Quirky Birds...

I had so much fun with this Life Book lesson!  Although I must admit, with my short attention span - it took me forever to finish it - ha!  Now that I did, I'm really glad I took my time.

The lesson was to paint some quirky birds on an accordion style page; and use lyrics that make you feel empowered.

Here's how mine turned out...

and here are each of the birds individually...

Front side....

 

and back side...

 How's your weekend going?  I'm excited because it's only noon and I'm on to my second project!  Two more Life Book lessons and I will be caught up - yeayyy!!!

Take care and I will see you again soon!

Project Life Update - February 19 - 24...

It's time for another Project Life update - This spread covers February 19 - 24, 2013.  Enjoying some quiet time at home, after the scrapbook retreat...

Closeup of left side...

Still using a combination of the Today's Story Line from Photo Freedom;  and the  Everyday Eclectic Collection from Echo Park. The page protector is from American Crafts.  I love it because of the 6x8 pocket, which adds a unique touch and can be used for lots of things.  Here, I used a tabbed divider page from Studio Calico's handbook collection.  I don't use their Handbook albums, but the divider pages are so cute!  I just trimmed off the tab and it fit right in!  Adding the dates with stickers is all I did.  For the Letter Love class pocket, I printed out the blog badge.

Here's a closeup of the right side...

Had to document daughter Becca and her cute new glasses! Everything else is pretty self-explanatory I think.

Another week done, which feels great!  I'm noticing that sometimes I'm really in the mood to work on this Project, and other times I'm not; and I'm giving myself permission to go with the flow of inspiration.  If I force myself to work on it every single week without fail, I fear it will become a chore, know what I mean?

Linking up to Project Life Tuesday.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Book of Days...

Here's my latest Book of Days page...

  

I did alot of testing of markers and ink pads on this page.  The paper is actually torn out of my Dylusions journal and pasted into my art journal. 

The dylusions paper is fabulous for journaling on - nice and smooth especially with my pitt pens.  It didn't take as well to water-based marker blending (title and the blue behind both sets of snowflakes).

On the other hand, the little sun and sky on the right side is done with copic markers, and they worked great!  The coloring lines disappeared completely. 

The great big word "twenty" was done with a brand new set of children's stamps that I just got, and LOVE!  They're called See and Stamp - here's a link if you're interested.

Anyhoo, I decided to keep the Book of Days and Book of Mirrors pages together in the same journal til it's filled up.  I may decide to separate them in the next journal; but who knows.

Thanks so much for visiting, and I hope your weekend is going great!!!

Intuitive Art Journaling...

Today I've got a new page in my Book of Mirrors to share with you.  This is one where I didn't start with any sort of plan, or message I wanted to portray.

I had a figure from a magazine ad that I thought would be fun to draw; and I knew I wanted to play with my new Balzer Designs stencils - Swirly Garden and Tiny Circles.

Here's how it turned out...

(supplies used: acrylic paint, neocolor II crayons, watersoluble pencil, spray ink, stencils, permapaque marker, china crayon, gesso, collage fodder)

When I do this kind of page, it feels like having a dream.

So much fun.  So freeing.  And now I get to figure out what it's telling me.......



Thanks so much for visiting - I appreciate you!

Book of Mirrors...

The Book of Days project is evolving and I love the changes!  There are now two parts.  Book of Days and Book of Mirrors.  Book of Days is about recording what happens in your life; and Book of Mirrors is about self-reflection pages.  This makes so much sense to me; and it leaves the door open to interpret this however you want.  I am planning to have two different books!  How fun!

Anyhoo, here is my first Book of Mirrors spread...

 I busted out my collage fodder, and went to town. I decided to follow the current Prompt 6ix guidelines which are:

Trivia (didn't get this one in there)
Orange and Yellow
Diagram (how to make Bridal shoes - vintage instructions w/diagram you can see peeking out under the word "your" in the title)
Descriptive words (top left where it says "usual charming self")
Alphabet
Greeting Card (the man with the roller skates was cut from a greeting card)

I am also submitting this for Glue-it Tuesday.

I hope your week is going stupendously!  Thanks for visiting! 

Project Life Update...

Hey there everyone!  I have a Project Life Update for you!  About time, eh?  I have gotten in the habit of working on Project Life once a month at my girls' get together crops; and then I get a whole bunch of pages done at once.  It's fun to do it that way, but then there's a big gap between updates.  I am going to try to fix that by sharing a spread each week.

This is the spread from the last day of my scrapbook retreat in February...

Closeup of left side...

I am loving the flexibility of not having to stick to a week per spread.  Having a page per day for special occasions works great for me.  I used a combination of the Today's Story Line from Photo Freedom;  and the  Everyday Eclectic Collection from Echo Park. The postcard on the bottom left is by Pam Garrison.

 Closeup of Right side...

 

The page protector here is from American Crafts.  It's awesome to have that 6x8 slot for a bigger photo once in awhile.

If you are doing Project Life, how is it going?  Are you still enjoying it?

I'm linking up to Project Life Tuesday.

Rural Minnesota in my Illustrated Journal...

I'm taking a writing class called "Writing Ourselves Alive;" and one of the things we are to do is write short pieces that precisely capture a fully-engaged moment in our life.  These are called "small stones."  I combined my first small stone with this page in my illustrated journal...

I am discovering that my favorite way of doing watercolors is using my neocolor II crayons and Pitt Pens in S and F.  That is what I used here.

Hope your week is going great!

Prompt 6ix Meets the 1970's and Glue-it Tuesday...

I could not resist the Prompt 6ix Challenge this week, over at Daisy Yellow!  The guidelines for the challenge were as follows:

1. Graffiti
2. Pattern
3. No Words
4. Stapled Collage
5. Neon Pink
6. 1970's

The 70's was my decade, so it was really fun to recreate the feel of that time.  Here's what I came up with...

The photo of the graffiti'd building and the dancing woman are both from the internet.  The photo of Mick Jagger hangs in the Seattle Music Museum.  I took a photo of it when I was there. The rainbow is a separate piece of cardstock that I painted, cut out and glued onto the misted pink background. It was fun to have the "no words" guideline.  I pretty much always put words on my journal pages; so this was a new thing. 

This is also my submission for Artsyville's Glue-it Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting!  I'm so glad you stopped by!

More Work in my Illustrated Journal...

Hi everyone!  I've been having a lot of fun playing in my new illustrated journal.  After my first entry, I decided not to sketch in pencil first anymore - just commit to pen right away.  It makes things a little more quirky looking to not be able to erase, and I like that.  It also makes perfectionism impossible, which is a REALLY good thing...

This first one is done with Pitt Artist Pen and Neocolor II crayons...

and this one is done with Pitt pen, Derwent Inktense Pencils, White Montana Marker, and Neocolor II's...

One thing I am noticing is that my natural tendency is to draw big.  Both of these entries ended up being just a piece of the whole picture because I started out so big (unintentionally) - ha.  I think I am used to more of a 9"x12" size and this book is 5"x8."  That's okay though - I kinda like it that way.  It would take a whole lot longer to draw the whole thing!

I hope your weekend is fantabulous!  Thanks so much for visiting and for your comments!  I really appreciate them!

Sharing my Book of Days Process...

I thought it might be fun to share an example of the thought process that goes on behind my Book of Days Art Journal Spreads.  I've started a new process of Sketchnoting Effy's videos, while contemplating what my own feelings are, and what I want to express on my daily page.  Here's an example of my Sketchnote, and the B.O.D. page it led me to...

 

Basically what Effy does, is create her own art journal page, start to finish on camera; all the while talking through the process.  I find this so FASCINATING; and it gets me thinking about my own stuff.  I am loving learning to sketchnote, and the weekly BOD videos are the perfect chance to practice!  As I get better, I want to add more images along with my words.  Here's a little explanation of what you see above:

-The green box with the music notes: 

There is always a musical score that cuts in when certain things are being fast forwarded (like heat gun, and pasting and other things you don't want to watch in real time).  I record those, because alot of times it's awesome music that I want to look up later.

-Her Steps:

This is pretty self-explanatory, but I note the exact steps she takes to make her page.  I star the ones that I am particularly inspired to try, or feel would work with the topic I want to journal about.

-The orange box:

This is where I record my own thought process while I'm watching.  This really helps with the "I don't know what to journal about" dilemma; and provides a way to form my vision in bits and pieces; and give me a headstart on my page.

So, the video ends and I am ready to get messy!  I have a basic idea in my mind for colors, layers, textures, and a topic already formulated in my head!  I LOVE THAT!  There may be alot that I take from Effy's video, or my thoughts may lead me in a totally different way.  Here's my finished page...

 

We found out in the last week that our sweet cat Johnny has diabetes.  This page was my way of processing my feelings about it.  It was an emotional week, but we are getting through it together (Me, Michael, Johnny and his brother Willie).  We are learning the routine of giving him insulin shots and sticking to a strict feeding time regime.  So far it's going pretty well, but any prayers and/or healing vibes you could send Johnny's way would be much appreciated.

Anyhoo, I hope it's helpful to see how my sketchnote led to my art journal page!  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments, and I will do my best to answer them!

For more info on the Book of Days program click here.

For more info on Sketchnoting click here.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I really appreciate it!  See you again soon!

 

Glue-It Tuesday...

Hi everyone!  Just a quick post today to share my latest Glue-it Tuesday collage!  I did this one in the junk journal I shared yesterday.  I was getting towards the end and I wanted to use up the last couple of pages, so I just started cutting and pasting with no particular goals in mind.

Here's what I came up with...

Materials used include -- vintage wallpaper and catalog pages, scrapbook paper, printed napkin, washi tape, stamped heart and gel pens.

For more info on Glue-it Tuesday, click here.

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

Embrace The Rain Stencil Test Drive...

Hey there everybody!  It's time for another stencil test drive!

This time I've been playing with Jessica's Embrace The Rain stencil, which looks like this...

 Isn't it so FUN?!!!

There are so many things you could do with this stencil by putting the different parts together in different ways!  This time I chose to use the girl in the middle that is carrying the umbrella.  I was working on an art journal page for a Soulistry prompt about holding on to your dreams.  The image of the girl with the hearts on her umbrella fit perfectly with the vision of what I wanted to say.  Here's how the page turned out...

 I did a lot of paper piecing for this one.  The hills are maps, and the road was cut from a photography book. 

Here's a closeup of just the girl...

Here's the process I followed to achieve this effect:

1.  Use a variety of pink, orange and red small foam ink pads to stencil through the umbrella onto white cardstock.  Outline the shape with a fine black pen, and cut out.

2.  Use the same black pen to outline the shape of the raincoat, by tracing through the stencil onto pink patterned paper.  Cut out.

3.  Repeat #2 to trace the legs onto beige patterned paper.  Cut out.

4.  Glue the pieces down so they fit together.

Easy peasy right?  It was so much fun to do, and I can just imagine all the different effects you could achieve by varying the colors and patterns!

I also want to share one more way you can  use this stencil.  This is a page I did awhile ago, and shared then, but here it is again in case you missed it...

For this one I simply flipped the stencil over so the girl was facing the way I wanted her to, and applied modeling paste with a credit card, in a thin layer through the stencil.

Here's a closeup of the girl...

One tip for using this stencil (or any stencil where you only want to use part of it at a time).  Before applying the modeling paste, use masking tape around the edges of the part that you want to use, to separate it from the rest of the images. 


I just love the variety of emotions you can express with this stencil!  So many possibilities!

I hope I've given you some ideas of how to use the Embrace The Rain Stencil. 

Please check out Jessica's blog, and the other test-driving artists, to see what they did with this stencil too!

Jessica Sporn
Carolyn Dube
Marjie Kemper
Natasa May


If you'd like to purchase the Embrace The Rain Stencil, click here to go to Stencil Girl Products.

Thanks so much for visiting!  See you again soon!