Tag : art journal

267 posts

Life as we know it

Art journal. It’s been so long. I’ve missed you.

I sat down to create the other day. I had nothing in mind. No colors, technique or even medium planned. A piece of paper caught my eye. It was one that had been used to protect my works pace, journals and the like.

It was covered with random bits of color, stamping, scribbles and even a couple of holes. Not much to look at really but better than the blank page staring me in the face.

I adhered it with a glue stick and began to add more color to balance things out using gelatos. Have I mentioned how much I love gelatos?!?

After adding the cool blues around the edges I was really beginning to like where this was going. I then added the orange as a bit of a transition to the center pinks.

MY love affair with circles came shining through as I began using my finger to create white islands in the sea of wild color.

A piece of painted watercolor paper from my scrap bucket seemed to jump out at me to give a bit of dimension to the page while still keeping the over arching theme of circles going.

The last piece was a bit of found text. It fit so well.  Back to creativity. Back to circles. Back to blogging. Back to life as I knew it.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey.

Art Journal Journey

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T Tuesday: returning edition

Hello!! I am still here. It’s been a while.

Gosh, that sounds like the beginning to a song… I’m awful with names of songs/singers/authors/actors/movies/etc…so if it is one…sorry, I’m just not going to be able to commit any brain cells to that information. I have WAY too much other pointless trivia floating around in there.

So I took a bit of a blog hiatus after mom’s passing and funeral. I just wasn’t able to “find my voice” for the blog. I think my bout of laryngitis is over now.

During my break we traveled to north to do another college visit. This one was University of Minnesota Duluth. I completely forgot to take any photos on campus likely because our tour remained inside all but one brief walk outside as a shortcut. The awesome thing about UMD is that all the buildings are connected by tunnels and concourses. You literally don’t have to step outside if you don’t want to all winter long. I’d be blissfully happy if that’s where either kid decided to go to school.

Mini-me and I did our traditional sea glass hunting. The view is lovely…

and we always manage to find treasures.

The kids and I walked down to Grandma’s (host of Grandma’s marathon that had been run just the day or two before we got there)

Both times we’ve eaten there, we’ve been seated right by this sign. Too funny! I didn’t take the obligatory beverage photo but rest assured it was there and it was of the adult variety. Why not…we were walking!

Back at home I’ve been keeping busy with gardening, driving back and forth to the high school for volleyball and some volunteer work I picked up. The choir director put out a call for anyone with sewing skills to mend the robes before they are dry cleaned to save the program some money. So far I’ve mended 20 robes. 

It’s mostly split sleeves but there have been some zippers and collars as well.

It’s all hand stitching and the stitches need to be hidden. Thank you Mrs. Wilwerding for teaching me how to sew in the 8th grade. My kid’s high school also thanks you for indirectly saving them lots of money. I’m hoping when I drop off this latest batch of 6 robes that at least some will have been taken by the others to mend.

I have been a little creative as well. Here’s a little sneak…

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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17 Comments

T Tuesday: ?? edition

Welcome to my weekly blog post. This frustrates me beyond belief but right now that’s just the way it will be,

Last week I didn’t remember to post the journal page that I had created mostly because it was a twofer post with Second on the 2nd.

I did a little play on words since it was the 1st of May. Not my favorite page but at least I got my hands messy with paint, ink and glue.

I have another page sitting at this point…

Just a background or at least the start of one in a whole new journal. I’m trying to be mindful of embellishments in this one. Not too thick or at least not towards the spine.

Last Friday was my birthday so I got my free drink from Caribou coffee…they are a chain like Starbucks only 1000 times better! You can only find them in the midwest USA though…sorry.

The coffee cooler was so big and decadent that I could only drink 1/2 of it. I put the rest in the freezer for Mini-me.

The chore of cleaning out mom’s apartment is still going. We’ve decided the best thing to do is to have a garage sale. Hmmm…feels like I just did one of those a couple weeks ago. UGH!

I did get the majority of my garden planted over the last couple days.

The tomato plants were getting gigantic.

The onions were planted last fall and look great already.

The shed garden doesn’t look too exciting right now…just some row markers.

I had to leave some room for the plants J started at school in Biology class. He’ll be bringing home 7 tomato plants , a sunflower and a pumpkin plant if all survive the study and trip home.

Sorting, book keeping and cleaning are on this list…exciting stuff.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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11 Comments

T Tuesday: chaos continues edition

Hello…thank you for continuing to visit my blog each week especially since my posts have become weekly…nowhere even close to daily as I would like. Evidently I am in a season of life that has me focused outward instead of inward. My mom is having some health issues so between her flurry of appts and my own children throwing curve balls at me…I’ve been in clinics, hospitals and ER’s more often than not lately. I’m feeling a bit run down myself today to be honest. Running on adrenaline will eventually cause you to crash. Never the less I am here. I am not even going to pretend that I am going to make it around to everyone this week…or even perhaps next. Sorry about that.

Anyway…enough of those things that are out of my control…and on with the post.

I took a bit of time yesterday to prep a new art journal and actually work in it. It was so much fun to create. I know I’ve said that dozens of times but it is always true! 

Playing with layers and getting the pages soaking wet to watch the color bleed has been very therapeutic in some strange way.

Since Spring is officially here it’s past time to think about starting my seeds.  Over the weekend Mr. G came up with a plan to enclose the plant cart since we purchased a new full spectrum light. Evidently some of the light is UV and will damage eyes.  We honestly weren’t as concerned about our eyes as big, dumb Marvin. The plant cart is a favorite perch and in addition he has a love affair with plastic. Guess what!?! I keep my seedlings in a big plastic tote. We were afraid of Marvin going blind from the UV light as he obsessively licked the plastic tote. Not even kidding.

It’s not the prettiest thing but it will keep all the eyeballs safe and still grow plants. The side facing the outdoors is removable so I can let the plants get natural light during the day and of course be able to water and monitor their progress. I promise I’ll share more once I actually get the seeds started.

Tuesday holds a pre-op appt for mom and something fun..lunch with some girlfriends. Super excited to see those girls!

As I’m writing this I hear lots of birds outside…I look and there is a flock of robins. I quickly snapped a photo and was able to distinguish 7 but honestly I counted at least 20 out there within my sight. I guess the robins have decided that Spring is here as well!

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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14 Comments

T Tuesday: so many things edition

Today for T stands for Tuesday I have a whole mess of things to talk about….now where do I start?!

Last week J got his braces off after nearly 4 years!! He looks so different…so grown up!! My friend Sandy sent him a care package of gooey sticky items for his indulgence after so long of abstaining. Thankfully he is my moderation kid and the treats will last a good long time.

I’ve continued to work on sorting and purging and reorganizing in several areas of the house since I had to move my sewing area to make room for the treadmill.  It went from this…

to this…

I love that I can walk/run anytime I want but have to admit that not having my sewing machine set up all the time is really going to cramp my creative style. I sew all the time!!!!! Eventually I will figure this out.  A temporary, easy set up station of some sort.

I finished everyone’s taxes just a few hours ago so I can mark that off my list. What a relief to have that chore done.

Let’s see what else….

I have taken some time to create a couple art journal pages in the midst of organizing. Neither are my favorites but its all about the process at times.

EDIT: I’m linking up with Art Journal Journey for this first journal page as suggested. Thanks Susi!

Art Journal Journey

I realizing that I’m missing using old books for my journals. I guess it’s my art ADD. I was so completely sold on loose leaf until…I wasn’t.  And so it goes.

The kids were really hoping for a snow day Monday morning…wouldn’t that be a wonderful gift after “springing forward” for Daylight Savings Time?!?  No such luck. The street was plowed curb to curb when I got up at 5:30 (the old 4:30)…ugh. That was fine with me I had plenty of items on my list to keep me busy…such as shoveling.

Check that one off the list. It actually ended up to be a beautiful sunny day. Even though the temps never crested the freezing point…the suns rays are warm enough to melt snow.

In addition to sorting my crafting life, I’m also doing a bit of sorting of old paperwork and junk…basically trying to find space for things that are actually important.

Buried at the back of the bottom filing cabinet drawer was a stack of DVDs. I honestly couldn’t even remember getting these…until I started watching them. OH my gosh!! So much fun to see the house I grew up in…relatives that have passed on….how awkward we all were in front of a first generation VHS camera.

One of our relatives was tech savvy back in the day and bought himself a video camera. He brought it to family functions to record them for posterity. At the time I was kind of mortified but now am so thankful for these recordings. I got so see and hear my dad again!  It was a little sad watching these videos but at the same time a gift. Seeing and hearing all the people that have passed on. Getting to show my kids a mini walk thorough of my childhood home. Having them laugh at me being young but still having the same mannerisms as I do now. Even better…seeing the exact same reaction from me as Mini-me has in the same situation. Laughter to tears and back again. So thankful for these awkwardly funny memories.

Tuesday holds errands and a couple appts as well as a college fair at the high school in the evening for us.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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19 Comments

T Tuesday: upgrades continue edition

As I continue to recover from a neck/shoulder issue…which incidentally is doing much better… *quickly knocks on wood* …work has slowly progressed on the crafty zone. Over the weekend Mr. G replaced this old florescent fixture over my workspace

with a new energy efficient and natural daylight color LED fixture.

It not only gives me better light but really cleans up the space.

As you can see I haven’t only spent time cleaning and organizing…I’ve been doing a bit of creating as well. I just can’t help myself. There are currently two work in progress pieces on my desk.

Tuesday has an afternoon appt and a giant pile of paperwork to complete on my desk since I’ve been pretty much avoiding the computer for going on two weeks! Although it has seemed to help.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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15 Comments

Larger than life

Just a quick post with my latest art journal page. I’ve got some neck/shoulder issues going on so sitting at the computer or sitting in general too long is very painful…so bear with me.

I was inspired by the new theme of Out and About over at Art Journal Journey this morning. I hadn’t even intended on doing anything creative today. Once I saw my neat as a pin work space I knew I just had to make a mess. :)

I didn’t have a plan as usual. I just knew I wanted to make a loose leaf page. It all started to fall into place for me as I added more media. The stacked paper and button flowers were not at all what I was going to use but my drawn and painted one just didn’t look like I wanted. Now I glad it didn’t. I like the whimsical touch these add. Since they seemed a bit oversized the words I found were perfect.

I made a bunch of paper pieced embellishments at craft club on Saturday evening. It’s a fun get together where we all bring our own thing to do and get to craft with friends. Now I have a stash for later projects.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey today.

Art Journal Journey

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