The first real page in my art journal, it seemed appropriate to say “hello” here using words cut from a magazine.

I spent a lot of time on this background.  I applied several different metallic acrylic paints (gold, copper, bronze) to the page, then added washi tape, a wine label, and a vintage journal excerpt ironed between two pieces of waxed paper and sewn around the edges with a sewing machine.  After adding the words “Well Hello”, I tapped a little bit of turquoise-coloured acrylic paint onto other parts of the background so the blue from the words would tie in with the blue on the page.  I rubberstamped some butterflies and added two dimensional butterflies (whose wings actually pop off the page when the book is opened).  In order to incorporate the collaged words into the page, I doodled around them a bit using a black pen.  The white rings were acrylic paint applied with a milk jug cap.

Sometimes the trick to making a page work is repeating the same colours in several different places on the page, as I did here with the gold, copper, and blue.  Those are not colours I would normally put together, but as long as I repeated each at least a couple of times on the page, it works!

One more tidbit:  it’s ok to come back later and add something else to an art journal page you’ve previously completed.  I thought this page was finished until I found the dimensional butterfly stickers at the dollar store and decided to add them.  NOW the page is finished!