The Documented Life Inner Cover

One of the art journal groups that I will be working with in 2015 is The Documented Life Project (DLP). I'm not going to do my cover now, but I did the inside cover. I put down gesso mixed with a bit of pink acrylic, then I added Gelatos in pink, purple, and two blues. Using stencils, I erased some of the Gelatos with a baby wipe. I had a brown paper bag from Hallmark with just the right words, so I cut then out with a deckle scissors and glued on.  I added some washi tape down the side and finished with a coating of Grumbacher Gloss Medium & Varnish. Then, I called Hallmark because I was worried a bit about copyright issues before I posted this. I got a very clear NO, so I can't post the finished page. (I used the program Paint to "erase" the words on the cover and added some bubbles. Looks like a camel on the top LOL! It actually is a great page in person even though it looks a bit silly here.

I Am a Round Thinker - Journal 52

I am a round thinker who sometimes rolls off the table.

This is the last week of Journal 52 and the prompt is "Circles". I so enjoyed doing all the challenges this year; however, I won't be doing it next year. My goal is to always grow and learn, so you will find me following and participating in different groups next year. So, next week, be prepared to be surprised!

I started with an acrylic pink background, added gesso then different color Gelatos. Placed all of my round stencils over and "erased" the Gelatos with a baby wipe leaving behind all those yummy circles. Added some black acrylic circles and collaged with some cut outs of my Zendallas that I had shrunk, recolored, printed and cut out. Glued and sealed with matte gel medium.

Happy New Year to you all, and keep leaving those comments as they do motivate me more than you'll know!

Entered:
Art Journal Journey

The Simple Song Chased My Blues Away

Journal 52, week 51 had a prompt "Sing a Song". I coverd white cardstock with a sheet of music, sprayed Dylusions in lots of colors. Added some gesso here and there, and added stamps of a keyboard, sheet music, and notes. Then I added the white bird with Hero Arts white ink, some white dots with a stencil and white acrylic paint, the black bird with black acrylic, words and white gel pen highlights.

It's Never Too Late

Mahe Zehra with Altered Upcycling, can be found on Facebook. She has amazing collections. Some are free and some that you can purchase at Amazon. The Paper Doll Bonanza has simple templates for paper dolls and the most current, The Journal Kit, is where I got the sentiment. I simply printed it out, cut it with deckle scissors (love these) and taped it down with Washi tape. The background on the right is acrylic paints, gesso, acrylic daubers, a paper napkin with flowers and stamps in white, black, brown and gray. The left page has an old napkin that I have used to soak up excess inks in other projects (waste not). The paper doll was done with Copics (flesh and hair) and Spectrum Noir (dress) colored pencils blended with gamsol. I outlined the right/bottom side with water soluble black pencil.

Entered:
Paint Party Friday

Sparkle and Shine Even When the Lights Go Down

This week's prompt at Journal 52 for week 50 is "Sparkle and Shine." I don't know about you, but I find trying to catch sparkle with a camera or scanner almost next to impossible. Is there a trick someone could share? Anyway, the background is a Balzer Design stencil called Mini Aboriginal that I just love. I put it over black cardstock and sprayed with Dylusions. Then I added some shiny gold flower cut-outs, and went to town with shiny gel pens and glitter glue. I really wish you could read, written in sparkly gold, "Sparkle and Shine Even When the Lights Go Down." Yes, we must all remember that we should sparkle for ourselves too :)

Chicken Doodle Soup - Journal 52

Journal 52, Week 49's prompt was "Doodle."Asking a Certified Zentangle Teacher to doodle, well, difficult assignment. I tried, but tangles just kept jumping on to my paper. I would call this ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art) and that will have to do. For some reason I woke up in the middle of the night with the "Chicken Doodle Soup" and couldn't go back to sleep LOL! So, here it is:

Plain cardstock, black Sharpie, Pitt big brush pens, and Prisma colored pencils.

Entered:
Paint Party Friday
Artistic Inspirations

Keep warm, Ms Snowman!

Keep warm! That's what people used to say when I lived in the land of snow. Thankfully, I live in sunny Arizona now so I need not worry about snow. Although, if I want to play in it, it's only a couple of house to get right to it!
Build a Snowman, Journal 52, week 48: I started with a blue and white acrylic background on tagboard. Heavy bodied white acrylic was added through a star stencil and Hero Arts white ink was tapped on with a snow stamp. The snowman was made with circles that I cut with a die cut and then run through an embossing folder. I added Stickles for the eyes, nose and mouth. The arms are toothpicks and the hat was cut from a magazine. I crochet her a scarf to keep her extra warm :) The head is raised with a foam circle. The sentiment is stick on letters in white, and the snow is shredded cotton balls.

Entered:
Altered Eclectics
Artistic Inspirations

Winter sparkles at Christmas

I just posted this fun page over at my Tangle Street Colorway blog since I am on the Design Team for The Outlawz. The group I am part of  has an "anything goes" with a twist. So, tags, art journal pages, boxes, etc. are all welcome. But, since this is an art journal page, I thought I'd post it here too.
I used a blue acrylic background. The snowman is a napkin added with gel medium, the village is a stamp. I embossed snow and snowflakes and pulled out gel pens to brighten Santa and to add Christmas cheer to the village. (Some of you may know that I recently used this napkin for another journal page.)

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Try it on Tuesday
Artistic Inspirations

Alice in Wonderland Wisdom

Wise words. That's this week's prompt for Journal 52, week 47. Alice in Wonderland has always been a favorite of mine and there is a lot of wisdom to be found. I know that life has a way of knocking us down and the people that win are those who keep moving forward.

I did a background of gesso and inks before changing over to collage. Alice is colored in Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I got a free download today from Altered Upcycling with tons of great Alice pictures to color or cut; perfect timing! I added some Aquarellable Stabilo pencil, white Signo gel pen, and Pitt pens for highlights and shadows.

Journal 52, Week 46 Napkins ***Let It Snow***

Let It Snow. Do you remember snow days! They were the best ever! Remember sitting around the radio waiting to hear your school listed as closed! When it was, there was a huge whoop as we ran to get on all our snow clothes and go, where else, but up to the school yard to meet all our friends for some sledding. Some of us would sled down the big hills right into traffic. Fortunately, drivers expected it and none were ever hurt. (Except if our parents caught us, as this was strictly forbidden!) I, of course, never did this, but my brother did. I never told because he was older and I was always threatened with death! HAHA! Wonderful memories (except for the shoveling part), but I'm glad to live where we don't have any of that white stuff anymore. I am lucky that I can just drive a couple of hours and be right in it and then go back home and leave the shoveling to someone else!

Journal 52 Week 46

Blue acrylic mixed with Mod Podge for background. Molding paste through my new Pointed Star stencil from Jenni Bowling. Napkin below, Gel pens, embossing snow powder on bottom and embossing glitter black with letters. Snowman white is gesso and a few real buttons added for more texture. Finally, a quick spritz with Perfect Pearls.

Napkin Used

How You Loved Your Polka Dots

Journal 52, Week 45, is Thinking of You. I thought about this one way longer than most. I kept thinking about my mom, who passed away about 10 years ago. For some reason, her crazy love of polka dots kept going through my mind. She even wore shoes with polka dots! So, that's what I went with.

I took a piece of heavy dark blue paper and added some circles I had cut from yellow cardstock, painted with Distress Paints, and added circles with acrylics and a stencil. Then I added the smaller yellow circles for the sentiment with some Stickles dots. And, finally, I took a tiny cap and stamped with Hero Arts white ink. Mom would have loved this one!

Week 44 of Jounal 52 - Skyline

Skyline is the prompt for this week's Journal 52. I found myself a bit stressed this week with my presentation for The AZ Art Teachers' Conference (Mindfulness through Zentangle) coming up on Friday, my first post as part of the Design Team over at The Outlawz Twisted Thursday, and an illness in the family, so I really needed to go outside, and breathe!

I finally got a few of the Pan Pastels and was just itching to use them. First I covered my tagboard with some gesso so the pastels would have something to grip on to. I followed with a yellow acrylic but it didn't cover the previous printing on the paper so I went over it again with a darker purple. I tried the pastels, but the paper was too dark so I then sprayed some cream acrylic over that leaving a splotchy background to work on. Then I went in with the pastels using a piece of paper cut in wave shapes to push the pastels off on to the piece. I used green, peach, lavender, and white. I added some Pitt pens for the cactus and words, and just a touch of gel pens for the flowers, and some white gel pen accents.

Love, As Simple As a Bird's Song - Journal 52 Week 43

Journal 52, Week 43 = Stencil It!

How I love playing with stencils! I started with pink cardstock. I put a large piece of needlepoint plastic over the whole piece and sprayed with purple Dylusion Sprays. Then, I added the heart on top and criss-cross stencils and used my Copic air brush with a dark red over. Then, I used the bird and smaller heart stencils and dabbed with gesso. Small letter stencils dabbed with black acrylic, LOVE outlined from letter stencils and colored with Pitt pens. Bird is outlined with water soluble pencil, and a few music notes stamped with black and white. Just a touch of white gel pen for accents on the letters.

Sentiment: Love, as simple as a bird's song.

Hoping All Your Wishes Come True

Journal 52, Week 42 , prompt "Magic".

I had a sheet of glittery foam that I had just picked up in a package from the dollar store today. I glued it to tagboard, used Distress Paint in Picket Fence to make the swirl, used some glitter glues for stars, added a chopstick and a paper star on foam to raise it to the level of the stick, cut out letters in white, and added a few star embellishments. Last minute, added a bit of Wink of Stella to the star that had been sprayed with a yellow Copic marker and outlined with yellow glitter glue. The chop stick was also covered with glitter glue.

Mosaic Inspired Journal 52

Journal 52, Week 41, Mosaic Inspired

Can you even tell it is a pumpkin? I think they look evil at times with their cavernous mouths and wicked eyes.
Black tagboard, ModPodge, paint store chips cut down, left-over scraps of paper, gel pen in green, white gel pen by Signo.

Okay, I couldn't stand it and had to do another. I like this one better. Broken, shattered, yet whole and beautiful! Collage, black pen and Signo uniball white pen.

If I Leave, You'll Never Find Me

Susi from Art Journal Journey stopped by and suggested I take a look at their journal challenge, Deep in the Forest. So, I did and I was motivated. So motivated that I couldn't sleep last night (ever happen to you?) while I imagined how I would drip paint for the trees over a huge white moon. And, when I started this double page spread, all that went out the window (ever happen to you?). As I was waiting for the trees to dry I spied my new little zombies from Sugar Pea designs and knew I needed them to be playing in the forest. Acrylics were rolled in blue for the background and covered with a green leave stencil. Trees were painted with several browns. Small white dots with Hero Arts ink and punchinella, green acrylic with textured foam, big white and black with bubble wrap and acrylic. I used my Hero Arts White ink for the zombies. and the lines on corrugated cardboard. I love that ink pad! I masked off the tree with painter's tape to make the little girl hide behind the tree and added a Copic colored owl and mushrooms from stamps.

If I Leave, You'll Never Find Me

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Altered Eclectics

Journal 52, Week 40 - Experiment!

This week, 40, for Journal 52, the prompt was "Experiment!"

I fought doing this one, because I knew it was time to pull out my sewing machine. I have never added sewing to my journal pages and I don't like sewing so this has been a constant nagging in my little creative brain. I also just finished the laundry and had another one of those dryer sheets. So, I grabbed a piece of cardstock, sprayed it and the dryer sheet with Dylusions, sopped some up with deli paper, and dunked a tag on the deli paper (I don't like to waste any color.). Then I propped each of them up and used an eye dropper to drop alcohol inks and let the colors run. After everything was dry, I rolled up the dryer sheet and sewed it to the card. It reminded me of a creature escaping into the sky so I went with "Soar" which I stamped with my new white Hero Arts Pigment Ink in white. WOW! I love this white. I added some of my own stamps in white and blue and a few little glittery stars and decided to stop. Sometimes I think I cover too much and lose what I love about a piece, and

I like this one just the way it is!

Dylusions Sprays

Alcohol Drips

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Thanks for stopping by. Your comments are most appreciated :)

Ball Point Pen Coloring

I just read about the technique of using ball point pens and a water brush with alcohol to push it around. (Jennifer Dove Just4FunCrafts) So, off to the store to purchase some ball point pens in colors. I used a stamp from Stampendous called Cling Bowl Bouquet, and some shiny white paper. This was a lot of fun and very different than working with my Copics. I grabbed some leftover pieces of paper and used strips to make a background on a yellow acrylic colored page of my journal. Took some leftover leaves from this morning's card making venture and added some white pencil veins. Used the negative from a die cut of "hello" and colored through it with Distress Inks in Mowed Lawn. Then, I added a hummingbird stamp that I also colored with the pens and alcohol.

This was done for Journal Workshops, "Something I have Never Done"

Journal 52, Week 39. In the City

Week 39, Journal 52, with a prompt of "In the City".

There's a depressing song by the Eagle's called "In the City". Find the lyrics and see that I just added some hope to it.

Journal 52 Rhyme Time, and Three More Journal Pages

Journal 52, Week 38, Rhyme Time.

She used her mind

Was not unkind

And so she shined

I used my Gelli Plate for the background with red, yellow and turquoise acrylics, added some mor acrylics through stencils, and played with pens. Can you see the faint image of a girl right in the center? I colored her with pens and then "erased" using a baby wipe so she would be barely visible.



 Apples from this week's food ad, Silk's Acrylic Glaze and some stamping.

One Can Dream

 This image came from a class I am taking on Copics (sorry, taking so many that I can't remember where it came from) and accidentally printed it on copy paper instead of the heavier paper that I use for Copics. WASTE NOT: Used colored pencils and fussy cut her, played with my Gellatos and stamps,  and then added more embellishments for a journal page.
Challenge Entered: Artistic Inspirations



 I had this bird traced from somewhere in one of my journals, I used watercolors for him and added some acrylic blots and lines.

Set Your Thoughts Free

Journal 52, Week 37, Newspaper. You Falled Me Down and Class

For this week (37) Journal 52, the prompt was "Newspaper". I had this old paper in my stash from January 2013 and ripped it up. Then I hunted for important "News". My favorite is my horoscope which says "Reading your own thoughts may help you to understand yourself better. Try to express yourself in writing rather than speaking. Something important may click." Ya think?????
A little gesso, a little acrylic, a few stamps, and a red/black/white pen.

This page has special meaning to me. The words were spoken by my then three year old when his dad pushed the skateboard that our son was sitting on down the driveway eliciting the angry words from and unhurt, but emotionally injured, child.
Acrylics, stamps, silk leaves, colored pencil. Orange/black/green pens.

And, finally, gesso, Montana pens, collaged papers, stamps, bingo dauber. Class, I'd rather take it than have it!

Jormall 52 - Week 36 Texture

R U Ready to Face the World?

I just love being pushed to do things I hadn't thought of doing. I was watching a video with a collage background and so when I read this week's Journal 52 prompt of "Texture", I knew that's where I would start. I grabbed a piece of pre-painted, in acrylic pinks, tagboard and started layeringtorn piecesfrom magazine pictures and other repped papers. then I added some molding paste texture of cut out leaves. Next came out the gellatos that were used on the face, hair and clothes. Also added gellatos randomly over the rest of the page. Outlined the magazine "R" and added the rest of the words. Outlines and added details with Pitt pens (including white), added some Washi tape to the front of her top, added a button and a found feather.

Another Good Day Gelli Printing, Inktense Watercoloring and More

I got a new stamp this weekend by Julie Nutting for Prima called Keira. I stamped her on cardstock and made a mask. First, I used the leftover cardstock that the image was used for and taped that down to my journal page. I put down a dot mask and sprayed with green. I removed that and taped, with easy remove double sided tape, the real mask. Then I added acrylic paints over a variety of stamps and left over cut outs from previous projects. A nice spray of yellow and orange on top of that. Then, I removed the mask and stamped the image down. I grabbed some Inktense blocks to color the girl and discovered that Inktense can be used like watercolors by using a waterbrush directly on the sticks! Did everybody but me know that???? Goodness she looked happy, and so was I, so "another good day"!

On to some Gelli printing. I LOVE the new small sized one. I can print on file cards and have perfect pieces to cut for my cardmaking, or layer them for a different background to an art journal page!

 

And, finally, some fun with molding paste and a stencil with something I learned from a Carolyn Dube video. It is a pay for video, very short, but with some fun techniques that I don't feel right sharing, but I just wanted to show my page, ready for more!

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave me a comment if you have the time to do so!

Journal 52 - Week 35 - Making Time

Journal 52, Week 35 Prompt: Making Time. Time? Where does it go? Why isn't there enough? How do you make it. Oh, if only we could buy some extra :) I was thinking "Steampunk" but I didn't get enough darkness into it. I always worry that the words won't work if I go too dark.

I slathered down some lumpy gesso, added some molding paste, put acrylic on my clock stamps and stamped into the wet mess. Then I added the cutouts, extra stamping, letters, a bit of gel pen and some Stabillo black pencil with water.

Journal 52, Week 35, Alphabetical

Alphabetical, that was the word for week 35

on Journal 52. This one really had me stumped for a bit. A page full of letters just didn't move me. Then I thought, since alphabetical means listing from A to Z that would be a start. I couldn't fit all words from A to Z so I started think of earth moving quotes. Humm, none, so I made up my own. Please, for your own sanity, embrace "zany"!

No exciting new technique, just a lot of acrylic paint slopping and stenciling on an old page that I had never done anything with. I did use a UniPosca paint marker for the words and a Fabrico cool gray for the shadows.

Gratitude from Journal 52

Gratitude. That's the prompt for this week's Journal 52 page. What a broad word. Aren't we all grateful for so many things. I could make a list as long as yours, but I though more about it and realized that I am most grateful for the opportunity to enjoy each new day for the possibilities it holds.

Splattered Distress Inks in blue and red followed by spray acrylic in cream on top. Bottom is green spray Distress Ink with stamped design on top. Yellow acrylic paint for sun and rays. Pitt pen accents, Crayola glitter tube in yellow, and black Gelli Roll for writing.

Thanks for stopping by. I love comments (hint, hint) LOL!

Chocolate Chip Cookies Anyone? Journal 52, Week 32

Journal 52, Week 32 - Favorite Foods

Well, that would have to be chocolate chip cookies for me. Did anyone ever offer you A cookie? I mean, like ONE cookie? That's crazy. Give me the whole #%&$^ plate of 'um!!!! Betcha can't eat just one:

Delta Ceramcoat Acyrlic in turquoise over cardstock spread thickly with a credit card. Newspaper circles sprayed with red and green (to make brown, you think?) Collage words and cookies (can you believe that I picked chocolate chip cookies BEFORE I found this picture in a food magazine?). Mod Podge for gluing and for going over the whole thing. Then, I added Stabillo Aquarellable pencil for shadows (love these pencils you can draw and use water to move about), and Memento Rich Cocoa through TSC Designs stencil. Yummy, I say, and off to make a WHOLE batch for myself. Well, maybe I'll share a couple :)

Journal 52, Week 31 Friendship

I understand that Sunday is National Friendship Day, so the  Journal 52 prompt this week was "Friendship." What would we do without our friends? I feel so happy when I think of all the new friends that I have made over the Internet. I wish I could meet each one in person someday. I also know the joy of having one very good friend who has stood by my through thick and thin. Even when her life was in danger, she was there. This is for her for we truly are two pieces of the same puzzle!

I tore up old papers, and glued them on tagboard, did some spray ink, added some heavy white acrylic through the drywall tape, stamped on cardstock, pasted down and outlined with gray marker. Heart is embossed from a stamp. Cut out a Tim Holtz die with a thin piece of clear acrylic and stamped through with a dark blue on the top left.

Journal 52, Week 30, Positive Words and a Waste Not

Journal 52, week 30, Positive Words. It took me a bit more time to think of words that really meant something to me. I came up with two that kind of go together. Persevere and Patience. Now, if you know me, you realize what little patience I used to have. With hard work, I've gotten a bit better. As far as persevere, I am a close friend. Again, if you know me, you will know there has been a lot of opportunity for me to remember that word. I'm a firm believer that anytime life knocks you down, as long as you get up you've won. One foot in front of the other, one day at a time. And, with patience, "this too shall pass!"

I played with a lot of things on this one. I really wanted to use some of my Silks Acrylic Glaze. Don't you just love those bright background colors? I had several stencils and scraps (I throw cut out scraps into my spray paint box so they are handy.) that I used with some acrylic paint and some sprays. I used a bit of black chalkboard paint through drywall paint for the tiny black dots. This page makes me very happy.

Waste Not Cut-outs

Journal 52 is Fashion and Make your own Stencils, and a Gel Pen Notice

Journal 52, Week 29: Fashion. I have NEVER been into fashion. I love my jeans and t-shirts so much that I told my boys "If you ever see me in colored pull up pants, it's time to have me put in a home!" So yesterday, while I was browsing in Kohl's, what do I see? Pull up jeans!!!! Maybe today's younger people don't associate those with the elderly?

I made some of my own stencils using some transparency sheets and my new heat melting tool like you use for wood burning. I used the positive shape and taped her down to some tagboard. Then, I got out my spray box and randomly sprayed some Dylusions in yellow and orange. Rolled some paper towels over and then added a stencil of leaves and flowers that I picked up at Home Depot by the painting supplies for a whole lot less than stencils that are designed for artwork. 

I used a stamp for the shirt, colored the jeans, added some stenciled hearts with white acrylic. Blue color dots in acrylic. Words with Koi coloring brush pens and then just a bit of colored pencil embellishments.



The stencils were made by using a light box over magazine pictures and tracing on to the transparency.  Then the heat pencil was used to "cut" the stencil over a 12x12 tile that I use for any heat work. It really is fun and not difficult at all. Try playing with the tool before you do your real stencil so you can feel just how hard to push and pull; and, be careful not to burn yourself :)

This were the first pages that I used the stencils on.

Finally, if you live near a Costco and need some gel pens, I found this tub of 100 pens for only $20.00. You can go to Amazon and see them for almost double the cost. I did a sample on a simple owl so you could see the different blues as an example. Some skip a bit but not enough that I feel it is a problem. 100! WooHoo!