inspirational ATC cards

i am participating in a monthly inspirational card swap; so the past few months i have been making 12 cards to share. when we are all finished we will have swapped for a year and should have a full ring of inspirational cards.

i will share a few of the cards this round that were my favorites.

21 secrets- positive affirmation of hope

i am playing a little catch up on 21 secrets and used both magazine and book papers in my art journal for this week's lesson.

i layered paint, papers, and inks; and then, carefully looked for the perfect words to reflect my feelings and to hopefully fit the theme of 21 secrets of positive affirmations.

i searched through my vintage reading book to pick my words. this book is at this point, many decades old, but, has provided many, many useful words and phrases over the course of the past couple of years. all of my cutting is beginning to take its' toll on my wonderful book-sooner or later i will have to find another book to use for this purpose.

i used some paper scraps that had already been painted on as you see below with that edge cutting through the large circle below.

below is my whole page. i really enjoyed watching the video and looking for my positive words. the art journal i am working in for 21 secrets was not necessarily made for art journaling- writing yes, keeping notes-yes, painting....not so sure. i did gesso the pages before starting, but, i did not want to completely cover the page, instead choosing to skim coat most of the page. if you look more closely at the red/ pink- you will notice that some of the paint went down nicely and sat on top of the gesso, and other portions soaked into the thin paper.