Creative Nourishment

    First I want to thank you all for your thoughts and concerns regarding my Mom. Everything she has been tested for has come back negative. It appears she has a low iron level tho which would explain her fatigue.

   This week I'll be sharing two projects I completed for this month so far thru my 52 Weeks Of Creative Abundance classes. Our word theme for the month of May is "Nourish". Our wonderfully creative instructor Christi gives us a tag project  for each word of the month, along with other ways to incorporate the word.

Here's my tag in my journal:

  Products used: Dylusions Ink Sprays-London Blue, Vibrant Turquoise. Yellow pigment ink pad. Stencil-Seafoam (Artists Cellar). Embellished with sequins pearl sticker and gold mica flakes.

  The theme around this word is about how important it is for us women to make sure we provide nourishment to ourselves-whether it's 15 min. a day or even 5 min by doing something that feeds our soul. We owe it to ourselves to stay nourished.

  The second project  is an 8" x 10" canvas:

   I applied a coat of baby blue paint on both canvases then lightly painted on some Silks acrylic glazes in African Jade and French Lilac. White paint was dry brushed on top. A foam stamp and Purple Lilac paint was used on top. The templates were given to us. I traced them onto cardstock/patterned papers. Edges were sponged with blue pigment ink. All was glued in place. Nails were hammered at bottom. Embellished with star gem stones and silk flower. Hung the tags. Love it!

  On a final creative and nourishing note, I received my complimentary issue of  Somerset Studio Gallery Summer 2013 because this project I had sent in (which , again I had forgotten about) was published !

  Although they messed up the instructions, the photo of it showed up nicely. It's a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" canvas ATC. Background is a napkin. Added tissue paper, silver threads, a scrap of sheet music, image from ARTchix Studio and some vintage buttons.

  I also want to give a shout out and congrats to fellow PPF'r  Kristin Van Valkenburgh who has several pages of her gorgeous painted portrait canvases in this edition!! I haven't gotten thru the whole issue yet so if anyone else reading my post is published in it let me know :).

  Linking up this week to Art Journal Every Day, Paint Party Friday, Show and Tell Saturday, and Creative Every Day. See you soon!

        " We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as  a meal does for the body." Paul Coelho.

Catching Up

  Greetings! I hope those of you who celebrated had a beautiful Mother's Day. I had every intention to post and share new art last week but unexpected circumstances changed that. My mom (who lives in her home with her dog and is VERY active and independent) hadn't been feeling very well so the Dr. ordered a repeat of lab work done a few weeks ago. She had some concerns over a repeatedly low platelet count. Long story short-within the last week I took her to a  gastroenterology/ liver specialist for a consult,  for a spleen/liver scan, and a consult with a hematology specialist besides my own appts.  Good news is that the scan was negative and although the specialist wants more testing done to rule out some causes she is not otherwise concerned as this has been a chronic problem over the years.

 I did manage to also take my mom to a local garden center to buy our annuals. Oh how I love all the colors in my yard now!!! And not only that , look at what visited for the first time on Thursday the 9th:

   Finally our hummers have arrived!!! It looks like we have one pair but I'm hoping for more. We've gotten about 4 or so in previous years-not very many but I will be watching :) I did have to cover, move and even take in some of my plantings because for two nights we had frost warnings and temps down to 32 F- in May? Really?

  Now for the art. I decided to play with the  paper towels and napkins I had laying on my table. They were used for wiping  excess paints and inks off my stencils.

 Sections were cut out, then I carefully peeled apart the plies. This is a paper towel. Diluted Collage Pauge was brushed on to my watercolor journal pages to glue the paper towel down and a brayer was used to remove any air bubbles. Once dry any excess was trimmed away.

  But don't throw away those colorful excess strips!!!  Glue them onto a watercolor ATC for a great background:

  Here's a really cool paper towel I'm saving for another page-hmm... I think I see  pair of eyes on an owl :)

  Here are pages and ATCs  from an ink spray blotted napkin:

  Although I didn't finish any of the journal pages yet I did finish the ATCs:

  Products used: flowers-Paper Whimsy , tag stamp- Collage Stuff . The little green strips of grass are from a gelli plate print.

  And here are two cards I made for two of my friends birthdays this week-happy birthday to LuAnn and Lynn!!!

  For LuAnn's card I used the new die and Flower Soft products I bought at a convention which I shared about in this post. I think this stuff would make for great texture mixed into gesso or paint don't you?

  I chose a different approach for Lynn's card:

  

  I put a dot of olive green, baby pink and gold acrylic paints next to each other on one edge of a credit card then swiped it over the card . The excess paint was picked up on bubble wrap and "stamped" on. A butterfly sticker was added and I stamped the words (Papertrey Ink) with Jet Black Staz-On ink. A gemstone was added to dot the i. I've made both masculine and feminine cards like this for some years now and like that you never quite know how the swipe will appear on the cards. It's a quick and easy go to idea for something a little different than my usual style.

  Linking up to Art Journal Every Day, Paint Party Friday, Creative Every Day, Mandarin Orange Monday. Please take some time to visit the talented artists linking up to these challenges-definitely worth your time!

  Have a wonderful, creative weekend!

  "The bud of a rose is just as beautiful as the full bloom. Appreciate what you have at the moment."   
                                                                                                                    Anonymous        

Journal Pages and a May Calendar Spread

   Hooray for May!! It is heavenly to be able to sit in the sun with a bite to eat, smell fresh cut grass, and wear flip flops. Of course, it does still get pretty cool at night and so it will be another week or so until I buy my annuals for planting. Still no sign of a hummingbird but I just know it won't be long. It was the 7th of May last yr. when we saw our first hummer arrive at the feeder.

  Of course, with the nice weather arriving I'll be spending less time in my art room. This week I managed to get my calendar spread done and I'm finishing up a project which I'm not able to talk about at this time-but fingers crossed I will have good news to share in the future :) So for now I will share some of my older journal spreads in yet another art journal.

  May's calendar spread for Kate Crane's 2013 Calendar Challenge:

  First I stamped a swirl design (DeNami) around the pages. I drew on leaves and sponged the pages lightly with green ink. The stencil letters were traced and made from cardstock. Days of the week are stamps by Magenta. I used images from Retro Café Art (Parisian Beauties collage sheet) along with a variety of stickers. The French quote on the lower left translates to "my soul lies in the sun".

  Here's a variety of journal pages:

    I used to use magazine clippings a lot but not so much anymore. On the clover page I actually used gel medium and glued/sealed fresh clovers to the page.The bottom two should be closer together but I have NO idea how this happened and couldn't figure out how to fix it (Todddddd I need you!!!) The first of the two is a scan of a poster I made. Both pages were done using watercolor crayons. I then vented with my words both horizontally and vertically on the pages. Can you tell it was a rough and stressful time?? Thankfully I haven't had to do a spread like this in a long time:)

   For this page I glued down paper scraps then used ink pads and crayons along with sequin waste for the background. I added a paper from a French cheese and used a real cupcake liner then painted my cupcakes. The French translates to "my little sin"- being a gourmand. How I adore French cuisine!

  These two pages also go side by side. How did I get the pages closer together this time?-oy vey! I love words and plays on words etc. I spotted the book "An Exaltation of Larks" by James Lipton at the library one day and got such a kick reading about the origins of sayings and plays on words. The torn paper on the top with the stamped image was a scrap I was going to toss. Thankfully I glued it on the page and painted the pages with colors to match it before writing.

 And this is one of my very favorite spreads:

  I gessoed the pages first and then used a pencil to make marks in it while still wet. Once dry I applied watercolor crayons. The stamp on the left is part of an UM set from Collage Stuff. The images are from ARTchix  Studio. Photo of Todd courtesy of hubby. This is so special because our son is the first in both our immediate families to have had the opportunity to go to college and graduate from DeSales University, formerly known as Allentown College of St. Francis DeSales. Years ago Bill and I used to go out there to the campus area often walking, biking and seeing some plays never EVER thinking one day that  this would be where a child of ours would go. I cried at HS graduation but this was SO much harder for me because I knew I really had to let him go. I think I've succeeded-somewhat. I mean, we are all very close and he lives nearby and now comes over most Sundays to have dinner with us since he broke up with his former girlfriend of 5 yrs. :) Nuff said.

  Linking up to Art Journal Every Day, Paint Party Friday, 2013 Calendar Challenge.

"Dreams don't have to come true by age 20, 30, or 40: they often occur long past when you thought possible." Anonymous

Cardmaking, Crochet Work, and a Play Page

  It's amazing how quickly a week goes by, and here we are -another Friday and weekend! This has been a busy week as I got the Spring cleaning bug and have been at it a bit each day. Not my favorite thing to do but what a difference fresh curtains makes, along with a super clean fridge (only had to discard 3 things-yay me!) and kitchen gadgets, and two bathrooms cleaned top to bottom. There's so much more to do but I'll get to it gradually. I mean, I do need to art and to take time outdoors now that Spring has sprung :) I'll have a busy weekend too as we're having friends for dinner and I'm cooking a French themed menu for them. Sunday I'll be cooking again for Todd- I know how much a home cooked meal means to a single guy on his own :)

 In my last post I shared my convention findings and I did take the time to play with my new Spellbinder's lattice-like custom die by making cards. First one is the card I made for my Mom for Mother's Day:

 

 

  Above this card is a pic of the die. I was pulling out the cut away bits and thought they were kinda cool looking so I kept them to use on my gelli plate etc. Then I got this idea and used 4 white bits as fill ins on the card above for some added interest.

 

  I used a silk poppy and a velvet leaf on this one.

  This card I made for my friend LuAnn whose favorite color is pink:

  The last card I made:

  Notice anything about these cards? I tried my hand at using a watermark in PSE for the first time. If you have any ? about the supplies etc. for these cards please contact me. I just didn't have the time to write everything up this week.

  As I was cleaning in the kitchen I came across a knitted cotton dish cloth my hubby's great aunt had made me some yrs. ago. It's still in perfect condition and I'm saddened that she's no longer with us and I didn't have her teach me to make my own. However, I am SO not good with knitting but do crochet so I bought a ball of 100% cotton 4 ply worsted weight yarn and crocheted one that looks very much like Aunt Louise's knitted one:

  Soo easy! All this takes is a J size hook and double crochets. Now I must go buy more yarn so I can crochet while watching TV and then replace my old bought cloths with some pretty new ones.

  I also got  a bit of time to play with my stencils albeit briefly:

  Leftover green, yellow and cobalt teal acrylics were scraped on the page. Then I used the Sea Fan and Mini Cubist stencils (Artist Cellar) with Dylusions Squeezed Orange and Bubblegum Pink ink sprays. I see a herd(?) of giraffes gathered on the page. Do you?

 I'll be linking up to Art Journal Every Day, Paint Party Friday, Creative Everyday and Show and Tell Saturday. Enjoy your weekend!

  "Use your imagination not to scare yourself to death, but to inspire yourself to life." Adele Brookman

 

Convention Findings

  I cannot begin my post without mentioning that my prayers go out to all those affected by the senseless tragedy of the bombings in Boston on Monday this week. May the strength of our prayers, faith and actions allow us to be fearless, to continue towards peace.

  In my last post I mentioned going to an Heirloom Pro Rubber Stamp Convention being  held in town. Some of you may be familiar with this as they do hold events throughout the US each year. The downside to the show this year was that it was held in a much smaller space so there were only 23 vendors. It made for a madhouse crowd in the beginning, with some aisles so small it was impossible to get thru! Not to mention that many who were either in wheelchairs or pulling carry on suitcases were not so careful of the walkers feet! Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of new product or demos.Considering all the fabulous new things that came out of CHA, it was disappointing.

  However, my friend LuAnn and I did manage to have a really fun time and make some purchases! Here are some things I picked up:

  I got three pkgs. of these darling brads from The Eyelet and Brads Outlet. They literally had hundreds! to choose from-anything you could think of- from mustaches to sock monkeys (LuAnn's fave) and everything in between.

  These Dylusions Ink Sprays are now a part of my growing collection-LOVE them!!!:

 I found this 12" x 12" stencil by Prima(for only $7.00 !!), one of only a very few seen at the show :(

 Further down this post I'll show you what I did with it so far. (if you last that long)...

 Another fun place to visit was Our Daily Bread where they featured Flower Soft and products to coordinate with it. Here are two pics of what Flower soft is:

  They come in many variations including sparkly colors, solids and mixes in teeny tiny bits meant to add soft dimension to flowers, trees etc.  Here is a sample detail on a card LuAnn and I each made there:

  

   It adds a special touch without any bulk. I've used this product before and plan on making a Mother's Day card using it.

   I have one more purchase to share along with some card samples I thought were just too cute to resist sharing here.I hope you'll agree :) At the same vendor my eye was completely drawn in by these gorgeous cards:

  Be still my heart!!! My fave is the one with the bright orange/red morning glories-YUM! I've never seen these flowers in this color, but who cares? Of course I bought the custom design die template (Spellbinders) to cut the lattice like pattern as many times as I wish! Yes, LuAnn bought it too:):)

  These card samples were displayed at the TooMuchFun Rubber Stamps booth:

    Great name for this company n'est-ce pas?? LOVE those shirts and jackets, and yes, besides the rubber stamps, they sell tiny buttons, bits, hangers and zippers- way cute!! Tempting as it was we didn't buy anything. I just found out they are going to offer their stamps in unmounted only beg. Sept. :) :)

    For those of you who follow along here you know I'm taking the 52 Weeks of Creative Abundance online course. At the beg. of each new month our wonderful instructor Christi gives us a new word to set the month's theme along with a new tag to create. Here is mine in my moleskine journal:

   Again, I pretty much followed Christi's idea. I used my new stencil above to create the page along with yellow acrylic, twinkling H2O, Sunburst Silks acrylic glaze and a mix of Ceramicoat Pearl Finish and Olive Green acrylic paint. The shimmer is beautiful. The patterned papers I used are all from my gelli plate prints. I just loved Christi's idea to use threads for the water!!! Our word for the month is "cultivate" and I chose these words representing what I wish to continue to grow and cultivate. Of course there are material things I'd like also but my thought is that if I focus on these non material things the rest will come.

 Anyone here yet???? One more photo:

  Background page in my large journal, playing with my new stencil and new Dylusions sprays in Lemon Zest, Dirty Martini and Calypso Teal.

  Please join me in linking up and/or visiting the talented artists at Art Journal Every Day, Paint Party Friday, Inspiration Avenue, Creative Everyday, and Mandarin Orange Monday.

  Thank you dear friends for all your encouraging and supportive comments regarding my "artful" birds in my last post. It means so much .

  "Until you commit your goals to paper, you have intentions that are seeds without soil." Anonymous

Summertime...And The Livin' Is Easy...

    First I want to say a huge thank you all for your many uplifting comments! I appreciate it so much. What an awesome community this is!

    This week we had a GLORIOUS bit of summer weather beg. Mon. with 75 degrees and increasing up to 85 on Wed.-heavenly!!  I relished every moment I could outdoors walking, reading, etc. Needless to say not much got accomplished this week.  We did get a severe thunderstorm or two later Wed. and look what happened:

   It hailed-with ice stones the size of peas and peas on steroids!! Thank goodness there was no damage here because of the small size so I thoroughly enjoyed it-I love a good thunderstorm!

  I did manage to get a little art done to share. First up are two backgrounds I started in my watercolor journal:

 This one is a gesso resist where I brushed on and sponged on some gesso a bit thickly, let dry, then painted on some watered down acrylic paints. I really like the texture you get from this.

 Same journal. This is a technique from Dina Wakley's book Art Journal Freedom in which you gesso a page, paint over the dried surface then use a stencil and baby wipe or paper towel to remove some of the paint-pretty cool!

 

  This is a 5 x 7 canvas board I used to try out another technique in Dina's book on creating "artsy birds". No step outs here-you'll have to go to Dina for that :) I've talked about this book before and shared another of the techniques in this post. Quite honestly once I finished this I thought it was one hot mess! I was going to share it anyway but you know, after I looked at it the next day I didn't think it was all that bad. I'm definitely going to practice this more as I do love birds-and if I can make them fun and not so technical-well that's just in my best interest :)

  This weekend I'll be meeting up with some friends at the Heirloom Productions Stamp Convention  which is being held nearby. Each year there are sadly fewer venues and not very many new things but it's still fun to see what might inspire. I'm REALLY hoping to see new Dylusions sprays and new stencils and I know I have to pick up some reinkers. I'll let you know my findings in my next post.

  Enjoy the weekend wherever you are and do take some time to enjoy some of the other fab artists inspirations where I'm linking up to this week:  Art Journal Everyday, Paint Party Friday, Creative Everyday, Show and Tell Saturday.

           " All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our life." M.C. Richards