Thursday, February 28, 2013

Quick Letter Love Update...

Just a quick share - I am LOVING my Letter Love 101 class with Joanne Sharpe!  Here's a page I finished with a technique I learned in class...

This was done with a number of different journaling pens, and a mix of pan pastels and Stabilo Pastel pencils for the coloring...
Done in my Dylusions creative journal.  It works great for pastels and doodling!!!

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Book of Days for Last Week...

Hey everyone!  As the weekend winds down, I have some Book of Days pages to share with you.  They are all from this past week.  I started a new journal.  It's the Dylusions Creative journal.  I've been really excited to try working in this one.  I love the way the outside is plain kraft - just inviting a painting session...!

I also love the 9x12" size, which I have discovered is my favorite size to work in.  When you open it up, there is a handy little envelope on one side, to put stuff in.  (stencils?  ephemera?)

There are also some downsides to it, but I will get to that.

On Monday, I was feeling bright and cheery, and reflecting on my Scrappy Retreat with the girls...
 I used Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's pomegranate stencil in the background, with a combination of browns, pinks and orange sprays (surprise surprise about the pinks and oranges, right? - ha.) Then gesso, ledger paper, and paint.  The photo was printed on matte photo paper, which I discovered doesn't take media very well.  I painted my eyes blue, and added some color to my cheeks and lips, as well as pink to my hair. I really want to get some pink put in my hair.  Need to find a salon that will do it.  Hmmm...  Anyhoo, moving on...

This is my MDS (multi-day spread).  It was a learning experience, as I couldn't get anything to blend very well.  This is the down side to this paper.  I tried neocolor II crayons, gelatos, and finally aquamarkers.  I guess I will just have to stick to other materials to fill this book...



 Here's my Soulistry spread.  The prompt this week was the Sigmund Freud quote that I used as a title...

I did some journaling on separate paper about the things I see as vulnerabilities/weaknesses in myself, overlapping the letters and leaving out all spacing.  The purpose was to get the words out, and keep them illegible.  Then I took that paper and cut it into shapes to use on my page.

 The house opens up to this...

Here's a detail shot...
and finally I made a paper doll.  She was part of last week's BOD offerings, but I didn't have time to work on her til now.  I followed the process, but made her in my own style.  She will go on a journal page.  Just haven't gotten to that yet.
I had to give her cowboy boots, since she represents me!  :0)

I hope your weekend has been wonderful!  Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon!!!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

No More Excuses, The Collage Workbook and more...

Greetings and happy Saturday my friends!  Last weekend when I was at my scrap retreat, I had a chance to do some work in my No More Excuses Journal.

Here's the Collage and Doodads envelope for February.  The theme for the month is "Claiming Your Inner Artist..."

 And then there's the writing assignment.  This poem is wayyyy longer than this - I chose some excerpts to string together...

and for this month, I decided to forego the artist of the month, and instead focus on an exercise from this book...


 I made a series of collages, all using the same layering process: background paper, tissue paper, gesso, image, title...

I chose the backgrounds and images at random, which made the whole process very therapeutic.  No thinking, just cutting, tearing and pasting...


For the title on this one, I used black and white versions of the same sticker alphabet, and spliced the "o" to fit with the edge of this little guy's body...









I'm very excited today because I won an auction on ebay for this...
Isn't it pretty?  Won't this be a perfect cover for a Book of Days journal?  EEEK!  I'm so excited.  It's from the years 1910 - 1926, and the inside pages are all written on - they will make awesome journal fodder!!!  The only thing is - I have no idea how big it is - the description didn't say, and I didn't even think about that when I placed my bid.   We will see, eh?  I will let you know when I receive it.

Now I'm on to my Saturday project - Project Life!  I didn't get a chance to work on that last week, so I've got some catching up to do...

Thanks so much for visiting!!!  Have a great day!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Book of Days Update...

I have the rest of last week's Book of Days pages to share with you today.

The first one was for the Soulistry series.  Here's the prompt we were working with:

"Nurturing your love is like tending a small garden. If you keep pulling up the plants to see if the roots are growing, you will not harvest anything."
                                        ~Lao Tzu

There are many ways to go with that quote, but I decided to go with my love of art.  Here's what I came up with...
One of the best things that ever happened to me artwise, was when I started to see my finished projects as having a life of their own, like children.  Seriously - however they turn out, I have to love them, because they are a part of me.  It may sound crazy, but it really got me past that place where I was comparing myself to others, or thinking my art wasn't good enough. 

If you ever worry that your art isn't good enough, I highly recommend looking at it this way.  Your art is ALWAYS beautiful, and so are you for creating it!

Okay, down off my soapbox and on to the next page! (grin).

This one is a reflection of my love for living in the city, followed by my love of living in the country.  I moved out of the city in 2007 when I married Michael, and I've done numerous pages about this change...


and finally, my weekly wrap up...

Started to doodle a face on a book page, and then extended it out onto the journal.  Just playing.

I didn't do a lot of explaining on these pages, but please feel free to leave questions in the comments if you have them.  I will do my best to answer in the next post.

Thanks for visiting!  I appreciate you all so much!


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Love is Everywhere...

Hey there my friends!  How goes it?  I hope you are having a good week!  I have a Book of Days spread to share with you today from last Monday - February 12th.

It was fun how this spread happened.  I was just playing around with layers and backgrounds, and when I got this far, Michael came in the room and saw what I was doing...
 and right away he said he saw a figure with long legs dancing!  He pointed her out, and then I saw her too, and I also saw her holding hands with another figure, although you could only see some shorts and long legs of the second one.  Do you see them?

 So I did a little work to pull them out into the foreground, and this is how the page turned out...
The layers on this page go like this:

gesso
stenciling with dylusions spray ink
more gesso scraped on with a credit card
dictionary paper
Color Magic acrylic ink scribbles and drips
red tissue paper heart
a little red acrylic paint around the edges
details put in with poster paint pens
Journaling (lyric) typed, printed and pasted on the top

Experimenting is so much fun!  I had no idea where I was going with this page, and I love how it seemed to have a mind of its own.  Maybe it's my subconscious at work?  Hmmm.... something to ponder.

In other news, I just signed up for Joanne Sharpe's "Letter Love 101" course.  I've heard rave reviews about it, and I love lettering, so I'm excited to see where it takes me!  I will keep you posted on that.

Thanks for visiting my friends!  I will be back tomorrow with another update. 

Project Life: February 1 - 4, 2013...

It's a new month for Project Life, and I've switched to a new set of supplies.  Last month was the Simple Stories Snap Line, and this month I am going with a combination of Echo Park lines (both designed by Alison Kreft):  Everyday Eclectic, and Today's Story.  I am also throwing in a bunch of stuff from my stash.

My first spread covers the period from February 1st - 4th...
Again I've got an 8 1/2 x 11" calendar from Willowing to start the month...

Here's the spread...

 On the back of the calendar, I put a layout that I did for Noel Mignon's layout tag game.  I haven't been scrapping layouts lately, but since I had signed up for this game many moons ago, I decided to make it so it would fit into my Project Life book.  The photos are from February 4th, so it fit right in...

Closeup of the right side...
Ephemera on this page includes the order form from a restaurant that I went to for breakfast called "The Bad Waitress."  Ha.  It was a cute place - very old-time diner, but with lots of vegan options - yeayyy!!! 

For February 2nd, I printed out a paragraph from my blog that announced the opening of "Mixed Emotions," and shrunk it down to fit on the card. 

A pretty simple spread, but I had fun doing it!

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

Monday, February 18, 2013

Just got back...

Hey everyone!  I just got back from a retreat with my scrappy girlfriends and we had a blast!!!  I've got tons of art to share with you, but I have to take photos first.  I just want you to know I haven't forgotten about you!

Here's one goofy one for you - taken at the retreat (the crown was actually a chalkboard, in case you can't tell in the photo)...
I hope your weekend was super groovy!  I will see you tomorrow with a better update!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

No More Excuses Update...

Each month in the No More Excuses "Under The Influence" class, there is a different artist to learn about.  We learn a little about the artist, and then do some work in our No More Excuses journal. 

January's artist was Hundertwasser.  I can't believe I didn't know about him!  His work is right up my alley!  Lots of bright colors and organic lines - so cool!

Here are my journal pages about Hundertwasser...

A little bit about him and some photos of his work.  He was both a painter and an architect.  I would love to see one of his buildings in person!
 

On the left I've studied his palette; and mixed in some quotes that give an idea of his personality and perspective as an artist.  On the right is a little page I created, using Hundertwasser's work as inspiration...
 



Here's my messy weekly page too...
 The air mail envelope was already there (each week has some sort of tip in - either a tag or an envelope).  I decided to collect stamps from the mail that week, and stick them on the front...

Inside the envelope I tucked the dictionary definition of the theme word for January - beginnings.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I appreciate it!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Book of Days this week...

Oh my goodness this week has FLOWN by!  I haven't  blogged my Book of Days pages this week at all, so I have a catch-up post for you!

Here's how Monday's full spread turned out...

Wednesday's Soulistry prompt...
 I didn't do a lot of layers this week.  For some reason I was more in the mood for simple.

Here's an extra page I did on Thursday...
I guess I did use quite a few layers on this one.  Neocolor II crayons mixed with gesso on the bottom. Then stamped the houses (stamp by Claudine Hellmuth). Two of them were stamped on catalog pages, and then cut out and glued on. Then added some layers of pink tissue paper; followed by some stenciling (Jessica Sporn's Hebrew Calligraphy with Hamsa) with pan pastels.  Oh yes, some shiny silver duct tape here and there (thanks Renee!).  A spritz of mist in the top left area.  Then some gesso with my fingers, and journaling on top.  I had a bit of a rough start to my day, and was really appreciating that safe feeling I get from the sanctuary of my home (and everyone in it).


And finally my Multi-Day Spread (MDS) for the week...
 I discovered this thing called "Sketchnoting" this week on pinterest, and I just LOVE it!  Have you heard of it?  It's basically a way to take notes that are very graphic and visual, instead of just writing.  I can see all kinds of uses for it in my journals and I'm so excited!  I did my MDS in a sort of "sketchnoting" style.  I ordered the book on Monday, it arrived on Wednesday, and I read the whole thing on Thursday - HA.  Here's a link to more info if you are interested. They even have a flickr group, and a blog!  How fun!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Life Book 2013 - Do the Walk of Life...

The theme for January in the Life Book workshop was Celebration and Journey, and our last project was to make a game board outlining where we would like our journey to take us this year.  HOW FUN!

First we made goals cards.  I made mine out of miniature playing cards.  Each one is 1.5 x 2.5."

Here's how they turned out...
On the back of each card, I've typed my goals in that area.  The cards are painted, then stenciled with acrylic paint, before gluing on a stamped image.  The "balance" and "social" cards use Jessica Sporn's Cascading Leaves stencil; and the "creativity" card uses a chevron mask from Studio Calico.

Here's my completed game board...
The things that hold me back are in the grey boxes; but I've made a way to jump right over those hurdles and head on to my goals!  Yeayyy!

P.S. Where it says "embrace your swirly,"  that means my swirly (non-linear) brain.  Just in case you were wondering. (lol)

Monday, February 4, 2013

Soulistry - on Aiming High...

Last week's Soulistry prompt over at Book of Days, was all about aiming high with your goals.

I started out with a random background - splats of acrylic on black gesso. This was inspired by a cosmic sky that our leader Effy created...
 but when I got this far, I saw an undeniable girl's head with wild pink and orange pigtails.  Do you see it? It's right in the middle. There are drips coming down that form the sides of her head,  and she has round pink earrings. I decided I had to draw her out to play...

 So this is how my page turned out...
I sketched her basic shape with a white chalk pencil. Then used gesso, acrylic paint and neocolor II crayons for shading and details.  This was so much fun!  She's a little crazy looking, but wouldn't she be fun to hang out with?  I think so!  I added a quote that I love, and my page was done.

I am having so much fun in my Book of Days it's just crazy! 

P.S. There is still time to join in on the Mixed Emotions Art Journaling class that I'm teaching with Marit Barentsen!  Lesson one just went up today.  We are having fun talking about Courage and chatting away! Come on over and join us!  For more info see my blogpost here. To register click here or on the widget in the sidebar.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Project Life - January 2013...

EEEK!!! I'm so excited!  I finished my first month of Project Life - 2013!  I'm doing it differently this year - breaking it up by month, instead of by week.  I've got the whole month to share with you today, so be forewarned: There are alot of photos!

Here we go...

The first spread covers January 1 - 7 (Tuesday - Monday)...
Left side...
I've made a couple of guidelines for myself, to help with consistency.  Since I'm not going week by week, I don't want it to get too confusing; so I am reserving the top right slot on each spread to record the dates covered by that spread.  I know alot of people already do this, but I never have, so it's new for me.

I'm also including a large calendar at the beginning of each month...
 I bought this calendar from Tam Laporte aka willowing, and I just love it!  I can print out one month at a time, and the illustrations are so beautiful!


 Right side...
 I'm also trying to represent each day in some way this year.  I was inspired to do this by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, after reading this post.


January 7 - 10...
 Another thing I'm doing that's new, is sticking to one paper collection, or kit for the month.  For January I used the Oh Snap collection by Simple Stories.


 Left side...


 Right side...
I'm keeping notes from each day on my iphone, using the momento app.  It's really helping with my journaling!
 

 January 11 - 16...

Left side...
 


Right side...


January 16 - 21...

 Left side...



 Right side...



 January 22 - 27...
I am feeling like this new way of doing it is capturing a more complete story of our daily life, and I love that!


 Left side...


Right side...


January 27 - 31...
 Left side...
  


 Right side...
 I put the entire Featuring magazine in an 8.5 x 11 page protector, and inserted it in the album.  I put the label on the outside of the page protector, so the actual magazine will stay pristine!

And that's it for January - whew that was a lot!  In the future, I will post each spread as I finish it.  I just wanted to do January all at once, to give an idea of my process.  I hope it's helpful to see.

If you are doing Project Life this year, I hope it's going well for you!  I'd love to hear about any new things you are trying!

Thanks so much for visiting and for your comments!  I read each one and treasure them all.