
This week’s question was “if i could do it all again, would i change
anything?”
I don’t believe in looking back. When I make a decision, I think for a
long time and I work hard to make sure I believe it’s the best decision
I can make with what information I have available at the time. This way,
I don’t regret anything because I know I didn’t do it haphazardly. I
believe life is about moving forward and looking forward. I also firmly
believe that we don’t know how the paths we didn’t take would have ended
up, so I wouldn’t change anything.
This week’s technique was inspired by the amazing Loretta Grayson,
specifically this
piece. I’ve always wanted to try sewing more creatively and I used
acrylic paint and the back of my brush for the while lines. It doesn’t
come close to comparing to her beautiful art but it was still a lot of
fun to experiment.
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a
new technique each week. You can see the see full list: here

This week’s catalyst was: Create
art around a secret you’ve been keeping.
Here are my words:
It may not seem so, but this catalyst was incredibly cathartic for me. I
spent my whole life being the girl with the diaries and the girl with
secrets. I would never tell anyone anything about me. Anyone. Ever. Many
good friends complained how it wasn’t fair that I knew everything about
them but they knew nothing about me. I agreed it wasn’t fair but I just
couldn’t get myself to share.
But somewhere along the way, I shared once and then once again and then
I realized the healing power of sharing. The connection it created, the
way it helped me resolve my problems just by talking about them. And
imagine my surprise when I sat down to do this week’s catalyst and
realized I had no secrets. Nothing. I feel so relaxed and peaceful. When
it comes to keeping others’ secrets, I am still a perfect confidant who
never tells a soul but now I don’t have to fill dairies with my own
secrets anymore. I have kind souls to share with and I do so as needed.
I am eternally thankful for that.

This week’s prompt was “How do I feel TODAY?”
Honestly, I thought a lot about this one. The one prominent thought was
tired since I’ve been so so tired all the time lately but then I wanted
something that’s more specific for these last few days as opposed to the
last few months and since so many friends around me are struggling and
it’s making me blue, I’ve decided to go with feeling blue. It’s not even
that I am sad for myself, but mostly at all the hardships my friends are
suffering and how pensive it’s making me.
The main technique I tried to use on this one was resist. I used clear
embossing to stamp the “blue” and then inked all over the tag to make
the word standout. Then I covered the letters with Tim’s crackle paint
to emphasize the feeling of feeling broken/blue. I then used alcohol
inks to make the bling, ghost heart, and the shells blue. I also used
the sparkling H2O’s for the edges and inside the letters a bit just to
give it a glimmer of sparkle. I used stickles to cover a white heart and
put the two hearts to symbolize relationship related issues my friends
are having. That’s it. I wanted the whole card to be tints of blue.

This week’s creative therapy catalyst is: When
was the last time you were up all night?
Here’s my text:
The last time I stayed up all night on my own accord was in 1997. I was
living in New York and my husband (then boyfriend) was still at school
in Pittsburgh. We were talking over the phone and computer all night. At
the time, I was taking a class on 3-Dimensional computer graphics and I
was drawing a trumpet for my class. I spent the whole night working on
that instrument and chatting with him. It still is one of my fondest
memories.
And the trumpet
turned out ok, too.

This week’s prompt was “when i look into my eyes, i see _______.”
This tag didn’t photograph well at all but I couldn’t figure out how to
fix it. It has a lot of techniques from my list. The bottom brown
section is flocked, there’s wax all over it which causes the blotches.
The brown color is alcohol ink. The butterflies are embossed with
glittery brown powder. And the stamping of course.
To me, the tree represents potential growth and opportunity. The
butterflies, too, represent future full of possibility which is what I see.

Catalyst
Forty-Six was: What’s your favorite poem? Why?
Here’s my text:
If I had been asked this question years ago, I think I would have ended
up with a Robert Frost poem as for the longest time, he was my favorite
poet. I have always loved “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and used to write it
in my diaries. But that was all before I was introduced to William
Carlos Williams. As soon as I read this poem, I fell completely in love.
I can’t even tell you why. I think it’s because it’s so ordinary, so
simple. Such a beautiful representation of something that’s a part of
regular, married, loving life.
this is just to say
i have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

This week’s prompt was “Do you believe in fairies?”
I wanted something really shimmery so I took a purple butterfly and put
pearl ink on it and then some white felt and then some white glitter
just to be sure it would shine. I used UTEE on the hearts in the
background (which was an afterthought, hence the not perfect pattern)
and some alcohol inks with the pearl mixative on the blue in the
background.
here’s another look:

This week’s question was “Am I afraid of change?”
With a new baby on the way, I decided change is inevitable for us and I
might as well embrace it. Hence the heart and the clasp over it.
I used UTEE to stamp “laugh” and grunge board for the heart and the
clasp. I put a little glossy accent on the heart swirls just to have
them stick out a bit.

Catalyst forty-five is up at creative therapy: If
you got to write a book/movie/song what would it be about?
Here are my words:
I actually wrote books for a while and this is a poster I made in a
design class I took. This poster is for the first book I wrote. It’s
about a girl who goes back home to take care of her mother with whom she
has some deep issues and reconnects with her highschool love. In the
book, the mom has lupus which is called the butterfly disease, hence the
butterfly on the cover.
I love reading mainstream fiction and about strong characters and their
connections to each other and those are the kind of books I’d like to
write. I don’t dream of many many things in my life but writing a book
and getting published is a lifelong dream. I yearn to write and to write
well. Maybe one day…

Emily’s question from last week is: “what do i wish for this year to
bring?” and as I’ve already spoken about many many times, mine is for peace.
The technique I used for this week is the Mini Misters and I took my
inspiration from this
tag by Tim Holtz. I’ve been playing more and more with his products
and loving every moment of it.

Catalyst
Forty-four is up: What’s something about the way you live your life
that doesn’t align with who you are (or wish you were)?
Here are my words:
Ever since I can remember, I’ve made career and life decisions such that
I could stay at home when I had children. Even back when I was 10, I
wanted to study computers because I knew it was a career I could pursue
from home. And yet, here I am, working at a large company, spending a
lot of time in meetings, and not at home with my wonderful boy. With
another little one on the way, this is the largest way that my life is
out of sync with how I wish it were, so I know I need to find some
solutions.

I started this project last night and had so much fun. The technique for
this card was water-soluble crayons.
|
projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
|