Elephants Never Forget

Howdy. I'm here with some art to show you. Monday I was feeling a bit under the weather and spent a big chunk of my day playing in my journal. Somehow having fun makes you feel a lot better. Especially when you aren't feeling up to cleaning the shower or gardening or vacuuming out your car or other things which some folks  might think of as productive. 

Actually sometimes my Puritanical New England self gets on my own case and tries to convince me that I should be doing something more productive than just playing. 

I'm getting MUCH better at controlling that part of myself, but I'm not completely beyond those thoughts yet.

Only Monday I didn't have an ounce of Puritanical New England self in me.

So  I had a productive day not only having fun but trying some new materials and some new techniques.

 So the top photo of my dreamer page is not complete but  the colors photographed better than my finished page did.

I made the background by lightly spraying water on my paper and then dropping some Distress Reinker inks onto that paper. I used a paper towel to blot. I used that same damp paper towel to color the elephant once I stamped it. It was great because I could  use some markers to color the blanket. The base color of the elephant wasn't too dark to color over. Then

I stamped and stamped and stamped.

I put my page aside at this point and went out to get the mail.

The sun was just at the right angle and while walking up my gravel driveway I saw the glint of mica chips. That's what my page needed. So I picked up a few chips, brought them in, did a bit of crumbling and peeling and added some mica to my page background.

You can see some of those chips very clearly in the snapshot. The color is a little more pink than it really is, but ignore that.

So I will try to remember to tell my Puritanical New England self (next time she acts up) that my play day was very productive.  

Do you ever have to argue with yourself when you're playing and making some art?

Thanks for visiting me.

Lucky Ticket

I created this background first by stamping an alphabet stamp from Stampers Anonymous in black, and then using blue, purple and red paints with a stencil. Finally I took an old circular tape roll, painted it white and stamped that.

See this giant flower centerpiece? I was at one of those mark down stores, the kind that sells whatever overstocks and truck load buyouts they can get. I found packs of KC & Co. die cuts and doily cut paper for $1.99 a pack. Love when I stumble across a bargain like that.

Thought it would really work on this page, a pop of brightness to make the page have some color. I outlined the flower with a white pen, and then added my journaling.

Today I am off to visit my mom. She's a couple of hours away so it'll be a bit of driving to get there and home tonight, but will (I hope) be a good visit. Won't have my dog to keep me company in the car :(  ; he loved road trips like me, but I guess I can sing loudly or something to amuse myself.

Thanks for visiting.

Painted Journal Page

Playing with all kinds of paint and stamp layering here.

Not sure I like the big side tag, a little too big I think, and covers up my background, but I wanted a different way to put in my words. So there it is.

Guess its not the most exciting journal background I ever made. You never know when you start where your page might take you. It what makes this habit so addicting.

Otherwise, its not very exciting. Work. Graduation on Saturday and it is suppose to POUR buckets.

1-2 inches of rain-...I am trying to squeeze in both some art time and some exercise time in today and tomorrow.

That's all for today.

Hope you make some creative time for yourself

and thanks for taking a few minutes of your day to stop here.

Cherish the Sun

Here's another journal page about the sun.  This time its more about not seeing the sun.

I used lots of spray inks and stencils  and a little bit of bright yellow paint. I also used gold Stickles on my hand drawn letters.

I've also been having Sookie Stackhouse and Eric the vampire withdrawals. Charlaine Harris wrote the whole book series that  the True Blood tv shows are based on. The new book always came out around the first of May, but last year was the last book in the series. Oh no!  I am missing having another adventure with those beloved characters this spring. And this year is the last year for the HBO True Blood series too. Wonder what that will end like? New series starts in June, but if you haven't seen the series or read the books, they aren't all much alike once you get much past the first book.

Charlaine Harris started a new trilogy though, and book 1 was released this past week, so I am reading that.

Kind of nice to read something in the same writing style, even though the setting and characters are different.  Will let you know what I think once I get through the book, but for now, am liking it.

So this week promises to be a big week.  More Bruins playing the Montreal Canadiens in Stanley Cup playoffs. The black flies are thick outside right now but I am hoping maybe some wind so I can get in some gardening time-the wind will blow those nasty little buggers away. I have some plants to put into the ground-a couple of rose bushes, a peony and an azalea.  All thanks to some great prices at Costco. 

And the biggest news of the week is that Katie graduates from college this Saturday with a degree in Civil Engineering. What an accomplishment!

I was hoping this past weekend to do some studio cleaning, but between moving some of Katie's big things out of the dorm and Dave and I going to Costco and Bass Pro on Saturday, it didn't end up being much of a cleaning nor arting weekend. 

I was fun to spend time with my hubby and daughter though.

Oh well, one more thing on my week is that Dave is gone all week on business so I should have lots of evening time to work and play in my studio.

Anything big on your calendar this week?

Thanks for stopping by.

Fiesta

I didn't fiesta yesterday. It might have been cinco de mayo but it was the first day back after my vacation. You know how that is, first day back...yawn...having to get up and go to work when you still want to be home... but I made this page anyhow because it was a good opportunity to make something fun and spicy and use these new stamps I got from Paper Smooches. Other than the big number 5 which was a Sizzix die cut, and my freehand cut heart, the other die cuts and most of the words are from Paper Smooches. Here's the new stamps I used.

Love these saguaros. And Mr. Lizard too.

I also stamped the margarita which is from Paula Best.

So want to crack a big smile?

This video was up yesterday on Kristen Nichols Getting Stitched on the Farm blog. (Happy Dogs and a Cat) Kristen warned- be prepared to smile when you watch this-and man,  I LOVED it so much I had to link it to my blog too.

(Sorry to be such a copy cat!)

That's all for today.

Gracias for visiting and adios.

Some Creative Journal Endeavors

Yesterday I enjoyed several more hours of play time.
Isn't that what vacations are suppose to be all about?

Here's some result of playing in my art explorer journal. 

Remember this page I showed you the other day?

I was letting it simmer in the brain and decided it needed this:

Now I love it.

Those yellow stars are crazy but its what the page called for.

And this page I also showed you on Tuesday- I decided it was too vertical stripey.

So I added some Silks paint and it all melted together into something  I liked better.

Minus the glare.

And I love this background.

Loved it so much I couldn't cover it all up.

I like this staying home.

(This post is linked to http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/ and http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2014/05/art-journal-every-day-what-do-you-need-to-get-started.html)

Thanks for visiting.

Road Trip

Today I am taking a little road trip down to visit my mom in Massachusetts. Just for the day- its only a couple of hours each way. Harl is going with me for company, and he's a dog who loves to ride. Usually that means he'll fall asleep for most of the trip.

Yesterday I had some great studio time. I managed to play for 4 hours before this New England Puritanical work before play ethic kicked in. The work I did was getting out into the gardens so even though it was work it was enjoyable and something that isn't a chore to me.
I think I have managed to convince myself that I only have a week off so there is no sense working away the whole vacation. Putting relaxation and play as my priority will only make it feel more like time off when next Monday rolls around and I'm back to school.
So yesterday in the studio

mostly I worked on my explorer journal and fought the urge to make it more of a scrapbook/ journal, which most likely it will turn into one since I do love to keep a scrapbook. I call them my scrap-journals because they are a mix of a scrapbook and journal page. Here's a couple of pages I made yesterday.

This page looks much better in person than it does here. Here it looks all like a bunch of pieces layered, but finished it doesn't look quite so much that way.  Funny how photographs do that sometimes and sometimes make pages look better than they are.

You can notice my style is kind of art journalistic,  messy, and not exactly the kind of pages a scrapbooking magazine would publish.
Like an art journal might be. I love to play with backgrounds. Maybe a bit too much vertical on my pea-soup page.
Oh well.
You might also notice my photo colors are really off-not sure what the issue is with my printer but think it needs to head off into retirement and be replaced.
Here's a few other rather routine and not too exciting photos from yesterday.

 A sign on my walk and below, my daffodils are just waiting for some warm sunny days to pop open and bloom.

Harl (my dog)  going up to the back door after out walk.  My cat Leo strolls down to greet us. I love it. A greeter cat!

Walking down out street.

A selfie on my walk. Still cool enough the scarf felt great on my neck.

Look, my rhubarb is coming up.

My pea soup was delicious!

Until next post- au revoir.

Starting My Summer Journal

Started my Explorer Journal the other day.

Very happy with my title page. I watercolored the background and then I made my clouds with gobs of white acrylic paint and some Martha Stewart sparkle medium. I purposefully made the tops of the clouds heavier than the bottoms, and I think that gives them so great depth and realism. I cut out the letters of my explorer word after drawing them out on some paper (October Afternoon) and stamped the Wicked Good and the Journey words. I also stamped the little airplanes (Hero Arts).

I also made a tag for this journal too. The background is made with paint, Dylusions spray ink,inked dots, painted dots, Sharpie doodling and some oil pastels. The gorilla was first cut out from a 7Gypsies tag, then colored, and glued onto a black circle I doodled. Then I doodled the frame around him. Finally I used some Glossy Accent to make the gorilla into more of a popped up, epoxied style embellishment. 

Here's the back of the tage. I used another 7Gypsies image cut out of the tag it came on. I also colored it and used Glossy Accents on the eyes to make them pop.

This face is how I felt all week with those crazy kids at school.

HA!

Planning on time in the studio today. Have a lot of projects I want to work on, including more of this journal. My house desperately needs some picking up and cleaning too, but since I'm off all week I have plenty of time to that.

Yesterday was the first day of my vacation. I ended up going to Costco and spending way too much cash! Was a lot of fun though, especially since I got to go with my daughter. Plenty of time for some good girl talk! Plus we got some good stuff at Costco!

Until next post-

Adios!