I picked up the Candy Love stamp, and using the same technique with the patty paper/palette knife, I stamped it several places on my pages with Golden So Flat Payne’s Gray. To create the watery/cloudy effect around the stamps, I used my paintbrush in some water while the stamped image was still wet to blur the edges and picked up some paint as needed from my palette. For this process I worked in stages, stamping a few at a time and softening them. As the stamped images dried, I continued to soften them in places, removing paint so they looked a little aged or more like watercolor. (This process might be a little easier to understand when you watch the video!)

At this point, my pages were starting to look a little dark, so I wanted to add some white back into the edges. I grabbed the smaller version of the Writer’s Block stamp and used it with gesso to bring back some white space. I also softened the edges of this stamping a bit with watered down gesso. Then, so the gesso didn’t look like it was all floating on top, I used a bit of watered-down Payne’s Gray over some of the stamped images to push parts back.

With my background finished and drying, it was time to figure out what to do next. Often it is so hard to cover up a background, isn’t it? I pulled out a bunch of vintage photos, some tags, the dried palette papers, book pages I’d stamped the Foamies off on, and some rust-dyed fabric an artist friend gave me

I added gesso to the white tags, collaged pages, Sepia ink, and more ArtFoamies. I wanted to use the Croquet stamp some place on these tags because the shape matched part of the Candy Love stamp. I used this Croquet stamp with the Sepia ink several places on the tags. I also added some more of the small Writer’s Block stamp.

This collage process took me a while! The only thing I knew for certain was that I wanted to use the photograph of the lady somewhere. I went back and forth on the layout, collaged papers, and ideas flooded my head! I grabbed some packing paper to sketch on with my stabilo all pencil to create a leaf and some circles for the layers. I layered, tore apart, layered again…and got frustrated several times.

You can watch how all those layers came together in the video below!

Didn’t these ArtFoamies layer together so well? Using a script, a sold graphic one, and a mark-making one created amazing layers on my page. I’d love to see your creations layering the ArtFoamies you have. When you do, tag me on Instagram so I can see your amazing art (@nicolewatsonart).

-Nicole
http://nicolewatsonart.com