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

#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

SCACD Eclectic Sea Rubber Stamp Release Hop

SCACD celebrated today a newly released, exclusive rubber stamp set called Eclectic Sea which consists of nine rubber stamps.  The Eclectic Sea is a twist of sorts in how something land bound might be seen in the ocean; for example a Sunflower that is now a Coral Sea Flower and vice-versa.  So check out the collection as these are really unique and elegant.  SCACD Artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images and we are so happy to be showcasing them to you now.

Now available to purchase in the USA for the Eclectic Seas Collection.  Be sure to visit the store to see all of the amazing stamps in this collection!  They are all absolutely stunning!

**International Friends, if interested, can please email Susana.**

I was really excited to get to play with the large and small Coral Sunflowers stamps.  And, the best part for me was challenging myself to use them in different ways, especially on a mixed-media project and in my art journal.  Plus, I love making ATCs (artist trading cards) so I knew that I had to make one of those as well. ;-)

A mixed-media canvas -  Large Coral Sunflowers stamp colored in with Copic Markers.

An Artist Trading Card - Small Coral Sunflowers stamp colored in with Copic Markers.

Art Journal page - Large and Small Coral Sunflowers stamp colored with Tim Holtz Distress Stains.

You should be going next to visit Cheryl to see the fabulous creations she has made.  If you are lost then just head back to the SCACD store blog here for the hop list.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that you enjoyed the projects that I created with these beautiful stamps!  Be sure to visit the SCACD site to see all of the amazing stamps that Susana has to offer!

Take care!

Dianne

daily ramblings....2/25/2015

Hello everyone!

I've been very inspired lately watching Christy Sobolewski (aka Gulfsprite) and her weekly YouTube vlog and art reviews.  She's been sharing what she's worked on during that week and I love that idea.  Hopefully, that's something that I can start doing as well!

But for now, I think that I will try to do just a quick update, hopefully daily, on my poor, neglected blog.  Not much chit chat, just photos of what I did that day and what-nots like that.  

I was embarrassed to see that I had not posted on here since September 2014!  Being asked to create some projects for the SCACD Celebration Hop pulled me out of my no-blogging shell and seems to have inspired me to share more on here again.  

I have actually been creating like crazy since January!  I signed up for Wyanne Thompson's class "You & Me in 2015" and once it started up the middle of January, I haven't stopped creating something almost every day.  This has been such a blessing to my soul!  And, the biggest reason for that change was that I was able to move my art area from our cold, dark dungeon of an unfinished basement.  I am now in the "formal dining area" on the main floor of our house, right by the kitchen, and everything else that I need to be by as a busy mom.  The kids and I share this area, so it's half play room/ half art studio and it's been working out wonderfully!  Now I can work in there so easily, even if it's just a few minutes here and a few minutes there.  It is honestly the best thing that has happened in my artist life!  I did a quick walk through of my art area at the beginning of the video today for my Journaling by 5s-Session 5.  You can see it here. :-)

So, I will start sharing photos of the things that I have made these past couple of months, bit by bit, until I'm caught up....

For now, here's what I did today.....

Snow arrived early this afternoon and we went from being 37F degrees

outside to feeling like 10F degrees in just a few hours....burr....

I finished up Session 5 of Shannon Green's Journaling by 5s....

so this journal is all done and ready for "free play"!

I pulled some images to use to make 10 collage postcards

and then realized that I was out of 140 lb watercolor paper.

I like to use the watercolor paper as a base, because it's sturdy.

So, these will have to wait until tomorrow. :-(

We went to Barnes & Noble last night and I stumbled upon

this magazine and couldn't resist buying it.

and....I picked up this magazine a couple of weeks ago at Whole Foods.

I need to get another copy, because there are some beautiful

images in it to use in my collage journal, but too much

great information (recipes and such) that I want to save!

Thanks so much for stopping by and please let me know if posts like this are something that you would enjoy!

Take care,

Dianne

ICAD 2014 - Day 1

Whoo hoo! ICAD (Index-Card-a-Day) has started!  This is my third year playing along and I am so excited that it's ICAD season again!  I absolutely love doing these these cards.  They are small and quick and a great place to play, experiment and to just have fun.

Be sure to visit Tammy's blog to learn all about ICAD 2014 and play along!

I have to confess that I have a major problem with washi tape.....I am completely incapable to throwing any little cut off bit away at all.  So, for months I have been putting those bits on little shelf on my art table with the idea of putting them on an ICAD, so when I was finally ready to work on my first card for 2014, I knew that I had to start with those pieces of washi tape.

You can watch me create this card here :-)

Wordless Wednesday - May 14

join us:

thanks for stopping by! <3
dianne

Wordless Wednesday

join us:

a pair of ATC's

Hello everyone!

I had this image of this couple pulled for awhile to put on an ATC, but had only planned on using the girl.  Well, she was a struggle and I tried using her once but it just wouldn't work.  You can watch me struggle with using her here and I end up creating a totally different ATC.  When I cut her away from her gentleman, only pieces of her arms were left and I was at a loss at how use her on an ATc.  I had originally wanted to give her wings, but there was no way that would work at all.  So, I tossed on my scrap pile on my desk (because I really wanted to use her still) and a few days later I saw her again and there were pieces of flowers laying across her and I knew I could use her after all.

you can watch me create this card here:

And, I couldn't throw him away either, so he made his way onto his own card.  You can watch me create this card here.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I have a lot more ATC's to share!  They have been my creative go-to right now.  They are fun and fast and perfect for my limited craft time that I have right now.

Dianne