Another Christmas 2014 Card

I saw this idea online and thought "That's adorable!
I have to use this idea!" I added the scarf. So fun!

Christmas 2014

So, I was deathly ill this year, well maybe not "deathly", but certainly very sick, so I went with a very simple card. Please forgive the rough edges and slightly askew alignment. 

I loved the way the new snowflake punch worked out! 

I will get a lot of use out of this punch. Enjoy!

New "Envelope" Gift Card Holder

  

I found a tutorial last night on this cute little gift card holder. It was easy and a pretty quick project.

The base is a standard card envelope folded in half. 

I loved the idea of the Brad and baker's twine closure! 

Pink Happy Birthday

Just another birthday card...this time using a technique called "Fork Bows". You run ribbon through the tines of a fork and tie a knot and voila - a nearly perfect bow.

More in-flight work

THese are both watercolor pencils and a waterpen for blending with black sharpie and touches of white paint pen.

In-flight Journal Page

Talk about simple. I used brush markers to do the colored blocks in the background, then drew the face with a black sharpie and colored in the empty space next to the head. Then I added some bits of white paint pen. Amazing what you can do while on a flight!

Colorful Journal Page

This page started with three solid acrylic inks, then stamped over with bubblewrap in the same three colors. Next I drew the face and the hair, I colored in the empty space to the left of the head with pink (something new for me) and decided it was too bland so I added the lines and doodling. I used the back end of a paint brush to add the dots.

Womans Face over Painted Background

I absolutely LOVE this journal page! I had done a background a while back. I wasn't thrilled with it, but last night I added the face to it and painted the black around it, added some highlight and WOW! Now it's my new fav! Thank to Jule Fei-Ban Balzer I tried this technique and was successful! I owe this page to her daily blog e-mail.

Don't Wait for Someone to Bring You Flowers - Journal Page

I had SO much fun making this page last night. I used 3 acrylic paints (orange, teal and yellow) and scraped them onto the page with an old credit card. Then used my fingers to smear some of the paint. I then applied some of the same paints to a piece of bubble-wrap and pressed it onto the page in a random fashion. The flowers and stems were from a card-making kit I had made up for a friend who used to babysit so she and the kids could make cards for the parents. The circles that adorn some of the flowers are from a bag of quilling materials I had in my stash of craft goodies. I added some white circles on the dots with a white gel pen and then wrote the message on the stems. If you look closely you'll see the words "DON'T WAIT" on the petals of the large flowers.

Play - Journal Page

The message says it all!

New Cards

Stenciled hummingbird, pre-printed paper background, stamped sign.

Real Sprinkles, Cotton Frosting and an actual cupcake wrapper.

Splatter Painting

So I was looking at yet another webpage on art journaling, this one on splatter painting, the other day and thought "That looks easy. I could do that!" So, after a few attempts at splattering paint everywhere, and I do mean everywhere...I did my first splatter painting. It was too dark, too heavy with paint and not at all acceptable. So, I tried some more test splatters and was satisfied with the results. I pulled out a piece of white card stock, splattered some green paint on it (all of the green in the background is splattered) and then dabbed paint on top of it with a small paint brush to look like flowers. And Voila! Not bad for the second attempt! Woo hoo! I cut it down and put it in an old plastic box frame. I hate to admit that I admired it all weekend. It reminds me so much of going to museums to see the impressionist artists paintings and wondering how they could make dots and splats of paint look like flowers. Now I get it! It brought back such great memories!

Latest Journal Pages

You may recognize this one. I've added color...

This was a literal Grab Bag of sketches I had done one sleepless night. I tore them apart, glued them down and added black sharpie marker to help them POP off the page. I then used some B-A-G letters from a previous project I had done and added an R (hand-drawn)

This was a Happy Accident. I used purple and green ink and spread it on the page on the right, which when over-mixed becomes gray - yuk! So I took a roll of paper towels and rolled it over the ink and voila - a pretty design. So I promptly glued the paper towels down to the pages. Kind of cool, right?

Rainbow and Swirls with Leaves

This started out as something completely different. I was going for a "pretty" rainbow down the middle of the page. Although it didn't turn out as expected, I kind of liked the drippage and meshing of colors. I went with it and added more drippage. But last night I decided it needed some basic doodling. I added my favorite (at the moment) assortment of swirls and leaves. It's by no means a completed page, but I love the bright colors and flow of the black pattern in the foreground.

"Art Journey" Doodle Page

I took 1/2 day off from work the other day. I ran some errands, did a little clothes shopping and sat in the sun for a couple of hours and created the background of this journal page, just the black and white, not the coloring. Just goes to show you how much you can do in a short amount of time with no distractions.

I'd say I'm about halfway through this page as I still have lots of color to add. I found it very relaxing to draw and to color. I find that if I watch someone else doodle (I watch YouTube art videos a lot while I'm working in my journal) that it motivates me and keeps me moving forward. For example, while doing this page I was watching a woman doodle in her journal and listening to her simultaneously respond to her viewer's questions. She said that she makes at least one mistake per page. I found that very empowering! I made at least one "mistake" on this page, but no one would even notice but me!

I love my art journal. It's very cathartic.

I'll upload more pics as I progress.

Home Alone - Life is a Journey Journal Page

My husband was working late last night so I created this page in my art journal - from start to finish. I was following something I found on the internet. My only regret is that the black paint at the top wasn't dark enough. I struggle with finding very dark blacks. I was happy over with how this page came out, though! The background was created with acrylic paints and water. The message was stamped with black archival ink, as were the flowers. The black drips and splats were done with black acrylic paint. I outlined the lettering with red, then yellow colored pencil.

Butterflies (Anniversary Card and Envelope)

I bought this stencil a few weeks ago and I absolutely love it!

So far I've used it with ink pads and acrylic paints (above). it's so pretty and delicate, yet the spaces are large enough so as not to have to fight with getting the color through it. I used purple and green paint and then went over the center with clear embossing powder to create the shine.

Chalkboard Flowers

Creating this was akin to writing on a chalkboard. I painted the page with black acrylic paint, then used a white Sharpie paint marker to draw the flowers and border. It was a study in both the concept and learning how to draw different types of flowers. I borrowed the border pattern from something I saw online - maybe from Julie Fei-fan Blazer? I'm so inspired by her. he's not the greatest artist and doesn't make gorgeous designs, but her work is loose and free and always ends up looking "planned" even though it's not.

FLY - Journal Page

My inspiration for this journal page came from Andrea Walford's tutorial on her website.

She's very talented!

The base is a piece of newspaper. I used Mod Podge to glue it down, then more Mod Podge over it, then tore the edges and removed the excess. Then two coats of white acrylic paint, dabbing off some of the paint with a baby wipe. I used a piece of screening as a stencil for the yellow honeycomb effect. The first coat of ink was light yellow, then a coat of antique white. I outlined some of the honeycombs with a fine point black sharpie. The butterflies were stenciled dabbed with ink from a black archival ink pad and a makeup sponge. I stamped the letters using black archival ink.

It's not finished, but I think it's coming along nicely.

Thanks Andrea for the inspiration!

Clay Pendants

I had the most amazing day yesterday of creating, making new recipes, working in my art journal, shopping, VOTING and enjoying the gorgeous weather. I'm blessed to live in a home with a large backyard bordered by trees, a covered patio and a quiet neighborhood. The patio is my favorite place to work on my crafts when the weather allows.

So, here's what I created yesterday...
 

 The image above doesn't do this piece justice. The color is a deep navy blue with a silvery-white accent.

These pendants are approximately 1.25" to 1.50" in diameter.

Sunflowers?

Well...sort of , I guess. These are some "edgy" flowers that I drew over an orange and yellow background.  I used watercolor pencils to fill in the flower petals and outlined them in black Sharpie marker. The drips in the background are alcohol inks. I went over those with a white Paint Pen (love that pen!). Since taking the photo, I've added more color, deeper blues, oranges, greens. This is one of those pages you can add to and add to and it will never be finished.

The Upside Downers!

This page turned out to be a surprise. In an effort to cover the blue blotches in the background I dabbed paint all over the page, then used a circle template adding white paint in the open circles. I then outline the circles with a fine-point black sharpie and then decided to draw faces inside.

The SURPRISE was that I had turned the journal upside down and now all the faces are actually upside down when I go through my book! I gasped. Thought about it for a second. Then decided that it's actually a happy coincidence that the cartoon-ish faces are upside down. So I laughed and moved on! I call this the "Upside Downers" page. Since taking this photo, I've added some journaling to the page explaining how it came to be.

Sometimes you just have to laugh!

Art Journal: "Storms"

My latest OCD-inducing creative outlet is Art Journaling. I'm working with acrylic paints, watercolor pencils, watercolor paints (yes, the kind you can get at the dollar store), black markers, white markers, learning how to doodle (who knew you had to learn how to do that!), draw flowers, trees, face, lettering and obsessing over using 

bright colors for a change. 

AND LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT! 

What fun it is to doodle and paint and 

not care if the end result is perfect.

"Storms Make Trees Take Deeper Roots"

Yellow, Pink and Red Acrylic Paints, Black Sharpie Markers