Art Journaling – Strathmore – Always Be You

Here’s the next page:

The first thing I did for this week’s art journaling page was to spray some mists into a baby wipe and then rub it along my page to color it.

See the baby wipe? I spray right into it and then just rub it on the page. I used several shades of blue and green.

Then I took my tree from the Mistables stickers by Pink Paislee and colored it with distress ink. And lay some pink and white heart-shaped beads on it. For three of them I used buttons or cabachons just for some fun texture and variety. I also added some Donna Downey Prima canvas letters and wings.

Then I removed the wings, added some stamping, some stitching, letter stickers, and a bunch of birds. The stickers read “Always be You.”

here’s a close-up.

I didn’t like the page, decided to add a bunch more birds.

I like it better now. Still not my favorite but something different. And that’s the point.

And for your viewing pleasure, here’s a little movie, too:

I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for July and August (and maybe longer). You can read more about it and the book I am using for these pages at the top of this blog post.

August 18, 2011 | Art, Mixed Media, Weekly Art Journal | 3 comments

Daily Sketching – Week 19

Here are the sketches from this week. Many are still from the awesome Abigail Halpin.

Wednesday, I made this girl. She used a digital texture in the background but I used pastels in mine.

the next day, I had little time so I did this girl:

Friday I did this angel but didn’t color cause i had no time:

on Saturday my pastel pencils had arrived so I did this girl with wings:

on Sunday, I did the awesome ladybug carrying the nest. I love this one. Used pastel pencils again.

Monday was this boy.

Tuesday I changed artists and subjects and tackled this bluebird:

and here we are. as always some are ok others not so great. let’s see what next week brings.

August 18, 2011 | Art, SG, Sketching | 3 comments

Daily Diary – August 17 2011

David had a friend over today so Nathaniel had to play by himself downstairs and he was not happy about it.

but he gave up and just played anyway.

When I asked him for a smile I got this.

and this.

and David gave me this one.

and this one.

My jaw is a bit better today, thank you for your kind words. I must admit some of the peace of the last few weeks is gone. I do want it back and plan to slowly claim it again. I’ve still been doing sketching, art journaling, and scrapbooking daily. I am not journaling a lot but I am doing a little in my weeklong journal. I need to do that more. I also hope to work on Soul Restoration a bit more. But I am doing a lot of art and I am happy about that. I am feeling quite tired lately partly cause I am still getting up at night to take David to the bathroom and partly cause I am not sleeping well. But that’s life. It shall pass. Always does.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for my sixth day in a row of making layouts!
2. I am grateful for getting ahead of schedule.
3. I am grateful for art and books, they save me again and again.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that Ece came to our house. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played with my brother. (khan academy!)
3. I am grateful that I read to Mommy.

August 17, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | 2 comments

A Book a Week – Before I Fall

It is so funny to me that I picked up Before I Fall because I was looking for something light and easy to read. I knew it was about a girl who died but I also knew it was good.

What I didn’t know was that this young adult book would completely change my life. The effects it had on me are profound and have nothing to do with the goal of the author (or so I assume) and I had so many revelations as I read it that I couldn’t believe it. There were parts where I felt like the character was speaking right to me.

I cannot tell you if it will have the same effect on you. Unless you have the same exact issues i have and struggled in the same way and are in the same mood as I was when I read it, it might not speak to you in the same way it did to me. But I am so so so glad I read it.

And, for me, it was transformational.

August 17, 2011 | Books Read in 2011, Literature | 4 comments

Art Journaling – Strathmore – Birds

here’s the next journal page I made in the Strathmore book.

I took my watercolor paper and made rectangles using yellow, orange, pink and red.

Then, I drew different types or shapes of birds in almost all of them with a pencil:

Then I colored each bird and wrote some words in a few of them. And I outlined each with black pen and used some white pen, too. Finally, I stitched around each of the rectangles with black thread.

And here we are again:

And for your viewing pleasure, here’s a little movie, too:

I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for July and August (and maybe longer). You can read more about it and the book I am using for these pages at the top of this blog post.

August 17, 2011 | Art, Watercolor, Weekly Art Journal | 7 comments

You Much Prefer Making a Pretty Big Mess over Playing

This is one of the projects I did for Authentique Paper for CHA Summer.

Journaling Reads:
One of the greatest joys of getting to work from home is watching you play all day long. You are pretty good at playing by yourself and keeping yourself entertained. You often like to play with trains and make lots of funny noises while you play. But lately you’ve started to enjoy creating a big mess. You dig a fork into your lego box and drag them all out. I think you really just like making a huge mess.

August 17, 2011 | Authentique Paper, Layouts, Scrapbooking | 6 comments

Daily Diary – August 16 2011

Today started out stressful and just didn’t get much better from there. Here’s the little boy watching some TV. I love the way he’s sitting.

we took our walk early today and I brought my camera along.

Nathaniel wasn’t playing along but I got a few of David.

we got back and I put Nathaniel down but he refused to nap, so I just gave up and he played while I worked. Can you almost hear him make sounds as he’s playing?

I love having little boys around. They are so unbearably cute.

My jaw-ache (yes it’s back) got progressively worse from there and has reached unbearable proportions. I am trying to stay calm and hope it goes away but it’s really quite terrible.

My goal tonight is to buckle down and get some of my todo list items done. Emails replied to, layouts and blog posts uploaded, and maybe even comments. Let’s see how far I get.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for yet another layout done. I am on a roll!
2. I am grateful for Jake taking the kids out for haircuts tonight when I needed some quiet time.
3. I am grateful for a relatively painless dev push.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played with my brother. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I can now do 3-digit multiplication. (khan academy!)
3. I am grateful that I played with my legos.

August 16, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | 3 comments

Weekly Art Journal – Weeklong for July 18

This weeklong page was originally inspired by this wonderful canvas. I loved how unique it is.

This week I just had fun and used all the stamps I wanted to.

here’s the left page:

And the right side:

And here’s the filled page:

I love this one, too.

Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here. And you can find out more about the weeklong daily journaling here.

August 16, 2011 | Art, WAJG, Weeklong Daily Art Journal | One comment

Daily Diary – August 15 2011

Today was a whirlwind. I did a lot of work. I also caught up in several other projects. The little boy woke up from his nap with this hair.

I love the crazy hair!

David was sweet most of the day. He played with his legos. He’s been doing that a lot lately.

This evening we lost electricity. For over two hours. It had been a long long time since that happened so it was quite odd. I used the time to snuggle up with the boys and then when they went down, I scrapped. Now I just want to sleep even though I have a few important todo list items. Maybe if I rest a bit I will feel like getting some work done.

Sorry for the quiet today, just feeling tired. How are you doing?

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for yet another layout I finished.
2. I am grateful for some quiet time thanks to lack of electricity.
3. I am grateful for my jaw hurting considerably less.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played with my legos. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we got the electricity back.
3. I am grateful that I made some creations.

August 15, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | Leave a comment

I loved celebrating your happy second birthday together with our neighbors

In June, I had the honor of guest designing with Little Yellow Bicycle’s Sweet Summertime collection. Here is one of my layouts:

Journaling Reads:
My sweet boy, even though you can’t tell from the pictures, we celebrated your birthday in the little common area outside our house with all the neighbors and their kids. Ths was the second year we did it and it was so much fun to see all the kids more grown up than last year. I hope we can continue some form of this tradition every year. I love you o much my son. HAppy happy second birthday.

And some details:

August 15, 2011 | Layouts, Little Yellow Bicycle, Scrapbooking | One comment

Daily Diary – August 14 2011

Another weekend day means another set of family photos. I often get kisses during the shoot which is one of my favorite parts.

Jake said to leave the TV on today so the kids would look at the camera more. Even he’s looking at the TV!

Nathaniel insisted that he carry the new case he got with his knights toy.

there was tickle time of course.

and then when Nathaniel went to nap, Jake showed David a present one of his friends gave us: a playstation 2. David was so very happy and grateful.

they played for a bit and I scrapped a page and did some sketching. Then the little boy woke up.

And David let me take a photo before he ran to his room to create with his legos.

I spent the afternoon mostly dozing on and off. I’ve been tired and in pain. My jaw seems to be acting up today and four Advils did nothing so far. Let’s hope it’s gone soon.

This week promises to be a bit more hectic than the last few. But not too much. I plan to buckle down and get a bunch of items crossed off my list early in the week. But tonight I get to relax. I am going to read and if I feel better I can do some art later in the night.

I hope you’ve all had a fabulous weekend! Here’s to a great week.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for another layout I finished.
2. I am grateful for feeling centered and organized.
3. I am grateful for a possibly busy (but hopefully not hectic) week.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I got a playstation two. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played with my legos.
3. I am grateful that mommy and i finished our book.

August 14, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | Leave a comment

Reading with David – The Tilting House

David says:
I gave this story five stars because I liked that their house had many secrets. Each chapter was a new secret.

I thought it was sad when the dad accidentally killed one of Mr. Daga’s children, the baby rat. I thought it was funny that The Talker talked nonstop and thought it was cool that he turned out to be Hanson.

I thought it was interesting that the person who did grandpa’s leg also built the house they lived in. I liked that the box had growth powder to make the key grow. I also liked how Mr. Daga trained the dog and he could get a soda from the fridge. It was cool that the dimmer switch made the house invisible.

My favorite part was when they found the treasure because it meant that they could keep the house.

Reading a book a week with my six-year-old son David is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

August 14, 2011 | Family, Reading with David | 3 comments

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