Inside My Art Journal: Exploring My Yellow Self

 I am taking a fabric surface design ecourse right now and have been giving a lot of thought to patterns and colors that I want to experiment with in a textile.  It's really hard sometimes to sketch out ideas and it feel totally original to me. There are so many iconic background creators out there right now, sometimes I feel at a loss for what is truly me and what is inspired by the images that I have seen.  I believe that it is truly ok for an artist to use other people's work as inspiration.  In fact it's how a lot of really famous artists got their ideas, by working alongside and being influenced by there artisan counterparts of their day.  But sometimes when I use a technique frequently used by another much more famous artist, I feel inauthentic, and in-authenticity is a total killer of creative energy.  So today's journal pages truly reflect me wrestling with myself to find a unique creative voice that is totally me.  I also really wanted to experiment with pattern making on yellow backgrounds ever since I saw these! Yes, you can get inspiration from anywhere, even socks.  The trick is how to take that inspiration and help it grow something new and unique that could only come from you. 

So here are my 2 pages for today.  I also used a lot of the artsy tape that I made with you yesterday.  Can you spot all the different ones?  If you'd like to create your own tape for a project, check out my DIY here.  Thanks for stopping by today.  I'd love to hear what you are journaling about (on paper or on your blog) today.

XO, HARMONY

Make This! Your Own Artsy Tape

If you are anything like me, you drool over all the gorgeous new lines of colored and patterned japanese (washi) tapes that are blowing up the crafting scene these days.  I would love to own tons of them in every sort that is sold, but I just cant bring myself to spend the $5-10 per small roll that they cost.  There are so many different fun uses for them, and I knew there just had to be a way to make my own for such projects.  Here is my version of making artsy tape, and in my opinion, they turned out so much more interesting and fun than the manufactured version. 

 Gather these materials: Freezer Paper (regular wax paper will also work, but is harder to peel off), Paint (no need for expensive stuff, get the cheap craft stuff), Paint Brush, Scissors, Masking Tape (of whatever width you like.  I had the wide roll on hand but you may want to try the thinner version as well), lots of other fun art making supplies (whatever you have on hand that you like working with.  I chose a sharpie, hand carved stamps with stamping ink, water color pencils, roller, distress ink, and vintage papers.

Tape down a sheet of freezer paper, waxy side up, and start adding strips of masking tape to it.

Add some pretty paint colors and paint a thin layer over each.

A cute helper is always better :)

When the paint is dry, start adding your decorations.  This batch I did with my 3 year old so it's a bit messy, but when they were all done, they actually looked really cool!  So dont worry about it turning out messy looking.

Here are a few other ones I did without my overly exuberant helper.  From left to right, the techniques I used were: bubble wrap stamped, handcarved stamp, stencil overlay, another handcarved stamp, oil stick drawing, and the last two are collaged with vintage papers using regular craft glue.

Then carefully remove your tape strips from the original paper and move to a clean sheet of freezer paper.

You can just roll up the sheets like that to store away for another project day, or you can cut them down like I did so that they are ready to use.  Dont forget to leave yourself a bit of paper tab on the ends to help you get started when peeling off for use.

There are so many fun ways you can use tape like this.  I used mine today to decorate some mailers to send to a friend.  How fun are they!? Who wouldnt love to receive a happy package that looks like this?

What other sorts of ways can you think of to use artsy tape?  I saw this blog post recently that was full of creative DIY Washi Tape Projects, and it's definitely worth checking out.  Also, you can come back tomorrow for my Art Journal Post, and see how I used them in my latest page creations.  I do hope that this inspires you to try it yourself, and that all your tape using is colorful from now on!

XO, HARMONY