Trying something new
I have been following so many great mixed media artists and junk journallers on YouTube this last year like Vicky Papaioannou, Tiffany Solario and MegJournals. It has inspired me to have a go. The thought of getting it wrong had been holding me back, but I soon learnt from other artists that the wonderful thing about mixed media art and junk journalling was that you can’t really get it wrong. the best bit was getting to try something new that was so much fun in the process.
Gathering supplies
I started collecting some pieces of junk mail that came through the post since the last few weeks. I gathered up the Christmas cards I had taken down at the beginning of January. It felt good to not be just throwing it all in the recycling bin. Instead giving it a new lease of life as the foundation pages for a mixed media album.
Putting it all together was a bit of trial and error. There may have been a few cuts here and there as I poked myself with the needle when sewing the pages together. Although fiddly at first, I found my groove and managed to get the pages all bound together; a mixture of materials and sizes.
Covering the front with some pretty patterned paper Helped pull it altogether. I found some tape I’ve had in my stash for years to bound the spine. Et voila my first homemade journal to play in just for fun with whatever I feel like; paints, ink, stencils and paper scraps.
Putting paint to paper
today I made a start on my first page. At first it felt a little scary to know where to start. I put some music on and just grabbed whatever I felt like experimenting with. I had purchased a few new products back in October at the Creative show and had yet to find much time to try them out. This was the perfect opportunity.
putting paint on the page, I did what I’d seen others in the videos I’d been fascinated with watching and took the plunge. I spread paint over the page with a palette knife. Who knew that simple action itself could be so freeing. I could mix colours and add whatever stamping I wanted. I played with bubblewrap and empty thread spools to create my own patterns. I experimented with metallic gilding polish, acrylic paints and inks. I splattered paint and celebrated my favourite pattern, the polka dot as much as I could.
A new crafting love
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I lost myself in the flow of creating for fun. And guess what… I can’t wait to do more. I can now understand others love for these artforms. I am excited to dig up more bits and pieces to add to future layouts. The benefit of being a bit of a crafting hoarder and a lover of so many crafty hobbies is that there is so many different resources to pull from. My hands are covered in green and gold paint and it feels great. It was like being a kid again. Getting to play around with colour and texture and not being afraid to make mistakes. LEtting go of worrying how it should conform to a certain way.
So here’s to more playful creativity, getting messy and using what we have. Who knows what wonders you could create.
As always thanks so much for reading x
