I Caved...

...I said I wasn't going to do it.

I don't NEED another notebook/journal.

I am sure a regular dollar store composition notebook would have worked JUST FINE.

But...

I really, really, really wanted to try the Moleskine notebook like all the cool girls have for their art journals! (Surely that is the secret to fabulous spreads, no?)

Precisely!

And so far, I am in love.

Behold my new journal for my Lovely Notions class.

Kraft cover, decoupaged with papers from the Lovely Notions class, plus a paper doily and some K&Company bling and paper ribbon tape in Wild Saffron. The fabric insert on the lovely lady's dress is fabric from my wedding dress (swatches I have been saving for TEN YEARS. Oy.)

First exercise was to use a favorite quote.

Turned out quite lovely indeed, if I do say so!

More Artful Amblings pages...

...caught up with my Artful Amblings - Year in the Life of an Art Journal pages. Not really thrilled with most of these....the prompts didn't flow easily for me. But I decided to soldier on and post nonetheless....

UN: this one was really tough for me...wanted a positive word (but you can see my mind wasn't cooperating...lot of negative "un's" in there!) I knew I wanted to try a tape transfer - and tho' it didn't turn out exactly right, I liked it for this photo...so I went with it.

SOAR: I had recently read this quote and thought it perfect for this prompt....an inspirational reminder to me to be my authentic self....

MOVE: Stole a line from Len on Dancing with the Stars when he scolded the "Stars" to listen to their dance pros when he told them to "show up, shut up and keep up!" Struggling with ENERGY for quite a while now...need to keep reminding myself to just KEEP MOVING.

TEARS: Was in the mood to collage and these colors are my favorites right now....the little yellow sub-page is for some private words on the topic....I think this needs more work but not sure what I want to do to it. I may doodle a bit more....love the layers.

TANGLED: This didn't come out at ALL like I envisioned....loved my idea of the entangled circles - first thing I thought of was the TANGLED MESS inside my jewelry box (no matter how many times I re-re-re-organize!) - and I liked the bold black word across the page...but then I tried to use my Portfolio oil pastels to highlight the lettering and ugh, I just don't like it now.

....and now I off to watch the LOST FINALE (so sad!)

My next art journal...

..will have this fabric cover ala the technique Teesha Moore taught in her latest video shares.

Seriously loving this technique....and that it is a portable project. Love to have something to take along on long car rides...and these little "quilt pillows" are addictive!

Niki & Kaylin - we must plan a stitching weekend! xoxoxo

Nostalgic Musings e-Course

Handmade journal - using Teesha Moore's tutorial

Oh my...lovin' me some art journaling these days!

Taking Hope Wallace Karney's Nostalgic Musings art journaling e-course...and love love love every bit of it so far. Cannot wait 'til tomorrow...first prompt arrives!! These photos are of the first two exercises. I can see doing many more spreads using these techniques/layouts. Loving how the watercolor looks - (as opposed to my usual acrylics and markers.)

Pages below are the first two exercises....cannot wait for the first prompt tomorrow!

Artful Amblings...Prompts 2, 3, 4

I am so behind in my posts! I've been spending lots of time with my art journals...(neglecting my stitching/quilting!)...and have been so inspired by the group participating in A Year in the Life of an Art Journal.

Over the last week or so I caught up with scanning my pages for the prompts.

The Jan 30th prompt, "Hope":

This started as a blue painted page (big surprise there! blue?!?) and didn't like where it was going....so I painted over it with some pink acrylic paint and sprayed some Glimmer Mist over the masked word "Hope" then outlined the letters before removing the mask; decoupaged torn pieces of napkin on the left (covered some messy stamping!), added some stamped butterflies and dots, the word "hope" repeated down the right edge, and my favorite part - some book text words to write out my thought. Love using gel medium as glue and sealant all in one...for these teeny words I used a small paintbrush to apply the gel --first to adhere the text to the page and then to paint over the words with the gel to give them a bit a sheen.

And the Feb 15th prompt, "The Unknown"

This started as a blank white page....I spilled some ink while playing with my calligraphy nibs, and decided to just leave it and doodle around it (not happy with how that came out....but there you have it)...the photo is from an ad in a magazine....the journaling is done with an UltraFine Point Sharpie marker....love how they write over the watercolor paper and the glossy magazine page. Very tempted to paint over those dang doodles/ink splotches....would have liked to see this as all black/gray/white....hmmm....

And the Feb 28th prompt, "Silence"

Right, right....we all know how LOUD I am and that I don't like total QUIET....so true to form, this page did not come out in soothing, pale hues. Loving the white pens of late....trying to find the ones that write smoothly without BLOTCHING....no luck with the paint pen versions -- is my technique the problem? How do you keep the paint/ink flowing without pressing out GOBS of it? I do like the Galaxy Marker in Milky Way White by American Crafts....broad point (used it to color in the doodles and outline the word "Silence" - but it isn't as opaque as I'd like. And it feels like it is "running out" already after only a few uses.)

Still working on my page for the March 15th prompt...will post it soon as it is finished and scanned.

Happy Sunday...and whoever took Spring away....we'd like it back, please.

Prompt 1 - Artful Amblings Art Journal

The first prompt of 2010's A Year in the Life of an Art Journal was posted on the 15th. (Prompts are twice monthly, on the 15th and 30th.)

The prompt is: "WHAT? What is holding you back? What is stopping you? What are you afraid of? What is keeping you from your potential? WHAT?!?"

I answered in relation to my art journaling process. Even though I love to sit down with any of my journals - even if it is just to doodle a bit while watching TV or relaxing...sometimes that WHITE PAGE just causes me to freeze. And especially when the plan is to share it on a group site. Rachel's idea to write out all the reasons holding you back and then PAINT OVER THEM to take away their power was a great exercise for me. Originally, I started with a watercolored page, wrote all along the border of the page and filled in with some circle stamped images. But I really didn't like the end result...so I gessoed over it all and added two shades of acrylic paint as a base to start again. I used a Sharpie fine point pen for the journaling, and markers to fill in the letters. The stamps are a sheet of stamps I bought eons ago and cut up and foam-mounted myself (not very well!) The circle stamp is 7gypsies. The collaged bits are cut from a paint chip flyer. I love that I can still see a bit of the journaling peeking through the layers around the edges.

Art Journaling...2010

Ever since I participated in Emily Falconbridge's "Deck of Me" art journal group in 2007 - I have loved having an art journal (or two, or three...) going, and especially having regular prompts to keep me company along the way.

This year, I am participating in "A Year in the Life of an Art Journal" - with Rachel Wetzel.

This is the book I will be using (watercolor paper signatures, the cover is a patchwork of Anna Maria Horner fabrics - inspired by the journal Pam Garrison created from Mary Ann Moss's online class The Remains of the Day (which I have signed up for but haven't received yet....I CANNOT WAIT!)

And so...the first PROMPT was posted on Friday...my morning has been spent layering some paints and textures on the page - I think I am going to go with some stamping and collage....all subject to change as the mood strikes! Will share when it is finished!

I want ...

...to be able to make cool art journal pages like Teesha Moore. CHECK OUT HER YOUTUBE VIDEOS!

Trying not to covet the PAN PASTELS and COPIC MARKERS but ohhh...Santa, if you are reading along? They'd fit nicely in a stocking, no?

ho ho ho

I can't stop! Seriously!

Artfest Envy

Ever since discovering Teesha Moore's art journals back in 2006, I have wanted to go to ARTFEST. I have discovered so many creative artists through links from Teesha Moore's site and from reading about the teachers each year. And then came ARTFIBERFEST, which I also came to dream about....and now? In the works is JOURNALFEST. Oh how I want to go! (This is the part where I usually start talking about auctioning off a few body parts to finance the trip!)

ARTFEST was April 1-5 this year. And now some of the attendees and teachers are blogging about it....which I so appreciate and can't wait for each year. How much do I want to take THIS CLASS? How is it that I don't know any CARTOONISTS? I really want to hang with this Theo Ellsworth guy. How much would I love this class?!?! Check out Pam Garrison's class example. Seems the instructions were to "doodle blindly" with markers on a page. Then, find images in the doodles and outline and color them in. So I see Pam Garrison's and I immediately try my version (again--I don't know the full instructions, I just started with swirly shapes. Some drawn in deliberate fits and starts, others without looking.) And then I outlined some forms and used my colored pencils to fill in.

SERIOUSLY! How fun is THAT? A flamingo and a peacock and various swirly feathered friends. I cannot draw. I doodle and I color - but I can't draw. Apparently, my DOODLES can!

I can't stop...I am filling in all the blank pages of my art journals with these scribbles!

WASSIMA Art Deck catchin' up - {Week 36}

Oh I loved Aimee's prompt for this one! "Use a spring ad" to create your card. EASY. Just pick any page from the ANTHROPOLOGIE catalog and I will take one of each, please and thank you!(sorry for the crummy scan!)

Bring on SPRING! and SUNSHINE! and FRESH FLOWERS! and BRIGHT NEW COLORS! and CRISP WHITE LINENS!

(and um, yeah, that Spring Cleaning thing, too. Right. I will get on that. Soon.....)

SNOW DAY=ART DAY.

Or so I WISH! Seriously...I wish I were snowed in for a WEEK so I could play with my inks and paints and papers! (Sadly, today is only a two-hour delay...but I am not BUDGING until our roads are cleared.)

After drooling over her work in Somerset's Artful Blogging, I couldn't resist, and I treated myself to the DINA WAKLY ART JOURNALING 102 class.

And every spare minute has been about this:

Loading up my art journal pages with layers of textured gesso, acrylic paint and spray-on ink.

...And altering photos: (this is simply a B&W print, scratched with sandpaper. I need to get some photocopies (not inkjets!) to try some gel transfers and painted portraits. Oh me. oh my.

WASSIMA Art Deck Journal Prompt {Week 31}

Sorry I am still BEHIND on this! Week 31 was JANUARY 18! WHA? Where did the month GO? I am not done with my LIST OF STUFF TO DO yet!

OK..enough moanin' about. Gotta just DO IT. I know, I know.

So here is the prompt for Week 31: "What 3 words would you like people to use to describe you?"

This was a question I was given in a "personality quiz" at a job I had many moons ago... and it has always stuck with me. I think my answer at the time was "fun, smart, pretty" (don't judge! I was young!)

Fast forward 20-some years, and my answer today is not much different. I'm going with "fun, funny, artist." How about you?

(Pretty Please post links to your cards in comments here so we can see them!)

SNOW DAY!

YIPPIEEE!! Best thing ever? SNOW DAYS off work. Second best thing ever? 2hr delay (which is what we have today!)

So what does that mean for me today? Time to catch up on the ole blog and look up the artists whose work I have BEEN DROOLING OVER in the (first!) issue of Art Journaling magazine (oh yeah, Somerset Studios can't stop themselves. How many publications can they crank out? Apparently the number is A GADRILLION. And I WANT THEM ALL.)

On Sunday night I was working on my FABRIC JOURNAL PAGES for the Inspired girls swap (thanks, Stella! lovin' this project!) and I really needed a new beading needle (I had MANGLED the one my BFF Tracy had given to me earlier this month! Those skinny buggers don't take too kindly to being shoved through two layers of fabric PLUS quilt batting. whatEVER.) So....I zoom out to Jo-Anne's with my 40% off coupon....grab the pack of needles (ok, and some sequin trims - 25 cents a pack! but that was IT. Don't NEED ANOTHER THING. [not in the budget either, remember?!]) But then....

...I saw it.

Just as I approached the checkout line. The MAGAZINE RACK....and the 10% off sign. OH MY. AND THERE IT WAS. THE FIRST ISSUE OF ART JOURNALING MAGAZINE.

With a BIRD ON THE COVER. (When did I start loving hand-drawn birds? Bluebirds, especially?)

AND PAM GARRISON's name in big letters on the cover!

So, yeah. I brought it home. And am IN LOVE AGAIN with art journaling....(and by association/blog-hopping from Pam Garrison's blog links....to all things shabby chic and pink and frilly and soft and romantic and hand-stitched and hand-sewn and hand lettered and why do I have to go to WORK?)

Which means I now HAVE TO HAVE COPIC markers (because that's what Pam uses sometimes and clearly THAT is why her lettering/drawing is so much more fabulous than mine. Right? I am just NOT USING THE RIGHT MARKERS!)

See how easy it is?

Stay tuned for more obsessions with art/sewing-projects-I-don't-have-time-to-do-but-will-start-anyway....next up is my "oh I am so doing that" stitching sampler idea from Rebecca Sower on that piece of linen I bought eons ago and accidentally turned "slightly pink" in the wash somehow (just bleached it this weekend and still pink. drat.) And oh yeah, my BFF Pam Garrison's version is not too shabby, either. And lookie at the free embroidery pattern she gave me! Is she the sweetest or WHAT?

that 2 hr delay went by FAST.

She's Back! 52Q Art Journal with Emily Falconbridge!

Weee! That's right. Emily Falconbridge is back to the weekly art journal project this year, and I am ALL IN!

In 2007, it was the "Deck of Me" using a deck of playing cards as the base. This year Emily is using shipping tags -- which I LOVE.....but.....

.....in keeping with my USE IT UP, WEAR IT OUT, REDUCE/REUSE/RECYCLE/REPURPOSE plan...I decided to use this little batch of pages I had created last year (thinking I would make a mini art journal to tuck into my purse.)

But that didn't happen and they have just been sitting in one of my piles.

I had already coated some with a layer of GESSO. I had even tried to bind them into a little accordian book using self-stick index tabs and book binding thread, but it didn't work the way I envisioned, and yet I still couldn't part with them! (PACKRAT!)

So....I took them out last weekend and started playing around with them again. I counted out about 20 pages already prepped (Gesso'd) and I easily made up the difference (to get to 52 pages) with a quick paging-through of a few magazines on hand. (With such a HUGE amount of free SUBSTRATES (yep, still love that word, Inspired Peeps!) to chose from, you can afford to be selective and only use the ones with a pretty font (the new Creating Keepsakes ones) or wording (Somerset Studio, OPRAH) or border (MEs Home Companion) or photo (Vanity Fair, Martha Stewart Living) that you like. Or just GESSO over the whole thing. Or add patterned paper or fabric scraps. You get the idea!)

And I like it! I gave up on the crazy binding I had attempted and made a simple template for punching two holes in each card --two binder rings holds it all together.And I love, love, love the cardboard/kraft paper look of the Amy Butler scrapbooking supplies packaging - so I used that from one of her sets of fabric tags for the mini-spine (built-in jute loop for a hanger! wee!). And those typewriter key letter stickers on the cover? From my archives! Bet they are more than 10 years old. In love with all things TYPEWRITER again.

Inside front cover: (notice one coat of Gesso doesn't completely cover the text. But I am ok with that.)

QUESTION #1 was "What Do I Wish for This Year to Bring" (I am writing the question on the front, and my answer on the back.)

{Note: the MULTIPLE POSTS today are brought to you by Eagles and Steelers football games (occupying DH all day!) Here's hoping for an EAGLES/STEELERS SUPERBOWL!}

Play Day!

Well...so much for the mountain of laundry I had planned to tackle yesterday after my mid-morning appointment. (I did one measly load! Shameful!) I just couldn't PUT THE PENCILS DOWN! Kal Barteski.....can I say again how INSPIRED I am because of you?

So Nik...as you requested...here are some photos of the ART JOURNAL I started in Stephanie McAtee's class at Inspired. Filled it in with the scraps left over from the textured papers I used for the 8x8 page swap (thanks, again, Justy for doing such a great job pulling that together!)....and when Rob got home from work I sat and doodled while we chatted and watched a few shows we DVRd this week.




ALSO - thanks to JILLIENE for the great idea to add the 8x8 pages to the INSPIRED workbook! Now I just need to add the photos and journaling....here are a few shots of some of my favorite pages from the swap. (And yes...I punched each hole in each page individually--with help from DH on the really THICK STUFF.....then remembered I have a CROP-A-DILE NOW! duh!)

My hands are all inked up again. And that makes me grin. : )

And last but not least.....thanks, Aimee for the beautiful PAGE YOU PUT TOGETHER OF US!! It's in the BOOK already and now I just need to get the rest of our photos in there! I love you BFF!