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!

Inspiration Wood

The creative theme for this past week at Inspire Me Thursday was "wood". That made me think of the IKEA drawer unit I use for some of my sewing supplies. Here it is all painted up:









You can see other wood-inspired projects here.

Outside my window ...

The current journal prompt at Inspire Me Thursday is "outside my window..." I started out by painting the background with shades of brown and green because those 2 colors are very dominant outside my window LOL! Then I added a few touches of pigment ink (pounced through some punchinella), using colors that I also see outside ... like dark red for the mulch around our plants, blue-violet for the lobelia, yellow for the swings on the swingset. Then I added the journaling with a Pitt pen. In case you can't read them, here's what's outside my window:

neighbors waving
fog rolling
flowers blooming
birds singing
steaks grilling
sun setting
rain pouring
squirrels chasing
children playing
grass growing
wind blowing
vegetables ripening
weeds multiplying

You can see out others' windows here.

Roots

This week's creative theme at Inspire Me Thursday is "roots". I got an idea right away, but as I started painting the background, another thought came to me. So I went with it. I'm glad I did ... I really like how it turned out! The background and trees are acrylic paint and the writing is done with a Sharpie paint pen. The texture in the water at the top was from pressing a paper towel into the paint and then removing it. Love it!

You can see other interpretations here.

The daily routine

This last week's journal prompt at Inspire Me Thursday was to describe a typical daily routine. I don't really have much of a daily routine, so I wasn't sure quite how to respond until I saw Deb's journal page. She inspired me to just look at the things I do practically every day without worrying about what order I do them. When I approached it that way, it came much more easily LOL! Here's my response to the prompt:The background is watercolor crayon that was smooshed with a babywipe. I collaged with magazine clippings and added some color with more watercolor crayons, then journaled with Pitt pens (love these pens!) In case you can't read it all, here's what I wrote:

The DAILY routine ... it never ends ...
Keeping an eye on the girls.
rush, rush ... gotta do those errands
always more dishes to wash
LAUNDRY! would these fancy things make it easier?
create something!
don't forget to homeschool!
did I remember to? [water the garden]
mmm...
thinking [treats] while doing [exercise]
feel the burn!
What's for ...
breakfast?
lunch?
DINNER?
will they eat it?
do we have enough $?
clean something NOW

You can others' routines here.

Back to my art journal

For some reason, I was in a bit of a slump with my art journal ... I kept pulling it out and thumbing through it, but just couldn't seem to get in the mood to actually do any journaling. I had ideas in my head to write about, but I was paralyzed at the thought of actually marking up any of the pages. Was it my perfectionist side rearing it's ugly head? Was it fear that what I wanted to say was too trivial? What? I don't know, but I was getting very frustrated. I kept reading ABOUT art journaling, but not DOING any ... ugh! But recently I discovered Inspire Me Thursday. It's a neat blog that inspires you to think and create art. I spent a few days checking out the archives, while thinking about the prompts for last week ... circles and dreams. And then Donna Downey posted about her new Art Journaling 101 online class. I immediately signed up ... and I'm so glad I did! I had a few ideas from all that thinking about circles and such, and her class gave me some ideas on how to actually put those ideas on paper. So yesterday I sat down and did this page:Too fun! The background was done with watercolor crayon, using a babywipe to smear it. Then I added the fruit stickers and journaled around them with a Pitt pen and used watercolor crayons to embellish the journaling.

Next, I carved my very first wine cork stamp to make the shape of the blocks we used to border a flower bed in the front yard, and used it on a page to journal about what we did to that bed:More circles LOL! This background was done with torn bits of masking tape and acrylic paint. (I'm so happy with how this page turned out! When I did the background a couple months ago, I really didn't like it at all ... the color was so weird. But it works well for this gardening page ... now I love it!) The stamping is also done with acrylic paint.

And finally, I got up the courage to mark up this page:Oh, hey, I just noticed ... another circle LOL! I actually had done the collage stuff months ago and just loved it, but then I didn't know how I wanted to journal on it. But I finally just let myself write and write. It's not perfect, but I'm glad it's done. I love doing the journaling this way ... so much more fun than my own boring handwriting!

So, am I on a roll? Well, we'll see ...

If you want to see some more circles, check here.