Women's retreat 2013

I learned a lot this weekend. The big ones are not to stress about how things will turn out and to go with the flow. I had plenty of stuff that's for sure! We had barely enough room to fit my daughter in the car and that's no joke!  I was expecting more people to participate but it turned out how it was suppose too. The point of the weekend was to do what you needed for yourself, make connections and have fun. Everyone did, so I couldn't ask for more.  I stayed up till 3am the last night completing a canvas that summed up our time there. I think this is my favorite canvas so far! I love how it turned out...

Working my buns off!

Getting ready for the Women's Retreat boy I have a lot to do. I'm trying to stay focused & get it done hate having a mad rush at the end. This is my front cover for my first sample signature. Showing tape transfers, bubble wrap stenciling, washi tape, stamping and a cute little fur baby inspired by the Suzi Blu book.  Gotta get back to work!

Have you ever wanted to draw faces in your mixed media projects?

If the answer is yes you need to check out this book. Mixed Media Faces with Suzi Blu. Her instruction is wonderful and her advice on using graph paper to help get your proportions right is spot on. I've already made a couple parties of decent eyes! I have no idea if this will lead to using faces in my art but I'm having fun doing it. Do you have a favorite book your working with? If so leave a comment I'd love to know.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I've been shopping with some gift cards at Michaels and Joanns. It's been fun getting a few things I've been wanting....for example I got a brayer. I just used it on the clipboard pictures posted today, boy do I wish I would have gotten one so sooner. It works so much better than the pampered chef roller I've been using!

I'm currently working on getting some things together for a class I'm teaching at a Woman's retreat. I'm really excited it's a great opportunity for me!! What could be better than crafting with your bff and teaching ladies some of what I've learned? Answer is not much....lol I'll be teaching them about art/visual journaling and how they can incorporate it into their lives. My goal is to show them you don't have to be an artist to do it and there are so many different things you can do to match your skill and or comfort level.  I want everyone to have fun!

I mentioned my clipboard here are some pictures. This was so easy I just started with a plain clipboard which was purchased at my local dollar store. I covered it with patten paper and Collage Podge (two of my fav things!) I then used my brayer with a two colors. After that was dry I used some Golden Airbrush white paint at the top sprayed with water for a drippage look. Over that I used paper, paint, stencils, stickers, washi tape and stamps.  I now have a cute clipboard to use it's a great place for those to do & shopping lists. It's going shopping with me from now on!

My little House

I've been working on this one for a few weeks now. I like having a few pieces going on at the same time it gives me new inspiration which can be refreshing. I used a rolled paper technique I learned from a video by Christy Tomlinson to create the roof, window, rainbow and door I love the dimension it adds to my work. My background was created with acyclic paint and different mediums like bubble wrap, dry wall tape, washi tape, paper borders and other household items.  The flowers were from a stamp inked with archival ink and painted in with red acrylic paint. I stamped a rainbow in the rolled paper I had in the upper right corner. I colored it in with fine tip sharpie markers. I highly recommend keeping a sketch journal it's something I go back to time and again to gather inspiration for what I want to do next!  Grab your paints stamps and any other things you have laying around and give it a try!

My latest Canvas!

I love love love how this turned out! It started with some paper that caught my eye. Then came a problem I've never faced before I couldn't figure out what colors looked good with the paper. I remembered I had bought a cheap color wheel a few months back. Boy am I glad I did it really helped! It pointed me towards using the green & yellow with the violet purple. This will be a hard one to let go! I suggest investing in a $2 color wheel for those times when you need a little color help.  I'm contemplating adding some words or a quote but I may just leave it be.....

Art Journal Cover

I finished the cover for my Art Journal and wanted to share it with you. (don't have many "you" but I'm believing that will change!!).  I love owls and they seemed to fit this background. The texture on the bottom is from gauze I got at target during halloween. I used Golden gel medium to adhere it. It's very easy to put down just cut a piece a little larger than the area you want to cover. You need extra material to be able to maximize the texture. When the gauze is coated with the gel medium use your fingers to create your desired look. (Medical gauze would work great if you decide to try something like this.) Once the gauze was dry I used a few shades of green to create the look of grass. I drew a few flowers and did some doodling swirls with fine tip pens. Now for the swirly cloud(ish) looking things I glued kitchen twine down with some pva glue. My sky was made with mixing some blues with white until I had my desired color. I added some white highlights and used a white gel pen on the clouds. I put the owl stickers on and applied a coat of collage podge over them to be sure they would stay in place. My art journal is just a small spiral notebook I got at a secondhand store. I will do a post soon that will show you how to prep the book pages like I do in my journals. The pages can then be written on, painted, embossed, zentagled, stamped, glued on etc etc etc the possibilities are endless! you should try making your own art/visual journal. Merry Christmas!!