Monday's Musings

"Tell All Tuesdays" with Jennibellie

One of my favorite artists and journalers, Jenny at Jennibellie Studio, asked me to do an interview for her blog.  I'm honored to have been asked, and I was her featured interview last Tuesday.  To see my interview, go HERE.  If you haven't seen Jennibellie's blog before, it's an absolute MUST.  You're going to love her bright and cheerful posts and all of the amazing tips she shares!

Thank you, Jenny, for asking me to be part of your wonderful interview series!

Vacation, Traveling and Journaling

PHOTO:  Nadia 

I spent last week in "recovery mode".  Honestly, I was so depressed I could barely function.  Living day after day exploring new places and having exciting new adventures had every one of my creative muses dancing with delight.  Returning here to the mundane, mid-west life was a shock to my system.  It's taken me a few days to get back into the groove of things, and I can say that this is the first time EVER I wasn't ready to return home.

I also discovered how much I hate airports.  Did you get that?  I HATE them.  I laugh when I look at this photo that CA daughter took of our arrival at LAX.  I've never been anywhere so poorly marked.  I didn't think we would ever find them.  I was really TICKED OFF by the time we found them.  I was hot.  I was tired.

We had to catch the shuttle from our hotel in St. Louis at 3:30 am, fly into Houston, and then catch our plane to Lax.  The St. Louis airport wasn't too bad to navigate, but TSA didn't arrive until 4:00am so we had to stand around for 20 minutes waiting for them.  The Houston airport was well marked and it was relatively easy for us to find the appropriate boarding gate.

I had my luggage searched two out of the three times we had to go through security.  That will be a post in itself.  Beware of killer bars of soap when you travel.  Yes, SOAP.

All in all, I can't tell you how happy I was on this vacation.  It was wonderful to be with our family members that we love and miss so much.  It was exhilarating to visit so many exciting and breathtaking places, and it was invigorating to escape our everyday life.

I spent Saturday working on my travel journal.  I brought back LOTS of goodies and even more memories.  We did so much running around that there was no "down time" to work in my journal during vacation.  At least all the backgrounds are done!  I'm slowly organizing, printing photos, and gathering my thoughts.  I took over 900 photos in two weeks time.  Does that make you feel panicky? LOL  I promise you won't have to look at them all - maybe. <insert evil laughter here>

That's it for today's post.  I have LOTS and LOTS to catch up on.  I'm still answering your wonderful and much appreciated comments on my posts, visiting your blogs to see what you've been up to, working in my travel journal, and preparing to work on some new pages for the upcoming "Fairies Tea Party" this Sunday.

Come back tomorrow for "Tuesday Tips and Techniques", and I'll show you some of the great FREE and not quite free finds from my adventures.  I've got some great ideas for collecting memorabilia from your travels!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE 

Weekend Journal

My journaling was all over the place this week!  I've been puzzling over this first page that I created on Monday, and can't for the life of me remember what my hissy fit was about.  I do remember that "Miss Cranky Pants" woke up on the wrong side of the bed after a night of insomnia.  I guess it's a reminder to myself that energy spend on impatience is indeed energy not well spent.

Apparently I settled down by Tuesday, because this page reflects that "It's all OK in the end".  I'm just wondering if I should be concerned that I can't remember from Monday and Tuesday to Friday.  Hmmm?

I'm not one to hover in Dark Mood for long. (although the old Angelia had a residence there once upon a time)  By Wednesday I was in the mood for lots of bright colors, texture and layering.  I even added some Pearl Ex pigments to her earrings and lace collar.

The skelly face "appeared" plain as day as I was working intuitively.  I'm not surprised as I was just recently invited to participate in a Day of the Dead gallery show this fall and I've been mulling over ideas for this year's skulls.  I've been looking at this fragment of lace for months!  I'm glad it finally found a good home.

The bright colors continued on Thursday, and to my surprise <insert sarcasm here>, a couple of birds appeared.  It looked tropical to me so I added the word "Paradise", and 2  teal colored tickets that were enclosed in my goody envelope from April Cole.  "Two Tickets to Paradise", anyone?

Well, that's about it for this week.  Have a wonderful, creative weekend, and remember - don't let your feathers get ruffled over something you won't even remember a few short days later!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Use Die-Cut Scraps!

It pays to do some housecleaning from time to time.  When I was sorting through my many years worth of gathering and hunting, I came across these metallic alphabet charms.  I  decided to remove the charms from the card and put them in a baggie, and the card scrap was just too good to toss into the garbage.

"So here you go again", I thought to myself.  "You don't want to throw it out, so what are you going to do with it?"  Well, my muse thought of multiple ways to use this wonderful bit of metallic goodness!

I can use it as a stencil to add texture and pattern to backgrounds with acrylic paint.  I could also press it into gesso for added texture.

I can use it as a template with pencils and markers.  I could even use it as a template to mark binding holes in a junk journal.

And speaking of junk journals, how fantastic a page would be?  I can tie ribbons or fibers in the end holes, or I could also weave fabric or fiber through the whole sheet.  I can easily attach tags, keys, or anything my muse desires.

Take a look through your art and craft materials.  Do you have any die cut materials that you haven't used yet?  Don't forget to take a look at the scrap that's left over - you just might be able to rescue it from the trash bin!

"Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

More Moleskin Fun

I'm having a great time with my little moleskin journal.   I'm amazed at how this smaller format changes the direction of my work.  I'm also having fun experimenting with my new acrylic and India inks.  I decided that I wanted to play with the ink droppers for my next spread.

I added drops of blue, yellow, and white to and let them run together.  I also pressed the pages together and blew the ink around by holding the book close to my lips.

Here's the left side.  I really like the way the blown ink dried on the page, and the little spots of white ink that didn't blend into the blue.

Here's the right side of the page.   I see a tree and a bit of landscape.  I can't wait to see where all of this will lead.

As I looked more closely at the left side, I began to see the profile of a face, so I took my quill pen and India ink and began to sketch it in using cross hatch.

I followed the lines of the ink marks to the tree shape, and I looked through my collage paper and found the word  "imagination", and clouds in a beautiful blue sky.  They seemed to fit so I used Mod Podge to adhere them.

I used white acrylic ink to add details and highlights to the eyes and lips.

Then, I enhanced the right side with little white bubbles.  I added more white and yellow inks to the sun.

To finish the spread, I added this quote from Henry David Thoreau, " The world is but a canvas to the imagination."  

I had a great time playing with the inks, and I like the monochromatic, simplistic style of this spread.  It's so unlike the over-the-top color that I'm usually drawn to.

I hope you're having fun stepping outside of your journaling norm, and I hope you're having a wonderful day as you "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

PHOTO OF THE DAY

"Yellow Rose"

This rose was given to me on the Friday before Mother's Day.  I can't believe how nice it still is.  Only the outside petals are beginning to show signs of wilting.