Finishing Up My Wildly Inspired Weekend...

Oh my goodness this week is flying by!  I intended to get this post up for you all on Monday, but things have been wildly busy around here, and now here it is Wednesday night already!  EEK!

Anyhoo, I had a lot of fun finishing up my Wildly Inspired weekend.  I came super-close to finishing up my current journal.  Here's how it went...

My interpretation of Wildly Inspired Episode Eight...

Episode Ten...

Then I threw in a lesson from Sketch Into Spring: doodled raindrops, using the Palette Play color scheme for April...

and I used the leftover paint from the raindrops to start this spread which will be the last page.  I have since finished it with journaling...

The weekend was a success, and I feel so much better! Art as therapy.  It works for me!
 

Thanks so much for visiting!  I appreciate you!

Day Two of a Wildly Inspired Weekend...

I continued my Wildly Inspired art journaling marathon yesterday, and it really helped my mood!  Here's what I got done...


My interpretation of Episode Six...

Episode Seven...

Then I did this one, which is not a Wildly Inspired page.  I just loved the pattern on the background paper on the right, so I continued it on the left, and added a quote.  Simple, and done!

and then I got this far on Episode Eight...

By that time it was 4:30 am, and I needed to go to bed. Ha.  Now I'm up and ready to begin again!  I've got four spreads left in my current journal, and I plan to finish all of them by the end of the day.  No naps for me!

Thanks so much for visiting!  I appreciate you very much!

A Wildly Inspired Weekend...

Hey everyone, how's it going?  I'm not gonna lie - the end of my work week was stressful.  I needed something to help me calm down and bring back the happy, so....

I decided to treat myself to a marathon paint-flinging, Wildly Inspired weekend!  If you haven't heard of Wildly Inspired, it's a free art-journaling series led by Effy Wild.  Up until now, I hadn't had time to participate, but this weekend, that is changing! I am going to see if I can finish all ten episodes. 

I started last night, and got through two...

Here's my interpretation of Episode Two...

and Episode Five...

Art journaling as therapy.  It works for me.

Want to play along?  Click here to go to the Wildly Inspired Series link.

I will be back tomorrow to share my progress!

and p.s.  there is still time to play along with the "Adventure" challenge over at One Little Word!  Click here to check it out!

Thanks so much for visiting!  Have a super duper Saturday!

Finish 'er Up Friday - Making the Key to My Own Freedom...

Hi friends!  I'm still working on finishing up my Life Book 2013 lessons, and I'm making progress!  I have one more to share with you today...

Making Your Key to Freedom with Danita Art...

 

 Underneath the background we were to list all of the negative self-talk that holds us back in life. I loved the symbolism of covering that up with a girl holding her own key to get out of the cage she's in.  So fun and empowering!

On the left side of the page, we listed all of our good traits, things we love about ourselves.

If you are working on finishing some projects up, how is it coming?  Are you enjoying the process?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I wish you a happy weekend!!!

Planner Journal Update - Collaborating with Michael...

Hey friends!  I'm excited to share with you one of my favorite weeks in my planner so far! 

The Documented Life challenge was to ask someone else to draw something for you, and you have to finish it. 

I asked my husband Michael to draw a little doodle or something, and he came up with this whole scene! He even had a name for it - "The Road to Nowhere." I colored it in with watercolor pencil, and added a little bit of pitt pen. We both signed it at the bottom. I love that I now have this collaboration in my journal!

Here's how it looks taped into my weekly spread...

 and here's the weekly spread with the flap lifted up to reveal the No Excuses challenge to doodle on a magazine clipping and journal around it. 

 I used the underside of the flap to create my tribute to the artist of the month:  Marc Chagall.  It started with this intro...

 

and then the flap opens to reveal some quotes and photos of Chagall's work...

 I love all that I learned about this talented man. He seems like he was such a sweet, romantic and humble person.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I wish you a fabulous Thursday!  See you again soon!

OLW: Life is an Adventure...

I'm so excited because today I am hosting the One Little Word challenge for the first time since I became a design team member!  The word I chose is....

ADVENTURE!

Here's the page I made...

(gesso, tissue, decorative napkins, misc collage papers, acrylic paint, rubber stamps, molotow markers, stencils, stabilo marks all pencil, children's book illustration, and magazine image)

Here's a couple of process photos...

 At first, I had no idea what I wanted to do for this page, so I just started by gessoing the spread, and randomly adding some layers of tape and tissue.  Then I stenciled on some gesso...


Phase 2...

 I added some dylusions spray ink in bubblegum pink, then doodles and words with pencil, then some teal acrylic paint...

 The next step, which I forgot to take a photo of - drat - was to place mask letters of the word adventure on the page, and cover the whole thing with a light coat of gesso.  Remove the mask and you've got the word adventure showing through with all of the color and texture from the background!

Here's the final page again...

all that was left was to add collage elements, paint the rainbow, finish the title and add the journaling.

I would absolutely love it if you came over the One Little Word blog and played along this time!  You can also see what the other design team members created, and find out more about why I chose the word "adventure" for the challenge!  Click here to go to the challenge!

Planner update and Cat Stevens...

Gosh, it's been forever since I did a planner update for you, so here we go with some catch up pages from March...

(click on any image to make it larger)

 (tombow markers, pitt pen, sticker, washi tape and magazine word)

My tip-in was a no excuses challenge to be inspired by a quote...

 (decorative tape, gelatos, pitt pen and magazine images on watercolor paper)

 Flip over the tip in and you see the Documented Life challenge for the week, which was "What Makes Me Who I Am?"  I took inspiration from Lorraine Bell for this one, and used tracing paper to "peel back the (proverbial) layers..."

 Layer 1...

Layer 2...

Layer 3...

Layer 4...

I was so excited to hear that Cat Stevens (now Yusuf) was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week!  I grew up with Cat's songs and he still remains one of my all-time favorites.  I have fond memories of listening to his songs over and over again, pondering the meaning of the lyrics and of life itself.  I have so many memorized in my heart.   Yeayyyy  Yusuf!

Here's a screenshot from his facebook page...

I will leave you with this recent video. He is being interviewed about how his songs came to be the soundtrack for the movie Harold and Maude; which just so happens to be my favorite movie!  I found this so fascinating.  I hope you do too!




Have a super Saturday my friends!  Thanks so much for visiting and for your comments!  I love hearing from you!

Going buggy...

The "Sketchin Into Spring" assignment was to draw some bugs, so I searched "pretty bugs" on pinterest, and was amazed at the beautiful colorful bugs I found - wow!  Check it out.....

Pretty Bugs on Pinterest

Nature is amazing, right?

My fave is the rosy maple moth.  Doesn't this guy look like he'd be fun at a party?

Anyhoo, here is how my page turned out...

(albrecht durer watercolor pencils and pitt pen)

Thanks so much for visiting today!  Have a fantastic Thursday!

Sketchin' Into Spring makes it easy...

Hi friends!  I'm still enjoying the Sketching into Spring class!  The cool thing about this class is that each day's lesson is something small and manageable.  It's reminding me that capturing life in your art journal doesn't have to take a long time, and I love that.  Here are my latest three pages...

Stages of growth...

 (pitt pen and prismacolor pencils)

 Iris...

 Raindrops...

Meanwhile here in Minnesota, we are expecting yet another snowstorm tonight.  Glad I've got this workshop to keep me in a spring mood!

I hope things are good in your neck of the woods!

Ripped and Stitched Journal...

A quick share of my new journal!  I made this in Roben-Marie Smith's "Ripped and Stitched" online workshop. 

Working on the cover.  It's made of hand painted muslin...

Here's how it looks all finished...

The inside is made of white 9" x 12" mailing envelopes.  The shipping tags are magnetic and hold the envelope openings closed, so you could keep little treasures in there if you wanted to...

I had a ton of fun making this journal.  There were lots of steps involved, but each one was easy and relaxing.  I highly recommend Ripped and Stitched!

Thanks so much for visiting!  Have an awesome Thursday!

Final Book of Days Spread for this session...

Hey there friends!  Just a quick post to show you the final Book of Days spread for this session.

Effy had us make a tribute page to all the work we have done this session.

Here's how it turned out...

I kept my background plain, cuz I loved how the bright colors looked against the brown kraft paper.  How fun it is to see my progression thru all 12 weeks in one place!  I think this would be a great idea to do at the end of any workshop, don't you?

Now BOD is done until session 2 starts on April 28th.  It's actually open now for new people to complete boot camp, but the actual lessons start on April 28th.  I'm all signed up and can't wait!  If you want to find out more about BOD or sign up for session 2 - click here.

P.S.  I signed up for another workshop that sounds really awesome - check it out...

 Creative + Practice Workshop

It's kinda expensive, but it looks really in-depth, and it's on my favorite subject:  Creating a creative practice!  It starts on April 17th and I'm so excited!  There's an early bird discount if you sign up before April 7th.  Click here if you want to find out more.

That's it for today!  Thank you so much for visiting!  I wish you a wonderful Wednesday!

Two More Lists...

My plan of keeping up with the March session of "30 Days of Lists," was admittedly biting off a bit more than I could chew.  Ha.  I only got a few done.  But hey, that's better than none, right?

Here's the last two I did...

 Fave Childhood Games...

Even though the session is officially over, I've got the list of lists, so I can still finish them.  I'm adding that to my list of unfinished projects - ha!

I hope your week is going well my friends!  I wish you a terrific Tuesday!  Thanks so much for visiting!!!