My FAVORITE Art Journal -- Dylusions!

Have you tried the Dylusions Art Journal? By far my favorite journal of all time!

I love everything about this journal. The size is perfect for either single pages or spreads, the paper is very heavy, high quality card stock and watercolor papers interspersed with alternating signatures of each, love the hard plain cover that begs to be customized, and the large envelope on the inside cover. Dyan really thought of everything when she designed this journal. The papers are perfect for the Dylusions Spray Inks. No gesso needed! In fact, I think you'll agree that you'll get better results without it. I use a dab here and there as I develop my layers, but there is no need at all to gesso the whole page before you start. 

I got my first one from The Queen's Ink when they first arrived, then quickly bought my second one. Then I bought two more. Then when Dyan was teaching at the Queen's Ink in early November, she mentioned that there were only 71 left in stock at Ranger -- I had no choice but to buy two more! (Yes, I need a 12 step program for art supplies!). Dyan mentioned that the next time the journal is produced, the price point will go up a bit to maintain the level of quality, and the paper will be one single type of paper rather than both. Personally, I thought the original $19.99 price point was a bit on the low side, especially after I held the first one in my hands and could feel the quality. YOU NEED ONE OF THESE JOURNALS -- (or 6, just sayin'!)

Once I started playing in the journal with making backgrounds and doing Dyan's ghosting technique (LOVE!), I couldn't stop! I've only completed a few pages, I'll get to finishing the rest at some point, but in the meantime, I've having a ball just making backgrounds. Here are some of the pages I've been playing with:

My favorite finished page so far. I love turquoise and orange together. You'll notice that I use washi tape down the center of each of my spreads. I do this not only because I love the look of washi tape, but I use it to try to keep the puddle of ink and water from seeping thru to the other pages of my journal. Yes, I'm one of those people that like to keep the pages cleaner if possible. 

 Again with the turquoise and orange! And I love this washi tape pattern.

 My butterfly page. 

And again with the turquoise and orange, but see what I mean? It just reallly pops. And that ghosted stencil, Aboriginal by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer of Balzer Designs, is really a favorite of mine as I'm sure you can tell by how often you have seen it and will see it in my work. 

 The large circles on this one has various colors of Viva Inka Gold on them. 

This pic isn't really great, but in person this spread looks really cool with the zipper washi tape down the middle. 

I love this paper I used to collage down the sides of the pages. It really speaks to me. And the wash tape? Yum!

 Got this really funky stencil on Etsy. Love the SouthWest theme of it. 

And a finished page in the Dylusions style I love. 

This spread has some Lindy's Stamp Gang Starbursts added.

I was playing with my Stamp Zia Spray Inks on this spread. 

 Colbalt Teal - does it get any better than Cobalt Teal by Golden Fluid Acrylics. 

I LOVE CIRCLES!!! And this page really shows how vibrant the Dylusions Inks are. My favorites! There's some black and white fabric tape on this page as well.

Another Etsy stencil with that SouthWest theme that I used to ghost the image. And really like this washi tape pattern too. 

And even more circles! This page has this really cool adhesive fabric tape I found on Etsy.

I'll post more pages when I can. I have a very busy weekend coming up at the Queen's Ink -- Donna Downey is in town! I'm in all four of her classes starting tonight! I'll be sure to post about some of the fun!

Thanks for stopping by!