Art

A doodle page from my Art Journal and a couple of backgrounds.  I have no idea what I will put on the two backgrounds but I sure do like how they turned out.

Working With What You Have.

I did the background on this page a few weeks ago and I hated it.  I was trying a method that I saw on the Internet and for some reason I chose gray as my main color and added barn red highlights.  It reminded me of a big boring ugly battleship.  So I decided to leave it for a few days and come back to see if I changed my mind..... I didn't.  Since I had some time today, I thought I would play with it and see if I could save the page.  I really wish I had taken a "before" picture.  It looks completely different from where it started.

I had no idea where I was going with it.  I started by adding some more colors of acrylic paint (turquoise and Ivory).  I tried some stenciling with spray inks but they seemed to just sit on top of the paint.  They didn't absorb. I finally sprayed some Dylusion ink and it took.  I stamped the bird because I thought he was cool and I was going to do some layering with other stamps (that didn't happen).  I added the lace down the side because...well, lace makes everything look prettier.  Next I stamped the lady on a scrap piece of card stock and colored her with water color pencils.  I stamped a crackle stamp with Sepia Archival Ink over the image.  I used a stencil  template and drew an oval around her and cut her out.  I distressed it using Tea Dye ink.  I placed her on the page and decided that more was needed.  So, I tore some newsprint scrapbook paper to frame her in.  I used Vintage Photo distress ink on it.  Next, I added the flower that I made a few days ago.  I tore paper for leaves and distressed them with Vintage Photo ink.  I doodled around the frame and the flower.  I hot glued the feathers using a piece of paper that I punched with a half inch punch.  Then I was looking for some type of quote or saying to put on the page.  I found this quote from Jane Eyre, "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will."  I thought "perfect, this makes the page look like it was well thought out", when in fact it just evolved!

Relaxing, Peaceful Day

I tried to get bolder with layering.

 Not so sure I like it.  I think I need to come back and look at it tomorrow.  My first thought is that it needs "something".  I just don't know what that something is.

I was playing with lettering and did the word "Faith" and left it for a while.  Today, I looked at it and added some flowers and colored them with Distress markers.  I colored the background with a yellow water color pencil.  I'm not sure how well it shows up.  I like it and it is a good reminder for me.

A Little Organization.

I decided that I needed to do a little organizing of my stash.  So I pulled out a shelf that my husband made for my son, to store his DVD's.  My son has since moved out and the shelf has been sitting in the garage collecting dust.  The original plan (for me) was to paint it white to match the other accessories in my room, but I just can't get myself to paint over the beautifully stained oak.  So, instead of staying in procrastination mode, I decided to use it "as is" and set it on top of an antique table in my craft room.

The table top is a little warped.  If you look real close, you can see the cardboard that I used to shim the bottom right side of the shelf, to stop it from wobbling.  Also, you can see the carpet squares that are intended to be used for the room (more procrastination).

 This is a close up of the top two shelves.  You can see my Tim Holtz dies on the left and some of my embossing folders on the right.

This is a picture of the bottom two selves.  The bottom shelf holds my cricut cartridges and the DVD cases that I use to store my loose stamps in.  I love it.  Now I can see all my stamps, which will help when I am working on projects.  I didn't realize I had as many stamps as I did!