Merry Christmas...Happy Holidays...Seasons Greeting

I hope everyone is enjoying 

lots of love and happiness during this holiday season!

Below is a multi-media canvas I put together for my Christmas decorations this year... 

Best wishes to you all!

June DLP journal entry

Hi friends!

I have another 

Documented Life Project page to show you.

This one is from June

The June theme is Travel Journaling

The challenge - Hometown inspiration

Journal prompt - There's no place like home

So thinking about the comforts of home I made this page...

I cut out the tea cups, 

drew and cut out the chair,

painted the picture of a scene outside my window 

and

of course a book,

 that describes a few of my loves at home.

Thanks for visiting!

DLP Art Journal page

Good morning everyone!

Today's art journal entry was done for a 

November 

Documented Life Project.

November's Theme is 

Stencils, Stamps & Masks

The challenge for this one was to use hand carved stamps & the journal prompt was tapestry.

I laid a bunch of book page strips on the background then played, 

smearing paints in a plaidish way.

I added a few of my stamps all around the page.

For the journal prompt I went with 

Tapestry, song lyrics by Carly Simon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Art Journaling with hand carved stamps

Happy Friday everyone!

This past summer when I was lacking crafty mojo I decided to play around with stamp carving.

Here is one of my journal pages using a couple of my stamps...

The background was, 

once again,

 a throw together with leftover paints.

I used an old credit card for some of it and a Tim Holtz stencil for the dotty bits.

The flowers and leaves are all my hand carved stamps.

I finished them off with stems I painted in. 

Hugs to you all!

Have a great weekend!

Art Journal play

Hi friends!

Today I have an art journal page to show off...

The background was done with a bunch of colors left over from another project, 

randomly smeared all over.

I used a toilet tissue roll for the flower making.

White paint & a white paint pen to highlight the insides of the flowers 

and liquid pearls for the centers. 

For the shadowing I used a black Stabilo pencil and a bit of water on my finger to smudge it.

Thanks for stopping by!

I love it when you visit!

Art Journal

Hi folks!

I want to share an art journal I made for myself.

I used chipboard for the covers,

played with some paints, stencils, stamps, modeling paste 

and 

a toilet tissue roll (for making the flowers)!

On the inside I used some mixed media paper 

so I could journal, doodle or paint.

Hope you all have a happy, wonderful week!

Thanks for visiting!

Inspiration Wednesday

Hi!

How are you!

I'm doing ok... 

trying to keep busy...

still looking for a more consistently flowing mojo...

and 

exploring more forms of artsy fun!

I joined Inspiration Wednesday with Donna Downey,

sometime in early 2015,

 and did pretty good keeping up with it for a few months...

now it's catch-up time for all the months I've missed!

Here is the last journal entry I did...

The background was painted with a credit card,

the circles were done with a dabbing sponge & outlined with a white pen

and

the flowers were done with a painting knife.

Thanks for visiting!

Have a great weekend!

Christmas Canvas

Good morning!

Happy December! 

I'd been wanting to make some kind of Christmas canvas 

but since I never plan any projects out I was having hard time figuring out what to do. 

Going through my scrap papers I thought "collage"!

Tada...

The background is the last of a paint color I had mixed too much of,

 for another project,

 mixed with some gesso.

I used heavy gesso and glitter for the snow below the tree & gifts as well as up the edges and under & oozing from the top of the mantle piece.

Happy Holiday Season!

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday card

Good morning! 

Today I'm sharing a birthday card...

I think I'm really getting to like the simple look in my card making lately.

Maybe it has to do with the lack of mojo I've had for too long now 

I believe the papers I used were from an old Halloween pack.

I don't want to say which one because I'll probably be wrong since the pack is gone and I'm just left with a few lingering papers.

I mounted them, 

using my perfect layers ruler and black cardstock.

Layered them, 

with an additional strip of black cardstock ribbon.

I stamped the sentiment on the front,

that was pop dotted...

and I finished it off with a little ribbon of matted paper 

and a Happy Birthday on the inside. 

Have a great day!

Thanks for visiting!

Lily card

Good morning!

Happy Monday!

I have a card to share today...

I used one of Tim Holtz stencils for the burlap looking background.

I honestly can't say what color paints I used because I mixed them to get the colors I wanted.

I used my perfect layers rulers to mat the papers.

I like the look of the off centered background papers.

The flowers is from an old K & Company die cut pack.

Here you can see that I mounted the flower with pop dots.

Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great week!

Artsy Birthday Card

Hi everyone!

So the plan
 is to slowly work my way back into crafting and blog posting.....

Wish me luck!

I did do a few things this summer that I can share.
I just have to get in here and do it!

Today I have an Artsy card I made for one of my granddaughters for her birthday!

The background colors were done with 

Prismacolor Nupastel color sticks, 

on a piece of water color paper.

These are new for me...

so far, 

so good! 

All the stamping was done with stamps I carved myself this summer.

I mounted the water color paper onto a card base and doodled around the edges.

I'm really loving how this turned out

and more importantly

my granddaughter loved it!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Small things.....

Hi everyone! 

It's been quite a while! 

It's got me good.....

depression...blah's...lack of mojo....

among other things...

and 

unfortunately it's not completely better but I am trying my best to push through these days...

at the very least I am sitting in my craft space more often, 

I may not always be doing something but I'm in here,

which is better than avoiding the room entirely like I had been! 

In one of my attempts to barrel through it all I've decided to get some Christmas gifts started.

To begin with, 

this summer my son & daughter-in-law, had a baby girl!

Yay! 

New granddaughter for me! 

So this first Christmas gift I've got to show you is for her.....

I've been watching videos by Shawn Petite and love her layering so I did my best to go nuts and layer papers, paints and heavy clear gel medium on my background.

Not my strong suit...

I tend forget the first layers of papers that I've planned then stop early in the process with fear of going too far...but I'm trying!

This butterfly was made with modeling paste.

(and also a butterfly stencil I cut myself)

I've done this technique before but in my brain haze I'd forgotten all about it until I recently saw Shawn do something similar herself.

I love the texture I got in there! 

I actually had to double up, 

once the first coat was dry...

it cracked! 

But I think that was a good thing, 

that's how I got the texture the way I wanted it!

Gotta love a mistake that gives you an advantage!

I added some rock candy stickles for sparkle,

unfortunately it doesn't show very well in the pictures.

This picture above is my attempt at letting you see the heavy clear gel medium I added with another stencil.

And last the Winnie the Pooh quote.

My new granddaughter definitely has a big part of my heart!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

I used...

a combination of liquitex & folk art paints

Tim Holtz stencils #THS006 & THS001

a TSW stencil (I believe it's Rosetta)

bubble wrap 

paper scraps (under the painting as well as the added butterflies)

The heart was cut from a piece of patterned paper from Gecko Galz.

Stabilo All black pencil

Paynes Grey PanPastels

Another inspired painting.....

Good morning everyone! 

I have another painted the I've done recently to share with you.

This one was inspired by a Pier 1 painting.

This is my painting.....

I wish I could get a better picture it's been so cloudy a lot lately!

I stayed close to the colors in the inspiration piece...always loved the colorful trees! 

And this was my inspiration from Pier1.....

I also found a video on youtube where Angela Anderson used the same inspiration.

Here it is on my wall.....

It's a little guy (6 x 12) and fits perfectly under my pretty grate decor piece.

I may have to darken the walls a bit, 

this is the only room I haven't painted in this house yet! 

Thanks for visiting!

Hope you're enjoying some wonderful weather!

I love hearing from you all so please feel free to leave a comment!

My first large painting...

Boy was this a scary new challenge! 

I'm fairly new to painting and need some wall decor.

I've been working on Art Journals this year,

trying to build my bravery.

We've lived in this house for 4 years now and the decorating has gone pretty slowly...

First... I really didn't know what style I wanted, 

what my style is or 

what I could comfortably live with for years,

so I did basically nothing...

a few framed photo's of family and not much else.

Second... Not a lot of furniture to work around or with,

adding to the lack of style confusion!

This year I decided I'd had enough of the bland!

My daughter bought me an easel for my birthday,

I bought a few canvas's,

Set up the easel,

added the canvas, 

and there it sat for at least a week & 1/2!

I watched a few youtube videos and finally jumped in and this is what I came up with.....

This was inspired by Michael Langs video HERE

I had so much fun doing my rendition!

I think I may have even gotten into the "painter's zone"!

I totally zoned out while painting this.....felt so good too!

Definitely not Michael Land quality, 

as a matter of fact I think he would probably cringe at the sight of it or at least the sight of the one circle (the full large one).

It has more of a smudgy smeary look to it than a painted look.

I kept trying to repair it but it just didn't want to cooperate.

 I let it go for a couple days, 

tried again and then again and maybe again,

 before finally giving up and deciding to love the imperfections of my first big piece!

It now hangs on the big blank wall in my living room!

I'm so proud of me for stepping outside of my box! 

Step outside of your box and enjoy the ride!

Have a great summer!!!

Please feel free to leave some love!

It's always nice to hear from you!

DLP #11

Hi friends!

Documented Life Project

My goal is to catch up by the end of this month!
Wish me luck!

Art Challenge - Borders

Journal Prompt - Borderline feels like I'm going to lose my mind!

I'm not exactly sure where this project came from.

I was kinda working on two pages at one time, 

this one & and #10

I did manage to get the "Borders" in there but the Journal Prompt not so much

Here's my page...

I actually started with the larger flower, 

then went on to finish the last challenge.

When I came back to this I added the little flower and bitty flowers.

The scalloped border has been in my stash for quite some time.

I doodled around the one side and added some more doodling 

The bird border is a stamp that I colored with distress markers and gel pens.

The border on the right side is done with 

a green Le Plume pen (brush tip) 

and yellow paint.

I didn't feel done doodling until I did the squares border on top with a distress marker.

*****

Art to the 5th Academy - Documented Life Project

*****

Thanks for visiting!

DLP #10

Hello Friends!

I'm into March now with the

Documented Life Project

The March theme is Making your Mark

(doodles & mark making)

Mar 7th Art Challenge - Add a layer element

Journal Prompt - Surviving the Elements

I noticed that a lot of the peeps doing this went with a weather "element",

I went in another direction...

with my depression and health issues lately

 I decided to start by writing a bunch of the things I have been dealing with then topped it all with tissue paper.

I added stenciling with paints 

then doodles and dots.

The white areas are to 

cover up the areas I wasn't really happy with 

and to give me a couple spots for journaling.

*****

Art to the 5th Academy - Documented Life Project

*****

Thanks for visiting!

DLP #9

Good morning!

Documented Life Project

Feb 28th

Woohoo...two months down!

I'm getting closer!

Art Challenge - Using at least 5 layers

Journal Prompt - Give me a high 5

I don't know if I mentioned it or not but you don't have to use both challenge & prompt.

With this challenge I did not worry about the "high 5"

Here is my page.....

I started with a layer of book paper,

added a light layer of gesso,

since I rarely use my sprays I decide to play with them for layer #3,

on top of that I started stamping random stamps all over

and finished with a couple of stencils and paint for layer #5.

Below is the a look at the last challenge as well as another look at this one.

This is my favorite spread so far!

*****

Art to the 5th Academy - Documented Life Project

*****

Thanks for visiting!

DLP #8

Good morning everyone!

I went pretty easy with this 

Documented Life Project page.

Art Challenge - Repeating Elements

Journal Prompt - It's worth repeating

I started with the leftover paints from the last project that I did

spreading them all over the page...

I kinda liked how that looked but I had this stencil and always wanted to overlap it and see how it looked, 

(my repeated element)

so I took three coordinating paint colors and did this...

I LOVE IT!

Now what do I do?

I don't want to cover it!

Ah ha!

Paint a flower!

Add a quote!

Happy place!

*****

Art to the 5th Academy - Documented Life Project

*****

Thanks for visiting!

DLP #7

Hi-dee Ho Artsy Peeps!

Documented Life Project

Feb 14th

Art Challenge - Cover up the good stuff

Journal Prompt - Going undercover

Having trouble covering things up

 this challenge had me really thinking hard.....

"What good stuff am I going to put down and then cover up?"

After looking through my hoarded stash of papers...

this is my interpretation.....

I started with this paper below.....

Once I got this paper laid down I just went a bit nuts with some paints

then added my word "Dream"

and 

finished with a stars stencil.

Simple and so much fun!

Art to the 5th Academy - Documented Life Project

Thanks for stopping by!

DLP #6

Hello crafty peeps!

I'm finally into February with the 

Documented Life Projects!

February's Theme is Layers you will Love!

Feb 7th Challenge - When not to Stop

Journal Prompt - "Don't stop till you get enough"

This one was quite a challenge for me!

I have such a hard time covering things up in the layering processes!

So what I did was grab some old scrap papers from my scrap stash and started with that.

Ripped papers and glued them down, 

then I added some texture with a layer of stenciling with modeling paste,

on top of that I grabbed some bitty scraps of lace trims that I had no idea what to do with but to stick in a jar for ever!

From there I decided to cover it all up

(because I thought it was terrible)

with paints.

Then I added the journal prompt 

(using alphabet letters from My Artistic Adventures Etsy)

***

Our last challenge before Spring/Summer break is going on now over at 

My Artistic Adventures Challenge blog

(check out the link below for more info)

The theme is Spring Colors!

Hope you can join us!

***

And still feeling like it needed more I sprinkled some glitter over all!

Happy!

*****

Art to the 5th Academy - Documented Life Project

My Artistic Adventures Etsy

My Artistic Adventures Challenge Blog

*****

Thank you for stopping by!

DLP #5

Howdy friends!

Woohoo

#5,

 January 31st is done!

I'm only about 3 months behind!

This Challenge was Under Paper

The Journal Prompt was What Lies Beneath

Now I don't usually work with an under paper so what I did was while I was working on #4's challenge I grabbed a piece of card stock and smooshed it into my leftover paints in the plate I was using and ended up with this.....

I glued it down in my journal and added some antiqued tissue paper on top to tone down the brightness.

On top of that I added some stenciling with burnt umber paint and 

 a sentiment/poem.

*****

Art to the 5th Academy - Documented Life Project

*****

Thanks for stopping by!

DLP #4

Good morning!

Playing catch up with the 

Documented Life Project.

I'm still working on January.

This is Jan 24th's project.

The Challenge is Writing

&

The Journal Prompt is Words with Friends

Since I have few friends who have stayed true over the course of my life I decided to start with a letter about them,

 how I feel about them,

what they mean to me, 

etc.....

Now growing up we were always taught to keep things, 

feelings,

to ourselves so

after writing the letter I got out my stencils and randomly started covering up my words, 

thought's, 

feelings.....

I finished with the yellow roses.....

Friendship Roses.

In these two close ups you can see some of my words peeking through.

Someone might even see her name hiding in there.

heehee

I'm really loving this project. 

I'm just starting but I'm beginning to see where I will be able to work through some things that I need to work through 

and that is definitely a good thing!

*****

Art to the 5th Academy - Documented Life Project

*****

Thanks for visiting!

Messy office...2

If you saw my post yesterday then you saw my messy office 

and my 

perpetually messy desk!

I wrote that post a week or so ago and scheduled it.

However, 

some time this week I got another spurt of energy and did a better number on my desk!

I now have more room to play than I've had in, probably, years!

Here it is now...

Look at all that usable space! 

I'm right handed so my glue & heat guns are in an awkward place but they work better there because of the plug so I'm dealing with that...

and for some reason they took up more room on the right side...

I don't really get that but 

it is what it is! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful warm spring and a great summer!

My messy office.....

Ok, 

I have a question.....

Why do we make so much more of a mess when we are supposedly "cleaning"?

Here's what things looked like in my office while I cleaned!

In all honesty I,
 once again,
 forgot to take a before picture of my desk but,

this is what my desk usually looks like.....

not clean by no means but,

 this is what it grew into while I was cleaning.....

Seriously why?

Happens every time!

Wish I could show you a prettier, clean, after photo of my desk but

 if you are anything like me you know 

the desk is the last thing to get cleaned,

as well as the first thing to be messed

and since I decided to work in my art journal last night it's a mess!

And once again, 

I forgot to take a before picture 

however,

this, below, is what this area looked like while "cleaning"...

trash bag and all! 

LOL

Here we are today.....

Hmm, now I can see the ugly carpet.....sigh.....

I found this cart below on Amazon and grabbed it for my little paint station.....

Love that it's on wheels so I can just roll it over beside me while I'm working with them.

So much easier than having everything in several boxes all over the room!

My closet area however,
(yup, that is the real before picture, proving that "before" is always an after thought when it comes to me & picture taking...after making a mess on my desk and floor in the other side of the room I finally thought "Ooo, I should take before pictures")

went from this.....

(yup I love Amazon...lol)

to this.....

I still have a bit more cleaning to do

(does it ever stop?)

but I am so much happier in there now!

I can walk around without tripping on or kicking something!

Perpetually messy desk.
Cleaner, more organized closet.
Ugly carpet but cleaner floor.
Corralled paint supplies.

Took a few days but it was worth it!
Now I have room for a new mess!
haha

Thanks for stopping by!