Getting Back into Things

Wow!! It has been a long time since I've posted!!!! Life threw me multiple curve balls & I have been doing my best to handle them correctly & not let them knock me down for to long.

Anyway, we have snow here today. Just a couple of inches & it looks pretty.

I have been doing some art journaling. My journals are such a safe place for me to get out all of that crap that replays over & over in my head & heart.

I have been doing Milliandes January 2011 prompts http://www.milliande.com/art-journal-january-2011.html They are fun to do!!

Have a safe, warm day! I'm going to go get a homemade Latte.........

Some Spray Paint & Journal Pages

I am taking Mary Ann Moss's Stencilry & Stitched & Stenciled classes. This is one of the pieces I have done so far. I am working up to the silhouette stencils--making them & spraying them. I have learned how to layer the stencils for some cool effects. I have even made my own designs! A ray burst & a flower mask/stencil. I am having FUN with it!

These next two pages are from my altered book art journal. This page was fun to do. But it doesn't feel done yet. Any suggestions? She has been like this for a while now.


This page I just did yesterday. It's watercolor, gauche & alcohol spritz. It has quite a lot of texture. I put the paint right on the page from the tubes. Some of the paint is old & drying out, that paint left blobs behind. Mostly the yellow. I like this as it is. I think I will scan it so I can use it in other projects. I have never scanned a piece of my art & reused it before!! I'm not sure why I haven't. Probably that inner critic--Darn her!!!

So have fun & don't let your inner critic get to you!!!!

Hello Again

Hey, Hows it going? Yeah I know. It's been a while. I was actually spending some time outside & enjoying the sunshine. But our weather here on the east coast has changed to cool/cold, windy & rainy. So inside days.

It seems odd to me that I have to force myself to get back in the Art habit! So I have been doing a lot of backgrounds or maybe they are just visual pages. I will have to see. I just read this great quote......

"Art may never be finished, but at a certain point you let it go and call it done"

by Julia Cameron

author of The Artists Way & many other helpful books

This page had some paint & ink leftovers wiped on to it. I added the rest as a listen to your gut (maybe I should refer to it as intuitive). I used what ever color paint, pen & pics my hands went to first.

This is my version of a shabby flower. It includes fabric, ribbon, lace & yarn. I used hot (low temp) glue. I watched a video on Vimo by Robin-Marie Smith. And she used a much better glue- fabric tack. I like this technique! You work with what you have & the results are a little different each time.

Journal Page & Remains Of The Day Journal

This journal spread is in my small moleskin. The background is from me swiping the left over paint off my brush. I do that all the time, rather than rinse all of that paint off I swipe the brush on another page. It eliminates that blank canvas fear!


These are pages from my 2nd Remains Of the Day Journal from Mary Ann Moss. A very cool on-line class to take!!!!

The page on the left has an envelope pocket & on the right the kitty card flips out, for more journaling space, plus it has fabric & trim on the bottom.

The left page is a transparency I printed out. I had never done that before-it was fun! (ya, strange I know! but it was!). I sewed an envelope behind it to create a pocket to stash stuff & so the design was more visible.

This is where the above pages & many more are housed. I made this cover from an old (clean) place mat, some trim, ribbon, fabric scraps, flower is fabric & paper, plus free motion embroidery.

Signs of Spring

Blue Sky's
&
Daffodils

Grandchildren Playing Outside
Wearing Hoodies

Bouncing Balls
Sidewalk Chalk
Warm Sunshine
&
Smiles

Happy Happy / Oww Oww

When I sat down to art journal this is not where my head was that day!! But as so often happens, the page has a mind of its own!! I didn't like it when I was done with it. So I just shut the book and left it alone for a few days. That old saying is true, absence does make the heart grow fonder!

This was last night after I took something for it!

This was before I took something!!!!

I just wanted to create last night but my head just kept thumping & bumping!! So this is what spilled out of me!

I feel better this morning!

Helpful Critiques = Journal Pages

Here is a more finished version of one of my "needs something" pages from yesterdays post. I think I'm happy with it.

I want to thank the ladies who commented on the last post. It was very helpful! By the way the rest of you should go check out their blogs & flickr pages. I was wowed by their work!!



This is another journal that I have. This was a kind of fun, playing around spread. To help me remember things about a book I'm reading Better Boundaries, Owning and Treasuring Your Life by Jan Black & Greg Enns
I haven't finished the book yet. It has a positive spin about it. Do you know what I mean?


At Christmas my sister got one of my grandson's a Memory game. After she punched out all of the cards she was left with these big square grid looking pieces. She knew I'd use them for art stuff. And she was right. That's what the grid is from on the above page. I tried stazon ink first - didn't work. Acrylic paint did though!!



On this page I did gel medium transfers of magazine pics. I wasn't sure how they would work because this is very textured paper. But I like how they turned out! I am liking playing with my dip pens & ink again. I want to get a smaller nib/tip though.

See what happens on a snowed in day. While my husband goes out and plows the snow I stay in and plow thru my art supplies! I make him hot chocolate when he comes in!!! Oh and I'm trying a new recipe. It's beer bread. I hope it's good!!!

Isn't It Odd.......

I think it is odd that with both of these journal spreads I like the one on the right but the one on the left needs something.

LIKE

NEEDS SOMETHING

LIKE

NEEDS SOMETHING

I did these after watching Milliande's January journaling videos. I used a wax candle, crayons (kids kind & watercolor) pencil, watercolors,vinyl stickers, acrylic paint, black cat ink & dip pen, stamped some drawer liner with staz-on, my handmade papers, gesso & sharpie poster paint pens.

I just have been puttering around, not feeling creative. So I am trying to show up & work until I find "it" again.

We are getting the beginning of our BLIZZARD!!! It looks pretty but Oh my it's a lot of snow!!

See I Do Still Art Journal & An Ink Question For You

I have been watching the wonderful Milliande work in her art journal. You can see her here http://www.milliande.com/Art-Journal-January-2010.html .

These 2 pages are done by putting masking tape on the page first. Then some ink & acrylic paint. Remove the masking tape. Which is the fun part, trying to decide which pieces went on last down to first!!! I saved the tape & put it in another journal. Then I sprayed the pages with food coloring (the blue). Then I used some Golden Interference blue (fine) on a stamp. Which shows up really well in these pics!? After all of that dried, I doodled with my black cat ink & dip pen. I still want to add more doodling to this.


This is also in response to Milliande. Her circle prompt. There's some security envelope, junk mail (that's where the heart came from), some painted pages, acrylic & gouache paint. Lastly some ink & my dip pen. This also needs some journaling on it! I like this first heart page better than the snowflake page. I ran out of the blue-grey mix of paint I used on the first page.



This is from an altered book. I love using books this way. The journaling "paper" on the right is a dried up baby wipe (a CLEAN one!!!) that I use to clean my brushes off on.
Does anyone have experience with the acrylic inks or drawing inks in various colors? I see Milliande uses them a lot. If you have used them is there a brand and/or color that you like? I was given a Dick Blick gift card for Christmas! I have a list going. So far I have Pan Pastels & the "knives" for them, sharpie poster paint pens in white (med & fine point) & maybe some Blick studio by Fabiano sheets of paper.

Scrappy Journal

I took Mary Ann Moss's Remains Of The Day on-class. It is an EXCELLENT class with PDF's, video's, class blog, yahoo group, & flickr group. You can find info about the class & her other classes on her blog .

http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/

In this class the pages are from paper scraps that gather in your stash & can't bear to get rid of. They are then sewn on or together to make the signatures. There are places for journaling, tucking in receipts or goodies from your day, pockets & anything else you want to add.

The cover has a paper base with the fabric being a kind of slipcover. The idea for the cover is to again use the fabric scraps in your stash. Then sew it down "guerrilla" style. A Mary Ann Moss phrase.

My pics are in the reverse order that I wanted. Oh well. This one below has my first "ticket" from my new POGO printer, a Christmas present from Sam. Plus some fabric & painted paper scraps.

This is one of my favorites. The butterfly is a note card.

This has a clear pocket.

This is my first page. Mary Ann had a pic of herself on her first page. I did the same thing!! I found this in an old Smithsonian mag.

Here is my cover. All wrapped up & cozy.
I had made some journals inspired by Mary Ann's. But they just didn't have "it". Now I understand her methods. She has the amazing ability to make order out of chaos. I think a lot like her but am unable to break it in to steps like she does.

She's my Art Hero!!!

Teesha Inspired

Well I figured that I would add my Teesha Moore inspired pages to the land of Blog. These pages are fun to do! They take a long time for me to finish. This one is in response to a prompt from Kim at Blissfully_Art_Journaling@yahoo.com .

I have these two pages to doodle on & then do the wording. I find that I can doodle on these while watching TV.

The Real Blanket Stitch Found & French Press Info

This is what the correct stitching looks like!!!!!

If you want to know about sewing with the blanket stitch, my sister found this tutorial from futuregirl http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2007/09/tutorial-hand-sew-felt.aspx

It is so well written & even has pictures to show the process!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freebird asks about my last post. I hope this clears up my mud! If not let me know!!!

A cozy is a "sweater" to wrap around my press to keep my coffee warm for a longer time.

This is a French Press Coffee Maker. I believe this one is made by Clover. (I got the pick off the web)

And here is a pretty good article on how to use one. I learned that if I stir the grounds & water, using a chopstick (I'll use my plastic ones) so I don't break the glass pot, it enhances the coffee taste even more! This one has pictures too!! http://coffeegeek.com/guides/presspot

So now on to better stitching & brewing for us all!!!

Cozy Coffee

Wedding, Vacation, Family & Thanksgiving. That's what I've been up to. Oh and this....... A French Press Cozy.

It is made from an accidentally felted wool sweater, a button from my button box (given to me by my mom) & DMC floss. Decorated with my form of embroidery - see messy artist with everything! I have forgotten how to begin & end the blanket stitch so that it lies properly. Oh well. It was fun to do. This was one of those things that I kept saying I was going to make. So I finally did. Now I need to make one for my coffee cup!

Blog Award

Tammy at http://bonsaihabits.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-award.html?showComment=1258123885973#c702666929066576461 gave me this fun award.

I am sure there has to be an easier way to get the info from Tammy's blog to mine. But I don't know what that is!

I am supposed to pass this on to 5 other people & answer the following questions. Using one word answers!

1. where is my cell phone......upstairs
2. my hair.......messy
3. my mother.....snuggie
4. my father....humor
5. favorite food....pizza
6. my dream last night.....forgotten
7. favorite drink......coffee
8. my dream/goal.....peace
9. what room I'm in....livingroom
10. my hobby...doodling
11. my fear....snakes
12. where I want to be in 6 years.....uuuummmmm
13. where I was last night......bed
14. something I'm not......neat
15. muffins.....please
16. wish list item....supplies
17. where I grew up.....U.S.
18. last thing I did...typed
19. what I'm wearing...jammies
20. your TV....off
21. Pets.....yes
22. friends... yes
23. my life...interesting
24. my mood...ok
25. missing someone...grandkids
26. vehicle....elle
27. something I'm not wearing.....bra
28. favorite store...online
29. favorite color.....green
30. last time I laughed...yesterday
31. last time I cried....awhile
32. best friend....sam
33. 1 place I go over & over.....bathroom
34. facebook.....yes
35. favorite place to eat...table

That is a long list!!!!!!!!!!!! Now to pass this on..........

1. http://paper-paisleys.blogspot.com/
2. http://on-the-banks-of-bay-creek.blogspot.com/

Ok I will have to finish this later. I am getting so frustrated with this process!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stuff & Nonsense

I realized that I haven't been posting much & am trying to fix that. I wanted to show you what I have been doing. I have been playing around with this little scraps journal. It has fabric, paper, paint, marker, yarn & trim throughout it. I saw that I had only a few pics of it so I was off with camera in hand to find it. Well, I can't find it!!! I think it knows that I fell out of love with it and is now hiding from me! I listened to that inner critic and thought that it was just another one of my failed experiments.

When I find it I shall finish it and post a pic or two.