Hello gorgeous people - I'm back today with a really simple art journal page, something I would usually do for myself as playtime!  Recently I was lucky enough to lave a cuppa (Australia for a drink and a chat) with the fabulous Kylie fowler from Lulu Art (yes THAT Kylie!) seriously how lucky am I!!!  We were chatting about the art we do for fun - you know the sort, not for any particular purpose or project - but just because.  Kylie mentioned that she doesn't see 'my' play stuff anywhere and I realised that she is right - I just don't share it! 

So today I'm sharing something I would usually create for myself and then maybe decorate or maybe not!  It's a very simple background created with one of the easiest acrylic paint techniques I know of - Paint Scraping.

Start by grabbing at least 3 colors of acrylic paint - I'm using some of the new Pastel colors from Dina Wakley (you know I love these) and after much consideration, I decided on Apricot, Mineral and Carnation.

Use an old credit card or a fancy paint scraper to add one color at a time to the page - I explain this more in the video below.

Add a hint of glamour by adding some Golden Irridescent Gold Fine fluid acrylic and a few splashes of Lindy's sprays in grey and purple and then leave the whole page to dry.  Then you can begin decorating!  Now the time between this process of background and decorating can take me anywhere from a few days to a few years - I have many MANY undecorated background pages.  Honestly, I just love to play and experiment and a finished page doesn't always mean pretty or decorated for me.

For this page, I've mixed a custom paint color (Lapis and Night) to make Navy and added a very simple leafy flourish which I've embellished using paint over pens, paint pens, and a metallic gold ballpoint pen.  A little stenciling, some stamping with Archival ink and I'm calling this page finished.

I think it's the small details that bring this one together, the stencils, the little touches of colors in multiple tones (light to dark) and some stickers to finish it all off.

SUPPLIES

• Dina Wakley Acrylic Paint: Carnation, Apricot, Mineral, Lapis and Night
• Dina Wakley Fude Ball pen
• Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint (Irridescent Gold Fine) in a Fine Nozzel Applicator bottle
• Lindy's Sprays: Gag me with a spoon grey and Tea Pot Purple
• Stillman and Birn A5 journal or other A5 journal
• Credit card or special craft paint scraper
• Tim Holtz Stencil - Industrial and Stripes (THS108)
• Tim Holtz - Big Chat Sticker words
• Crafters Workshop Stencil - TCW767S
• Archival Ink - Cobalt
• Donna Downey Stencil - Bubbles
• Stampers Anonymous Alphabet Stamps - Worn Text
• Jane Davenport Paint Over Pens or Acrylic Paint Pens
• Jane Davenport Magnetic Brush - angled
• White Paint Pen (Sharpie or Jane Davenport)
• Metallic Gold Ballpoint pen (Uni Ball Signo Broad)

Up close you can see the little details that tie the colors together.