Grungy Vintage Art Journal Spread with Lindys Squirts

Hi friends! Preeti Datta (Dutt Preety) on the Lindy’s blog today to show you step by step how to create a Grungy Vintage Art Journal Spread using Lindy’s Gang Squirts.

To start with, I’d like to wish all the wonderful Lindy’s Gang fans a colorful & beautiful 2020.

Art Journalling is one of my favorite forms of creative expression because there are no rules to it. You can create whatever you like! Today, we will use one of my favorite Lindy’s products i.e. Starburst Squirts. These are unique inks that are thicker in consistency than sprays, they give more vibrant colors and add extra sparkly shine to the project. Since these are not sprayed, there is more control over where the color goes.

We will use only 5 Lindy’s Products to create this Art Journal Spread, 4 Squirts, and 1 Embossing Powder. The same techniques can be used to create cards, tags, canvases, altered projects etc.

Basic Process

To begin, apply Heavy White Gesso to the pages of the Art Journal to prepare them for Mixed Media work.

Create a DIY grey colored Gel by mixing 3D Gloss Gel with Lindy’s Hockey Puck Black Squirts. Just a few drops of the Squirts is enough to color a big blob of the gel. I love the grey color that this gives.

Next, to create background texture, apply the grey colored 3D Gel through a stencil onto the Art Journal Pages.

Now comes the fun part, adding colors. Start with lighter colors and then step by step, add more colors and increase the intensity of the colors according to your liking. Keep drying the pages between each layer. We start by spraying the pages with water and adding Lindy’s Loonie Toonie Teal Squirts, this is one of my absolute favorite colors!

Next, intensify the colors by adding more of the Loonie Toonie Teal Squirts and introduce Lindy’s Banff Blue Squirts as well to add a bit of darker hues. Spray with water to create a natural movement of the colors and then dry with a heat tool.

Now, we add the grungy vintage look to the spread by introducing the brown colors. Create ink splatter all over the pages with Lindy’s Maple Syrup Bronze Squirts and add more of the Banff Blue Squirts and Loonie Toonie Teal Squirts with a brush. Then dry the pages and stamp all over with stamps using brown archival inks. Also, distress the edges of the pages with the brown archival ink using an ink blending tool.

Next, prepare a few die cuts for layering by heat embossing them. Since this is an Art Journal Spread in a Journal Book, we will keep the composition relatively flat and non-dimensional, so that it is easy to close the journal book at the end. Here, we use Lindy’s Silver Moon Turquoise Embossing Powder. This is a truly magical embossing powder because one embossing powder does the job of two! the white die cuts look silvery-white and the black die cuts look bluish-silver once they are heat embossed. So you get two for the price of one. As always I’ve used Lindy’s Gripper to hold the die cuts while heat embossing. This tool is a real life saver and a must-have for all heat embossing.

Now, gather all the elements for layering. Create a visually pleasing composition by layering all the elements including die cuts, a vintage photo, vintage ephemera, old book pages, washi tapes, and word stickers. Distress the edges of all the ephemera to create a vintage look. Adhere everything using a strong glue.

To finish, darken the edges of the pages with brown and black archival ink and create ink splatters to add cohesion to the whole piece. Create white splatter using a fan brush and watered down white acrylic paint.

Here are some photos of the finished Art Journal Spread…

Lindy’s Products

• Starburst Squirts- Loonie Toonie Teal, Banff Blue, Hockey Puck Black and Maple Syrup Bronze.
• Embossing Powder- Silver Moon Turquoise EP.
• Gripper

Other Products 

• Maremismallart Word Stickers; Tim Holtz Word Word Stickers, Design tapes, Vintage photo & Ephemera; 13 Arts Stencil; Prima Marketing & Finnabair’s Heavy White Gesso, 3D Gloss Gel & Stamp; Tacky Glue; Fantasy Dies; Versamark Watermark Inkpad, Ranger’s Heat Tool and Ranger’s Archival Inkpads.

Thanks a lot for your precious time
Stay Blessed!
Preeti