like a dream…

still inspired by Erika’s JOURNEYS theme at Art Journal Journey I created a spread in a “dream” art journal that I started in January 2015…a trip to my favorite papercraft store in nearby Clifton got me playing with a new butterfly stamp and some silver gilding flakes (Elizabeth that is the La Blanche stamp I mentioned to you)…

hard to capture the beautiful shimmer of the silver on camera (it does show up a bit better if you click on the photo)…

because I was using what I had handy this spread could have easily gone into my French Travel Journal but my Dream journal was feeling neglected so there it is…

I may go back and change the words I added on the top of the left page to “HER journey was like a dream” ♥

creating Love always…

there was a time after our son’s death in 1999 when I thought I might never make anything again…

all my life I have enjoyed doing things with my hands inspired by creative and busy parents…

several years after Alex’ death I took a class on embossing on velvet with rubber stamps (with thanks to everyone at ARTFULLY SCRIBED in Herndon Virginia… wish they were still in business)…

 creating a few accordion books with embossed velvet covers after that class brought me back from the brink and had me headed toward the mixed media life I now enjoy so much…

this time of year with the anniversaries of loved one’s passings and birthdays that they aren’t here to celebrate I have to work extra hard to try and keep my balance and not sink or fade away…

I am so very grateful for the community of creative souls that I get to connect with here and thank each of you for being a part of my healing journey…

(9 x 12″ on watercolor paper)

I am joining Art Journal Journey’s February challenge “If Music Be the Food of Love“ along with Paint Party Friday where I am still a newbie and so happy to feel inspired to play more with paint…

“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I am going is what inspires me to travel it.”
― Rosalía de Castro

(I just noticed this is blogpost #2000 since I started blogging in 2007)

Second on the 2nd for September 2015

back in my early blogging days I participated in lots of online challenges (some of them no longer running) and because of that I got to ‘meet’ so many talented artists from around the globe…
nowadays I participate in far fewer challenges because I feel badly if I cannot visit all of the participants …

for Elizabeth’s Second look on the 2nd challenge this month I am taking you back to September of 2008 (I see I liked using pressed flowers in my artwork even back then)…  feel free to join in at the link above…  all are welcome…

Dans ma maison il y a…. du vintage

Posted on September 30, 2008

I did a spread in my house shaped altered book for the Vintage theme this week at Dans ma maison il y a…..

It all began with the image of the little girl and her doll along with the “Once Upon a Time” scrapbook paper for the background.  The little girls ‘wings’ are pressed Dusty Miller leaves.  The black accents are from a Martha Stewart sticker pack.

Black & White

feeling a surge of creativity around the full moon this month I am joining in with  Moo Mania and More BLACK & WHITE and Mix it Monthly MIXED MEDIA FLOWERS challenges…

the lovely girl with flowers in her hair is a favorite image that I’ve had for a long time from a magazine and the black bird, butterfly wings and roses at the bottom are from a collage sheet that Misty Mawn shared in one of her on line workshops…

lots of layers of gesso, black Stabilo pencil and white Signo gel pen along with a little honey comb stamping around the edges (I really wanted to give her rosy cheeks!)…

“Love is the soul’s Light” – Rumi

Forever…

the crowned skull image from a magazine along with one of Seth Apter’s new rubber stamps helped inspire these art journal pages for Art Journal Journey’s TIME challenge…

I added the wings and used bits of netting and paper scraps along with paint and gesso and a bit of pencil scribbling…

the unmounted thorn stamp was given to me many years ago…

“I always think everything is going to last forever, but nothing ever does. In fact nothing exists longer than an instant except the thing that we hold in memory”-Sam Savage

Run my dear…

another loose leaf art journal page for Art Journal Journey’s “favorite poems/quotes” challenge…

(rubber stamping… tissue paper… plaster… paint… book text and mystery girl with altered ‘arms’)  

“Run my dear, From anything that may not strengthen your precious budding wings.”  -Hafiz

Art Joural Journey August “Frida Kahlo” Challenge

today I am sharing what was actually the ‘first’ piece I created for the AJJ Frida challenge…

I just wasn’t thrilled with it so I kept putting it aside and creating something else…

I hauled out a lot of ingredients for this a little larger than a postcard size journal page…

the last thing I added was some of the blue Woody Stabilo hitting it with a wet brush and letting it drip a bit…

 the cage dress form stamp was my initial inspiration…

here are my creations for the Art Journal Journey’s August Challenge

(4, 44, 58, 75, 102, 112 and 125)

Frida and Diego…

 Art Journal Journey and Valerie has given many of us Frida Fever so when an image by Pierre Mornet in our local newspaper made me think of Frida and Diego and their stormy romance I was not surprised…

here are a few photos as I was creating this 6 x 9 inch art journal page to show some of the steps I took sketching a little adding paint and gesso with some rubber stamping on tissue paper (again I cannot identify who made the rubber stamps)…

and here I thought I was finished with Frida…

the image above was made using the first Frida that I shared along with some iphone apps to layer a flower photo from our garden with my artwork...

I still have one more Frida that I made and will share it here soon…

reach for the stars…

Conny’s challenge theme over at Mix it Monthly for August is “Crazy Dresses”…

when a graduation photo of seventeen year old me popped up while searching for something else I decided to put myself in a crazy dress that I painted and doodled and stamped on…

my Mutti was a talented seamstress and growing up I was lucky to have a nice array of pretty dresses and outfits that she made for me…

patterns back then were inexpensive and fabric was reasonably priced…

I spent many an hour leaning on the wall watching her busy at her Pfaff sewing machine while we chatted…

I happened to have a nice scrap of painted and stamped paper from cleaning brushes and such on my work table that fit the color requirements which is the part of Mix it Monthly that I always find to be the most challenging…

I continued sloshing paints around using a few rubber stamps and some Woody Stabilo pencils too…

stamping on tissue paper is a favorite thing of mine and you may also recognize some of my plaster stenciled tissue behind my head and on my dress …

another fun challenge that led me in a quite unexpected direction…~♥~

Mix it Monthly: June “Home” Challenge

this month’s Mix it Monthly challenge is “Home” with inspiration from the color palette below…

I almost ran out of time to play along in this super challenge…

so I got busy using scrap papers for another loose page for my newest art journal…

a bit of paint and gesso…

some wings for this young lady who was hiding on my work table…

and some touches of chalk to color her dress and cheeks…

I had to really concentrate in order to snap a few photos along the way…

I am also entering this in the Art Journal Journey “Houses” challenge this month (great minds coming up with close to the same challenge theme!)…

“I feel my boots 
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard, I want to think again 
of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable, beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.” ~Mary Oliver

 

MiFoC Doors and AJJ Houses

this week’s challenge theme of Doors over at Mikrokosmos Foto Challenge (MiFoC)  got me very excited…

 snapping photos of doors is something I often do…

I am drawn to doors…

weathered doors…

garden doors…

so many inviting doors…

 each with a story to tell…

it just so happened that a door image popped up on my art table and  got me creating another piece for the Art Journal Journey (AJJ) June Houses challenge…

 before I knew it it had sprouted wings…

“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” ~John Barrymore

house of dreams…

Art Journal Journey’s June challenge theme is “Houses/ Häuser” so I got busy in my Full Circle art journal working on a page that had a green flower and some vintage paper lace glued in place…

I cut the PaperWhimsy girl‘s hands to drape over her castle and added some Dresden wings and a tiny crown…

paint…gesso…pencil scribbles with some scraps of favorite golden tissue and plastered book text helped finish my pages…

“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”  ~Unknown

Full Circle Art Journaling * Part 2

still working on some gessoed book pages not thinking too much just using what is close by…

vintage sheet music…citra solv paper…paint…paper doily…Russian dictionary page and found poetry on the page…

walnut ink…a border made out of my hand carved arch rubber stamp and my painted lady…

clip art courtesy of Misty Mawn…piece of washi tape from a special friend…bingo paper and one of my painted faces…

Inka gold…paint…hole reinforcers…assorted papers and clipart…

paint…assorted papers including a piece of map and slice of moon from a catalog…

*thank you all so very much for your lovely birthday wishes for Mr Magpie…your kindness and thoughtfulness certainly are appreciated*