Barcelona

I am so blessed that I can travel, whether it's across town, across country, or across borders.

For this entry I created for Art Journal Journey, where my theme is count your blessings, I am an armchair traveler,

but it's still travel and still a blessing.

Today I'm headed to

Barcelona,

which is in Spain.

You might say that Barcelona is famous because of Antoni Gaudí.

There are signs of his art everywhere, from the famous multicolored tile work in Güell Park

to his famous giant basilica known as La Sagrada Familia.

I began this page by laying down my handmade shimmering mist.  I then stamped randomly on the page, and covered most of the stamping when I added the three Gaudí pieces I found in three different travel magazines.  I cut them using my deckle scissors.  I found and added some colorful photo corners but only had two of each design.  Because I thought it still needed something, I added a piece of washi tape.

Bleubeard, my adventurous co-host and I are delighted you stopped by and invite you to join us at Art Journal Journey where my theme this month is Count your blessings.

Family

By now it's no secret Bleubeard and I are hosting Art Journal Journey this month,where my theme is Count your blessings,

and today we are once again being blessed by family.

I have a great amount of love for my family, which are

two fur babies, Bleubeard and Squiggles.

This cat doesn't look as happy as my two do, but at least it is more willing to allow me

to take its photo.

This photo is closer to the actual colors of the page than those showing the detail shots.  For this page, I began with a sheet of white 110 lb card stock to which I added a sheet of green/turquoise gossamer fabric.  I colored two different white doilies and a white heart doily with green/turquoise ink.  I added a strip of white and silver ribbon I also colored.  Then I added the decorative camera brad and the word "Family."   Finally, I added the cat that I found in an old Dover book on animals that was probably published in the late 1990s or early 2000s.

Bleubeard and I are delighted you joined us today where we pointed out that family is a blessing.  Please also join us at Art Journal Journey where my theme this month is Count your blessings.

Butterflies get all the publicity

As you probably know by now, Bleubeard and I are hosting Art Journal Journey this month.  My theme is Count your blessings, and I truly believe nature is a blessing.  I can't begin to imagine what kind of world we would have without nature.

Today we focus on the beautiful butterfly.

Unfortunately, the caterpillar does all the work.

This quote is attributed to the very funny late George Carlin, although I didn't have room to add his name to the quote.

I was so lucky to find an image of the caterpillar that eventually turns into this monarch.  If you grow milkweed, dill, or fennel, at some point you will probably find these gobbling away at your harvest.

I had dyed the bias tape with my other turmeric infused fabrics earlier, and dyed the white rick rack green using Staz-on and alcohol.

I started this page by gluing a portion of an old calendar to my 110 lb card stock substrate.  I added the caterpillar, then sewed the computer generated quote to the page using variegated thread.  To add a bit of interest, I added the bias tape and rick rack to the left side of the page.

The ever popular Bleubeard, my adorable co-host and I are thrilled you joined us today as we have once again explored nature and how blessed we are to have it.  We are sharing this blessing at Art Journal Journey. 

Nature Part 2

In case you missed the first part from yesterday, you can view it here.  Since Bleubeard and I are hosting Art Journal Journey this month, we are Counting our blessings. Nature is one of those blessings we should never take for granted.

Much like yesterday, I first laid out the postcards to see how they would fit on the page.

Once again, I created my background using my favorite handmade shimmering mist.  While it was drying, I painted white card stock using browns and orange watercolor crayons.  When dry, I glued the card stock to the back of the postcard and ruffled the edges using my scissors.

I stretched cheesecloth across the back of the postcard and added fibers and threads from my pile of saved threads.

These were all glued to more dark brown corrugated cardboard I cut to size.

For this side. I added the sentiment I colored using my watercolor crayons, and layered cheesecloth and threads on top of more corrugated cardboard.  Each assembly was glued to the background.

This took a long time to construct each assembly,

but I was quite happy with the outcome.

Then it was time to put both sides together.   I was very happy with how it turned out, even if it took a long time to create.

Bleubeard and I are once again grateful you joined us and hope to see you at Art Journal Journey.