Art Journal Pages & NanoWriMo Update

I'm fighting through my NanoWriMo Novel. Last night I had a breakdown and wrote a whole page yelling at my main character who I am so frustrated with. He is a lazy, self absorbed, unmotivated, male chauvinist! How on earth did I come up with such a character? And I've spend 25,000 words with him so far. So yesterday I went off on him. I told him he needs to get of his butt and do something, he needs to stop being so passive and make a few decisions on his own. After I got it off my chest he seemed to have listened as he decided to go explore the territory a bit.

The NaNoWriMo is taking up a lot of my writing time, but I'm still trying to get some penpal letters out and do some work in my art journal. Yesterday I finished my Wishes page from 11*11*11 and I really like how it came out.  I love the bright colors. It's so positive and uplifting. I hope my wises come true.  :)

Mail Art and Art Journal Pages

outgoing mail art

Here's some recent mail art I did for a pen-pal swap over on swap-bot.
The owl envelope is handmade paper I made myself out of some recycled junk mail and rose petals from the roses my father brought me after my surgery. I love how the rose petals tinted the envelope.

orange headed lady

The orange headed lady was my attempt at some of the funky teesha moore style collage with bright colors that I love. I've been using a lot of pinks and purples and oranges in my art lately and I am really enjoying it.

The last photo is my first attempt at "Fearless Painting" from Dirty Footprints Studio. The goal is to paint BIG, on large paper while standing up. I normally do a lot of my art standing up anyway but there really is something magical about letting go of your mind and painting 100% intuitively. I had no idea what this would even look like until I stepped away from the canvas. I love the colors and shapes. As soon as I'm done with NanoWrimo I plan to do some more fearless paintings!

fearless painting

Finally here are some art journal pages. I really need to post more of these as I work in my art journal daily. That will be one of my New Year Resolutions, to post my art journal pages weekly.

*note to self - New Year Resolution - Make a You Tube video of my art journal.

Re-purposed Baby Formula Can & Art Journal Page

     My new baby boy goes through cans of baby formula like crazy. He is allergic to cow protein and has to use this special corn based vegan formula that is $25 a can! Yeah crazy. It's the bulk of our food budget right now. But it's worth every penny for him to be healthy and happy.
     So as a result I am left with empty bans, lots of empty cans. I am already using them to hold art supplies, but I ended up tossing most of them, which I don't like because I know there is a way I can recycle these.

     Yesterday I took a can and decided to decorate it with some nice scrapbooking paper. I used my Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springrime paper and made myself a pen holder for my bedroom. I loved how it came out. So now I think I will make one for my swap partner on Swap-Bot in colors she likes. I want to start making more of these and send them to my penpals and swap partners as extras. Thet are great for pen-holders, make up brushes, art supplies, etc. I want to find homes for these extra cans, and not throw them away anymore.
     It feels so good to re-purpose something. It feels right. :)

Here is a page in my art journal. I have been making time every day to work in it and it has been keeping me centered and not too freaked out about my operation in THREE DAYS!  *gasp* This entry is about love, about all the things I am grateful for in my current relationship with my fiancee. We forget all the little things people do sometimes, and I wanted to make a tribute to all those little things. I've been very into the pink/orange color combo lately, it's so bright and cheery.

Hot Pink Gesso Madness!!

So I went a little nuts with the gesso tonight...

Hot Pink Gesso Madness

I took some magenta paint and mixed it with some clear gesso to create the background color for this new journal I am prepping to use for my Soul Restoration 2 online workshop. I'm really excited about the workshop and it came out in hot pink madness tonight.

I had extra pink gesso so I painted my mini moleskin, and just about covered my art journal. I love looking at all the bright pink on my art table.

Toilet Paper Mini Album

The other thing I worked on today is this little mini album made from toilet paper rolls. When I saw the tutorials for these on You Tube I went nuts. We have four people living together and we go through toilet paper like crazy. Every time I pick up the empty rolls from the floor I would utter... "if only there was a way of recycling these..." and then I saw the tutorials on how to create mini albums from TP rolls. This album is for Mike (my fiance) and will be filled with photos of our new baby boy. It's the perfect size for him to carry and show his friends and family.

I still have some work to do on it. I will post photos when it is finally complete.

More "Soul Restoration" and other art stuffs

Soul Restoration Week 3

Soul Restoration Week 3

I'm behind on posting my photos of the book I am putting together for my Soul Restoration class over at the Brave Girls Club.

On this first page I created a little pocket to put some of the promise notes that I could not fit on the main page. It feels more intimate this way.


I am enjoying this online workshop. I have been feeling a lot of inner peace and outer calm.  I feel happy most of the time, where before I would worry about every little thing. Now I try to enjoy the moment and let the trivial things that used to bother me just roll off.

I will be starting Soul Restoration 2 next week, so I need to get the rest on my photos of the books and artwork from Soul Restoration 1 on here!

My life is about to undergo some major changes, good changes, life changing changes... and doing an online art workshop that help me listen to my inner voice and find peace has helped me with all this transition.  <3

Guess what I did today?!?  I made some handmade paper! Oh does it glitter! So much sparkle. You can't really see it in the photo, but it is dazzling!  I received my new paper making kit from PAPERALICE today (my old kit broke).  Its so fulfilling to pulverize junk mail and end up with lovely sparkle laden recycled  paper.

I made some light pink sparkly paper for an ATC swap. The theme is Breast Cancer Awareness. So the pink paper will be used for those. The blue paper is for mail art I will be sending off to a friend.

So today was a fun day with lots of creativity. I am so grateful for the opportunity to stay home  and care for my newborn baby boy, and for the snippets of time he gives me where I can be creative.

I hope you all took time for yourselves today. Time to be creative. Even if it is just five minutes to do a little doodle... the toilet is a good place if you need a couple minutes to doodle. Keep a little notepad and pen in the bathroom... or just a pen and write creative thoughts on your toilet paper.

Have a wonderful weekend. Have Fun. Laugh. Live your Amazing Life!

Blog for my art, writing, and other musings.

My first blog post on my new blog! How intimidating. I have so much I plan to share with the world. Things like my art journaling pages, art workshops I'm doing/plan to do, etc. Papermaking, mail art, cooking, writing, playing, creating, smiling, laughing and just spreading my bliss into the world.

Today I am going to post a couple pictures from an online workshop I have been doing called Soul Restoration. I decided to do the workshop because my life was starting to get crazy like life tends to get when you forget things like how important creativity and imagination is to a healthy well-being. Soul Restoration has helped me break through my creative blocks, reconnect with my joyful self, and is the reason I am starting this blog.

This is the cover of my Soul Restoration book. I made it with spackle to get a nice texture all over the cover, then I stenciled a flower and painted it pink and purple. On the title tag I added a metal frame I found at Michaels and I used dimensional gel to make it shiny. 

This is my house page. I had so much fun creating this spread. I made all the paper myself using spackle to get a stucco feel like a real house would have, and fibers mixed with stucco for the roof pieces. To create the texture of the grassy areas I used Golden Heavy Body Medium. The only thing it still needs is a couple of flowers planted in front of the house.