Instructions

Step 1: I am pretty close to being completely finished my first large Dylusions journal. That’s not to say I haven’t started others as well. But I thought it was about time I actually painted a cover of one of my journals. To begin I opened my journal, face down onto my Ranger non-stick craft sheet and selected some Dylusions paint. I chose Slate Grey, Fresh Lime and Polished Jade. Love this color combo!

Step 2: I started with trying to apply the paints with the ink blending tool, but I found with not having applied gesso to the surface, a brush worked better for me. I was able to get a thicker layer of paint on the book making the color more vibrant. I used Dina Wakley’s paint brush to apply the paint and my fingers to blend where the colors met. I am not happy until my fingers get into the paint as well! I just love how the colors blend.

Step 3: I selected some stencils to use with Dylusions Paint and Ink Sprays.

Step 4: I paired the Dylusions Honeycomb stencil with the Polished Jade Dylusions paint. To apply paint through the stencil I did use the Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool with a foam applicator. This is my favourite tool to use for stenciling with the Dylusions paints!

Step 5: The rest of the stencils I used with Dylusions Ink Spray in the colors Fresh Lime, Lemon Zest, White Linen and Slate Grey. I know Dirty Martini is in the picture but I didn’t end up using that one this time. But if the Fresh Lime is too light against the painted background for you, Dirty Martini would look great. That’s why I had it ready to use.

The following is the pairing of stencils & Dylusions Ink Sprays that I used:
Arrows – Fresh Lime
Keyholes – Lemon Zest
Old School Alpha – White Linen
Numbers – Slate Grey
When stenciling with ink spray; once I do that initial spray I will then flip the stencil over and get all that inky goodness that’s left on the stencil onto the cover as well! I love the print you get from doing that!

Step 6: I wanted some images to put on my cover so I did some stamping with Dyan’s stamps onto a sheet of Dylusions Mixed Media Cardstock with Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black. I stamped the roses from ‘Everything’s Rosy’, the eyes from ‘The Eyes Have It’, the fish body from ‘Fish Face’ and (not shown in this picture) the octopus arms from the stamp set ‘Flight of Fancy’. I painted them with Dylusions Ink Spray in watercolor brushes and then fussy cut them out with some scissors.

Step 7: Next I fooled around with placement. I had originally planned on having the roses with eyes in the center coming up from the fish body above the nose. But it just wasn’t looking how I wished. So my plans changed. I like how the eyes look like they are peeking out around the book. I cut the lips out and just pasted them out on their own and then decided to also stamp some octopus arms or are they legs? Lol Who says it all needs to make sense right? I stamped the Octopus arms with Aquamarine Archival Ink but you could use Jet Black if you prefer. I applied the cut out pieces to the journal using Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium and Distress Collage Brush. I also stamped “we’re all a little dylusional” with the Jet Black Archival Ink straight onto the planner. It didn’t show up very well so I went over the letters with the Dylusions Paint Pens in Black Marble and then used the White Linen for some highlights.

Step 8: I added the Dylusions Paint Pens to the eyes and octopus arms as well to give it a little pop! I went around the edges of the entire cover with some Black Soot Distress Ink and Blending Tool. I felt like it still needed a little something more so I added some White Linen Paint through Dina Wakley’s Shape Mashup Stencil.
And there you have it – a finally finished Dylusions Journal Cover!