Art Party 2016 with Teresa Robinson from The Right Brain Planner

Hi everyone!

I am so excited that Teresa Robinson, aka @stargardener, asked me to participate in her Art Party New Years Eve 2016 Celebration.   I can't think of a better way to ring in a new year than by spending time with friends as we create and share together All Things GRACE in our lives.  

I am extremely inspired by song lyrics and I have had some lyrics from the song "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up!)" by Florence and the Machine running through my head for well over a month.  I created a two-page spread in my collage journal not long ago using some of the lyrics from this song.  You can see that video by clicking here.

Another line from the song has been itching to be expressed in my journal and it inspired my prompt for tonights gathering, which is RELEASE.

"And in the spring I shed my skin and 

it blows away with the changing wind".  

-  lyrics from "Rabbit Heart" by Florence and the Machine

When I think of those lyrics, I envision myself tossing out all of the bad things from 2015 and releasing them into the wind....and then, welcoming in and asking for the grace of positives in contrast to those things that I'm letting go.  I am hoping that by creating a visual representation of these feelings that it will help me truly let them blow away so that I can start working on the positives that I want in 2016.  I have acknowledged them and make them known.  Now it's time to let them blow away and begin fresh.  While working on the RELEASING page, I decided that it was important for me to acknowledge and make not of the things in life that I want to be blessed with....areas that are opposite of those things that I'm letting go, areas that I want to work on with my personal growth and life.  By looking at those things that I want to remove from my life, it helped me put into words ways I want to bless my life in 2016.  These pages are in my Moleskine Art Plus Sketchbook.  It has thick, card stock like pages that are perfect for collage pages. 

I absolutely love the image of the lady floating in the water and wanted to use as much of it that I could.  There was quite a bit of text along the bottom third that I had to cut off.  Since I wanted to use the whole image, and didn't want to turn it on it's side to make it fit on the page, I decided to add a tip-in.  This way I was able to use the whole image by placing it on the journal page and the rest of it onto the tip-in.  I like to use postcards that we receive from a local art gallery for my tip-in's because they have beautiful art on the front and I almost always leave it as is.  

I wasn't able to find the words "RELEASE" and "BLESS" in any of my magazines (yes, there have been times when I spent hours looking through piles of magazines for the perfect word...it's a sickness lol) so I used some letter stickers.  And, to make things easier, I typed up the things that I'm releasing and what I want to be blessed with on my typewriter.  

The beautiful papers that you see on the right side are collage sheets that are available from Tangie Baxter's Art Journal Emporium.  I love the papers she creates so much and they work perfect as backdrops for the found words and phrases that I put on my journal pages. 

The images that I have been using a lot lately are from Bella Grace Magazine.  I have completely fallen in love with the photographs from this magazine.  So much so that I started buying two copies....one to keep and one to cut up.  I know that this is pricey, because it's not a cheap magazine (like any are anymore! lol) but I decided that since I wasn't buying any other magazines really and the fact that I am using so many images from the magazines in my journal, that it was worth it.  The joy that I am getting from creating meaningful pages with the images makes it worth the expense.  I was lucky to find two different issues of Bella Grace at my local Half-Price Book Store for $5 each, so it's always good to look around at places like that for magazines that you love! 

I hope you're enjoying your evening of creativity with us and don't forget to visit Teresa's blog, Right Brain Planner.  She has so much to offer there, including a free 27-page printable booklet called, "Monthly Planner - Journal for Gluebooking - Writing Your Story in 2016".  Just go to the bottom of the page at this post and click on the image at the very bottom. And, be sure to follow her on Instagram, @stargardener, because every Saturday she has a new blog post and prompt for Glue Book Saturday!

Take care everyone, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope that you had a very wonderful and blessed holiday season! 

Happy New Year! And watch out 2016, here we come!

di

Minecraft Creeper Shaker Card

Hi everyone!  My daughter needed a birthday card this weekend for her best buddy who just so happens to be a huge Minecraft fan and I knew exactly what to do.  The Frugal Crafter had just posted a video on a super fun Creeper shaker card on her YouTube channel and I knew that's what I needed to make.  It was a lot of fun to make, too!  All of my color stamp pads are so, so old that I ended up having to use acrylic paint and it worked just fine.

Here is a link to the video from The Frugal Crafter where she makes this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by and take care!
Dianne

YouTube Video Hop Project

Hi everyone....I'm way late sharing there here...for some reason I just can't remember to keep my blog updated....but I was in a great, little video hop over on YouTube and I wanted to let you all know about it, in case you might have missed it.

So be sure to visit my YouTube channel to see my video...here's the link for you.... and follow along through the video hop.  Shannon Green was brilliant in coming up with this hop because all that you need to do is click on the top link listed in the comments and it will take you directly to the next video in the hop.  It sure did make things nice and easy!

I hope that you enjoy the project that I created and here are some photos of it for you to see. :-)

**Click here to watch me create this card**

Thanks so much for stopping by and take care!

Dianne

#pawgustart Creating Yourself - Collage Journal Page

Here is Day 2 for this months Hashtag Event from the Creative Arts Collaboration on YouTube! This months theme is animals so be sure to search on the hashtag #pawgustart because there is an incredible amount of awesome videos to not be missed!

**Watch me create this page here**

Thanks so much!!!!

Take care,

Dianne

#pawgustart - Live the Best Life Possible Collage Journal Page

This months theme for the YouTube Creative Arts Collaboration is Animals!  YouTubers from all over the world will be sharing their love of art and animals by posting videos August 20-22 and you don't want to miss it!  Be sure to search on #pawgustart at YouTube and get ready to see some amazing art!

Here is my project for the first day of this three day event:

**You can watch me create this collage journal page here**

Thanks so much for stopping by and be sure to check back because I have lots more to share these next few days!

Take care,

Dianne

Two Mixed-Media Post Cards

Hi everyone,

Whew. What a crazy past few weeks I've had here.  But, today I was able to work on some mixed-media post cards and it sure felt wonderful to push some paint around again!  Both of these cards were created on a 4"x6" piece of water color paper.  I picked up a couple of packs of watercolor paper from Target for around $3 and it's been working great to use as bases for ATC's (artist trading cards) and postcards.

I always put leftover paint, color sprays and modeling paste onto pieces of deli paper to use on other projects and that's what I used for these two cards.  It's a great way to make the most of your supplies and it's also fun to use pieces of paint covered deli paper as inspiration to start a new project.  It helps get rid of that "fear of a blank page".

You can watch me create these two cards here.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

Take care,

Dianne

#lovesummer art - A Mixed Media Canvas

Hi everyone!

Well, I couldn't resist doing another project for the YouTube artist collaboration called #lovesummerart !  I found a 6"x6" canvas board and decided that it would something fun to create for a change.  I've been working 3"x5" index cards since June 1st, so it was nice to be working on such a solid surface instead of a flimsy card. lol

When I first started this, I had an ocean sunset idea in my head and that I needed to use some products that I hadn't used in awhile.  So I grabbed some of my Golden Fluid Acrylics as well as a few other things.  It wasn't long until my ocean scene turned into grasslands, thanks to my blue and yellow paints mixing together and that was just fine because when I started, I decided that I was just going to play with different mediums and see what happened.  I work best when I go into a project with that frame of mind, because I don't have a set idea in my head and just keep my head open to prompts from my muse.

I really like how this turned out and the only thing that really bothers me about it is that I think the horizon line should be a bit lower.  It's too close to being in the middle and I prefer it to be either visibly  higher or lower than the middle of the canvas.  But, that's okay, it's a fun, little piece of art that's now sitting on my mantle and a great reminder of the plains of my home state.

~~Click here to watch me create this on my YouTube Channel~~

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that you enjoyed my two creations for the #lovesummerart collaboration!  Now, back to working on my ICAD's! July is almost over and I'm determined to have a card for each day!

Take care,

Dianne

#lovesummerart -Eternal Summer - a collage journal pageo

Hi everyone!

What an amazing weekend this has turned out to be!  Head over to YouTube and put in the hashtag- #lovesummerart -and you will discover loads of videos from artists all over the world who are shaving their love of ART and SUMMER with everyone.  It's quite an amazing collaboration of people who have come together and all because of ART.  This makes my soul so happy!  Working in my art journals has completely changed my life.  It's a safe place for me to create and lots of times to work through difficult and troublesome feelings that I am experiencing at the time.  I'm not good at putting things down in words, but wow does it ever help me to put down lots of layers of paint and other mediums, or cut images and words from magazines and glue them together in collages.  So, being a part of this movement has been such a wonderful experience and I sure hope that you spend some time watching as many of the #lovesummerart videos that you can.  You won't be sorry and you might also find some artist on YouTube that you had not discovered before.  That's what I'm excited about....finding new channels to watch!

I must admit that my muse seemed to have taken a hike when it came to working on this project.  I have been so focused on my ICAD cards and it was hard at first for me to switch gears for some reason.  But, late last night I was flipping through a magazine and found the perfect image.  Then I searched on "summer quotes" and found a great quote.  This morning, my art buddy joined me, and I'm so happy with how it all came together.

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. 

- Celia Thaxter

Click here to watch me create this collage journal page.

Thank you so much for stopping by and be sure to search on #lovesummerart!  I promise that you won't be disappointed! <3

Take care,
Dianne

ICAD Day 39 to 41

Another quick update with some cards that I made yesterday!  You can watch me create these cards here. :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Take care!
Dianne