Beginnings...

It's that time of year again...Christmas and Hanukkah time.  Forgive any mispellings since I celebrate Christmas myself.  The holidays are an interesting time.  Now whether you love this holiday season or find it challenging for any number of reasons, the season is definitely everywhere.  Music, decorations, purchasing gifts for people you care about.

I will fully admit I have a crafty wishlist.  A couple items on there that I have coveted for a long time are a We R Memory Keepers typewriter in blue and a Cricut machine.  One of the newest versions, if not the newest, is the Cricut 3.

I also wanted to share the beginnings of my newest underpaper.  It starts out white, and gradually collects marks, scribbles, paint, and everything else.  It's always really fun to see how it starts.  The spray is Dylusions Calypso Teal, a delicious color if I do say so myself.  And I do.

What does this time begin for you?  Are you interested in a new beginning?  What's on your wishlist?

One of Those Butterfly Days

Ever have one of those days?  You can't quite put your finger on it, maybe you can't put a name to it, but you just have this feeling.  Maybe it's an off day.  Maybe it's a good day where you forgot about everything for a little bit.  Maybe it's a day when something unexpected happened.  There's so many different aspects that can be covered.  And that's how life is at time.

I didn't love this ATC or the batch, and when you do batch work, that happens.  Even if you like the whole group or get a whole group done, one or two might not work out exactly how you like and you have to adjust them.  

In this case, I grabbed some kraft paper that I had used as underpaper for previous projects and ripped a section that I glued to the ATC and trimmed off the excess to give a new background.  This background has spots of paint as well as ghost images from stamps and leftover gesso from cleaning a stencil.  I don't clean my stencils when I use paint with them.  So many of my stencils are a riot of color from being used often with different shades of paint over the years.  Gesso, however, is artist's primer, and like other mediums, like clear gel or texture paste, gets cleaned off stencils right away so the stencil can continue to be used.

In this case I used a white water-based Sharpie paint marker for most of the doodling.  I also used a Uni Posca Paint Marker in Emerald Green and a Molotow One4All Shock Blue paint marker.  And for some fun, I added a piece of washi tape and a couple heart stickers made into a butterfly.

 

I'm entering my ATC into the following challenges:

Krafty Chicks Challenge

Creative Fingers Challenge

I've included affiliate links to many of the products I've used or similar products, which means if you use the links to make a purchase, I make a small commission with no price increase for you.  I really appreciate your support.

 

Do you ever have one of those days?  A day you just want to head off the rails and do something fun and different?  Please feel free to let me know in the comments!

Batch Work Revisited

This time of year can get busy, and batch work is important, so I'm sharing this post again to continue sharing.  I wlil start sharing new content soon!  Happy Thanksgiving! 

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I've mentioned working in batches before.  And it bears repeating, especially with all of us being so busy.

How often have you wanted to start a project, only to freeze up because you may not know where to start?

Or started a project, changed directions, or had the project morph and wasn't what you expected?  And maybe you feel your time was wasted because you don't love what happened?

Maybe you were impatient and you think you ruined the project because of your impatience?

Ooooohhh, let me tell you, so been there and done that.  I've watched videos, and they always look so perfect, right?  And doesn't that mean that whatever project you start should end up perfect as well?  Nope, nope, nopity nope.  Not in any way.

I have been there.  My ATC with feathers?  Not how I saw the project going.  And I'm still not sure I love it, or at least parts of it.  And that's okay.  More than okay.  No matter how much time you have under your belt making art, whether you're a newbie or you've been doing it for years, it doesn't matter.  Everyone, when they play, has unexpected things happen.

That exact thing happened to me when I was doing my batch work.  I had grabbed a piece of single-sided patterned paper that I wasn't a fan of and flipped it over to the white side.  I grabbed some supplies and started playing.

This time, instead of going for my big tubes of paint, I went with my little bottles.  Apple Barrel Bright Yellow, Craft Smart Grape Taffy, and Blickrylic Violet Medium are among the colors I grabbed.  Now Grape Taffy may be hard to find, but Lavender is not.  I also used some Dylusions color sprays, including Fresh Lime and Postbox Red.

Part of working in batches, or with any project, is letting go of expectations.  It's not easy, for sure.  You want this amazing project in your mind, and sometimes it doesn't quite work out.  However, that's part of the beauty of playing.

So absolutely, play, and expect the unexpected.  Enjoy creating!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 I scheduled this to post today because like many of you, I hope, I'm enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with my family.  I truly hope you enjoy this holiday, whoever you're celebrating it with.  I also hope you find at least one thing to be thankful for, especially if you've been going through a tough time.  It can be hard to see in hard times, but there's always something to be thankful for, small or big, simple or complicated.  So Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy this visit to a previous post about being thankful.

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Hey everyone, I hope you're enjoying the rest of your weekend.  Weekends can be tough.  It's a terrific break from regular life, but they can also go by really quickly, right?

Simon Says Stamp has a new challenge, with is Thankful.  I do my best to be thankful, for all the things in my life.  Even the challenges are good because those are opportunities to discover new ways of thinking or come up with new ideas.  And of course, Thanksgiving is coming up, which reminds us all to be thankful for not only the good things, but the challenges.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

I made an art journal page for this theme, and it's kinda funny.  My art journal has a lot of mop up pages.  Sometimes that helps me, sometimes it can block me.  Other times it can inspire me, but I add back in detail I really like.  In this case, I was going to keep part of it, then changed my mind and covered it up, but added back in details.  I had stenciled some red stars from a Dylusions stencil, but covered it up with more paint to make my spread.  I added it back in after composing my page and I think I really like the results.

 

The numbers in the purple are leftovers from the mop up, but I covered everything else, though I hadn't planned to.  I combined Liquitex Titanium White with Liquitex Bright Aqua Green, and covered the left area with just the white.  Then I added Artist's Loft Neon Green and some Artist's Loft Orange mixed with white to add some more interest.

 

I added a strip of washi tape, spots of Heidi Swapp Number Rub-ons, and traced a Viewfinder stencil with a red Tombow marker.  The TO is Heidi Swapp Alpha Stickers with Dylusions Calypso Teal Color Spray.  I used a journaling card from my stash, swiped some orange paint on the edges, then used Archival black ink with a small stamp set from my stash for WEEK.  I used an alphabet stamp set with Distress Ink Festive Berries for SAY and the "thank you" is from an American Crafts Thickers set called Wild.  The star is from a gelli printing session complete with doodles from both a Sharpie pen and a water-based white Sharpie paint marker.

 

 

 

I've included affiliate links to many of the products I've used or similar products, which means if you use the links to make a purchase, I make a small commission with no price increase for you.  I really appreciate your support.

I hope you enjoyed my art journal page as much as I did making it.  Are there any challenges you're thankful for this year?  What else are you grateful for this year?

Batch Work Peek

This picture below shows a magical tool in art.  I'll be quick tonight given tomorrow's holiday, but can you guess what it is?  I've used it before...

 

 

Gesso!  In this case, Liquitex gesso.  Also known as artist's primer.  I'll chat tomorrow a little bit, but for now, enjoy!

Meh

Sometimes you just feel like you want to step back from everything.  I know I have that feeling at times.  To just take a break and not have to care about anything.  Or sometimes you're just having an off day.  We all have them.  Could be the weather, could be stress from life, could be just not wanting to worry about anything.

So I felt "Meh" summed up quite well the feeling.

There's quite a bit of doodling on this ATC, along with gelli prints.  I used a Uni Posca Paint Marker in Emerald Green and a white water-based Sharpie paint marker for most of the doodles.  I also used a blue watercolor crayon from a set I have to used around the circles cut from gelli prints, and outlining the details with a Sharpie pen.  I also used the pen and paint markers around the edges as well.

 

I'm entering my ATC into the following challenges:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends

The Crafty Addicts

 

I've included affiliate links to many of the products I've used or similar products, which means if you use the links to make a purchase, I make a small commission with no price increase for you.  I really appreciate your support.

 

When do you feel not so fantastic?  Do you take time out for yourself?  Please feel free to let me know in the comments!

Find Your Fire

Welcome everyone!  I feel like I really stepped outside the box on this one and I'm so glad I did!  Have you ever pushed yourself?  Challenged yourself more than you thought you might, and it worked out really well?

 

I'm entering my ATC into the following challenges:

Creative Fingers Challenge

Crazy is Our Fame Challenge

I used a bunch of stuff from my stash for this ATC.  Washi tape, doodled up deli paper, stickers, a dried out leftover wipe (the heart shape), the phrase sticker, and the ribbon.  The background is a Dina Wakely stamp made with a tinted Embossing Ink pad and Clear Embossing powder.  Then came the paint and spray with Dylusions London Blue spray.  There's also a bit of Liquitex Gesso that I put through a punchinella stencil.  I used Alene's Tacky Glue to attach everything. 

 

I also added a bit of ribbon trim that I think works so well with this ATC.

 

I've included affiliate links to many of the products I've used or similar products, which means if you use the links to make a purchase, I make a small commission with no price increase for you.  I really appreciate your support.

 

Can you find your fire?   What else would you like to see from me?  Please feel free to let me know in the comments!