When you smile, the stars dance in their heavens.

When I had the joy of opening up the Shooting Stars Stencil package from Artistcellar and playing with it in my studio one thought kept returning to my mind. It wasn't as much an image as it was a sentiment. When I look at the Shooting Stars Stencil it looks to me like the stars are dancing. The sentiment I kept thinking of was, "When you smile, the stars dance in their heavens."

After much thought, I realized that I wanted to make others smile. So, I sketched out one of the things that makes me smile. A dog, and a smiling dog is even better. :)

I used my regular sketching pencils and Bristol Smooth paper. I thought this dog's smile could put a smile on a young child's face. So, I decided to keep with the whimsical theme and paint my dog in bright colors.

For this 12 x 12 wood panel I used, Silks Acrylic Glazes, bleeding tissue paper, Shooting Stars Stencil, black pens, white pens, gesso, gel medium, home made Silks Acrylic Glazes Spray Paints (the tutorial is provided below,) punchinella, and white acrylic paint.

 The truth is...When you smile, the stars dance in their heavens. 

 Tammy Dial Gray  www.facebook.com/ArtistTammyDialGray

Artistcellar: Joy Comes in the Morning Art Journal Page

Technique for Creating Joy Comes in the Morning Art Journal Page

1. Spray water color paper with the Silks Acrylic Glazes home made spray (tutorial is included below...click on the image for a larger view), dry.
2. Use the Flower of Life Stencil and Matte Gel Medium to stencil over a strip of water color paper, dry.
3. Apply Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Brushed Pewter over the dried Matte Gel Medium.
4. Use the Ranger Archival Ink Pad and a border stamp to stamp around the entire border of the art journal page.
5. Apply Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Brushed Pewter lightly over the stamped border.
6. Use the Flower of Life Stencil and a Silks Acrylic Glaze to stencil on the bottom right side of the page as shown.
7. Use the Ranger Archival Ink Pad and letter stamps to stamp the title "Joy" on tissue paper
8. Adhere the title with Matte Gel Medium as shown
9. Select photo and mat with metallic card stock.  Adhere to page as shown.
10. Spray a strip of water color paper with Silks Acrylic Glazes home made spray and dry.
11. Use a Faber-Castell Pitt Pen to write out "...comes in the morning." and adhere to the page
12. Use the Viva Decor Pearl Pen to add pearls as shown.
13. Use a silver pen to add accents around the page as shown.

Close Up View of Joy Comes in the Morning Art Journal Page

Tutorial for creating your own Silks Acrylic Glazes Spray Paints