Day 7-GYAO

What a gorgeous day! Not too hot, not too cold, it was hard not to spend the entire day outside (the mosquitoes convinced me that that wasn't really good idea though!).

This is where I like to read and the mosquitoes like to feed. A citronella candle has made life a bit easier. . my summer read is going awfully fast - good thing I have 4 more waiting!

But I did get some art done today despite the nice weather. I have been reading this book:

 and it is full of little projects, so I decided to try the first one, creating several prepared canvases at a time.

Steps 1, 2 and 3 all done. I need some paint that I don't have, I will pick it up tomorrow when I'm downtown, and then see what comes next!

Day 6-GYAO

Very busy day, was out most of the day. But I did do a little bit of fiddling on my last journal page:

That's it for today! Hopefully I will have more time tomorrow.

Day 5-GYAO

I didn't have a lot of time today, had to do some housework, and dentist, go to Zumba, and read my book about Maid Marion and Robin Hood called Lady of the Forest by Jennifer Roberson. So far its great summer reading, and VERY thick!

So I worked on my journal page:

Not quite done yet, a few little things to add here and there, but mostly done. It is not one of my favorite pages!

I also took apart another journal I started the other day, and am turning it into a Smash Journal - not that I've ever made one before! We'll see how it turns out. That's it for today!

Day 4

Spent most of my afternoon playing! I've been watching GulfSprite videos lately, she's been very inspiring (everyone I find seems to be!), and I love how she paints her faces right onto scrapbook paper. Now I am no where near as good as she is, but watching her paint, I was thinking, well, maybe something I could try. So I found a photo of CJ that I had posterized, and I edited it a bit more, then printed it out, and cut around it like a stencil. That's how I got the basic shape of her face. Then I just did what I remembered Chris doing in her videos (though not near as well!) and painted away. Certainly not as wonderful as Chris's are, but not too bad for a first try!

 It's not supposed to look like CJ, I just got the general shapes and placement of parts from the photo. I will probably use the same "stencil" for the next one too.

Here it is in my journal, but the page isn't finished yet. Will work on it some more tomorrow. It doesn't look TOO bad, does it? Looks like a face, anyway! You can see my picture peeking out over top - I made a "stencil" of me too! Maybe a self-portrait will be next!

Day 3

Spent just about all day in my little stamping room today, mostly working on my journal page. I also cleaned up my space because 2 stencils I made yesterday disappeared. Very annoying!! I finally found them when I was almost all cleaned up. Then I made a long overdue 4X4 for a swap. I also worked on a Tutorial for Altered Pages, so you'll have to go here in a few days to see it. I made a tutorial on how to make an easy journal cover.

 Here are the two things I CAN show you:

 My journal page, CJ and JC dancing at the wedding in France. I love this page - so romantic! It's actually nicer in real life.

And this is the 4X4 for a Cirque Swap, long overdue. So now I'm caught up with my swaps, I think I may join a few challenges instead of swaps - they don't have to be mailed!

Day 2

It was a busy day today, not a lot of time for art, but I did a bit in the morning and a bit in the evening. I like to do a bit, then leave it, and come back to it. It gives me a fresh look at things.

I love this photo of CJ and JC dancing at the wedding in France. Beautiful! So I wanted to use it on my next journal page.

 Morning-just getting started!

Evening-a little bit more -we'll see what happens tomorrow! There are things about this page I'm not liking right now.

Day 1-July1-Get Your Art On!

Happy Canada Day !!!! I spent a nice quiet day inside and outside on my porch. BBQ steak and low-carb "Potato" salad (cauliflower!), and a neat shrimp appetizer I had at a restaurant a few weeks back. Lovely.

So I did get my art on today, but first let's catch up:

 My finished page from my last post. The left side turned into a Gratitude page for June. And I thought I'd do some fancy writing for a change on the right side.

This one I forgot to take a photo of the left side without the writing. I'm thinking of using these pages for CJ's Travel Journal, as they are using photos from her trip. This is a cat and one face from a fountain in France (I put the cat on top of the fountain). And, of course, CJ (not a real tattoo though!)

OK, here's today's art:

My VERY late Paris tag for a swap, I must get it out ASAP!

My next Journal Pages, this first one is horrible, then I made it worse by trying to do a transfer that failed miserably. . .

But I fixed it and now I love it! (as always!)

The window and roses are from CJ's trip to France. She loved the roses!

That's all for Day 1!

Get Your Art On!

Now that summer holidays are OFFICIALLY here, I can devote more time to ART! Traci Bunkers has a wonderful challenge called "30 Days of Get Your Art On" which I am joining. I am also adopting her rules, although one can use any rules they like:

• I’ll make art every day for 30 days and post what I have done.
• I don’t have to finish what ever I’m working on that day, I just have to work on something.
• I have to work for 30 minutes, but can work longer if time permits.
• It doesn’t matter what I do for the art making, as long as I work on art.
• I won’t feel guilty for taking the time to work on art and I won’t have to justify why I’m doing it.
• I don’t have to go into detail in my post about how I did anything or what tools, materials I used (unless I want to).

 Go to the button on my sidebar to be whisked away to Traci's website!!

So I guess I better go get busy!!! The 30 Days start TODAY!!!!!

DVD freebie!

Kathryn Wheel at Journaling For Fun is giving away 2 Journaling DVDs! I know I want them - how about you? Pop on over! I love Kathryn's style of journaling, especially her backgrounds!

Apologies

I apologize for not keeping up, something I hope to amend over the summer! My goal is to make more frequent posts with less writing.
I have some journal pages to share with you, it's all I have been able to do over the past month as I have been so busy during the day, and so darned exhausted at night. I have two swaps hanging over my head that were due last month that I haven't started yet. I'm hoping to get them done this weekend. Bad girl.

The exciting part about these journal pages is that my DD, CJC went to Europe with her boyfriend, JC, and had a wonderful time. I'm pulling some photos of hers to use on my journal pages, so I'm sure more of those will be popping up.


Here are my pages as of May 12, when CJ went off to France:

I hated this page when I started it. The colors were horrible. So I played with it and changed the colors, though some of the old colors are peeking through. Now I love it! Some new stamps from Wendy Vecchi are on this page too.

This one still needs some work, but these are 2 of CJ's photos. She takes "jump photos" wherever she goes, a bit of a trademark for her now, and on the right is a collage poster she saw in France.

That's it for now, short and sweet! Hopefully I will have time this weekend to work on these pages and my swaps.But summer break is coming. . .!

Spring is here -finally!!

We had the most wonderful week of Spring last week! Finally, no coat/sweater weather! Of course, we are making up for it with a week of rain starting today, but everything is so wonderfully green!

I finished my last journal, I am posting the last pages, and I have started my bigger journal, 8 X 10 I think. It will be odd working on such large pages again! Haven't done much else in the last month, except my Mother's Day card:

I used a tag from my new Graphics 45 Steampunk paper pad.

Here are my journal pages:

 My Traci Bunkers order came in!

If you look in my last post you can see these pages before they were journaled upon. My DD and her boyfriend are in France for a wedding, and will spend the next 3 weeks in France and Spain, so my first few journal pages of my new journal will probably be about their trip. Talk about living vicariously! LOL!


BTW, a journalist I am enjoying, especially since she makes so many videos, is Journal Artista aka Paula. She showed a wonderful technique of making corrugated cardboard which I LOVE, here are some ATCs I made using her technique:

These are all swapped in a Ranger ATC Swap, but I loved making them, so I'll probably make lots more! Go to Paula's blog to see how she does this!

One last thing, ALTERED PAGES has launched it's new website, and it's AWESOME!! Please go and see what they have in their new "store" - lots of new things beside their already wonderful collage sheets!

April!

Lovely April day, I'm recovering from a miserable Spring cold, so here I am at the computer instead of outside. Oh well, hopefully more of these days to come!

Here is a Stampscapes card I made for a swap on Stampscapes ll Yahoo Group, it was a "barnscapes" swap. I didn't have any barns, so I had to buy a few. I like this one! And I bought the scarecrow. I bought them at Angels Attic.

Last Sunday, I got to have an afternoon of stamping with my friend Marg,and I made these two tags, also for a swap, for my Art for the Creative Mind yahoo group. Marg made some bird tags too. We had a lot of fun!

 

Here are my latest journal pages, some are just background pages. I think it's neat to see how the page changes as it evolves! 

I am currently working on the angel page, so hopefully next week I will have these last 3 pages finished and ready to show you.

I discovered an Art Journalist named Traci Bunkers - I love her techniques and ideas she uses in her journals! I, of course, immediately bought her book, and have started using a few ideas. Then I went to her Etsy shop and bought a couple of stencils and some stamps. They haven't arrived yet, but I'm sure I'll use them when they do! That funny scallopy stamp at the bottom of the last journal page is an idea from her - it's one of those things you use when you paint your toenails to keep your toes apart! She also does little videos which I love watching. So I don't know how my pages will change with this new influence, but I find I'm like a Borg - I just keep assimilating every Art Journalist I come across that I like- watch out!! Resistance is futile!