Making Journals

I made this journal out of an old book. The cover wasn't very attractive, so I altered it with a stencil, paint, and some glaze. I like how it turned out and look forward to filling it up with my thoughts and sketches.

xo

jeanne

Letting Go

Lately I've been taking some e-courses in an attempt to get my creative juices flowing again. Jeanne Oliver's most recent class called, The Journey of Letting Go - Creating Beauty From Ashes, is the one I have immersed myself in lately. We've been making a variety of journals (the one shown here is a canvas covered saddle stitched journal) which is great for me because it seems as though the only "art" I've managed to do lately is journaling.

I love working with textures and various mediums, although sometimes I have to push myself to try using things that are not in my typical arsenal of tools and courses like this remind me to do that. It's good to leave our comfort-zone once in a while and discover new things, although going "outside the box' is usually a scary thing for me to do.

xo

jeanne

Altered Journal Swap - Part Two

In last Monday's post, I told you about the Altered Journal Swap I participated in recently. It really was so much fun and I was grateful to be able to use some of my stash of composition books which I've been hoarding for a while.

The first journal, shown above, is the one I made for Mary. She told me she likes blues and greens, ribbons, as well as bird and vintage themes.

Perfect! Because I like all of those things too!

My inspiration for this journal came from this vintage bird image which I had.

I was taking an online class taught by Jeanne Oliver while I was creating these journals, so I was able to incorporate a lot of the techniques I learned.

This is the back cover of the journal.

The second journal I created was for Patty. She told me she is a "color-loving red girl" who likes vintage ephemera. This too was great, because I love the color red also. Although I don't have any red in this house, my crafting room at our cottage is decorated in reds. I think red is such a happy color.

I grabbed my bin of red papers and proceeded to collage the cover of the composition book. Then I remembered I had this vintage image from a collage sheet I bought from Lisa's Altered Art quite a while ago and decided it would work nicely as a focal point for the cover.

Back cover of journal.

I really had a lot of fun with this swap. I got to use supplies that I already had in my studio. I got to work with colors that I love. And I got to practice new art techniques that I had learned. What could be better that all that?

Altered Journal Swap - Part One

Heather, from Speckled Egg is well-known for her Inspiration Box Swaps where everyone decorates a large matchbox and fills it with lots of fun goodies. Well, this time around Heather switched things up a bit and instead of altering a matchbox, we altered composition books to create journals for our swap partners. I was paired up with Mary and Patty and after exchanging a list of the things we like, these are the journals they sent me:

Here is the sweet journal Mary created. Mary likes birds just like me. I love the soft colors and all the lace she used.

Pictured above is the inside front cover.

The inside back cover.

And the back cover.

The second journal was created by Patty. She really got my love of aquas and pinks.

Don't you love the pocket she hid in the cover? So clever!

Here is the inside front cover shown above.

And this is the back cover. Both of these altered journals are beautiful and I can't wait to start filling them up. Thanks girls!!! And a BIG hug to Heather for organizing another fun swap!

Next time I'll show you the journals I made for Mary and Patty.

Altered Journal

The past few days I've been working on my altered journal from the Creatively Made class I am taking. I am finally finished....I think. Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop.

This is what the journal looked like before I began altering it. It's just a inexpensive journal I found in the $1.00 bin at Michael's.

I collaged the cover with lots of vintage papers, inks, paints and stamps, etc.

Next, I added more details to my girl.

And finally, I added some gold wire and beads to the spine of the journal to give it a little bling.

What you don't see is the entire box of neatly organized beads turned upside down on the floor of my studio after it fell off the edge of my work table! I spent the rest of the afternoon picking them all up from the carpet and re-sorting them back into their various compartments.

Vintage Journal

I've been taking Jeanne Oliver's Creatively Made class. She is such an inspirational artist. I love her sweet, gentle, encouraging spirit. She's teaching us so many wonderful techniques and it's been a lot of fun to create some artwork using them.

This is the vintage journal I made from one of her week one lessons.

I really like the juxtaposition between the frilly lace and rhinestones and the leather

"be strong" piece which I made from the belt of someone very special to me. I know he would want me to be strong.

A Little Bit of Nothing

Brrr! It's a cold gloomy day here today. The thermometer says it's 34 degrees - Ugh! I hate how my mood is always so connected to the weather. Especially with winter right around the corner. It's too early in the season to feel this way. Fortunately I'm meeting a friend for lunch in a cute little shopping area nearby. Nothing like shopping, lunch and good conversation to warm up the spirit! Hope you all have a wonderfully warm day!

Journal Pages

I've been working in my art journal and thought I'd share a couple of my favorite recently completed pages.

On the pages above I was channeling Donna Downey and her infamous poppies. You can see how to make a page like this by clicking here. The quote by Mary Lou Cook says, "Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun."

And here is my first She-Art girl I made after taking Christy Tomlinson's fabulous She-Art class. This quote says, "She knew the answers would come with time."

Well, I'm heading over to my daughter's house today. She recently broke her foot and has a big old cast on her right leg - poor girl!

Zentangles

I started a Zentangle journal a while ago. I find it to be relaxing to work in and it's a natural thing for me to do, as I have always doodled when I talk on the phone and at other times when my hands are idle. I've already completed 30 pages in the journal, so I thought I would share a few of them with you.
It is really a mindless style of art because you really are just serendipitously letting your pen go with the flow. I am working in a Moleskine journal because I like the smoothness of the pages and using a Sharpie Retractable Pen (not the marker) to create the designs because it glides effortlessly over the page. You can see more of my Zentangle Journal pages here.

In other news, my friend Brandy Faulkner is one of the guest artists on the Crescendoh website this week. And she was nice enough to feature my little backyard retreat as a part of her featured article. You can read Brandy's touching Art Saves story (as well as Tracy, Rachel and Teresa's stories) by clicking here.

39 squares ~ Day 7

In case you can't figure this one out, it's supposed to represent writing in my journal.

ROD Journal Swap

I told you that I have been making a new journal as a part of Mary Ann Moss' Remains of the Day class. These are some pages I made for a class swap. Everyone seems to have a different style, so it's fun to stir the pot and mix it up a little to add some variety to our journals.

I hope Janet likes these pages I made for her.