Journal 52 in my Artful Attache- Celebrating Friends...

For page 17 of the 100 Day Project, I played with this week's  Journal 52 Prompt: "Celebrate the Friendships in Your Life - bonus points for garden imagery."

The timing was perfect for this prompt for two reasons:  1.  I just went to a craft fair with two of my BFFs, and 2. The next page in my journal was already painted with some garden imagery!  How great is that?

I put together the base for this page in Roben-Marie's AWESOME "Artful Attache" workshop. At the time, I had no idea what I would use it for, but that's half the fun!  Here's how it looked then...

 and here's how it turned out all finished...

Page 17 of 100:

Journal 52 - Celebrating Friendship

 I tucked the flyer for the craft fair into the pocket, along with the tag, which has the photo from the day stitched on to it.

 Here's the whole tag...

 I'm lucky to have such good friends in my life!

Thanks so much for visiting!  I'll be back soon with another update!

For more info on the Artful Attache workshop - click here. 

For more info on the Journal 52 challenges - click here.

Fun With Faces...

Hey there friends!  Just a quick share tonight of Page 16 for the 100 Day Project.

This page was inspired by Dawn Devries Sokol's Art Journaling class over at Creative Bug.  I had a lot of fun just practicing different faces.  Which one is your favorite?

Thanks so much for visiting!  See you again soon!

Things I should accomplish, and thoughts on Spring... (pages 14 and 15 of 100)

I got some happy mail this week that was so fun!  It's the "Now and Then" kit from The Reset Girl Shop.  If you're not familiar with the Reset Girl, you should really check her out!  She's got tons of cute stickers to use in your planner, in lots of different styles.  She also has kits that are created to use in her "Listers Gotta List" monthly challenges.  Anyhoo, here's a pic of the kit I bought...

Now and Then kit from the Reset Girl's Shop

I fell in love with the colors and all of the cute diecuts and stickers and I just had to have it; and when it arrived it was even cuter than I expected!  I just had to dive in and start playing!

So, today's journal spread started out with the first Lister's challenge; and ending up turning into a bunch of challenges all rolled into one!  Here's how it turned out...

Pages 14 and 15 of 100:

Lister's Gotta List, Documented Life and Get Messy Lists...

 The "1" sticker, green ticket, journaling card and teal and white label on the left side of the page, are all from the kit.  The prompt was "Things I should accomplish this month."

The clear cellophane bag on the right contains page 15 of 100.  It's a combination of a Documented Life prompt and a Get Messy prompt...

The two prompts were: 1. Use a color you don't normally use (mint); and "This season makes me..."  Here's a closeup...

The word spring is cut from some scrapbook paper, and the descriptive words are drawn in with Sharpie Poster paint markers.  The background is done with Neocolor II crayons, tombow markers and Dylusions spray ink.

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I wish you an awesome Monday!

Create Your Reality - Page 13 of 100...

Hi friends!  Just stopping by to share my 13th page for the 100 Day Project!  I am a full week behind now - ack!  Life has just been so hectic ever since the project started!  Now things are calming down and I hope to get back into my creative rhythm, and do some catching up big time.

Page 13 is an introduction page for May in my art journal...

Create Your Reality

It's a fairly simple collaged page, but you would not believe how long it took me to complete.  When I get out of my groove it is like every little step in the process is like pulling teeth.  It makes me tired when I get like that.  I just want to nap all the time.  Ha.   I finally was able to finish it when I saw the picture of the field of flowers.  Somehow, it spoke to me.  It looks like a magical place to me; and I thought - Michelle, you can create that magical place for yourself.  You don't have to remain stuck. And there - I had a purpose to my page.

Do you ever get these types of feelings when you are creating?  If so, how do you pull yourself out of it?  I would love to hear about it in the comments!

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I wish you a wonderful day!

Pages 11 and 12 of 100...

Hi friends!  Just a quick post to share pages 11 and 12 for the 100 Day Project.


Page 11/100: May 2 - 4, 2016 in my Bullet Journal/Notebook...

Page 12/100: April's monthly view in my Art Journal...

I hope your week is going well!  I will be back with another update soon!  Thanks so much for visiting!

Catching up: Artfully Inspired and Documented Life - Pages 8, 9 & 10 of 100...

Hey friends! I'm working on catching up with the 100 Day Project, and I'm excited to share pages 8, 9 and 10 with you today! (remember you can always click on images to make them larger)

Page 8...

April Alphabet from Artfully Inspired Life Workshop

 (done with Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils and Pitt Pens)

Page 9...

April 22 - 24, 2016 of the Documented Life Project

and Page 10...

April 22 - 30 of the Documented Life Project

I'm trying to keep my posts short, so I can focus on getting caught up on my creating, but if you have any questions about my process or products used, just let me know in the contents and I will address it in my next post, okay?

I wish you a wonderfully inspired day!

Stampendous Blog Hop

Hi friends! Today I'm joining in the fun of blog-hopping with the rest of Nat's Creative Squad, and Stampendous, which is the company that produces Nat's Stamp and Stencil line.

There were no rules about what to create - only that we needed to use something from the new line of stamps.

I've been thinking alot about Prince, ever since I heard the news that he died.  It was such a shock. I am a fan, and also a Minneapolis girl, so the news hit close to home.  It's been wonderful seeing all the tributes showing up for him.  I wonder if he had any idea of the impact he made on people all over the world. It would be great if he could somehow look down and see it.  Anyways, I wanted to make a tribute page in my art journal, and Nat's bird stamp was just the thing. Here's what I made...

"When Doves Cry..." 

Page 7/100 (for the 100 Day Project)

The sky is done with white crayon and spray inks.  The ground is bits of text paper, painted and stained in various shades of purple.

I stamped Nat's bird stamp in light purple acrylic paint, and then colored over his beak, head and wings in three different colors of tombow marker.  I carefully cut a slit in his beak in order to fit the photo in. I also outlined everything in a superfine tip Faber Castell Pitt Pen, and added a shadow all around him with a dark purple tombow marker.  Here's a closeup...

I drew a purple tear on a separate piece of paper and glued it on. 

Here are links to all of the designers creating for today's blog hop.  Leave a comment here and/or at any of the participating blogs and you will be entered into the drawing to win all three of Nat's new stamp sets!

Louise Healy 

Janelle Stollfus

Marsha Valk

Gwen Lafleur

Michelle Rydell - that's me!

Cheiron Brandon

Lea Fritts

Pam Hornschu

Nat Kalbach's Blog

Stampendous Blog

 Thanks so much for visiting, and have a happy Friday!

My City Speaks To Me...

Hi friends! I'm blogging about my April project over at Nat Kalbach's blog today!  This month's theme is "My City Speaks to Me," which features Nat's Urban Scribble Stamp and Stencil set.

Here's a sneak peek of my project...

Come on over to the blog and see the whole spread, and the process behind it!  While you're there, I'd love it if you leave a comment for me

P.S. I will be back tomorrow with a 100 Day Project Update!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Documenting Life - Pages 5 and 6 of 100...

Hi friends!  I'm happy to be back with pages 5 and 6 of the 100 Day Project!

Page 5 is actually a large tag, that will be inserted into a pocket in my journal.  It is a prompt from the Documented Life Project...

"Guests at a Roundtable Discussion"

I decided I wanted all of my roundtable guests to be inspiring women who I have never met in real life.  Here's what I came up with and why...

Page 5/100

"Fantasy Roundtable"

 The list TEN form is a printable from the Documented Life Project women.  I printed it out onto kraft printer paper; and used hand-painted hole reinforcers to highlight the numbers. Pasted the list onto a large black Ranger Tag, added some white doodles and a hand-dyed ribbon for the top.

Here's the back side of the tag...

I used the back side of the tag to add tiny photos of each of the women on my list, along with a typed list of what I find inspiring about them/why I chose them.  I just think it would be so neat to listen to these ten women discuss life - what's important to them, what they've learned from their challenges and triumphs, how they have fun, just everything!

So--- On to page 6!

Page 6/100 is a double-page spread in my journal, documenting April 19 - 21, 2016...

I wish I would have taken a picture of this page before I started working on it.  It had a bunch of collage already, plus a double pocket stitched into it, with a technique I learned in the Artful Attache workshop I recently took from Roben-Marie.


The two major things documented here are Johnny's medical emergency and Prince's death.  I am happy to report that Johnny is feeling much better.  He has to wear his cone for a couple of weeks, but he is adjusting to it surprisingly well, which makes us really happy. :)

I have to say I am still in shock about Prince's passing.  Being a Minneapolis girl, it hit really close to home.  There will be some tribute pages coming for sure, but for now, just a photo and note that it happened.  :(

On this side you can see the double pocket sewn onto the page.  Tucked in are the tag page from above, and a postcard that came with some happy mail from Maisy Handmade on Etsy.

 So, that's it for today! Tomorrow I will be back with a sneak peek of my April creative squad project for Nat Kalbach, along with a link to the step-by-step blogpost!

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful Monday!

Just a quick check in...

Hi friends!  I just want to check in quickly so nobody worries.  Our cat Johnny is doing well with his recovery.  Our focus right now is just to care for him and get enough sleep.  I'm behind with the 100 Day Project, but will catch up no problem.

I am hoping to be able to post again by Monday.

I wish you a wonderful Sunday!

The Philosophy is Kindness...

Hi friends! Just a quick post to share today's page...

Page 4/100 for the 100 Day Project

Thanks so much for visiting!  I will be back tomorrow with day 5/100!  Have a great day!

When Life Happens...

DAY THREE OF THE 100 DAY PROJECT

I had plans for another big journal page for day three,  but then this happened...

Our poor sweet little Johnny ended up in the emergency room with a nasty abscess on his cheek/neck.  We couldn't see it because of his long fur, and then it broke open and - well - let's just say it was alarming and not pretty.  We didn't know what was going on, so off to the emergency vet we went.  We were there from midnight til about 2 am, while they cleaned it and looked for the root of the problem.  Turns out he has a sore spot in his mouth that he was scratching at. We made a followup visit to his regular vet in the morning.  There will be more followup needed, but I won't get into that here. We are exhausted, but Johnny is doing well with his cute little conehead self. 

I'm grateful that before it happened, I had finished a little tip-in postcard for my journal, documenting an earlier day that I had missed.  So here it is, my submission for Day 3/100...

It's a 4x6" page for the documented life portion of my journal, done on the back of a beautiful art postcard from my friend Marit!  

I did it as a tip-in to finish off my week in my journal.  Here you can see Marit's beautiful artwork on the front of the card, and how it looks closed, against the journal page...

and here it is flipped open...

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I will be back tomorrow with the next installment of the 100 Day Project!