Carol's Craft Room: Journal Page - It's the little things.

Hi everyone,

I'm determined this week to get up to date with my posts having been AWOL for the last month! Sorry about that.

Ok, here we go. I'm going to share with you another one of my France Papillon ALAD/ASAW weekly challenge pieces. For those of you who haven't seen the challenge ALAD/ASAW is short for A Layer A Day/ A Spread A Week. Take a look at France's blog because it is packed with inspiration. Her design team (Butterfly squad) are awesome and sooo supportive of the rank and file, like me, taking part in the weekly challenge. I have learnt so much taking part over the last weeks.

Here's my finished art journal page.....

Going through the process; to start I covered my page with some gorgeous vintage indenture paper, which I coated with clear gesso because the paper had a waxy surface. Next came a layer of Titan Buff acrylic paint. I removed some the paint with a damp baby wipe, so the indenture paper would show through in places.

Next I went over the top with a little Payne's Grey acrylic paint, using my fingers to catch the texture and tooth of the clear gesso and previous layer of paint. Have to say I hated what I ended up with but persevered.

My next layer was texture. Ferro texture paste (graphite grey) through an AB stencil......

Using Vintage Photo Distress Ink I added a little stamping using an Viva Las Vegastamp and also edged my page with Black Soot Distress Ink which I sprinkled with clear embossing powder and heat embossed.......

I adore adding stitchery to my pieces and today was no exception. This page seemed to be developing a grungy feel to it so messy stitching was the order of the day, but I wanted to do away with the smooth, albeit now distressed, edges so I added a piece of torn pre-rusted fabric behind to soften it a little.

The fabric I used was a piece that I rusted earlier this summer. This was my first attempt at rusting fabric and I was over the moon at how it turned out. I luuuuved the end result so much it seemed almost sacrilege to chop it up and not have the gorgeous colours on show. So I decided to use one little section on the front....

and make it into my focal point. I sewed on a couple of hooks and eyes with black thread to accentuate the impression left by the rusted washers on the fabric.

Next I tore a piece of vellum, slightly larger than my piece of fabric and inked the rough edges with Vintage Photo DI. Then I tore a piece of the indenture paper into a rough rectangle slightly larger than the vellum and again inked the edges with Vintage Photo DI.

All three were layered on top of each other before being popped onto the background. As you can see in the next photo, I also sandwiched a tangle of black thread between the background and the focal thingumajig

Although my spread was almost done it didn't seem quite finished for some reason.... So I added a couple of press studs to tie in with the sewing theme the spread seemed to have developed.

Nope, still not done ..... What I decided it needed was a pop of colour. I made a tiny heart, coloured it with SU markers and glazed it with a coat of Glossy Accents. With that, I realised it was the little things, whether in life or in art, that make things work. So that became my sentiment and Yea! Now I was happy.