Calvinball update- "Seed Catalogs"

 (sorry in advance for the horrible yellow tinge to the photos- I've been scrapping pretty late at night, and the lighting isn't the best for true-to-life photos.)

that being said, the positive thing is that I've been scrapping! This Calvinball contest is getting me to complete layouts I've had halfway done for ages, or ones that have been just marinating in my head... (attending a 12-hour crop at the local SB store yesterday helped, too... haha!)

This layout has no photos at all, and is one I've wanted to do for years but couldn't figure out quite 'how' to do it. I got the vintage seed catalog cover images from the internet, and left myself plenty of room for journaling my memories of gardening and the excitement the seed catalogs would garner when they came in the mail. (Sadly, Mom says they don't send print catalogs anymore-- it was always fun to read through them, read the cool names they came up with for the new varieties, and see the pictures people sent in of their 5-lb tomato, 150-lb pumpkin, carrots that looked like faces, etc.) 

This page talks about the kinds of things I remember eating from the garden-- rhubarb, strawberries, fresh peas, green onions, radishes, apples, currants, plums, and pears from Grandma and Grandpa's yard... and Mom's process for selecting what new seeds were needed by going through the box of left-over seed packets she had stored in the kitchen cabinet from the previous year. 

this page used only patterned paper, journaling cards, and vintage buttons

Once I got that page done, I realized I hadn't said everything I wanted to so I made another one (see it below). I started out with a 6x12 yellow background and added canning jars that were cut out from a different piece of patterned paper. I added the canning labels from a third piece of paper and started writing. Again, I didn't have enough room... so I added a 3-inch strip of lined paper to the right side of the layout to give myself plenty of room to write. 

The second page talks about my memories of helping out in the garden, starting with helping to plant the seeds in the spring (and putting the seed packets on a stick at the end of the row so we could remember what was in each row), thinning out the plants when they came up to give them room to grow bigger, pulling the weeds, and picking the vegetables when they were ready. 

There was nothing quite like going out into the garden with a bowl and a paring knife to pull the first green onions and radishes from the garden, then eating them at dinner only 5 or 10 minutes later, or picking a dozen ears of sweet corn, taking off the husks, and dropping them right into the boiling water to have that 'just picked' freshness and sweetness that didn't even need butter.

cutout canning jars for adding my journaling, and more vintage buttons 

This page also talks about how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to grow up the way I did: to learn how my food is grown, and the effort and work that goes into getting food for your table and preserving it for the winter. So many people nowadays don't have any idea of the labor involved in getting that bunch of green onions to the grocery store, or what type investment of time, effort, and faith / hope in the weather and growing conditions you have to have to be a farmer, or just to cultivate some of your own food. I am truly grateful I had that experience, and that my mom and dad (I love you guys!!), by giving me the experience of working outdoors in the garden, instilled a love of plants and nature in me that I will always have. 

Even though I still don't like cooked peas, lol! (private joke-- I hate cooked peas, so I would always get a small bowlful of raw peas instead of having to eat the cooked ones... )

This post took way more space to write than I thought, just to talk about one layout. (but it's worth it-- it's a layout I really like, even though there are no photos on it at all.) So keep your eye out for more Calvinball scrapping posts soon! And, I went hiking last weekend to see some of the very ephemeral spring wildflowers we have here in Arizona-- the flowers were gorgeous, I got some fresh air, and I got a few good pictures out of it (along with a bit of a sunburn!), so I'll post some of those photos soon. 

a few more art journal pages: both finished and not

remember this page that I showed you a couple posts ago? 

Well, it doesn't look exactly like that anymore:

I didn't alter the figure too much, but I did add to her hairdo with Sharpie poster-paint pens, changed the color of her eyes with my Sakura glaze pen, and decided to go a bit crazy with the background. If you haven't scribbled on anything for a while, I highly recommend it!! It's really therapeutic, and unlike doodling, scribbling doesn't require any thought at all about pattern or repetition. 

Above is a detail of the scribbled background. (scribbling is the most fun with a good, soft pencil, a nice heavy-line marker, or even a crayon; you really should try it!!) Again, I think this page is done- no writing necessary; her expression (and the scribbling) says everything that I need it to.

This page most likely isn't done yet, but I love how the painting turned out! It was made with one of my favorite stamps ever, which is bubble wrap! I love how bubble wrap gives such an 'imperfect' pattern, and adds a bit of texture from the thickness of the paint.

Above is a close-up of the yummy texture and pattern bubble wrap gives. If you haven't tried this yet either, what are you waiting for?? 

This page is collage only, and was pretty simple: a magazine photo, a printed quote I found on the internet, and a couple pieces of collage paper with a bit of red wax pencil on the tissue-paper heart for texture.

Another doodled page made with red and white wax pencils, soft black pencil, and a few circles cut from a vintage National Geographic. Doodling with repetitive shapes is also quite therapeutic-- you should definitely try it sometime! Well, that's all the newest pages I've worked on in the last couple weeks... I think that means it's time to do some more! :D

more art and stuff...

it was really sunny outside when I was painting over the weekend- I put my pages outside on the gravel, and they dried in no time! My new / old paint palettes are two muffin tins I got from the Goodwill store; they work great, except they got pretty hot after sitting out in the sun to dry!

The page below was started a couple weeks ago when I was at the Honda dealership, getting my brakes repaired. Later, I added some stamping to it (the brackets you can sort of see on the right-hand side), decided I didn't like it, and covered it up with gesso and watercolor crayons. ...I like it much better now!

The page below is technically not a page yet; it's a piece of random paper I had underneath my work surface so it would get paint and overspray on as I worked. I like how it turned out, and will probably use it for collage sometime.

The two photos below are the 'stuff' part of this post! Last weekend (on Sunday, I think) we had the windows open in the morning, and Tom said he heard quail outside. I thought they sounded awfully close, so I looked, and took some pictures through the window screen. Do you see it? (just kidding; I don't think it's in this one-- it was moving kind of fast.) 

Here it is, in the photo below! This is a Gambel's quail, which is easily distinguished by its scaly-looking plumage and its funny, bouncy topknot. This quail meandered around the front yard, to our delight (and that of the cats!), and there was even a bit of a wildlife show-- he wandered out into the road where he met up with another quail who was in the yard across the street! There was a short scuffle, then he came back into our yard and the other one retreated back to the neighbor's yard. It was really fun to watch them, and I certainly hope they come back again soon.

This journal page is another 'doodled' page; it started out with a blue acrylic background, I added the large circles / bubbles, then added the gold ones in the empty spaces. After the paint dried, I added details with soft pencils in black and white. I really like how this page turned out, and I think this one is another 'art only' page; I don't want to write over it, or add anything more to it.

Here's a detail shot of the 'bubbles' from the page above:

Not sure if I'll do any more painting for a while again; I go in spurts where I want to do painting (and don't mind the mess), then switch to pasting, gluing, collaging, and doodling for a while. I think now that it's 105+ degrees out already, I may switch to collage and doodling till we get a cold spell! (but then again, that could take till October or November, though... lol!!)

guess what...?? yes, it's random photo time!

our latest mixed media group meeting was Wednesday night... ahem-- the CIA, I should say. (It's our new name, and I'm not used to it yet. CIA stands for "Collaborative of Inspired Artists" but it's more fun to say I'm a member of the CIA!!) Anyway. Josie Cirincione was our guest teacher (I totally didn't even think to take my copy of her first book to have her sign it); she taught us a project using metal foil tape. Such a fun project!! I've tried to use this material before, but had some problems with it-- she gave us plenty of tips and tricks, along with all the supplies and tools to make the finished project. Here's mine: I love the texture of the metal, and the aged/distressed look that rubbing it with black StazOn ink gives it. The picture below shows a closeup of the texture (I decided to cover the entire background with a dot pattern, which I really like the look of after I finally finished it, so it was definitely worth it...). The raised pattern was made by just using cereal box/thin chipboard underneath the metal tape- how cool is that?!?

And now for some journal pages... I hadn't done any journaling to speak of since way before Christmas, so I knew ArtFest would be a great opportunity to get my journaling mojo back. I took three of my journals with me (one of them by accident- it was small and in a box of paper- lol!), plus a boatload of supplies (you never know what you might want to work on or use, you know!) and it was a great opportunity-- my dorm building had a classroom in the first-floor common area, so people were always set up there in the evenings: working on class projects, working on their own projects, or just socializing and getting inspiration from everyone else. I was so inspired, I didn't want to go to bed till my body told me I absolutely had to: I stayed up till 11 pm the first night, 1 am the second, 1:30 am the third, and 11 pm the last night (only because I knew I had to get up to drive to the airport the next morning). I didn't always get much done (too much inspiration ---> not much energy for follow-through) but here are some pages I worked on both while I was there and since I've gotten home.

The right-hand page was leftover paint spread on with a credit card (well, technically a grocery store "saver" card- I keep all those random cards just for applying paint) during one of my classes- I didn't want to waste any of it, you know! I still need to look up that rubber stamping company Carmen's Veranda; I wrote it down just so I wouldn't forget the name! I also have the blog address of the woman who told me about it... must check out her blog, too... later, otherwise I'll never come back here to finish this post!

I had the backgrounds done on these two pages ages ago; I just used them to write on during/after class. The index card was from Roxanne Padgett's Lush Layered Canvas class, where she taught us a little about color theory and mixing. (I have never been able to mix a shade of orange that I actually like...it's a lot easier to buy it! ...although it doesn't look too bad from far away, here.)

Here, the left page was already collaged; I just added the words, and the pops of purple with one of my new Stabilo Woody watercolor crayons. I saw a set of 10 of them (the last one on the shelf) @ Akamai Art Supply in Port Townsend, and I snagged them (for a 10% off ArtFest discount, even!) before anyone else got them. Kelly had mentioned them before, and I knew if Kelly liked them, they must be good, because she only recommends art supplies she really likes- see the right sidebar of her blog for posts on her favorite materials. The Woodies (snicker!!) have a really nice, creamy quality to them, and I definitely want to pick up the rest of the colors. (I also used them in the fabric painting class I took on day 2 of ArtFest, which I will show you when I get those pics edited.) And I really love that lilac purple color, even though it's a lot more vivid than the colors I usually use.

So this pic is my newest tattoo: a memorial, close to my heart on my left shoulderblade. It's a permanent reminder of the beloved pets we no longer have in our lives. It's a bit of a departure from journaling, isn't it?!? Or, maybe it isn't, actually... for me, journaling is a visual/written meditation process, of a sort, that results in a page which gives me a reminder of what I was doing when I made the page, the reasons I chose the materials, colors, etc. The tattoo is a reminder to me as well, and since I designed it, maybe it's just a different kind of journaling. (I do need to go back for a bit of a touchup; he forgot to put the toenails on the dog paw, and the inner angel wing unfortunately needs a bit more shading. But it's definitely worth the discomfort to always have a visual reminder of Sedona, Pandora, Cleo and Phoebe with me.) FYI, both my tattoos were done by Tommy Gunn, at Subculture Tattoo in Glendale, AZ.

So, back to the "traditional" visual journaling, now, shall we? The page above has lots more gorgeous Stabilo woody crayons on it, over a light base coat of gesso. {As an aside, I gessoed on these latest pages a couple days ago before work... I had the urge, and needed to make the most of it at the time. Tom saw me in the garage (where my painting supplies are living at the moment), and asked "can't you do that later?" Well, yes, and no... technically, yes, there would be plenty of time after work to do it, but would I, is the question? probably not... so, I took advantage of the urge when it hit. I don't want to lose the ArtFest mojo to the grind of daily life; art vs. daily life is one of the hardest things for me to balance. I want to do more of the "5-15 minute" sort of creating, rather than feeling like I need an entire block of hours free in which to "do art."}

And now, to change it up with a couple cute pet pics! The photo above isn't the best quality, but I wanted to get a shot of Prescott cozying up to Bisbee while she's sacked out in the dog bed. they don't exactly cuddle or anything, but they do hang out together quite a lot. He's gotten bigger (he still seems a bit skinny; the fact that he still occasionally snacks on socks isn't helping that!), but his coat is starting to fill out, and that is making a huge difference in how he looks. That "puppy" phase went by so fast, it's kinda sad that it's gone already.

And here is Butters, relaxing against my gardening-book-ring-bound journal (?!?!? that can't be comfortable!!) It's because I laid out some fabric as a backdrop for the pictures I took; she loves laying on fabric for some reason, whether it's a bathtowel, dishtowel, shirt, or clean laundry. (!!!)

next time, I'll post more ArtFest pics... I promise!

cutting and pasting continues

a few more pages from my vintage gardening ring-bound journal... The cutting and pasting is continuing (slowly), and eventually, I get around to embellishing the pages and writing on them. I don't have large chunks of time to get out all my supplies, so not much gets done at any one time. (Some journal page closeups from iHanna, and stencil love on Jeane's blog and JaneEileen's blog, too, for an extra dose of inspiration!)

collaged flowers and sun on a painted background... not much to look at yet (besides colorful!), but I'll start doodling on it sometime soon.

vintage gardening page with paint and a gesso resist, collaged onto a watercolor paper background colored with watercolor crayons.

this one is in the larger spiral-bound journal; a painted background, collage paper, and an image from a vintage National Geographic magazine. Unfortunately, the paper in those magazines is reaaaallly fragile when it gets wet; her head ripped off when I glued her down, so she's a bit beaten up-- perhaps she'll have to get a necklace to cover it up!

it was a cut and paste weekend again...

...since I've migrated down to the family room with my supplies. I do the painting up in my room on the floor (because the desks are both piled full of stuff), then I do my collaging and gluing in the family room while we're watching TV. I have two boxes with papers, and a Container Store travel cube (it works so much better than a large zipper bag- thanks for the tip, Kelly!) that holds my pens, markers, and tape. (obviously I don't have enough tape yet, if it fits in the same container as my pens... LOL!) When I work, I sit on the floor with papers strewn all around me. (Tom is constantly amazed that I can spread out to take up any available space.) The dogs and cats have to be careful of where they step, too. (so far, I've kept them from licking the gel medium, or chewing on any of my papers.)

This page may get more decorating; I'm not sure yet. For now, I like it the way it is-- collaged magazine image, scrap papers underneath, and a swirly gold Hambly rub-on up in the corner.

these two pages are my homage to the spring weather we have going on right now... both are totally collaged backgrounds, with gel pen, laser-cut sticker borders, and other assorted bits. The bottom page has a bit of charcoal pencil shading around the bird-- not sure if I like it; I can't decide if it gives it depth, or if it just makes the page look dirty. (This journal has different sized pages, so you can see other pages behind-- I like that a lot; it gives a taste of what's coming up, and makes it more interesting.)

this pic is a really unfinished page, but I love this new stencil! (I think it's a 6 x 6 Crafter's Workshop stencil, but I'm not sure- I can't see anything on their website that exactly matches.) The base of this page is one of the dividers from the gardening book; I like how some of the printing still shows thru the paint.

Another totally collaged page-- I love how this one turned out! the red and purple patterned paper is flocked, and the black, white, and silver paper is glittered. And I just love that vintage shorthand textbook paper! Collaging may make a mess of the floor, but it certainly makes watching TV more fun!

more journal pages

...more journal pages from the past few weeks, during the process of moving into our new house. the page above isn't much to look at, but I wanted to remember having to teach Bisbee how to go down the stairs!

My art studio was (and still is) pretty chaotic, but one night soon after we moved in, I couldn't sleep, and found myself working at midnight in a 6 in square of space on my table- these pages pretty much capture how I felt about the whole process of moving! scribbling and gluing was theraputic (although my studio still isn't much cleaner).

another entry about moving- the fact that the movers were 1 1/2 hours late getting there, it was 115 degrees, there was a dust and rain storm while they were packing the truck, and we didn't get to bed till 2 am.

travel journal pages

The car was packed with lots of stuff when we drove back to Illinois; two bags were mine- one full of books to read, and one full of journals and supplies- paper, glue stick, markers, etc. etc. I didn't even try to journal while we were in the car, but I did spread out the supplies once we got to the cabin at Tom's family reunion, and spent a few minutes here and there (between relaxing in front of the campfire) gluing and doodling. I took along watercolor crayons, my usual arsenal of markers and pens, and lots of paper and glue-stick... I mostly collaged pages, since I didn't have any acrylic paint with me. The page above was started before the trip, with a background of collaged pattern tissue and a layer of acrylic paint. The flowers were cut from a die-cut scrapbook paper that I bought originally to use as a stencil for painting, but I like using the flowers better.

This page is pretty simple, but I like it alot- the shading was done with a charcoal pencil, and the paper is Basic Grey (from the Ambrosia line), from my sister's stash--she lives about 1 1/2 hours away from Wisconsin Dells, and I spent the day with her while we were in Wisconsin. I love the look of Basic Grey paper, but sometimes the patterns seem sort of overwhelming- Judy has alot of it in the 6x6 inch papers, which are the same patterns as the 12 x 12 only smaller, so they're not quite so busy- I like this idea, and will have to remember it next time I go paper shopping!

this page is pretty simple- just a background colored with watercolor crayons, and strips of scrapbooking paper.

another collaged page using watercolor crayons, scrapbook paper (the blue scribbly paper is from Michael's- a kit of SB paper in the $1 section!), some acrylic painted paper I took with, and a couple magazine images... (the butterfly was glued on to cover up a glue-stick blotch, but I like the way it turned out.)

scrapbooking inspiration links

okay, so I haven't scrapped a picture in years, but I've started to be inspired to actually print some of our digital photos, and do something with them besides leave them in cyberspace... part of it is two new books I got for my birthday (thanks, Mom!) involving altered imagery:

The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery- contains interesting ways to transform photos (bleach, sandpaper, and more); and the other title:

Mixed Emulsions: Altered Art Techniques for Photographic Imagery- more ideas for transforming photos, both traditional (hand tinting) and not-so-traditional (like stamping, gesso, spackle paste, and more)

also good for inspiration are the following:

Jenni Bowlin's photo gallery page- cute, cute stuff, using vintage finds and doo-dads

Ali Edwards' blog- simpler, classic layouts, with an emphasis on the photos

and then there's Carol Wingert's scrapbook style- a bit more "shabby chic" and random

...and of course, there's the art journaling thing, like Crazyquilter on Flickr, Kelly Kilmer, Mary Ann Moss, and Jeanne Frizzell-- paint, stamps, collaging, markers, and whatever else you can find to stick (or stitch, or staple) to a page.

so... I'd like to see if I can meld the more "art-y,""journal-y" style of artwork with the more "traditional" scrapbooking I used to do, and come up with a hybrid that satisfies my new urge for "artsy" but still shows off the photos. For a start, we're going to drive cross-country to Illinois and Wisconsin at the end of the month to visit family; we spent Christmas sight-seeing in Arizona; last spring we went to Seattle: plenty of pictures for all this inspiration, if I just get them printed!!

art in the desert!

I haven't been doing much creating lately, but last weekend I got the chance to get back into an art groove. Kelly Kilmer was in town teaching the entire weekend at Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale, and I signed up for her Sunday all-day class. I wasn't going to, but I stopped in the store on Saturday just to say Hi, and everyone was having such a good time, I just couldn't help myself. (And, I'm sooo glad I did; it was a great day!) Sunday's class was "Reclaimed- An Altered Artist's Book" and was tons of fun, as always. The starting point was a used book that was gutted and transformed into a journal. I dug thru the books at the local Goodwill, and scored this great book- I looked at them strictly for the size/shape and cover design- I love the colors of this book, and bonus, it was only $2.99! (I did feel a bit bad about destroying a book, but I will use some of the interior pages and pics in my future artwork...) The first pic shows a closeup of the journal spine- I removed the book spine, and replaced it with a painted and stamped canvas one.

This is the entire front cover; the butterfly sticker and paper doily are from my stash (plus some glitter glue!), and the flowered tape is from Kelly's collection. I really love the color combination of this journal!!

This is the inside front cover; when I removed the book block, I ripped the inside cover paper, so I collaged over it. More springish colors here, with my SB paper and stickers, along with more of Kelly's great deco tape over the vellum envelope.

As always in a Kelly class, we did some fun painting techniques to make the journal pages- it's hard to see, but the page above has some texture made using gel medium underneath the paint. More of Kelly's awesome deco tape collection, along with another of my stickers.

Not all of my pages were painted; I left some of them blank so I could collage on them... this was made from magazine paper (the flames) and a vintage star chart(?) for the heart. I think this journal will be used mainly for the quotes I collect- usually I write them on scraps of paper, scattered all over, but this will be a great place to keep some of my favorites, I think. (for more photos of this journal, visit my Flickr page.)

cut and paste therapy

I was in an icky sort of nervous mood this afternoon when I got home from work, so I headed into my art studio for some cut and paste therapy... it's a sure-fire way for me to relax and de-stress! (I do have projects to work on, but de-stressing was more important.) Making journaling backgrounds is a good way to relax, and then when I feel like writing on the pages, they'll be ready. This is a two-page spread in my large spiral-bound journal that will eventually be about Charles Darwin's 200th birthday (I think). I didn't like the paint on these pages originally, but I dry-brushed on some gesso, and voila! a softer, more muted background. A few stencils and foam craft stamps, and the pages were ready for a random border of paper. (they were painted already when I started working on them today- today was all about pasting and doodling.)

Right-hand page... for the border, I used vintage book paper and wallpaper, magazine clippings, scrapbook paper, and "scraps" left after punching images out of cardstock.

Left-hand page. After gluing on the scraps, I started doodling on the border, to add more detail... my doodling is sort of an OCD obsessive sort of thing that also helps me to relax.

An "extreme close-up" of the OCD doodling on the border- gold pen, Sharpie marker, and souffle pens work magic on my mood, and on my journal pages.

A glued page in my composition book... scraps left over from the journal spread above, with some added details of red. (to be totally truthful, the largest red circle was added to cover up a wrinkle in the green paper, then I decided I liked how it looked so I added more.)

another glued page in the compositon book... the border on this page started out as a baby wipe that I used to wipe paint off my brush. Random bits and images added from various piles of stuff on my desk.

large journal page... the background was painted ages ago, and was waiting to be finished. (I do that a lot; I hardly ever make a page from start to finish in one sitting.) I found the phrenology head somewhere on the internet (I don't remember exactly where, sorry!), then added journaling with white Signo pen and Sharpie poster paint marker. So- a couple hours of cutting, pasting, and writing, and I'm good to go thru the rest of my work week! (now if I could just get that swap project finished...)