Art Nouveau Junk Journal

Hey, everyone! Kathleen Mower of BeAgain Books, one of our amazing new Junk Journal Design Team Members, created a fabulous Art Nouveau Junk Journal for us this week. As you know, we feature one new Junk Journal project each week created by one of our creative team of artists. Our Design Team Members select from the 100’s of Vintage Image Bundles on our Premium Membership Site, for their creations, in order to show you beautiful ways to use those images. We hope you will be totally inspired by this series!

Therefore, please make sure you check out the video tour at the bottom of the page…please scroll all the way down to see it. Are you ready to be inspired? I will step out of the way and let Kathleen tell you all about her incredible project…

Hello everyone! I am Kathleen from BeAgainBooks, and I’m happy to share my latest journal for the design team at The Graphics Fairy. Thanks for joining me as I share my junk journal vision of the Art Nouveau style.

When I wanted to create a bohemian journal to display a gorgeous piece of upholstery cover fabric, I immediately thought of the beautiful Art Nouveau and Deco Style bundle on the Premium Membership site at The Graphics Fairy. And, when this little dragonfly pin came winging it’s way into my studio, I knew I had the right concept for this journal. The journal is a perfect size to hold in my hands and the rounded spine fits just right in my palm. The beautiful deep colors of the fabric accurately reflect the Nouveau style and the paisley pattern was a popular ornamentation.

The inside front cover has an elegant lace pocket, but the focal point is the first of the delightful Nouveau ladies framed in flowers and a distinctive Deco frame. There is never a shortage of flower images to choose from when designing a page. The little dimensional butterfly has a bit of sparkle from Glossy Accents.

I love to hand dye and use other mixed media techniques to alter papers for my signatures. Here I have smooshed Distress Inks and painted with coffee to blend this lined journal page with the recycled card on the opposite page. Speaking of that recycled card, I have used a piece of sandpaper to accentuate the look of age and wear and soften the bright colors into a sweeter, old-fashioned look. The same butterfly image, this time with added dimension and movement, along with the blue dragonfly stamp on the calendar ephemera, begins a repetition of pattern to achieve unity across the journal.

I have used two bright candy bags along with a gorgeous image of a teacup to create a layered pocket page to hold vintage and handmade ephemera. The design of the vintage flashcard has just the right Nouveau touch. The organic lines of the sparkly green vine trim on the opposite pocket is also classic Art Nouveau.

The Art Nouveau style is distinguished by the use of texture, line and pattern. I have embossed this pocket and, again, sanded the white-core card to soften and age the texture. In contrast, the opposite over-the-page pocket flip has a bright gold doily to add the sparkle that reflects the elegance of the age and the long lines of jeweled washi printable image add to that elegance.

Here is the glossy butterfly again, flitting near a poplar tree in a typical Deco frame. On the opposite page, the second Nouveau Lady holds her lamp, surrounded by the typical sinuous lines and soft florals and a truly magnificent jeweled dragonfly, also highlighted with Glossy Accents. I followed a great handcraft tutorial, by Terri Kolte on the Premium Membership Site, to create the lovely collaged ephemera envelope. It floats perfectly here in the center of the journal.

I have used a lovely image of Snowdrops from the Nouveau Flowers bundle and enlarged it to fill this coffee-dyed journal paper and then folded it and pinned it to the journal page beneath. This large image perfectly matches the little ledger opposite and accents this layered group of journal pages. I call these “shorts” and always include a few in my signatures.

An oversized bound-in tag is a common feature in my journals and this one highlights a very Nouveau brass fairy charm – so darling. The special flocked paper behind the tag contrasts the hard metal texture with a soft floral design – again, very Nouveau and tres chic!

A scrappy bundle of notepapers accents the beautifully Nouveau design of waterlilies in this center spread. This image comes from the Lotus and WaterLilies bundle.
The little notepad is made with several paper scraps and small prints of decorative papers. These are pinned together with a navy colored brad and accented with a little leaf charm. That beautiful blue floral round is from the Blue and White Chinoiserie bundle.

This signature center spread really reflects my love of layering in my journals! Tipins, folded pockets and hiding places and vintage papers bring me joy and scraps are peeking out everywhere!

The gold stylized design of this gorgeous dark blue paper struck me as very Art Nouveau! Feathers are another characteristic of the style and I have included a real feather as an accent piece on this narrow pocket. I can’t really make a journal without stenciling and this typically Nouveau floral image adds just the right touch to a coffee-dyed index card.

These glossy dragonflies make another appearance here on one of my favorite journal elements – a wraparound page pocket. I have used one of the faux washi tape printable pages from the Family Album Pages bundle to create the pocket which wraps around two pages in the journal. I added a label and the dragonflies on both the pocket and a matching tag. The Premium Membership site has eight pages filled with 190 different printables of designer faux washi tape! And you can sort these by main color – what a great resource for me!

Pretty blue butterflies from the Peacock Hues Ephemera bundle accent the opposite side of the wraparound pocket. I love making these small textural collages in my journals and the butterflies are the perfect focal image. The embossed texture on the vintage book page creates a busy decorative mood.

A final Nouveau-style image of blue florals finishes the journal and a mixed media “painty” technique with a sponge finishes off the back cover.

ART NOUVEAU JUNK JOURNAL SHOW  & TELL VIDEO TOUR

Premium Membership Bundles used in this project:

Art Nouveau & Deco Style
Nouveau Flowers
Lotus & Water Lilies
Abstract Winter Acrylics
Sea Green Backgrounds
Peacock Hues Ephemera
Family Album Pages
Blue and White Chinoiserie
Sissieretta Jones
Bohemian Butterflies
Marsh and Pond

I hope you will visit me here:
Kathleen’s YouTube

Kathleen’s Etsy shop
Kathleen’s Instagram

Thanks so much!

Kathleen

Check out the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership Site HERE!