Magical Journal Journeys ~ First Stop!

I've finished my pages in Gemma's journal. 

We've all chosen colors for our journals and Gemma

chose purple. She told us we could also use splashes of

magenta, turquoise, lime green, and orange.

As you can see, a bit of a splash is not in my repertoire

and I kind of got carried away. Most probably because I love all of 

those colors and they look smashing with purple!

I added 2 pages at the back with a pocket for tags.  

I just realized I forgot to photograph my tag.

Oh well, 'twill be a bit of a surprise then :)

I'll be packing this up to send to Priti Lisa this week

and in another week or so I'll receive Stephanie's.

In other news. . .

Apple has informed me that my hard drive is being recalled.

So I will be taking my computer down to the the Apple Store

to have them put a new one in. I have to back up everything on my computer

because what I'll get back is a completely blank one :(

I know some people back up their files regularly. I am bad and I do not.

Let this be a lesson to me. The silver lining is that I was forced to go out and buy 

an external hard drive for back up, and now it will happen automatically.

Why am I telling you this? I will be computer-less for 2-5 days

while the Apple geniuses do their work. Not that you would miss me...

the post right before this was 2 weeks ago. But just in case.

Which reminds me to say I will also be out of town for a bit in April,

so you actually might wonder. 

Have a superb week! 

♥ Make art every day ♥

Tags from the Heart

Tag Swap!

I love the tags I received in Inspiration Avenue's Tag Swap last month!

This week everyone is showcasing the 3 tags they received in the swap.
(And/or posting tags not done for the swap.)

The color red and the heart motif are two of my favorite elements in art.

And the swap was full of both, since February is American Heart Month

and of course contains Valentines Day too ♥♥  Oddly, I went a different

direction with a couple of my own tags and didn't use much red.

But the ones I received had plenty of both!

This one is from Lou Anne:

Heart Songs

The embellishments flow like music!

I love both the front and the back!

Next, here is Velody's tag:

Love

The red stitching is gorgeous!

Look at the precise stitches around the heart!

And my third tag is from Nancy:

Listen to your ♥

I love this sweet little character and smile every time

I look at him! Good advice too!

It's Tag Week over at Inspiration Avenue.

Pop over to see the tags that were sent in the swap.

Plus, the challenge this week is also calling for tags, 

either new or old, not swap-related.

You've got til Sunday March 17 to post some tags of your own!

Once you begin making tags it becomes rather addicting :)

I'm hoping to add some more of my own  

♥♥♥

Memories of Schooldays!

Show and Tell

This week at Inspiration Avenue the theme is 

Show and Tell

Lou Anne channeled her teaching days and told us we could choose 

anything at all that we'd like to show. Could be something old or new.

I have a new Life Book lesson that I've completed

so thought I'd post it here. The layered background was 

fun to do. I even enjoyed rolling up all the little bits of paper!

Although, that part was my own take ~ the lesson was slightly 

different when it came to the heart. 

The center of the large heart is filled with glass beads 

over a crumpled pink tissue paper border. The glass beads

create a kind of cheesy plastic surface, but I sort of like it anyway :)

It took forever to dry and I had to reinforce the back of the piece since

I created it on mixed media paper and it began to affect the back of the paper.

All's well now though...it's quite sturdy.

I have a few journal pages that I haven't posted yet, although my journal

has already gone to Priti Lisa, and the pages Lisa has done in it

are spectacular!! Click on her name above to visit her blog.

Here are the remaining pages I have not posted til now:

back cover:

Visit Inspiration Avenue and check out the 

Show and Tell challenge.

You have until Sunday, March 10 to 

show us what you've been working on 

and tell us all about it!

Stencil Test Drive

Fun Borders

 

It's time for another Stencil Test Drive!
Jessica Sporn has created a new line of stencils 

(available at Stencil Girl Products). She asked me and some other artists 

to "test drive" the stencils of our choice and 

I was immediately drawn to the Fun Borders stencil.

I really wanted to try out this varied collection of creative stencils!

So many different styles on one sheet,

but I have to say I was drawn right away to

the stars and spirals on the left side.

So much so, that I created a painting that I used as my 

Christmas card back in December when I first received the stencil.

It's perfect for  a night time sky!

I had a lot of fun using the stencil to make washi tape...

(the borders and a long strand of tape are meant for each other :)

The top one is the checkerboard pattern with a bit of embellishment,

and the purple one was made with a portion of 

the ornate, swirly stencil, third from the left.

The one below was made with my favorite stars and spirals, of course.

I've used the tape in an art journal...

This journal is starting on its round robin travels today.

I'm mailing it off to Priti Lisa, the first stop on its nine-month journey!

Another journal page, using one of the borders.

This stencil reminds me of ancient art, maybe Aztec or Egyptian?

Before I added the flowers:

I stenciled this border onto a Gelli Plate print...

I love these ornate patterns!

One more thing I created that I forgot to add last night.
I was reminded of it when I saw the awesome bookmarks
Judy Shea has made with the stencils and polymer clay.

I used this elegant border to make a bookmark using glass beads.
I love the raised, shiny texture of the beads and the intricacy of the stencil.

I actually just wanted to experiment with glass beads and the stencils,
but I love the way this came out, so I think I will use it as a bookmark!

There are 4 other artists who selected Fun Borders for their test drive.

Drive on over and see what they've created:

 

Marjie Kemper

Natasha May 

Maria McGuire

Judy Shea

And visit Jessica's blog as well for her wonderful art

and to see all of the Stencil Test Drives as they happen! 

 

Some journal pages for

The Magical Journal Journey

Our journal swap is getting ready to start!

It even has a name right at the beginning this time

thanks to Lisa, the Wright One who is so clever with words!

This is the cover of my journal.

I chose Orange, Yellow, and Gray as my color scheme,

and frankly I loved it at first but I'm really looking forward to

using some different colors, which I will be able to do because

each of the nine artists have chosen a different combo.

The first book I'll receive is Gemma's and ooooh ~

I will get to use Purple, plus bits of other colors like magenta,

turquoise, and lime green :) I can't wait!

Inside front cover. You may have seen this before (my February Face).

I added a bit more of a February feel to it, but the hope of Spring is

peeking out in the orange glow at the top. I may add some writing 

somewhere on the page.

I added this flap between the 2 pages because I didn't like 

the way they looked right next to each other.

I will add some writing somewhere on this page.

I love this little girl in the car. She's ready to do some serious driving.

This is also for Mandarin Orange Monday.

Last page I have completed...

I have a couple more to do, and then it's in the mail to Priti Lisa!

(The stencil in the background is from Jessica Sporn's Fun Borders, 
one that she created for Stencil Girl Products, and
one that I am "test driving" on February 27!
I hope you'll check back for the blog post about that!)

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.

It's what sunflowers do.”    ~ Helen Keller

February Holidays

at Inspiration Avenue

Even though I was tempted to pick a more obscure holiday for my entry

in this week's challenge, in the end I chose Valentine's Day

because I just can't ever resist the color red.

My second choice would have been Gumdrop Day

(the spicy RED ones are my favorite, also the black ones), 

and after reading Lou Anne's post,

I had to go out and get a bag of spiced gumdrops.

I'm still not sure if these are made-up holidays or not.

But since I had an excuse to buy a bag of candy,

I'm not asking questions.

Here is the front and back of a tag I made when we had our 

Tag Swap

Coming soon, we will have blog posts featuring 

the tags that were made and sent. 

Stay tuned to Inspiration Avenue for that.

Head on over to see the entries in the February Holidays challenge:

************************************

Gelli Plates

Am I the last one to jump on the Gelli Plate craze?

I've been hearing about them constantly, and finally got tired of

watching everyone else have fun. Didn't want to spend the $27 + shipping

if it was something that would eventually end up mouldering in a drawer.

Yes, I have things like that, but I do mostly use all of my art supplies,

so I talked myself right into it. 

I'll say this: if you like layered backgrounds in your art,

this is a fun, quick way to get some that look like you spent hours

(or at least many minutes) creating. And it is astonishing

how many different looks it's possible to get. Okay, I'll admit it:

it's actually hard to stop making them. I played for about an hour

yesterday, using stencils, stamps, and a few other things like 

bubble wrap to make some textures in the paint.

Here are a few others I made:

I concentrated on these colors because my color combo

for the art journal swap is orange, yellow, and gray.

I thought I might use some of these as backgrounds

in my journal. Or cut some pieces out and use as collage. 

I have a page or two still to do. I'm trying to 

have it in the mail to Priti Lisa by the end of the week.

When it's ready to go, I'll post the completed pages here.

It will be the last time I'll see it until . . . November?

Yes ~ I think, November . . .

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!