LET YOURSELF FREE ART JOURNAL SPREAD/A CHERRY ON TOP

Good morning, friends! Nicole here with a fun art journaling spread I created using a variety of products by Art by Marlene. I just love how fun, funky, and vibrant her products are and I've been itching to play in my journal for a few weeks now. And then I saw that Jess and Rachel were playing in theirs...and that was just what I needed to jump in and play along side them.

I never really have any idea of what I'm going to do when it comes to creating in my art journal. I simply grab a stamp and some paper along with my duo acrylic markers and just start laying down color. Once the background is colored with markers or papers, I add shapes, journaling and whatever else inspires me.

The butterfly stamps were my inspiration for this spread. I picked up two sets a few months ago and have yet to use them...therefore, I designed this spread around the butterflies. I cut the postage stamp paper to create the border at the top and bottom of the first spread. The butterfly was stamped directly onto the page so that I could get the scattered polka dots... and then I filled in the area to add pink and blue dots between the black polka dots.

Next, I stamped the butterfly image on to patterned paper and fussy cut it and glued it to the page. Super simple, but by using patterned paper, I was able to add more color. Then, I added the stamped sentiment, string, and gems to complete the spread. I ended up tracing over the sentiment using the marker to make it more bolder since the stamped sentiment was a little light.

The second part of the spread was a bit of a challenge and it didn't necessarily go as planned... I added the paper and then stamped the circles across the top of the page. I used markers to color in the dots. After that, I stamped the butterfly onto the paper and it was not a clear image so I ended up stamping it on a piece of patterned paper and fussy cutting it out to glue over my mistake. I stamped a few images such as the heart and sentiment. After that, I added a few die cuts to fill in the white space along with gems, and doodling.

Have you played in an art journal yet? It doesn't have to be pretty or perfect! It's just a great way to decompress and just play... Thank you so much for visiting today!  Click below to watch the full tutorial! A lot more went into this process than meets the eye...but in a fun way!

Nicole