Category : Art

432 posts

Joyful journal

I was battling the cold whilst creating this page. Usually when it’s cold in my basement art space, I tend to go for warm colors. This was not the case. I was embracing the cold with lovely cool tone colors and texture like snow.

joyful journal page

I felt the colors around the edge resembled a cold winter night with the moonlight reflecting off the snow.  I’ve always wished I was a landscape painter…which I am certainly not…but I do give it a whirl from time to time.

I left a light space in the middle and pictured a grove of evergreen trees at the edge of a lake. The boughs heavy with new snow.

joyful journal page

My vision didn’t quite come to fruition but it’s not as bad as it could have gone. (glass half full) 

The words weren’t what had originally thought I’d use. I had words of silence and peace…the sweet silence of freshly fallen snow. If you’ve ever experienced it, you know what I’m talking about.

joyful journal page

This thought made me feel joyful! It’s always good to celebrate even the most simple things in life. Fresh snow, a creative muse, birds in the trees, bunny tracks through the snow…

Linking up today with Art Journal Journey for Let’s Celebrate

Art Journal Journey

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Reflective thoughts

It seems as we get older, time speeds up. The years that seemed so far in the distant future are now upon us. I know in my brain that time is a constant but my heart has a different idea.

I get very nostalgic at years end. It has extra special significance for me. Mr. G and I reconnected and made plans for our future on New Years Eve 24 years ago. And our daughter, Mini-me, was born New Years Eve eve. reflective thoughts

As I was creating my mind began to wander. Thinking about how life has changed over the past year.

reflective thoughts

It feels as if my baby girl has been 14 for about a minute. How can she be about to take her permit test.

reflective thoughts

What happened to the cute little dresses she wore while playing rough and tumble with her brother and the neighbor boys.

See what I mean…nostalgic. Not that I’d want to start over by any stretch of the imagination but I do wish that for a moment I could step back into that time and bottle it up.

reflective thoughts

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T Tuesday: laughter, tears and knitting edition

It’s been an eventful week around here. so I think I’ll recap a few of the highlights.

I’ve gotten back in the groove of being creative on a semi-regular basis. First of which is some more work on the stocking hat I’m knitting.

Trust me…one day it will be a hat.

I also made a patchwork infinity scarf.

My original intention was to make something red, white and blue for our Veteran’s Day program at school but these colors spoke to me instead.

Speaking of the Veteran’s Day program. It was amazing! I cried all of my eye makeup off. It was very moving. I hadn’t been witness to a 21 gun salute or the playing of taps since my dad’s internment. Needless to say, I was a mess. I seriously am a fairly stoic person but that got me…as well as the Lee Greenwood song, God Bless the USA….gets me every time…especially when all those vets stood up as the line says “And I gladly stand up
Next to you and defend her still today”. The tears were rolling.

I started a journal page…well at least I threw some color at the tissue paper I glued into my journal. It’s a start right!?!

Here’s the next collection of November photo a day pictures.

7. on the floor….me, Marvin and the toy…a little view from his side of things.

8. a place…DQ of course. love that place and its a braizer so it doesn’t close for winter….yes many Dairy Queen stores close over winter around here.

9. Heck yes! …….saw this sign at school  “Make your life story so amazing that unicorns have trouble believing it is true.”

10. I do this every day….make and drink coffee.  Bam! got my tea Tuesday reference in as well. :)

11. A set…my fiestaware of course.

12. normal….my knitting looks normal at least so far.

T stands for Tuesday

In other exciting news… J got an acceptance letter from UMD today!! So exciting!!!

What are you doing today??

 

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Scrapbook journal finished!!!

I am very happy to say I’ve completed another art journal. This was a loose leaf type journal. Technically it was a Creative Memories album but I knew in my heart I’d never actually scrapbook this album…or any other for that matter if I’m being completely honest with myself.

album turned journal

On Friday night I completed my last entry. It was a very simple page that started with a piece of artists paper from one of the Stampington family of magazines. I used distress paints to alter the color.

Next I used gelatos to created the base of a flower using my finger to spread the color. On top I drew the loose details of a flower with India ink.

I wrote with a white gel pen some thoughts I had at the moment. I purposely wrote very messy so I’d be the only one who knew what it said while creating some visual interest to the page.  This was one of the quickest pages I’ve ever completed and a perfect way to end my journal.

Although I really love working in loose leaf I do struggle with a completely blank page. Many of the papers I used as backgrounds were surface protection pages already smeared with ink, paint and glue.  I think I will always tend to stay with vintage books as the base for my journals. The background text and texture of the pages inspire me.

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Tea Tag quote journal pages

I had Thursday and Friday off work for MEA (Minnesota Educational Conference). Since I wasn’t attending any of the conference I was able to get a bit caught up on things around home. The kids and I did yardwork while the weather was gorgeous. So many leaves!!!!!

Yesterday brought rain…no yardwork to be done. That left time for indoor pursuits.

When I sat down to create I didn’t realize that I’d finish one page much less two. I was on a roll. It felt amazing to get my hands dirty with crafty goodness. 

This tea tag quote spoke volumes. Bliss…that’s what being creative again felt like.

The dimensional line of purple circles are actually tiny shells that have been dyed. I have no idea where I got them, I just happened to notice that they matched the punched flower and felt it would add some balance to the page.

This page came together from two parts that didn’t feel as if they belonged at first. The lavender is a napkin from Patty from some long ago gift she sent. Thank you Patty! Anyway…I had adhered the napkin over book text on a piece of cereal box and there it sat…for years. Yesterday it found a home.

Along with a few bits of this and that that spoke to me. The bit of lace helped mute the loud orange color down to a soft complement.

As I prepared to take photos for this post I realized that I made two pages that would work beautifully side by side in the journal. I didn’t even plan that. Obviously I had a palette in mind without thinking about it.

The pages flow. I love it when things work out like that!!

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for LANDSCAPES OF THE SOUL. 

Art Journal Journey

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Believe in yourself

That is a message that I feel gets lost to many folk. Not naming any names but…. em-hem …you know who you are!believe in yourself art journal page

I don’t think this is an entirely Midwestern thing but we are definitely the champions of down playing ourselves…to the point of forgetting to believe in our own capabilities. I know I spiraled down this rabbit hole myself a time or two but it drives me absolutely up the wall when I see other folk…perfectly capable folk…downplay themselves so much.

believe in yourself art journal page

Ok, off the soap box…. but seriously…just do it…. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!!!

 

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There’s no place like home

This has been such a busy time for our family. Adjustments being made across the board. It makes me appreciate the simple things.

A family dinner with all of us present. A driveway chat with the neighbors. Having all the laundry done. And being creative with enough time and energy to share it with others.

 

The pieces of this fell into place without me even realizing it. I’ve been a bit of an emotional wreck on and off over the last 3 weeks….not even going to sugar coat that one. The changes were scary. I have taken comfort in my little bubble of security for the last decade or so. Pizza on Thursday, Fish on Friday. Routines and schedules grounded me…ground all of us. More than I ever realized.  I honestly thought of myself as spontaneous and I am…to a point. I just didn’t realize that as the years ticked past, my way of thinking and of life became more rigid.

This quote spoke to me. As much as I am enjoying my new career, I do morn for what was, as silly as that sounds.

I truly do like working in a school again. This job is definitely different than my previous but so am I and that’s ok.

ACK! See super emotional. Chatty and over sharing. Not my usual style.

Back to the journal page…. The little bit of lace just felt like the perfect finishing touch of the page.

It’s funny because if you’d have told me that I’d be spilling my guts on this journal spread and in the post when I got started I’d have told you that you were crazy. Well, look who’s a little crazy now. LOL

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Color in My World…highlighting my favorite color PINK/

Art Journal Journey

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