Journal 52 - Week 3

I was a little behind on Week 2 so Week 3 is right on its heels.  First thing I thought of with the "Smile" theme for this week was my children.  They really do crack me up on a regular basis.  Wonderful and funny little human beings, they are.  But then I ran across this picture from an outing last month.  What a great night!  My sisters, unbeknownst to moi, had schemed and planned a surprise girls' weekend for my birthday.

 
We aren't able to get together very often since we live in different states, but it is always a great time when we do.  Cheeks aching, side-hurting belly laughs and lots of side-long glances from strangers wondering what we've been ingesting.  We're all very different even so, not only do we share the same genetic material but also odd senses of humor and an appreciation for the slightly off-kilter.

They bring out the best version of me.  I don't know that I've let them know this (on the to-do list now) but they really do.  I'm really glad this page evolved into something different than I envisioned.  No doubt, every time I run across it I will definitely break into a grin.

Stuff I used:
Dylusions spray inks
Modeling paste
Random paper scraps
Washi tape
Pitt pens
Zig pen
Stencil

Happy Friday!

Journal 52: Week 2

This week's theme for Journal 52 is "Somewhere, a Simple Place".  In my mind that morphed into a really cool place that I like to hang out in.

Once upon a time my beloved and I lived in Santa Barbara, CA.  We were definitely beach people and spent lots of time doing beachy things.  One of these was scuba diving.  We would either dive off the local beaches or take a dive boat out to the Channel Islands.  I remember one night, diving out at the islands, when we decided to turn off our lights and lay on the seafloor.  We were in the middle of a kelp forest and when the lights were off we could clearly see the outlines of the kelp leaves as soft blue lights from bioluminescent bacteria flowed back and forth over their surfaces with the surge of the tide.  It was amazing and incredibly beautiful and peaceful.

I never did see a mermaid (and no.  That is not me AS a mermaid on my page.  I am brunette with hazel eyes.) but we had encounters with crabs, lobsters, lots of different fish, sharks, rays, seals...it was awesome.  Writing this makes me nostalgic for those good ol' days when we were carefree and childless.  Not that I would trade my kiddos...most days.  ;)  (That was for them, just in case they happen up on my blog some day.)

The page nitty gritty, i.e. materials:
Distress Paint
Acrylic paints
Precious Metal Effects paint
Pitt pen
Copics
Dylusions spray inks
Distress Stain
Stencils
Bubble wrap
Matte gel medium

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Journal52: Up, Up & Away

I found out about Journal52 last week through Willy Andersen.  It's a FREE (love that!) online art journaling workshop that offers weekly prompts and tutorials through 2014.  Last summer I started prepping a composition book with the idea that I would do some summer-specific art journaling.  Ha!  Never happened.   So now my little set-aside-and-forgotten book will get some love.

This week's prompt is "up, up and away".  Here are some process pictures on the way to my completed page.

A lot of these pages have random splats and dabs on them from other projects.

First gesso then glued ripped pieces of a voters pamphlet that I use when spraying inks.

Acrylic paint

Phone book page that I had glued onto cardstock for another project.  I've had a balloon template in my drawer for YEARS.  Think I had only used it one other time but originally bought it when I first started scrapbooking.

Randomly stenciled, splattered and blotted and then had a little therapy session with myself.

This is it!  I added some tissue paper clouds, washi tape, some wording around the balloons and a heading.

Ta da!  I hope I can keep this up for a whole year.  It really was very therapeutic and relaxing.  I'm adding this to the 'something new' challenge' over at Stampotique too.  I scored persimmon distress paint over on Blitsy and it arrived the day before I made this (I used it on one of my balloons).

Cheers!