Season of Introspection: Weeks 3 and 4...

Hi friends!  I'm still enjoying playing in my Season of Introspection journal, and I've got two more week's worth of prompt pages to share with you -


You may recognize this first one - it was a creative squad project I did for Nat Kalbach's blog. The woman is a stamp from Nat's Fashion Dame set. It was also in response to a Season of Introspection prompt about what kind of person I want to be...

This one represents what the Universe is saying to me...

Here's one where I got to use the image that was already on the book page!  I love it when that happens...

And this last one is what my brain looks like if it was dumped on the page - ha...

The Get Messy group continues to be really fun and supportive.  I'm loving being a part of it!  If you want more info about the Get Messy Art  Journaling group, click here.

Right now I'm in a phase where I'm enjoying working on all of my projects at once.  It's what I do when I can't decide what to work on.  25 minutes on each project, with a five minute break in-between to run around and clean up my studio.

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

A Variety of Art Journal Pages...

Hey friends!  I've got a little 100 Day Project catch-up post for you today.  Pages 18 - 21...

Page 18/100:

"Things That Are Magic"

This was for two Get Messy Art Journaling prompts: 1. "Things that are magic..." and 2. Write your list on a photo.  The photo is actually a page from a thrifted book.


Page 19/100:

May 9 - 12, 2016 in my bullet journal...

This is actually a mockup of the Inkwell Press Flex Planner layout.  I bought one of their new academic planners, but it doesn't start til July.  I figure I can play around with the layout in my bullet journal between now and then, to figure out how I want to use the different sections.


Page 20/100:

"Currently Watching"

This is another Get Messy prompt.  :)


Page 21/100:

My May monthly view in my art journal...

 I usually make a two-page spread for my monthly calendars.  I thought it would be fun to try something different this month and make it smaller.  I learned that it takes the same amount of time to fill it in - ha!

Here's a detail shot...

The squares are a combination of doodles, stamps, stickers and patterned paper.

Thank you so much for the kind comments you've been leaving!  It means a lot to me to hear from you!  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments. I wish you a marvelous Monday!

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!

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!

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!

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!

It's what we do AFTER we fall...

 DAY TWO OF THE 100 DAY PROJECT:

Hi friends!  Today's journal spread was inspired by a writing prompt.  In the Book of Days workshop, we receive daily writing prompts based on a theme for the month.  It's a great tool for self-inquiry. The prompt for April 15th really got me thinking, and here's what came out...

The prompt was:  What is your relationship to power?

Right away my mind went to the subject of self-power, or sovereignty.  Without going into the gory details, let's just say there have been times in my life when I have given away my power.  It's been a journey, for sure, but I'm in a great place now, and I wanted to explore that further.

Here's the process I went through to do just that...

First, I scribbled out all my thoughts in pencil on the page.  Then I covered them up with various colors of paint...

I added words intuitively that fit my feelings on the subject...

After that I stenciled and wildly splashed more paint around to make a colorful background...

I wanted to put an image on the page that represented how far I've come in my relationship to my own power, and a lion came to mind.  I am lion-hearted!  Yes I am!  I set about to bring the lion to life. I mixed acrylic paint with liquid acrylic ink, to keep the colors (both the background and the lion) translucent.  I gave her green eyes to represent my spirit within her. Here's what came out...

After that, I found a quote on pinterest that fit perfectly.  I wrote it on the page with a sharpie poster paint marker, added a few more details, and here is the finished page...

"It's What We Do After We Fall..."

Here are a few closeups...

The whole process was really empowering and fun!  I am so proud of my lion-hearted lion!

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I will be back tomorrow for day 3 of the challenge!

I wish you a wonderful Wednesday!

We're Off and Running...Day ONE of the 100 Day Project!

Hey everyone!  I'm excited to share my first page for the 100 Day Project!  This one is kind of a title page, or intro page for the project...

 The Get Messy group actually gave me the inspiration for this page.  One of their current prompts is "Right Now..." which was absolutely perfect for me today!

The border is done with pieces of painting underpaper, text and photocopies of my art.  The background is liquid watercolor and neon watercolor markers.  The journaling talks about my excitement for the project, and the guidelines I have set for myself.  I set the guidelines to provide a sense of structure, which helps my swirly brain stay on track!

Here are my self-imposed guidelines for this project...

1. I will complete one journal page each day.
2. Can be any type and any size.
3. I will try to stay one day ahead, so that I can post the pages at 12:01 am on the appropriate day. For example, I did this page on Monday, so I can post it on day one (tuesday).
4. I don't have to do the pages all in one sitting, but I do have to finish one page each day and post it on instagram.

On instagram I am @shelleyrydellie, and my hashtag for this project is #100journalpagesforshelley2016. This year I will try to post here every day too.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my excitement!  It's so much fun to stretch yourself sometimes!

Have a wonderful day my friends!

It's Time for the 100-Day Project Again!

Hi friends!  I'm so excited because tomorrow is the start of the 2016 100 Day Project, and I am going to participate again!  Yeayyy!!! I can't wait! Have you heard about the 100 Day Project? Here's the basic idea...

It's an instagram challenge, so really the only requirement is that you have an instagram account.  A big thank you to Elleluna, who is the organizer again this year! If you participate, you would want to follow her for all the latest info. Last year I did a journal page each day - you can see them all by clicking here.

This year I am doing journal pages again (of course, what else would I do?  HA).  I'll be using the hashtag #100journalpagesforshelley2016. My plan is to post them not only on instagram, but also on facebook and here on my blog. 

Are any of you playing along? Let me know and I will follow you on instagram so we can cheer each other on!

Thanks for visiting!  See you back here tomorrow for day one!