Hello Shimmerz Fans. Even though I am not an art journaler I love watching other artist share their journaling process on youtube. This is how I found this idea that I had to try when I recently received a small package full of Creameez and Shimmerz. As I told you in my very first blogpost for Shimmerz in the beginning of the year, I am still new to mixed media and all the beautiful products Shimmerz offers and so I wanted to test out these paints before adding more of them to my stash. And let me just tell you, I'm in love!
Instead of swatching my paints on a piece of paper, I followed an idea that I saw James Burke do in one of his recent videos. He jokingly called it "Neighborhood Swatch Tutorial". The rectangular swatches are arranged horizontally across your paper and colors are repeated, then using a pen, all you do is draw quirky houses on top of the rectangles. And that is basically it!
If you have ever watched from the sidelines (like me) when others just do and create beautiful artwork and itched to try but never knew how and where to start, this is another way of dipping your toes. You do not need a lot of supplies: use paints you have on hand, mists like the Vibes and Coloringz or paints like the Creameez, Shimmerz or Inklingz work perfectly fine for this. You only need three of four different colors, a paint brush and paper and a pen. I, again, used what I had on hand, a black Sharpie Pen.
After my first try in the sketch book that I usually use to swatch paints which I was basically doing as well, I decided that I loved this so much, I would do another set of houses in my weekly traveler's notebook insert. I cannot wait to share this page with you on instagram once it is finished!
Here is a link to my process video on youtube. If you place an order in the Shimmerz Store, don't forget to mention my name Simone in the comments at checkout to receive a free mini surprise product! Thanks for stopping by today!
SUPPLIES: Creameez - Ride the Tide, Boogie Boardin' Blue, Daffodil, 1 Hot Mama Shimmerz - Key Lime
Hi, it's Simone here with my very first blogpost and video for the Shimmerz Education Team. I have started a new to me form of memory keeping for 2018 in my weekly vertical traveler's notebook insert from Midori. And I love it, I love spending a little time creating a colorful mixed media background before the week starts and I love using stickers, ephemera, practically everything that I can find around the house to decorate the weekly spread when I journal daily about my day! It is so much fun and doesn't take a lot of time out of my day so I have actually kept up with it so far! I hope that I can carry on way beyond the first excitement of January and share my spreads every week on Instagram using the Hashtag #seemownaysweek.
For this spread, I wanted to try the Blow Painting Technique with a straw! I remember doing this as a child and thought it would be fun to try out my new COLORINGZ and see how well the paper takes the mists. I wanted to create a rainbow effect, so I pulled out a piece of packaging as a palette and added the first color. I then took it up with a brush, added a colorful blob to the top of the page and then used my straw to move the color down the page. I actually turned my insert upside down to be able to control the paint better. Then I just went on, adding the different colors and mixing them along the way to get a bigger and more colorful palette.
After prepping the background, I went through my stickers and my ephemera and created a little kit to use throughout the week. Then each night when I sat on the couch I would pull out my traveler's notebook and quickly journal about my day, adding bits and pieces as I wrote. This photo shows the progress after the first days. Isn't the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson on the tea tag just perfect? I love it: "Earth laughs in flowers." I never paid any attention to the tags on my tea bags before and didn't even know they hid little treasures, but that day it fell into the hot water and so I had to get it out with a spoon. And there this beautiful quote was waiting for me. I dried it with my heat tool, remembered that I had just seen this beautiful die cut in my stash, pulled it out and stuck it right into my journal.
Whenever possible, I tried to match my stickers and ephemera to the rainbow background to intensify the rainbow effect! I absolutely love how this all turned out! Unfortunately, this was the week when I had to record my very first trip to the ER since moving here. Luckily, I'm back to walking at the moment and hoping that I can omit knee surgery. The accident happened on Friday night but as you can see, I'm not too strict when it comes to sticking to the given page design: I just add my journaling wherever I think it fits best into my own design.
After I was done with my journaling, there was still lots of empty space left at the bottom of the page, so I decided to add a quote that relates to GO, my word for the year 2018. I love collecting quotes and never know where to put them. Adding them here whenever and wherever possible, makes them more visible, which I love.
Here is another look at the finished page. It's so much fun to do, it doesn't require a lot of material and time. And the best part for me is that I am less intimidated to try different techniques. Often I am paralyzed by the size of bigger projects and don't even know where to start. Now that I have seen how easy it is to create such a fun rainbow background, I am thinking about trying it on a larger canvas. What do you think? Wouldn't this be fun as a a background for a 12x12 layout?
Here is a link to my process video on youtube. If you place an order in the Shimmerz Store, don't forget to mention my name Simone in the comments at checkout to receive a free mini surprise product! Thanks for stopping by today!
SUPPLIES: Coloringz - Don't Citron Me, No Yoking, My Bleeding Heart, Pink Stilettos, Heidi Ho Blue, Well Blue Me Down, Oh Say Can U See
