Art Journal Cover Tutorial

I promised you guys a tutorial on my art journal cover.

Gesso it. I didn't sand first.

Plop on some acrylic paint. You don't need a palette.

Push the paint around.
I finished painting.
Now glue down some decorative paper with acrylic matte medium.
I prepared these chipboard letters with black gesso.

Here is a shot of where I do this type of journaling stuff. A corner in the studio. Non wet journal processes are done on my computer desk.

Fun home made background stamps. I painted them with some Lumiere metallic acrylic paint and then stamped the cover and the letters. Nice paint, really expensive. I think I will buy more.

Toned the letters down a bit with a mossy green I mixed up. I sponged the paint on so it would be mottled.

It was all going great... then I messed up didn't I? I had never tried my embossing powder or my VersaMark pad before. The embossing powder stuck well enough (though the font doesn't suit what I was doing) but when I heated it over the toaster, nothing happened. I was nervous about heating up the cover too much.

The powder didn't become a raised surface so I ended up brushing it off again. Yuck.

I filled in the word with a gel pen.

I gessoed some more chipboard letters.

And glued them on with UHU multi purpose adhesive. It prob'ly isn't archival, but those letters are really stuck on.

I can't wait to show my art journal class.