It's time to get moving

My latest journal page:This page has a paint scraped background, Pitt pens for border and journaling, Sharpie paint pen for white title and doodling, and collaged elements that include a catalog image, a tea bag packet and a torn napkin. It fits with Blissfully_Art_Journaling's prompt #10, time. Well, it's time for me to get moving ....

Tonight's art journal pages

Tonight, while waiting to pick up my girls from Awana, I journaled. The first page is about a visit to the Shedd Aquarium back in August (I actually did the background a couple days after we visited, but never got around to jotting down the details). This is also my answer to Blissfully_Art_Journaling's theme #1, favorite animal.The next page is just some random thoughts.
And the final page is the side opposite the blackberry page ... just some journaling about how this journal is almost finished and about the backgrounds I've been working on for my next journal. I've got over 30 backgrounds prepped and ready to go! Yay, me!In addition to these, I've done about a dozen more pages, including a handful using the crayon/colored pencil technique like I did on this page. Maybe tomorrow I'll post a pic of these more recent backgrounds. I've got eight more pages to do and all the cardstock I bought will be ready for journaling ... just need to decide whether to go have it bound first, or wait until the pages are totally finished.

Where flowers bloom, so does hope

Blissfully_Art_Journaling's theme #16 ("What Flower are You?") was the prompt for this page ... I had done the collage awhile ago, and when I read the theme, knew this was the page for it. The quote is by Lady Bird Johnson and it ended up guiding the journaling, which turned into a prayer to be a flower that brings hope to my family.

I dream of doing art all day every day

Finished this page this morning. The theme at Blissfully_Art_Journaling this week (#30) is "stripes of life", and we're supposed to tear random strips of magazine pages and do something with them. Well, I didn't do it randomly ... instead, I found this neat pic of a tree with someone hugging it from behind and I cut it into strips horizontally, spread them out on the page, and journaled on the alternating lines. I really like how it turned out!
The girls on the right were already on this page and I thought they'd like sitting near the tree. After gluing down the strips, I was staring at the images, when the thought came "dream a little dream with me". That got me thinking about my dream of being a full-time artist, so that's where the journaling went. We shall see if this dream comes true!

This hand

I finally did something with the backgrounds I did using the paint scraping technique last month! I used one for this week's theme (#29) at Blissfully_Art_Journaling which is "this hand". And I thought I'd try to work with Inspire Me Thursday's "limited palette"challenge from last week, so I stayed with the purples and yellows of the background instead of trying to introduce new colors.This background was actually my least favorite of the 6 I did ... I picked it because I figured if what I imagined didn't work right, I wouldn't ruin one of the better ones. But now that I've done something with it, I love it! Just goes to show that you can't judge it until it's really done. Now I really can't wait to play with the other 5 backgrounds!

I want a red apron!

Okay, you must have guessed I'd be doing an apron page sooner or later, right?! All this apron love just had to end up in my journal:The background is watercolor crayon smeared with a wet wipe, the doodling is a silver gel pen and the images are from magazines (with a few used for packing tape transfers), except the lower right corner, which is the front of a gorgeous notecard that someone sent me ages ago. The journaling is done with Pitt pens, with the 2 quotes coming from EllynAnne Geisel's The Apron Book. I absolutely adore this book! I've read through it twice and have even made 2 aprons using one of the patterns in the book (no, I haven't posted pics yet ... one of them is going to be a Christmas gift and I don't want to spoil the surprise ... but don't worry, I will post pics as soon as I can).

After making this page, I noticed that it fits Blissfully_Art_Journaling's theme #12 "Red" ... I want a red apron so bad LOL! I really do need to get back to Target and get that red dishtowel before it's gone ....

A place for everything ...

and everything in it's place (yeah, right!) As you can see, I struggle with this concept big time. In fact, this fits the "confusion" theme (week #20) at Blissfully_Art_Journaling (formerly known as ATCA Art Journals) ... at least, it does for me ...

Of course, it's not hard to find a place for wild blackberries ... yum!! Just don't look too closely at my hand-drawn bucket ... I was trying to make it look like you are looking down into the bucket, but the proportions are waaay off LOL! But, check out the slightly darker color in the blackberries ... I took one of the blackberries and smashed it onto the page, then drew the blackberries after the stain dried. Pretty clever, eh? Please say yes, because my dh just thinks I'm nuts ....

Flying at the speed of sound

Whoa! I'm on a bit of a roll with these ATCA Art Journals prompts. For week #7 the theme was "super fly". Now, when I first read the various past prompts, this one was one I actually knew for a fact I wouldn't bother with. But while I was browsing through a couple magazines for images for some of the other prompts, this woman with a cape practically jumped out at me. And when I saw the speed limit sign a few minutes later, I knew I was onto something LOL! Guess it's true that you should never say never!The background and swirls are watered down acrylics. The title is stamped and the writing is a Pitt pen. The writing on the left is some quotes I found on the Internet. In case you can't read my handwriting (yeah, it's bad ... sometimes I can't read it either!), here's what I wrote:

FLYING AT THE SPEED OF SOUND
(especially those sounds that mean my kids are getting into some kind of mischief!)

"The world is full of women blindsided by the unceasing demands of motherhood, still flabbergasted by how a job can be terrific and torturous." ~Anna Quindlen

"To fly, we have to have resistance." ~Maya Lin

"The phrase 'working mother' is redundant." ~Jane Sellman

"A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done." ~Unknown

"Motherly love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible." ~Marion C. Garretty

"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one." ~Jill Churchill

Redefining myself ...

As I said in my last post, I had an idea for ATCA Art Journals' week #14 theme "definitions". When I read that prompt the other day, I immediately thought of how my husband has been saying that he's noticed I've got more definition in my shoulders and upper arms since we've started exercising on January. I just had to jump on this prompt to document my goal of being healthier and more fit. I finished it yesterday:I love it! (Of course, it seems that my most recent entry is always my favorite LOL!) The background is acrylic paint. The border was done with a Pitt pen with some watercolor crayon to darken it. The lettering and quote are rub-ons. The figures are old dictionary excerpts, watered down acrylic and Pitt pen to emphasize the outlines.

Here are some close-ups:

Up in smoke

I just joined another Yahoo group about art journaling ... this one's called ATCA Art Journals. I have no idea what the ATCA stands for, but that's okay. I can still play LOL! They post a theme each week for the members to make a journal page about. This is week #19 and the theme is "up in smoke". Here's what I came up with:While I wait for next week's theme, I just might go back and work on some of the past themes. I've already got an idea for week #14 "definitions" ....