By Road, Plane, Train, Ship...how do you Travel?

Another doll swap, this time with a travel theme. First visit to the farm! I did some farm visiting when I was a child, and it was a whole new world to me.

A little retro traveling along Route 66. I want to do this someday...travel from Chicago to LA and stop at all the iconic places of interest. Anyone for a road trip?

Time to travel to the alternate world of steampunk, kind of a SciFi Victorian Age. Made a cape and top hat for my boy to go in style.

Here's my artsy girl heading to Europe. You can see she has see quite a few places on her travels. When the background got too bright, I toned it down with some whitewash (just diluted white paint).

Now would be a good time to travel to a warmer climate as a major snowstorm churns our way...oh, well, time to craft!

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Butterflies and Bird Crazy

The best days are the ones I get to play in my "studio". Even a dark, cold day brightens up when playing with paints and inks and color! I just got some happy mail this week, and my "bird crazy" stamp set by Tim Holtz arrived..I love these adorable birds with the big eyes!

 

Aren't these the cutest little birds? I used Tim Holtz's distress watercolor technique in CC Vol. 3 (p.40) Here is the full piece in its entirety. Looks like a twitter fest.

A bit more on the background later, but I colored these sweet birds following Tim's technique, and then placed them into the collage. Of course, I had to have them "tweet!" I will be entering them into the CC3C challenge #20 here. Funkie Junkie Boutique is sponsoring the challenge and I can say from personal experience, what a great online store! I even got some little gifts with my order! Tim and Mario generously donate a prize package for each challenge also, and you can still join in the fun!

I am also entering these little birds into Simon Says Stamp challenge Winter Stamping. It is most definitely winter in upstate NY, I am stamping these cute little birds looking out over a snowy field, and I always love seeing the winter birds, especially a bright red Cardinal.

I am participating in Creative Jumpstart with Nathalie Kahlbach. This year is by far the best!! I love all the great ideas the artists are sharing using Liquitex products. One of the artists in week 2 is Catherine Scanlon who shared a technique, I just had to try. I created both background using her technique, Liquitex acrylic paints, pen, and an everyday item. My butterfly collage follows her idea most closely. So much freedom in it!

 

I may end up adding these pages into my art journal, or use in a project.

What a great play day!! Stay crafty...and warm!

 

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Colorburst Part 2

I am loving this online class I am taking...Artfully Inspired Life! My book is prepped for the year, my January pages are done. All I have left to do this month is add my personal journaling to the pages. Woohoo!

Made up my own dedication page, adding the Washi! I learned to add some medium to the Washi to hold it down better...I used Ranger Glue and Seal.

Here are the rest of the pages...

I think I am looking ahead to Valentines Day!

Notice on my side by side pages, I am trying to carry over some of the same elements, so there is a connection between them...in this case, the blue used on both pages.

I had fun blending the colors on these pages, and the dripping down.

I notice when I don't use my ruler, I write uphill.

Now, it is time to go back in and work with these pages, work on my vision board, sparks, etc. honestly, I can't wait to see what February will bring.

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Colorburst!

I have made no official new year resolutions, instead, I am pursuing a creative path, and have signed up for several online courses. The most ambitious so far, is a year long course with Joanne Sharpe, the "Queen" of color! Check out her website, Whimspirations, to delight in her bright, vibrant work with paper and fabric. I am taking the course Artfully Inspired Life, working with my art journal and focusing on lettering and design, and COLOR. So, I thought I would share what I have created so far.

I had to start by cleaning off my desk, and setting up my workspace. A couple of my trusty standbys...coffee and music. Cover page...can you find the 3 owls? What are the bright globes in my tree...whatever your imagination turns them into.

Table of Contents...a work in progress

My Mantra...I've started taking yoga classes and really like them. (Working on a healthier me) Through the yoga and other life events, I've become more focused on mindfulness, and want to embrace this more fully.

First week done, ready for journaling. Sheila, I was inspired by your Etsy CampfireDesigns logo for my fire. Reminds me of the many campfires we've enjoyed. Time ahead to work on the rest!

I took a class with Joanne at CreateNJ last summer, which opened my eyes to the possibilities of lettering using my own handwriting. Honestly, 6 months ago I would not have believed I could do this! The class is still open, you can join at any time, so maybe I will see you there!

I LOVE COLOR!

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Wondering about CHA 2015?

Who doesn't like new stuff???

We always get excited when new things for crafting come out, and CHA showcases the new ideas that will hit the market. I like to check out the new things and see how they will play with what I have.

Here are some great websites I've been following that are sharing all the excitement:

May Flaum has some great posts about CHA and new products on her blog here. Lots of photos of booths and products, her take on trends, a great site to catch up on the happenings.

Tim Holtz has been sharing his new product lines here on his blog, always amazing!

Seth Apter at the Altered Page has some good posts from CHA and the most recent is about the trends and changes he saw.


Nancy Nally at Scrapbook Updates does an amazing job of sharing everything new at CHA. She has a link on the side for CHA sneak peeks if you want to check out your faves.

Well, I have already been enchanted by some new products and have a couple of pre orders in. Can't wait to get them and share!

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Simon Says Inky Background!

Simon Says Stamp is challenging us this week to work with inky backgrounds. Check it out here. I love playing with ink!

I found some old journaling cards I had in my stash, and pulled out the "newsflash" one to play with using my trusty Distress inks. Inked up the background, spritzed some water droplets on, waited a bit, and mopped it up. Love this easy peasy techñique!

 After it dried, I got out my white ink, some stamps and found objects and added another layer.

Doodled a bit with both a black and white pen, popped some areas with Diamond Glaze, and then had an "aha" moment! Newsflash...typewriter...oh yeah! Layered it onto a card, and it's ready for any newsflash I need to send out!

I think I may just have to make some more of these!

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Frayed Fabric Challenge: CC3C

The new challenge at Compedium of Curiosities is Tim Holtz's frayed fabric techñique. In Volume 3, you can find this on page 66. To get some great inspiration for this technique, travel on over to the CC3C site here. Tim and Mario sponsor each challenge with great prize packages, and Inspiration Emporium is donating a $50 gift certificate for this challenge - Yay!! I decided to try this technique out for a couple of projects, and here are the four that I made.

I layered the fabric and sandwiched a piece of green inbetween to add some sturdiness. Played with different stitches, painted with acrylics, doodled with my white pen, added some distressed letters, and Voila!

I must be thinking Valentines? And with the third, thoughts of spring were in my mind as we headed to about 30 below! Brrrrr!

These three are headed to a 4x4 art exchange with the theme of sewing...I just decided to sew!

My final piece I created with the steampunk challenge "lucky 3" over at SanDee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenges here. My favorite number is three, and I always consider it my lucky number. I've echoed the three, 3x...the number, the word, and the three gears.

Oh, what the heck! The challenge at Simon Says Stamp is "make new friends but keep the old"...one is silver and the other's gold (song from my Girl Scout days), so I am going to enter these also. Old fabric, well, I've had it quite awhile and had not done anything with it, and new technique-painting the fabric with acrylics.

I must say, these challenges make me work with materials in new ways, and are a great incentive to dig into my stash and pull out those long hoarded items like the fabric. I am loving this creative journey!




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