Sunday, March 16, 2014

A two-fer: Journal 52's 11th entry and a holiday spread in my collage AB


At Journal 52 this week, Chelle gave us Stars as the prompt.  I ran my options through my mind and thought about movie and television stars, but dismissed that when I realized I knew exactly what I needed to create.

This represents the Seal of Kansas as well as Kansas' motto.  I painted the manilla folder background using pink, light blue, and dark blue, then added a bit of red and yellow, two of the colors that are found in the seal.  I used all my "a," "r," and "p" stickers on this spread.  That's one way to use up what at one time, I had lots of.

Here you see the seal and the motto, which reads "Ad Astra per Aspera," Latin for "To the Stars Through Difficulties."  There are 34 stars on the seal, showing Kansas was the 34th state to join the Union.  The scene represents Kansas as it looked back in 1861, and the date it entered Statehood.  The scene includes a sunrise that shines down on a farmer plowing a field near his log cabin, a steamboat sailing one of the rivers, Native Americans hunting buffalo, and a wagon train heading west.  I have no idea what the mountains represent, because they are nonexistent in our current landscape.

The 11 represents Journal 52's eleventh prompt, and the translation is my feeble attempt at a bit of journaling.   As always, I thank you for visiting, because I am not a member of Facebook or Flickr, two media sites you must join in order to show your weekly entry.

As promised, I have also created a St. Patrick's Day spread in my collage altered book.  It was bad enough I missed the Ides of March.  There was no way I was letting another holiday go by, even though I'm quite certain I'm no more Irish than I'm related to Bleubeard.

It's hard to put a spread into context when the pages are too large to fit on the scanner.  That's why I took this picture so you could see both pages as one spread.  Who knew the Irish could be so philosophical?

It's amazing what lighting does for a spread.  This is the left side

and this is the right side, which I cut off in my photo above.  Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day, especially if you start the day with green eggs and ham!

14 thoughtful remarks:

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Great job on both of these! I had a fun time reading all the proverbs. I'm still in the prepping stage of my holidays/celebrations AB so I probably won't get to St. Pat's this year...but then I don't intend to do them in order in the book anyway!

pearshapedcrafting said...

Fabulous Elizabeth! Thankyou for the history lesson, I know very little about American history so this and the lovely background is brilliant! Love your St Patrick's pages too! Hugs, Chrisx

Rita said...

Clever work on both of these! I am almost caught up, myself. Just now working on stars. Whoohoo! We can have just as much fun even if we aren't on social networks. ;)

Unknown said...

Both projects are fantastic! xo

Terrie said...

I haven't left you a note in a while though I've been reading. I've seen the 52 journal prompts elsewhere and been intrigued. I love your interpretation of the theme. Fun altered book pages too....

Carol said...

Love both of your journal projects this week. I still haven't started playing catch up with my journal stuff yet...must be some kind of artistic funk I'm going through. Maybe next week will be better.

Vicki Miller said...

every page in your journal doesn't have to be a masterpiece, nor does it have to be deep and meaningful. Journals are our own personal space. However I like both of your spreads. The kansas page is important to you, so it is a great idea. I love the St patrick's day one. Where do you find the time to find all the right collage bits and pieces? you must have longer days over there in the US lol.

dawn said...

Hello! What awesome pages you have again, you always amaze me with them. LOVE that you did the Kansas one, how cool it looks. So fun to see the St.Patrick's Day one, have never heard of these ones before. How do you find these things!!??? Amazing what some light did to the pages.

I will see you tomorrow for T, can't believe another week just flew by already. No green eggs and ham here but will be some corn beef and cabbage tonight, YAY!!

Halle said...

Both are lovely pages! I really love the March one.

Dianne said...

Love these both! I recognized the lettering around your state seal as Latin, but had no idea what it meant--it's been a long time since high school! glad you translated for us! Happy St. Patrick's Day to you too...apparently the Irish were pretty wise...nice quotes! Someone reminded me of the Ides of March on Saturday and I thought wow. Julius Caesar. Thinking of high school twice in one week! Latin & English Lit. Oops, and one more...geometry...did you celebrate Pi day on 3.14? :)

Monica said...

oh i love the quotes and I just know it was Bluebeard's idea. He must be a huge inspiration!.

~*~Patty S said...

Interesting to learn all the fine details and meanings of your state seal...your background on the file folder looks really super too!

Nice selection of Irish Proverbs on your St Paddy's Day pages...

Hope you have a good one...
we woke up to 8-9 inches of beautiful white stuff so there is no green in sight :)

oxo

Dawn said...

Gorgeous work my lovely. The pop of red on your beautiful blue/purple journal background is fantastic. Hee hee those Irish proverbs do make me giggle, soooooooo random!! A fab tribute in your AB sweetie.
Thank-you so much for your kind visit too, much appreciated.
Huge hugs x x x x

Krisha said...

Oh Elizabeth, I LOVE your St. Patrick's double page!! I read every one of them. Since my Grandfather was Irish they strike my heart with gladness.

Journal 52 is moving right along, you are always so fast to get yours done. I'm still pondering on what to do......LOL