Today is a Perfect Day to Start Living Your Dreams

by Elina Stromberg

The inspiration for this art journal page was a StencilGirl stencil I’d been wanting to try out for some time. Instead of dabbing ink through the stencil or using gesso or texture paste, I decided to build the stencil face from black cardstock. Before creating the face image, I prepared the background. The first layer of color was misted, using the vivid ‘Lilac Posies’ color from Fireworks Craft Sprays. Once the color was dry I added texture. I mixed Fireworks with white texture paste and stenciled random patterns on the pages. Once the paste was dry I started stamping. First using magenta acrylic paint and a piece of bubble wrap as my stamp, and then continued with regular stamps. For the triangular images I used a Cocoa Daisy stamp set, and the black dots I stamped with the eraser end of a No. 2 pencil. As a finishing touch, I added white by stamping white acrylic paint with a plastic roll.

For the face, I wanted to try a fun collage technique. I placed the face image on black cardstock, traced the parts with a thin pen, and cut out. The larger pieces were cut with scissors, but for cutting the smaller parts I used a craft knife. The stencil was my guidance when placing the pieces on the page, and again, On Point Glue was the right choice for gluing down the tiny cut parts. I picked up the quote from Pinterest and cut the letters with Sizzix alpha dies.

I’m very happy with the final look of the page and hope try it out some of the techniques.