I got off work early on Friday and being Presidents Day weekend I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday! I've had a lot of fun!
Did you know that February 16th was Chinese New Year? I did but I forgot that when I made my blog post on Friday.
They had a local parade and celebration here on Saturday. The hubby and I debated about going and opted to stay home....mostly because I had been up since 6 working on a spread in my journal and didn't want to leave lol
This is in Dina Wakely's Media journal.
I first put down some gel medium through a stencil. I then used acrylic paints in reds, yellows and oranges. I also added Dina's paints in Turquoise and Cheddar. I wiped the wet paint off the stenciled areas.
There are some bits of newspaper (in Chinese) from a Sunday paper I picked in San Francisco over 10 years ago. It comes in handy when I need Chinese text (although I have no idea what it says....these bits are from the ad section)
The rubber stamp is from, I believe, StoneHouseStamps. I colored her with alcohol markers. The shadow on her right side was done with black Scribble Stick.
I drew and painted the lanterns. I tried to make them look like they are glowing.
I then borrowed a technique I saw in a video from Kristin Van Valkenburgh. Spread some gel medium on the page, let it start to set up and get tacky then lay down some foil. (The foil you use in the Minc.) When the gel medium is dry, pull up the foil and bits of it are stuck to the gel. I used it on the lanterns quite a bit and then little bits all over. I love how it turned out!
Today I was able to get back to my journal again.
I have been wanting to draw one of these Slender Horned Gazelles ever since I saw them on an episode of The Zoo a couple weeks ago.
This is on a kraft paper page in my journal. I drew and colored the gazelle with Prismacolor pencils.
I painted yellow and brown acrylics on the right side and stenciled over top with DW media paints Turquoise and Cheddar.
I rubbed Distress Inks on the left and stenciled again with Turquoise and Cheddar.
I used Scribble Sticks for the sky in Night, Blackberry and Magenta. I brushed it with water to blend then stenciled dark blue acrylic over top.
In case you are wondering, there are less than 2500 Slender Horned Gazelles left in the wild. :-(
And I also finally had time to work in my Bullet Journal. Continuing with the March theme of ... In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb ... I drew Mufasa from Disney's The Lion King. I printed the images of Simba because I just couldn't draw him that small.
My daily 'blocks' are based on African shields. As I look at it now I may need to add some color along the edge of my left page. Hmm.
That covers my long weekend. I wish I had more art time and less work time but I guess I should be thankful since the work time pays for all the supplies I use during the art time. :-)
So, until I get more art time....Happy Crafting!
What does Presidents Day mean to me? A 3 day weekend!
Isn't that sad? It was originally created to honor and remember George Washington and now it is more well known as a day to get sheets and towels at half off.
Our forefathers would be so disappointed in us. Maybe I should make something George Washington related during my long weekend.
So why exactly am I posting today? Yeah, I know you are all wondering lol
Well it isn't to share the birthday card I made for my brother because I forgot to take a picture of it but it was a cute pop-up card.
And it isn't to show you the cute Valentine I gave to hubby....because I forgot to photograph that too (although I could probably go hunting around the house and find it if I was so inclined lol)
Nope, I have been playing in my Dina Wakely Media journal again. Although this is not what I normally do (art/craft-wise) I am having a lot of fun.
I watched Dina's faces tutorial again. And then changed it a bit. I wanted a rounder, younger looking face and I wanted an open mouth. I also tilted the head. Why not?
So I started this page (on the watercolor paper) by scribbling Lime Scribble Stick up the left side. I then doodled on some Magenta flowers. I added some Lemon and Turquoise scribbles on the bottom right. I brushed water over all the scribbles to soften them.
I then drew my head/face and painted her with acrylic paints.
And then I sat....and stared....and sat some more. What direction should I take?
She actually sat on my desk for a couple days as I thought of things and then dismissed them.
I then grabbed my Dyan Reaveley "Around the Edge" stamp set (which I had actually bought to use in my Bullet Journal) and stamped the leaves on the bottom right and top left using Distress Ink, Pine Needles.
I then colored the leaves with Lime and Night Scribble Sticks.
Next came the bird stamp which is part of Dina Wakely's Scribble Birds set. I colored him with alcohol markers.
And then they sat for a couple days. Every time I looked at them the word 'secrets' would pop into my head. What secrets are they sharing?
I stenciled on the leaves, down the left, using the stencil that came with the Scribble Birds stamps using Distress Oxide, Peeled Paint. I stenciled the flowers in the upper right using Tim Holtz' mini stencil that looks almost like cherry blossom branches and Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink.
The text came to me at work one day (so I had to grab a post-it before I forgot it!) I typed it up, printed it, then dragged the paper through some Distress and Oxide inks It blended in beautifully with the Scribble Sticks already on the page.
I really like how it turned out.
And then today.....
Let me start with....I never paint realistic animals. I don't think I have EVER tried to paint a realistic animal. I will draw them. I will draw and color them. I don't paint them. So what ever possessed me to do this today I will never know.
It is supposed to be a Barred Owl. Yes I know this is a really bad looking owl! Yeah, it is BAD!!! lol
So why am I sharing? Because I did it. I have always felt like I couldn't paint a realistic living thing...and proved it lol. But the fact that I actually, finally tried is the important thing.
There a few successes and a lot of failures in this. I should have listened to the advise I give others...when you are frustrated or feeling like it is not going well, get up and walk away, come back later. Didn't do that. Should have done that! lol
I think the paint on and around the eyes is at least 1/16" thicker than the rest of the page lol
Oh and the page is the cotton canvas which I prepped with clear gesso.
But he did look a whole lot worse! I got up to take a break. Walked out of the room, came back 2 minutes later and immediately saw some of the problems that I could fix. I made myself wait another 10 minutes and then went back in. Trust me when I tell you, the eyes were REALLY hideous before I went back in....we will just leave it at that! LOL
Will I go back and try to fix it some more? Maybe, probably not.
I love the background! That is the last thing I completed. It was a very washed out, pale green. I deepened the color with several shades of greens and a bit of brown. It looked better but really came together when I added the stencil which I did while the under paint was still wet so that it bled and softened a bit.
I have to say I like them together. The colors go well together. And they seem to have the same hair style! lol
I have 3 more days to play. I am looking forward to getting my hands dirty and working on something new....and hopefully not so scary! :-)
Until I pop in again....Happy Crafting!
I like Valentine's Day or maybe I should say I like any day that makes someone buy me chocolate lol
I used to decorate for Valentine's Day and put up lots of hearts and doilies. But not any more. I am getting old and lazy lol. But I still make cards....or try too. I am way off track this year and just finished my parent's card today. And since it is Sunday, I can't mail it until tomorrow which means they probably will not get it until the 15th. Oh well, can we really only tell people we love them on the 14th?
I made a shaker card! I used Anna Griffin's shaker card dies. And Cuttlebug's confetti dies for the 'filling'.
The patterned card stock came from a new Recollections paper pad called Girlsquad. It has lots of cute Valentine papers.
I struggled with this one. Not in the making but in the 'do I really like this?' stage. The die set is really nice as it gives you dies to cut the window in your card base, the window in your card front and lots of embellishments. But I just wasn't feeling it until I got all the embellishment in place. I think the rose finally did it for me. That came from some freebie I got with an Anna Griffin order lol And it had all kinds of swirls and stuff with it that I had to cut off. But I think it was worth it. I hope my parents like it.
In my last post I said I had just received my Dina Wakely Media journal. The 8x10 version came out last year (at least I think it was just last year and not earlier than that). What is cool and different about it is that it has 4 different substraights in it.....watercolor paper, canvas, kraft paper and burlap....all in one journal!
She brought out a larger version this year at Creativation but there is no way I would have space for it or comfortably be able to fill such a large work space. (I tend to work small so the 8x10 is already going to push me outside my comfort zone)
I jumped right in with burlap! I have never worked on burlap before. I tend to avoid it at all costs due to the smell and that fact that something in it (maybe all those fibers) makes me sneeze. So, with tissues at the ready, I dove right in. I used acrylic paints in reds, oranges and yellows to create a sunset background with white and pale yellow for the sun.
I then used Dina's Scribble Sticks in black to draw a giraffe. It is tough to get a straight line on burlap! So I have a stylized giraffe lol
I then used Scribble Sticks for the patterns around the sides but it still needed something.
I googled African postage stamps and found some I liked. I printed them on regular printer paper so they would feel more like the real thing. I cut them out and glued them down with Aleene's Tacky Glue.
So now I need to decide my next step. I am thinking of washing a medium to dark color over the stamps, or at least part of them, to help settle them into the background a bit. But it is a work in progress so I will mull it over for a bit.
Here is a page on the watercolor paper. I watched one of Dina Wakely's YouTube videos on drawing faces. Faces are not my forte. If I spend long enough on them (like hours and hours drawing) they turn out fairly well. This was a fun way to create a face in a short amount of time.
I tend to be very rigid in my drawing and painting. I see people all the time that freely slap paint on canvas without any obvious direction and they just let the colors and forms guide them. I have never been one of those people. I have to see it all in my mind before I can even start. I want to see if I can be more loose and free in this journal. I don't think there is anything wrong with my creative style...it's worked for me for over 50 years....but there are days lately where I desperately want to create something but don't have the time to think it all out in advance. I want to be able to open to a page and just brush on some color and then be able to walk away and come back later and apply something else...no pre-planned ideas.
Wish me luck! lol
So that is all I have for this week. I still need to make a Valentine for hubby (not much time left for that one!). And my brother has a birthday next week so I need to get that done as well. My bullet journal did not keep me on track this week! lol
If your weather is even remotely like mine....stay warm! And Happy Crafting!
I feel bad for the rest of the country. Six more weeks of winter! Ugh! But here in the Pacific Northwest, at least where I live, we haven't really had winter this year. It got cold (into the 20's at night) a couple times. But no snow, no freezing rain. Heck, I've only worn a coat 3 times this winter! Maybe by having six more weeks Mother Nature might actually get around to sending us some of the white fluffy stuff....just so we can say we had some. :-)
But for the friends and family back east, I'm sorry. Bundle up, burrow in and stay safe and warm.
I always have a hard time getting back into the crafting groove after the holidays but this year, since I started Bullet Journaling, I seem to be more on track. I guess that is kind of the point of the Bullet Journal lol.
I have a couple more spreads to share with you today.
Here is my Valentine week spread. I wrote "Love Notes" in a Mickey style font and then created day spaces to mimic notes and cards tacked onto a bulletin board.
The mailbox holds my To Do list.
I drew Mickey, Minnie and Pluto with a Sharpie pen and colored them with Inktense pencils.
I've started setting up my March pages. Here is my title page and the first (partial) week of March.
I drew and colored the lion with Prismacolor pencils. I stamped "March" with my Kelly Creates month stamps and added the geometric boarders with Prismacolor pencils.
I continued the geometric theme on the daily page.
Here is a close up of the lion. I just noticed that I never went in and added the white highlight dots to his eyes (I use white acrylic paint to do that).
And now to projects that my journal helped me get done on time...
My niece has a birthday coming up. Due to my post holiday funk I am always late mailing it out (just like my nephew's cards in January)
Not this year, card done and mailed! WooHoo!
I used a base card from a set of cards I picked up at Michaels. I got the idea from Ken at Ken's Kreations. Michaels sells sets of cards, 80 cards with envelopes. 4.25 x 5.5. They come in patterns or plain and a multitude of colors. They go on sale all the time for something like $3 for a box. $3 for 80 cards and 80 envelopes! I can't make them for that! They make a great base. All I need to do is add the goodies on top.
The trellis background is a die from Anna Griffin's heart die set from a couple years ago.
The stamp is Winnie from Polkadoodles called Teacup full of wishes.
I colored her with alcohol markers then used dip dotted white acrylic paint to highlight the ruffle on her collar and hem of her dress. The cupcake wrapper is colored with copper and gold gel pens.
My college roommate just had a birthday (ok, so I didn't get this made in time but I did get it made lol)
I convinced her to start virtual racing with me. She has already completed two 5k races and has started a 77 mile race! Go Helen!
I made her this sign to display her medals. After the photo, hubby added hooks across the bottom and hangers on the back. :-)
I used vinyl as my stencil to paint the lettering and mermaids. I painted the edges then wiped off the paint while still wet to give the edge a beachy, faded paint feel.
I really like how this turned out. I think it is my favorite sign so far. I was tempted to keep it and make another one for her.....but I didn't. I mailed it. I hope she likes it as much as I do.
And lastly...
I wanted a new sleep shirt but I also wanted to play with HTV (heat transfer vinyl)
I purchased a blank t-shirt at Walmart for around $4.
I thought the saying was so appropriate for me lol
That wraps up this blog post. I received my Dina Wakely Media journal the other day and have been playing around with one of the burlap pages. I will share that with you next time.
Until then stay warm and Happy Crafting!
