A new happy ending

Some quiet reflection brought me to this page.

new happy ending

I used light cardboard for my substrate adding layers of paper and paint.

glass-look mason jar using punched plastic

Gelatos were used on this paper pieced mason jar. I punched a jar from a plastic sleeve and adhered over the butterfly giving the illusion of glass.

charcoal doodles with white pen journaling

Before punching holes in the page for my polka dot journal I did a bit of paint scrapping, doodling with charcoal pencil and personal thoughts in white pen.

nearly full polka dot journal

My polka dot journal is basically full. I may do two more pages that I can adhere to each of the inside covers before called this one complete. I originally thought I’d do something on the front cover as well but unless it’s non-dimensional…which has not been my MO lately….it’s likely better that I leave it just plain.

I hope you forgave me for being so insensitive…so long old friend.

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T Tuesday: It’s beginning to look like Christmas edition

Now that we’ve had a bit of snow that stuck for a few days…although it’s mostly gone again…I’ve been getting into a festive mood.

Christmas tree at night

The tree looks so pretty even with a meager amount of ornaments this year. The ones that are on the tree are not breakable just in case.

Marvin enjoying the lights

Marvin enjoys lounging on the tree skirt and so far has only knocked two ornaments down.

tea for wrapping duty

I enjoyed a cup of tea yesterday morning while wrapping a few presents.

crochet

And even my crochet is a festive green color. I know I have tons of flaws, mistakes and goofy stitches in this one. I did it while watching TV, basically in the dark with Mini-me. It doesn’t matter though since this will just be a dish cloth. My stemware really doesn’t care if the stitches are right.

Mr. G is on vacation again this week so I have no idea what the day has in store. It’s kind of fun to have a blank slate once the kids are off to school.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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Long overdue journal page

I keep forgetting to post this journal page. Not sure why…just absent minded I guess.

search for your dreams

The page feels a little too scrapbooky for me now but at the moment I made it it felt right.

search for your dreams

I still like the message on this side…be brave, make it happen.

search for your dreams

This side seems as if I was an after thought now. I still like it but not in conjunction with the first.  The little dress came together so quickly. Made me think back to the Dress-up Project. Such a fun year long challenge.

overly thick journal start

After completely my page I realized that I have made a grave mistake with my new journal. It’s going to be insanely thick…no hope of ever closing.  Oh well…I’ll have to think of something to make it work. Another challenge right?!?

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T Tuesday: lefse edition
T stands for Tuesday

Trying something new for this edition of T stands for Tuesday. Mini-me helped make the first batch of lefse for the season. I took a series of photos and linked them as a slideshow. Fingers crossed that this works.

[KGVID]http://www.halleshobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/lefseday.mp4[/KGVID]

It’s been a busy, weird week that has included but not limited to:

~an overnight dog visit that went reasonably well with Marvin the dog hater cat

~two turkey dinners

~precipitation of all kinds and in all directions: rain, snow, sleet and hail

~one panicky ER visit which turned out very benign

~one partially dislocated jaw (unrelated to the above)

~all four of us on vacation for 5 overlapping days plus extras on both ends

~late night scratch made brownies

~4 teen boys Black Friday shopping (for themselves)

~one Christmas tree set up and was still standing in the morning (amazing!)

I’m absolutely positive there was more but that is all I am able to wrap my mind around at the moment.

Kids go back to school after a 6 day break…and a mountain of laundry awaits. Living the dream boys and girls. Actually, that is serious! Yes, we all love to complain about the pesky chores of life but I am so thankful for every day that I am able to be home caring for my family.

What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: AJJ edition

It’s a two-fer today here at Halle’s Hobbies!

Art Journal Journey

T stands for Tuesday

I had planned to do two separate posts on consecutive days but a bout of stomach flu wiped me out completely yesterday. The day was all about sipping lemon lime soda and eating saltine crackers. I’m nearly 100% now…thank goodness…but a little slow to get my post up and running.

ajj collage

After going a bit wild with the colors, I went for maximum texture with this journal page. I feels a bit ’80’s to me with the dayglow colors.

ajj collage

I didn’t add any personal journal thoughts on this one just some found text that spoke to me at the moment. Once the words were determined. I sought out a square brad from my stash to bring the idea home.

new journal

This was the first page in a new journal. It won’t be long until this one is full since there are very few pages. I removed about half the bulk before starting but the pages are quite brittle from age so each spread will definitely have to be glued to the adjoining page.

I’m getting caught up on tasks I failed to do yesterday while watching the rain change to sleet and snow and back again. I know eventually it’s supposed to be all snow…just hoping the teen driver gets home first.

What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: renewed frame edition

The weather is definitely turning here in the upper mid-west. I’m drinking more hot tea than iced tea. They are saying snow possible on Friday and Saturday. Not that it will be much or even stay around long at this point.

tea season

Enough about the weather. I wanted to share what I did to make my abstract paint complete. Let me backtrack by saying that after initially hanging it on our room we kept hear this weird clicking noise in the night. When the fan would hit the light weight canvas it would make noise!!! UGH! I took it down in the middle of the night and had to reevaluate.

I remembered that I hadn’t donated the old print yet and had an idea of how I could use it. Out to the minivan I went to retrieve the framed print.

reclaimed and renew frame

I tore random chunks and strips of kraft paper and soaked them in water while I got out my vinyl table protector(aka old ugly tablecloth). I used Golden polymer medium as adhesive to cover the chrome frame. This is the same stuff I used to renew my fridge and recycle cabinet with dictionary pages and it’s the same bottle I got for free at the recycle center!

reclaimed and renew frame

I slipped the edges between the frame and matte for a nice crisp edge. I then painted the matte black a few inches in all the way around. I poked holes through the print and attached the canvas using zip ties around the wooden cross bars and back through the holes in the canvas. I used a little dab of hot glue in each corner for a bit of extra security.

reclaimed and renew frame

Ta-da! Worked like a charm.

reclaimed and renew frame

The piece is substantial now and makes a statement.  I like it even more now…and total cost…nothing!!!! We’d even gotten that print for free about 20 years ago from Mr. G’s work. The glass had been broken on the print so they were throwing it out. He brought it home since the colors matched our old bedroom decor. It had hung over our bed ever since.

I’m waiting on a call from a friend as me might meet up today so my day is still a bit up in the air.

What are you doing today?

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A Tale of Two Pages

This tale is about the “right way” and the “wrong way” to be creative…at least this is how it went for me this weekend.

Saturday in an attempt to kill some time while waiting for some laundry to finish, I decided to challenge myself again to create for the Art Journal Journey theme of Collage~no wings, no leaves, no faces. To begin, I tore a page from a vintage basic electric manual figuring it had some good background to it already. In addition I snagged a couple of random scraps from my worktable and took the works to the sewing machine.

a tale of two pages

I then did a bit of journalling along the edge of one of the scraps. Ok…still feeling it…the creative spark was there but dim.

a tale of two pages

I added some color…still good. Then I sprayed some black mist through my circle stencil. It was as if the mist put out the spark. Instead doing the smart thing and walking away at that point to regroup…I was still waiting for the stupid laundry cycle to complete so I just kept throwing more crap at the page.

a tale of two pagesI’m still not excited about this one but that’s ok. Challenges are just that…a challenge. Otherwise it would be called super happy fun time.

Art Journal Journey

On Sunday while cleaning up my workspace I felt that creative spark again. This time I made a deal with myself not to push through if I wasn’t feeling it. I noticed a freebie art paper I had pulled from an old issue of Somerset Studio. So I had a great starting point…maybe an easy way to redeem myself.

a tale of two pages

Given the fact that this page has an eye on it it wouldn’t count for the challenge away.

a tale of two pages

I didn’t do a tom to the background…I used gelatos to intensify the colors in certain places, some outlining in white gel pen, lots of stamping, gesso through a stencil and heat embossing…but all in a very subtle way. After deciding on some layers of goodies including ink stained babywipes I adding stitching over my layers and around the page in a random fashion.

a tale of two pages

Some black paint splatters and added “eyeliner” were my final touch before looking for words. see possibility everywhere was just perfect.

So my lesson to myself was to know enough when to walk away. You can’t force it. I suppose it’s something like writers block…you can stare at a page but you can’t will the words or art to flow.

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