From Art Journal to Handmade Card: Taking Your Backgrounds Further

Recently I was having a bit of a conversation with myself about art jurnaling and card making. Why I do not share more mixed media style cards here on my blog and was that because I treat the two as separate crafting styles?

Actually taking an inky art journal background idea and making a handmade card is something I do regularily but often do not share. 

Could that same approach work for a card?

Art journaling, for me, is a wonderful way to create without "rhyme or reason", mixing a whole host of different products which you may not always use if making a handmade card and tryingour new ideas

... but the stamped or stencilled layering ideas, colour choices and stamped finished embellishments (for want of a description), are the same - just one is a card you may gift and the other is a book that you keep.

Could that same approach work for a card?

Well, yes. In fact, I realised that I already do this regularly - I just hadn't really thought about the two styles of crafting as being so closely connected.

Start with an art journal mindset

What does that actually mean in real terms?

When I open my art journal, I think from the blank page upwards and let the mood of that day, or a particular image, guide me. 

start with colour(s)

allow the background to develop

add stamping or stencilling or both

don't worry about everything being perfectly positioned

build layers

don't keep stopping to judge it - I let the page develop until it feels finished

The background for this card was made following the steps I mentioned above -

• background colour was created using Pretty Gets Gritty Explosion Powders: Dragon & Poseidon. 
• lots of different stamped layers using the colours of the background to guide me
• stamping the main focal image and colour it
• stamped out additional images on another piece of card, coloured & cut them out
• then it was about how to layer the stamped images around a sentiment that suited a handmade card

When starting out making backgrounds, the thought of covering it can be "NO" all that work! When I love, love a background, I now keep it and it sits in its own journal which I can go back and reference whenever I want. Then I make another as then it's the second one and I find it easier then to add all my layers.

You could do this too with your card making too - keep the background to refer back to and create another for the card you want to gift.

The finished card

This card has all the mixed media layers I love to create in my art journals, but they work just as well when creating a card.

If I feel the background is getting a little too busy, one thing I often do is leave some of the stamped elements uncoloured. This helps create a little separation between the layers - the background stays as the background, while the stamped pieces become the finishing details.

Do you know what? After writing this post, I’ve added this to my list of things to do more often — and, more importantly, to share when I do.

Until next time, take care,

Lou
xxx