Last Sunday Sentiments: Love Your Path

Happy first Sunday in February! I decided to make this the last Sunday sentiments because I have too many things going on with classes and challenges. I've also realized I'm more of a "part-taker" than an "organizer".  It was fun while it lasted and thank you so much to those of you who took part. If you're looking for another similar linkup (on a much larger scale!), I would wholeheartedly recommend Stephanie Dunsdon's Tuesday linkup Roses of Inspiration on her beautiful website, The Enchanting Rose.

For this month, I prepared a quick layout in one of the cheap notebooks I bought the other day, proving that you don't need an expensive journal to do art. I just stick two pages together with gel medium and gesso both sides of the page to make it more sturdy. After this, you can do anything you would normally do in a more expensive journal, including using wet media to your heart's content. The pages are a bit wrinkly, but it adds to the appeal in my opinion. Also, the paper is lined, but I consider that an extra layer.

I plan to use these notebooks for doing art without thinking or stressing about it too much, just to enjoy the process. I also want to use up all my cheaper art supplies I bought before I got the "real" stuff. For example, the background in this layout was done with cheap kids' gel crayons. I sometimes feel restricted using expensive products in fear of wasting them. In these journals, I intend to use stuff I don't mind wasting and have fun doing it! You can see these cheap notebooks below. I picked them up from Home Bargains (in the UK) for £1.49 each. An absolute steal, really! I love the embossed cover, the rounded corners, the elastic tie and the fact that the pages lie flat.

I blended the gel crayons with gesso and used a stencil with Dylusions ink (pomegranate, I think) to make patterns. I decided not to worry about the ink smudging or reactivating, so just carried on sticking my elements down: pieces of dictionary paper and magazine cutouts. I added some stamping and some paint splatters and drippage and tada, my page was done!

My sentiment celebrates the freedom of enjoying your journey, wherever it leads you. (There's a parallel here, by the way: enjoy making art, whatever the outcome!) It was fun finding words in magazines and junk mail to come up with the title and a matching image. I think this is closer to traditional type of jornalling and it definitely takes less effort than doing your own images and lettering. It's certainly a lot quicker!

I hope you enjoyed this Sunday Sentiments. The link will be available until the end of February for one last link-up! Have fun playing with colour! Here are some more photos of this journal layout.

An InLinkz Link-up