Art journal 2nd page..

Well here is the second page I did in my new art journal.

I am still just playing and experimenting, I found some

images that I liked, including the words and went from there.

Definitely for me doing the words and writing is the
hardest part, I am like that with my scrapbooking too.

I know for a lot of people that art journaling is a way to get

their emotions and feelings out. For me I am just
interested in trying out new things and making pages
that look cohesive, after all art is purely a matter
of personal taste.

I do really love the size of this book and am looking
forward to playing in it more. This is also a different
direction from the other art journal pages I have done,
I am still trying to find what is the right style for me.

Pink Flowers ???

Ok, thought I needed to clarify my previous post. These
are my favourite flowers and my husband gave them to
me on Friday for our anniversary.

I did have pink lilies as my bridal bouquet and so he tries
to find them for me on our anniversary, isn't he sweet :)
I have to say that these particular ones have been the
most beautiful that I have ever had, they are really
stunning and very fragrant.

So to clarify, I do love these flowers but do not use a lot of
flowers or pink in other aspects of my life - clothing,
scrapbooking, decorations etc.

I used them in my new art journal because they did
indeed fit with the rest of the page, as Lisa pointed out.

I actually like seeing flowers on things but as I am the
only female in my house I find it hard to use them in my
scrapbooking and altered art.
I have a jar full of paper and fabric flowers, now I will
have to use them up in my art journal.

My new art journal...

Last Friday I was lucky enough to take a class with
Kelly Kilmer at the Frenzy Stamper store in Scottsdale, AZ.
I have been following her blog for a while and really
love her style of art journaling, she comes to AZ a
few times a year and finally I got the timing right and
was able to go.

The first picture is the actual journal I made in class,
which I absolutely love:)  It is a larger size than I
would have normally used but I really love how easy
it was to make. The other picture is the first page I painted.
We did do some of her painting techniques

first and it was taking me a while to get the hang of it
so I was doing my best to cover up the parts I didn't like.
There are a lot of pages in this book so hopefully by the
time I have finished it I will have figured out how to do
the painting part so that I actually like the results.

Oh and anyone who knows me knows that flowers are
really not my thing, neither is pink :)

Prom night...

Well tonight is the night ! well for my son's high school
anyway. This will be his second Prom and he still has
next year's to go to as well.

Just like last year the lighting was terrible and my
pictures are not that good because of it, this is one
of the best ones I took and in fact is my favourite one
because it brings a tear to my eye :)

Well it is late here and I am going to have to wait up
passed my bed time to make sure that he gets home
safely and the rented tuxedo can get packed up
ready to return tomorrow.

Trying new art...

Probably for the last year or so I have been very
interested in Art Journaling and have been loading
up on magazines, classes, books etc to figure out
how to do it. There really isn't a right or wrong way
to do it but it takes a lot of experimenting and also
a lot of Youtube videos to see what style that
interests you.
I have seen several people's work that really appeals
to me but have not really found out my own style
and therefore I am definitely still in the experimental
stage of it all.

I have signed up to take a yearlong class with
Pam Carriker that is called Journal 365. Her style is
a lot different than some of the other artists I have
seen but really it is all about your own interpretation
of it. I did this page today and the theme for
our first month is "One". You can take that to mean
either, one image, one medium or one style,
whatever it means to you.
This is the second page I have done for this theme
and I decided to use my 2 favourite stamps by
Tim Holtz, and use them multiple times to give
more meaning to them.

Not sure how well I am doing but I am really
just experimenting right now and really am hoping
to find my own style that I get comfortable with and
will know instinctively what to do when I open to a
new blank page, well that is my hope anyway :)

Today I feel like this...

Aww, isn't he cute ? I went to visit my friend Lisa who
was selling her wonderful paper crafted goodness at a
local craft boutique today.
It was very hot out there today and I was there before
10am, they were predicting 91 degrees today here in
Phoenix ! It certainly feels like it.

I saw this cute little thing on my way out and could not
resist him, as truthfully I am feeling a little blue today.

Not anything major just the daily dealings of teenage
boys, anyone out there with teenagers will understand.

I wish the lady I had bought him from had given me her
card as I really liked the glass pieces she had made and
it would have been good for others to see it too.

Well I am going to try and make some art today as I now

have a few hours alone with no one here, yay !
Hope everyone is managing to do something fun this weekend.

More metal tape...

I have been a bad blogger, been very busy trying to get
ready for my husband's special birthday tomorrow :)

Anyway this is the last class I took with
Mike and Lesley a couple of weeks ago. It was called
"P" is for Paris and we all got a paper mache letter P.
Using the metal tape on this was quite a bit more

challenging than on the wooden plaque I had done
previously, it involved a lot more wrapping due to
the curves of the letter.

I love the way it turned out and the fact that every time I

take one of their classes I learn something new and as
always they are the most helpful instructors. If you ever
get a chance sign up for one of their classes, of course
they do most of their teaching in Arizona but I think they
may be branching out soon. Check out their website and
see what they are up to !

Once you start, you can't stop...

or at least it seems that way :)  I finally unwrapped the 12
new Tim Holtz Distress ink pads that I received just
before I went away. I had some time and thought I
would try them out, so I die cut some flowers and decided
to ink one for each new colour. Well of course it didn't
stop there as I thought I should do it for the other
21 ink pads I had, yes I did say "the other 21".
So with the 12 new ones I now have 33 Distress ink pads
and my issue is how to store them ?

I know I want them to be nearby and easy to get to, but
what kind of container/storage option do I have that
will fit them all in ?

Here is a picture of them on my desk in small stacks so
you cannot see the full problem of having 33 of them :)

Now I know that I am not the only one out there with this

amount of ink pads so I am looking for input on how
everyone stores their ink pads. I am in fact quite certain
that I probably have a much smaller amount in total of
ink pads than most of the people I know :)

Artfest, highly recommended ...

These are photo's of the only actual project I made this
weekend. Artfest is more about learning new techniques
and experimenting than about a finished project.
The bird above was the last of my 3 classes and really
the only one that had any chance of being finished.
Due to lots of unforseen circumstances I had to finish him

off at home but really had very little left to do to him.
Not sure why I am calling the bird a him as the name
of the class was "Steampunk Lily" taught by the very
talented Julie Thompson, who I have to say was so upbeat
and positive despite things happening that were out

of her control.

This is the first art event I have attended where you
take a 6 hour class each day. It gives you so much more
time to learn and have fun trying out new things and
was so much more relaxing than events where you have
to do 3 or 4 classes in a day.

My other 2 classes were definitely about learning new
techniques, my first class of the event was about making
your own journal for an event you attend that only
needs basic supplies for, but can still make a fabulous
journal. This was taught by the very talented,
and incredibly helpful Jill Berry. I still have a lot of work

to do on this as it is the kind of thing that you fill out as
the week goes along, you really have to wait to finish it.

My other class was a lot of fun, it was playing and
experimenting with paint, markers and coloured pencils,
to make fabulous backgrounds.
The other part of this was to see what you
could pull out of the backgrounds, some people made
flowers, some fish and a lot made faces.
The class was taught by Traci Bautista, she was so
relaxed and helpful.
I have loved her funky graffiti style artwork for a while
so getting to see what her process is was great.

I felt so inspired to come home and create and go out of
my comfort zone after all these classes, I really enjoyed
the classes and met some very nice ladies there.
Now all I need is some time to get my art supplies out
and play.... hmm who is going to do my laundry,
cooking, cleaning etc so I can do that ??