Thursday Art

 Hi everyone. 

I'm back today with some more assorted art starting with a tag for Michele's Back to School  challenge at Tag Tuesday. Today's tag is a little different as I took the view of a teacher looking at their students, rather than student looking at back to school.

I stamped the quote, die cut the apple, and stamped as well as fussy cut the little bookworm with the mortar board on their head.

I also have a journal page for Aimeslee's Anything Goes challenge at Art Journal Journey. 

     Back in 2017 (or so) I made a journal about the night sky. I should say I started that journal, but when it was put on the shelf, it wasn't quite finished. I decided to finish it this fall, and this is one of the new spreads I recently made.

     The left hand side of the background is a page I pulled out of a very old calendar I had (as you can see from the fringe at the edge of the image). I kept this calendar because it has fascinating very old style illustrated pages.  Since my journal has narrower pages than the calendar was, I cut the illustration.  Most of the page is on the left, and there's a little bit of it on the right. I stamped, colored and fussy cut the rocket and Saturn before adding them to my page.

     On the right hand side I added a strip of black polka dot paper (the darkness and stars) as well as a couple pieces of gold diamond trim. After staining up the remaining uncovered background I stamped this old quote that I had in my stash.

    We've been having such gorgeous weather this week I have been making a lot of effort to get out and enjoy it. Yesterday Mr. Pete and I took a lovely long walk. Maddie spent the day at the vet's getting a day long blood glucose curve done, and finally, for the first time since January when she went on insulin, her blood sugar was down to normal. ❤   

      Here's a few photos from my walk.

That's all for me today.  Hope you're having a great day. 

Weekend Art

 Hi everyone. Happy weekend. Our weekend looks like it could be some sun and some rain, so I think it might be a putter and poke around the house weekend. (And you never know what else. )❤

     Today I wanted to share some art. I have a page for Jo's Wonderfully Wild theme at Art Journal Journey, and I also have a tag for Valerie's Summer Holiday theme at Tag Tuesday. I am linking this post up to Gillena’s Sunday Smiles  also. First, here's my page for AJJ.

     My "wild" idea for this page was the rainforest/ jungle. I wanted to create a page that felt thick and lush with foliage like you'd find in such a place. My background is a collection of some stamped images that I then mostly covered over with some gesso and ink. I then fussy cut some leaves and tropical flowers as well as die cutting the big green tropical palm leaves. 

     Mama tiger and her babies are stamped images that have been fussy cut. I needed  to add a focal point, and besides, we all know there is a myriad of life in the rainforest jungle. So why not this tiger family? I tucked part of Mama behind the leaves just to enhance the lush  feeling. I added a paper frame to make her stand out, and then I added the kittens and the metal tag. I used stickers to create the phrase and a TH sticker phrase below it.

     My tag for Valerie's Summer Holiday challenge is all about another environment, the Beach. I took a standard tag that I inked blue and added a die cut shaped tag to it. The starfish are embossed and then fussy cut, and the seagulls are die cut. The waves at the bottom are left over pieces from some die cut waves that I used in my Greece journal. Finally I added an actual sand dollar from a small stash I have, and I used a quote from an old stamp set on the tag.

That's all for me today. Have a super weekend!

Weekend Art

 Hi everyone, Happy weekend to you. And to all of you mother's, Happy Mother's Day (a day early) to you. 

Today I have some art for a couple of challenges to share with you.

Let me start with Pinky's challenge at Tag Tuesday. Her theme is Birds, and I've had this tag done, but am only just squeezing it in before the challenge ends in a couple of days.

     I inked my tag in blue, and added some Art by Marlene bird images. The little birds were all stacked and I added them to the back of this big bird. However, to add some zing to the big bird, I created a wing and added an actual tail feather. The tweet quote is a die cut.

     I had a poem by Emily Dickinson  about hope and feathers, and I thought my tag would also make a great central image for a journal page. I would have posted my tag earlier if it hadn't been for finding time to make this page. I think they should be posted together.

I am linking my page up to Valerie's and my Poetry challenge at Art Journal Journey.

     To make my tag into a journal page, I attached it slightly off-center to fit the words of my poem. Then I added some die cut feathers as well as a couple of actual feathers along the bottom. I also added a few little confetti pieces too. 

I am also linking this page up to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

      I hope if you are a mother of any kind, you have a wonderful day tomorrow. My daughter is  coming today to visit for the weekend, and it will be great to see her. ❤ However, I had a big mess in her room that I had to stop all the other things I was doing and clean up.  I'm glad it's all cleaned; which means that her coming home has a second positive (besides getting to see her). BUT, and I just have to write this, grin,  it would have been less work for me last week if she didn't come home. 😉

And to everyone, have a great weekend. 

Circle Art

 Hi everyone. Happy Thursday.

     Today I have a spread from my Greece travel journal that I am sharing for Valerie's Geometric Forms challenge at Art Journal Journey.  The left side of the spread is from the Acropolis Museum and the right side from the Acroplis itself.

The right hand page has lots of geometry. There is the big rectangle of the book page (that is part of the background and of course I had to buy a used book printed in Greek) as well as the rectangle of the vintage  black and white postcard I added. There are also 3 circles with the gold embossing. Those were from coasters at the hotel we stayed at. I recycled them  and cut away the outer white around the rings.

You can also see my ticket for the Acropolis. It has some cool blue geometric forms on it also.

The left side of the spread is about my visit to the Acroplis Museum. I included the 2 tickets I bought online and printed off just for this journal page. I also included a bookmark and a chopped up postcard both which I picked up in the gift shop. 

The vase was stamped, colored and fussy cut.

I also have one more tag for Sandie's Anything Goes challenge at Tag Tuesday. It also have some circles on it.

I hope that poor woman's thoughts and life stop feeling like they are going round and round. Grin.

     I embossed  most of the background and then inked it. I also used a different embossing folder and embossed the circles and some white paper before I used an old punch to make the circle.  I inked those also. I cut out the number from a sheet of printed paper, added the Art by Marlene lady, and wrote in the round and round words.

That's all for me. Have a super rest of your day.

Thursday "Stuff"

 Hi everyone  Happy Thursday. Today I have an assortment of things to share. Hopefully this post won't be too long. 😏

First for Chris’ On All Fours  challenge at Art Journal Journey I’m heading to the plains of Africa. 

 

   Zelda the Zebra is giving you her big sweet eyes. I think she is looking to see what the funny little zebra-bird might have been squawking  about. The sun is stamped.

For the background I used some pink and orange watercolor paint. Then I stenciled some white paint dots onto it.  I also drew the layers of Savannah grass along the bottom.  The sun is stamped, and to make it feel hot, I added some gold sequins.  Zelda and the silly bird, as well as the quote, are from a Pink Ink stamp set.

I also have a tag for Tag Tuesday. This time Michele is hosting and her theme is Gothic Arch/Gothic.

I accidentally covered up the point on the top of the arch, but I think you can still tell it is there. I stamped a few other elements, as well as doing some die cutting, fussy cutting and coloring. I added the dragon, and I also added a bit of bronze colored metallic paper trim along the bottom. 

And look at the Happy Mail I received. 😀

Thank you dear Iris for thinking of me. ❤ These scenes look very interesting, and I think I need to put Australia higher on my travel list.  And here's the stamp, which is the Sydney Opera house.

I'll finish this post with a few photos from Greece. I haven't gotten very far going through my photos, but I've started. Since we started our trip in Athens, I have a few views looking out over the city.

That's all for me today. I hope your day is going well.

Blue Skies and Sunshine

 Hi everyone. It's already getting into the  second half of the week. I hope your week is going well.  

Today I have a journal page and a tag for a couple of challenges.

First here's my page for Vicki's challenge at Art Journal Journey. You probably know by the now her theme is Keeping It Light.

My page started with this scrap of packaging that you see on the left. I liked the image too much to throw it out, but I was a little stuck about what to do with it.

Before I attached it to my journal page I painted my background blue. The background on the packaging was white, so I used some blue paint glaze over my whole  page hoping it would pull the 2 parts together. The glaze colored the packaging nicely, but the rest of the page was still too blue. To fix that I used my favorite  color fading trick. I sponged a bit of gesso over the dark blue.

I then stamped my favorite cow image. She has such a  sweet face; I just love her. I actually stamped the image twice, once on the page and once on acetate. I added the acetate image over the other image because doing that really makes the image pop more. 

I die cut some small butterflies and flowers. I inked them for color. I added them, along with some  confetti foam circles to the packaging design. I also added a metallic paper sun, and I colored in a few of the details. Finally I used an old stamp set for my quote.

I also have a tag today for Sandie's Asemic Writing challenge at Tag Tuesday.

I don't know if you can see the turtles in the water. 

I originally had asemic writing on all of the tag, and it made me think of water.  I thought turtles in the water was a great idea, but then they didn't look right being on the water.   I tried using a narrow tipped paint bottle to write  over the turtles,  and that just looked weird and not like the ocean, so I added some darker blue paint. This is how my tag ended up when I was finally (mostly) happy with it. I just wish the quote was smaller in size, but it fit the boat on my tag so well that I decided the heck with it and used it.

I had an early morning commitment yesterday morning, and I also have one for each of the next couple of days.  However, Wednesday's appointment ended up with my husband being admitted to the hospital. He had some pneumonia in part of his lungs, and since he's immune suppressed, they wanted him to go in  for observations.  At least he doesn't have covid, because that test came back negative. I'm hoping when I hear from him this morning he'll be doing better and able to get home.  So please excuse me if I don't/ didn't get by your blog.

That's all for me today.   

Wednesday Art

 Hi everyone. Happy middle of the week to you. 

Today I have a page that I am sharing for Vicki's Keeping It Light challenge at Art Journal Journey.  I am also linking up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge blog. This month is Creative Artiste's challenge #101, and  the theme is always Anything Goes as long as you use at least 3 types of media. 

My page started when I was making some New Years cards. The background die I cut out for my cards created all these little swirls. They seemed  too good to throw out, so I took some matte media and glued them down on a sheet of white watercolor paper. (And somehow a green letter e snuck into the photo too.)

The image of the lady in the center was actually lighter, but I didn't realize she was water soluble. When I attached her with matte medium she smudged a bit and that made her darker.  I also used just a bit of pink watercolor paint to add just a touch of color to the background.

I then die cut several branches with leaves from white paper, and framed them around this lovely lady. I added the TH chipboard frame and some small flower shaped  sequins on the branches.  I finished my page by stamping the quote, fussy cutting around it and then gluing it down.

I also want to share a tag for Valerie's Valentine's Day challenge at Tag Tuesday. 

My tag started with some red ink and then  I added some pink paint. Before the pink paint was applied I used a stamp of lots of hearts on my background. The center heart is a die cut using an old Sizzix set I have. I had a small sheet of this holographic paper that was covered in hearts, so I decided to go with them. And it's been quite awhile since I used my Art by Marlene punch out set, so I went with some images from that booklet.  I loved the dog with the roses. He already had the crown, and I covered a heart on his forehead with the tiny foam message heart. It says hug me, which is something both of my dogs like.

There you have it. 

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. We've actually had sun since Saturday. I think this is the longest stretch of blue skies we've had since the new year began. ❤ Now it just needs to warm up a tad.

Weekend Art

 Happy weekend everyone. I hope you are enjoying yours.

This past week, besides dealing with covid, it's been a busy weather week. We had snow, rain, slush, and now we're right back a wet mess again. 

The other day I had a wintery art journal page celebrating January. Today I'm celebrating the summer season, for those of you who prefer it. Or are ready for it. Or maybe even in it right now. 

This is my latest page for the It's On The Calendar challenge at Art Journal Journey.

I started by using paint and inks to color my background. Then I stamped a big tree image in the center of my page. I  die cut some leaves using green paper. I inked the leaves a bit with a darker green color to really bring out the embossed pattern in the die.

After my leaves were attached, I added this large circular acetate frame. The bottom of the frame had some lovely summer flowers printed on it, and I thought that pattern worked well around the tree. I also thought I'd add a TH woman because someone should be out enjoying that beautiful day.  

And to add a bit of more of summer, you can see the blue felt butterfly that I decorated with some details. I finished off this page with a marker drawn frame and a bit of stamping. 

I'm also excited to finally be back making art. I created a tag for Pinky's Something New theme at Tag Tuesday. 

I tried something new by layering 3 different sized tags. While recently cleaning I came across the mini blue tag. I used ink pads to color my other 2 tags so they would coordinate with the blue tag. Then I outlined each tag with a gold Sharpie. 

I glued the tags together, and then used the number background stamp in a few random spots.  After that I glued down the 5 women, who I like to think of as some of those early computers-women who did all the calculations for men in some industries like aerospace.  (They should have been allowed to be in that industry, but that's another story.) 

To celebrate them, I took a piece of paper printed with some gold outlined roses. I fussy cut out some roses and added them to my page. Finally I took a TH quote sticker and added it to my tag.

I am also linking up to GIllena's Sunday Smiles. 

There you have it. I hope you have a super weekend. 

The Leaves are Falling- Or Starting To

 Hi everyone. Happy new week. It's a Monday holiday here in the US, but  my husband has to work, as does my daughter, so it doesn't really seem like a holiday weekend to me. 😀

 Today I have  a tag for Tag Tuesday to share.  This time Valerie is hosting and her theme is The Colours of Autumn.   I'm with Valerie as I also  love the beautiful autumn colors.  

I added all the acorns to my tag  because there are a lot of oak trees around my house, and right now all I hear is the thumping of acorns as they fall from the trees and hit on the ground. 

I decided  to leave my tag white, and I started by stamping the lacey leaves with different autumn colors.  Then I stamped the little acorns. After that I splattered my page with some brown and orange watercolor paint, and  I stamped some brighter orange splatters with  a splatter image rubber stamp.  Finally I stamped the giant mighty oaks acorn and fussy cut that, as well as the small squirrel stamp. I used markers to color the squirrel. And then I finished my tag by stamping the quote and adding a few little confetti spirals.

I wish I had a quote that said acorns are falling rather than leaves are falling. Smile.

And the other day it was feeling like summer, and before they closed for the season, I visited my local botanical gardens. Here's a few early colors of autumn views.

I am also linking up to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

Have a great end of your weekend and start to the new week. 

Wednesday Art

Hi everyone. Happy middle of the week. 

I realized that I've made several pages for Elle's challenge at Art Journal Journey  that I wouldn't have time to share if I procrastinated, so for the next few days I have some Books, Cats and Tea  journaling to show you. 

Today's page is one that took me  several steps to get through before I liked it and thought it was finished. 

I started by first stamping this kitty in the window image in the middle of my paper. This is an oldie rubber stamp that I just love. My black ink isn't very dark anymore, and when I stopped to get a new ink pad the store didn't even have any. (They had a lot of blank spots along the wall, and I'm guessing they were in the process of putting out new merchandise, hopefully not getting rid of all their stamping ink.) To darken up my stamped image I  used some grey and black markers and doing that even gave the window frame a little more depth. 

Then I watercolored the background, thinking I was going to give this page a sunset/sunrise look.   That idea went (hee-hee) out the window because when I added the sunset colors the  page was still too flat.  I drew in some lines to see if that helped (they didn't), and  I added some colored paint pen dots that did nothing for the page either.  By then I really disliked this page and almost called it quits.

But I didn't give up. I thought about painting over the background. Instead I decided to (first) add some ripped pieces of black washi tape.  The good thing about washi tape is I could pull it off if I needed to. Surprisingly, I liked it now. I picked up the scalloped border scrap off my desk and made a curtain. Finally I added the quote to remind me of how  making art can be as complicated as life. And that they are both so much easier if everything is simple.

And here's a tag I made for Michele's silhouette tag challenge at Tag Tuesday.  It looks pretty large in this first photo, but you can see in the second photo that it is an actual tag and not a full page. (This is a small journal 5.5 x8.5 inches).

I had a piece of cardboard just the right size for a tag. I covered it with some colorful printed paper and also some word printed paper. I then took blue ink over the exposed cardboard and the word printed paper so the background would be more consistent. 

I finished by die cutting the dancers and making a frame from 2 different sized oval dies. Finally I added this Art by Marlene quote.

That's all for me today. I hope your week is going well.

Wednesday Art

 Hi everyone. It's already middle of this week.  I hope your days have been going well. It's been a bit of a wet week here, and I actually spent a whole morning doing some much needed cleaning. Now that that is done with I've been having fun  playing and wasting some time. 😏

Today I have a pretty simple page  for Elle's challenge at Art Journal Journey. This month Elle is asking us to make journal pages about books, cats or tea.  I went with cats and tea, but with all the letters on my background it could also represent books.

I didn't color the background at all, but I did add a couple of scraps of printed tissue paper. The kitty is stamped and colored in because my black ink really needs to be replaced or reinked. I also pulled out this mini-clear stamp tea set. I stamped the cups and the quote from it with red ink, and then I used black ink to stamp the spoons. To finish off my page I added a couple of tea bag labels/tags with their string.

I also have a tag for Tag Tuesday. This time around Pinky is hosting, and her theme is animals. You can see my animal is this adorable frog.

After I linked my white tag, I created a layered bottom with some scrap pieces. I also used some water based crayons along the bottom. The frog is a diecut that I colored with ink, markers and paint pens.  I used some very old stamps for the quotes and the little dragonflies.

And the dragonflies in the frogpond also work as they are animals too. 

This is a short and sweet post today. Thanks for stopping by.