Have a wonderful Christmas!

As usual, I'm not blogging in December. I honestly don't know how someone can be so busy and not get anything done!

See you all on the flip side!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Mosaic Charm

I did it! I made a mixed media mosaic. What a great way to use up those little bits and pieces that are hanging around, and that old paper you don't know what to do with! In my case, it was 7 Gypsies Victoria which made for a colorful and interesting collage. This is my "test" project but I love how it turned out!

I was totally motivated to do this after watching Linda's video on YouTube. This was so easy and fun to do, and I'm going to make a whole lot more!

Inspired by...Dawn Sokol

This is why Dawn Sokol inspires me! Her journals are so much fun to look at!

Dawn's NaNoJouMo is immensely popular, and even though I don't always finish, I love doing it! I also followed her through a December Daily last year and I'll be doing that again this year. She's changed it up quite a bit, so it will be interesting to see what happens...only a few days to go!

The following pictures are from last year's December Daily. I followed her lead with a board book and journaling a little each day (or couple of days!). What an easy and fun way to keep up in an otherwise busy month! Of course, Dawn's work takes a bit longer because she's such a gifted doodler!

I can't wait to see what she's cooked up for this year!

Dawn Sokol

Mixed Media Mosaics...

I'm gonna do this. Really. It's like a shadow box without the box, and I love the way it looks! I can see lots of xmas gifts coming out of this if I just get off my lazy buttsky. I just feel worn out and so very tired....like iron poor blood...I need some Geritol! :)

I'm so proud of him!

This fabulous drawing was done by my 14 year old (grand)nephew! We're all so amazed and proud of him that I just have to show the world! Isn't it cool??!! I'm sorry for the glare, tried to sharpen it but it just doesn't get any better than this. And the kid gave the original to some (undeserving) girl! Ack!

Yep! He's an Artist! :)

Inspired by...Dina Wakley!

Last Saturday I took my first "live" art class with Dina Wakley and I'm SO GLAD I did!! Oh my goodness, the energy in that room! It was just AWESOME!

From the minute Dina walked up and introduced herself, I felt as if I'd known her forever. She's probably one of the warmest people I've ever met, totally approachable and outgoing, with a natural talent for teaching. Each time we were called to "gather round" we eagerly did so, and watched as she explained the next step in our process. If you don't know of Dina you probably live under a rock. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that you've seen her art in your travels. Her gorgeous grunge style artwork is easily recognizable, and it's everywhere! I'm tellin' ya, this girl ROCKS!

I'm pretty used to working at my own pace, which is a great deal slower than those who are two or three decades younger than me, and with the quick pace of the class, I didn't do my best work. But it was fun, and creative, and Dina told me that my pages were gorgeous! So inspiring! Did I tell you that this girl ROCKS!?

An added bonus was Dina's "Ipod" version of her upcoming Faces class. Within minutes, we were drawing our own faces! Okay, I didn't draw a face, but several of my fellow students did. I think I need the whole class for that, but if I happen to add a face to my book, I'll let you all know.

The sad news about this class is that it wasn't long enough! Apparently, we were enjoying ourselves so much that time got away from us and !poof! it was over! I tried to take some pictures but everyone was saying goodbye and moving about, and the commotion was non-stop! Dina was hugging everyone, and I was hugging everyone, and it felt like I was saying goodbye to my BFF's! It was an inspiring, crazy, whirlwind of a day and I can't wait to do it again!

Thank you, Dina. Can't wait for your return!

DINAWAKLEY.COM

NaNoJouMo Day 7 & 8

I'm still lagging behind but I'm sticking to it! I think my taste in music isn't quite as hard rock as Dawn's (guess there won't be any Motown afterall) but that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it! Quite the opposite. All of these songs are familiar to me and I probably appreciate some of them more today than I did back then! There's still time to join in and see all the great art that music makes!

Day 7 - Who Are You? ~ The Who

Day 8 - Tiny Dancer ~ Elton John

I had a little fun with this one - wondering if anyone will notice.

Day 5 & 6

I'm so behind! I was only a couple days behind when I took the weekend off and had fun! I went to a class with Dana Wakley and I'll tell you more about that later, but know this.....Dana rocks!

Day 5 - Gimme Shelter ~ Rolling Stones

Day 6 - Crystal Ball ~ Styx

Happy Monday! I hope it's a beautiful one!

NaNoJouMo Lives!

I've been slowly putting my pages together for NaNoJouMo. The theme this year is "Classic Rock" from the 60's and 70's. We're 8 days into it and I haven't seen one Motown song yet. Where are The Supremes? The Temptations? Just kidding! I'm sure we'll get there. These songs can put you in another place and time so quickly, and Dawn is really digging deep into the past for these babies. My first four days:

Day 1 - Take It Easy ~ The Eagles

Day 2 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond ~ Pink Floyd

Day 3 - Paint It Black ~ Rolling Stones

Day 4 - Walk This Way ~ Aerosmith

I love this last one with those crazy legs I've been saving!

Have a great day and see you soon with more NaNoJouMo!

Dia de los Muertos

My first ever image for Dia de los Muertos. I loved doing this! I had to use a picture from a magazine since I can't draw faces, but I love the way it turned out! I had so many ideas in my head that I could have made ten more images, until I realized how long I'd been playing with this one!

Lesley posted a great video tutorial she found on making images from pictures. I wish I had seen this before I made mine, but it makes me want to do another one!

Yeah, I like her...

Nanojoumo is coming!

It's been a year already since I followed Dawn DeVries Sokol's Nanojoumo prompts and she's gearing up to do it again. So I am as well! Click on the link and read all about it. It starts November 1st so you have time to gear up too!

NANOJOUMO

I used color wash and color inks on the background. Just sprayed them all over the page, along with some water, and slammed the book shut! The beautiful colors that emerge are sometimes stunning! Although this wasn't one of those times. :) I really didn't use anything new, it's all leftovers and old $1.00 stamps, except for my Stampendous flowers stamp that's been buried in the closet for far too long. The lady's head and even the flower pot came from old magazines, and the border is from old background pages.

I feel like I could have done more on this page but then I feel that way on most of my pages. There's always next time!

Have a great day!

More Collage

How I love collage! I just started playing around with the magazine pictures, some torn pieces of scrap paper, and a little paint. It only took about 8 hours! LOL! Not really, but things sure do change from what you think you're doing. I love the vintage pieces and the beautiful modern day model.

Have a lovely weekend!

A little collage

Lots of things going on in my mind these last few days. I've been watching Gulfspr1te's and Rhomany's vlogs lately (thoroughly enjoyable btw) and thinking about the type of journaling I've done most recently. More precisely, pages using cartoon type characters that really are not my style at all. Every time I see a fabulous page done by some brilliant art journaler, I ooh and aah and want my own, but they don't come out the same. As fun as they may be, they're just not me.

In one video, Gulfspr1te advises someone who's blocked to stop looking at other artist's work on the internet and just go and make art, make a mess! I immediately identified with that poster because I'm always watching videos and taking classes, and comparing myself to them. Ew. Yeah, I'm that person, the one everyone says I shouldn't be. *sigh*

Then this morning, another poster asked about finding her style as a beginner. I loved this answer! She was told to watch everyone, take all the classes, and I gave Christy a loud cheer and a round of applause! I'M a beginner. I will always be a beginner. How's that for justification? Good? Good!

All of this thinking boiled down to what I really enjoy doing and that's collage. So I made a very simple collage today and I like it. It's about my niece and her daughter, and the posts she makes on FB about her. I love that she loves her so much, and that the feeling is mutual. Yesterday would have been my sister's 75th birthday, hard to imagine her at that age, but I know she would love the little messages on FB as well. Happy Birthday, Joan.

Another page that was only partially done. The background was made with Dylusions Spray Ink, a fast and easy way to get some pages started! Unfortunately, it sat and sat and sat because I had no ideas, no pictures, no quotes, no words. These pages do seem to work themselves out at times.

Inspired by...Inkwell

If I were listing people that inspire me in order of importance, or impact, I would have to begin with Dede Willingham, otherwise known to those who love her as Inkwell. I've mentioned Dede before. She's a fabulous artist and teacher, and the most influential person in my artful life.

I met Dede online through Ustream where she programs her weekly shows. I wrote the following about a year ago after watching one of those shows...

September 2nd was a GOOD day! I woke up early and somehow managed to go online around 7:00 am. I couldn't have been luckier! Dede had been persuaded to go live on Ustream and she gave the BEST show ever! I think she was on for 2 hours, maybe 3, I'm not sure, but she sure did give us a ton of information! We should have paid for it...it was like attending a motivational seminar! The people, the place, the timing....it just all came together in cyberspace to make for a truly great morning for a bunch of art lovin' girls. Dede's such a fabulous artist, and she inspires so many others.

I'd been watching her shows for a while by then and everything had started to fall into place, I started to really understand what it was Dede was teaching. For the first time in my life, I began to "see" art for something other than a bunch of old paintings hanging in a museum. I don't think I'll ever be able to see what Dede sees in her paintings, but I know it isn't just a bunch of fortunate brush strokes. My fondest memories and most valuable time was spent watching Dede make magic before my eyes.

Inkwell's Blog
Inkwell on Ustream

The Little Knitter

I started this page in September but didn't finish as usual. Then I realized I didn't have ANY finished pages to post on my blog and here it is, a new week! Quick! Add some stamps, add some ink, add some stitches, get out the white pen and just go ape!

The picture is from an 1879 painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, who apparently also painted one in 1869, 1875, 1882 and 1884. Each one of a different girl at different ages. I actually like all of the paintings but they've made me quite curious to learn more about this artist.

This is the first double page spread in my brand spanking new Strathmore hardbound journal! It took me forever to start using this. It wasn't the page that scared me, it was the whole damn book! I paid good money for this book and I didn't want to ruin it! Yikes! I have another one too, a bigger one, and man, is it Huge! A full 8.5 x 11 which makes a humongous double page spread that I don't think I'm ready for. I know, I know. It doesn't sound that big. I just may stick to single pages in that one, we'll see. But this little journal is very easy to work in and a page can be done so quickly that you don't really have a lot of time to think...and that's a good thing.

I was both pleased and surprised (shocked!) at how this page turned out. I didn't use any gesso at all, and just laid down some misc. pieces of paper and old background pages. I then used acrylic paint for the background and the stencils. Of course, I got some Dylusions Ink Spray in there on the doilies, then I painted the stencil areas with it and finally shook some over the whole page. Believe me, I didn't have a clue what I was doing or where I was going, I just went. In the end it was missing something, until I found the perfect girl in an old magazine, and she really shook things up. I love when that happens!

Totally Awesome Octopode

Happy Monday! I've been hit by a virus that sent me to bed for a few days, and now I have this lingering cough that doesn't want to go away. It's so annoying! I thought a happy page from my journal might make me feel a bit better.

These fun flowers and heart banner are digital stamps from The Octopode Factory. They were all hand cut (talk about fussy cutting!), some colored and some printed in color. Absolute fun to play with on top of Dyan Reavely's Dylusional Ink Sprays.

Is there anything more beautiful than a cat?

I don't think so. Not even George Clooney can hold a candle to this gorgeous furball. He's a Friends of Felines Rescue Center cat. You can see him on their 24 hour Cam over at Ustream, along with his house mates and the volunteers that work there.

My intent was to make this a beautiful page for a beautiful cat, but I got carried away! I think it was the pink and black. Or maybe it was the dots. Or the fact that my white journaling pen just kind of disappeared into the Dylusions Ink. I knew it would fade but...wth? I had to use a Bic Wite-Out pen on the words you CAN read.

Doodling is fun, and once you get into the "zone" you can go for hours without realizing it, but I have a problem with patience and I get sloppy. I wanted the words to be artistic but I was lazy. I'm a total disgrace to the lettering classes I've taken from Joanne.

Inspired by...Joanne Sharpe

I'm signed up for another fun class with Joanne Sharpe that starts this month. She's such an amazing person and loves what she does so much that her enthusiasm is contagious. I thought this would be the perfect time for a repost.

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Do you know Joanne? If not, you should! She's been published in Art Journaling, Somerset Studios, Cloth Paper Scissors, and more! I've seen her work often and marveled at what she can do with letters, so when I saw her online class I signed up on the spot! One of the students in class named Joanne the Queen of Lettering, and rightly so. She definitely knows her stuff and even better...she knows how to teach it! I think everyone that started in February is pretty close to being done but they're still very active! The enthusiasm is amazing!

I'm only on Lesson 6 but look what she has me doing already! And I know what's up ahead so I'm definitely looking forward to it!





There's a ton of comraderie and laughter in this group, and you can join the fun by signing up at Letter Love. Classes are only $35 and so worth it! I really can't wait to do the next lesson! I'm just so slow and so easily distracted...but there's no rush because everything will be available to me FOREVER! For $35 I have total access to every lesson and every video forever. So I can take my time and REALLY enjoy the class. --originally posted 3/4/12

This is one of my "don't know if it's finished or not" pages. I like it. It has a lot of stamping, and color, and a beautiful vintage lady. No journaling, but then I don't really journal an awful lot. I get more out of making the page than writing about it, or whatever I was thinking at the time. Sometimes there will be journaling underneath everything else but that's rare.

I know my pictures are not coming out clearly and I apologize. I think I hit the wrong button somewhere and I'm trying to backtrack to find it. Boy, just when I thought I was doing so good.. Have a Happy Monday! Thanks for stopping by!

Whimsical Workspaces

I was just catching up on some online posts and read one from Rhomany about a workspace class she's conducting in October. I love workspaces. I love looking at workspaces. I love being in workspaces. I love MY workspace! But you know what? It's kind of a mix between scrapper and art journaler...lots of stuff around that I'm not using right now, making it hard to find the stuff that I DO use! So I signed up and I can't wait to begin!

I didn't hesitate about this one either because Rhomany is offering a "Pay as you can" price. What?! O.M.G. What a neat idea! Maybe I don't need this class, maybe my space is highly functional as it is, or as it's going to get, but I don't know that for sure, and for the whopping price of $8 I'm going to find out! Eight dollars! Sorry, but I just have to say O.M.G. one more time. O.M.G!

I just wanted to share that.

Check it out at Whimsical Workspaces

Peace

I seem to be doing a lot of pages lately with ladies, and a lot of pages with Dylusions Ink Spray for the background. Lovin' that stuff! As usual the background here is Dylusions but the stamps are Tim Holtz. The beautiful rose stencil is from Plaid. My lady is a magazine cutout and I have a ton of them! Not to mention the freebies I pick up here and there on the internet.

This is one of my favorite pages because of the color explosion. I just love it! (Maybe you can see it better if you click on the picture) It's so hard for someone like me to break out of her box, but these beautiful inks certainly do help!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful week-end!

Inspired by...Christy Sobolewski

About two years ago I found Gulfsprite's journal flips on YouTube and I was mesmerized.  Not only did she have a LOT of journals, but she was putting up videos of OLD journals and shared the progression in her art from 2008 to 2010.   I could see that she wasn't afraid to show the bad days when the art didn't work for her and not everything came out pretty!  That stuck with me...not everything was "pretty".  Her own words.    It was only natural that I jumped at the chance to take an online class from her.  Yes!

I joined her very first session of 30 Days of Art Journaling and got a whole lot more than I bargained for.  I've taken a lot of online classes and Christy's has to be one of the best out there.  I loved every minute of it!  I made some unbelievable pages under Christy's tutelage, and it wasn't all that hard.  I just did what she told me to do, which is pretty much the key, right?  Do what the teacher says....if you can understand it.  I had no problem understanding because Christy's a damn good teacher and she isn't afraid to share all that knowledge.  The daily videos didn't hurt either, being able to watch Christy creating a page in her journal every day was awesome.

This page of flowers is one I learned from Christy and I have to be honest with you...I thought I did one hell of a good job!  It didn't look exactly like Christy's page but it was close enough for me and I was one happy girl!  I did it!  I painted a background and then I painted flowers on top of it!  Me!  I painted!  Whooohooo!  Damn, that was a good day; I'll never forget it!

I remember Christy was working on drawing faces at that time, too.  Now that she's accomplished at that as well, she also teaches it along with several other classes.  She has a great Facebook Group that shares their art and their knowledge without hesitation.  This is a private group and you must request to join.

Christy's Website Gulfsprite
Facebook Group Art Geeks
YouTube Christy Sobolewski

 

 

Ever have one of those days?

On this page I used a digital stamp from The Octopode Factory on Etsy. I absolutely adore the Octopode stamps! You can also get these in good old fashion rubber but I don't think they're available in the U.S. so I use the digitals. Depending on what you're doing and how elaborate you want your piece to be, fussy cutting is definitely required. The two elements on this page were easy to cut out, but I did another page last night using a good number of digitals and boy, I was cutting forever! But I really enjoyed putting the page together and that's what counts. (Can't wait to show it to you but I'm getting way ahead of myself!)

SO! Background by Dylusions! Lots of miscellaneous stamps here. The three colored mushrooms are from a magazine ad. I didn't add color to my girl because she's different from all other things, and although she can fit in easily with nature, she has a hard time elsewhere. She knows she's different, she can feel it on the inside, but people won't leave her alone to be who she is. Everyone wants her to be something else. Journaling to this effect was added after photo.

The Octopode Factory Blog

Inspired by...Art Journaling for Women

"Art Journaling is yours, it's personal to you, and here we have a safe place to share!" ~Lesley Regan Ratcliff~

Art Journaling for Women is a free Facebook Group where you can share your work, find some inspiration, support others, and know that you're among people of a like mind. This is a group of several hundred art journalers from all around the world. Every day there's more eye candy to look at and ooh and aah over. I'm always fascinated by the work of others, and this is probably the best place I've found where everyone is welcome to post their work. I enjoy the posts and I love the inspiration I get from other journalers. Especially when everyone is down to earth and super into having fun and supporting each other.

You should stop by and check it out. It's a private group so you'll have to ask to join if you're interested, but who wouldn't be?

Page done 10/2011 with Adirondack Color Wash and Stencils

When God closes a door...

Here's a simple page made with Dylusions Ink Spray and miscellaneous stamps. This was so easy to make! I'm loving the Dylusions Ink Sprays! The colors are vibrant and they're easy to work with! They're quite magical to be honest.

What saying would you think of if you saw a picture of a closed door? This is the one that always comes to mind for me, but somewhere along the way, some wise person (or smart ass, depending on your point of view), decided there was more to it. The wise person in this case, I believe was my late sister. She always chose her words so well, especially when she wanted to get a point across.

If you have a few closed doors in your life, maybe you should give them another look..

Isn't she cute? She's a Gorjuss stamp and her name is Ruby. There are so many cute stamps out there, and try as you might, you're going to get hooked on one of them! I have four Gorjuss stamps and I'm pretty sure there will be more.

Ruby helped save a page that I hated. I don't remember what was on the page before, but I'm pretty sure it was done with Ranger Color Wash, and I covered it up with Pan Pastels. I really like the pan pastels, haven't learned how to use them very well but they sure do cover a multitude of sins. The only problem is when you mix two mediums together like that, you sometimes end up with a funky color. I did this a while ago so I don't remember what colors I used exactly, but when I sprayed the hearts/flowers stencil (color wash on pan pastel)...they came out green. Ew. So I took some gesso and painted over the green...they turned blue. Oh. But it was okay! I was totally "good with it". Even after I put the border down the center of the page, I was good with it.

Inspired by...Donna Downey

Donna Downey has this thing that she does on Wednesdays and I'm pretty much addicted to it. She calls it Inspiration Wednesday. Each week, on Wednesday, (just in case you didn't pick that up the first two times), she produces a YouTube video while creating in her journal. You know what? It's fun!

I love to watch as Donna talks to herself us and describes what she intends to do, or not. Sometimes she has a plan, sometimes she just wings it, but she always makes an outstanding journal page! She's down to earth and honest about what she's doing, even admitting it when she doesn't have a clue. She's very entertaining and I love her thought process.

But more than that, I find Donna to be very inspiring. As accomplished as she is, there are days that she just doesn't "feel it". I've watched her talk herself through these times, quite often putting the brush down and stepping away to think about it. What she always ends up with though, is a piece that she's "good with". OMG, what a concept!! Video after video I've heard her say "I'm good with that" or "Yeah, I like that", or even "I think it's done now". OMG! I really don't think I've ever heard words like "awesome", "beautiful", "gorgeous", or even "brilliant", (although there are times that Donna Downey is extremely brilliant).

I know that every time I open a journal, I don't have to create a Rembrandt. I don't have to try and please someone else, I just need to please myself. But it's hard to practice that when you expect too much of yourself. I think we all do that to some degree because we want to push ourselves and accomplish more. But for me, being 'good with it' is good enough.

Visit Donna's blog: Simply Me. Watch Donna's videos: Donna Downey Videos

This is the first article in my own version of Inspiration Wednesday. Check back each Wednesday as I share some of my favorite people with you.

Serendipity

At times I'm astounded by the creations I make. I seldom have a plan in my head of what I'm going to do and I just start making a background. When that's done I don't always know where I'm going next, but the pieces come together...slowly. This is one of those pieces. I wanted to use my Dyan Reavely border stencils so I went ahead and inked it with Forest Moss Distress Ink. That was it....the brain had nothing more to add. I was stuck with some pretty color that kind of looked like water, and a mossy green leaf border.

Don't EVER let anyone stop you from clipping pictures and saving them! Just do it, and don't throw them out! You never know when you'll need help to spark an idea, and that pile of clippings that's been sitting there for a year? It just may have the answer!

I knew she was perfect for this page as soon as I saw her. She looked like she could walk on water and I just happened to have some! Then I was stumped again until I found my birdcage stencil. Mind you, this all took about a week to come together. In the meantime, I was working on other pages, doing other things, while this page put itself together.

And that, my friends, is called serendipity. "The accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it".

Background done with Dylusions Ink Spray and Luscious Leaves stencil border. Miscellaneous stamps.

A new beginning...

Happy September to you and happy art journaling day to me! Today, I plan on playing with some Dylusional Ink and making a fun two page spread in my composition book- turned journal. I've found that my comp books don't scare me like the hard cover journals...I'm not afraid to just let go and let the paint (or ink) fly! I normally use Strathmore spiral bound journals, but I bought a couple hard cover books and everytime I open one of them, I freeze up. Using the comp book was a quick fix because it was "there", and now I'm having some fun. I'm hoping I'll get so relaxed that I can move on to the hard cover journals without bursting into tears. :-)

Before I start playing with something new, I want to share this page with you that was totally inspired by Kathy at the Paper Pumpkin.

When working with a comp book, I like to first glue a couple pages together to give them a bit more body, and then apply a coat of gesso to the top of the page. Comp book paper is smooth and doesn't have any "teeth" for the ink/paint to hold onto. Without it, Dylusional Inks just sink into the paper rather than mix together and blend as you want them to. You can watch Dyan Reavely's videos for some great demonstrations on how to use her ink sprays. She's fabulous and so much fun!

The background is a combination of stamps and stencils that I use most often, and then I stenciled the flowers in the foreground with a black Micron. Once I filled in the color with Prisma pencils, I outlined them again with ink and black marker to make them pop. My beautiful vintage lady is a print that I picked up at Pringle Hill. I outlined her with black marker as well so she wouldn't just blend into the background.

All in all, I was really quite pleased with the end result, and very happy with the inspiration from the Paper Pumpkin!

Thank you, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer - (cont'd)

Julie wrote an article in the Sept/Oct 2012 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors about blogging that hit a chord with me. I've had my blog for a long time, started out as a scrappy blog and eventually turned into a semi art journal, altered items, scrap-whenever, blog-whenever type blog. B O R I N G. And I know B O R I N G. I read a lot of blogs, especially art journal blogs, and I like them. Really like them. I don't like mine. That must be why I don't pay much attention to it.

So I'm taking Julie's advice and making some changes. I'm going to post more often and show more of what I'm doing. I'm committing my blog to art journaling because that's what I care about now, not scrapping. I've learned enough in the past two years to start sharing some knowledge instead of just posting a picture and saying "look what I did." I think at long last that I can give a bit more information about what I've done and what I've used. I'm learning from some of the best people out there, and I want to share that with you. All of it. You ready?

Altered Canvas

Finally! After making a mess out of a beautiful background, I started over and ended up scrapbooking the canvas. I'm pretty satisfied with it now. I love the vintage look and this will fit in nicely.
 
I actually started with Prima Printery paper as a background that I intended to journal on. Scrapbooking wasn't really what I'd planned, but nothing was coming out right. Enter Gesso! I gessoed the canvas thoroughly and let it sit to dry....for a month! This time I used a vintage tag I made for a swap and an image I picked up from Roxycar's site. The grandfather clock in the upper left corner, and the stamped lady in the lower right are from Roxy also. Little gifts she added to a purchase I made, and so perfect for me!
 
The background is Dylusions Ink Spray over gessoed Prima Printery, I added some Webster's paper and the large 12x12 sheet is from K and Co that I bought about 6 years ago! I was saving it for something special and I'm glad I did! I'm so happy with this piece!

Digistamp Fun

Found these adorable digistamps at The Octopode Factory thanks to The Norsu Girl on YouTube. Of course, I'm seeing them everywhere now and I'm beginning to look at other digi sites as well, but I won't go full digital...ever.

Steampunk people from The Octopode Factory Etsy site.

I have no idea how I'm going to finish this one, but I used my clear stamps here, not digital.

Faux Mail Art

Another swap at Your Paper Pantry, this one was for Mail Art. The theme (why a theme? Sometimes I really hate themes) was "gone postal" so I used a bunch of images from the internet and no real "art" at all. The first group I made was done on white envelopes, and they came out looking really cute...until I grunged them. It must have been late at night, in the dark, without my glasses, because in the light of day they looked horrid! Recreating them on regular brown envelopes certainly didn't improve things. I didn't feel very creative on this round.

On a happier note... I ordered some Dylusions ink sprays by Ranger, and I LOVE them! The colors are SO Vibrant! SO bright and cheery! It's remarkable stuff. You can ghost images into the ink just by using water...very cool. Watch a video from Ranger, or Dyan Reaveley and you'll see why I love these sprays! I plan on playing all weekend with these beautiful colors, some stencils and stamps, and hope I actually journal a page or two!

Upcycled Lunchbags

I joined a couple swaps this month at Your Paper Pantry. One is Mail Art which I'm still working on, and the other is for these cute little altered lunchbags. I'm stunned at what I've seen so far, and thrilled that five new bags will be returned to me! What fun!

Come on over and join us!    Your Paper Pantry