Thank you 2018

Hello everyone,

This week I am sidekick in the ALAD (a layer a day) challenge over at France Papillon & Creative Butterflies FB page. If you'd like to play along with us then please read THIS. The theme this week is 'Thank you 2018'. As somebody that is always somewhat sad in the wintertime you can imagine that I was really grateful for the fantastic summer we have had. I can only hope we'll get one just like it in 2019. Anyway, I decided to use that thought in my art journal spread and here it is :

I love how this turned out. Here's how:

Layer 1: I painted the pages (that were gessoed) with a mix of these three paints: DecoArt Chalky Finish 'Delicate', DecoArt Fluid Acrylics 'Primary yellow' and 'Diarylide yellow'. I made sure to keep the middle light and go slightly darker at the edges. Summer in a journal straight away ! 

Layer 2: I used pieces of Tim Holtz Collage paper, which I gessoed on the back to keep the flowers white, and glued them down with DecoArt Matte Medium. Once dry I coloured them with Faber Castell Big Brush Markers and a water brush. 

Layer 3: I stamped the background along the edges using France's stamp sets '1800' and 'How shall I put it'. I used Archival Inks in the colours 'Saffron', 'Orange Blossom' and 'Jet Black' for this. 

Layer 4: this was a very quick layer; I just added some model paste through France's stencil 'Driving me circles'.

Layer 5: White splatters, done with a white paint pen and black splatters using thinned down DecoArt Fluid Acrylic 'Carbon Black'.

Layer 6: Here I doodled around the edges and did some writing around the model paste circles. I am not sure I like this. My handwriting is not the best ! 

Layer 7: I added some words that describe the Summer of 2018. I layered the word strips on some cambric. I think this page really represents warmth, flowers, Summer !  

A couple of close up photos. 

If you are interested in any of France's products, please visit the SHOP.

Thank you for stopping by today !