Trying something new ......

Happy Tuesday (what's left of it!)

How's your week going ...... it's freezing over here!!!  We've had snow this afternoon ...... brrrrr! and hail, and rain, finishing off with blue skies and sunshine! Now it's just flippin' windy (again!!) .... and there's a good chance the boats are cancelled again tomorrow because of the weather ... the joys of winter.  If you're in the middle of the cold snap .... stay warm, stay safe!

The warmest place today was the old craft room ...... a good excuse for me to get in there and have a play ....... plus  I wanted to finish off something that I started at the weekend.
I had a lovely day on Saturday, spent with my crafty buddies on the island.  It was the first time we'd all got together this year so there was lot's of chatting and catching up, with lots of tea and cake, not much craft going on though. Well I say that .... some of us made a start on a major project ...... an Art Journal!!
I've been meaning to do this for a while but just didn't know where to start.  Now there's  4 of us taking the plunge we can inspire each other.

We decide to make a start on the cover and also try out one of the techniques from this month's edition of Craft Stamper magazine.  If you have a copy then you can find all the details on page 87 ....... it's one of the techniques covered in this month's Masterclass, by the fabulous Trish Latimer, all to do with GESSO.
We went with Technique 2 ...... 'Gesso Smoosh', to create our backgrounds for the journal covers.
It's really simple to do, but so clever .... no two finished pieces will ever be the same.  You basically coat 2 pieces of card with a thick layer of Gesso (I used Black, but you'll get the same effect with any colour!).  Press the coated surfaces together, then pull them apart ..... told you it was easy.  If you don't like the result, just try again.  Because we were limited for time I used a heat tool to speed up the drying ....... next time I try it I'll be leaving it to dry naturally, I think the peaks will stay more raised.
Once it was all dry, I then rubbed over the top with various colours of Treasure Gold ...... Original Gold, Amethyst, and finished with a touch of White Fire.

Anyhow ..... I went from this ....

Not a bad journal cover ..... a little plain perhaps ........ to this .....

Now that's better!!

See the detail in the background from the 'Gesso Smoosh' ......

You can see more of it on the back cover ......

Look how that Treasure gold shines ..... gorgeous!

I added just a few embellishments to the front ........ some of my favourite things

I used some paper flowers, and chipboard shapes, painted with black gesso and then highlighted with Treasure Gold.

There's lots of metal pieces on there too ....... flowers, leaves, buttons, cogs, some fancy corners.

And I finished it off with a suitable title ....... 'one of a kind' .... sealed in a pretty bezel with some Glossy accents.  

Now I just have to fill it!  Will it have a theme all the way through, do I keep to certain colours ..... who knows ..... it all depends on how I feel when I open it!
One thing I will say is I'm looking forward to making a start on that first page ...... watch this space!

I'm going to enter this into the latest challenge over at Country View Crafts ...... hope it qualifies.
The theme is .....

Use something new to you ....

Well ..... it's the first time I've tried the 'Gesso Smoosh' technique, and .... Art Journaling is all new to me too so fingers crossed.

Thanks for popping by ........ do you have an Art Journal?  Any tips on how to begin?

Cheerio until next time

Linda 

xx