Spotlight Artist - Astrid - Visual Journal Cover

Hello Everyone!

Pamellia here and I am so excited about our Spotlight Artist this month! I have been of fan of this gal's work for so long, and with all of her obligations, I was more than thrilled when she agreed to share her amazing techniques and art with us today!! Buckle your seat belts because you are in for one heck of an incredible post!!

A very warm welcome to the super talented  ASTRID of ASTRID'S ARTISTIC EFFORTS!

Hello all, and I am super excited to be here! Thank you Pamellia for inviting me!

My name is Astrid, and on the web many people know me as Astridchristine. I have been stamping and paper crafting probably for about 10 years or so, but did not get seriously into it until about 2008.

My paper crafting hobby has developed from those early stamping and card making days into using many different media and I would like to call myself a mixed media artist. I love journaling, altering all sorts of objects and playing about with gesso, acrylic paints, collage and many layers. Often I use my stamps more for creating backgrounds rather than as a main focal point. My style is Vintage/Shabby Chic and I love playing around with ribbons, flowers and lace.

I also love designing scrapbook papers in Photoshop Elements, all in vintage style of course. More of my work can be found on my blog ASTRID'S ARTISTIC EFFORTS.

Today I would like to share a project with you that includes most of these techniques, - the cover of a new kind of visual journal/mini book that my lovely daughter gave me as a Christmas present.

The book itself comes from Heartfelt Creations, it is about 6 x 9" big, 3.5" wide, and comes with 5 double pages and numerous fold-outs and inserts, - I know already it will take me ages to complete...

What I want to share with you today, is how I created the cover, using multiple layers and altering several scrapbook papers and embellishments from my stash, so here goes:

I started with a piece of paper from the Prima Timeless Memories A 4 paper pad and cut it to size, above you can see what it looked like to start with.

I started by altering it with help of a stencil by Seth Apter and put down a first layer with Archival ink in black. Next I used a Tim Holtz stencil and a mix of Vintage Photo and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks. This was followed by some background stamping using a variety of background stamps by Andy Skinner and Indigo Blue, I used both Orange Blossom and Coffee Archival inks for that.

Next I gathered a number of embellishments I wanted to use for further layers, as you can see, this included some further scraps of paper and diecuts (cut from packaging) as well as some ready chipboard pieces. I'll give you an overview how these were altered below.

This piece is also from the Timeless Memory collection, - this time I started with adding some texture through another Tim Holtz stencil, using Ranger Transparent texture paste. After that I used similar techniques to colour it, adding further stencilling and background stamping with Archival Inks and finally colouring with slightly deeper tones of Distress Inks, to draw in the eye once it would be layered onto the first piece. Next onto the embellishments:

For the bracket piece on the left I first added a thick layer of gesso to cover the print from my packaging. Next texture was added with a Crafters Workshop stencil and Ranger Texture past and then the piece was coloured with Decoart Media Fluid Acrylics and Distress Paints in a range of colours to tone in with the rest of my project.

The keyhole and number were altered with the help of paints and in the case of the keyhole some additional rusting. I'll give you more explanation on that further down.

Time to start putting it all together:

So here you can see how it all landed up, - as you may notice, - in the process of layering it up, and seeing which element should be placed where, several other elements were added, because putting a layered collage like this together is always a living process, and at least in my case I never know how it will end up eventually..... Let's look at some details:

The focal point in the centre was a little Couture Creations postcard, I added some acrylic paint to it, some scraps of old music papers and then distressed it a bit with some water drops and wrinkling. The number one (1) was a Tim Holtz plastic number I altered following one of his techniques that he explains on his April tag of 2013. You can find it here. The pen nib was a last minute addition, journals and pen nibs for me always go together somehow, and this one was altered in the same way. I also added a couple of flowers (they started life as a blue and white one), I coloured them with Adirondack Colour wash spray and then highlighted with gilding waxes.

To rust up the lock I started by adding Finnabair White Sand paste, then put down some Distress paint in Peacock Feathers and when that was still wet added some embossing powder, when that had melted and dried I just added some Ground Espresso paint still to grunge it up a bit further.

Here you can perhaps see another little trick I want to share. I love the effect of stitching around a card or project like this, but sewing and me don't really agree with one another, - it can take me half an hour to just thread my sewing machine lol. So instead I got a sewing pattern piercer.

Using a ruler, I pierce right around my project, if you turn the paper over and do it on the back, you get a better effect. I then use a Stabilo All pencil to go over the raised bits, to make it look like stitches, and in this case added some loose bits of black thread to add to the faux sewing effect.

Well that's it, hope you have enjoyed my little tutorial here.

If you want to see more of my work, you can visit my blog by clicking here.

Thank you so much for having me here today and happy crafting and creating!!

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WOW!! I don't know about you, but I've learned so much about Astrid as a person and as an artist today! What amazing techniques and the end result just blows me away! Every inch of this journal cover is loaded with texture and vintage colours! What a wonderfully rustic project, and I can't wait to see more as Astrid fills all the pages this year!

Thank you so much Astrid for joining us today. From the entire team here at Anything But Cute, we send warm wishes and huge crafting hugs!! 

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Don't forget, you have until the 4th of February to play along with Anne's current challenge :

Ring Out The Old, Bring In The New

You'll find all the challenge details as well as lots of inspiration from the brilliant Anything But Cute design team by clicking on the challenge link.