Art Journaling with ATCs and Stencils (Tutorial) • Marjie Kemper Designs

Welcome! Today I'm sharing a spread in my art journal that measures 12″ wide and 8″ high when open. Stick with me till the end and you'll find 2 prizes for National Craft Month.

I started out with a mix of DecoArt fluid acrylic paints (Diarylide Yellow and Quinacridone Gold) and a bit of stenciling with ink.

I often use Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) as practice ‘real estate' and today I decided to raid my box of ATCs-in-progress to get this page started. Most have some color and maybe a bit of stenciling.

ATCs make great additions to larger projects. I pulled two from the orange/red family to start.

I stamped the face on two ATCs thinking it would look neat layered this way. In the end I found it was too dark, so I stamped it over and over again on other ATCs from a similar color palette and cut and layered a new face/eyes. I also stamped another ATC with this beautiful “Breathe” stamp from Stampers Anonymous.

This next piece was in the box with the ATCs, but it's not really one… just close in size. It was embossed with one of Tim Holtz's texture fades and colored with ink.

I wanted to give the lady some words and decided to go with Lost & Found. Imagine my delight when I spotted the word ‘and' in the middle of the word “Wander” on this stencil! Sooooo much better than stenciling each letter individually.

Lots more stenciling finished it off, and that's a strip of washi tape down the center spine.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAYS: I'm celebrating National Craft Month with a gift of two free seats in my Craftsy class, Inventive Ink: Colorful Mixed Media Effects. You can see a 2-minute preview video below, and leave a comment on the two Giveaway Posts (One Free Class) (Four Free Classes). I will announce the winners on March 14th. Good luck!

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16 Comments

Sharon Estes on March 11, 2016 at 11:30 am

love the way you used the ATCs in your journaling and the journal turned out great. Thanks for the great inspriration.
Kay Wallace on March 10, 2016 at 6:10 pm

A great journal spread, Marjie, and I love your inclusion of ATCs! I put mine in a binder and I never think to use them. Thanks for the inspiration!
Alisa Reeder on March 10, 2016 at 2:19 am

What is a ATC?
- Marjie Kemper on March 10, 2016 at 9:50 am
  
  They are Artist Trading Cards, Alisa. They are the same size as baseball cards.
Laurie Salinas on March 9, 2016 at 12:19 am

Lovely journal pages! Thanks for the tutorial!
Linda on March 7, 2016 at 9:54 am

Love this spread! Colors are so vivid. Thanks for the tip on adding ATC’s in progress.
Kim Beldowski on March 6, 2016 at 10:32 pm

Love the colors…thanks for the tutorial .
Cindy Bielefeldt on March 6, 2016 at 9:07 pm

This looks like a great class, so interested!
Barbara Ferrell on March 6, 2016 at 5:49 pm

Another beautiful journal page. I love the colors and the context.
Madhvi Shah on March 6, 2016 at 10:17 am

U always think out of the box.what a combination of atc. Stencils
Astrid on March 6, 2016 at 5:31 am

Great step by step on this one Marjie, Cool idea how you integrated the ATCs and the embossed piece of card into your spread. Love the warm colours too!
Anne R on March 5, 2016 at 4:29 pm

Beautiful layout, wonderful colours and brilliant design Marjie! x
D.Ann C on March 5, 2016 at 11:17 am

Beautiful! Love that Breathe stamp!
Julie Tucker-Wolek on March 5, 2016 at 9:15 am

Sooooooooo gorgeous! LOVING the colors!!!!!!!!!!
Nardja Segui on March 5, 2016 at 7:59 am

Love it!!!
Tracy Evans on March 4, 2016 at 7:12 pm

Wow love your ATC collection and lovely idea to keep them and use them in your journal. Love the warmth of the colours on this page. Gorgeous Marjie. Tracy x X