laugh, breathe, love, live - art journal page

I wanted to work on a page yesterday and as I was flipping through my art journal, I came across the page below and decided to finally do something about it.  This is one of my first journal pages and it's been bothering me ever since I finished it.  Maybe it's been bothering me so much, because it just never seemed finished to me.  This is actually a page that was started by scraping all of my extra paint and stamping onto the paper from other projects....

I decided to start playing with it and see what the end result would be.  I really had no plan in mind, except to start working with the same colors on the back ground and go from there.....here's how it looked when I was finally done...and I am happy to say that this one really is done now. lol

I wasn't sure what title I wanted to use.  But since I had a heart on the page, I went to ThinkExist.com  and searched "love" and found this wonderful quote to use.  

I'm really glad that I decided to work on this page again....it just proves that if you don't like what you did, paint over it! :-)

God Bless!
di

Unlock! - art journal page

I decided to try to step out of my artistic box yesterday and made the art journal page below.  I had saved the orange piece of plastic that was covering an important part of my new color printer that I bought a couple of weekes ago.  For some goofy reason, I figured that I could use that someone on one of my art journal pages.  I had also saved the tissue paper from a shoe box from Stride-Rite and tons of Bingo cards from an old game.  I figured that now was the time to try to use those things!  I really enjoyed challenging myself and I'm pretty pleased with my completed page!  It's fun and a change for me....and I like it. ;-)

The tape is the new Smash Tape by K& Company that I picked up the other day.  I was thrilled that it matched this page. :-)  And the heart-shaped lock is a stamp that I colored in with Copic markers.  I have lots of Copics and I really need to be playing with them more and learning how to really use them.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

God Bless,
di

Hope - art journal page - fixing an oopsie.....

I had some free time today and I was able to do a journal page!  

I designed the page around a large, butterfly rub-on that I found.  And, while working on it my page, I had a major oopsie happen......

I dropped the rub-on and part of it fell off the sheet and then stuck down on itself.  One of it's wings was ruined! I wanted to cry!  But, I was determined to make it work.  I'm too stubborn, plus I really didn't want to waste a $3 rub-on!

 Here's what I did.......

What do you think?  I wonder if you would have noticed that one of the wings was messed up if I hadn't pointed it out to you! ;-) After I finished my mini-meltdown from dropping the rub-on, I pulled out my binder of stickers, which I wasn't planning on looking through at all.  I was hoping that I might have a big, butterfly sticker to use instead of the rub-on.  I didn't, but while looking in my sticker binder I found some clear stickers with Bible verses on them and some that were just words.  So, I grabbed some of those and used them to cover up the broken wing.  And I'm really happy how this turned out!  Plus, I was able to use that $3 rub-on after all!

So, if you have an oopsie moment, don't let it stop you!  You might be pleasantly surprised how that oopsie will take you on a different creative path that leads you to a wonderful journal page!

God Bless!

di

sweet dreams - art journal page

Late night art journaling while my little one sleeps in his bed beside me....

I had to "work through the uglies" on this one.....the bottom left corner was giving me problems, but I kept working on it and finally figured out what it really was that was bothering me and I was able to make it work.....I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

God Bless!
di

art - art journal page

My muse finally told me what to do on the first page in my Moleskin journal.....I've been waiting to here from her for awhile.....I'm glad I listened.... ;-)

God Bless!

di

devastate - art journal page

On May 22nd, a massive tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, destroying over 1/3 of the city and killing well over 100 people.  As of today, the number stands at 132, but this keeps raising and is expected to go up each day.....  I am originally from Springfield, Missouri, which is about 70 miles to the east of Joplin.  My parents grew up in Carterville, which is even closer to Joplin.  My grandparents lived in Joplin and I spent many weekends there as a child.  I have a grandparents and sister who are buried there. I have an aunt and uncle who live in Webb City, which is a suburb of Joplin.   I lived there for over a year and had my first child there.  I have driven beside St. John's Hospital more times than I can count.....and seeing the complete devastation that this tornado caused to Joplin is overwhelming.  And, I haven't been there for many years and I am still distraught....I can't even begin to imagine what the people of Joplin are feeling. 

Before and After view of Joplin

I've been needing to get this out in my journal since Sunday, but we had company and I couldn't go spend some quality time in my studio. ;-)  So, I've had this idea floating around in my head for days....until yesterday when I finally felt ready to tackle this on paper. 

 I had an idea about making the tornado out of strips of book paper, so I started with that and hoped it would look as good on paper as it did in my mind. lol  This was one of those pages where I really had to "work through the uglies" as Paula says.  I guess it never got UGLY, but for quite awhile it wasn't looking anywhere near to what I wanted.  All I can say is "Thank Goodness for Color Washes and Stencils!" lol 

So now it is time for recovery....if there is anything you can do to help, please do so!  Contact your local Red Cross and see what they are doing and how you can help.  Many local churches in my area are taking donations of every kind, as well as a television station and even grocery stores.  I have bags of children's clothing that I was going to take to the Salvation Army and they are now going to be taken to my grocery store that's collecting items in semi-trucks to be taken to Joplin.  Please do what you can....every little bit helps.....

ABC News - How to Help the Tornado Victims in Joplin

Red Cross

Missouri United Way

HelpJoplin.com

Take care and God Bless.....

di

A Gathering Apron

I am part of an amazing group of ladies who meets once a month and back in March, we drew names for an apron swap.  As soon as I drew the name of who I was going to sew an apron for,  I knew exactly what I was going to make for her.   I remembered that I had stumbled upon a tutorial for a gathering apron at The Cottage at Frog Creek during some late-night blog browsing and it was just perfect for my friend!  She is an organic farmer and also has over 100 chickens that she raises that lay the most beautiful eggs that I have ever seen.

The apron came together very quickly and I was given the opportunity to practice my button hole making skills....there are 4 botton holes along the bottom of the skirt.   

I chose a darker fabric that would hide stains and usage, because I wanted her use this apron, not keep it hanging up in her kitchen. 

To gather the skirt up, you simply thread the ribbon through the botton holes along the hem of the skirt, pull up the fabric and then tie the ribbon.  This holds the skirt in place and creates a large pocket to collect produce from your garden or fresh eggs.....well, anything that you want to collect really. ;-)

The only change that I made was that I used red, dot fabric for the lining.  The tutorial uses muslin.  The only reason why I made this change is because I bought the wrong width of muslin and I didn't have time to run to the fabric store to buy more.  Luckily, I had a large enough piece of fabric that matched in my stash!  I'm actually really glad that this happened, because I love having the lining red. :-)

Here is the matching tag that I made to go on the gift bag~

This was the first thing that I have sewn for quiet awhile!  Having a new baby has really cut into my sewing time.  It's a lot easier for me to work on my art journal right now, because I can leave everything out in my studio and work on it throughout the day.  I can't do that with a sewing project, because I sew at our dinner table.  It sure did feel good to be sewing again though!  I didn't realize how much I'd been missing it.  :-)

I'm finishing up a journal page about the Joplin tornado today and I will share it soon.....

Happy Friday everyone and I hope you have time to be creative today!

God Bless!

di

Brave Girls Club - Soul Restoration journal pages

I have been taking the Brave Girls Soul Restoration Workshop these past few weeks and I am really enjoying it.  I only wish that I had more time to really dig deep into each weeks assignments, but I am taking what I can from each week and trying to remember that were I am in my life right now, I just don't have a lot of free time.  I am actually several weeks behind in watching the videos and such, but slowly catching up.  Thank goodness we have a few weeks of extra time after the workshop, because I need it!

I wanted to share with you the journal pages that I have completed so far.  Many of them do not have journaling on them, or I took the picture before I journaled on them, because this is a private journal where I've been writing down lots and lots of junk that needed to come out and get acknowledged, so I could move on to brighter and better times.  :-)

The cover of my Moleskin journal

The girl was clipped from an ad in a magazine. I hand-cut the earth and adhered it in her hands (which were originally holding flowers)

The background was created by painting several colors of acrylic paint onto masking tape and then tearing the tape into strips before placing it on the journal page.

Gel medium transfer with pieces of magazine ads for the house and the grass was created by layering several pieces of patterned paper.

 My first time attempting to draw/paint a face.

The girl is from an ad clipped from a magazine and adhered to the page using image transfer with gel medium.

Hand-drawn and painted bird....

Playing with color washes and a butterfly template.

Bottom layer of this background was created by rubbing distress ink over paper, wetting with a water and then placing plastic wrap over it until it dried.  Flourish is a template with colored modeling paste.

So those are the journal pages that I have completed so far!  I know that this will be an art journal that I will be adding to for a very long time.....I have so many journaling prompts waiting to be turned into pages.  I have been trying to do something different for each one....try and learn a new technique...so I am really enjoying this in so many different ways.

Thanks for looking and I will be sharing more of what I have done for the Soul Restoration Workshop with you soon....there is more! :-)

Take care and God Bless!

di

me time - art journal page

We had a power outage today for over two hours and by some wonderful luck, both of my little ones took a nap at the same time!  So, I ran to my studio and I was able to do this page in my art journal.  I just bought the clock face die cut by Tim Holtz and I was thrilled to have some free time to play with it! :-)  I had a hard time getting good pictures, because I snapped these in between rain showers!

Take care and I hope that everyone stays safe tonight....so many terrible storms are ripping across the midwest right now....it's been another wild day....

God Bless,
di

free- art journal page

Quickly sharing a art journal pages that I finished last night....I a dear friend challenged me to use my Tim Holtz bird cage die and this is what I came up with!

I hope that you are all doing well.  Sending up lots of prayers for everyone that has been affected by all of the severe weather in the midwest this week and for those who are still in danger due to this strong line of storms traveling across the United States.  I am a Missouri girl and lived in Joplin for a year or so and I have family just north of Joplin in Webb City.  So, this has been a stressful past few days.

Take care and God Bless,
di