NICOLE MARTEL

A Year’s Worth of Art Journal Spreads

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Hello everyone. As promised, today, I am sharing a variety of art journal pages, I created this year. I must admit, I never considered myself an art journal artist, but I think it’s safe to say, I am one of them! This year, I challenged myself to experiment with art journaling, and it was fun.

Come take a look at the variety of pages I created using acrylic paints, molding paste, gel beads, and much more! By the time you’re finished watching my video, you’ll be ready to order your own art journal to play with! As you watch the video, you will see, just how easy art journals can be. It doesn’t need to be complicated…just have fun and enjoy the process!

Thanks so much for watching!

NICOLE MARTEL

RE-PURPOSED BOX

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Good morning friends! Last year I subscribed to Dropps to help make the planet a better place by cutting down the amount of plastic goods I buy. I also recycle everything I can… as I was about to throw this box away, I thought it would make a cute gift box… or a cute box to have on my scrap desk.

To begin, I coated the box using clear gesso. I like using clear gesso because the paint stays true to their colors! Bad Girls Couture carries their own Clear Gesso…I ran out. White gesso could make the colors lighter.

I used a heat gun to speed up the drying time. Once the clear gesso was completely dry, I used the Kiss & Don’t Tell, Bad & Tatted, Caution Tape and Sweet Candy Kisses acrylic paint to cover the entire box on the outside. I used the heat gun to dry the paint in between colors so the colors would not smear.

 

 

 

Once the paint was dry, I added some yellow circles all over the box. Then I mixed the Bad & Tatted acrylic paint with some molding paste to smear over the flower stencil from my stash.

 

I used Matte Gel to glue the stickers and die cuts down then covered them using the gel.

 

I used some heavy body gel to glue the buttons and chipboard pieces down.

 

 

 

This box was soooo much fun to alter. I can’t wait to alter another one.

What do you think? Have you re-purposed anything recently? I’m always thinking of fun things to alter instead of throwing them in the trash!

Thanks for visiting today!

NICOLE MARTEL

DO MORE OF WHAT YOU LOVE

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Good morning friends! My term with Bad Girls Couture is coming to an end and I am just now decorating the first page of my art journal. It’s been such a fun year playing in my one of a kind art journal. I have to admit, I wasn’t so sure I could do art journal spreads… the first few months were a challenge. After a few pages into the journal and stopped trying to hard and I just did whatever I liked. Some months, I scrapbooked a page in the art journal and others, I just pulled out my paints, molding paste and stencils and just created a fun mixed media background. SUPER FUN.

For this page, I used washi tape to create the triangles. Then I carefully added the stencil on the right side and created the pattern using molding paste. Once each triangle was completely dry, I made the others, touching up lightly here and there. Simple, but fun.

 

I used foam squares to mount the chipboard sentiment to the center then I glued the yellow gems below the chipboard to make it more feminine. I just love this page.

 

I am totally loving the color combination as well. I used Kiss & Don’t Tell and X-rated paint.

 

Come back on the 20th. I am going to create a fun flip through video of all the pages I created this year. If you haven’t purchased your Art Journal, do it today because you WILL love it. I have a brand new art journal waiting for me… This one is almost full!

Thanks so much for visiting. Hope you have a fabulous week!

NICOLE MARTEL

Playing with Molding Paste and X-rated Paint

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Good morning friends. It’s my favorite time of year! I LOVE fall. I love the crisp, cool air and the changing leaves. And my neighborhood is beautiful with all of the trees. I’m looking forward to taking a few pictures. Today I’m sharing a fall layout that I created using molding paste, stencil and X-rated paint.

I kept this layout pretty simple. I wanted to focus on the photos, but I love the leaves stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop and had to find a way to use it!

I used Creative Memories’ Gather Together collection to embellish this layout.

I hope I’ve inspired you today. Thanks for stopping by!

NICOLE MARTEL

TRICK OR TREAT

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Good morning everyone! We are halfway through the week. The weekend will be here before we know it. Today I have a fun art journal spread that I created using stencils, molding paste, acrylic paints and glass beads! Halloween is around the corner and I have yet to scrapbook Edward’s Halloween photos from last year!

Love the colors and textures on this layout. Such a fun piece! I embellished this spread using vellum die cuts and tags from Pretty Little Studio. The acrylics are from Bramble Fox. Both companies are small businesses owned by women. I enjoy supporting small business whenever I can!

To begin, I coated the stitched chipboard page using the Bad & Tatted acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry, I added splashes of the Last Sin and Sweet Candy Kisses. Then I mixed a dab of the Drama Queen acrylic paint with some molding paint to create the flowers in the background using a stencil.

I covered the vellum leaves using the gel beads. Once the beads were completely dry, I coated the beads using Colorations Sprays.

I coated the raven using the gel beads to give it some texture. Then I glued the epoxy heart to the center.

 

I hope you were inspired today! Thanks for visiting today!

NICOLE MARTEL

Altered Pencil Holder

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Good morning friends! It’s almost Friday, thank GOD! Nicole here with a fun altered project. I had this wooden pencil holder on my desk for awhile now and felt it was time to give it a make-over. It was originally, plain wood, un-finished wood.

To begin, I used a heavy gel medium to glue down the metal embellishments. I let it sit overnight. Then I coated the pencil holder using black gesso. I knew that if I used black gesso, it would help make the colors look really bright and that’s the look I was going for… so I thought.

I used my fingers to paint the different colors onto the surface. The paints used for this project include Oops! My Bad, Last Sin and X-rated. These are my absolute favorite colors from the shop! I really love how thin these paints are. They are so easy to work with! Note to self, must order more paint.

After I finished painting this, I wasn’t sure about the black… I don’t know if I like it or hate it at this point. So I decided to spray it with two coats of White Spray Mist. It completely changed the look…and I must say, I like the white much better. And it will blend in nicely with my craft room.

 

 

 

I may add a few layers of the paint over the white in the up-coming weeks because I’m still unsure about this pencil holder! What do you think? Ready to get messy yet?

Thanks for stopping by today!

NICOLE MARTEL

THERE’S SOMETHING GOOD IN EVERY DAY

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Good morning friends! Wouldn’t you agree, if we looked closely… There’s something good in every day. Some days it might be a challenge searching for the goods and that’s what I try to do when I feel like it’s one thing after another… mostly bad. But then I try to think of the positives. It helps sometimes. I created this art journal spread on a Sunday afternoon. I put on Madame X and grabbed some paint, my magazine, white gesso, and matte gel. I had no plans on what the outcome would be. All I knew was that I wanted to play with my paint and get my hands dirty.

To begin, I used the Cream Cardstock page as the base for this art journal page. Then, I cut out several patterns from an Allure magazine. After I finished cutting the pieces out of the magazine, I mounted them down using matte gel. I waited for the gel to dry before I covered the entire spread with clear gesso. The clear gesso helps the magazine from tearing once wet.

Before I started this spread, I had planned on creating a collage layout, but once I started working on this page, it took on an entirely different look.

After the clear gesso was completely dry I painted all over the page using Last Sin . Then, I used Million Dollar Baby to paint around the edges to create a nice border.

After the first layer of paint dried, I could see bits and pieces of the magazine patterns through the paint. I totally love this! Some of the magazine bunched up from the wetness of the gesso but it created a nice texture.

I painted the flowers using Sweet Candy Kisses, Million Dollar Baby, Fallen Angel, X-Rated and Make It Rain. I must say… I am really glad that I have all of the color paints listed in the shop because I am never restricted when it comes to selecting colors for my projects. I used several colors on this piece and they all look so pretty next to one another. The stamp sentiment is by Precious Remembrance Shop!

I painted the yellow sun and then added the flower to the center to add more dimension.  Once the flowers were dry I glued the cork heart and button to the center of the flowers.

What do you think? Are you ready to get your hands dirty yet?!! Come get yourselves some paint and a journal and start playing!

Thanks so much for visiting today!

NICOLE MARTEL

Watercolor Art Journal Page

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Good morning!! I have a fun tutorial to share with you today. For today’s project, I decided to experiment a little with my acrylic paints to create a watercolor background using the Vintage Music Note Page. I must admit, I love, love, love how this layout turned out. It is sooooo freaking pretty. I can’t stop looking at it. And…I created a video so you can see, step-by-step how to apply this technique the next time you want to get your hands dirty.

Before I applied the paint, I covered the Vintage Music Note Journal Page with Clear Gesso. Once the gesso was completely dry, I mixed a tiny drop of acrylic paint with a teaspoon of water using three different colors of paint: Caution Tape, Sweet Candy Kisses and Drop Dead Gorgeous. Then I covered the background using all three paints, using a heat gun to dry each color one-by-one before adding the next color to prevent the colors from bleeding.

I especially love the stitched trim along the edges. It looks sooo nice with the watercolors and I didn’t even have to pull out my sewing machine.

I mixed the Molding Paste with a little of the Caution Tape to add stars in the background.

I used Pink Paislee’s Horizon collection to embellish this layout once the paint paint was completely dry!

Here it is! I just love it… I hope you will take a few minutes to watch this video I prepared for you.

Thanks so much for visiting today!

NICOLE MARTEL

FAMILY LAYOUT

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The ladies hosted Jamie’s baby shower last month and it was a success. She was beautiful…just glowing. I miss being pregnant. We all cannot wait to meet baby Henry in August!! And I am so excited she’s having a boy… Boys, I can do… girls, not so much! I can’t handle the drama. LOL

I cut down a white piece of cardstock to measure 8″x10 1/2″. Then I sprayed some blue and green mist all over the cardstock. Once the mist was dry, I used some Bad Girls Couture Molding Paste and a stencil by The Crafter’s Workshop to create the flowers over the mist. I love this look! So fun and unique.

I matted the base onto an 8 1/2″x11″ blue piece of patterned paper to give it a nice border. I used lots of Pink Paislee Horizon papers, puffy stickers and die cuts to embellish this layout. Love this pretty collection by Paige Evans.

I wanted a cluster of flowers at the top, but the die cut did not have the colors I was looking for so I used the die cut and hand-cut the flowers that would work from another die cut and patterned paper. Then I mounted them onto the die cut using glue dots and foam squares. Problem solved!

I hope I inspired you today with this colorful layout. I really love creating mixed media projects and I’m moving my focus to doing what I love this year… more mixed media. I love getting messy!

Thanks for visiting today!

NICOLE MARTEL

You Are Lovely

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Good morning! I have a fun art journal spread that I created for you lovely ladies today! Sometimes, we need that gentle reminder that we are all “lovely” in our own way. For this art journal page, I used the Black stitched cardstock/chipboard page with stitching. Before I started painting this piece, I was going for an abstract design. I grabbed a few colors and different size brushes along with my gesso. I just love the stitched border…and how the different colors along the edges add so much texture.

 

I coated the black cardstock/chipboard page using the Drama Queen acrylic paint. My favorite thing about these paints is that they are not thick so they are easy to work with! Also, you can add a some molding paste to the paint to thicken it up if you would like. I like my paint thin and runny because it goes onto the cardstock much easier. This is my opinion. Once the paint was dry, I smeared some Broken Doll and Last Sin paint all over the spread.

Then I grabbed a thick brush and gesso to create a heart in the center of the page.

After allowing the gesso to dry for a few hours I grabbed the Bad & Tatted acrylic paint along with a tiny brush and splashed black paint all over the spread.

Once the paint was completely dry, I added a few word stickers and some gems.

This spread was very therapeutic for me. I think I’ve discovered a new love… Art journaling can be so fun and freeing…  If you haven’t given art journaling a try, we have so many tutorials and videos to get you started!  The art journals are made from great quality fabric and they are amazing. All of the pages are bounded together by pretty trims and you get the journals come with pages stitched and ready to use! You have to see it to appreciate it’s beauty. Click here to order yours today! Each journal comes with stitched pages!

Thanks for visiting today!