This month over at A Vintage Journey our challenge is Rustic Charm, which is being hosted by the lovely Astrid. Here’s what it’s all about:
“Rustic describes a design that is natural, rough, aged and casual. We would love to see you create a project using these elements: think nature inspired textures and simple and earthy colours. Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or Steampunk”.

I had so much fun creating this rustic art journal page for this challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed making the wood effect background and this happy bear from my new Tim Holtz Theodore thinlet set really makes me smile!

I started by covering the page with blobs of Burnt Umber, Raw Umber and Burnt Sienna Liquitex acrylic paints and then I used an old gift card to spread the paint over the page in a criss-cross pattern. Any white spaces were lightly coloured with the same paint and a wet paintbrush, then the page was left it to dry.

Next I stencilled some tree trunks using some Ranger Texture Paste and a Pronty Mask Stencil.

When dry, I painted around the stencilled areas of the background with some Parchment Liquitex Acrylic.

Then I scraped the paint horizontally across the page very harshly using the gift card; I did this a number of times until I achieved the worn wood effect I was after. The mixed media paper I use is 250gsm so it can take this type of treatment.

The branches, leaves and flowers were die cut from some linen textured cardstock using a Tattered Florals Thinlet set from Tim Holtz; the branches were coloured using Ground Espresso Distress Ink, the leaves using Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters and Forest Moss Distress Ink, and the flowers using a mixture of Fired Brick Distress Ink and White Linen Distress Spray. They are edged, like all of the elements on this page, using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and stuck down using a Zig glue pen.
The signpost was made from some wooden panels that I cut out from some Tim Holtz paper and some wording from a Tiny Text rub-on transfers from Tim Holtz which reads “wander”, “adventure awaits” and “discover”. I added some grey tartan (plaid) paper from the same paper pad to define the ground under the signpost and the bear.

To finish, I created the bear using the Theodore thinlet set and some linen textured cardstock colouring him using Ground Espresso, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, a Black Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker and a Putty Winsor & Newton Promarker – such fun!
I hope you are inspired to join in the Rustic Charm challenge over at A Vintage Journey too, for more inspiration you’ll find some amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey, it would be lovely to see you there!

This page reminded me of a bear that we saw on our travels to Stratford-upon- Avon some years ago when our friends from America came to stay with us.

This bear can also be found on this beer glass and always brings back such happy memories of our time when we were in Stratford together – such fun!
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs, like A Vintage Journey, as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:
I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle from Halle’s Hobbies over at Art Journal Journey and her A Stitch In Time challenge this month with faux tartan/plaid that I included on this page.
I’m also happy to be able to join the Quote challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my “adventure awaits”wording.
I’m joining in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Make Your Own Background challenge with the wood effect background that I created for this page.
I’m also pleased to join the Masculine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my page too too.
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
- Liquitex Basics Acrylic Color (Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna)
- Pronty Mask Stencil (Tree Trunk)
- Ranger Texture Paste
- Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment)
- Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Small Tattered Florals 661806)
- Craft Sensations (Luxury Linen Textured Cardstock)
- Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ground Espresso, Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters, Forest Moss, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo, Tea Dye, Hickory Smoke)
- Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain (White Linen)
- Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
- Tim Holtz idea-ology (Halloween Paper Stash #TH937120, Tiny Text Remnant Rubs #TH93695)
- Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets (Theodore 664410)
- Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
- Winsor & Newton Promarker (Putty 0618)
Absolutely adorable journal page, Jo. I really like how you created the background. You certainly have a great journal to be able to put it through so much . The paint alone would have been hard on many journals, much less all the scraping and additional painting you accomplished. It was great that you used a bear, too. Thanks, too, for sharing this with us at Art Journal Journey using Halle’s theme. I loved your step-out photos today.
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Love your journal page Jo and that background is just stunningly created! A great take on this month’s theme. Jennie x
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Such a fun project Jo and I love how you used that Tim die! Great background too! A fab take on the challenge!!
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Awesome and fun page Jo I love it
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That bear is pretty fun for sure. And I like how you used him on your page. I especially like the signpost. Very clever way to make that. I thought it was a sticker at first. It is a great page with lots of cool details. And I do like the bear pint glass. That would be a place I would want to visit just for the glass, ok, maybe for some beer too. Smile. Hope all is well. Hugs-Erika
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Love the background on this, Jo. You got a great result 🙂
Happy weekend!
Cath x
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Cool page. Especially the tree rings, but the bear really made me smile. Have a safe and fun weekend.
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Oh how fun is your woodsy journal page Jo! Love your Theodore – thanks for sharing how you colored him – and what a great background you created for him – love the wood slice stenciling! xx
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Jo, this is adorable! Love the rustic charm!! Have a wonderful day and weekend! Maura
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OOh this Art page is absolutely Gorgeous Jo !! I love this bear, and the background is amazing. Great leaves and stencils. Enjoy the weekend and this beer !
Big hugs,
Caty
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This is a fun page with a very clever background. Love that fun bear! Have a lovely weekend, take care, hugs, Valerie
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And thanks for joining us at AJJ too. I forgot to mention that this morning.
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So cool to see how you created that fabulous textured wood background. I love the paint layers, and the cc-scraping gives it all such a rustic look. Your bear looks rather guilty – as though he’s been caught with his paw in the honey pot! He’s fabulous.
Alison x
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Thanks so much Alison! I think he may have been checking out someone’s pic-a-nic basket as Yogi Bear would say …lol 😉. Happy weekend! Take care! Hugs, Jo x
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The background looks awesome Jo, the texture and wood effects are super, its a fabulous page.
I love the bear you created as well.
Stay safe and well.
Yvonne xx
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What a fun page ~ Love that bear! I don’t know that I’d have the patience to put all his little pieces together, but he’s beautiful 🙂
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fantastic and interesting journal, insane how you designed it, so funny!
Have a happy weekend, Elke
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Love how you created the background! Awesome! Thanks for another fun piece for A Stitch in Time!
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I’m back to thank you for linking with Halle’s theme at Art Journal Journey. I am still trying to catch up.
Yvonne xx
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A fabulous page Jo, I love the background!
Happy weekend,
Alison xx
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This is fabulous Jo x I adore the wonderful background you created……amazing x Great details on the page and Theodore is cool xx
Huge hugs Annie xx
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This is fabulous!! Love your journal page. Fabulous background and the textured stenciling really highlights your lovely bear.
Hugs, Ann x
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I adore that background Jo reminds me of silver birch bark and the opaque paste pushed through the sliced wood stencil gives great impact to break that background down. You’ve created a wonderful environment for Theodore to go explore in… adventure awaits for sure!!
Thanks for linking up and sharing over @ Paperbabe stamps.
Wishing you a very happy week ahead Hugs Tracey xx
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Super page, Jo. The bear is hilarious. Your aged wood background is very cool. Eilen xx
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Jo, your page is absolutely adorable and beautiful at the same time. What a wonderful background you created! I love the cute bear and awesome signpost, too. Thanks so much for sharing your talents! And for sharing your awesome beer glass, too! I totally enjoyed reading how you created your page. Hope all is well with you. HUGS!
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A wonderful journal page , Jo. Great ‘wooded’ background, lovely rustic colours and Theodore brings his surroundings to life and adds the ‘charm ‘ appeal .
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