Freedom Ambassador, Sue Leslie designed this Art Journal Page which uses easy and fun techniques which you can easily master. Try something new and let your imagination soar! And please send us some pics of your finished pages – we would love to see them.
Items Sue used:
- A5 white card
- Archival ink – Jet Black
- Distress ink – Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry, Tumbled Glass
- 2 ½ inch art brayer
- Distress Crayons Set 1 – Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade
- Creative Expressions Rustic Birds clear stamp set – splattered border and corner
- That’s Crafty! Lynne’s Word Flowers Set 1 – imagine flower
- AALL & Create – Vintage Type stamp set – You are your only limit
- Jane Davenport DIY Face clear stamp set
- Leonie Pujol clear stamp set Doodle Drops – both curlicue hearts, solid bubbles
- Jane Davenport washi tape Miss Match – watercolour figures
- Tim Holtz Travel Stamp Platform
Step 1: Load your brayer with Squeezed Lemonade and cover the left side of your page, about three quarters of the way across.
Clean and dry your brayer, then load with Picked Raspberries and apply to the right section. Overlap and blend the colours a bit to add interest.
Step 2: Using Picked Raspberry, stamp the splattered border onto the bottom edge and top left corner. Use the corner stamp bottom left.
Step 3: Add the face using Tumbled Glass and the stamping platform. It’s much easier to build up the face using the platform – rather than stamping by hand with an acrylic block – because once you decide where you want the features to go, you know they will be in exactly the same place as before you inked up the stamp. No wonky noses!
Step 4: Using the Distress Crayons, draw some loose circles above the face and to the left and right of it. Then use a toddler wipe in a circular motion to blend them in and to transfer some of the colour to the background. Add some pink to her cheeks if you like and blend to soften. Leave to dry.
Step 5: Using your stamp platform, stamp the imagine flower on the left with Archival Jet Black. Do a second application of ink if needed to get a solid black image.
Step 6: Using your stamp platform, stamp the sentiment on the right with Archival Jet Black.
Step 7: Add a strip of watercolour dresses washi tape on the right side as shown. Just tear the washi tape – it gives an interesting jagged texture which contrasts well with the long straight edges of the tape.
Step 8: Add more flowers as shown, stamping by hand to go off the page.
Step 9: Use Tumbled Glass and the solid bubbles stamp to add detail as shown – this will help to anchor the face and distribute its colour across the page. Then use Jet Black and both ends of the curlicue heart stamps as shown to balance the composition and echo the curves of the text.
Step 10: Lastly, add another piece of washi tape on the lower right, slightly overlapping the first piece and folding over the right edge of the page.
TOP TIP #1: Don’t get stressed about drawing the crayon circles – they look best if slightly uneven and imperfect! Practise on scrap paper first to build confidence. Try moving your whole arm and not just your hand.
TOP TIP #2: When blending in the Distress crayons, follow the shape of the marks initially and then move the dissolved colour onto neighbouring areas.