Hi everyone! It’s Bonnie here with my version of the Week 1 prompt of the 2017 Art Journal Adventure. Barb and I are taking turns this year in hosting the AJA and I am so excited. This week is the kick-off and we are each sharing our versions of the cover for our journals as well as our binding systems. Barb suggested that since this is the Chinese calendar year of the Rooster, we include a nod to the rooster in our creations which I thought was an awesome idea.

I started with a 7 x 10 inch rectangle of Mixed Media paper which I spritzed with Yellow Rose of Texas and Hag’s Wart Orange Lindy’s Stamp Gang Two-toned Starburst Sprays and allowed to dry.  Lindy’s Hottie Patottie Hot Pink Starburst Spray was spritzed through Carabelle Studio Handwritten Text Stencil on the left hand side, flipped over and the excess printed in the middle section, and then placed on the right side of the page and spritzed through again.

The letters for Art Journal Adventure were stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink using letters from an unknown source. The letters were constructed to look grungy and not give perfect impressions but I did fill them in with Black Pitt pen so they became darker and more solid looking. At this point, I added a little stamping with Magenta Hue Archival Ink and Stampotique Originals Dotted Squares stamp. You will see this in later photos.

I always keep a collection of mop-up papers and gel prints next to my desk and I happened to have this one which was the same colour palette as I just used. It was the reverse side of Joggles Bubble Blast Stencil which had been cleaned off onto white card stock. A rectangle was cut to fit the opening between the title sections and number stencils were traced with pencil to create 2017. They were then filled in with a Brush tip Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen.

A White Sharpie Water Based Paint Pen was used to doodle within the numbers and the same medium Black Pitt pen was used to faux stitch around them to add a little more texture and interest to this center block. It was matted with black card stock before being adhered to the background with Scor Tape.

I am such a fan of anthropomorphic images…for some reason, they just crack me up so when it came time to choose a rooster image, there was no contest. The rooster fellow from the Joggles Birds of a Feather Collage Sheet was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border to give some width to the skinny parts. It was then matted with black card stock and fussy cut again. I like how that makes him pop against the background. He was adhered with Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue.

To add even more texture and connect the year plate to the background, Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Tiny Circles stencil so that it overlapped both layers in places. You can also see those dotted squares I stamped earlier.

The background was adhered with Scor Tape to an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of black card stock which had previously been punched using the Create 365 Happy Planner Punch. This is how I am going to bind my art journal pages when each is complete. (more about that in a minute). I used the same Sharpie Paint pen to doodle a simple border on the black background. At the same time, the stamped letters were also dotted to unite the piece as well as take away some of their plainness. Repetition of the dots in the numbers, border, Texture Paste, and letters helps the piece read as one and creates flow.

Here’s the finished cover with the discs from the Create 365 Happy Planner in place. I love this system for binding my journal. It’s super easy to use, allows me to work flat and build up as much dimension as I want without it fanning out like my previous ring bound journal. I can vary both the size and types of papers and even add tags if I want. Love the flexibility that offers.

On the other side of this cover page, I decided to add an Index page where I can list the prompts from each of the weeks. It’s just a plain page now but I know I will add some colour and stencilling or stamping very soon to make it more appealing. I’ll add this page in the files section on the Art Journal Adventure Facebook group in case anyone else wants to do this. The watermark will not be on it…LOL.

I hope you will play along with us this year. We have an absolutely fabulous group of  friendly, supportive and talented people…some new to the group and some who played along with us last year. We would love to have you join us, too 🙂