Paired

 

Today Bleubeard and I are back at Art Journal Journey.  We are hosting this month with our Recycling theme.  We look forward to seeing what you recycle, repurpose, or reuse.

I call this Paired because it's a play on words.  I have a few detail shots to share.

I started with a sheet of heavy scrapbook paper that had been given to me.  Several years ago I spent an entire day making shaving cream paper.  This is some of the last.  Luckily, it matched the first layer.  I added the focal image which I cut from junk mail.  I computer generated the word and adhered it to a piece of leftover paint chip sample.  Since I had another small piece of the paint chip sample left over, I cut it square, then turned it into two photo corners.  

Bleubeard and I are delighted you dropped by today and hope to see what you have recycled, repurposed, or reused using our theme at Art Journal Journey.

A bird sings

 

I have another journal page for Art Journal Journey.  Matilde of Craftowanie is our host this month and her theme is Birds. 

This spread is the result of a web site I was visiting (I think Stampington) where Dyan Reaveley provided a tutorial on copying a photo or a favorite image.

Dyan used a lightbox, but I don't have a lightbox.

 

I do, however, have lots and lots of windows.

I taped the Dina Wakley birds to the window and, as Dyan suggested, copied only the most important lines of the images.

I then fussy cut the birds minus their feet, colored them, and glued them to the page.

I then added the three circles and the sentiment using the same watercolors.

The substrate (background) was created on a book page I colored using shaving cream and dye inks.

Thank you beyond belief for visiting today.   Please also join Bleubeard and me at Art Journal Journey, where the theme this month is Birds.

 

Spring is in the air

 

 I'm back joining Valerie at Bastelmania, our host this month at Art Journal Journey.  Her theme is Spring.

Spring is definitely in the air.

Even the sentiment says so.

The little birds are surrounded by foreign (Russian) text.  Because the focal image is square, I'm joining River of Creativity's March Challenge #11, which is Anything Goes with the option of SQUARES.  Further, since the focal image is birds, I'm joining Craftlandia Challenge 10, hosted by Mia, Diana, and Ayla.

 

The birds are then surrounded by a second layer of paper.

 

I started this spread with a page of previously created shaving cream paper.  To that I tore a portion of a coffee dyed page from a Russian book, over which I added the focal image of birds on a tree branch I found in my stash.  I then computer generated the sentiment and colored it using dye ink. 

 

I am also joining Creative Artiste's 80th Challenge, where their theme is always Anything Mixed Media Goes.  To qualify for Creative Artiste, I must have a minimum of three mediums.  I began this spread by combining a sheet of shaving cream paper to a torn piece of Russian text I recently dyed with coffee.  The focal image was from my stash and the text/sentiment was colored using dye ink.

Thank you beyond belief for stopping by today.  Please also join Bleubeard and me at Art Journal Journey, Creative Artiste, Craftlandia Challenge 10, and River of Creativity. 

Signs of October

 

It's time to once again join Tracey from Hotchpotchcreations, our host this month at Art Journal Journey.  By now you probably know her theme is My Favorite Color is October.   

I'm looking for signs of October, which is also the title of this post.

It's easy to tell the leaves have now gone through all their stages of colors

and are now turning a crunchy brown.  October is also a time to heighten your senses.

 

Inhale the morning mist.  Smell the late night bonfires.

Feel leaves crunch beneath your feet.  See the fungi growing near the trees. 

October should reach out and grab every one of your senses!

 

The leaf drawing was originally intended to go with the cute little squirrel and tree I colored and showed in this post.  However, when I tried to adhere all three on a page, I couldn't make them fit.  That's when I came up with this journal page.  Although it started with the leaf I colored with watercolor pencils, then sewed to a barn wood background, it actually started with a sheet of shaving cream paper for the background.  I then added the gifted (thanks Erika) mushrooms/fungi and the sentiment I colored using watercolors.

One thing I want to mention is why the leaf that was sewed to the barn wood buckled.  If you are sewing paper to paper, be sure your top paper isn't thinner than your bottom paper.  That disparity is what caused the leaf paper to buckle, since the barn wood background which was made of postcard weight paper, didn't allow for "stretch" or "give," like the printer weight paper of the leaf did.

 

Thank you ever so much for visiting today.  Bleubeard, and I are delighted you joined us and hope to see you at Art Journal Journey with your own journal entry for My favorite color is October.      

 

For love of nature

 

Today I'm joining Art Journal Journey and our host Mia, who many of you know as Craftartista.  As you may know, her theme this month is Butterflies.  

I started this spread with a sheet of my shaving cream watercolor paper to which I sewed the focal image.

I fell in love with this image I thought went so well with the background.

Speaking of background, I took this photo to show the various colors I used in the shaving cream paper and in the variegated thread I used.

Next, I added the flowers along one side of the focal image.  The flower color was supposed to match because I thought I had grabbed the same pink I used in the shaving cream, but obviously, I used an orange pink.  The centers were blue buttons

that actually did match the blue in the background.

For this page, I started with my shaving cream background of neon yellow,  blue, pink, and brown.  I added the focal image using variegated thread.  I then added the flowers and buttons on the side of the focal image.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I am really grateful for your visit and also hope to see you on your blog or at Art Journal Journey. 

 

The tracks we leave

Some of you probably saw my Second Thursday tutorial where I shared a new-to-me shaving cream/foam technique.  I used the heart, cut from a recycled cracker box, on today's journal entry

just as I did the blue/green heart I featured in the tutorial.

When it came time to work on this entry, I was at a loss.  I allowed the heart to sit for nearly a week before I noticed the magnetic square I had tossed in the recycle bin possessed the perfect colors to fit the heart.  It also had a sentiment I could use.

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."  It's a Dakota Proverb.

I sewed a heart shape

to affix the magnet to the page.

For this journal page, I started with a sheet of 110 lb card stock to which I stamped a heart using the shaving cream technique.  I then dug a magnet out of my recycle bin and sewed it to the middle of the heart using variegated thread.  Because it looked too plain to me, I added sewing around the edge of the paper using the same variegated thread.  This is a Heart, my theme at Art Journal Journey this month, so I'll be joining them, and because Try it on Tuesday's theme is Recycle Something, I'll be joining them, too.

And because we actually had more than a dusting of snow for a change,

I shot these photos on my way to my mailbox.

My flower bed looks rather sad.

The concrete was so warm, the snow quickly melted from those areas where the sun shone.

Thanks beyond belief for stopping by today. Your support of my art means the world to me.  I hope to also see you at Art Journal Journey and Try it on Tuesday. 

Love is not a game of chance

Recently I've been thinking a lot about love.

Perhaps that is what led me to create this latest entry in my month of Hearts that I'm hosting at Art Journal Journey.  And because Try it on Tuesday's theme is Going Green (the color) I'm also joining them with my predominantly green heart and background.

I point out

that love

is not a game of chance, unlike the game of Bingo.

For this page, I began with a background of 110 lb card stock I colored using more of my shaving cream paper.  I cut a heart from card stock and smooshed it around the predominantly green area of the shaving cream and dye ink.  I did the same with the words "Love" and "is not a game of chance."  I then sewed a Bingo card, the heart, and the words to the page using variegated thread.

Thanks ever so much for stopping by today. Your visits mean the world to me.  I hope to also see you at Art Journal Journey and Try it on Tuesday. 

Dream, Believe, Cherish

I'm back today with another Heart journal page inspired by shaving cream paper.

The title of this entry is obviously "Dream, Believe, Cherish."

It is another of my Hearts journal pages, which is also the theme I'm hosting this month at Art Journal Journey.

You can see I sewed the words in place.

I stamped all the hearts on the page.  I made the stamp last year from Styrofoam.

I had lots of shaving cream and ink left over, so I colored a strip of twill ribbon to match the hearts.

For this page I started with a sheet of 110 lb. card stock.  Originally, I had planned to color the background, but then I realized I would be taking away from the lovely hearts, stamped from the big blob of dyed shaving cream many of you saw during my second Thursday tutorial.  This was the one that made the mess on everything, so there was plenty of "mess" for the background.  As I explained earlier, the stamps were recycled from a black veggie styrofoam container.  Some of you will remember I drew the lines on the heart using a ball stylus after cutting the styrofoam in the shape of a heart.  I colored the words, generated from my computer, in the same dyed shaving cream.  When dry, I sewed them to the page using variegated thread.  I also dyed the length of ribbon and sewed it to the page using a different variegated thread.

Thank you for joining me today as I once again host Art Journal Journey.  Bleubeard and I would LOVE to see you there, too.