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Monday, March 13, 2023

My Garden Gnomie

 Happy Monday to all.
Hope everyone is doing well.

Today I have an art journal page to share. It's in my very first art journal that I have not quite filled up yet. As I've explained before, this art journal is about my life from 2009 to 2012. At the end of 2012, I made a list for the unfinished pages. So, this is one of those.

This is how the page looked originally. I had gesso'd it and collaged a few strips of paper, then painted it a light green. At some point after that, I'd used the page to play around with dropping alcohol inks on it and blowing it with a straw. 

I prepped by masking the facing page with super sticky post-its.

And I had an idea to play with some old eye makeup before throwing it out.

The eye makeup muted the page some but it wasn't suitable for the page I wanted to create.

So, these paints came to the rescue to paint a sky.

But the red and pink alcohol inks persisted in showing through. I tried gesso-ing them by painting clouds. I liked the pink in my newly-painted sky, but not a "bleeding" cloud!

I finally got the pink muted by using White Out, lol. I was seriously that frustrated. But it worked well enough and hey, the page's mixed media already includes alcohol inks and eye makeup, so why not?

When Honey turned 60 in April of 2012, we hosted a very nice family dinner at a restaurant in Houston to celebrate. He was still into vegetable gardening then, okra and tomatoes mostly with a few squash plants. He received some cool gardening supplies and equipment which he put to good use back in those days. I wanted to make this page to remember that part of our lives. The title was made with a variety of stash stickers and the journaling was done on a strip of deli paper. I used a green Posca paint marker to record his age and a few sprigs of grass. The focal image is a precolored version of Polkadoodles' Gnome printable digi clipart. I printed it out, fussy cut it and attached it to the page using glue dots to bridge the horizontal paper buckling in the middle of the page.

Here you can see that I had chosen the page facing the page I did back in February on my birthday. So it's a spread about both of our birthdays in 2012.

A close up of the journaling on both pages. I thought it would be nice and fitting to have these pages together since both of our birthdays were notable to us, Honey turning the big 6-0 and since 2012 was a Leap Year it was my 14th. Yikes, a 60-year-old man married for 25 years to a 14-year-old? 
Hahahahaha!
😮

And one last look.
👀
I love how this page turned out, especially when I know what it used to look like. And one more page closer to finishing this composition book journal. I yearn for thick watercolor paper pages to work on and have those journals ready, but I need finish what I started 14 years ago. Working on such inferior paper taught me a lot, actually, so I can't complain...too much.
😉
Thanks for the visit and have a great day.
XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
I've used this Polkadoodles Gnome clipart
I've used this Polkadoodles Gnome clipart
Try It On Tuesday Challenge: Go Green
I recycled this page, for sure, and it does have some green
I've used this Polkadoodles Gnome clipart
I've used this Polkadoodles Gnome clipart

26 comments:

My name is Erika. said...

I enjoyed seeing your process to "rescue" your page from 2012. I think white out makes the perfect fix-it from that pesky alcohol ink. That little bit of pink in the sky looks great though. I don't think Mr. Gnomie would be out in the mid-day hot sun gardening.He's very cute by the way. I love your story about you turning 14 and being married for 25 years to a 60 year old man---smile. Have a super new week, and thank you for linking up to Valerie's challenge at AJJ. hugs-Erika

Diane said...

What a fabulous gnome and I loved your story, made me laugh, I always wondered how leap year Feb 29th babies handled their birthdays, I think your hubby robbed the cradle LOL, I can see where you could have a lot of fun with that date!
Thank you for joining our challenge at The Four Seasons!
Diane FS Co-Owner
{Nellies Nest}
{Four Seasons}
{Stencil Fun}

Snowcone said...

I love your journal pages! I use to be in some yahoo groups with you and it's good to see you're still at it!

crafty-stamper said...

Fabulous journal page love all the steps to get to the finished result,love the gardening Gnome.Thank you for joining us at Pearly Sparkles and Dragonfly DReams
Carol DT x

craftytrog said...

I love this fun page Aimeslee!
My friend's daughter's birthday is 29th February too, she is 7, and now a married lady :D

Valerie-Jael said...

Love your beautiful journal page with the handsome gnome, Aimeslee, and the fact that it's about your birthdays makes the spread very special. Even if you are only 14! Thanks for joining in my challenge at AJJ, much appreciated, Valerie

Julia Aston said...

Thanks for sharing your wonderful journal page and it's creation story Aimeslee! A sweet garden gnome having so much fun on his 60th bday planting and watering! Thank you for joining us at Inkspirational! Julia xx

Becca S said...

Aimeslee: I'm enjoying your creative journey for this page in your journal! What a bunch of twists and turns with outstanding results! The garden gnome to honor your husband turning 60 way back when is a terrific idea. My husband's close to your husband's age, probably about a year older. For several years for birthdays and holidays, he was receiving band-aids because all of his mechanical tinkering was resulting in cuts, welding burns, and the like! Thanks for thinking of FarmQuest General Store for the gardening aspect of your journal page! Love seeing this in the links! --Becca

Bonnie Lynn said...

What a fun journal page! I really love how it turned out. I hope you're having a much better day than myself.

Elkes Lebensglück said...

very nice that page, i love the garden gnomie!!!
Hug Elke

Becca Sadler, owner and manager of HQCB and FQCB said...

I'm back for TFATU! Thanks for linking your garden gnome with us! --Becca

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

What a charming gnomie. Such a sweet face. I love how you took us through the entire process from start to completion. I empathized with your frustration and applauded your success. Nice to get one more entry from 2012 finished, too. This charming entry is perfect for Valerie's theme at Art Journal Journey.

Creaine said...

So glad you’ve joined our challenge at Mixed Media Lovers! I just love what you’ve made. Hope to see you again next time.
Blogowner: Ine http://creaine-cards.blogspot.nl/

Deanne Saunders said...

Great work!! Thanks so much for participating in our LIL PATCH OF CRAFTY FRIENDS challenge!!! I appreciate that you play along and I enjoy visiting your blog!! Have a happy crafty day!!
Deanne at A Little Bit O’ Paper

cass said...

Great journaL page. Thanks for joining us at A Place to Start this month for our Anything Goes challenge

marlies said...

Hartstikke mooi wat je gemaakt hebt! Zo leuk dat je meedoet bij de Mixed Media Lovers!
Marlies, DT

Pamela said...

You've rescued your page brilliantly and it's now a lovely page in your journal to remember hubby's gardening hobby.
Pamela
CD Sunday Plus DT.

Carol said...

I am sorry my visit is a bit late. Have been struggling a bit. You have done a mammoth recovery and I admire it all. It is not something I have ever tried but I admire those that do.
Hugs
Carol xx
CD Sunday DT

Andree said...

A fabulous journal page and a lovely gnome. The fun thing about Mixed media is playing with different products and textures. As you've found, some work better than others. Your cloudy sky looks wonderful.
Thank you for joining in with our March challenge "Anything Mixed Media Goes" at Creative Artiste Mixed Media. Good luck x

pearshapedcrafting said...

I absolutely adore this page Aimeslee- a great birthday to celebrate with your little gnome. I would have left the pink clouds- we don't see the sun setting from our window but we do sometimes get to see fabulous pink clouds. Thanks so much for sharing this lovely page at AJJ and Valerie's theme, hugs, Chrisx

ahlers5 said...

My goodness, you certainly are persistent! It was well worth it. This page is amazing!

Gale said...

Fabulous journal page and what a great story behind it Aimeslee! Thank you for sharing with us over here at Pearly Sparkles Challenge and best of luck with your entry. Love to see you join in each month. Thank you.
Gale DT for
http://pearlysparkleschallenge.blogspot.com/

Let's Art Journal said...

Such a fun design! Loving the gnome and touches of green 😊. Thanks so much for joining in the fun at Try it on Tuesday! Hugs, Jo x

MeSi said...

Adorable journal page, great scene! Thank you for sharing at Polkadoodles Craft Challenge. Hope to see you again!

Merja DT
https://kortitjakokkailut.blogspot.com

Francesca said...

Beautiful journal page! Thank you for playing at Dragonfly Dreams Challenge!

ClaireB said...

Fantastic project, such a fun gnome page. Thanks for joining us at the Fairy and the Unicorn challenge this month, good luck with your entry Claire DT