Pep talk time!

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Quinacridone Red, Dairylide Yellow, 

Carbon Black, Gold, Tinting Base, Cobalt Teal Hue

Agatha by Magda Polokow for Stampotique

Barcode by France Papillon for Stampotique

Texture Cube by me! for Stampotique

Steampunk stamp set by Andy Skinner

Sometimes I have to give myself a little pep talk to calm the anxiety that creeps upon me at 3 am. Why do things seem so hideously impossible when you wake up in the night? All of the things that wake me and set me off worrying seem quite manageable once I get up and get going. But I can't always remember that at 3am so this page is a little reminder to myself.

Note to self: You can do this. You can always do more than you think you can.

I made this page on loose card and then decided to add it to my Strathmore journal, which has become a little bit like a scrapbook style journal for me! I added the Barcode stamp in the corner to complete the page.

I used DecoArt fluid acrylics in Dairylide Yellow, and the glorious Quinacridone Red - one of my faves, with a brayer over several layers, also using Tinting Base to calm things down a bit. (Incase you don't know ... Tinting Base is a medium which works alongside DecoArt Fluid acrylics. It is 'almost' a thick white paint, so it thickens the fluid paints and also makes them opaque which is perfect for layering as you can add transparent layers over the top). And then I added black (scary but effective), and some blingy gold!  

I dug deep into my (ever-growing) stencil collection for this background and used stencils by Tando Creative, Dylusions and Tim Holtz. And then as a final fling I scribbled and added extra colour with Distress crayons.

So, remember when you start having one of those middle-of-the-night panics - you can always do more than you think you can.

*I taught this page as part of an art journaling class at the fabulous Craftrange, Burnley. It's a great shop with a lovely teaching space. I'll be teaching there again ... keep an eye out at the Craftrange here, and for details of all of my classes *here*.