Can There Be Too Much of a Good Thing???

Good Tuesday all my crafty friends! It'a a BEAUTIFUL day in Georgia today! It was not the case yesterday, but hey......it's spring!! Or as spring as it get's in Georgia! LOL I was able to get some well needed yard work done over the weekend. It's Tuesday, and my body can still testify to it!! LOL Sad, but true story!! And so the months of grass cutting begins!!

I was able to play in my art closet this weekend for a bit. The time I did have, I decided just to do whatever I wanted. I didn't work on any challenges, I pulled out several journals, a canvas, some tags and just started slapping stuff with no "theme," no rhyme or reason and just because! It was liberating!! LOL So now I have quite a few unfinished projects on my desk that I can finish here and there! I love it.

All that said, I have a journal spread I will share with you today! I have been all in this spring mood lately and wanted to do something to reflect that! We leave out next week to go on a big camping trip and I guess I have the fever! I can't wait to get out on those hiking trails and see all of God's beautiful nature. When I'm out on those trails, I am getting some great exercise, but it's also a time for me to be with my creator. One on one, He and I and we have some beautiful talks! I can't wait!

One of the things I knew I wanted to do was use some of the goodies that I got from Heather over at the Kraaft Shaak. I ordered her fabulous Mixed Media Kit and there were so many goodies, I didn't know where to start! LOL I had some color scheme in mind because of the fabulous chalkboard paint that Heather included in the kit. So I went with that in mind.

I started the page by applying some of Tim Holtz's tissue paper with Mod Podge. I then did a gesso wash over that. I then scraped (literally) Prima's chalkboard paint in Sea Breeze over the two pages here and there with a palette knife. I then sprayed on some Glimmer Mist in Black Cherry and misted with water and then took a baby wipe and blotted all over. I stamped some back ground stamping with black Archival and edged the pages with the same.

I have so many great flower stamps from Unity, so I just picked a few that I liked. I stamped the first flowers from the June 2014 Layers of Life Collection in black Archival as if a background and then stamped the flower from the February 2015 Layers of Life Collection on some card stock where I then painted it with Daler Rowney Pearlescent in Sundown Magenta and Liquitex Inkl in Deep Violet. I also stamped the flower from the February 2014 Layers of Life Kit onto some card stock and then painted the with Faber Castell Gelatos in Mango, Tangerine and Lemon. I wanted to mute those flowers just a bit, so I spritzed them with Heidi Swapp's Color Shine in Gold. I then fussy cut both sets of flowers out.

I then took the FABULOUS Finnabair Art Extravagance by Prima Gold Crackle Texture Paste and applied it through my yummy new stencil from Finnabair, Doily 3. I love that stuff and it had a great effect to it, but as with all art, you live and learn. The next time I do it, I will put a thicker layer. It was my first time playing with it, so I wasn't sure how thick or thin. It was fine on this, but I want to try a thick later and see how that works! You have to try that stuff! I did leave it to dry on it's own because I had several projects going on at one time.
When the crackle paste was dry I then applied my flowers down with Mod Podge and shaded with my favorite Faber Castell Big Brush Pens. 

Heather had put a butterfly die cut in my kit and I knew I wanted to use it in some way as well. It was a mauve color which was perfect with my flowers. I wanted to embellish that guys so, once again I had a live and learn moment. I took Finnabair's Art Ingredients GORGEOUS Micro Beads in Berry (that were in my kit) and mixed them with Liquitex Gloss Gel and applied it over top of the butterfly die cut. While I am not going to say it was a complete disaster, I will in fact do it differently next time. The texture was really, really cool, but I probably should have used a lighter background die so the beads could pop more! Not bad, but just not the WOW I was looking for! I highlighted that little guy with my favorite Viva Inka Gold and then painted him some character on with the chalkboard paint and liquitex black ink. I gave him a key body and a jewel crown! :)

I finished this spread by hot gluing my butterfly stamping my sentiment along with some cute little bees, adding some little gold elements from my Mixed Media Kit and then spritzing with the liquitex black ink. Voila!

It was a fun spread especially since there was no agenda, I just started and watched where it went! Spring is in the air and this page just has me excited!! I hope you are looking forward to spring in your part of the country!

Bless you today! :)