​Today I am giving you some ideas, art tips and inspiration for art journal techniques on using texture in your art journals in order to create textured art journaling pages and canvas art. 

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​Last week I was featured on The Craft Show channel - an online craft show (which is basically like a tv show, but online). I was in the 5 minute quickie craft section.  Be sure to subscribe to them and watch from 12 noon on Thursday's

• ​The Craft Show

You can see in the video below a simple and quick art tutorial on using tissue paper, masking tape, art stencils, Matt Medium Heavy Texture Paste and adding salt to watercolour in order to add interest and variety to your pages.

Last week I bought a  Colourcraft Crystal Colours Brusho set and today I got to try it. Oh my word, it didn't let me down... such a beautiful set and so many possibilities when using it in art work and Art Journal spreads and general Mixed Media.

​I got the set of 8, which is mainly nature colours, lots of greens, yellows, browns and and reds. The colours are so intense and I literally only used a sprinkling (as you will see in the video process tutorial below). I can't wait to start using it to create page background, papers and journaling / ATC cards.

You made it - woo hoo and a Christmas theme to boot!  Tutorial 4 in the Art Journaling Mini Series is covering wax resist and rubbing alcohol using watercolour. In this tutorial I am using watercolour brush pens and an aqua watercolour brush, but you can use any watercolour paint and brushes for these techniques.

Grab some watercolour paper - this is a must, it just doesn't work as well on any other paper. 

​You then need some watercolour paint or watercolour friendly brush pens, a white wax crayon and rubbing alcohol 70 or 90% (you can skip this step if you just want the wax resist  bit).

​There is a video tutorial below if you are more of a visual tutorial follower.

Open up a new page in your journal or use a canvas or mixed media paper and apply a few thick blobs (love that word) of acrylic paint (see the range here at CraftStash).  I have used three colours placed evenly at the top of the page: an electric blue, then white and bright pink.

Get an old credit or gift card and starting at the top of the page where the paint is simply scrape the card down the page spreading the paint.  Technically you could leave it there, or you may want to use a make up sponge (see tutorial 2) to mix and blend the paint slightly.  

Continue scraping the paint until you get the desired effect. Have a play around with lots of different colours and even have a go with watercolour or try melting wax crayons using a heat tool or hairdryer to drip the crayon down the page (there are lots of tutorials on Pinterest on this and it is something I NEED to try).

Today's offering in the art journaling series is all about art techniques and tutorials to get you started in your creative art journal.  I will look at using distress inks with make up sponges, adding salt to create effects in watercolour, adding talc to thicken acrylic paint and how to make your own spray inks/paint.

Watercolour paint, Acrylic Paint, Salt, an ink pad of your choice, a paintbrush,
Watercolour Brush (UK)
Water color brushes (US),
​Rubbing Alcohol (Ideally 90% - I used 70% but it isn't quite strong enough) and Talc. You can View Part 1 here.
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Please note the final piece in the video is not a finished product, I wasn't creating anything in particular, just using the pages to show you the techniques, they don't all need to be applied at once.

I always get asked a lot of questions about my mixed media art work and art journaling and see a lot of posts on social media asking for tips, art techniques and what tools they need to buy in order to start art journaling. When I started out I was asking the same questions myself, so thought I would do a mini series on art journaling tips and tricks. This article goes through my favourite tips and  equipment and resources you need to get started.

​The simple answer NO you don't. I have never used it and have never seen the need. An art teacher at the school I teach told me it's a waste of money and time and I agree.​ You might need to use gesso if using overly thin paper such as Moleskine Cahier when there is a chance of bleed through, but a coat of white acrylic might be all you need to use as a base.