Still on an Abstract Adventure...

The second lesson in the Abstract Adventures Workshop is all about playing with lines. I had soooooo much fun with this one! Painting big is a blast!!! Here's how mine turned out...

Again, it's 18x24," acrylic on watercolor paper. I think the fun, for me, is a combination of the size, and the fact that it's abstract. There is no worrying about making it look like anything. It's just playing with colors and lines! I can see I will be doing a lot of experimenting in this giant journal!

I wish you a wonderful and inspired weekend my crafty friends! See you soon!

Abstract Adventures, Part One...

The 21 Secrets Fun Continues!!! Last night I started the Abstract Adventures Workshop, which is taught by the talented and fearless creator of 21 Secrets - Connie Hosvicka! She teaches us to paint BIG and FEARLESS! How awesome is that?!!! So I bought myself an 18 x 24" watercolor pad and I'm calling it my fearless art journal!!! The first exercise was all about getting loose and exploring color. Here's how mine turned out...
I have to say I just LOVED painting big! I turned my itunes on shuffle and moved to the music as I slapped colors on the page - it was fun and so therapeutic!


Here's where having a bunch of journals going at once comes in handy: I then used the leftover paint on my palette to make backgrounds in four other journals - I hate to waste those beautiful colors! Here's how the scraproom looked afterwards with everything drying...

So, National Scrapbook Day is coming up on May 7th. I signed up for the free online crop/party at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It goes from 9am to 9pm and looks like it will be fun! Check it out here! Anyone know of any other online crops going on that day?

The deadline for submissions at Scrapping The Music just passed, so I'm off to create the slideshow! Stop by in a little while and it will be up and it's a good one! Lots of beautiful entries this time! Click here to go to the STM blog.

Thanks so much for visiting and I will see you again soon!

Diving into the Self-Portrait Experience...

Hi everyone! Tonight I finished my first project for "The Self-Portrait Experience," which is another workshop that's part of 21 Secrets. It's taught by Barbara Nigg. This workshop looks like it's quite in-depth, and I am loving it already!!!


The first thing we do is to make a cover for a composition notebook, that will be used for the writing assignments in the class. This is mine - it's called "Metaphorical Me..."

The front cover...

The back cover...

and both together...

I took my time with this one - it has a number of layers. Now I'm excited to start filling it up!

Oh, hey! I got an email today that Stop and Scrap is taking pre-orders for the Smashbooks! I got my order in right away! Click here to check it out!

Celebration Greeting Cards

Awhile ago, I bought this limited edition kit from Noel Mignon...
Isn't it gorgeous and huge? It's built around the gorgeous new Soiree Line from Pink Paislee. It was one of her limited edition kits, and I couldn't resist! The colors were so bright and cheery, I just had to nab one immediately. At my last crop with the girls, I made a bunch of greeting cards with this kit, and I realized I never shared them with you, so here they are...






On this one, I accidentally stapled the card shut when I was attaching the yellow ribbon on the side (LOL). I decided to turn it into an opportunity, so I made an inside card that slides in and out...


and this one I made especially for my sweet mother-in-law Sue for her birthday...


While the kit is sold out, you can still get alot of the Pink Paislee Soiree line at Noel's store. Click here to check it out.

Tonight I'm starting a new 21 Secrets Workshop called "The Self-Portrait Experience," which is taught by Barbara Nigg. It looks like it's going to be quite an adventure! I will keep you posted!

Collage Paint & Soul...

This weekend I worked on the 21 Secrets Workshop called "Collage Paint & Soul" which is taught by the super-talented Tamara Laporte. The technique she teaches is so COOL. You start with a collage - here's mine...


and then you use her Collage, Paint & Soul technique to turn it into a finished page. Here's how mine turned out...
OMG this was so rewarding! This is a process with quite a few steps to it, and I must admit, I REALLY had to trust the process. There were numerous times that I said - oh no, I shouldn't have done that - EEK! But I just kept going, and I love how my page turned out! This process is so interesting because you really don't know how it's going to look in advance. You have a general vision in your head, but it's a surprise as it unfolds, which is so fun! This is one I will use again and again, I just know it.

You can still sign up for 21 Secrets. Click on the widget in the sidebar to get more info.

Thanks so much for visiting! I will be back soon with another update...

Traveling Journal Kit...

I've been trying for ages to come up with the ideal journal kit. One that I can take with me when I am on the road, so I have everything I need to journal in hotel rooms. One that I can grab on my way out the door to a crop. One that I can keep packed up so it's ready to go whenever.

I finally did it and I'm so excited to share it with you! First, I have to give credit to Sarah Whitmire's "Jet Set Journaling" workshop. Sarah really helped me hone in on what kinds of things I would need/want to have with me. Then it was all about finding the right container to put it all in.

I was at Michael's last week and as I was waiting in line to check out, I saw a clearance table, and ran over for a quick look. There were about five of these stacked up, and they were marked down to $2.99 (yes you read that right - $2.99!!!) from the original price of $29.99. I really didn't have time to look too closely at it, but it seemed to have some organizing potential so I grabbed one - not knowing what I would do with it.

Well, it turned out to be absolutely PERFECT container for my traveling journal kit! Here's how it looks all packed and ready to go. I put a record album next to it to give you an idea of the size...


Opened it looks like this...


And then when you open it up completely, it has four sections (the plastic envelope on the right side comes with it and velcros to the inside of the flap...


Here's a closeup of each section. See if you can tell what's in there, and then I will show you in a minute...





I can't believe how much stuff fits neatly inside this thing! Here's everything I can carry with me in this kit...
Left to right starting at the top:

"I Walk At Night" Collage journal
Envelope filled with three magazines, and tons of cut out images for collage
Rub-ons
Composition book for notes
Journal Prompts from Jet-Set Journaling Class
"Trixie Belden" Urban Journal for painting
Three glue sticks
Water-soluble oil pastels
Watercolor set (with waterbrush inside)
Envelope filled with small ephemera
Wet wipes
Small container of gesso
Small container of gel medium
Six of my favorite journaling pens
Tape runner
Small roll of wonder tape
Three paint brushes
Reading glasses
Several pieces of waxed paper
Black ink pad
Three rolls of decorative tape
Four of my favorite crayons
A headlamp for journaling in bed or low light
Tiny attacher and refill staples
A cute little chipmunk eraser
Black pan pastel and applicator
Set of 8 Pitt pens in blacks and greys
Detail scissors
Ribbons
Liquitex acrylics in tiny containers

Can you believe all that fit in that one little tote?

I tried it out on my recent trip and it was so easy to work with! I unzipped it and folded it out on the bed and you can see everything and get at it easily while still keeping things organized - yeayyy!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting! I really appreciate it, and if you haven't been over to see my guest post on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Blog, I hope you will stop by over there and say hi too!

Come On Over and Say Hi...

Today is the day I am guest blogger over at Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog! I'd absolutely love it if you want to come on over and say hi! Here's a link to the post:

A Journal For Every Mood

Improvisation Station...

Tonight I worked on expanding my horizons with another 21 Secrets workshop called "Improvisation Station." It was soooooo awesome! There were a number of exercises that led up to the final art journal spread. Here is what I ended up with...
This class has to do with reaching beyond the labels you are used to having and becoming limitless. I love that idea, and I love how my page turned out. The city buildings are cut from a combination of some of my absolute favorite patterned papers - some are designed by Nat Kalbach and some by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. I love how their patterns mix together, and Nat and Julie are friends, so I thought it would be super fun to combine their papers on one page. Now the papers can be friends too! (grin) Other materials used are watercolor paper, acrylic paint, copy paper, and glimmer mist in the color Raven (how appropriate, eh?).

Thanks so much to the talented and super fun Natasha Reilly for an awesome and inspiring workshop!

Are any of you participating in 21 Secrets? If you are, how is it going? I'd love to hear!

Thanks so much for visiting and I will be back again soon with another update!

Finishing Up Three Little Words...

As I'm finishing up with each of the 21 Secrets workshops, I am realizing that they are really not over. Each thing I am learning is naturally making it's way into my personal art process. I can't tell you how much I love that.

The third assignment in my Three Little Words (taught by Aimee of Artsyville) class involved coming up with poetry. I decided to do this one in my grief journal, and I love how it turned out...
I haven't done much with poetry before but I'm loving how healing it feels - very freeing to be more abstract with my words.

and the final assignment involved generating tons of journal fodder. For each of the two pages, one of my three-little-words phrases was the jumping off point. Wow all this could keep me going for years....


Oh, and just a reminder, this Friday is my guest blogpost for Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's "Art Journal Every Day" project. I'm very excited about it, and I hope you will come visit me there!

Have a wonderful Wednesday my friends and thanks for visiting!

Finishing Up Child's Play...

I guess I've never outgrown being a kid, which is probably why I have LOVED the Child's Play workshop so much! It's been a blast! I finished my last assignment today, and I got to use my new vintage spirograph! OMG I had so much fun!

Here's how it turned out...

I tried using a number of different drawing utensils to make my spirals. I wanted something more colorful than a plain old pen. It's not easy tho because the little holes in the spirograph wheels are pretty small, plus if you use anything wet - like a marker, the design tends to smear. I finally ended up using watercolor pencils and I just love how they work! I blended them to make the goofups less noticeable - ha! Then I cut them out and put the on a separate watercolored background page. I thought the quote fit how I was feeling perfectly.

I raised the spirals off the background with pop dots. You can sorta see it here...


I'm also working on making all of my prepped magazine pages into a bound journal. I will be sure to share when it's done.

It's not too late to come on over and join us at 21 Secrets! It's absolutely the most fun you could ever imagine! Click here for more info!

Thanks so much for visiting and for your comments - they mean a lot to me!

Good Days at Scrapping The Music...

The new challenge at Scrapping The Music features the song "Good Days" by Alain Clark. It's got some really awesome lyrics for Scrapping, and I chose the line "memories of the years I've left behind..."

Here's how it turned out...
This song made me think about the music I listened to in high school, so I decided to do my layout about that. My memories of my teen years are so entwined with the music I listened to, there's virtually no separating the two! I'm guessing that might be true for most people - music has a way of doing that, right? Anyhoo, it was fun to pay tribute to the old days.

The paper I used for this layout is another piece from my friend Nat Kalbach's "Emotions" line. I just love the painty, misty, handmade look of her papers, not to mention the gorgeous colors! Along with her paper, I did some doodling and stamping, and that's it! I felt like the images told the story, and I didn't really want to add anything else!

Click here to check out the challenge - we'd love it if you want to play along!

Oh, and p.s. - the new challenge is also up at the Fave Things blog!!! It's a super fun one!!! Click here to check it out...

Three Little Words...

Hi everyone - I can't believe that Sunday was the last time I posted - where did the week go??? EEK!

I'm still busy working on the 21 Secrets Workshop assignments and I'm learning so much! The latest workshop is called "Three Little Words," and it's taught by the talented Aimee from Artsyville. I am really enjoying this class because it focuses on the writing part of journaling. Here's one of the exercises I did that challenges you to collect three-word phrases that you like from books and other works....


Here are two of those phrases I put together to create a six-word phrase that had meaning for me...

Again, I was able to use one of my sewn pages from the Child's Play Workshop as the base - I just love it when things come together like that! Kinda like what happened with the Goddess Guides page (see post below).

Thanks for visiting my friends and I will be back again soon with another update - I wish you a wonderful Friday!

Goddess Guides...

I finished my journal page from the "Connecting With The Goddess Within" workshop, and I'm excited to share it with you! Here's how far it was the last time I shared...

and here's the finished page...
In the meditation we did in the workshop, I followed a long path to a big mountain, accompanied by two of my animal totems, the raven and the deer. When we got there we were introduced to the rabbit - a new guide! The journey was longer than that, but that is the part I wanted to represent in my journal page...

I loved playing with this so much! When I finished my colored pencil drawing, I decided to cut it out and add it to a page I already made in the "Child's Play" workshop, so it's a combo! The background is a magazine page with collaged tissue paper, handmade stamps and a little embossing with white paint on the bottom. Then I added an acrylic-swirled piece of cardstock for the path, and glued my drawing on top. I feel like it really represents my meditation just like I saw it. My horizons are really being broadened!

My spirograph arrived in the mail last night and I got to play around with it a little bit. I forgot that there is a learning curve with operating that thing! My first few attempts were a big mess! HA! I managed to make one good one though and I'm going to keep practicing til I have a few I can add to a page.

Thanks so much for visiting and for your comments - I really appreciate you so much!!!

New Funky, Messy Journal...

Hi everyone and happy Saturday! Last night I worked on another technique in the Child's Play Workshop. The technique was to emboss with gesso and stencils. For my first attempt I used some kid's alpha stencils and added a little apricot paint to my gesso. Here's how it turned out...
I decided my gesso is a little too watery for this technique. The word dream turned out a little muddied. For this page I still like it tho cuz it looks sorta dreamy - no? I might do a little scribbly outlining around the letters to define them more.

I decided I needed something thicker, so I found a super old (we're talking about 20 years - ha) tube of white paint that had gotten really thick, and used that along with a crafter's workshop stencil.....
That worked a lot better. The image is thick and crisp. This truly feels like child's play and I am having so much fun with it!

Next, I used Alma's tutorial and turned all of my prepped magazine pages into nice thick and messy journal pages. I sandwiched five plain magazine pages in between two prepped pages and sewed them up...

I'm so excited cuz I now have enough to make a nice thick, juicy journal! Here's another view of the stack...
I'm thinking I might bind them "Urban Journal" style with some more sewing.

Now, I just need to wait for my spirograph to arrive and I can do the very last assignment in the Child's Play workshop.

While I wait, I think I will finish up my Goddess Guides Page.

What are you up to this weekend?

Spin Art Fun...

One of my favorite things at the State Fair every year has always been doing Spin-Art. Just in case you're not familiar, Spin-Art is done by dripping thin paint onto paper that is spinning on a machine. The fact that you don't have control of how it turns out if half the fun!

I was excited to see that using a spin-art machine was part of the fun in the Child's Play workshop. I purchased a kid's spin-art toy at Wal-Mart and was amazed at how well it worked! Here are how my samples turned out...

Oh, I should say that I didn't like the poster paint that came with the machine, so I used my own craft paint and it worked great. It just has to be thin enough to spread on the page.

The first one was done in just the regular way, with the paper that came with the toy...

Then I tried using colored cardstock for a background...

I also tried using some spray mist before adding the paint...

On this one I took a waterbrush to the green paint on the first layer to give it a different effect. Then added a regular layer on top...

Here's one done on a book page...


These next two were done by touching a paint-filled brush to the page as it was spinning. Topped with a layer of dripped paint...


Here I added some india ink to the page at the end...

This is one of my faves - it's a mini cupcake liner. I think it will make a great journal tab...!

and here's the whole lot of them together. Which one is your fave?

While I was feeling nostalgic for my childhood, I also purchased a vintage spirograph from 1967 off of ebay. It's the exact model I had as a kid! I loved that thing! Can't wait to get it. I will be sure to show you how it works!

Did any of you love spin-art as a kid, or an adult? How about spirograph?

It's Child's Play...

Hi everyone! I spent all night last night playing like a child and let me tell you it's so therapeutic. The third workshop I am taking as a part of 21 Secrets is called "Child's Play" and the super-talented Alma Stoller is the teacher. I'm so excited to share what I've been doing!

The first thing we did was prep magazine pages. I played with five different techniques and prepped over 40 magazine pages for journaling or collaging with! Here's just a sampling of magazine and book pages drying in the scraproom...

Then, I made my own stamps out of sponges. I used the expandable sponges, which start out almost as thin as paper, so you can draw on them and cut them out pretty easily...


Then you add water and poof, they turn into sponges! Here's how mine looked after I was done stamping with them...
The circle stamp with the strings on it is another technique we learned in the class. Very fun and unique.


and here are just a few of the papers after they were prepped and them stamped on...
I will definitely be doing more handmade stampmaking. This is taking my journaling to a whole new level - it's a real horizon-expander!

I will be back next time with another Child's Play update! Thank you so much for visiting!!!