My new Creations

During the last holiday season I wanted something specific for my dad and mother-inlaw. I went looking and did find a few things that I liked but nothing that really grabbed  me. Than my husband just said “why don’t you make it”? So I did. I wanted something so cool that when the kids went to grandma or grandpa’s they would ask “where is the book”? Everyone would know what they were talking about. The books purpose is to sit and visit with Grandpa about his past and present like an interview with grandpa. I don’t want it shoved away and saved I want it to be shared and loved let the kids flip through the pages even if the pages feel brittle.  If anything rips or tears it either glue it back in or leave it loose it ads to the character kind of like an old treasure map or something. This book I am showing you for my nephews and sister-in-law to share with their very special grandpa/dad. I’m working on some more and hope to share more pictures with you soon.

Front cover

Just a few pages. I love the old men’s wear catalogs you can find in public domains to print.

I like to use the pages out of the books that I remove to make envelopes with.

Some collage fun.

I love the color contrast from the different book pages.

Just a little selection of the pages there are about 30 pages in ech book I do. A lot of time and love go into them. I really enjoy making them and hope to get some more out to loved ones.

2016 Word of the Year

I like the idea of picking a word instead of a New Years resolution. The word I have chosen for this year is PROGRESS. There are so many things you can do with your word of the year. I have bought an inexpensive journal from Hobby Lobby and plan on spending time writing in it daily about my daily progression. There are many aspects of my life that I would like to Progress on from my spiritual self, physical self and emotional self. That is why I chose the word there are soooo many things this word entails. Not sure how often I’ll post about it but I’ll try to everyonce in awhile. In the meantime choose your  word of the year and let me know what it is and your progress. I would love to hear your words.

I’ll add some drawings with colored pens and markers too these are just today’s beginnings.

The craziness of summer

Seems like this summer has been much more crazy than most. Our summer’s are always busy here at the fairgrounds and rightfully so we wouldn’t ask for anything different. We are trying to get our old house sold also in a different state and that has proven to be rough going back and forth. I think we are seeing a light at the end of that tunnel so I’m feeling hopeful.
The problem for me about busyness is I don’t like not being able to take me time. I know that sounds selfish but I really and truly believe it to be more about self preservation. There is definitely a point where me time can become selfish but all I ask is for a little creative space. You mom’s and dad’s know what I mean. When you have a project that keeps eating at you and eating at you and you think about it everyday but never have time to start.
Today during my lunch break I took a little me time. I haven’t worked on my art journal for awhile I decided to crack it open and see what I could do. I gesso’d some pages awhile back and used an acrylic stamp to imprint some images. Then I used my watercolor pencils to fill it in. I really love the look. This is just in background stage not sure what the pages will be used for but they are pretty to look at.

Here is an up close of one of the stamped images.

ICAD has started!

What is ICAD? It stands for Index Card A Day and is a 61 day challenge. There will be different prompts everyday that you can choose to use or not. I like the prompts. Here is the link if you are interested. http://daisyyellowart.com/vividlife/2015-icad-prompts-week-1

My daughter and I started yesterday (which was the first day of the challenge)

This one is my daughters. She does it all by herself and always thinks of really sweet quotes.

This one is mine. The prompt was Chevron and this weeks materials to use are pens, markers and doodling. This was all about being a kid again just scribbled with a sharpie and went over the top with black.

Link

I have been trying to get some inspiration this morning. I have found a fun monthly prompt >

I have found these pages to be a new twist on my art journaling. You can find them on pinterest by searching joirnaling prompts. I went with the “look up Memorial Day” prompt. I did just that and it brought me to Wikipedia the picture it brought up was Arlington Cemetery. That was all I needed as inspiration to do this page. I also love what the poppy represents so I wanted to include it as well. I hope you like it and please keep those who died fighting for our freedom in your thoughts this weekend. Making this page will help me remember the sacrifices made.

Index Card A Day Challenge.

I am looking forward to a fun new Challenge I came across a few weeks ago. On June 1st the Index Card a Day Challenge starts. http://daisyyellowart.com/icad/icad-faq.html there’s the link if you want to check it out for yourself. But in a nutshell, it is art on index cards there will be a new prompt everyday for 61 days. While we are patiently awaiting the challenge to start we have been given warm up prompts. This is prompt#8 imperfect circles. I used a paper sack,acrylics,and distress markers. Circles are so fun!

What’s your sign?

Lately I have been studying my zodiac sign/horoscope. I have really enjoyed it too. It is unreal how for the most part it really does nail people’s personalities. I could go on and on about what I have been reading but I will just show you my art journal page instead. I did not draw the scorpion I found it on the internet. I will source it as soon as I can.

This was a fun page. I challenge you to make a journal page of your sign but I want to see it!

Finally Finished

This zentangle started out as a fun and I thought easy project. I think it has taken me 2 months to finish. I started with a paper sack wadded it up and traced some of the creases. I think I’m going to use it for a journal cover or something I can keep forever after putting that much time into it..haha

New to Art Journaling…like me

I am a direction and instruction kind of person. I always follow a recipe or I don’t think it will turn out. Building furniture I follow the instructions. Art journaling has helped me step out if that box a bit.
I really love Dina Wakelys art work. She has a couple books “Courage” and “freedom” these are really good for beginners.

Last nights inspiration came from her book above. 

This is the page I wanted to try out on my own.

There are tons of layers on this little guy. I used watercolor, ink spray, stamped book pages,stamps and acrylic paints, whew. It didn’t take long and was so fun. It is a little hard to paint over all that after making it so pretty.

Sometimes it’s just the words.

A friend (Brooke Erickson) posted this quote on her Facebook page a week or so ago. I really Iike it for multiple reasons it can have so much meaning and just happened to help me a lot the day i read it. I knew when I seen it I had to make a page about it. The color scheme came to me really quick. I could have put more layers and such but I felt it looked good like this. I art journal to bring out my own creativity and try not to over think a page because it just isn’t fun if I do that 🙂