Something Fishy

Here's a journal spread I did using some fish postage stamps I'd been hoarding for awhile.  First I used craft acrylics to paint the background in stripes of bright blue, turquoise and orange,  Threw the orange in as a try at using a color I never make art with.  Next I drew some swirls across the page with a watercolor colored pencil and softened it with some water and a brush.  Then I started gluing stuff down - postage stamps, fish I cut out of pictures, a few gold scrap fish I painted with acrylic, a ticket I'd stamped a fish on, and a piece of ledger paper I'd printed the words "Something fishy" on.  Then I stippled over it with dark blue ink to blend it all a bit.  Last thing I did was stamp a fish postoid style stamp a few times in white pigment ink.
I was glad to put those old postage stamps to use.  I really like creating with postage stamps.  And shopping for them online.  So many cool images out there.
Thanks for taking a look!
I hope you all have a creative week!

More bird altered book pages - finally!

Finally, I have some more pages in my bird altered book to post.  The finally being due to the fact that my studio area was such a huge mess I couldn't find the book for months!  If that isn't a sign it's time to clean up, I don't know what is!  As it turns out I ended up swapping a storage area in my computer room with the area I was using for my art studio.  Do you know how much work it is to move from one really full space to another really full space - whew!  That's why we usually move to new homes instead of just moving around in the one we have!  Ha!  

Anyway, now I have more room as well as having my art table under a big window for lots of natural light, and having it in the same room as my computer.  And, BEST of all, I found my precious bird altered book.  I really love working in this book and have all kinds of ideas and bird stuff I want to use.

Above are acrylic backgrounds, using a couple dif colors of paint.  I then wrote "bird" on the page with a black fine point sharpie.  On the left page I covered the background with netting.  Then used brads to adhere the two small squares I had painted birds on (cards like these are available in my ArtFire shop here).  The background and the birds are all acrylic craft paints, the outlines and feet are black fine point sharpie.

  

The page above I made using decorative papers and rubber stamps.  Also some nailheads glued on the page.

And the last page I have to share today is a black matte acrylic background stamped on with white pigment ink.  The word CRANE was stamped on white paper and then glued to the page.  I decorated the two corners with large leaf sequins adhered with brads.

Thanks for taking a look!

More Text Messaging - GPP Street Team Crusade No. 43

Here's another page of text from magazines for this months Crusade (read about the Crusade here):

 

I put an assortment of words down all dif directions.  Then painted over the whole page with Golden Fluid Acrylics in GreenGold and rubbed it off some words to make them stand out a little more.  The words going every which way made me think of directions so then I used a compass mask (made by Tim Holtz) over the word "west".  Again using Golden Fluid Acrylics, this time in Phtalo Green.  I also used the reverse parts of the mask on the page and also some circles using various bottle and jar lids.  I'm not sure what else I'll do to this page but it'll be good for a future background.

Thanks for taking a look!

Molokai - swimming the good life!

Thought I'd update you on my betta, Molokai, after originally posting about him in May when he first came to live with us.  You can see the original post here.

He's doing great, seems happy.  I've never had a fish before (except maybe a brief experience in early teens with a goldfish - i sort of remember marking a grave with sticks in the woods next to our house in Montana) so not sure how to tell if he's happy?  He seems to swim around alot, interact a little, and love to make threatening faces and body motions at the handsome betta that visits him in the mirror.

As you can see, I even decorate his aquarium with the art background papers I love to make.  You can see my original posts about the deli paper backgrounds and links to Marilyn Rocks' great video tutorials here and here. 

My cat, Maui, seems to enjoy having Molokai around to watch.

Or is she thinking about dinner?  Hmmmm...

Text Messaging - GPP Street Team Crusade No. 43

This month, Michelle Ward, of Green Pepper Press, issued a Crusade for us to use text cut from magazines for journal pages.  You can read all about it here.
Thanks for this Crusade, Michelle!  Not only do I need to use more text in my journal, but I really need to take the time to go through some of those magazines I've been saving to cut text and images out of!

Here where I started:

I noticed alot of red and black in the text in the collection I had started.  I decided since I don't use red alot I should play with red for a journal page.  The big red "A" caught my attention.  Since A is the beginning I though that would be a good start so put that in the middle of the page.  I was going to say I didn't pick what words to use, but, since I was the one that went through magazine, and then the one to pick the words out, I did pick the words.  But my main criteria in selecting these was color and the width and length.  So above is my "test" layout.

Then I went to work on the background for the page, first - white gesso, then a strip of striped packaging tape.

The next step was to put some color down with acrylic paints.  So I turned the journal on edge and applied some red acrylics and hit it with the spray bottle of water and let it run down the page.  Soaked some up with paper towels and let it dry thoroughly.  It was looking entirely too pink for my liking so I decided it needed some contrast.  I used black acrlyic paints and a small bottle lid to add some circles.

Next I glued down my text with Golden Gel Medium.  I forgot to take a photo at that point (it's hard to remember to take photos of all the steps along the way!) .  But it still looked to me like it needed something so I took a black Sharpie and drew the circles and lines over the top.

I'm liking how it turned out, even if it is red and I'm not much of a red person!  Thanks Michelle for inspiring me to step outside my norm!  How cool is that?!?

Thanks everyone for taking a look!

GREAT mail day!

Aren't bloggers and artists just the nicest people?  I think so!  And that has been one of my favorite things about having a blog - the connections, sharing, kind words, and encouragement.  And a very generous and talented blogger I have connected with through her blog surprised me today!

I got this great mail art from Roben-Marie at Every Life Has a Story.

Here's the front:

I wanted to scan it before I opened it so it was a made rush...lol!

Here's the back:

Isn't it beautiful?!?  I LOVE it!

And inside I was lucky enough to find some of Roben-Marie's great postcards.

You can see this example of her file folder mail art as well of lot's of other great art at her blog here.

She's also a guest curator at Crescendoh (CONGRATS!) this week so be sure to check that out.

Thanks so much Roben-Marie!  You made my day!

I love going over to get the mail and finding some fun mail art in my mailbox!

Round and Round

Do you ever just feel the need to finish something? 

 I don't often (just ask my friend Debbie how I am at swap deadlines...). 

In my journal lot's of pages  are works in progress and I like it that way.  I work on a journal page for awhile, then go on to another.  Or sometimes I just work on backgrounds for awhile and another time get inspiration for what to do with that background. 

Today I felt like finishing something. 

This journal page has been in the works for a long time.  First I did a layer of gesso, then background with aquas and greens of craft paint I smooshed around with a wet baby wipe.  Loved the color so let that sit for awhile.  Then, while working on some trees I had made out of dictionary and book pages I had painted green I got the idea for the large circles and painted the borders and cut them out of the leftovers of the painted text - all inspired by my fav art how to book. It's by LK Ludwig.  I added the bright green dots at the bottom with sequin waste and acrylic paint. And the maroon dots with acrylic paint and the stick end of a paint brush. Then the page sat for a long time. Just the other day I bought a few colored pens (Bic Mark-It, they were open stock at Staples for 69 cents each if you bought 10, so I got 5 and my mom got 5) and drew circles around the maroon dots.

 Today I decided to finish the page and dedicate to the thoughts that were going 'round and 'round in my head last night when I couldn't get to sleep.  I punched circles out of dark green cardstock, then stamped letters on lt green paper and punched them with a smaller circle punch.  Glued them all together with my ever essential and trusty glue stick and adhered to the page.

I really like the way all the layers come together to make the page.  More layers than usual for me.  Maybe not as many layers as my friend, Paula - Journal Artista.  She is the layer goddess!  Does really beautiful pages.  You should check out some of her vids on YouTube .  She shares alot of great journaling.  Has some great tutorials for beginners too.  Also does some live journaling on UStream - you will meet a great group of artists there.  You can find info about her UStream from her YouTube. 

Very inspiring!

Hope everyone has a great summer weekend! 

Stay cool and creative!

Festival of the Trees # 50 - Trees through a kid's eye

This month Roberta at the Growing with Science Blog is hosting the Festival of the Trees 50th festival - Trees through a kids eye.  Roberta has posted a great contribution with alot of fun information and some great links.  Be sure to check it out!

I shared my previous post about my 10 year old niece Piper and the altered book she is making about Trees and Nature and the picture posted above of her torn paper collage.  You can see the original post here.

And be sure to check out Growing with Science Blog and Festival of the Trees for lot's of other great information too!  Festival of the Trees has been going on for 50 months now!  Wow!

Following is a photo of Piper, earlier this summer, helping her Grandma paint a mural at Thompson's Mills State Park near Shedd, Oregon.

 

Thanks for taking a look at my blog!