BLOG AJ Page - Natural Joy

I created this understated page which, despite a muted colour palette, has a lot of visual interest thanks to the natural imagery and the variety of tones used. Have a go yourself – and please send some pics of your finished pages – I would love to see them.

>> What you need:

  • A5 white card
  • Distress ink – Old Paper, Pumice Stone, Ground Espresso, Peeled Paint
  • Distress Spray Stain – Vintage Photo
  • 2 ½ inch brayer
  • Creative Expressions Rustic Birds clear stamp set – splattered border
  • Tim Holtz Layering Stencil – Wildflower
  • Crafty Individuals mounted rubber stamp - Perching Pied Wagtail
  • Hobby Art clear stamp set Janie’s Wildflowers
  • That’s Crafty! Clear stamp set – Lynne’s Word Flowers Set 1
  • Tim Holtz Travel Stamp Platform

Step 1: Load your brayer with Old Paper and cover the top of your page, a bit more than halfway. Temporarily turning your page to portrait orientation makes this easy.

Step 2: Clean and dry your brayer, then load with Pumice Stone and apply to the bottom section, overlapping a bit.

Step 3: Position the Wildflowers stencil on the left side of your page. Place a piece of scrap card under the right edge of the stencil to cover and protect the rest of your page. Spray with Vintage Photo Spray Stain. Leave to dry.

Step 4: Move the stencil to the right side and position as shown, a bit lower than full height. Protect the left side of your page with scrap card as before, then spray with Vintage Photo.

Step 5: Using the splattered border stamp and Pumice Stone, add texture to the left, bottom, and right edges as shown.

Step 6: Use your stamp platform and Ground Espresso to stamp the pied wagtail just left of centre.

Step 7: Fill in the gaps along the bottom edge using various Janie’s Wildflowers stamps in Ground Espresso and Peeled Paint as shown, using your platform or not – whichever you find easiest! Aim for a mixture of heights and a balanced distribution of colour.

Step 8: Using the Joy word flower and Pumice Stone, place the actual flower just off the journal page and stamp the word top right to finish off.

TOP TIP #1: This colour palette with its muted, natural hues makes a nice change from high-intensity colours.

TOP TIP #2: Tonal variation (a good range of lights and darks) becomes more important in this case – something to keep in mind when you have a go at creating pages using these colours yourself.