Happy May Day!

     The first of May is an important holiday in France. It is celebrated with gathering sprigs of muguets (lily of the valley) and offering them to loved ones for good luck. Each year I receive beautiful cards (like the one above) from my relatives in France, and some have included a dried sprig or two. Porte bonheur means "a lucky charm". I actually receive more May Day cards than Easter cards from them.

     It's also time for me to upload my finished calendar spread for April and my calendar start up for May for The Kathryn Wheel challenge. You can read more about it and how I created my April pages on this post.


     Here is my finished April:

   And this is the background for May's pages:

   First I placed some Tim Holtz masks around the pages and then sprayed lilac and yellow spray inks. I still had my Higgins Black Magic ink on my table so I did some mark making with it.

   It is now  ready for recording my days. I used a scallop circle punch to represent flowers and sponged the edges with pastel ink pads.


   And now , my May Day wish for you:

                                            "Quelques brins de douceur,
                                              quelques brins de bonheur,
                                              pour apporter la chance
                                              et la joi
                                              tout au long de l'année."

   Some sprigs of sweetness, some sprigs for happiness, to bring luck and joy all year long.

   For more beautiful May Day inspiration visit my friend Patty's blog . You don't want to miss her gorgeous nature mandala and photos.

 

Reckless Abandon

 That's the way I've been feeling lately in my art journaling. Here's my spread for this week's Art Journal Everyday project.

 
  I started out with pages where I had wiped off a brush of turquoise acrylic paint. Then I went at it with  spray inks and stencils (two things I have been unable to put down for very long :) ) It began to look somewhat chaotic-or hey, do those two terra cotta stencils (which are actually part of a victorian design) look like owls peeking out of a jungle? Of course then I had to search my quote stash and found this one which is "without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future"- Albert Camus. Added two feathers. I think I'll leave it at that. Yup, "a little bit of reckless abandon is a good thing."

  Now,  go and create something with reckless abandon-I guarantee you it'll be fun! Then link it on Art Journal Everyday and share the inspiration. Have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Two Button Necklaces and a Giveaway

 Only a few more days left in April and I haven't done a giveaway yet for this month so here we go....

 Back in 2008 when the book "A Charming Exchange" came out I knew I had to own it knowing it was written by my friend Kelly Snelling along with Ruth Rae. It's a wonderful book filled with gorgeous jewelry, tons of inspiration and concise instructions. I cannot believe it's taken me this long to give it a try, but better late than never, right?

 The two necklaces I made are adapted from a combination of several techniques in the book. I was especially drawn to a necklace made with buttons since I happen to LOVE buttons-old and new.

  This is the first necklace I made for myself which consists of shell buttons and inchie images from ARTchix Studio. It was made with two images back to back so I can wear either side facing out.





         Here's the necklace I'm giving away:

                                                                            side 1

                                                                            side 2


  For this piece I chose to make it a necklace you can easily slip over your head. Vintage buttons were used along with an inchie image from ARTchix Studio on the second side which says "share happiness" and one of my own on the first side which simply says "shine". The chain/ribbon measures approx. 29".

  If you'd like to have this necklace all you have to do is leave me a comment by Tuesday, May 8.
 I will randomly draw a winner on May 9. Look for your name then. Good luck!

                          " Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons."
                                                                                               Ruth Ann Schabacker

What Do You See?

  It's time again for Art Journal Everday  and yesterday while sitting at my table I decided I didn't really want to do anything in particular (despite my list) so I grabbed my take along journal (see my previous art journal posts) . This spread already had cross hatch style dry brush marks of pink and orange acrylic paint. I randomly picked out  two spray inks (which just happened to be a red and yellow) and spritzed away. Then I got brave. I used Higgins Black Magic waterproof drawing ink to put a few random large and small drops across the spread then blew thru a straw to move the ink around. I wrote "what do you see" with the ink and dropper tip. Hmmm, what DO I see?

 Immediately a face appeared to me on the right so I stamped a face image in that space. Then I realized the sporadic drops of ink had all become connected, so without much thought I came out with "everything you do in life is connected to you by one thread or another." Is it a pretty spread? NO. But it's about letting go and connecting at the same time, not knowing how it will end up. That's a good thing.

      "I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I am not afraid of falling into my inkpot."

                                                                                                             Ralph Waldo Emerson

Doubly Inspired By This Week's Tuesday Trigger

   This week Cath chose a lovely watercolor butterfly dress for  our inspiration:

      It just so happened I was at an Heirloom Pro Convention that was in town over the weekend and a stamp set I fell in love with (yes, and bought) along with a revisit to "watercolor stamping" gave me all the inspiration I needed upon seeing this dress. Perfect timing!


     Here it is - very CAS indeed:

   Although it's hard to tell from this pic I used glossy cardstocks which I think gives this card a touch of elegance despite the simplicity. All I did for the bird images and leaf image is grab some of my brush markers starting with the lightest color,  randomly colored areas on the stamps until the surface was covered, then stamped onto the glossy cardstock. The result is a look of watercoloring but this also reminds me of Japanese brush painting. I stamped a script stamp over the stamped panel.

   I'm really happy with the way it came together so quickly and plan on making a set or two with various sentiments.

Products used: black, white glossy cardstock; Jet Black ink (Tsukineko), Sepia Archival ink (Ranger); various brush markers (Marvy); script rubber stamp; cling stamp set-Chicks 5 (Local King Rubber Stamp); clear stamp-Think Big Favorites #4 (PTI); heart button.

   Off to get ouside and enjoy a beautiful warm, sunny Spring day here in PA. Thanks for stopping by.

                                         "Good things come to those who love."