Category : Art

432 posts

So playing catch-up is harder than I expected. But I’m not giving up in #junkjournalnov19

Repurposed 6/30

This page isn’t my favorite but I definitely nailed the prompt. I used all repurposed items or ones headed for the trash. Such as the end cuts off a quilt block, packaging from a makeup brush, a scrap of greeting card and it was all adhered to a magazine cover as my substrate. If that isn’t repurposed I don’t know what is!

Colored leaves 7/30

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I had a ton of fun with this one. I stitched a few pressed leaves into an interactive specimen pocket. After journaling about my love of fall and memories of fallen leaves I decided that a few punched leaves would add the right touch to the page.

Vintage 8/30

Not my usual style but I do love vintage!! Honestly, every time I create a super vintage page I wonder why I don’t more often.

I picked out a few pieces that seemed to fit with the embroidered piece that was on the book page before I started. I originally thought the embroidery would be a focal point. Nope..my mind took a sharp left. I ended up with a two-page spread since I had so many things I just had to use.

 

Foggy 9/30

This prompt had me a bit stumped…then I thought of waking from a dream. How the images are a bit foggy in your mind. Just out of reach. I used vellum to cover the existing page to give the illusion of fog. The found text story was super fun to come up with from my stash.

 

Autumn food 10/30

Ah, apples. The perfect fall food. Whether you grab one straight off the tree and polish it on your shirt before crunching into that beautiful gem. Or a fresh-baked apple crisp. Apples are a gift.

 

Linking up with Art Journal Journey today for Rike’s theme of Fruits and Veggies.

Art Journal Journey

I did it. I committed to a new challenge. Even knowing I’d be behind in the beginning.

I’m over halfway to being caught up.  Not too shabby.

Time Travel 1/30

All the pieces fell right into place for this one. I had the tag premade from another scrap busting project. The clock face is vellum. I have no idea where I got it…I have a small baggie of clock faces and gauges in vellum.

Collage 2/30

I wasn’t sure where I was going with this one…I didn’t really think, just started layering papers. I knew I’d end up with a focal image or words. The fussy cut elephant told me she belonged on the page. I love elephants. One Saturday I spent the afternoon watching documentaries on elephants while cutting fabric. Such a great way to spend a couple of hours.

Old-fashioned 3/30

I’m sure this prompt was meant to be old -fashioned as in a period in time and all that went along with it. My mind went in another direction entirely. I immediately thought about Don Draper of Mad Men. The character had a drink of choice…an Old-Fashioned.

I did my best to mimic a low ball glass with whiskey. I even added ice cubes.

Reduce 4/30

I didn’t particularly care for this prompt so this is what I came up with to get it over with.

Fox 5/30

This one feels a bit too scrapbooky. I journaled about the time we had a sick fox under our deck. It was really gross…we could smell it before we could see it. The police and animal control were in the area looking for it as they feared it had rabies. It ran away before they caught it. I never heard the end of the tale but I have to assume they got it or it crawled in a hole somewhere and died.

Stay tuned for more pages as I get caught up. You can also see them on Instagram if you can’t wait for them to post here.

I can hardly believe it but I’m posting something other than T Tuesday. It’s been a while. I’ve been in a creative slump. Not sure how it happened but never the less it did.

I’ve sat down a couple of times trying to force creativity.

Don’t do it. It’s ugly.

What I did finally decide that I’d like to create was a place to create. A junk journal. I’m sure you’re thinking…hey wait…didn’t she just make one of those. Yep sure did. But that one is for bits of my life, more personal.

This one is for the creative process. Whether that may be art journaling, responding to a prompt or a challenge.

I loved this calendar ephemera my BFF sent in a package. She knew I’d love it as much as the actual gift she sent.

I used some rusted fabric on the inside of the softcover.

The outside is watercolor paper that had been painted and whitewash some time ago. I found it in my stash and knew it would make a nice flexible cover.

I decided to use a 5 hole pamphlet stitch this time instead of my usual go-to of three hole stitch.

This journal has a wide variety of papers that should prove to be a good and challenging launching point for the creative process.

I’m considering joining another junk journal challenge on Instagram as I did in July. I need to decide soon otherwise I might be too far behind.

Last Tuesday had me very introspective with my post. Throwing the words down and wading through them really helped me through what I was feeling. Your comments were also inspiring…so thank you for that!

Mindset

At school, we often talk about growth vs fixed mindset. I think perhaps those lessons are rubbing off on me as well. Setting goals, developing a plan and not giving up when life throws a curveball. Honestly, these are things I have done in the past but I didn’t think critically about them until now.

So last week I talked myself through making a plan to set aside time to create. Guess what?  I did!

I had the bones of this junk journal project set aside…I just needed the time, drive and a few little tidbits to make it happen. Now that it’s done…I love it.  I’m planning to use it for bits and piece from everyday life, quotes, thoughts, etc.  I want to do a flip through at some point. What I really need to do is figure out YouTube and publish videos there and embed them in my posts. I think it would honestly be easier than the way I’ve been doing it.

In addition to making this junk journal, we had a flurry of activity on Saturday. Mini-me and I went to a local church rummage sale for bag day as we try to do each year. We spent a total of $16.50. Mini-me filled one reusable grocery bag mostly with clothes…$4. I filled one with clothes, craft supplies, and potential Halloween costumes…$4. The third bag was filled with books…$4.  In addition, we bought one super old arithmetic primer…$1 and a print for Mini-me’s room….$3.50

I only took photos of my lovely new crafty items. Look at that amazing box of trims!!

Saturday evening Mr. G’s brother messaged him saying that he was playing a gig in our neck of the woods. We quickly grabbed our things and headed out to hear him play the mandolin with the Roe Family Singers. It was a lovely but slightly chilly evening sitting on hay bales enjoying some bluegrass music.

Their aging corgi, Daisey, even made the trip. A good time was had by all.

We invited them back to our house after where I whipped together a few snacks and drinks since we haven’t seen them in a while. Sometimes the unplanned things are the most fun things!!

What are you doing today?

What a quick week! I have no idea where it went or how it flew by so incredibly fast other than school, school and more school.

Today’s post actually does tie into school. I’m supporting a handful of students in a required Intro to Art class this semester. I’m finding the class very informative. Putting words to the techniques I’ve self-taught over the last decade or so.  Such as the elements and principles of art….the actually words and definitions behind drawing technique. The students in the class are creating a Zentangle in which they need to show the 13 elements and principles of art. It made me go back and look at the one larger scale Zentangle I created years ago to see if I could pick out these key components.

I’m not sure I hit all 13 in this Zentangle. It’s funny because I created this in 2006…this page is officially older than the children in that class. :)

Today I was able to play around with watercolor pencils.

Again…so much fun. I was able to work alongside one of my students as they wanted to practice their technique.

I’m having some ice water while I write this post. The temperature and humidity have ramped back up around here as you can see by the condensation on my glass.

It was much nicer over the weekend when Mini-me and a few choir friends sang the national anthem at the boy’s varsity soccer game on Saturday evening. 

They sang from the booth…not on the field. So proud of those girls!

ME…I’m still sewing when I can…I’m trying to get caught up on some household chores that have been piling up…emhem…laundry.

What are you doing today?

I’m not going to lie…this post might just give you motion sickness from how all over the place it will be.

I guess we’ll go with chronological. Mr. G was tasked with creating some trophies that he’d 3D print at work for the company go-kart racing day. He said I could paint them up so we got to go shopping at the craft store!

These were printed on a resin printer so they are quite smooth and would take spray paint really well.

They turned out pretty darn cool if you ask me.

I got this in the mail from my friend, Sandy.  When we were at the cabin in Idaho, we had a few drinks and she said…gosh I better quit cause I’m slurring. To which I said…You’re not slurring, you’re speaking in cursive! 

On Friday we loaded up the van to bring J to college for his second year. Mr. G picked up the horrible virus mini-me and I brought back from our trip…likely from the airplane. He was completely out of commission for nearly 4 days so Mini-me came with to help out and be my home travel companion.

Since we were in Duluth with no boys after setting J up at his apartment…we did what we love…look for seaglass.

We found a very small amount of very tiny glass. It was still fun but bigger pieces are definitely more fun.

I sat down to do a bit of art journaling yesterday. I was really feeling the need to play with paper, paint, and glue. I’m not in love with this page but it certainly felt good to play.

Today was yet another step back to the reality that summer is nearly done. I had a work meeting. It was nice to see all those faces again. After my meeting I ran to the grocery store…

Had my name tag on the whole time…duh. No wonder people kept looking at me somewhat oddly.

 

What are you doing today?

Typically I have this post up long before now. I was suffering from a migraine yesterday and wasn’t able to get much accomplished after the onset. So here we are late for the party or the after-party that is. T stands for Tuesday just celebrated its 6th anniversary. I raise my glass of water… “cheers”.

Without further ado, I’ll dive right into JJJ show and tell.

Day 14: postcard

I used washi tape to add a fold-out with this postcard. I cannot remember where I picked it up but I loved the colors and image so much I wasn’t able to send it out to anyone.

I used the back of the postcard to journal about the card.

I also couldn’t choose between vintage or modern so I added a glassine bag for a vintage card from my collection.

I decided on this one because it was sent to Walnut Grove, MN. A nod to one of my favorite shows when I was growing up. I read a few of the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every single episode of Little House on the Prairie at least twice.

Day 15: Lyrics

This one was hard for me…don’t get me wrong…I can sing along with pretty much any song out there but thinking about lyrics…ugh. Not my thing. I decided on You are my Sunshine because my mom used to sing it to me.

before

after

Day 16: sketch

Kinda fun right?!?

This is how I made the watermark for all my photos on the blog.

Day 17: mail theme

I used a mish-mash of current and vintage for this one.

before

after

Day 18: hidden

I used a tag in a pocket to go with the theme here…I also expanded on the theme by adhering a photo of just my eye to the tag as well. I don’t often share my image online unless you know where to look. Yes, it’s out there but I’m definitely not the selfie queen. 

Day 19: stamps

The day before this prompt I’d been cleaning purging in my art space and found a small tin of old postage stamps. It was the perfect fodder for this prompt. 

before

after

I have one more set of pages but I think that’s all I can muster for today.

What are you doing today?
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