Zentangle ... had to try it ...

The latest doodling technique is the Zentangle ... my understanding is that you divide a space into irregular pieces, and then doodle different designs in each piece. So I tried it with my handprints. A very relaxing art form, at least while doodling. Trying to come up with a different design for each piece? Not so relaxing LOL! And I'm not even sure if I'm doing it right ... some people just draw the designs into the spaces, like I did, but others make the design stretch and skew to fit the space. Whichever way, though, it looks cool! And it was fun, so I may do some more of this in the future.

Volume 3 is off to a great start ...

Here's Volume 3 of my art journal ... as I mentioned before, I made this with a composition notebook and manila folders. I'm really enjoying the bigger size again. Only problem so far is finding pens that will write on the acrylic paint ... I need to work on putting down thinner layers.Gotta put your address on the first page, just in case it gets lost. The background is watercolor crayon smeared with babywipes, then bits of a magazine ad. I gessoed a spot for my name and address and it sort of took on the color of the background, so it either wasn't dry yet or it rewetted them enough to color it ... either way, I like it! I had trouble with my Pitt pens around the "be bold", so for the bits of writing, I went with a colored pencil, which I'm really liking, so now I need to find a container to hold all my colored pencils in my journaling bag LOL!For this page, I started with a layer of acrylic, then some strips of a magazine page, then several foam stamped images using more acrylic paint, then gesso over it all, then some watercolor crayon smeared over that. I love the look, but when I went to do the phrase with a Sharpie, it just dried up. I had to let the pen rest after every couple of letters, and also really worked the side of the pen tip, just to get the color on the page. For the arrow, I went back to the acrylic paint. And for the bits of journaling, after trying a gel pen, I switched back to a colored pencil ... yep, need to add them to my journal bag! The picture is me at 2 1/2 years old with my grandpa ... found a whole little "grandma's brag book" filled with snapshots of me and my brother a couple of weeks ago while rummaging in the basement ... such a treat! I plan to use more of them on future pages.

And Volume 2 is finished, too!

While the kids played at McDonald's today, I was able to finish up the last couple of pages in Volume 2 and now it can be declared full, too! The girls' dance recital photos came sooner than I thought they would, so I was able to finish the recital layout started here.Then I finished journaling about our watery weekend.And, of course, I just had to document my love of Pinochle! I waited until my grandparents retired their last deck and got a new one so I could use actual cards in my layout. They are well worn and have seen lots of play LOL!I wasn't going to bother showing this page, but since I had the camera out, I went ahead and snapped a pic. This is the last page and the pocket at the back of the Moleskin. One of the best tips I got in the online class was to use the "back door" to test things out before doing them on the page. Such a great idea! I will do that from now on.Now I can focus on Volume 3 ... I've already started the first two pages ....

Finally finished Volume 1 of my art journal!

I'm already starting Volume 3, but I had one page left in Volume 1 that I hadn't finished until yesterday. It was a page of quotes that I would add to as I came across ones that really struck a cord with me. And yesterday I filled in the last remaining space so I can finally say that Volume 1 is totally full! I really liked having a place to put a quote that I wanted to keep, but didn't want to do a whole page with, so I'm planning to start another one in Volume 3 ... and when that page fills, I will create another one, whatever volume I'm in.For those who want to know, here are the quotes on this spread:

"We're our own worst enemies, you know that? Nothing anybody else can do to us is as bad as what we do to ourselves." ~Matt Longacre in The Mulberry Tree by Jude Deveraux

"Anyone can make promises. The challenge is in following through." ~Adele in The New Year's Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

"All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail." ~Dorothea Brande

"... as the will is the governing power in the man's nature, if the will is set right, all the rest of the nature must come into harmony. By the will, I do not mean the wish of man or even his purpose, but the deliberate choice, the deciding power, the king to which all that is in the man must yield obedience." ~Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life

"To sum up then: In order to enter into this blessed interior life of rest and triumph, you have two steps to take. First, entire abandonment, and second, absolute faith." ~Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action." ~Frank Tibolt

"I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil, but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be "religious". If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God." ~Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

"... all human wisdom is contained in these two words: wait and hope." ~Edmund Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

A few random journal pages

Well, I'm still playing in my art journal, but I've slowed down quite a bit ... I did this when I got close to the end of my last journal, too, when I wasn't sure what I was going to use next. Except that this time I do know what I'm going to use next ... I made a journal out of a composition notebook cover and some manila folders, using Kira's instructions. So what is it that's stopping me ... going back to a bigger size? The daunting task of having to fill all those blank pages? What?! I really need to just get on with it ... maybe if I scribble on a few random pages, it'll get me past it, whatever it is ....

In the meantime, here are the few pages I've done recently. This first one is a just a bunch of random events that happened over the course of about 2 weeks that I just kept adding until the layout was filled.My girls got to be in this year's 4th of July parade ... they had a blast! While I sat on the sidelines with the grandparents and waited for their group to come (they were 2nd to the last in a looong line), I doodled the title and glued in the scrap from a flyer one of the parade groups passed out.
The other night my mil had a bra party. A what?! Yes, a bra party ... it's like a Tupperware party, but with bras. The bra lady talks about getting the proper fit for good support and lift, then everyone gets measured and is given several bras to try on for the best fit. See the ball and star stickers on the bra? Well, when she measures you, she has you take the stickers and put them on your shirt, right where your nipples are in your current bra. Then you go and try on the bras and when you put your shirt back on, you can see how much lift you got with a better fitting bra ... one lady at the party had a 3 1/2" difference!! And she looked like she had lost 20 lbs., too! It's amazing what a correct size bra can do for your figure. Anyways, I just had to add my stickers to my journal ... it's what we art journalers do LOL!