Here’s the next page:
For this page, I first did some watercolor drips and then drew my girl in pencil:
then I colored her with neocolor ii watersoluble crayons:
then I stitched. A LOT. all around the page. over the balloons, the girl’s hair, clothes, etc.
i know it’s hard to see but just in case you don’t believe me, here’s the back:
and here’s the finished page again:
The full text reads: She believed it was essential to bring joy to her life.
Here are some details from the page:
If you have questions about anything specific, just leave me a comment and I promise I will respond.
I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for July and August (and maybe longer). You can read more about it and the book I am using for these pages at the top of this blog post.
Beautiful page! The stitching is amazing!
thank you Dana!
Hi Karen! I just love seeing all of your art journaling pages. My first question is this: Do you put gesso on every page??
Second: Do you tear your pages out of the book? If so, do you plan on binding the pages together some how or do you have just a bunch of art journal pages. Just curious. I seem to have a bunch of journals with pages but have considered creating just “pages” and then maybe combining those with related ‘themes’ but so many of my pages are complete randomness. LOL!!
And I guess my final question (for now) is that I am assuming the lettering is a set of stamps correct? I really like those…can you tell me the brand? Thanks Karen!!
Hi cindy! thank you for your kind words and I apologize for the delay! I didn’t gesso this page and for most of the pages I created using this paper, I didn’t gesso at all. I did when I was using the Moleskine book. It generally depends on what medium I plan to use on top and what kind of paper I am using. I did tear the pages out. And I did end up binding them. I will post the finished book and all the pages around late September when I am done showing you all the pages. It wasn’t anything fancy. I stitched some additions and used my bind-it-all. I talk a lot about it on that day’s post ( i think it’s on sept 21). yes, they are a stamp set but I threw the box out a long time ago. they were a set i bought on a salebin so they’re not a big brandname. I am so sorry that I don’t have it
Your stitching absolutely amazes me! Love how it frames the balloons. Thank you for sharing your work. After reading your post on the weekly art journal I started my first pages last night. First goal is one a week for the month of September. Thanks for being so inspiring.
susan, please make sure to share them with me if you can, i’d love to see them!
Holy Stitch-a-roni ,,, I love how you stitched everything….balloons and all!
This is gorgeous – I love the girl/text combo and the stitching is amazing. Such detail, thanks for showing the back too.
thank you for your kind words
Thank you, thank you for the visual steps on your art journaling! The stitching on this page was just fabulous you inspired me to give it a try. : )
yey! I hope you do! let me know how it works out!
I’ve thought often of stitching paper, but have never tried it. I’m not much of a seamstress in the first place. Is it better to use a higher count stitch / inch? I would think the stitching would make holes in the paper. And what weight paper are you using? This is fabulous! And I like the addition of the little birdie!
I found your post through Google Alert: “art journaling” and I’m glad I came by! {:-Deb
Hello there, i won’t lie, i am no expert at all. i don’t change anything. i just put the paper there and stitch
this paper is 140lb watercolor I believe 
thank you so so much for your kind words 