Puffy Clouds...

Whew!  So sorry I've been absent, but I have been absorbed and studying all of Felecia's journaling tips.  But now I'm back to share yet another great design team tutorial.  This one is light and fun and fluffy and puffy... clouds!  Here's Melissa to share with you some great ideas to make those floating puffs in the sky:

Simple Puffy Clouds

by Melissa Elsner

Hi everyone!

Did you all get a chance to read Felecia's tutorial on journaling? Man.. how do you follow that one? Thank you so much Felecia for that one. I'm still thinking about everything you shared. Well, how about a little bit light hearted as we all think about how we'll be taking our journaling to a new place?

In this month's kit - Optimism - we have the perfect symbolism to go along with the topic. What do you think of when you see clouds? Around here I think of rain. Actually, it depends on what kind of cloud. Those dark, gray, gloomy clouds are anything but optimistic. But what about those bright white, fluffy, way up high in the sky type of clouds? They are almost like marshmallows. I love flying in a plane up above them because I imagine in my head that I could hop out and just fall on them like a soft, downy pillow.

So in our kits this month you'll find a bunch of fun chipboard elements that include some clouds. When I saw those, I immediately imagined those soft, fluffy, white clouds and wanted to create them. It's super easy to do. All you need is some gesso. Seriously. That's it. And a brush for painting.

The first step is to simply spread on the gesso. Make sure you cover most of the chipboard but there's no need to make it perfect.

Here's the fun part. Get a big dollop of gesso and plop it onto the cloud. Dab it with your brush so it creates lots of dimension and a fluffy look.

Then you just let it dry and you've got yourself a fluffy, white cloud.

Some variations you could do are add some glitter to make it sparkly. Maybe coat the finished product with Glossy Accents or Crackle Accents, depending on if you want a smooth, shiny look or another type of texture to it.

OR.. as I did on my layout, you can emboss it. That was a lot of fun to experiment with. I simply did the gesso effect and then coated it with some clear, glitter embossing powder. It was fun to watch the gesso bubble up as I put the heat gun on it. The look was totally different but I still liked it.

Here is the photo of my completed layout using the cloud:

Hope you get a chance to make some fun, fluffy, white, sparkly clouds! 

Thanks Melissa,  me too! 

First I need to get some gesso, how about you?  (By the way, I was pronouncing it wrong!  I was pronouncing it with a "g" as  in "good", but I was recently corrected and heard it spoken with a "g" as in "giraffe".) So I must get j-j-j-gesso and play... join me?