Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Puzzle Pieces

I had never thought of using puzzle pieces in my journal before, but when one of my students gifted all of us with handfuls of these brightly colored pieces from a floral puzzle, the challenge was on!  As I dumped my pieces out one Saturday afternoon, I began flipping them all to the right side and sorting them by color.  I noticed that I had quite a few straight edged pieces and I set them aside.

I began playing with the pieces on my next spread - which I had previously given a luscious coat of purple and blue artist acrylics.  Before I knew it, I had arranged the pieces into a circle and a mandala began to take shape. I adhered the pieces to the page with Mod Podge, leaving some of the pieces wrong side up to add some contrast.  I added details around the mandala and remaining page with white colored pencil.

I assembled my straight edged pieces on the opposite page, fitting several pieces together (even though most of them didn't really belong together), and leaving spaces for "missing" pieces.  I embellished the remaining page with white colored pencil as I had on the mandala page.

I finished the pages by writing about life being like a puzzle.  I used Liquitex white acrylic ink and a crow quill pen for the writing.

What are some ways you can think of to use puzzle pieces in your art journal?  Maybe as leaves on autumn pages?  Maybe as Christmas ornaments on a tree?  Hope these ideas get your creative juices flowing as you "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"