Collaging Just For Fun

Hi everyone. I have another couple of collage pages created with images from One Crabapple (One Tea Life), an Etsy seller. These were done on 4.5 x 8.5 inch designer paper pages, punched with my Happy Planner punch to create a disc bound journal. The first one was created on a plain beige coloured paper and adhered vintage book text and brick patterned scraps to break up the beige.I then stamped with Jet Black Archival and Coffee Inks, using a script stamp, a grid one, a splatter stamp, and a scribbly circle one. The border was created with purchased downloaded borders, washi tape, and a die cut blue border to which I added white paint pen dots.

The focal image was cobbled together from bits and pieces from various collage sheets. All of the body parts, clothes, etc. come as separate pieces so you can put them together many ways, customizing them to suit your page. Love that! Even the bow on the hat and the flower on her dress are separate elements. I love adding my own touches...colouring, dots, outlining to make them my own. The hearts were punched from gel plate scraps left over from another project.

The friends sign was a piece of printed acetate from my stash which I mounted over white cardstock so the background wouldn't show through and the colours remained true. Her glasses (another collage element) were layered with Glossy Accents to give them both dimension and shine.

The second collage page started with a tan coloured designer paper over which I stamped a honeycomb pattern using Coffee Archival Ink. This was topped by a smaller rectangle of honeycomb designer paper which I then bordered with black and gold skinny washi to frame it. A definition of bee from an old dictionary was placed at the bottom of the page with the word Believe which was stamped onto white cardstock, overlapping it.

All of the focal image's parts were separate elements. I added colouring to her face and hat, and paint dots to the hive opening as well as outlining to help things pop. The flower was stamped on white cardstock, coloured and fussy cut and the stem was hand drawn and cut from green scrap mop up paper. The honey jar was from one of the collage sheets. Coloured pencil was used to shade around everything to add dimension.

Jet Black Archival Ink was used to stamp the splatter dots onto the background and bee washi tape was added above the framed image. It was outlined with both black pen and brown coloured pencil to add more definition. This was also done to the bee definition and the word believe. To finish the page, the  edges were darkened with Coffee Archival Ink.

Thanks for popping by today. We all appreciate that. This brings me to the end of the collage pages I created while my hands were uncooperative. I guess I'd better get moving and start creating some more. I've been enjoying colouring again but I am not done with collage by a long shot :)

Life is good; so is art,

Bonnie

A little collage work

Hi everyone! Today I thought I would share a couple of my collaged journal pages. I created these when my hands wouldn't cooperate for colouring or doing much doodling because of the side effects from treatments. I still wanted to make art because that helped me find the joy and kept me sane (ish) so I turned to straight collage using printed images.

I re-discovered my love for the collage sheets by an Etsy seller called Art Tea Life (One Crabapple). She has awesome sheets with separate body parts and other elements so you can creatively put together your own style of images. I had so much fun auditioning bits and pieces until I arrived at what I wanted for each page.

I had a pad of thinner designer paper which I was unlikely to use for anything else. I cut the 12 x 12 papers to 9 x 8.25 inches which is a little wider than a traveller's notebook size. After I created my focal image and tacked her together, I chose one of the cut papers, folded it lengthwise and began to make it my own. Stamping and stencilling with both inks and paints was followed by adding borders of washi tape or paper scraps.

Details were added to both the background and the image with scraps or bits and bobs left over from other projects. Some were die cut, some punched, some rub-ons and some were gems or enamel stickers. I just played and had fun. I also added outlining  with black pen to make things stand out or add my own spin.

The wording on most pages was TH stickers or other sticker alphabets, although stamped letters and acetate words were also used. Anything that was easy, simple, and involved little fuss was fair game. I decided to use my planner punch to create the openings for these pages to be joined together with discs which ended up being a pain. The punch wouldn't go through the multiple layers of paper at the edges so I will soon switch to a similar size but less fiddly format which I will show at a later date.

I do love the size of these pages and how well the Art Tea Life images fit on the pages. I also love the quirkiness of the characters, although I have kept them fairly tame so far. They are a great way to express myself creatively and even though my hands are improving, I know I will continue to play...just for the sheer fun of it.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie