A Summer Journal Spread and A Special Piece of Art

   Where does the time go? I'd swear it was just yesterday I posted a spread for the Art Journal Everyday project!  Fortunately I have pages in my takeaway journal that have been sprayed, brushed and stencilled usually during cleaning up from another project. It's much easier not to be facing a white page that's for sure. I started adding more color to sprayed pages by swiping a Distress ink pad in Squeezed Lemonade directly over the pages. Then the fun really began!

   I had recently read Julie Balzer's post regarding her stencil hops which you can see here. She asked which hop or stencil art inspired you the most or surprised you. I chose the "pomegranite" hop because although I liked the stencil OK it wasn't until I saw the artists' projects that I just went "wow, I NEED this stencil!" It has become one of my very favorite "go to" stencils now. As you can see above, both my pages and hands are getting stencilled with pomegranites and the Adirondak paint dauber in Snow Cap! I continued to stencil and add more color with many different ink pads, along with numerous stamps by Dylusions which you already know I love as they seem to appear in my projects alot :)

    Here's my finished spread-WARNING-sunglasses may be necessary!!

      I can't begin to list all the inks and stamps I used!! I do know that the leaf images were stamped in Distress ink Peacock Feathers. The mushroom image was stamped on white cardstock,colored in with Caran D'Ache watercolor crayons, then trimmed and adhered with foam dots. The sweet little moppet on the left is from Paper Whimsy. Her wings were glittered and before adhering her with foam dots I stamped on her dress a bit to incorporate her into the page. The imagine tile was from my stash. The title is from an Oprah magazine. The red stamp image is one I just carved yesterday for fun. Some butterfly and bird stickers were added. I think it's done, don't you? :):)


   And now, about the note I left at the end of my last post about the wonderful world of blogging and giving. I recently went on a blog hop at Alpha Stamps, especially because an internet art friend who's work I so admire, Theresa mARTin, is now a member of their design team and I was especially excited to see what she created to give away! (generally blog hops serve as a way to introduce artists and/or new products, and besides giving lots of tips and inspiration, giveaways are a big part of it all).
Theresa is a very accomplished artist who has been published numerous times and her art has been shown in various exhibitions. Click on her name above and check it out.

   I was especially drawn to this piece of coaster art titled "Time For Spring":

  and as you may have guessed by now- I WON it!!!! I was so excited, especially since I just had a special feeling when commenting about it. The photo doesn't do justice to the multi layered, collaged and stitched papers along with the metal clock, dresden crown and resin(?) numeral! Thank you Theresa!! It truly is special and besides cherishing it, it will also be another reminder to me to give back and to pay it forward. So, be on the lookout for another giveaway from me to you coming soon.

   In the meantime, if you love lavender and pretty projects like I do please visit my friend Patty's blog where she is generously giving away to 6 people a beautiful lavender wand. The giveaway is open up to June 20th so you still have time to enter. She has also provided links on how to create your very own. If you do visit, please leave her a comment. She is so incredibly generous in sharing so many things and works hard on keeping her blog top notch, inspiring, and so lovingly versed in word and art.

  See you next time with more stamp carving. Thanks so much for visiting. I do like to reply when I have an email to reply to but if I don't just know your comments are all much appreciated.

   "It took me a year to paint like Raphael and a lifetime to paint like a child."  Pablo Picasso