This is my start point – one of the random backgrounds that were waiting in one of my journals.

Step1: Use water-soluble pencil
I used Derwent Inktense pencils and a waterbrush to add a watercolour style sky.

Step 2: Add mountains or trees
I think it’s fairly obvious I went for mountains, keeping with the Inktense pencils adding shades of black, white, grey and purple.

Step 3: Stamp into wet gesso
Latin script stamp pushed into gesso to create some sort of monolith…

Step 4: Use black paint/gesso to cover something up
I used DecoArt Media Carbon Black fluid acrylic on Stampscape stamps to cover up areas of the background. Tenuous? You bet 🙂

Step 5: Use pastel chalk in some way
I’ve used PanPastels to add shading and colour to various elements across the page. Fixed with DecoArt Matte Sealer spray.

Step 6: Use some free collage images from the internet
The page tab and word elements are from a free collage sheet. Ageing with Antique Linen Distress Stain also made the inkjet print blur nicely.

Step 7: Use cut out words or phrases from any source
My source was a headline from a 2014 edition of the free paper, Metro, that I have in my pile of ‘things to be cut up’.

Step 8: Add something that another artist gave you
The butterfly was carefully removed from a card given to me several years ago by the talented Jassy Veale who has been to my studio a number of times.

Step 9: Add something metallic
An ickle dragonfly flutters by the butterflies 😉

Step 10: Use a die cut
Well, I wouldn’t normally, but rules is rules… The die cut ‘sun’ is part of Spellbinders range, and the butterfly confetti ornaments the tree.

To complete the spread, I added Posca pen-work to various elements, and my Cuttlelola motorised stippling pen to add shading and outlines.