Serendipity Journal With Brusho And StencilGirl Stencils

Hello Beautiful Creative People!!

Welcome to Day 3 of the StencilGirl and ColourCraft Blog Hop!!

I'm feeling mighty lucky to have been sent a set of Brushos and a few metallic paints from the folks at ColourCraft, and of course I've got my library of stencils from StencilGirl on hand. 

I've seen others using Brusho powders on YouTube and Instagram, so I was familiar with how they work and the one word I could think of to describe them was SERENDIPITY!! Which happens to be one of my favorite words :-). 

So of course I knew immediately I'd be making some sort of journal for this project. I started with loose sheets of mixed media paper, gathered a few stencils, and started playing. The stencils I ended up using for the journal were: 
Pattern Play by Carolyn Dube
Private Collection 15.3 by Mary Beth Shaw
Private Collection 14.5 by Mary Beth Shaw

Here's my process...

Creating a Resist with Stencils

I really wanted some of the pages to have a resist on them, so I started by running gel medium through a few stencils. 

I love the effect this creates on my pages because it allows me to go over the page with color and still have the stencil image show from behind. I started with this technique because it requires a lot of time to dry. 

Brusho Backgrounds

Next, I wanted to create a few pages that started with Brusho Powders to create an abstract watercolor background. The powders make it so easy because all you need to do is sprinkle the powder and spray a little water on top. The powders do all the work. 

Rose Red and Yellow Ochre

Yellow Ochre and Sandstone

Lime Green and Olive Green

Lime Green

Adding Stencils and Creating Signatures

Once the Brusho backgrounds dried, I began adding stencils to create journaling areas on the pages. I love doing this because when I come to the page to add my journaling I won't encounter a blank page. I'll invite a little serendipity into my practice by seeing what inspires me at the time I reconnect to my pages. 

This is also the point when I started to fold my pages into signatures so I could see them as pages in a journal. For me, this is another moment of serendipity -- you never know what the pages are going to look like side by side. 

Creating the Journal

Once all the pages were folded and nested inside one another, I use my needle and thread to sew a basic 5 hole running stitch. It's one of the easiest ways to make a journal, so I decided to keep it simple for the structure. 

However, I wanted to get a little fancy for my cover, so I grabbed the metallic paints from ColourCraft, a piece of black drawing paper, and a stencil. I LOVE the result. These paints are so vibrant on black and using multiple colors creates an even more dramatic look. 

Here, I've used the Aztec Lusters in purple and aquamarine. 

Of course I wanted to layer another stencil on top to create a little more interest, so I used one from Mary Beth's Private Collection and adding the wobbly circle and titled this journal -- Serendipity!! I know -- very clever :-). 

Then I used the ColourCraft Water Resistant Drawing Ink in Black to write a few words around the trim of my journal. This stuff is AMAZING and works really well with a dip pen. It clings to the nib beautifully and let me write several words before needing to dip the pen again. 

I opted for black, but the inks come in lots of colors. 

Assembling the Journal

Okay, now that my cover art was done, it was time to put the journal all together. Here's my final result with all the pages folded and sewn together. 

I LOVE IT and I can't wait to do a bit of journaling in this beauty. Let me know if you decide to make your own serendipity journal. I'd love to hear about your process.

Now, make sure you stop by all the other lovely blogs in this hop so you can see all the wonderful ways to use these products. From stencils to powders, you can create tons of projects. Here's a list of all the other lovely blog hoppers: 

August 16
Mary C. Nasser
Louise Nelson
Sarah Allan
Terri Koszler

August 17
Janet Joehlin
Sherry Canino (you are here)
Ewelina Gryglak
Katie Lamb

August 18
Gwen Lafleur 
Kiala Givehand -- YOU ARE HERE
Susanne Rose 
Kate Dachovska 

​AND of course you know there's a GIVEAWAY!!!!!

One lucky winner will receive both a $25 Gift Certificate to StencilGirl Products AND a $25 Gift Certificate to Colourcraft!

Visit the other fabulous designers from both teams and comment for your chance to win! The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN! You only need to leave one comment per blog.  You have until Sunday, August 20th at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.

The winner will be announced on StencilGirl’s Facebook page and Colourcraft’s Facebook page
on Monday, August 21st.

GOOD LUCK and thanks for hopping along!!!