This wasn’t a color in the lines kind of a day or one where things went as planned. Was that a bad thing? Not when I’m playing with stencils and art crayons!

The tone of the play was decided right here as I stenciled the Modern Tree, designed by Mary Beth Shaw. I thought I had it lined up so it was centered. But it wasn’t. O.O.P.S.!

An O.O.P.S. isn’t a mistake, it’s an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.

A small gel plate created the background. Any size or any shape of gel plate can do this. The colors were mixed directly on the gel plate.

This is just one of the many ways you can use a gel plate. There’s an entire page of resources for you including the Dos and Don’ts of Gel Printing, technique tutorials, and ideas for what to do with your gel prints here.

To create the dreamy blended look on the tree use Marabu Art Crayons. They blend easily with your fingers and are wonderfully vibrant.

When you stencil in a light color, it can be tough to see. O.O.P.S. again. But it wasn’t a mistake, just an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly to add more of the pattern in a darker color on top.

When you use a stencil, you have the freedom use all or part of it. Stencil it just as it is or pick and choose selected areas. There are 4 coordinating patterns to choose from on Rectangular Patterns for Play so you can have the one that is just right for your project.

The final touches came from some scribble journaling along the tree and the leaves using a fountain pen.

Neatly and crisply stenciling the word Life as another O.O.P.S. Why on earth I wanted a neat and tidy anything on here is a mystery to me but by adding a bit of Art Crayon on top of the damp paint, blending it with my finger got to a better, imperfect place.

What can you do with cardboard play like this? Turn it into a journal. Join my free workshop, Permission to Play, to see how to make a recycled journal and a whole lot more!

Here are the supplies used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming! The Art Crayon color I used is called aqua green.

I was told to do all sorts of stuff- and it was a blast! In my most recent live stream, I completely trusted the friends in my Facebook group, Rediscovering Your Creativity, to tell me what to do.

I had to do what they said, in the order they said it. It was fast and furious -some of it was not so pretty, but definitely fun!

You bet we’re going to do it again! Want to be a part of it and be one of the people telling me what to do?

Then join the free group here. If you’re a kind person, who wants to encourage others and be inspired by their creativity, you’ll fit right in.

Once you’re a member of our group, you can also watch the replays. That means you can see how each of the cardboard art journal pages came to be. But be prepared to laugh, as some things didn’t go as planned.

During these livestreams, you get to look inside my head and find out what silly thoughts I have about hoarding washi tape plus why I created this ripped and torn pattern.

Just because something is fun to make doesn’t mean it will automatically be “pretty”. Take this page for example- it was a blast to make but wow- it’s not appealing one bit to me. What will happen to this page?

More play! After all an ulgy stage is simply an O.O.P.S., an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.

Want to see what happens and how it’s rescued? Come join in the fun and play along in our free Facebook group, Rediscovering Your Creativity, to see all the replays and be a part of the next livestream.