DLP Week 8

The theme for Documented Life Project for Week 8 is Repeating Elements.  This is a page I've had in my head for a long time. 

I used a piece of corrugated cardboard to stamp lines on the page.

I really had fun with this, and used a combination of acrylic paints, stamp pad inks sponged on and stamped on, as well as permanent black pen for scribbling.  I had some gift wrap tissue paper with the same design, but it was really shiny and I didn't use much of it.  Most of the stencils used are from Michelle Ward/ Green Pepper Press.  And, yes, I'm still going backwards, catching up with past assignments.

Woven Fat Book

I don't remember when I made my first book, back in the mid 1980's I believe.  I just love to make books, any kind of book. 

Even better is having a best friend who also makes books.  Gaye Medbury constantly comes up with new and interesting ideas for books.  I am proud to send out a Book Alert that her new class, Woven Fat Book, is starting today, March 14, 2015, at Creative Workshops.

This is the Woven Fat Book, a fun little book that anyone can make.

Isn't that cute?  The pages are index cards, so that tells you it's a smallish book. 

And one of the things that amazes me is that Gaye has now started playing around with her sample book, making little quickie art pages. These pages are not part of the class, but it just shows you how much fun you can have with a 3 x 5 index card as a book page!  

Now this would be where I would give a disclaimer, that I'm not affiliated, don't get a kickback, yada, yada, yada...  Well, I don't get a kickback, but I am affiliated since Gaye is a friend.  But I do hope you will take her class because it's a fun, easy project at a great price. 

Click below to link to the class info and introductory video:

Woven Fat Book

Creative Workshops

Starts March 14, 2015

DLP 2015 - Index Page

I realized I had not posted the index page I made for the Documented Life Project journal.  This is in the front of my journal, and I used vintage library due date stickers for each month, where I will list the monthly theme and the weekly prompts and challenges.

A word about vintage due date stickers... the good news is, they are stickers.  You can lick them and stick them on top of acrylic paint and they stay attached remarkably well.

The bad news is.. well, imagine a basement full of smelly old books.  That's what they tasted like when I licked them.  By the time I got to May, I would lick, stick, turn my head and go ptuey, ptuey, ptuey, then lick the next one.  Somewhere I have a thing that holds water and was used for wetting postage stamps, back before they all became self adhesive.  But I was too lazy to go look for it and wanted to get my page done.  So, the ptuey method worked just fine.

Colors and Shapes

First Saturday in March = road trip to Indianapolis...I shoveled snow off and on for two days to clear out enough of a path to get my car from point A (garage) to point B (the road)!  The kind people at the county road department kept gifting me with Mt. Everest at the end of my driveway (mounds of rock hard frozen snow every time the snow plow went by), but I eventually felt comfortable that I had cleared enough that I could get out for the road trip.

Had no trouble getting to Gaye's once I got out of my driveway.  The interstate was pretty clear, but as I drove by abandoned cars, covered in snow, I kept thinking about all the people that were stranded there for 24 hours in their cars only a few days before.  We just don't get that kind of snow, and it came in fast, too fast for the plows to keep the interstates clear.  It brought out the best in people, in most cases, with fellow travelers checking on each other, sharing food and water.  I hope we don't see that kind of weather again anytime soon.  The first day of spring is only days away, after all.

I didn't spend a lot at the Heirloom Rubber Stamp Show.  I bought ink pads and stencils.  I am gravitating more and more to Archival ink pads, and I wanted more colors of those.  I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning and stamped out every color I bought plus the ones I already had.  I also bought a StazOn mini pad to try out.  I didn't know they made the mini size like that.

I started having trouble remembering the other colors I had considered getting but didn't.  So I went online to check what was available from Ranger.  While there, I printed out these color labels they had, ran them through the Xyron, and attached them to the stamp pads.  When I do art, I am very, very messy and work in a messy environment.  But the other side of my brain really like to have some order and organization. 

They didn't have labels to print for the Wendy Vecchi colors.  Too bad, as those are the ones I like the best and have been adding to my stash.

And as long as I was hanging out with my new supplies, I took the stencils I had bought and tested them all out on a page in a journal.  It already had yellow paint on the page, paint that was left over from something else and got brushed on the page.

I really like the ATC sized stencils I bought.  The company was new to me, Sweet Stamps.  I don't know why no one thought of ATC size stencils before.  Of course, you could use a regular stencil on an ATC, but I like the fact that the design itself is smaller in proportion. 

So, good day overall and a good trip as always.  I only took one picture, and that was of the dinosaurs at a museum next to where we stopped for gas.   Good thing I didn't take any once-in-a-lifetime pictures, because once again, my camera card was in my computer at home and not in my camera (I hate that about my new computer.. the card slot is hard to see and I constantly forget to take the card out).

DLP Week 9

I have finished my journal page for Documented Life Project journal for week 9, which is the current week's assignment.  The more I worked on it, the less I liked it, so maybe I shouldn't say I'm finished.  But at this point, I am walking away from it for awhile. 

The Art Challenge was to use at least five layers.
The Journal Prompt was Give Me a High Five.
The high five turned into three hands on the page. (I started with just one, but soon more hands joined in!)

 A lot of what I used was from bits and pieces thrown into a box after other projects.  A dictionary page, a scrap of paper where I stamped out some new stamps, a piece of interfacing type material painted purple, and some perm rod papers (remember those?) that I had tested paints on way back when.

 Below are some of the things I used for my layers.  I started with white gesso only, then brayered white gesso, pink and purple paint, blended those on the page with a baby wipe.  Then I glued book paper, perm rod papers, interfacing, and the stamped paper.  From there, I used masks and stencils with paint and gesso.  The hands seemed to disappear on the page, so I outlined them with a Sketch & Wash pencil and blended with water.  On one hand stencil, I drew through the stencil with an orange Jelly Roll Moonlight gel pen (just discovered those and love them).  I did some scribbling with a permanent black pen.  I used a small cup to make circles with orange acrylic paint.

Glad to be caught up with Week 9, but I'm still playing catch-up with past weeks.  Stay tuned!

Dear Snow....

I'm sorry to tell you this, but I have to break up with you.  I know that in the beginning, I said I loved you, but that was when things were light and beautiful between us.

Lately though, I feel like there is a heaviness in the air.  I feel like your presence is weighting me down.

I used to love how you entertained me with your creativity, your uniqueness.

But now it seems that no matter how hard I work, you come along behind me and cover my tracks.

I feel like you are smothering me.  I admit it was a little creepy when I opened the garage door and there you were, piled up and trying to prevent me from leaving. 

Sometimes you don't even let me know you are coming, you just show up unexpectedly.   I try to be prepared, but this relationship has taken a lot out of me.  I feel I have given you my all this winter.

Even worse, sometimes I feel you are drifting away. 

So, over the next couple of days, I will help you clear your things from the driveway, but I feel it's time for you to move on.  In case you don't think I'm serious, I have a large quantity of rock salt with your name written all over it.

It's okay if you visit from time to time, but I never expected you to stay this long.

It's been fun.  Nothing personal.