Welcome! I’m Carolyn Dube – This colorful journey is all about the freedom of play!
Search My Blog
Search by Category
The Fine Print
Some of the links on this blog are affiliate links and I receive a small percentage. It doesn't cost you anything extra and helps keep all the free tutorials and videos coming! It's a win-win!
The website is copyright Carolyn Dube, and that is kinda common sense since this is my site.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
When does the muse show up and inspire me? After I have started. It’s as if starting is her invitation to join me so that means I need to start. No matter what it is, the important thing is to just start.
I grabbed plain old cardboard from a shipping box as a place to start along with a stencil and some black spray ink with zero idea of where it was going. And I definitely did not expect the clean up to become one of my favorite backgrounds ever.
This cardboard starts with just loose, random and juicy black spray ink all over with the Never Ending Calendar stencil. I might have gone a bit overboard, but it was just so much fun I didn’t want to stop.
One of the ways to keep colors bright and pure is to not mix them. When finger painting, that means one color per finger but you have to pay attention to which finger goes in which color. For those curious, DecoMedia fluid acrylics are non toxic.
Using a fine liner to to write on my colorful cardboard means zero waiting for things to dry. If you’re new to fineliners, I have a video explaining it here.
While making the cardboard, I cleaned off the excess spray ink directly into an art journal so that every drop of spray ink was used. No thinking at all. Just plop and go. Turns out not thinking is a good thing for me.
Once I added color to this, it became precious to me. Precious in the best possible way – I love it. I know it isn’t finished yet, but I am loving it so much as it is, it will stay this way until it is ready for more layers. Okay, until I am ready for it to have more layers.
Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!
O.O.P.S.ville is a wonderful town, after all there are no mistakes just Outstanding Opportunities Presenting Suddenly. This art journal page started with the leftover scraps I just couldn’t bear to throw away from cardmaking with gel prints.
Living up to the name of this town, plenty of OOPSies were a part of this process and of course I left them all in the video!
First OOPS…when I just tossed the pieces of paper onto the journal, I loved their shape. Immediately, I saw buildings in the colorful scraps and the town was founded. Welcome to OOPSville.
When I went to glue it down it just didn’t feel as loose and free. OOPSville was living up to its name.
This colorful skyline needed a sun, so I used a scrap circle of painted book text. The circular words is courtesy of my Encouraging Words stencil.
As long as I had the Gel Press Plate out next to me, it was easy to use as a paint palette. After all, paint will peel right off of it.
The sun became a moon when I spied my man in the moon stamp from Stampa Rosa on the shelf. When I stamped directly on the page it barely printed and naturally, the part that did print clearly was not where I wanted it. OOPS! I redid the image, but the mark from the first stamping was too visible for my taste. The opportunity in that OOPS? To take a pen and draw loose circles all around the moon.
I thought I wanted more color on this page. That is the first place I look when I am not sure what a page needs. Notice the Gel Press Plate with all the colors I kept trying? I tried to use them but kept stopping myself. In the end, it was just a bit of scribble journaling and OOPSville was finished.
Now you’ve seen my play, let’s see yours! Share what you’re creating with us all in the Facebook group and be inspired by what others are creating! And be sure to leave a comment here to get entered in the monthly $50 gift certificate giveaway!
Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!
What is Let’s Play? It’s all about rediscovering the ability to play and each month I share a specific strategy that helped me recapture the freedom and fun of play. You can see more of the Let’s Play series here. Be sure to get entered in the $50 Dick Blick giveaway by leaving a comment below.
Sharing your play: I, and a whole bunch of others, would love to see what you’re creating! We’re sharing it in the Facebook group called A Colorful Place to Play. Why Facebook? I’ve listened to your feedback about how and where you’d like to share your play instead of the link parties.
Monthly giveaways: Leave comment on any (and all for more chances) of the weekly Let’s Play blog posts to be entered and one winner each month will be chosen by random.org. Want more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to DickBlick.com? Pin any of the images from the page or share about it on Facebook- then come back and leave a comment telling me what you did and you can have more chances to win! Giveaway closes the Sunday, December 28th at 11 pm EST and the winner will announced on the blog.
Happy Hippo Holidays to you and yours! Why the purple hippo for the holidays? Why not I say! He jumped into my arms and I just had to give him a colorful home.
Percival, as I have come to know him, has been reminding me of how wonderful it is that everyone is different. Not always easy, but always worth the effort. He just wouldn’t be the same if he was red or green. He was meant to be purple. He owns being purple.
Thank you for being uniquely you and sharing this colorful journey! Happy Hippo Holidays!
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
