Art Journaling Friday

My friend Leslie from Beattie Chicks Makery has started hosting an Art Journaling workshop on Friday mornings in their studio down town -- and today was the first day. Since my plan is always to have Friday's off from work, this schedule totally worked for me, especially since I already had lunch (and dessert) planned with another friend at noon and I was already going to be out and about.

I love the way she starts the journaling process -- it's really unique and no book or magazine I have ever read directs you to journal this way. Leslie has a way of getting the best and the most from people creatively, or at least she does for me. That's just one of the things I love about her, but that's another blog post.

I joked with her at one point that I had a tendency lately of taking my art to the brink of disaster -- and then somehow I turn it around like a phoenix coming back to life and it comes out looking ok. Anyhow, we starting singing that song from whoever country rock band it is "Flirtin' with Disaster" (yes, I know you can hear it in your head now -- it's been in mine all afternoon, LOL. I'm happy to pass it on) and my mission for these two pages was to get it back. From the edge of disaster. No easy task since it was REALLY bad.

  

Before I added the dip pen details, it was a disaster. I had stamped with some flower stamps with red StazOn and the result was awful! Totally ugly. I was on the brink of abandoning it, and had I not loved the journaling so much -- I probably would have.right.then.right.there. I kept telling myself -- how can you teach that there are no mistakes in art journaling and be so willing to give up on this....and that kept me going too.

And then right when it was starting to blossom (no pun intended, ha ha) I had to go or I was going to be late for lunch at Little Tokyo and dessert at Gelato Fiasco -- yes -- my definition of a perfect day - art, sushi and gelato! I was late, but it was ok because I blamed it on having to circle the block several times in the pouring rain looking for a place to park. 

Anyway, the flower on the top left of the above photo is one of my favorites - as well as one other in the previous photo. Thank you Leslie - you have a way of inspiring me to stick with it and I always create something groovy when I'm around you! Can't wait until next time! If you live locally -- you should come if you can, it's a lot of fun!

And with that, I'm inspired to get my art on. Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great weekend!

Somerset Holidays & Celebrations, 2011

Good Morning!! It's almost Friday -- the one day of the week where I normally don't do any work -- and depending on how much I procrastinate today -- I may or may not have work tomorrow. That's the one thing about working from home that is not a good thing for me -- I'm distracted by laundry, dishes, television (this morning one of the Twilight movies) and I put things off.

I also put off doing what I should be doing to take care of little things like blogging, what I'm doing at this very moment, Pinterest and Facebook. Right now I should be narrating and editing and working on new classes instead of walking around in my pj's sipping on a cup of cold coffee looking out at the rain. Daydreaming, I should NOT be doing that. I have presentations and hand-outs to make, lol. Daydreaming about making art, connecting with friends and getting distracted from the rain by pretty pictures on Pinterest is so much more fun than presentations, video and voice-overs, LOL.

But anyway, thought I would share a little something that I got in the mail a few weeks ago. The 2011 issue of Somerset Holidays and Celebrations -- where I have two articles. THANKS Jennifer for the great page layouts and photo designs, you always make my stuff look good! I appreciate that!

The first article is a holiday article, called Winter White, and it's all about felt ornaments. Seems like forever ago that I made these -- and gearing up to make some gilded versions real soon...planning..buying supplies..brainstorming. LOVE that!  

All these ornaments are made with Spellbinders dies, they make crafting so much fun; wool felt and lots of doodads' a little sewing and some nice smelling stuff to make them delicious! 

I'll share some pictures of the other article soon! Now, I really MUST get back to work. Hope you have a great day, thank you so much for stopping by!

Want to Make an Art Journal ??

I know I've been talking about Art Journaling a lot lately -- and well -- I just can't help it! I have been spending a lot of my time working in my own journal for my newest class, Mixed Media Workshop Two over at My Creative Classroom - and well, it's been on my mind a lot.

I think you can find a lot of reasons to art journal...from experimenting with new tools and techniques...to working through emotional upset... and even better; ways to work out and determine personal goals and how to become a better human being....and I am sure there are many more.

Art Journaling doesn't need to be expensive either -- you can turn an old cereal box and cardstock into a small book to carry with you for drawing, doodling and playing with text.

Take it a step further and use watercolor paper or bristol board for the inner pages and you can add wet mediums (image transfers, acrylic and watercolor paints, collage with gel medium or mod podge and so much MORE) and you have a journal that will stand up to the riggers of adding wet mediums to the pages! 

To get started, determine how many pages you want in your book -- thin or thick -- think about how you want to bind it, and prepare them by folding them all in half and create signatures by stacking the folded papers together (2 or 3 sheets per signature depending on the thickness of your paper). Prepare your cover by trimming down your box, folding it and getting it ready to stitch the pages to it; use a sewing machine to sew or hand-stitch them with wax thread to your cover.

Decorate the cover with papers, tapes and whatever else pleases you and Voila, your journal is ready for some fun art play!  You can see in the pages below that I've done a lot of different types of playing in my journal! There really is no rhyme or reason -- just do whatever you FEEL like doing whenever you feel like it and you will love art journaling as much as I do! For more detailed instructions, read the full post over at the Expert Blog on the Spotted Canary.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are having a GREAT week so far!

A quick piece of art using Joint Compound

I don't have much to share today -- been a busy weekend and I've got a busy week ahead of me as well.

Thought I'd share this fun project I made as a quick demo for my Mixed Media Workshop Two class at My Creative Classroom. Can you see the cracks at the top of the image -- that's because it's done on Joint Compound -- yes the same stuff you use to work on the walls in your house!

This was a super-fun and easy project -- the hardest part was waiting for the joint compound to dry so I could create art on it!

Hope you have a great day -- thanks for stopping by!

What I did on my summer vacation #5

I did a lot of cooking!! We did the Paleo Diet for the entire summer and I cooked 3 meals a day for 30 days and then at least 2 meals a day for the rest of the summer. It feels great to not eat sugar, grains and processed food much. We've relaxed the rules a bit now, but for the most part stick to the plan most of the time.

My parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary and we had the party at our house -- about 40 people came, it was fun -- but I hate all the cleaning involved with a full house. After the party we took our parents on a vacation up-north. It was a big deal, my brother, nephew and his son flew in from TX and NM and spent the week.

We went up to WAY northern Maine -- up on the Canadian Border for several days, it was relaxing -- NO INTERNET - bummer! It was beautiful and the weather was nice so that was a plus. I brought all my art stuff but just couldn't get settled in to do anything. I just putzed around, it was nice having nothing to do....though I was pretty happy to get home and check my email! I think I need an internet/email/Facebook detox or something. Nope, can't do it.

We went blueberry picking about 5 times. The berries are huge and delicious and you don't have to bend over! My freezer is over flowing with berries I picked this summer, they will make delicious smoothies this winter! I am definitely not looking forward to winter AT ALL!

I had a lot more fun with the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone. This photo was taken at the Library Park in Bath while my son played the drums with the Merrymeeting Band. I do love the way this picture came out,  the camera was pointed directly into the shining sun. Love the red!

You'll be happy to know that this is the last of the what I did on my summer vacation series, phew! I bet you thought that would never end. On another note, has anyone tried the Blogger App for the iPhone/iPad? do you like it? I am wondering if it's just me, cause I really don't. I thought it would be great to blog on my iPad in the morning or before I got out of bed or while I'm on the treadmill, but that's not going to happen. 

Hope you have a great weekend! Do something arty and creative -- you deserve it!

What I did on my summer vacation #4

 More Art Journaling, love the way this little inclusion turned out. Did I mention I did a lot of art journaling over the summer?

Took lots of pictures of everything with the Hipstamatic App on my phone. I am so in love with this thing! And look at all those strawberries -- we filled that tray 3 times as full as that.

Got a cool birthday present for my garden from my parents. She surprised me by putting him in the center of my purple and yellow irises with this bow and a balloon tied to him. My apologies if this offends anyone, he's in my garden now blessing the flowers and tiny animals that frequent it -- without the balloon and bow-tie.

This horse (I think her name was Allie??) at the stables LOVED the smell of my Passion Tea. She was trying to lick the outside of the cup -- but I think what she really wanted was to drink the whole thing. She is a very sweet horse, that loved our attention. She would stamp her feet on the wall whenever we walked in the stables to get Babe -- the horse we rode for every lesson. When I stopped to scratch her head and stopped scratching but didn't walk away -- she would nudge my arm with her nose for more scratches. My dog does the same thing. It was very calming to be around the horses, and with all the crap that went down -- going to the stable was just what I needed.

Thanks for stopping by -- hope you have a WONDERFUL day!

Zentangling

I found myself spending a quite a bit of time trying to relax over the summer -- wanting to do something -- so I'd pick up a notebook and start doodling. I guess they call this form of doodling Zentangles. I don't know, but I've been making circles and swirls for a long time and filling pages for a while before I ever heard it called Zentangles. Seems weird that they would be able to copyrite doodling -- but they did and it's a wonderful way to pass 20 minutes or so when you are waiting for someone and don't really have time to start something new. Or -- are trying to stay off the internet but don't have a new book or new works of art going .

Some times my doodles start looking like things other than doodles. Like the one above -- I see a whale on the top of a bunch of waves.

And this one looks like a group of fish.

I've got nothing on this one, ha ha.

A witch with an owls face....or just a witch.

A mushroom and a fish, sorry it's blurry.

A peacock - but my Mother sees a poodle instead of a peacock. I can see both depending on how I look at it. I keep thinking I'm going to add some color to these -- but they are in a crummy old- college lined notebook and done with a pen that runs. If I added color I would want to use watercolor paints or watercolor crayons and I don't think the paper (or the crummy ink) will hold up to the water. I really like working in a lined notebook -- it helps with patterns and partitioning sections off. So I guess they'll stay black and white for now until I find a notebook that has paper with lines that will hold up to water.

It's almost the weekend -- and I've had a pretty busy week, and the boy has a 4 day weekend. Maybe the Fryburg Fair, or just weekend around the house to get things done and caught up on.

I've got 3 classes going at My Creative Classroom -- only one is new -- and another one starting next week -- and another brand new one I need to get ready for enrollment that starts in November.  Geez, I better get busy and get all this stuff done, my housework is starting to suffer, ha ha! Well, thanks for stopping by, hope you'll make a doodle or two today -- you'll never want to stop!



Happy Haunted Halloween over at the Spotted Canary!

I'm hosting a fun Challenge over on the Spotted Canary website, the InkadinkaBOO Challenge. There's a free class at Spotted Canary School that you can access, it should be available soon. After you've taken the class, create a fun project and then post it iin the forum -- you could win a cool stamping prize package!

Anyway, this is the stamped and embossed card I made for the Challenge. I never used to be a stamper, but I really like it now. It's one of those crafts that the more you do it the better you get.

The lace on the bottom of the card is stamped with  a VersaMark pad, sprinkled with black embossing powder and heat set. I inked the edge with brown ink to make it look a bit on the old side. It looks like real lace in person!

Love the glitter bats too, the come in orange, black and purple! With 3D Dots they really jump off the card!

I hope you'll check out the challenge when you get a minute and post a project.

I know I neglected this blog all summer -- but I wasn't completely off-the-grid the whole time -- I did do a couple of project posts on the Expert Blog.  You can check out a few of the fun projects, with detailed instructions (as well more details on my studio over-haul) that I posted on the Spotted Canary Expert Blog over the summer, here!

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your day!   

What I did on my summer vacation #3

Took a workshop on my birthday weekend with Donna Downey and two great friends Hannah and Leslie from Beattie Chicks at Artascope Studios in Portland. It was a wonderful weekend -- Friday night, Saturday and Sunday -- totally emersed in doing artsy stuff and not worrying about cooking or laundry or cleaning. Oh, and the husband dude got me an iPad. That's a whole other addiction I am dealing with, ha ha.

I think this is one of my journal pages from the weekend. Not sure as I don't recognize this, LOL. It might have been the beginning of something that got changed later. We did a lot of that during the weekend.

We went strawberry picking a couple of times and made a few batches of jam -- and froze a bunch for smoothies this winter. YUMM! The picking was great this summer and it's a fun thing I always love to do with my Mom.

The boy and I took horse riding lessons for a while. When we started trotting he got "smashed" a bit on the saddle and decided he didn't like it. It was almost the end of summer so we just stopped. I might start up again when I'm not so busy with classes and creative stuff. It's a nice relaxing way to spend an afternoon. I know I feel much more comfortable around horses and am not afraid to sit on them now. I can check that off my bucket list that's for sure!

More art journaling -- this page was made at the Beattie Chicks art journaling night. Love the way this page came out!

Just one more post -- but I'll post about some other stuff tomorrow! have a great day -- thanks for stopping by.

What I did on my Summer Vacation #2

I did some other things that were fun over the summer -- like finish the last few details in my studio.

My husband helped me install the bead board wainscotting, I painted the iron brackets and shelf and we got that installed as well. It's the perfect place for all my little chotchky's, jars of buttons, paints and lots of other things. The pencil sharpener reminds me of my Grandmother -- she had one just like it in her house that I always loved to use because the pencils were so SHARP. 

We went to the local country fair. I spent the evening walking around reminiscing about what it was like there when I was a kid. I got some fun pictures of my son and his friends too!

Took my Mother to Massachussetts to visit her sister -- then we all went to Connecticut to visit their brother. They took us shopping for lunch at Stew Leonard's, wow -- it was my first time and Wow. Just Wow. I loved that place. It would  be dangerous to live near there! I will say, I didn't like the way they corral you in to walking down EVERY aisle. I saw these beautiful sunflowers there and took a TON of pictures of them with my hipstamatic.

My sweet -- now taller than me -- boy holding some of those beautiful sunflowers at Stew's.

Here he is with his Massachussetts pal -- they look so cute celebrating her birthday together. He's too young for a girlfriend!

I've got just a few more posts of fun pictures for the summer - but I promise to mix a few artsy craftsy posts in there too. Thanks for stopping by -- have a GREAT day!

It was an Art Journaling Summer!

I've did a lot of Art Journaling this summer, it started with a workshop that I took on my birthday weekend with Donna Downey and then I continued working in a variety of styles and different journals I have made for the rest of the summer. It's a fun and healing way to create art and work out different feelings you have about things that are going on in your life. I also use my art journal pages to try new techniques and save those scraps of papers and things I don't want to throw away. You can check out a how-to make your own art journal here on a recent post I did at the Spotted Canary.,

In this page I was playing around with a resist technique using silver alcohol ink from Tim Holtz. I liked the technique but didn't like the way that I couldn't really control the size of the silver splats. I also loved the house that I had found in an old magazine and wanted to save that before it got lost in the piles of scraps in my studio, LOL.

I also wanted to share this tip, I use a large piece of newsprint, cut in half and stuck behind the page I am working on and over the page facing the page I am working on. This helps protect them from drips and splats that may happen. You could also use newspaper, wax paper or any scraps big enough to protect your pages.

I was playing around with image transfers and resists on this page. I have a couple of Caran D'ache NeoColor II wax crayons that I was picked up at the art store by mistake and I wanted to try them out. You can see that I did my heartfelt journaling on the bottom of the page and covered it up with the red circles.

Sometimes I'm really busy but want to create something so I go to my art journal and spend a few minutes here and there getting messy with paint, ink and whatever is on my desk. It's a great way to work out frustrations and move on with the day!

Thanks for stopping by -- hope you have are having a great weekend!

What I did on my Summer Vacation #1

I did a lot of flower and vegetable gardening. At first things weren't going so well,  but after a while the tables turned and everything started producing. I was able to make lots of tomato sauce, salsa, V8 juice for my kiddo and some yummy pickles. You can see some of my pretty flower gardens in a previous post, look for it here.

One of my favorite things to do with fresh tomato sauce is to make it quite juicy with lots of juicy fresh tomatoes and bring it to a boil. When it's boiling -- drop the temp on the burner down to medium or so and drop some eggs in the yummy sauce. When the eggs are done sprinkle fresh chopped cilantro on top for a delicious topping -- and enjoy!!

I also made my way down to NYC at the end of the summer for a couple of day long meetings at EK Success. My room mate and a couple other friends and I made the short trek into the city to go to Magnolia Bakery. It was fun -- even if it was raining and I stepped in a pot hole -- thankfully I could walk back to the train station!

My boy played the drums with the Merrymeeting Community Band for the entire summer and ended a great learning and fun experience with a parade in a local town. While we were waiting for the parade to start we took a few moments to walk around to enjoy some of the vendors selling their wares. I really loved this display of Chinese Lanterns. You can see a cool display my friend Tara made with her Chinese Lanterns here.

We also went to the beach -- though not as many times as we wanted. At least we made it! This particular day was a little  breezy and overcast so we just enjoyed the sand and stayed out of the water.

Thanks for stopping by -- I'd love to know what fun things did you do over the summer that took you away from blogging and the internet?

Mixed Media Workshop Two

If I haven't convinced you to sign up for this fun class over at My Creative Classroom yet -- maybe this will send you over the edge, LOL! This is a sneak peak (yes -- the project this week is much bigger than this) from the project for week two -- each week you will also find a fun art journal presentation, handouts, some images, a high quality presentation and more!

This class is jam packed with 5 weeks of great information you don't want to miss. Enrollment will be open for another few days!

Hope to see you there, thanks for stopping by -- enjoy your weekend!