Hi everyone. It’s Bonnie here today with the prompt for Week 8 of the 2017 Art Journal Adventure. I can’t believe we are already on Week 8, to be honest with you, so the prompt this week is Include a Reference to Time. That can be interpreted in so many ways that I can’t wait to see what people in our AJA group come up with. I went with an Alice in Wonderland theme because I am a huge fan and I just happen to have this awesome Carabelle Studio stamp set called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which features Alice and the White Rabbit and which I have been itching to colour!

I started with a 7 x 9 inch rectangle of Mixed Media paper which I spritzed with Lindy’s Stamp Gang Creme Brulee Cream Starburst Spray. While it was still wet, I splattered Vintage Photo Distress reinker using a fan brush. The ink  wicked out in some places where the Starburst Spray was still wet and created these lovely irregular splotches with tiny tendrils. Cool effect and one to remember!

While the background was drying thoroughly, I stamped Alice and White rabbit onto white card stock using Jet Black Archival Ink. Both were coloured with a mix of coloured pencils and then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border. Because I like my pops of black and also wanted the images to stand out against the background, I adhered them to black card stock and cut them out again leaving a narrow black border.

I have several copies of Lewis Carroll’s books and often use pages from one that is too tattered and incomplete to be read. Three pieces were torn and edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink before being adhered to the background. I went with Distress Ink instead of Archival because I thought I might want to activate it with a water brush to create a shadow and embed the text into the background. I didn’t end up doing that but I wanted the option. I had to have White Rabbit ready to go before this step because I wanted the text paper to overlap the bottom of his jacket so he had to be adhered first. Alice could wait on the sidelines for a while (much to her dismay).

I wanted something to reference time and also frame Alice so I used Coffee Archival Ink to stencil the large clock from Andy Skinner Mixed Media Stencil, Made to Measure. I also stencilled the number from the center of the clock onto the text paper under Rabbit in order to bring some stencilling to that side of the page.

Washi Tape was adhered to white card stock to take away the transparency, and then it was torn into two strips, anchoring both Alice and Rabbit. Coffee Archival Ink was used to edge the strips before adhering them over the text paper. I liked the addition of more black and white and also the whimsy of the checkerboard pattern.

I have a thing about adding text stamp to my backgrounds and this one needed more texture and pattern so out came Joggles Nonsense Latin Text stamp and Tree Branch Archival Ink. Tree Branch is lighter than Coffee so it gave me a second generation look to my stamping without having to stamp it off first. (Go, Lazy Me!) I fussy cut a pocket watch image from some designer paper, inked the edges with Coffee ink, and then adhered it to the right side of the page. Since the stencilling of the large clock was off the page, I wanted this watch to echo that on the opposite side.

The sentiment, a quote from the book, was printed onto white card stock, cut into individual words, and matted with black. Both Alice and the words were popped up on foam tape to add dimension. A Fine Black Pitt Pen was used to outline the layers of paper, washi, and the watch, as well as creating a simple border for the page.

When I took another look at the composition, the empty space in the top right corner bothered me. I added Idea-ology Spinner (clock) hands and filled the holes with rhinestones. It filled the space in a quiet way and furthered the theme of time. It also stopped that corner from nagging me 🙂

And here it is all finished. The page looks old and well loved just like the AIW books I have, and I have 4 references to time so Mission Accomplished. I can’t wait to see the directions that this Time prompt takes you!