Hello everyone!!! Today I just want talk about mixed media supplies/elements/ephemera.. What are the supplies that you MUST have on your layout when you create a mixed media/AJ page?Are there any supplies that you hardly use for a particular reason? Ok.. Let me share mine : I love love love love love GESSO!! Even as an artist who paints and draw, gesso is my must have before I do anything else. I enjoy using gesso to add texture on my page. I know some of you are not familiar with what gesso is. Here are a few examples : My second must have are paints. The messier they are the better!!! LOL!! My final must have are those crazy, wonky, messed up scribbles/doodles. OF COURSE I HAVE MANY MORE FAVOURITES but the above are MY MUST HAVE!! Ok, now let's go to my least used supplies .. Not that I don't like them but I just fear using it the wrong way. I hardly use EPHEMERA. I see it all the time, I love the vintage ones but I kinda stay away from it. Maybe because in real life, I don't use it when I'm creating. I just use paints, gesso, I scribble, I draw on my paintings. Therefore, for those who knows me well .. you will know that my pages are normally quite flat like a painting. I think I will need to explore playing with EPHEMERA more. That's it!! Do share with me what are your favorite supplies (let's make it 3 ) and not so favorite? $2.99
Paints. Definitely Paint. But for me everything is really paint in some form or another. I love using a paint mask with a printed paper, then reducing the opacity to paint like consistency.
I like paints, brushes, gesso, scribbles, doodles, epherma etc all depending on what I am making. I don't use a lot of alphas as I would rather use fonts, but what I really am not thrilled with is journal cards. I rarely use them and if I do, I change it as often as I can to word art by changing blend modes to make the card disappear. I am a blender so I like pretty much most things ... Templates drive me batty as I know I can change them up but find they limit my creativity.
LOL!! tell me about it!! I think I have been scrapping for 5 years now, I have used templates less than 10 times.. It just drives me nuts
I love to use paint, gesso, scribbles/doodles, word art (oh, the word art!) on pretty much all of my layouts. Digital paint was kind of a life-changer for me. I had always wanted to have more paint on my paper pages, but it never turned out very well. With digital paint I can add, delete, rotate, and layer without having to worry about ruining the entire page with something that can't be undone. I LOVE the look of ephemera and will admit to buying some packs (I'm looking at your gorgeous section of the shop @paula kesselring!) just to be able to scroll through and view the pretties from time to time. (I have a pretty good little collection of vintage paper goods, so it's kind of like a digital counterpart to that.) I have a hard time making it look right to me on my pages, though, probably because I don't really do a ton of art journaling and use AJ supplies on regular scrapbook pages instead. But I love it all the same. Like @cfile I don't use a lot of alphas, but that's mainly because I gravitate toward word art for titles. It can take me forever to come up with a title, and word art is my not-so-secret weapon! As with ephemera, it's not that I don't like alphas, I just have something else that I often use in their place.
Funny thing… I have a TON of templates and alphas in my digi-stash, but I NEVER use them!!! I like how they look on previews and pages, but… well, I guess I'm too lazy and impulsive… lol! My absolute go to products are ALWAYS paint and word art. In fact, if I had nothing else, I could make a page with just those two items and a plain white background! The other thing that I swoon over is creative backgrounds. If I was to draw your attention to one product that could easily be overlooked, it's this one. I absolutely LOVED working with these and have used several on my pages. I guess it's the rebel in me, always wanting to do things differently! lol! And here are three pages I made using these frames/ backgrounds:
LOL!! With digital nothing can go wrong right?.. flip it, blend it, shrink it.. you can go anything with it
I'm not sure why I hardly use paint mask.. Now that you mentioned this element, I think I dislike using stuff where I have to clip stuff on it.. That is why I don't do templates..
Ephemera is fun. I tend blend it, or use the wand or lasso tool, whatever wand selects on the low-ish setting, I paste/blend in (I do the same for backgrounds too). Sometimes it turns out very subtle, but nice way to add texture. I like brushes and overlays, they are so versatile.
I love paint, gesso, big quotes and for me they are a must on a page. there is an other product I love but very difficult to use, for me ephera. I don't know why it's always difficult. so I challenge me to use them sometimes... oh, I forget... an other must have... templates !!!! but with art journal pages I don't often use them... yes, you can say that I'm crazy... a crazy french... lol
I love templates for regular scrapping but rarely use them for AJ. Those are two separate styles in my head, although they are starting to blend. Love: paper (with paint, art, watercolor, gesso, rips, etc. already on it), unique items (especially around a theme), word art Like less: Ephemera - I don't know what to do with them as rarely do I see a connection to what else is on the page. For example, bingo numbers or cards, unless I am doing a Bingo page, what would I use them for? Although I did use them recently on the page with the photo of my daughter's very messy room. Alphas - if they are ordinary. Now give me brush stroke, scribbled, or sort of transparent ones that look rubbed on and I will use those.
Paint, word art, transfers (haven't used many in art journaling) and ephemera. Starting to use gesso, but still not sure how it's used in "real life" so I don't know how to make it look real.
Gesso/paint are #1, scribbles/doodles very close 2nd. Stitches are also in there, maybe tied with doodles. On AJ pages, I love big balled up messes of stitching, or else circled/off-kilter stitching. None of that "straight line" business. Haha. I do not tend to use ephemera very often, if I do, it's for stacking behind to try to add layers/depth. Templates... I like blendy messy templates, like LBW's for recent month's M3 add ons... but only if I am a using a picture on an AJ page. If no picture, I don't usually use a template for AJ. I prefer alpha brushes to regular alphas in my AJ pages usually, if at all. I don't usually use a lot of dimensional elements in my AJ pages. Sometimes, but not a lot. They just don't seem to "go" as well. I don't use dolls. I mean to, but never try. I am intimidated by the doll girls and faces so much, and I'm not sure why. LOVE them on other pages... terrified to use them myself. Oh and those vintage ladies/figures? Nope. The ones that are like... cut out of older magazines (at least it seems that way to me). They remind me of '50s or something, and I have no desire to scrap with them! Too eclectic for me!
yep, another paint and gesso girls here love using BIG photos with lots of paint!! some types of scribble as well, like the loopy loop type ones I don't use alpha at all........in most cases when I purchase kits I don't even download the alpha as it takes up too much of my precious limited internet data......... I will download if it is something really quirky but most times not. same as Christa in regards to journal cards........ sometimes I don't download those either I like ephemera and sometimes will blend it into the background or do other stuff to it, and with templates I am hopeless! lol! when I am using a template for a CT page or a challenge page I have to be very very careful that I don't change itthat much that its totally unrecognisable from the original! lol!! I love creating my own art from scratch
OOHhh, this is hard for me because it so depends on the day, my mood, my inspiration blah blah blah - I love to experiment too, so I tend to try new stuff - even if it does not work. I am a lot like you LiLi - paint, gesso, scribbles - LOVE them - have to have them - hand written word art and quotes - SWOON! Stitching or tape and other fasteners - ALWAYS! I like to add things like postage stamps, or ribbons and flowers here and there because I LOVE texture - I have a hard time leaving a page flat. I don't like to use templates for AJ - unless it is in building the background- that I can do. I find that the style of template is important - some I have no problem using at all, others, I just can't make work for the life of me - in the latter case I usually turn off most of the layers and then have an easier time. Alphas I am picky with - most alphas I don't use - but hand written or hand painted ones - or really unique ones - I use all the time. I also like fonts a lot! so there is that. I don't usually use the cards in AJ - but I use them on my App for PL - so I go ahead and get them for that - sometimes i take elements - like word art - from the card and use on my AJ - that is always fun!