Spring is in the Air

This is one of my favorite collages I created several years ago. Anything with a bird theme I hold close to my heart. 

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

Letting Go

- Image by Jeanne Oliver - 

My head is filled with anticipation because this coming week I will be starting Jeanne Oliver's new art e-course entitled, "The Journey of Letting Go - Creating Beauty From Ashes." I'm not 100% sure what all it will entail, but I've taken all of Jeanne's e-courses and each one was worth every penny. If you think the class sounds intriguing, you can read more about it here or watch a video about it here. I hope you can join us in this four week adventure!

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.

I Got My Mojo Back. . .

We had our first measurable snowfall of winter today which is very late for us here in the Midwest. I watched the snow falling from my window - I didn't even go outside to shovel the driveway because I was busy enjoying a steaming cup of French Vanilla coffee and looking at old magazines! Can you say L-A-Z-Y??? I'll probably pay for it tomorrow when the temperature drops and the snow is frozen solid. But being snowed-in has it's benefits, because I got a little creative urge. This is just a peek at what I'm working on.

It felt so good to be making something artsy again.

Happy September!

September (my birthday month) started out in a happy way. I received my comp issue of this year's Holidays & Celebrations from the lovely Jennifer Jackson Taylor over at Stampington Publications. My article, Walk on the Wild Side, is featured on pages 102-104 and I'm over the moon about it! Thanks so much Jennifer.

Something New

I've been working on this collage during the past week. Still have more work to do on it though. Have to wait for further inspiration to complete it.

Creating Again

Ok, enough with the wishing, hoping and longing for springtime and sunshine. It's still only February and the weather man is predicting 2 - 4 more inches for this afternoon. Ugh!

So I decided to take things into my own hands and create a little color surge in my studio. It really felt good to get my hands covered in paint and gel medium and play. It's been way too long since I've done that.

Thank you again (I just can't say it enough) for all your well wishes and sweet thoughts and comments. They have really and truly meant so much to me and are the very thing that has kept me afloat during these past 5 weeks. (Is that all it's been? It seems so much longer than that!) I'm taking baby steps to get my life back in gear and it helps to be surrounded by so much love.

These new creations are currently listed in my Etsy Shop and I hope to be adding more in the coming weeks.

I'm back....well, sort of

I've been spending a lot of time at home lately. Not doing anything in particular. Just trying to make sense out of the past couple weeks. The house is empty and very quiet. No doctor appointments to drive to. No chemo treatments. No walking every morning at the mall with my beloved. No spending quality time together. Instead I am going through the motions of day to day living and slowly trying on this new life of mine to see how it fits. I did spend a little time in my studio creating this little college. It depicts the place I am at right now - nesting and trying to heal.

I'd like to thank you all for your touching comments on the previous post about my DH. I can't express how much your sweet words have meant to me during this time. I treasure the written word. Probably because it comes much easier for me than verbal communication. But mostly because the written word can be read over and over again. The words console me and help to mend my broken heart. Thank you so much.

Need Some Creative Inspiration?

I did a little bookshelf detashing over the weekend. And I've decided to part with the books shown below. If you are interested in any of these, they are $5.00 each + shipping via media mail. Just leave your email address in the comments section below, along with whichever title(s) you are interested in and I will send you a Paypal invoice. For a closer look and a brief description of each book, just click on the highlighted titles at the bottom of this post. All books are soft-covered, in excellent condition and regular prices range from $12.95 to $35.00.1. Celebrate Your Stories, 2. Making Greeting Cards with Rubber Stamps, 3. Making the Most of Your Scrapbook Supplies, 4. Creative Embellishments, 5. The Watercolourist's Garden, 6. Painting Flowers from A to Z, 7. Water Color Basics, 8. Unique Handmade Books, 9. Creative Collage for Crafters, 10. The Big Book of Decorative Painting, 11. The New Photo Crafts, 12. Beyond Metal, 13. Making Gifts with Rubber Stamps, 14. Stamp Art

The Girls

Here's a collage I made a little while ago which was inspired by my mother and her two sisters. I remember my grandpa always saying he was so fortunate to have three beautiful girls. Most men want to have a son to carry on the family name. Come to think of it, years ago when we were expecting our only child, my husband told me he was secretly hoping we would have a girl. And lucky for us that's exactly what we had! {Vintage image from Lisa's Altered Art and some of the background papers are from Cathe Holden.}