Tag : Art Journal Journey

93 posts

T Tuesday: flora and fauna edition

This Memorial day marks one year since I lost my mom. She was on my mind all day. Half way through my first cup of coffee I made the decision not to be sad but to reflect and remember the good things, The funny memories. The things that make me smile.

As I walked around the yard watering before it got too hot, I thought about her green thumb. She had flowers galore and a big garden. Houseplants too. I guess I’ve taking after her in that way. I love spending time tending to the garden. Making it beautiful and productive,

My newly sewn and strung garden bunting made me smile. Mom was no seamstress. In fact she hated sewing. She was so happy when I learned how to sew in school and gladly passed all of her supplies on to 13 yr old me.  I’ve never stopped sewing since!

After finishing the outdoor chores I headed inside to do a bit of art journaling. I was really feeling inspired by nature.

The background colors I laid down didn’t scream nature. They were the colors that spoke to me though. Sort of a hard edge along with nature.

Layers upon layers stacked. This fussy cut stamped birds nest was the perfect way to embrace nature. I used watercolor crayons to color the robin eggs then used diamond glaze over top to add dimension. The addition of the thread help sell the idea of the nest for me.

I added the skeleton leaf for balance.  As soon as I added the leaf, the words “live gently upon the earth” jumped out at me.  This page made me smile.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Flora and Fauna

Art Journal Journey
as well as T stands for Tuesday today.
T stands for Tuesday
Eight days of school left. Whoop, whoop!
What are you doing today?

 

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Life is an adventure

Life. Family. Memories. Adventure.

The journey.

I was inspired to sit down to create this morning. I didn’t have a specific theme in mind but as I began to pull interesting pieces together I realized that I did have something in mind. Life is an adventure

Over the last two days I’ve exchange emails with cousins from both sides of my dad’s family. A genealogy message board connected them even though they aren’t related, but I am to both of them. My “new” cousin was looking for photos and info on her Grandpa…who was my Grandpa’s brother. I was able to provide her with a photo she’d never seen of 4 of the brothers.  As it turns out we live within 10 minutes of each other and plan to meet sometime after school is done. So cool!

Anyway…all this digging into the past. Thinking of stories told to me by my parents. Old photos. Genealogy. Family. Memories. All came together to inspire the page you see. Life is an adventure

vintage stamps and lace

Life is an adventure

Blue chip stamps and vintage trim

Life is an adventure

B&W photo and flower embellishmentLife is an adventure

All of these pieces coming together as a vintage inspired tribute to my ancestors. Their life was a great adventure. Life is an adventure

Ours is too. This is something I think we often forget through the drudgery of everyday life. Live your life…make it an adventure.

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I’m linking up with Art Journal Journey for Recycle and Collage.

Art Journal Journey

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T Tuesday: Spring snow day? edition

We all have our fingers crossed for tomorrow. We are getting snow and seemingly lots of it so we might as well have the day off if we have to have snow after Easter. The weather reports are saying 6-9 inches.

❄ UPDATE: Snow day!!! ❄ 

Enough about the crummy weather and on to the art journal.
collect beautiful memories

I created this page with a layer of randomly cut squares and rectangles using both heavy card stock and a textured chocolate box.

collect beautiful memoriesI used a combination of stains, distress paint, gelatos and charcoal sticks to create the variation of color.

collect beautiful memories

I layered my “found relative” image over a fussy cut flower photo, paint stained baby wipe and frayed fabric. The paper clip had just the right patina so it found its way on the page as well.collect beautiful memories

I adding some distressing to the photo which started as a printed image. I used gel medium to adhere it to card stock to give it the weight and stability of a photo of that age. I scuffed up the edges then wet misted them before dragging across a distress ink pad. I ended up accidentally creasing the image in a couple of places with added authenticity in my opinion.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for the theme: Recycle and Collage

Art Journal Journey
I also need to share my photo challenge recap. 

16. Money …..accidental collection of money I’ll never spend

17. Green

18. Bread ….lunch

19. Season ….it’s supposed to be Spring…right?

20. A note

21. Oh No! …someone is disturbing Marvin’s peace

22. Last thing I bought …arrows

23. Candy

24. Perspective ….grilling with snow on the ground  (imagine that I’m having a nice glass of wine with this…photo not included) 

I’ve officially abandoned the rest of the month. This month was difficult and not very inspiring. I’m taking April off from the photo challenge scene.

So Tomorrow…Tuesday…I’ll either be shoveling the going to work or just shoveling. I’m hoping for the latter.

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

 

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T Tuesday: spring break edition

The calendar says its Spring but I think Mother Nature needs her head examined. It’s cold and snowy. So since the weather isn’t cooperating I figured I’d create something that would brighten the gloomy day.imagine spring

I pulled bits together from my scrap bucket.

imagine spring

I even briefly set up my sewing machine on my workspace to get some stitching onto the page. I sewed this scrap directly into the book.

imagine spring

This piece was stitched together before gluing into place. Gosh I’ve missed using my machine! For some reason it inspires me.imagine spring

Lastly I added the word imagine. I was trying to imagine what Spring should feel like. I’m linking up with AJJ for Spring.

Art Journal Journey
With it being spring break so many people are traveling. Mini-me and I did as well. It wasn’t a tropical destination. It was 4 hours NORTH of here for the state archery tournament. caribou
We drove up on Friday and spent the night in a hotel since she didn’t shoot until Saturday. A snow storm was expected anyway so might as well go early. Thankfully we never did get any snow…just a cold wind.paul bunyan
We had to do the usual tourist things…amazingly enough there was others venturing into the frigid wind off the lake for a photo op that were nice enough to take a picture of us. That may look like standing water under Babe the Blue Ox but its solid ice.
After the tournament (at which she beat her personal best score by 24 points!) we headed for home but took a slight detour since we were that far north to visit Itasca State Park. Itasca state park
As we turned in we quickly realized that we probably wouldn’t get to see the headwaters of the Mississippi as we had wanted. Some of the roads weren’t even plowed. Instead we just took a photo of the map on went on our merry way.Itasca state park
I really wanted her to be able to jump across the Mississippi as I had when I was a kid…heck, I wanted to do it again now! Oh well…maybe another trip.
This is typically when I share my photo challenge but I’m woefully behind. I will get caught up though and share them next week as well as the next months challenge.

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T Tuesday: early Valentine edition

Happy Valentine’s day! We are very low key around here with holiday much like the others. Must be more of that Mid-west mentality I so often spoken about.

I was inspired to create a journal page though.

It has hidden journaling under the greeting card I recycled. I like to disguise my journal thoughts when they are more personal and private. My journals sit out where anyone can pick them up and look through.

I added our initials to the heart. Sappy, I know.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey since I just noticed the current months theme is Animals A to Z.

Art Journal Journey

As always here’s a little update on the current photo a day challenge.

5.  Three ….salmon patties

6. Skyline

7. Doorway ….kid toys are the best

8, Beautiful

9. Pink …my favorite color

10. On the table …small burst of creativity

Happy Tuesday!

T stands for Tuesday
What re you doing today?

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Live in your strength

I’m finally getting around to posting an art journal page I created last weekend.

live in your strength

I challenged myself to work outside my comfort zone, using colors and combos I seldom gravitate towards. It was a good challenge. It made my stretch my creativity while still working within my general style.

live in your strength

Recently I’ve noticed that when I go to peruse through a completed art journal or altered book from my collection, I tend to grab one that has something interesting peeking out from the pages. Bits of lace, fibers, buttons or beads…you can find them all on my bookshelf. To that end I decided this page needed a bit of movement. Besides, my handmade paper beads fit the color scheme

live in your strength

This tea tag quote spoke to me along with the butterfly pin.

Think of the Monarch…so fragile yet has the amazing strength and endurance to migrate 2500 miles each year. If it worried about how fragile it was it would never go anywhere or do anything. It would not live.

Be strong in your fragility.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for New Year, New Adventures

 

Art Journal Journey

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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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