Tips

1. I have found that I like writing and drawing with water color pencils in the journal. That way if I want it to have a bit more of a "painterly" look, all I have to do is add the water, and all those hard edges soften.

2. I also like using a mix of watercolor and acrylic.

3. If I gesso the plain pages first, I can paint/stain over it and the pages have wonderful texture. If I paint gesso in swirls, it makes a swirly raised pattern with ridges to catch the stain. If I "comb" the gessoed pages, I get a "linen" look to the pages.

4. I like to paint over or stain black and white photos, or images to give an aged appearance to the pages.

5. I've mixed typed messages with handwritten ones for a variety of looks.

6. I also like to sew fabrics and papers together to let the stitching shows. I also tried adding buttons, ribbons, small metal ornaments, and next week I am going to try embossed metal sheeting to see how that works.

Sky's the limit when it comes to creativity!