Fun! Fun! Fun!

I was lucky enough to discover an Art Journal Ustream-a-thon over the weekend. It was a Loving Kindness fest put together by a very talented and arty group of women that are highly visible on Ustream and YouTube. I like nothing more than watching them create! Unless it's creating along with them!

It's so much fun to just slap paint and paper together to make something pleasing to your eye. And it doesn't matter if it isn't pleasing to someone elses!! The theme was love, the color was pink, and I couldn't help but follow along. It's imperfect to say the least...but it sure was fun.

Matchbox/Swivel Clasp Swap and Vintage Valentine Swap

Feathered flower made by Amy (Worker4ever123). Matchbox covered by me, Stick Pins in the two pink Prima flowers made by me, paper flowers in back made by me, and charms made by me.

What I'm Working On

I'm starting the year off with unfinished projects and beginning new ones at the same time! I have no reason to be bored, that's for sure.

Some of the new projects are for swaps with January due dates, so I know they'll get finished. I'm in two Ning groups now and they're both fabulous! I would suggest to anyone interested in creating and swapping to join in.

I joined a matchbox swap at My Scrap Room, which involves altering a matchbox, (no kidding) filling it with homemade goodness and sending it off to a partner. I don't think my partner reads my blog so I'll show you a picture of the box but not the goodies inside...I haven't made them yet! :-) I used Mariposa paper to wrap the box, a few Prima flowers, some Prima pearls and voila! I painted the inside of the box with gold dabber paint, pasted a cut-out butterfly in the bottom and added some lace around the top. It was so cute that I made some for Christmas as well!


Over at Your Paper Pantry I joined the Circle Journal Swap. (Travelogue Group) I can't wait to send my handmade journal off to travel the US, Canada and Australia! When it comes back, each member of the group will have added their own artwork, whether it's scrapping, drawing, painting, or coloring, and it will be all mine to keep! In the meantime, I'll be receiving someone else's journal each month and I'll add my work to their pages. It's so cool.

Cover

Inside Left Cover

Inside Right Cover
AND I'm doing another mini page swap, but I have nothing to show for that one. Better get busy!

Your Doodles are Gorgeous!

Artwork by Traci Bautista

Ever looked at a doodle and thought it was beautiful? I have. I've been looking at a LOT of doodles lately and they're downright awesome.

I signed up for a workshop with Traci Bautista. A doodle workshop. A majorly cool and fun doodle workshop. I'm stunned by the pages displayed by students before me...I swear to God...they're gorgeous. They're doodles, and they're freakin' gorgeous. Who knew?!

Yeah, I think you need to check her out...talk about inspiring! I'm really glad I signed up for the doodle class...now I'm loving the 24 Holiday Inspirations on her blog.

(Re)Discovering Donna Downey

So there I am minding my own business when I find an art journal reference toInspiration Wednesdays. It's Donna Downey's site, best known in the scrapbooking world, but here she is in the Art Journal world. OMG, the thin veil that once separated artists and scrapbookers has really vanished, and the two worlds have now collided. So if you're a purest...well, sorry about that.

I remember Donna from the old days. I even bought some Donna stuff...like crappy tag books...and here she is producing her own journals to sell to us peons while she buys new clothes from some shabby ultra chic online store. Of course, she's more than happy to share that information because the clothes are expensive. She'll even tell you (and show you) which items she purchased so you can check out the price. I don't know what it is about Donna that makes her want and/or need to divulge information about her financial status. I got the message the first time, when she built her new office and just had to tell everyone how much it cost. Now she's doing it again, and quite frankly, I don't like it. Never did. Still don't.

I know people have to make a living. I know that my money actually supports a lot of other people when I spend it. But I don't like it when people tell me how much they make, or how much something cost them, or how rich they are because they have MY money! That's just rude. Rude, crude, and definitely not classy. It's kind of like laying off hundreds of employees and then giving yourself a raise. Not kosher, kids, don't do it. Keep the money talk off the internet, keep it to yourself, because you're not getting anymore of mine when you do that. I think your journals are really neat and I probably would have bought one (letting bygones be bygones), but you just had to talk about the new expensive clothes you were buying. Several items at an average of $150... you must have bought at least a $1,000 worth of clothes from that shop.

God love ya, Donna. I know you mean well, but it so offends me when I have no office, no studio, and I can't afford $150 skirts or there wouldn't be any scrapbook supplies at all...You don't need my money.

On the other hand, I'm loving Donna'sInspiration Wednesdays. I really am. Check it out...

sad

Okay, this is getting a wee bit out of control now. I'm getting caught up in the past and I don't think that's a good idea! I didn't know what I was starting. I really like these journal books, but going through all the papers and ephemera that I've collected over the years is taking an emotional toll on me that I didn't expect. Just sayin'.

Junque Journal Love

I love my junque journal! I can't wait to fill it up and start another one!





After getting interested in art journals, I came across this video about altering Composition Notebooks. I've done that before....back here in 2008, but this video, by Rita Hutcheson Cobbs, made me take another look.



Can you believe how happy she is? Such enthusiasm! It made me want to create again...so I grabbed a few more composition notebooks and started in!

In the meantime, I found this next video, Junque Journal Introduction, and knew I wanted to make a book like this!



Tangiebaxter's tutorials:
Part Two
Part Three

I love these videos. I've watched them over and over and over, and learned how to break out of my box and and just play! Scrapbooking, Art Journals, Junque Jounrals. This mixed media stuff is fun!