On an art journal train

When I cleaned up my craft room I found my Train CD that I've been missing so much. And then saw a quote from Drops of Jupiter, and figured it was time to do a Train inspired art journal page.

I sang this once with a band of friends at a large party. Was really fun! Those were the days!

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey, hey

She acts like summer and walks like rain

Reminds me that there's a time to change, hey, hey, hey

Since the return from her stay on the moon

She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey, hey, hey

But tell me, did you sail across the sun?

Did you make it to the Milky Way

To see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated?

Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star?

One without a permanent scar

And did you miss me

While you were looking for yourself out there?

Now that she's back from that soul vacation

Tracing her way through the constellation, hey

She checks out Mozart while she does Tae-Bo

Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

I'm afraid that she might think of me as

Plain ol' Jane told a story about a man

Who was too afraid to fly so he never did land

But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?

Did you finally get the chance

To dance along the light of day

And head back to the Milky Way?

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?

Was it everything you wanted to find?

And did you miss me

While you were looking for yourself out there?

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken

Your best friend always sticking up for you

Even when I know you're wrong?

Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance

Five-hour phone conversation

The best soy latte that you ever had, and me?

But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?

Did you finally get the chance

To dance along the light of day

And head back toward the Milky Way?

But tell me, did you sail across the sun?

Did you make it to the Milky Way

To see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated?

And tell me, did you fall from a shooting star?

One without a permanent scar

And did you miss me

While you were looking for yourself?

na na na na na na na na na na na na na

And did you finally get the chance

To dance along the light of day?

na na na na na na na na na na

And did you fall from a shooting star?

Fall from a shooting star?

na na na na na na na na na

And were you lonely looking for yourself out there?

 

Gelli print background with stencils, hearts cut from previously inked paper,
paper towel, canvas, lace, Heidi Swapp heart, Dina Wakely stamp and a little Prima heart button.

And for the first time ever, I played with some embossing powder from Lindy Stamp Gang to give this heart some purple shimmer. I love the effect!

And I'm back to loving my SEI sprays in neon colours. I just can't resist that neon pink.

Have an amazing weekend!

Mixed media canvas - Create

It's been so nice having this week off work. Good thing too because the weather has been more than a little frightful. We have had a dumping of no less than 2 feet this week, and there's more on the way. Seems that a little while ago, most people were hoping we'd have a white Christmas and they weren't disappointed.

I've been busy crafting, cleaning, crafting some more and today, I made a new mixed media canvas.

I noticed that a friend was making fingerless gloves for presents, and asked if she'd have any to sell. Well, long story short, we bartered the gloves for a canvas. I really hope she likes this one.

I started with patterned paper, gave it a light purple wash, used some gelatos, portfolio pastels, Prima flowers, Color Shine, and lots of trinkets and bling to pretty it up. Oh, and of course, I had to put some modeling paste though a few stencils for interest.

Some stamping and more stenciling and I think I'll call it good. I really hope she likes it.

It had been a while since I had done any mixed media canvases. Think I'm going to have to do a few more soon and put them in my Etsy store. Let me know what kinds of designs you like in the comments, and maybe you'll see something with you in mind soon.

I scrap because it make ME happy!

So often I get the question asking why I decided to start doing paper scrapbook layouts, considering that I don't have children, don't have a legacy to leave to anyone, especially since I've been doing digital scrapbooking for over 7 years. While it's true that I don't have adorable baby pictures, or pictures of events I want to remember years from now, my every day moments are just as important to scrapbook. I recently read an article by a woman who is obviously wise beyond her years who addressed the issue of creating scrapbooks for yourself. Not your children, your family, but you. And it really resonated with me. So I decided that instead of scrapbooking my fave photos of my dog, or my cats, or my husband, it was time I showed up on the page, and not feel guilty about it.

This weekend, I did just that, and I scrapped a large 4X6 headshot of myself. Yikes! Seeing my face, that large, staring back at me from the page was intimidating. I thought others might think it vain to use this photo. But I did it anyway. And I love it! Really love it!

And of course, since I had the stencils and modelling paste out, I couldn't resist creating an art journal page on a 12 inch piece of cardstock. I love how it turned out, given that I didn't bring a lot of my art journalling materials with me to the crop.

I guess what I'm saying in this post, is that sometimes, even if you DO have children and family that you share your scrapbooks with, do a few pages every now and then that are just for you. It's very liberating, and gives you permission to try things that you've never done, without worrying about having the pages judged by others.

Now, I know I promised you photos of the mixed media journal I did at the Prima workshop, but I'm going to reserve posting them just yet. I still want to finish up the cover, and complete the journal before I post more about it.

Have an amazing weekend everyone and for those of you that are in the path of Frankenstorm, stay safe!!

Beauty without colour

I'm finally feeling more like myself today. The toothache has subsided for now, and I decided to celebrate by playing in my art journal. This time around, I used the July kit from Scrap'n with Flair and the add-on kit to create the base for my page. I used various papers from the 6X6 paper pad, and distressed them. The Plumeria line by Basic Grey is just wonderfully rich for the summer. Not your usual cute summertime papers. More mature and complex.

I started the page with a pre-painted bubblegum pink watercolour page, and then layered on Dylusions sprays with stencils, then sprayed more Lindy's Starburst spray and Glimmer Mist. Then I layered the rest. The stickers from the kit were the finishing touch, and I layered them on the bottom and top of the page. 

I've loved every minute working with this kit and add-on. With all the delicious papers and lace, it's right up my alley. Make sure you pick up both kits before they are all gone. They are too luscious to miss!

I'm glad I had some time this weekend to dedicate to my art journal and art making. It really gives me a sense of accomplishment and renewed creativity that I need to get through my work week.

I hope that you'll spend some time this weekend to art journal as well. Link me up to your work if you do!

Have a great weekend!

Art by Candlelight Encaustic Collage

If you've checked out my blog in the last week, you'll know that I started a new tradition - Art by Candlelight. The premise was to celebrate Earth Hour at 8:30 p.m. local time, by creating art by candlelight. My husband is a great supporter of my art hobby, and went to find tapers for me so that I had enough light to work with. 

I set up an event in Facebook and had other arting friends going along. Some may even being finishing up their art as I type this. It was fun to see people getting excited about this, because there wasn't a lot of publicity this year locally about Earth Hour. So I set up my dining room table, and started to work on my collage.

I've been taking the Act Natural course by Julie Prichard, and it's been wonderful. I love the grungy (yes Liz, I said grungy again) style of the pieces she created designing the course. I couldn't wait to dive in. So I watched Lesson 1 again, and then started to gather my media. I had printed several vintage papers found on Graphics Fairy's website for free download. And I got out my acrylic glazing liquid and titan buff heavy body Golden paints, along with my soft gel matte medium. And I pulled out a 12X12 wrapped canvas and got to work. 

Once I had completed the collage, I realized that I wanted to seal it somehow, and well, here I had all this hot wax around me from the candles. So I sealed it up in a sort of encaustic style.

How did you celebrate Earth Hour? Did you celebrate Art by Candlelight too? Link me up to your artwork. I'd love to see what we all created during our 'dark' hour.