Friday, December 19, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 37

This art journal page was inspired by Carissa Page's lesson for LifeBook 2014 that combined collage images into a figure.  I found my images in magazines and used them to represent her thoughts.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

48 weeks: week 36


For this spread in my 48 weeks journal I drew a bird with inspiration from Googled images of starlings.  They have such beautiful highlight marks on their feathers.  I chose to make my bird blue instead of black like a starling to contrast with the yellow and orange splatters in the background.


Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 38


This week's prompt for the Documented Life Project was to use a feather on your page. I used a stamp from Alisa Burke on top of painted vintage ledger paper.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 37

This week's prompt for the Documented Life Project was to use a white pen prominently.  I had fun doing filled circle doodles with a white gel pen.

Monday, December 15, 2014

48 weeks: week 35


This 48 weeks journal page was fun to paint - the birds emerged from the background as I painted around them.



Sunday, December 14, 2014

Compendium of Curosities Vol. 3 Challenge Week No. 17

This is my project for the 17th CC3 Challenge this time around sponsored by Inspiration Emporium.  The page used in Tim's book is page 60 - "woodlands and tinsel twine".  I made a faux altered book structure - you know, the one in which no actual books were harmed ; - )

I used old 7Gypsies book boards from my stash and created a deep niche. Then I cut a door in the front and when you open it.........

.....you can see my scene of a little girl decorating her Christmas tree.

This picture is to try to show you the depth of the book/box.
And finally, one last close-up:
I've done these structures on my blog before; if you're interested there's a French themed one HERE and a steampunk version HERE.  I even have a tutorial for the structure HERE and in the November 2013 Craft Stamper magazine.

Friday, December 12, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 36

This page is inspired by Tam Laporte's LifeBook 2014 lesson where you created a busy background and then doodled on top.  I created a portrait on top of my background using a stabilo pencil.  I continue to love the shadowing you get just by adding water to the pencil lines - the stabilo really is a magic pencil!

Thursday, December 11, 2014

48 weeks: week 34


Here's another 48 weeks journal page with flowers that are finger-painted to achieve a cool textural look and then more raised texture is added with modeling paste through a script stencil. I also like the subtle coloring of the background achieved by painting with a color and white just slightly mixed together - it adds so much more depth than just using one color.


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 36

This week's Documented Life Project challenge was black and white and since I was in a face mood again, I drew one using a white Conte crayon and a white charcoal pencil onto a black gessoed page. I liked the negative effect.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 35

This time the challenge for the Documented Life Project was to add a face.  I did this face right after classes with Dina Wakley so I used a stabilo pencil activated with water over a messy, painted Dina-style background.  Trying to work more with three-quarter views as I find them more interesting.

Monday, December 8, 2014

48 weeks: week 33

Hey the text paper polka dots have made another appearance in my 48 weeks journal! I do still really like them :-)  On this page I took a vintage black and white photo of just a head with a cute bobbed haircut and a portion of her torso and completed the figure and added a dress.  Can you tell where the photo stops?  There's a very subtle line if you look close.


Saturday, December 6, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 34

This art journal page for LifeBook 2014 was inspired by Catt Geller's lesson on play.  It was fun to just play with paint and stencils and pens not having any particular plan and to let things evolve and just see what develops.

Friday, December 5, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 33

This LifeBook 2014 lesson was taught by the always inspiring Finnabair.  I love her style and how she incorporates so many different elements but yet always unifies them.  This was so much fun to make using a vintage Maude Feeley image.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 33

For this week's challenge for the Documented Life Project, we were to use underpaper creatively.  I took my newsprint painty underpaper and cut it into the 5 and then used that to embellish my phrase.  My husband and I jokingly say this a lot - no sympathy in our house - you've got to be tough and resourceful LOL!!!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 32

This page in my Documented Life Planner uses fortune cookie fortunes on a colorful background and has linear doodled patterns along with them.  I have such a stash of fortunes - this barely made a dent! Do you collect fortunes from your cookies, too?

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Compendium of Curosities Vol. 3 Challenge Week No. 16

This is my piece for the 16th CC3 Challenge sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  This time the technique is on page 50 of Tim's book - "Layering Stencils - Embossing".  You can see the technique in my mosaic heart (can you tell it's a heart?  I hope so!) using torn pieces of tags I created using the technique and the bubble layering stencil - one of my favorites : - ) I also used a piece of sheet music and Silhouette die cut letters - both positive and negative - to complete my collage. Thanksgiving is always a great time of year for reflection, but when you think about it, there's quite a difference between being thankful FOR things and being thankful IN all things. It takes time to develop an attitude of gratitude; to be able to be grateful when things around you are in pieces, but it's so good for you.

Monday, December 1, 2014

48 weeks: week 32


I do love stamping into wet joint compound to create texture - such a cool end result - and this week's 48 weeks spread has a lot of that.   It also has fun sections of embedded paper and scribbly script accented by pops of color.



Wednesday, November 26, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 32

This LifeBook 2014 Lesson was taught by Micki Wilde.  She taught a whimsical figure and a background composed of layer after layer of paint unified with white stenciling. I liked how she painted hair by scratching into the paint with a stylus revealing the underlying colors of the background layer so I had to try out that idea.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 31

This week's Documented Life Project challenge was to create a pocket with treasures from your week.  During this week we harvested green beans from our garden - bowls and bowls and more bowls full of beans!  I spent an afternoon (and into the evening) cleaning, cutting, blanching and freezing beans. They will be so good to eat through the rest of the year! Yum :-)

Monday, November 24, 2014

48 weeks: week 31


For this week's 48 weeks spread, the gist of it was to add thick texture and carve into it as well as have more raised texture on top.  Well........every time I look at this I can't see anything other than chewing gum wads stuck to my page!  Oh well......


Friday, November 21, 2014

48 weeks: week 30


This week's 48 weeks spread incorporates a drawn and painted face over a layered background. I'm trying to get away from relying so much on a strong black line to delineate my faces and instead get a blended look.  Strangely enough, my favorite parts of this are the text paper polka dots and then how I was able to get more transparent layers over her neck and collar line.  I love the indistinctness of that area and wish I could achieve that more consistently.  Keep practicing, right?


Thursday, November 20, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 31


This week's LifeBook 2014 lesson was by Mika Diaz who taught a fun layered collage technique that incorporated your own drawings onto tracing paper.  She also had another idea taking a magazine image and embellishing it with all kinds of doodles so I tried out both ideas.


Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 30

This week's Documented Life Project planner page had the challenge of using receipts, labels, business cards, etc. in a smash book style.  I chose to use receipts from all the places I shop.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

48 weeks: week 29



For this week's 48 weeks spread, I used a whole bunch of gathered collage ephemera and had it appear to be embedded in a thick textured layer of joint compound.  I think it gives it a cool effect like stucco on a wall.

Close ups:


Monday, November 17, 2014

Compendium of Curosities Vol. 3 Challenge Week No. 15

This is my collage for the 15th CC3 Challenge sponsored this time by Inspiration Emporium.  The challenge involves a product from page 38 of Tim's Book - a cabinet card pocket.  I have a bunch of "found ancestors" cabinet cards in my stash, but (and maybe you can relate) I won't use them in my art, at least not the originals - eek! too scary! I'll use scans, but with a cabinet card pocket, you can do a DIY version.  So much fun to play with.

Here's a close-up to better see the story of the collage  ; - )

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Compendium of Curosities Vol. 3 Challenge Week No. 14


This is my project for the CC3 Challenge this time sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  The technique for this week is "Colored Crackle" on page 53 of Tim's book.  A couple days ago we spent HOURS raking and raking leaves which is a common chore this time of year around here, so they were on my mind and I just had to choose a leaf motif to try out the technique! As an ironic aside, I'm sitting here writing this post 2 days later in the middle of a snowstorm - gotta love Maine weather!  Maybe it was a good thing we did all that raking.  Anyways.....the technique is done on the leaves and the close-up shows it a bit better even though my crackles are subtle.  I placed my falling leaves onto a lightly stamped background and outlined them with a Stabilo pencil that I then activated with water for a lovely shadow effect. There's also a touch of gold pen on the leaves and you might notice it in other places - it's fun to try out a new pen ; - )


Thursday, October 30, 2014

48 weeks: week 28

This is another abstract page in my 48 weeks journal.  It was an experiment creating layers of the same colors.  I tried to link my circles using lines and then painted a solid layer of color around them.  You can see the under layers in the small gap between the lines.




Wednesday, October 29, 2014

48 weeks: week 27

This cool textured page in my 48 weeks journal was made by embedding fabric, lace, yarn, German scrap, metal bits and paper flowers into joint compound.  I also love how my background orange bits come through my blue and teal color like a copper patina.

Close-ups:


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 29

This is my planner page for the Documented Life Project this week where the theme is to make a wish list. Always on the top of my list is to visit Prince Edward Island again. I was 19 when I first visited with my family and we were all inspired by the televised "Anne of Green Gables" on PBS with Meagan Follows and had to see Anne's island. I have my passport and could be ready to go at any time, there's just that problem with taking time off.........ahhh someday.......I'll continue to dream.