Flower Fairies Fly in For Spring!

Take a peek at what I did today! The first collage is my friend Kathy's beautiful granddaughters.

She is such a proud grandma that I'd promised her I'd make something special to show them off. Then, my cousin ,Mo, posted some adorable pictures on Facebook of her baby girl and her best friend's baby girl with big flower headbands on. They were so cute I wrote and asked if I could make them into flower fairies. She said yes and here are the two 8x10 cnavas collages I did today. I got them done just in time for the first day of Spring tomorrow. I will send them to my cousin and she can decide which to keep and which to send to her BFF. If you want to see the details just click on the photo and you will see the large scan image.

Journaling Jubilee

Here are the latest journal pages I've completed. The first two pages I used my self-portrait stencil.
This one is called The Wheel of ME- I used the befunky.com website to try some different effects on a photo. There are lots of free ones and more if you sign up. You should check it out!

I tried the gesso over magazine pics for this one. I got a great deal on some cool clear stamps at Big lots yesterday. They were only $1.00 a set. Awesome!
I did these pages by coloring blocks with my Caran D'Ache crayons and then using the Sharpie water-based markers over them to write the virtues I'm aspiring to live out.
I have had a few weeks off work to refuel and get introspective. I am really trying to use positive thoughts, imagery and words to keep myself on the high road. It is easy to get sucked into fear and negativity in my job and I am working hard at being good to myself and changing

patterns and habits that have not served me well. If anyone has ideas or suggestions along this line I am ready to listen.

Fun With Self-Portrait Stencil

I finally tried a cool idea I got from the book True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling by L.K. Ludwig. I thought it would be too hard, but I just decided to do it tonight. I made a self-portrait stencil. I used a photo booth pic from my Mac webcam. I used a free online site to turn the photo into a cartoon and I printed it in high contrast black and white. The site I used waswww.befunky.com. Then, I put a clear plastic sheet over the photo and traced all the black areas with a sharpie. I found an X-acto knife pen and cut out ALL the black areas. I experimented with my stencil using spray inks from Ranger and Tattered Angels. I sponged pigment ink over the stencil for the purple one. I thought I'd share my results here and then work these into some journal pages. I think you should try one- I am NOT an expert with the X-acto knife. When the little pieces didn't come out easily I used tiny scissors to finish cutting and lifting the pieces out.

So, my friends, the moral is... If I can do this, YOU can certainly do it, too!

This is the cartoon photo I started with.

The purple one was made from pigment ink sponged over the stencil. This made the cleanest lines.
This one was sprayed with Ranger ink, the purple was left on the stencil and it rubbed off on this one.

This one did not make a clean print because too much spray got underneath the stencil. I let it dry and then resprayed with a darker ink.
This one was a negative print first. I soaked up all the ink on top of the stencil with a new sheet of paper. Then I used the stencil to ink the positive lines into the white spaces.

Inspired by Wonderland!

I saw the movie Alice In Wonderland Sunday afternoon and I LOVED it! I thought it was visually rich and interesting. The characters were quirky, but not disturbingly so. I created a spread in my journal to illustrate a quote that is highlighted in the movie. Of course, in my journal these pages are side by side and you can read the entire quote. I have a few other art projects that I should have been finishing up, but this one demanded to be first!

Catching up on my Art Journal pages

Here are some of my art journal pages from the journal I started in January. I have been working on drawing faces after taking several classes from Suzi Blu. I have taken some of the faces from my sketchbook and incorporated them into my journal pages. I am trying to add more writing to my pages, so I may add words to some of them later. I really like the idea of painting many pages ahead of time and adding a few collage elements. This gives me a choice of backgrounds when I want to start journaling on a page.

The word that got cut off by my scanner is GRATITUDE!