T Stands For Year 5 Celebration

+ + Please read this before you add your link + +

Rules for playing at T Stands For Tuesday today.

Everyone who has been around my blog knows I hate rules.  But today there are rules.  Due to an overwhelming majority, we aren't using the Pay It Forward program this year to exchange ATCs.  Instead we will exchange within our country where we receive our mail.  Most of us will be from (USA) or (UK).  However, there will be some from other countries.  I'm not sure how to delineate Austria from Australia in two or three letters, but I know there are people having T with us from Germany (GER), Spain (SP), and possibly Greece (GR).  If in doubt, spell out the entire country, please.

When you add your link IF YOU ARE EXCHANGING an ATC, first add your name, then the country where you receive your mail in parentheses.  Example:

Bleubeard and Elizabeth (USA)

At 11:55 pm CDT on July 17, I will close the T posts and no one will be allowed to join the party after that.  That means you have 32 hours in which to leave your link. 

IF YOU ARE EXCHANGING an ATC, I will pair you with someone from the country where you receive your mail.  I will notify both recipients on YOUR BLOGS, then it is up to each of you to notify your ATC partner.

Today only, we will use Inlinkz because you will have the ability to remove your name in case you made a mistake.  Just click on the trashcan next to your name, then reenter the correct information.

IF YOU ARE NOT EXCHANGING an ATC, simply leave your name linked to your T post. 

I sincerely hope there are many T players who will join the ATC exchange.  I did this because this will keep the cost of postage to a minimum and encourage more of you to participate.

Now let's party.

I had planned to bring out the noise blowers and party hat, but I was lucky just to get this post together before T time.

I want to thank Darla for this guest check napkin she sent me late last year.   I was so glad I saved it and knew exactly where it was.  I'm not sure you can tell, but there's an ATC under the guest check.

I'm waiting on the water to boil so I can join everyone celebrating the T party.  Then I will switch to coffee that contains half and half (called single cream in the UK) to finish out the party and meal.

Now it's your turn to share your T party entry this week.  When you link, Bleubeard, the T gang, and I will be by to visit.

December Artifacts: a review

Seth Apter, the host of ARTifacts, asked us to

send 2 images from your ARTifacts project for a final online exhibition on my blog. 

It could be an image you have already used or a new one. You can take a new photo of several pages and/or submit a pic of the outside of your journal (if applicable) if you like. Anything goes.

As  you can see, for my first photo, I created a mosaic of my 11 pages I shared, along with several photos of my journal cover, both empty and filled.  For those of you not familiar with it, the rocking horse cover was sun printed using fluid acrylics and some of my flat rocking horses.   The spine decoration was one inspired by Seth from a tutorial he created at Make it Artsy.

For my second page, I included this one I made for my September ARTifacts.  I believe it is my favorite because I used some of my rust colored paper and found objects on the left side, and my handmade shimmering mists, a real leaf, and colored pencils on the right side.  All items were sewn into these pages and all pages were sewn.  No glue was used in this book.

I want to thank Seth again for hosting this fun collaborative.  It was a really different way for me to create a monthly calendar.  I also want to thank each of you who joined me in this monthly journey.  I am truly grateful beyond words.

November ARTifacts

I'm once again joining Seth Apter in his ARTifacts collaboration.  Here is my November entry.

This is the photo Seth will share on his blog.  The rest of the photos are detail shots.

For much of the month of November, it felt like the end of summer, not autumn.  Then autumn arrived and quickly took on a wintry blast.  

November's autumn was represented by trees changing colors.

I really didn't have too much to decorate winter with, so I went with a gifted snow embossed piece of card stock.   I added the gifted snowman and one of my die cut butterflies.

For the left side, I began by sewing the two snow inspired images together.  I then sewed the black cardstock to the assembly and added the trees.  I sewed three sides to each of the images so I could add tags I made for this spread.

For the right side, I wanted to show I am playing all month in Art Every Day Month or AEDM.

I tried to represent a few of the things I did during the month, including

bringing my plants inside and planting seeds, making and cutting lye based soap,

creating pages in altered books,

creating die cuts, and hosting T Stands For Tuesday parties.

For my Second Thursday tutorial, I created various backgrounds, including the one I used for this spread.  

I also dyed some baby wipes and used the last of them here.

Since this is the final month we will show our monthly art (next month is a review and view of our book covers), I wanted to sign our names

and the year.

For this page, I sewed together various pieces, including magazine images, die cuts, and stamped images.  I also used the last of my dyed baby wipe and wrote AEDM in white ink using a gelly roll pen.  Although I normally cut the strands from my thread, this month I intentionally left them long to show sewing was also a part of my AEDM posts.

Thank you for sticking with me through this collaboration.

Once again, I want to thank Seth for creating this collaboration.  I have really enjoyed this project and am delighted beyond words that I decided to join this group of amazing artists Seth features.

This is Day 26 of AEDM, and I joined a collaboration of mixed media artists with a monthly journal page.

And thanks go to each of you for visiting today.  I'm very grateful for your visit and your support of my art and this collaboration.  

ARTifacts for October

I'm once again joining Seth Apter in his ARTifacts collaboration.  Here is my October entry.

This is the photo Seth will share on his blog.  The rest of the photos are detail shots, some of which are far better than this spread.

The close-up color of the pink paper turned a lovely salmon when I got in close.  The color of the page is very similar to the page above.

I had not honored Breast Cancer Awareness this month, so now was the perfect time to do so.

The statistics are startling, especially since we've been fighting this cancer for decades.  For this side, I used pink paper for the background.  Somehow I didn't feel the need for anything else.  I added the boxes by sewing the computer generated text to white glossy card stock.

I only had a small amount of this, so tried to cut it accordingly.   I added stickers I received for supporting the Breast Cancer movement.  The variegated thread was a shiny silk pastel.

Those of you who have been to my blog this month, much of what I wrote about was the war in Vietnam, which began the first of the month when I visited with a few of my friends who were discussing the Ken Burns series.  I considered adding a bit of pattern to the lime green background on this side, but decided it had enough color and movement already.

In case you missed them, these are the stories I created of the brave Vietnam veterans I interviewed.

I thought changing the thread might help my tension problems I'm having, but it unfortunately didn't (Picture is from the Mekong Delta, thread is variegated cotton).

All photos are from various travel magazines I sent for.  Seems Vietnam is a hot spot to visit lately.

This picture shows items you can buy in a Hanoi market.

This picture is from Haiphong Bay, which is located in the "old" north Vietnam to the east of Hanoi.

I'm so glad you could join me today as I shared my October pages for ARTifacts.

Once again, I want to thank Seth for creating this collaborative.  I am really enjoying this project and am delighted beyond words that I decided to join this group of amazing artists Seth features.

And thanks go to each of you for visiting today.  I'm very grateful for your visit and your support of my art and this collaboration. 

ARTifacts for August

Today is ARTifacts day, the brainchild of Seth Apter.  But I'm really spreading the love because I'm also joining challenges at Art Journal Journey, Moo-Mania and More, Tag Tuesday, and Try it on Tuesday.  Unlike some people who join a lot of challenges at once just because they seem to fit, I will actually share both the how and why I created these pages in my Rocking Horse Journal.

This is my ARTifacts page, the one that Seth will share on his blog sometime in September.  The rest, although normally just step-out photos, will show each of the challenges I'm participating in.

We can begin with Try it on Tuesday, where their newest theme is Sewing.  Everything on these pages is sewn, with the exception of the little TH paper doll (boy on the flash card) that I attached with glue dots when I felt the tag needed something.

Speaking of tags,

Michele has chosen Back to School as the theme for Tag Tuesday.  This is a theme that is near and dear to me, as many of you know when I hosted Art Journal Journey last September.

The nice thing about having images on your computer is you can print them any size you wish.  This represents the classroom, although you probably can't read my writing.

Some of the things you could find in this one room classroom might include a French dictionary, ink pens and nibs, numbers,

and letters.  I was hoping it would look like "Back to school" was written in chalk on a blackboard.

The kindergarten class is ready to learn

shapes and colors.  They might also get to see a movie or sing a song.

The little boy is ready for his first lesson. 

Once complete, I sewed the tag onto the right side of my page.  For the tag I began with a used file folder.  I cut the corners using decorative scissors.  I added images I copied from my files, a same/different flash card, black card stock, a white gel pen, and the little boy.

The left side was created specifically for Art Journal Journey and Moo-Mania and More.  

MM&M's theme is Birds, and there are several on this page.

We'll begin at the top, where the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker (found in southeastern North America) is on an Endangered Species stamp.

Note also the date, as well as my mention of change in the air, both literally and figuratively.

Now we'll join Jo whose blog is Let's Art Journal, this month's host at Art Journal Journey and her theme Poetry in Motion.

Thy love can make my heart as blest
As happy birds in a flow'ry nest.

With less than 24 hours to go, I am adding this just under the wire.

Of course, there are the birds alluded to in the poem, too.

For the left side, I started with a beige doily, found several endangered species stamps in my stash, wrote the date in red ink, wrote "Change is in the air" on black card stock with a white gel pen, and found this adorable image in my stash, too. 

All images, the doily, tag, and postage stamp were sewn using variegated thread. 

Thank you for joining me today.  I appreciate your visit and taking time to leave such lovely comments, too.

I want to thank Seth for coming up with this wonderful collaboration, as well as hosting this monthly event.

I will also be checking in with

Art Journal Journey,

Moo-Mania & More,

Tag Tuesday,

and

Try it on Tuesday.