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!

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!

Imagine Monthly...

Hi friends!  I'm taking a class by a teacher that is brand new to me, and wowza I am having a blast!  The class is called "Imagine Monthly," and the teacher's name is Paivi Eerola.

Paivi is teaching us that if you put tons of really simple things together, you get something luxurious.  It takes the pressure off, and makes the creative process stress-free and so so fun!  We get one lesson per month, for six months.  Here's what I've made so far...


I call this one "Earth Goddess..."

and I named this one "Secret Garden."

I can't wait to see what we are going to learn in March!

You can still sign up if you want to - click here to find out more about "Imagine Monthly."

I love Paivi's teaching style.  She's very kind and encouraging, and oh so talented! Paivi has another class coming up later this month called Inspirational Drawing.  I'm thinking I need to take that one too!

Thanks so much for visiting!  Have a wonderful Sunday, my friends!

It's New Year's Eve! And the last day of the Top 2000 Countdown!

Hi friends!  Yeehaw!  It's almost my favorite holiday - New Year's Day!  I get so excited this time of year!  The anticipation of a fresh start, plus all of the new classes starting up!  Inspiration truly is everywhere right now!!!

Before we get to that tho, I want to pay tribute to this year, and celebrate one more day of the Top 2000 Party!  Today, we are counting down #258 - #1!

You know that feeling you get when you are listening to a song, and you think "wow, this is the most beautiful song ever written?"  That's how I feel when I hear this song.  The fact that it's #68 and it's only 1 year old, tells me I am not alone...

THINKING OUT LOUD

by Ed Sheeran

#68

I couldn't decide between two versions of this song to share with you, so I'll give you both!

First - my favorite - an acoustic gem...


and here's the official video - also lovely...


I want to thank Marit Barentsen, for hosting this awesome party again this year!  It's always a hilight of the year for me, and I appreciate all of the hard work she does to coordinate it.  Thank you Marit!  Don't forget to hop on over to her blog and see the final creations from everyone!

Thank you so much for visiting, and I will see you in 2016!!! 

Day Six of the Top 2000 Party...

Hi friends! I can't believe it's already the second to last day of the countdown!  I have somehow strained my left wrist, so I'm typing this post with one hand.  Ack!  You might know I would injure myself right before New Years Day, when all my new journaling classes start - LOL.  Oh well. Maybe I will miraculously recover overnite! I hope so, cuz tomorrow's page isn't finished yet!

Anyhoo, today we are counting down songs #567 - #259. I have two pages to share...

WAKE ME UP

by Avicii

#276

I was really inspired by the video for this song!

Check it out...




Here's my second page for today...

IT'S MY LIFE

by Bon Jovi

#466

I love these old scrapbook pages. They bring back such good memories of Scrapping The Music!

Here's the video. Enjoy!


Head on over to Marit's blog to see all of the artist's creations!

Thanks so much for visiting, and I will see you tomorrow for the last day of the countdown!

Day Four of the Top 2000 - singing along with Justin Timberlake and Jason Mraz...

Hi friends!  We are moving right along with day 4 of the Top 2000 party, where we countdown songs #1180 - #873!

Again, I have two pages to share; the main one that I made for my Top 2000 journal, and another older scrapbook layout....

MIRRORS

by Justin Timberlake

#944

This song has ALOT of lyrics, so I filled the whole background with them; and everything else went on top.  I made a mask from a photo I found online and sprayed some dark dylusions and adirondack mists over it.  There are so many good lines in this song, it was hard to choose one to highlight!

Here's Justin performing Mirrors on the Ellen show...




I am having fun throwing a few of my old scrapbook layouts into the mix this year.  Here's one that pays tribute to #962...

FEELING GOOD

by Nina Simone

#962

Enjoy the video...


I hope you are enjoying counting down the Top 2000 songs with me!  Click here to go to Marit's blog and see what everyone is creating!

Thanks for visiting and I will see you tomorrow for Day Five!

Day Three: For What It's Worth and Love Shack...!

Hey friends!  I've got two pages to share for today's portion of the Top 2000 party, which is counting down from #1487 - #1181 of the Top 2000 songs of all time!

This first song was written by Stephen Stills, and is actually about the Sunset Strip riots of 1966/67; but is also considered a vietnam war anthem.  I feel the lyrics still apply today. In my collage, I merged photos of protests from the 1960's through now...

#1460

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

by Buffalo Springfield

Enjoy this classic video!




Moving along to the second page...

When I saw Love Shack on the list, I immediately thought of a layout I did years ago for the Scrapping the Music challenge blog.  I had so much fun with this one, I wanted to include it here. It stars my two buddies Johnny and Willie...

#1399

LOVE SHACK

by the B-52's

Check out this live version of the song...

Thanks so much for visiting, and don't forget to head over to Marit's Blog to check out all the other artists work!

See you tomorrow for Day Four of the Top 2000 party!