fabric art journal and collage

i had a wonderful art-filled day on sunday at my monthly art sister meeting up in S.F.  my fellow art sister, vicki, led us in a super creative book making project based on pamela huntington's  gorgeous fabric journals as inspiration.

the inside pages are heavy watercolor paper edged with vintage trims, lace, ribbon and fabric.  it gives the journal such a floofy, girly feeling.  i love it.  i used bright colors because that reflects my tastes, though i tried to stick with a kind of vintage feel.

and this was the last canvas i did for the online class "pages and paint."we made an image transfer onto contact paper using a photo-copied vintage photo.  you can see parts of the collage pieces peeking through the transparant label.  it's not quite finished, needs a little more blending and maybe a few more layers, but i like it!

and then i was inspired to do just plain collage--no paint.  this was inspired by the style and techinques of randel plowman of "a collage a day."  i have admired his work for years and when i saw that he had written a book, i bought it right away.  it is wonderful!  it contains all kinds of fun techniques and tips for making amazing and simple collages.

and just for fun, here is the newest member of our family: vincent (as in the artist, of course)!  he is just a few months old and full of energy--just like my youngest daughter!  they have been running around all day together.  i think they are the perfect match, energy-wise!  we are happy to have another feline friend in the house again.  maybe he'll keep the little one busy while i can sneak away and make some more art! :)

Ww Watermelon

this was the last week of the online workshop "pages and paint."  above is a painting i made based on a sketchbook idea (shown in the previous post).  i had a lot of fun drawing colors, images and textures from the original sketch.  that's a new thing for me.  i usually just go into a project without a clue as to what i'm going to do.  maybe i'll have some color in mind.  but it's nice to have some kind of theme to play with.

just a few more sketchbook pages...playing with color and inspiration (above).

this was the result of a prompt from the course instructor.  she mailed us goodie bags filled with fun little bits and prompts and ideas to get us going on our paintings.  the above was a game where we had to take whatever words she had given us and incorporate them into our sketchbooks or a painting.  my words were: "bubble gum pink, seaside, lines & dots, joy."  and that's what i came up with.

i hope to continue with the sketchbooks. i think they're a great place to play and try out ideas without the pressure of an entire blank canvas.  what kinds of activities do you do before a big project?  do you use an inspiration board?  a sketchbook?  or do you just dive in and see what happens?

having fun with paint and a sketchbook

i'm having a nice time this week playing with paint and sketchbooks.  i'm taking sarah ahearn's online class "pages and paint" and it's just been nice to have time to paint and play.  i even signed up my two daughters for summer day camp and preschool this week so i could have a whole 3 hours to myself just to enjoy the quite house and my bright studio.  wish i could do this every day! :)

the above two paintings came from a fun game that we played where we took a handful of prompts, but them in a bucket, and blindly picked one at a time.  we had two minutes for each prompt and the prompts ranged from simple ("add collage bits to your canvas") to scary ("paint and scribble with your eyes closed")!  i love the results.  i found that my paintings were more free and interesting this way.  it's a great exercise in letting go.  try it sometime!

part of the classwork is to keep a small sketchbook and to take it out with you into the world and capture just every day life.

i made the above two sketchbook spreads while i was at a water park with my daughter (a park with a tiny water feature-like fountain...no way would i take my eyes off of her in a pool!)  i wanted to capture just the essence of color, shapes and sounds.

and summer is not complete without fresh fruit! especially cherries, watermelon, plums and nectarines for me.  so many childhood memories trapped inside the juicy flesh.  i just need to take one bite and i'm transported back in time to endless summers of the mid-1980s!

and this was just a fun exercise in using up all the scraps and tiny bits of paper left over from bigger projects that i was just going to throw away.  sometimes inspiration can come from the trash! :)  i love the colors here on the left.  i used them as inspiration for the page on the right.

happy summer, everyone!  i'm still hanging onto the last bits.  school starts again soon.  but we will be enjoying summer-like weather well through october (i hope!  it's actually been quite a chilly summer so far!)

An Artful Life in the Making

hello folks!  it's been quite a while now since my last post.  been busy moving, creating a new nest for my family and a new studio space for my art.

been busy unpacking (a few boxes still remain in the studio!) but i've been slowly putting it all together.  even started hanging stuff on the walls (my own art, no less--as evidenced by the first photo in this post).

spent a few hours in the studio today unpacking and getting distracted.  (as a side note: little colorful, nesting boxes plus colorful buttons and doodads equals hours of entertainment for little ones!  sureya filled boxes and gifted them to me, emptied them, rearranged them, and started all over again.!)

pulled out some cute canvas matroyshka doll fabric that i bought on etsy ages ago and fashioned together a new little art journal (followed the instructions from donna downey's online class).  and i even started a page!  woo hoo.  we'll see how it turns out.  waiting for the paint to dry now.

ok. back to the studio!  hope you are enjoying spring in it's last flowery throes before summer arrives.  i can't wait for warm weather.  it means more outdoor art journaling in the grass!

coming out of hibernation

a little blog break turned into two whole months...  and spring has arrived almost overnight!

warmer weather means more time outdoors in the sunshine... which means more time to journal.

i've missed journaling out on the lawn in the sunshine.  i do love fall and winter...but i love spring and summer the most.

and they always show up just in time.  (just when i can't stand being indoors one more second!)

days are getting longer, and warmer.  and california spring/summer starts in march and will last all the way til october. yahoo!

december "daily" journal

i say "daily" only because i didn't really journal every day as it happened.  i was on a roll with my daily september and october journals but i kind of lost steam by november. and then december just showed up out of nowhere and in a blink it was gone again!

i love journaling in this haphazard kind of way.  just taking photos and slapping them onto a page with some fun decorations (tape, labels, stickers, cut-outs, etc) and then writing a little bit about the photo or what happened that day.

cavalini stickers.  love.

so, since i didn't really start my december daily until, like, over half the month was already done, i just put together a little page (with the help of my google calendar!) of the little things that happened each day.  i will go back later and print out any photos i have and stick them into the journal to illustrate the events.

i like to write more in my journals, especially when documenting big events like birthdays and christmas.  it's nice to break up a big block of writing with colorful photos and stickers.

i love peek-a-boo pages, too. love having multiple layers so you can kind of see what's coming next.  it adds depth and dimension to a 2-D project.

i like using a variety of colors for holiday projects besides the typical or traditional color schemes.  for my december daily i chose red, green, blue, pink with little bits of gold and glitter.

hope you had a merry christmas and here's to a wonderful new year!

Holiday Shop Update & Giveaway!

I've updated my Etsy shop with vintage paper goods, vintage Christmas ephemera and embellishment packs and vintage mixed-paper recycled journals and scrapbook mini albums.  Yay!  Blog Readers, enter code BLOG2011 at checkout for a 20% discount on your order!

I absolutely love vintage Christmas cards.  The one above is a sweet angel, embossed and made to look like a patchwork quilt.  I could see this in one of my holiday journals or used as an embellishment on a scrapbook page.

I've restocked the Christmas journals/mini albums.  Each journal/album comes with a little stash of goodies tucked into the back pocket so you are ready from day 1 to start recording those holiday/everyday memories!

The journals are filled with my favorite vintage paper: pages from holiday books and kids workbooks, ledger and graph paper, as well as current favorites such as brightly colored scrapbook and handmade paper.

 The journals also come in shades of wintry blue for those who prefer a more subtle winter pallet.  Pages are also embellished with labels and stickers from the Cavalini sticker tins.

And these are my favorite!  Precious packs of my favorite embellishments, perfect for holiday crafting!  Each pack has a glittered gift tag, and an assortment of vintage and new paper and ephemera.

here's a more detailed photo of what is in the ephemera packs: patterned scrapbook paper, handmade paper, vintage dennison seal, scalloped cardstock, glittered Christmas tag, vintage green-and-red playing card, vintage book illustration images.  Each pack comes tucked inside a glassine envelope.

Well I am excited for the holiday season to begin!  

Have a Happy Thanksgiving (if you're in the U.S) and have a wonderful weekend!  I'll be drawing a name from the comments on Tuesday, November 29th.  One lucky commenter will win a mini journal and ephemera pack of their choice!   All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me, what are you most thankful for?  

october journal pages

so, wow. october is done and gone. that was fast!!  now we're getting close to thanksgiving and christmas.  always a fun and exciting time.  i am just finishing up my october daily journal.  i'm about to start a mini "thankful thoughts" november journal.  i'm taking an online class over at something splendid.  this mini will be a little more mixed-media (yay! i get to pull out those acrylic paints!!)

so, october was filled with art and costumes and candy and manic weather (rain-sun-rain-sun-cold-hot-cold!)  i placed whatever photos i took this month in my little mini october journal and wrote little bits so i wouldn't forget the details.

october was very active for us on the homeschool front!  there were field trips and garden days and school photos and lots and lots of playgroups (which end up being really great support groups for us moms who are new to this adventure!)

i like this approach to daily journaling/scrap-booking.  i love to see my photos of our every day life with little written thoughts.  nothing complicated, just simple.

i played around in this journal with a little bit more collage-y elements.  here i'm using washi tape, sequin scrap and a playing card.

still having fun with the instax camera, too.  ran out of film tho! so i'll have to find out where to get more.  probably amazon. ;)

this month, my daughter also joined a group that meets once a week with other homeschool kids from across the bay area and they learn through play in various county parks.  it's a branch of the homeschooling philosophy known as un-schooling or free schooling where the child's interest dictate what is learned that day.  the kids spend a whole 6 hours outdoors with two nature experts who are there to answer their questions or to help organize a game and to supervise their play.  my daughter comes home soaked and muddy with tales of animal tracks, how to identify different plants in nature, how redwoods collect water, and also of her adventures building rock castles with her friends or braving a rope swing over the creek.

one day after "class" we were fortunate enough to meet up with my lil' sis who just started college.  we got to spend the afternoon with her,  and celebrated her birthday.  all right in the middle of a "school" day.  i really love how homeschooling frees up our schedule and lets us explore the world.  we have more time for adventures, more time for family and friends and more time to just ask ourselves, what do we really want to do today?

i mean, we've only got one life. we might as well live it to the fullest that we possibly can.  we are all here for different reasons. i am sure that i am here to explore and have fun.  and i love that i can do that with my two little ones in tow!

what adventures have you been up to these days?  what brings you joy?

random fall pages

here are a few pages from my little daily september journal/scrapbook.  there were a few days/memories that i didn't have photos for, but i still wanted to include in the journal. so i made a cute, scrappy title with some random alphabet stickers and wrote in all the details i could remember about the photo-less days/events.

close-up of a page.  i used some cardstock cut-outs from crate paper's random line (love it!!)

no journal of mine is complete without some hand lettering and doodling.

a little close-up of my somewhat neglected xtra large moleskine cahier...i got a little wrapped up in my 4x6 size mini book/daily album that i kind of forgot about my other journal. ;)

more page close-ups...

the above page is still in the works...needs some coloring-in of the writing, but i like how it's coming together.

and you've gotta try taking super close-up photos of your journals/artwork and then printing them as labels on sticker paper or as photos and then re-using them in your artwork/journals.  so much fun.  each page is full of new artwork just waiting to be exposed! :)