a little art therapy...

Happy Friday everyone!

Today I have a couple projects to show you...

The first one is a watercolor card.  I have recently fallen in love with watercolor crayons... I find painting  to be very relaxing, so when I need a break from everyday life, I sit down in a quite place and lose myself in color. Bliss!

I decided to use one of my "paintings" on a card. I  kept the card simple to keep the focus on the painting.

 Paper: Watercolor paper, SEI, white cardstock

Ink: Archival Ink (Coffee), Sakura (Clearstar)

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps "Watermill", Fancy Pants "In My Words"

Other: Watercolor crayons 

Here you can see a closeup of the stamped painting. You may also notice that the swirls are shimmery... I stamped them with Coffee Archival ink, then I went over them with my Sakura Clearstar pen. It is a clear shimmery ink in a ball point pen.... Perfect for adding a little detail, or highlighting areas without overdoing the sparkle. 

My second project for today is an art journal square. I haven't shared one of these in a while.... For those who don't know what my art journal squares are, I cut up a bunch of moving boxes into squares, and I use them to just play with art. Anything goes with these... Basically I'm trying giving myself a creative outlet that I don't have to worry about if anyone else thinks it is good. They are just for me, and I only share the ones I want.  I find it very freeing to work on these knowing there is no pressure to please, no deadlines to meet, and no limitations. 

On this one, I did a base coat with gesso to give me a nice bright surface that wouldn't just absorb the ink. I made two stencil  using the  Cricut "Serenade" cart. One of the bottom layer, and one of the top layer of the image. I used Spiced Marmalade Distress ink on the bottom layer to give a bright solid silhouette of the butterfly. I then used the top layer stencil to add modeling paste to the wings. Because of  how distress inks react to moisture, the wet modeling paste wicked up some of the orange from underneath changing it from white to a soft tint of the color behind it. Matching colors and lots of texture... 

I used an ink blending tool to randomly apply Spiced Marmalade around the butterfly, then used a sponge dauber to apply a light layer of both Mango and Coal Creative Inspirations Paint. Lots of fun.

So go have some fun making art today! I plan to. =)

Enjoy!

~Kassi