Joural 52, week 1

Lately I have been totally digging the whole mixed media scene!  I just love getting messy with paint, ink, mediums. I love creating one of a kind works of art.

Recently I saw a friend joined a group of art journalists, called Journal 52.  They are an online group, from all over the world, who love art and want to learn more.  Each week there is a prompt to launch your weekly journal page, as well as some technique lessons.

The first week's prompt was Up Up and Away!  Sort of like a blast off into the new year.  There are so many ways one could go with this.  I like to think outside of the box and do something a little unexpected.  First, I replaced the title of the prompt and went more with the launching of my creativity.  It is, after all, why I am doing this, to launch my creativity and hopefully learn some things and grow along the way.

I have been really digging pages that have a lot of white outlining.  Always loved it, never got around to doing it, so this was my chance to play a bit and add white around elements.  I love it!  Will be doing it again.  I started this page off by using my Gelli plate kit that I got from Frog Dog Studio.  They are a mixed media kit club and put together so many cool items!  I did my prints on deli paper, about the consistency of tissue paper.  I like the translucent look and then I just adhere to my journal page.  It is also easier to pull the prints on the deli paper and not the journal.  The spiral gets in the way.  Next I placed a stencil and painted the up arrow, with yellow paint.  Then I used my favorite cloud stencil and some fiber paste to create the clouds.  I love fiber paste for clouds!  It's all kinds of good texture and so fluffy looking.  I grabbed some extra print pulls and stamped the hot air balloon, cutting around the edges.  I pasted these to the page. I found some word stamps that worked and the flock of birds.  Finally I set out with my white pen (I used the souffle one) and got to out lining.  I really love how it make everything pop!

I can't wait to get started on the second week's prompt! 

Most Peculiar

The second in this month's installment of CSI cases with Adele.  As with the last case, as soon as I saw the peculiar people prompt, I knew this was perfect for us!  I just don't know anyone more peculiar than us!  We went about town and took some photos of us doing fun and strange things (we had a ball), then put them together into our layouts.  The sketch was perfect for showcasing a number of photos too.

Evidence used: circles, planets, something unexpected.

Testimony is on peculiar people.  "I am the most peculiar person I know.  Then you came along.  You get me.  You think like me.  You think like I do. You love to have fun.  Together we confound the world and I am so very glad we met."

The case file

U Can Sleep When U Go Home!

I'm very excited to have my very good friend, Adele join my as a guest designer at CSI!  She was asked just days before she came for a visit, so we decided to take a bunch of photos and use the same photos for both our layouts all month long!

This first case was about sleep and dreaming and was perfect for one of the little incidents that happen every time she comes here.  She sleeps....like all morning long....I want to play....GET UP!!!!  Of course this made the perfect subject matter for this case.

Evidence used: frames, bird, crown, damask, hearts, paint, silver metal, and doily.

Testimony is about sleep and is in the frame.  "You are NOT a morning person!  You like to sleep, but we have things to do, play to make happen....so....GET UP!!!"

The case file

Dreaming Of Spring

Hello, and welcome to 2014!  Our first post is for all of you peeps who are frozen in and dreaming of Spring. Ah...the warm breeze, the fragrant flowers, and time spent just relaxing and soaking it all in.  Doesn't this photo just make you want to grab a cuppa and sit a spell?

I loved the cascading flowers, so that is where my inspiration started.  I penned some simple flower doodles, then painted in with watercolors.  I was also inspired by the patterns in the lantern and the chairs.  This mosaic punch and fun MME paper did just the trick.

So dig yourself out of that snowbank and let's see your dreams of Spring!

Brick Layers

I knew right away what to do for the Child's Play Lego challenge.  A few years ago my son went Namibia to help out a school for orphans.  Being one of two males on the trip, he moved a lot of rock and did a lot of rubble clean up.  He was there for a month and was one of the best things he has done.  Really good to get a dose of reality on how many others in the world live.

Noel

Shhhh....I'm really not a fan of traditional Christmas colors, but this week's CSI are right up the traditional alley!  I set to work using my new doily stencil, with some gel medium, and red ink.  Really loved the way this background turned out!  I dug in my stash for some vintage Christmas paper and a layout that I really like was born.  That is one of the benefits of a color challenge.  You use colors that you don't necessarily like or wouldn't think of using and are often thrilled with the results!

Evidence used: birds, paint, horizontal lines, wood, and twigs

Testimony is on my love of all things pretty, at Christmas, on the back of the title tag.

Case file

Black Friday

Welcome back for the 2nd of our December inspiration challenges at ScrapStuffz  Think of it as our gift to you, our wonderful players!  For our second inspiration photo, Stacia chose an great grid design!  So many options with this photo.  I love the overlapping photos, the news print, the simplicity.

I really liked that print background and I was hunting for some paper that simply had writing on it.  I just was striking out when all of a sudden I found this columned piece!  Talk about a score!  I went with the matted photos that overlap each other.  I decided to use red instead of green because I brought home the Starbucks bag from our annual breakfast stop.  This year my hubby decided to join us.  We really did have a ball.  Even me, who didn't want to go in the first place and hates shopping!

Ready, set, CREATE!