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