Party Like it's 1999

I am excited to be a Guest Designer for Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenges and what a fun challenge this one is:

Mardi Gras is a bit out of my comfort zone since I've never sent a Mardi Gras card. Actually I had to Google Mardi Gras and look at all the images and colors for inspiration.  When I saw the Tim Holtz's Sizzix Masquerade set, it was very on trend with Mardi Gras... and on sale... I couldn't resist and decided to do an art journal page!

I have been making 8" X 8" art journal pages for about a year. I enjoy making them, most of the time they are messy and I seem to add glitter a lot, but it is something just for me and I have a blast doing it. My art background is years of Decorative Painting and, for the most part, that is very rigid, following a set pattern. With mixed media art journaling there is no right or wrong, you don't have to be worried about neatness and being straight, it is just pure fun. I encourage anyone who hasn't tried it to give it a go.

I began with Vicki Boutin's Mixed Media Foundation Paper and cut it down to the 8' X 8" size.  For today's journal I used Ranger's Multi Matte medium to adhere Tim Holtz's Idea-ology Tissue Wrap (discontinued) to give subtle writing/pictures in the background. On top of that I painted Dylusions' Crushed Grape and Cut Grass paint in a random pattern. 

Then, for me, this is the fun part. Using stencils, I covered small areas of the page with Altenew's White Embossing Paste and Vicki Boutin's Medium Glaze Gold. Sprinkled it all with glitter! Must be nuts for I am finding it everywhere! Not perfect, but again, that's OK. The stencils I used were:

• A Colorful Life Designs:
•     1. Suits Me
•     2. Beaded Curtain
•     3. Perspective Checkerboard

• Scrapbook.com:
•     Tim Holtz's Layering Stencil Flourish THS032 

I cut out 4 masks - 2 each of the larger one out of heavy white card stock and stenciled the Glaze Gold over part of them. I loved the way they looked.

When I had looked at the Googled Images I often saw just parts of patterns over an item of clothing. That inspired the masks - although I wanted to keep part as white as possible as a good contrast to the background.

The rest was just playing with the layout. I knew my phrase for the page was going to be from Prince's song, "1999". I remember that Y2K scare and all we had to do at work, but... let's get back to the page.

I cut the letters and numbers from Sizzix's Alphanumeric 80 pc. Bold Die set. Can't even tell you how many times I've used this set. Some basics you just can't do without. Also printed some of the words on our label maker for a variation.  Lastly I added all the little masks here and there. Can you spot my dragonfly wearing her mask?

Finally I cut the left edge with the Happy Planner Punch so the page could be added to my journal with the Happy Planner Discs. The discs come in different sizes to fit your planner.

Thank you for sticking to the end with all my ramblings! Seriously come join us at the Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenges...it might just inspire a whole new avenue of creativity!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.