I’m still playing a little with art journaling, trying out some techniques and I decided to try to merge two techniques on one layout. It was an experiment, and not entirely successful but I did learn something in the process.
Here’s the layout:

It all started because I had this teeny left-over photo of my daughter on my desk. I liked the idea of covering the whole page with journaling and found a quote from Storypeople that spoke to me. I typed up my journaling using an outline font (Katie’s Hi Ho font) and filled in the letters using art masking fluid (inspired by Wilna’s tutorial on the October Afternoon blog). I had never used masking fluid before and let’s just say that it was a learning experience. The bottle said to shake it well, but it that didn’t seem to work. The first two lines took forever because the fluid seemed, well, not very fluid. After some googling I decided to stir it up with an old paintbrush. What a difference that made! It was a whole new world!

For the background I wanted to try Emily’s tutorial from the Studio Calico blog. I think the kind of mist you use makes a difference here. I certainly didn’t get the same effect using Adirondack Color Wash  but I’m limited to what I have on hand so I went with it. I was a little too heavy handed on the top left which messed up my letters (another learning moment!). I added some really old Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, just because I felt like it. 🙂

So there you have it. One experiment over. I think I will try this again. Did you see Julie Balzer and Nat Kalbach’s 2nd floor challenge? The first challenge is to use gold paint. I don’t have any but I’m definitely interested in checking out future challenges. Apparently I’m all about making a mess these days! 😛