Radiant Faces Beginnings...

I'm taking Effy Wild's Collaborative workshop called Radiant Faces, and I'm learning so much!  Each week, a different teacher shares their approach for creating a portrait; based on a unique character theme. 


Here are my versions of the first two lessons...

Jane Davenport had us create our inner "Nymph..."

 

In the second lesson we created our "inner child," with the guidance of Tam LaPorte.  I loved my dancing lessons as a child, and dreamed of being a ballerina, so here's how mine turned out...

There are nine different teachers total, and I'm so excited to learn from each one of them!

Another thing that is really cool about this class is that each week there is a part two, that shows how Effy approached the current week's lesson.  It's great to see how she interprets the lesson and makes it her own, since that is what I'm trying to do too.

If you want to learn more about the Radiant Faces workshop - click here.

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

Trust Your Heart...

I've missed so much time blogging, it's hard to know where to start, now that I'm back.  Then I thought of what they say in the scrapbook world, when you are feeling behind and overwhelmed - I've heard it so many times:  Just start with where you are right now, and fill in the older stuff as you have time.   Sounds like good advice to me!  So that's what I'm going to do here.  I hope you like it!

This is my current journal - entitled "Trust your heart."  I made it as part of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's "Make your own Junque Journal" online workshop...

 This is the front cover...

 

 It's 8" x 10"

 

Here you can see a bit of the back cover as well...

I used retro-70's wallpaper for my endpapers...

 

Here are just a few of my fave inside pages, all ready to start filling up...

I've made journals with inside pages similar to this in the past; but I wanted to take the class to learn the binding method and cover style, which are brand new to me.  I have to tell you I am totally IN LOVE with them!  I can see making tons of journals in this method in the future - it's so much FUN!

I've already started filling the pages and I will be back to start showing you those in my next post.

If you want more info on Julie's class "Make Your Own Junque Journal," click here.  I highly recommend it!  I actually signed up for the Junque Journal bundle, which includes "30 days in your Junque Journal,"  which I'm now working on and having a blast!

Thanks so much for visiting, and for your comments!  It makes my day to know you were here!

Retirement, Vegas, and a New Phase of Life!

 October has been and continues to be a BIG month for me!

I'm officially retired!  My last day was October 10th.  Here's a pic of the beautiful cake from my retirement party at work...

 and this is my beautiful work team...

(Barb, Georgiann, me, Claire, Deeann, Mike (supvsr) and Amy).  I was so lucky to work with these awesome folks - I am going to miss them!

On October 14, Michael and I took off for Las Vegas on Honeymoon 8!

We had SO MUCH FUN!!!

The highlight was definitely the three shows we saw:
Rock of Ages


Donny and Marie Osmond


and
Michael Jackson "One"

They were all FANTASTIC and each one so different!!!

Here's a pic of us taken at the Donny and Marie show...

We are not drinkers, and we don't really gamble much, but we did TONS of walking; enjoyed the sunshine, the sparkle and glitz everywhere, and crammed as much fun into each day as we could.  It was SO AWESOME!!!

Now we're back and I'm still in recovery mode from all the excitement.  I'm sleeping a lot, and dreaming up lots of creative projects...

I'm so excited to be back here sharing with you!  As I figure out this journey of having more time for art, I plan to blog regularly along the way.  I hope you will visit often!

New One Little Word Challenge - Thankful

Hi friends!  It's the 15th of the month again and that means it's time for the new One Little Word challenge!  This month the word is...

THANKFUL

Here's what I came up with in my art journal...

October is always a great month for me - I love the changing colors of the leaves and the cool, crisp weather - just right for busting out cozy sweaters and hot tea. It's also the month that Michael and I got married, and this year we will celebrate our 7th anniversary! 

This year I have one more thing to be thankful for in October, - that I had the opportunity to  work for 35 years with an employer that was good to me, that I worked with people that I respect and admire, that I had a job that felt meaningful, and now - that I am able to retire and make art on a full time basis.  I feel very lucky!

So - what does the word "thankful" mean to you?  Come on over and play along with us at One Little Word!  Click here to go to the challenge!

Thanks so much for visiting me!  I will be back to blogging regularly on November 1st!  Stay tuned!

OLW for September 15 - the word is FEAR...

The new challenge is up at One Little Word!  This month we are making pages inspired by the word

FEAR

I was inspired by a video I saw of Jim Carrey speaking to a group of college graduates.  I loved what he had to say.  Here's what I came up with...

Here's the video...


Come on over to the OLW challenge blog and play along! We'd love to see what you come up with! Click here to go to the challenge...

I haven't forgotten you!

Hi friends!  I'm so it's been so long since I've blogged.  I just wanted to pop in and say I haven't forgotten you!  Things are so so so busy right now as I wind down to retirement, that my blogposts are going to have to be less frequent than usual.  I will pop in as much as I can, just to say hi and post a photo, but come November 1st I will be back to blogging regularly again!

In the meantime, if there are things you'd like to see me cover on the blog in the future, let me know in the comments - I'd love to hear from you!

I will leave you with a recent page in my Book of Days...

Thanks so much for visiting!  I really appreciate you!

Art Journal Conversations Article...

Hi friends!
Today I am so honored to be featured in Ronda Palazzari's "Art Journal Conversations" series!  I'd love it if you'd come on over and leave me a comment!

Check it out here:

Art Journal Conversations:  Michelle LaPoint Rydell

Thanks for visiting!

The OLW is.....

It's the 15th of the month, and that means it's time for the One Little Word Challenge!  The word of the month for August is....

LOST

Here's what I did...

Just for fun, I will leave you with the video for the song that inspired this page...


Thanks so much for visiting! 

Come on over to the OLW site and play along with us!  Click here to go to the challenge!

I made a new travel journal kit in the Paint it, Sketch it, Store it class...

Hey there everyone!  How's your weekend going?  Mine has been great!  I finished my project from the Paint it, Sketch it, Store it class with Rae Missigman.  It's a travel journal kit!  Here's how it turned out...

It's made out of canvas.  We painted it with acrylics and made a velcro closure.  It's like a portfolio, and it measures 10.5" x 14" closed...

 I'm not gonna lie - it was ALOT of work - ha.  Not difficult, but lots of steps.  It was tons of fun too though, and I love how it turned out! It's something I will really use, so totally worth it.

Here's how it looks open.  The left side holds pouches for pencils, glue sticks, crayons, etc.  The middle holds up to a 9x12" journal, and the right side holds divider pockets for ephemera and collage papers...

As you can see, you don't need good sewing skills to make this  project - LOL...

The ribbon was hand-dyed as part of the process...

Once I start using it, I will post again, so you can see how it looks all filled up!

If you want to make something similar - check out Rae's Sketch it, Store it, Paint it Class by clicking here!

Thanks so much for visiting!  I really appreciate you!

Sketchbook Skool Rules!

I'm excited to share what I've been doing in Sketchbook Skool with you all!  I have been learning SO MUCH and having a great time doing it!

I've been through five of the six weeks so far, and I'm sad it's almost over.  When the next session starts (no date has been announced yet)  I will be there - I'm hooked!

I shared the first part of week one with you in this post.  Here's the third spread I did for week one with Danny Gregory...

In week two, we studied colored pencil with Koosje Koene...

In week three we worked on capturing the sky with Prashant Miranda...

and in week four, Jane LaFazio had us working on composition with a grid design...

I also decided it would be fun to do a line drawing portrait of each teacher, along with a page of notes from their class.  Here's how those turned out...

Each one of these teachers has inspired me so much with their unique style and outlook on their own sketchbooking practice.  It continues to be an amazing experience!

Thanks so much for visiting today my friends!  I wish you a wonderful week!

Now where were we?

Oh my gosh it's been wayyyyyyy too long since I've blogged - I've missed you!  As I'm getting ready to retire (68 days left now), things have been all aflurry and I've been having a tough time fitting in everything I want to do creatively.  Thus, the blog has been suffering, and I do apologize for that. 

I recently read Cathy Johnson's book The Artist Journal Workshop, and wow is it inspiring!  I can't recommend it highly enough!  In it, she talks about lots of different ways to journal, and one really resonated with me - it's called "integrated journaling," which really just means that everything goes in one book.

Here's a page I made in my Book of Days on the subject (click image to see it larger):

 (the page is inspired by an exercise in Judy Wise' Mixed Media Workshop)

If you know me, I'm sure you know that I am constantly changing my journaling "system;" so much so, that it has become comical to some of my friends (grin).  I've been ruminating on this for awhile, and while I didn't immediately change all of my books into one, I am heading in that direction.  Since I read about integrated journaling in Cathy's book, I've been inspired by others who also put everything in one book.  Two of my Sketchbook Skool teachers in particular - Prashant Miranda and Roz Stendahl have talked about this, and Roz even has this absolutely fantastic indexing system for her journals that just has me mesmerized.  Check it out here.

Anyhoo, as of August 1st, I've started a new Book of Days, which will now be my only journal besides my planner.  Here's the beginnings of it...

It's painted canvas in an 8" x 10" size...

I used my favorite binding technique (learned in Effy Wild's Bookbinding 101 free course)...

Here's the back...

(The layered painting technique is inspired by Rae Missigman's Sketch Paint and Store workshop.) 

I left the first spread blank, so I can figure out what I want to put there at a later date.  This is pages 2 and 3 (inspired by the new "personal sovereignty" edition of the Book of Days workshop)...

Next time I will do a catchup post on Sketchbook Skool (which I am still LOVING, by the way!)

I hope you are having an AWESOME weekend my friends!  Thanks so much for visiting!

Summer of Color Week 5...

I'm late to the party with week five's Summer of Color pages.  I figure better late than never tho, right?  Anyhoo, the colors were:

Red and Royal Blue with a Splash of Light Blue

I flipped it around a bit, and did red, light blue with a splash of royal blue.  Here are last week's planner pages...

 I used bits of happy mail Susan DaSilva Gallitto, Linda Rapchak and Leike Michelow - thanks friends!

 The documented life challenge for the week was to use a small photo somewhere.  Turns out, this cute graduation photo from my friend Christina's daughter Alex fit in perfectly with the colors - yeayyy!

Loved this quote from Oprah, so I had to include it...

I am definitely experiencing the wonder on my path right now.  I've got 87 days til I retire, and I am treasuring each moment of my job, while at the same time, gearing up for the new adventure ahead!

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I appreciate you so much and wish you wonder on your journey too!