Turning Vacation into art?

 My husband is a perpetual goof ball!

My parents love to go to thrift shops when they come to visit... Dad is always looking for local t-shirts, and mom is looking for household goods......

My husband on the other hand... he's never looking for anything in particular, and is more so just along for the ride!

Flagstaff, Arizona is just far enough north of Phoenix that they get snow most every winter, and are even close to skiing. 

This is my amazingly funny husband dressed up in the Flagstaff good will.

In case you can't read the bib below, it' reads "Don't feed the Bears, Feed Me!" 

What sort of silly and fun things do you do on vacations??  Do you sing in the car?  Do you make up games to play in the car?  Do you try on silly bibs??    How would you translate this into a journal page?? 

Orange

Create an orange page!

It's such a bright and happy color... but how do you make a whole page of orange???

This page is similar to one that I saw online, and while I should have written down the site, I didn't, and then of course I couldn't find the site... Luckily for me I did however write down some of the things on the page... This is my version of that page.  

I journaled exactly what I was doing at the time I was doing it.... 

The background is orange watercolors mixed with wild honey Ranger ink, and orange glitter watercolors.  The lettering is stamped using black soot Ranger ink.  And the white writing is a jelly roll.  

This page was super easy to make, and I love that it went together so quickly!

Birthday card/ challenge #16

Mom and dad came to stay with us for the last week. It's been an adventure and just so much fun to have them in the same house. Of course it makes me miss them that much more when they leave.
Luckily I got to spend a few hours of moms birthday with her!! I made her this little lovely to celebrate. Of course the digi is from saturated canary!!

Quickie card

Mom and dad headed home today 😞. It was a great and eventful trip!!

While mom was here I showed her some of my craft room, and the seemingly endless amounts of supplies I have accumulated. She wanted to learn how to make some cards, so we sat for a while and I helped her with ideas, and made some cards of my own.

This morning mom said we need to make a quickie birthday card..

This little lovely was made using ranger inks, plain cream card stalk, some smash book washi tape, and a sentiment I downloaded. The bee was stamped using black soot and then covered in clear embossing powder, heated and then I added a layer of wild honey ink on top. The flower was a quick punch and fold, and seen together.. Super cute, and super fast!!!

What's your favorite quickie card?? And what's your go to technique??

Journaling with a group

If you've checked out my bio at all you know that I moved to Arizona from Florida a few years ago.  And while I wasn't much of an "artist" while I was in Florida, I fancy that I have much more of an artistic streak now.  And while I have my very safe haven of my studio craft room I have found that it's important to have someone to bounce ideas off of. 

Since my work schedule has been all over the road for the last 4 years, it's been hard for me to stay with a group! 

First there was a group of quilters/ sewers that I met through a friend.  I was (and still am) a novice to the world of quilting, and it was great to have some older women who could give me tips and tricks to get things done!  Sadly this group met on Wednesdays, and when my work schedule changed so did my ability to go.

Then last year I wanted to try my hand at cake decorating.  I signed up for a class at a Joanns, that was cancelled, and rescheduled, and then cancelled again.  I finally got into a class and it was awesome to have others that were learning the same thing as me.  However when the class ended, and I signed up for the next one, it was cancelled, and changed, and cancelled and changed again.  I got annoyed and moved on to something else.

January is usually a month of resolutions and beginning new things.  As I looked around my studio I saw a lot of remnants of started projects, and thought what can I possibly do with these?  Enter art journaling.  It is a perfect outlet for trying new things, and of course using up some of those old things too! 

After about a month of going it on my own I turned to meetup to find a group of likeminded artists friends that I could bounce ideas off of, and get inspiration from their work as well.  I found a great group that meets periodically at the local starbucks.  How wonderful to know that there are others doing what I'm doing, and they are willing to share their knowledge with little old me!  What tools have you used to jumpstart your art??  Where do you go for inspiration??

Challenge #15

I had to read the rules twice before I determined that an art journal/ smash book entry would be fine! 

This is my first entry to the saturated canary challenge I am super excited to start using these fun digi stamp creations by Krista you can find them in her store here. 

This is my big beauty!  

I used copic and prismacolor markers to color her.  

And her close up!

The background for the page was painted with a wash of glitter watercolors, and the raindrops are of the same.

Some of the raindrops have a little Ranger Distress Crackle paint on them.  

Thanks for taking the time to stop by hope your are enjoying creating something today!

Journaling your favorite book

I woke up super early... Super excited about Mom and Dad coming to visit!! And it's also Mom's birthday... I will post about her present later...  What an adventure that was!  The house is all cleaned (or hidden!) Except for the studio that I just don't have the patience to clean now!  And since I was up so early I decided 

to tackled another prompt....

13. Favorite Book.... 

 I first read Gone with The Wind when I was 10 or 11 years old. Most likely I didn't understand parts of it, but I remember that I had gone on vacation with my family (I don't remember where) and I stayed up all night sitting on the bathroom floor, in the hotel, reading this amazing book. 

 

 I was simply mesmerized by all the flowing dresses, and the romance! I have read it quite a few times since, but that first time was the clencher, of all the hundreds of books I've read since, this has remained the most precious to my heart.

 I had some fun doing this page in my journal. I even copied the beginning of the book onto the background. I used Distress Inks to make the "weathered" look 

and the library card is from a pack of colorbok Antique Paperie die cuts. I added the info about the book that I found in Wikipedia. 

What is your favorite book? How would you journal it?

Smash Book..... a work in progress

I seem to have lots and lots of Works in Progress.........

Hubby always makes fun that I never seem to finish anything, maybe it's the little bit of a perfectionist that lives inside me, but I want things to be just right.......

When I started Art Journaling earlier this year I promised myself that I wouldn't do this with the art journal, that I would just turn the page and move on....

For the most part I have been able to do this, but I have one page that has been very slow to progress, and that I seem to always want to tweak!

This is that page for me.....

It just doesn't seem to have enough "stuff" on it! 

First I did the background and added the bird... then it sat for a while...

Last week I added the lettering, and then it sat for a few more days

Finally I started writing... Just whatever I needed to get out.

I love that I got to use my punchinella for the very first time on this page, but it still doesn't feel quite right.

Maybe I should add a tree next to the bird? 

Or some glitter or fun stickers??  Maybe I should let it simmer for a while longer??

What do you do when your pages aren't just right??

Hand made Hello Card

Just a quick card that I made a few weeks back when I first started playing around with my new Ranger Distress Inks (link here!) 

This was the little beauty that I created!  It was lots of fun, and so amazing to see a plain piece of paper turn into a tie died funness (is that even a word??)  It was of course the precursor to my current work in my art journal. 

I also stamped up the envelope some and shipped it off to ma in North Carolina.  Since her Christmas present (gift certificate to Joann's) was the reason I went out and bought the Inks to begin with.

Quick and easy peasy! What fun card handmade items have you made lately?? and do you ship them off or keep them for only yourself??

Art Journal Travel Page

I am totally in love with learning new techniques and trying out new crafts.  I tend to jump from project to project, and am super excited when I finally finish one thing!  While the Journal itself is not done... NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!!  I did however finish this page! 

Hubby and I made a quickish trip to California at the beginning of April, and this is the page that ensued!  At the prompting of Mary (Mary's blog link) I am trying to do 30 pages of my journal, and this one came together lickity split! It's very nice to have those prompts to fall back on when in-spi-ration (as Chef Ron Ben-Isreal from food networks Sweet genius) would say!

There wasn't too much technique/ magic involved in this page, lots of modge podge and some fun postcards that were a give away at the restaurant we fell in love with.  I started with a wash of water color for the background, and cut up a piece of a larger touristy map that I picked up at our hotel,

then added the fun postcards, tape and travel page (K&C) and voila! Super Easy, just add a little journaling and it was done! 

I do find that it's much easier to start a page if I put some color on it first!  There is something about that big blank white page that is very scary!  

Please feel free to leave a post!  All input is greatly appreciated!

Strawberries... Covered and smothered??

Two days ago while wandering around Fresh and Easy I came across a 4 POUND container of strawberries, and at 1.98 for all 4 GLORIOUS pounds there was no way that they weren't coming home in my canvas bag!  So home they came, and me with all intention of cutting them and freezing them for smoothies all summer.

Enter my friend Stephanie stage left.... she is celebrating her birthday tomorrow, and I think what is better for a birthday than chocolate covered strawberries?? And how very easy are they??  A pound of chocolate chips from Sprouts and a can of Almonds and we were in business.

If you've never made chocolate covered strawberries please go out and make some NOW!  Hopefully this has gotten your taste buds salivating, and you'll be back for more tomorrow?