Journaling, a Mixed Media Affair: Fabric Included!

In recent blog posts about my art journaling, I have shown you how I use stencils to add texture to my pages, and how to create your own tissue paper with wooden printing blocks.

This posting is about the next step in the layering process of creating these journal pages. And I need to add the same disclaimer I have before: these pages are not finished yet...there is more to come.

Pictured above is a portion of a page I have been working on. I wasn’t unhappy with it, but wanted a little something extra, and realized a Pearl Pen from Viva Décor was the perfect solution. Below is the after — I used the Silver color (we just added five new colors to our online shop; now there are 30 to choose from).

This product takes just seconds to apply! What’s great is how perfectly the product forms the half-round “pearls.” There’s none of those spiky peaks you try and mush down, ruining your shape.

In fact, it’s important to let the pen and the product do the work. I applied the pearls to one of my fabric postcards, and without thinking, immediately tapped the card down on the table, the way you would to remove air bubbles or settle a product? Neither was the reality...it was just instinctual, I guess. The result was actually kind of cool...but undeniably flat.

FYI, I am teaching my fabric postcard class on Saturday, October 10. Join me!

So, as mentioned many times over the years on this blog, I got my start as a fabric/textile lover. The surge in mixed media as an art form and the release of a lot of cool products has taught me a lot about paper, and I do enjoy working with paper...for instance, creating these art journal pages has been a really enjoyable process.

But yes, at heart fabric is my true love... and so yes, I often include fabric on my paper journal pages.

The above journal spread was creating from flower and gardening ephemera. The flower is a photo that my son took. I printed it on Transfer Artist Paper (TAP) onto a piece of muslin, then applied it to my page using Golden Soft Gel Medium (spread the medium onto both the painted journal paper and the back of the transferred photo).

On this above page, I created a tab extending from the page using part of a vintage greeting card. I included a vintage book text/illustration page as well as a fabric coaster of violets with a wonderful frayed edge. All were adhered with soft gel medium.

This page has bits of white trim again attached with soft gel medium.

For me, sorting and organizing ephemera is a never ending process. I actually have a type cabinet that is completely full, and boxes overflowing with those perfect bits and pieces of fabric and paper I want to use in my journals.

I am trying! Sometimes I think of organizing as an act of procrastination, instead of tackling what I originally intended to do. But the reality is that digging through those drawers and boxes and files brings me back in touch with items I had forgotten I had — including some you see here.

How do you organize your journal bits and pieces? I would really love to know — your system might help me with my treasures! Please leave a comment on this posting and share!

P.S. for those of you who are local, or who will be in the area, a reminder that this Sunday is our monthly JAMs meeting.