Masculine Belated Birthday

This is a belated birthday card for one of the people that come to our dances.   I didn't know when his birthday was until a couple of weeks after the fact. Most or the supplies came from HOTP.  The background is a mix of an older gray patterned paper and a Color Me Card Topper (Clocks & Gears).  

After cutting the top off the card topper (for use inside the card), I used watercolor pencils to color the topper in colors that blended well with the paper.  At first, I just used shades of gray and silver, but when I went to post it, it just felt so plain, that I added a spot of color in blue.  The blue was blended with Wink of Stella rather than water like I used on the rest of it.  (You can see what the card looked like in just grays at the end of this post.)  I added a stripe of black ribbon and used a Sharpie to create a black border around the gray paper at the top. 

The elements that combine to form the card focal were also from the Color Me Topper set.  The one that says "It's Past" was blank - I added letter stickers from my stash on that, and to spell out his name below.  The clock is on foam tape for added dimension.  

I added a few music notes stickers (Dazzles) at the top, and then attached the topper to my card front.

Here's the inside:

The inside is pretty similar to the front - just a different ratio of gray paper to card topper.  After coloring the topper, I stamped "Happy Birthday" from the HOTP Masculine Collage set of stamps, and colored it with blue watercolor pencils blended with Wink of Stella. The record & word "Dance" are from the same Dazzles set that I got the music notes from for the front of the card.

Here is what the card looked like before I added the pop of blue:

A Private Message to Me

I was given a very special message, but it wasn't something I felt was appropriate to post in public media - or even in my Bible where anyone looking through my Bible might see it.  Not knowing for sure what to do with it, I typed it up and left it as a file on my computer.  The picture above shows a summary of the message.

This morning, I came across the file on my computer again and several things came together for me.  Awhile back I had created the page about an open door (you can see a picture of it here. It was basically an opaque page insert with nothing on the back of it (except for a couple of smudges that I REALLY wanted to hide!).  I had wondered what to do on the back of the page.  Because of the slick surface of the page, few media would adhere to it unless I used gesso or something similar on it. 

Today I realized - I could print up my special message on a coordinating paper and put it as a hidden message panel on the back of the open door page!

So that's what I did.  I put a text box in the middle of my page and put the message in it.  As I always do when printing on this type of paper, I used a clear embossing powder and heat embossed the printed message as soon as it came out of the printer - so the ink didn't smear on this slick paper.

When the embossing was complete, I took a paper towel and wiped both sides of the paper to help ensure there were no bits of embossing powder clinging to the paper.  Then I sent it back through the printer to print what you see above, on the back side of the page (and then heat embossed it, making sure to hold the paper from the edge with my hand so what was on the back didn't melt and smear!).

After cutting my panel to size, I attached it on the left side with decorative Washi tape.  I figured I'd use a sticker to hold it closed on the right side, but was afraid that the sticker would stick too tightly to the page.  So-o-o-o, I cut a small piece of paper to serve as backing paper for the overlap, and attached a velcro closure.  This isn't something I'd want to do very often in my Bible because of the added bulk, but since this was going on a page insert rather than a thin Bible page, and since I wanted the message to be more private, I did it that way this once.

Peace, Be Still!

Today's Bible Journaling piece is about the disciples facing a frightening storm at sea - and how Jesus calmed the waves .  As always, on this blog, my focus is on techniques - and today's techniques were a lot of fun!  I adapted them from something I saw Rebekah Jones do in this video.   In the video, she uses Inktense Pencils & Pitt Artist Pens.  I didn't have those, so used what I had - watercolor pencils & Scroll and Brush markers.  In person, I REALLY like how it turned out - especially the waves.  Here's how I made the page:

Page Prep: For this technique, I used the Dianna Wakely clear gesso from Ranger because it is a very smooth gesso which works well with most art media and I felt it would be quite important for this page.  Using one of Ranger's mini sponge applicators, I applied 3 thin coats of gesso, drying between each layer with my heat tool, and stroking in different directions on each layer to ensure better coverage.  With the techniques I knew I'd be using, I wanted a GOOD layer of gesso!  Then I left it awhile to make sure it was really dry before continuing.  While it was drying, I tried out the various techniques a bit on scrap paper to get a better feel for what I'd be doing.

Water/Waves: I drew out the outline of the waves on some paper - starting with Rebekah's free download, but adjusting them and adding more of my own. I also drew the boat & person in it and cut it out of a post-it note to use as a mask to protect that part of the page while I drew in the waves.  Once I had the waves as I wanted them, I outlined them with a very black marker so I could somewhat see them when I placed the paper behind my Bible page.  Then I took a dark blue watercolor pencil and sketched in the outline of the waves using the paper behind the page as a guide. (remember the post-it note protected the area of the boat & person during the whole process of creating the waves).

From there, I did pretty much what Rebekah showed in her video.  I first used a wet brush to activate the watercolor pencil lines and draw some of the color out (though I didn't have the patience to do as many layers of this as she did - in part because any new layers activated the others - which I could have avoided if I had the inktense pencils).  I made sure this was thoroughly dry before moving on.

Next I used my Scroll & Brush markers the same way she used the Pitt pens - and they worked pretty much the same way.  I laid down a bit of color, and then rubbed it out with my finger to create the look of fading from dark to lighter.  As with her Pitt pens, I only had a few seconds to do this before the ink dried.  But once it dried, it was more permanent than the watercolor pencil, and thus easier to layer.  I used several different colors of blues and aquas, as well as orchid to create a variety of blended colors in the waves.  This technique is so much fun!  AND I found if I got a little color outside of where I wanted it, if I IMMEDIATELY took an eraser to the area, I could remove it!!!  Nice to know. :)

Clouds: I decided storm clouds would add to the feel of the page, but before adding them, I placed a post-it note mask over the verses I wanted to highlight (the mask for the boat was still in place).  I did the clouds very similarly to the way I did the waves (though naturally using different colors!) - using first my watercolor pencils, then water, then Scroll & Brush markers blended with my finger.  I left the upper right corner free as well as an area near the boat, as I knew I wanted to add yellow for light (representing God's peace) to highlight the text, and to reach the boat. (more on that later)

Boat: After the clouds were done, I removed all the masks, then outlined the boat & person with watercolor pencils.  As usual I added water (lifting off some of the color with extra water and a paper towel so the skin wouldn't be too dark).  I added color with the markers & my finger as before. I added a little detail with some very fine (.3mm) Staedtler markers I have ("Triplus Fineliner").

Light: For the light I just used 3 different colors of yellow Scroll & Brush markers - blending some with my finger as I'd been doing for the rest of the page.  The words were hand-drawn with the fine-line Staedtler markers.  I guess I didn't have the background quite as dry as I thought, because it bled a little wider in some places.

Open Door

This was another Bible page insert - made pretty easily since it started as a coloring book page ("The Word in Color" Coloring Book by Christian Art Publishers).  I made it pretty easily:

1. I first colored the page with watercolor pencils (using clear "Wink of Stella" instead of water to blend the color).
2. Next I scanned the colored page and printed it on a cream colored glimmer paper (though it looks more gold in the picture!).
3. I find it hard to dry ink printed onto glimmer paper  - and it can sometimes rub off!  So as soon as it came out of the printer, I covered it with clear embossing powder and heat set it.  Problem solved!
4. After cutting to the correct size for my Bible, I inserted the page using "Zip Lines" adhesive.

Though the page was easy to create, it had an important message for me which you can read about on my blog about my spiritual journey here.