Coyote Love and More...

Hi everyone! I've got three new art journal pages to share with you today! This first one is from before vacation. The journaling is about a dream I had, which leads me to believe I have a new animal totem in my life...
It's done on the back side of this one. Dawn had asked if I was going to put anything inside the sleeve. This time I'm not, simply because I love the way the other pages show through.


Here's one from October 19th. Check out the temperature difference since the one above. Aargh...
The background on this one is a map, which I covered with little bits of leftover scrapbook paper, to form a mosaic. Then there's gesso, then paint, then the collage stuff over the top. The last step was the writing.

And lastly, a page from October 20th...

I'm heading out to my monthly crop with my girlfriends today, so I should have more to share tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting!!!

October is Magic...

The No More Excuses theme for October is Magic. So perfect. For the quote page, I used a piece of My Mind's Eye paper from the Meadowlark collection...


I usually do the monthly writing and collages at the beginning of the month, but they got put off since I was on Honeymoon Five. It was fun to do this stuff last night. My October collage spilled over onto the monthly envelope...


and the back of the envelope too...
I will be putting lots of random stuff in the envelope; like receipts, the NME assignment sheet, and anything else I want to keep for future reference.

I got some fun happy mail today! My new journal that I bought for Julie's class...

It's even more beautiful in real life than this picture allows. The linen cover is just gorgeous, and gets my mind going about all the different ways it could be altered. Paint? Stencils? Mist? The watercolor paper on the inside is really thick and has the most scrumptious subtle texture to it! I can't wait to try it out!!!

I also got this little travel watercolor kit that I've been wanting for a long time...
I haven't tried it yet, but it's so cute and small and will be great to carry around with me.

Thanks for visiting!!! It means a lot to me!

The Daily Record...

So, I've been obsessing about Project Life for about a month now. I am loving the concept of documenting our life thru photographs and memorabilia, and think it will be a nice complement to my art journaling. Now, if you know me, you know that I'm not very good at waiting. Once I feel inspired to do something, I want to do it NOW. HA.

I always end up starting projects early. In 2009, I started Project 12 in December, rather than waiting for January. This past year, I made a Pre-Smashbook Smashbook, cuz I couldn't wait for the Smashbooks to come out. And now, I've been thinking - how can I document my life for the next three months, while I wait for the new Project Life designs to come out?

Here's what I came up with - I am using a Blue (Retro) Smashbook and calling it...

The Daily Record!

I started with October 1st, and I'm going to try to make this book last until the end of the year. Sometimes documenting a day at a time...




but I plan to most often document a week at a time...

whatever seems to work best at the moment...

I'm not journaling a lot, just enough to explain what the pics are about. It's proving to be a lot of fun and very low pressure! One thing I love about Smashbooks is that you can make them whatever you want them to be; and this is turning about to be a super fun way to use one of mine!

Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon with lots more updates!

Honeymoon 5 Travel Journal Beginnings...

I finished the title page for our travel journal today! Here's how it turned out...

The photo is one we had taken with the Monsters, Inc. guys at Hollywood Studios. They were so cute! I drew the blue letters with a Poster-Paint Sharpie; and the rest of the title was stamped. The word bubble is from Studio Calico.

Now I'm off to work in my art journal. I'd like to finish it up before the end of October, cuz I bought a new one for Julie's class, which starts on November 1st.

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

We're Back!......

OMG We had so much fun on Honeymoon 5!!! We went to Orlando to visit Disneyworld and Harry Potter's Wizarding World!!! Most of the photos are still in my camera, but here's a shot of us at Downtown Disney this past week...
I know I've talked about this before, but Michael and I got married in 2007. It was a second marriage for each of us, and we talked alot about how important it is to celebrate and nurture a good relationship. One of the things we decided to do was to go on a honeymoon every year, and we have kept our promise!

Each year, I have made a travel journal to document our journey. I make the journal up before we go, and collect postcards and memorabilia to add to it along the way. Each evening I jot a few quick notes about the day's activities, and then add photos and finishing touches after we get home. Here's the beginnings of this year's journal:

Not too long before we went, I happened upon a Harry Potter board game at a thrift shop. I snatched it up and used the game board for my journal cover. Here's the outside of the journal, which I covered with paper towels and then painted with acrylic paint...

on the inside you can see the board from the game...

On the inside pages, I used a combination of painted watercolor paper (left side), and collaged papers (right side). Here's how the first two pages look so far (click on the images to see the details)...

I used a sewn tapes binding technique to bind it together...
As I finish the pages, I will be sure to share them with you. I took about 400 photos, and I have a pile of ephemera to incorporate. It's going to be fun fun fun!

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

Honeymoon Five...

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been a little quiet - Michael and I are having a blast on honeymoon five right now, but I will be back really soon! I can't wait to tell you about it and share my travel journal!

Art Journal Page for October 5...

This page was done on another one of the record sleeves in my current art journal. The layers went like this:

acrylic paint, lace, fabric and paper tapes, gesso circles stamped with card board tape core, more acrylic paint, magazine images, 7 gypsies sticker, hambly rubons.

Did you see that Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is teaching an online art journaling class? She is so inspiring and fun! I can't wait! Check it out here.

That's all for today, but I will be back again soon. Thanks so much for visiting!!!

Art Journal Page for October 4...

I'm loving working in this journal! Each page is a different size, color, and/or texture! It's never boring!

I'm also getting unbelievably excited about starting Project Life in 2012. I've still got three months to wait - Eek!

Thanks for visiting and see you again soon!

Changing it up a little...

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well on this fine Tuesday! I've changed things up a little with my No More Excuses process, and I want to share the changes with you...

The first of October, my plan was to go from doing a collage page a day, to making a whole week fit onto two pages. The reason being that I wanted these mini-collages to be a warmup for my actual art journal work. What actually happened was I was taking so much time with the "warmup" collages, that my poor art journal was just sitting there, neglected. (Poor thing.)

So, anyhoo, I got the whole rest of 2011 all mapped out in my NME journal, ready for my mini collages, and guess what? The first one I did (on Oct 1), I realized I did NOT like doing them this way! HA. Since I had already made up the whole book, I thought - I'll try it for a week and see how I feel. On Oct 2, I was SURE I didn't like doing it this way! It felt cramped using this tiny space. Here's how the first two pages turned out...
So that was that. The tiny collages were not gonna happen. Trying things is how you learn I guess, right? In any case, it brought me to my new way of journaling, which I am LOVING, so it's all good!

I am just doing daily entries right in my art journal! DUH. Why didn't I think of that before??? I love it!

I taped an October divider page right into my journal (on the right)...


and then I taped my page of unsuccessful journaling on the back (left side), cuz I don't believe in throwing things away. Then I started with the next page that was already in the journal (right side)...

It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Now, that may be way more info than you need - lol. But, I know some of you have been asking how I make decisions and what my process is like. I want you to know that I change my mind ALOT, and I consider that to all be part of what makes it fun!

Now, I know I'm doing it the right way for me, because I can't wait to do today's entry! Yeayyy! The different size and shaped pages are going to be a great challenge! I will keep you posted on how it goes.

I think I am going to try Project Life in 2012! Have you seen the new designs? They are so awesome! More on that later.

I hope you are having a fabulous week my friends! Thanks for visiting!

Spirit of Joy...

Today's Art Journal Page...
The bird image is from Birds & Blooms Magazine (a great resource for beautiful images and it's affordable!). I also used scrapbook paper from my stash, dictionary paper, magazine text, handmade cloud stamps, acrylic and watercolor paint and gesso. Finished page is 8" x 10."

Dawn had asked me how long I work on a piece. It really varies, but I tend to be slowww. This one took a couple of days because I waited for my layers of paint to dry before moving on. The process went like this:

Looked for a quote to express what I was feeling yesterday, and found the Gandhi one.
Painted page with numerous oranges and pink acrylics mixed together.
Misted with White Studio Calico "Mr. Huey" mist.
Added paper collage pieces.
Stamped clouds
Glued on hummingbird.
4 layers of rays under the birds wings - black pastel, white gesso, yellow acrylic and neon orange for an accent.
Drew journaling lines.
Added quote.
3 layers of white sharpie poster paint pen inside the bigger letters.

How about you? Do you usually finish your projects all at one time? What's your process like? I'd love to know, and I bet others would too!

Thanks so much for visiting - I really appreciate it!

Mini-Collage and "In The News"...

Hi everyone! I finished the last pages in my September "No More Excuses" journal!

Here's the mini-collage from yesterday...

and the September "In The News" pages...


I'm excited to start October's pages! I'm going to be doing them a little differently. I'll show you what I mean tomorrow.

Have a great Saturday and thanks for visiting!!!

As September Comes to a Close...

Today's mini-collage...


and September's grid is all finished! Yeayyy!!!

The leaves are starting to change here, which is one of my favorite things ever! I hope it's a colorful autumn!