One of These Days

One of these days, I'll get around to finishing up my recap of my trip to Western Kentucky and Tennessee.  I'll probably show the little travel booklet I made.  I'll show the stamps and stencils I got.  And I'll talk about the Dina Wakley journal I bought, the one with pages made of watercolor paper, burlap, canvas and kraft paper.  Yep... I will, one of these days...

DLP Planner Catch up 4

My last post ended with the manilla envelope page.  On the back of the envelope, I added some address labels I had received in the mail (ordered from Check Advantage, art by Dina Wakley).  The weekly page on the right side was printed on paper that already had a design on it.  To reinforce the spine, I stamped on yellow paper and folded the yellow paper around to the back side.

The base paper was not very sturdy, so the yellow paper is to help reinforce it.  Before I glued down the yellow paper, I used a half-inch punch to make holes down the left side.  After the yellow paper was glued, I stamped the dates.

The vintage Dennison clasp envelope will probably hold art cards.  It already had some holes with grommets on them, but I did have to punch an extra hole to match the rings in my binder.

The next page is a grid paper (double thickness), sewn around the edges.  Stamp pad ink was sponged  on to separate days of the week.  

 I used the Select-A-Stencil (Stampers Anonymous, Wendy Vecchi design) to add the dates.

 On to October!

Stampaway 2016

Another successful Stampaway USA is in the books.  Gaye and I traveled to Cincinnati Ohio for the annual convention (this one being number 24).  Gaye had two fun classes which kept us busy on Thursday and Friday.  The highlight of the Friday Night Preview Party (besides the shopping and seeing old friends) is the theme for the night.  This year had a tiara theme.  It is optional, of course, to wear a tiara or crown while shopping, but I love how the vendors participate and how many attendees go all out to compete for the best one.  Here are a few I captured and the various ways the theme was interpreted.

I always love watching demos, and Mary Beth Shaw of Stencil Girl and Dyan Reaveley of Dylusions (Dyan pictured below) are two of my favorites. 

Lots of shopping, lots of walking, lots of catching up with friends, and before you know it, it was time to head home on Saturday.  That is where the story took a detour, literally.  It's 15 miles from the convention center to the Kentucky state line.  It took us three hours.  Interstate traffic was moving, but barely.  We never really knew if it was just a lot of traffic, all the construction, or a wreck... probably all three. After barely moving during all that time, we decided to leave the interstate waiting to cross the bridge over the river, and went to find the smaller bridge that we knew led to Covington, Ky.  From there, we knew how to get back on the interstate south of where the bottleneck was in Ohio.  Apparently, most of the other people had the same idea.  That route was just as crowded, but at least it was moving, and at least we finally saw the sign that we had made it to Kentucky!  Halleluiah!

I did get a few stamps, and a bunch of new washi tape. 

And I may have gotten a stencil or two.. or maybe over a dozen...  I needed to play when I got home, and this page was done with just black and red ink pads stenciled onto a page that already had gold paint on it.

I think this may be my new favorite stencil.  I didn't even know such a thing existed until I saw it hanging in a booth.  I love it.  I can quickly stencil the day and date without having to mask out the letters and numbers, because the little wheel thing turns to where I want it and does the masking for me!

Stampaway USA 2017 - year 25 - only one year away! 

Journal Play

Another journal page in progress, in a journal where I paint the pages with leftover paint from other projects.  I needed some play time, and didn't want to do a whole page, just doodle.  I started with a big stencil and some watercolor pencils.

I traced around the stencil with two colors (black and brown).  Just a messy trace, not really pretty.

 Used a brush to paint the pencil lines with water.  It really gave it a dimensional look.

 A couple of days later, I used different stencils to put pattern in a few of the openings.

 Today I used a face stencil and added half a face.

 I like having this to doodle on just to take a break from other things. Who knows how it will end up!

Week 11 Borders

I am not really so far behind on DLP Journal that I'm just at week 11, it's just that I never posted a picture of that week.  I kept thinking I'd go back and add more writing.  I haven't.  But I still like the page.  Plus, I have failed miserably at the challenge for Digital Imagery for September, and went back to look at some pages I liked to make myself feel better!

The theme was Borders.  That was back when I was making color copies of journal pages onto label sheets.  Perfect to make a border!  (The pictures were close-ups from Gaye's journal.)

Really like the gray background.  Not sure what it says about me that I like the gray better than any bright colors!

The first thing I did was stamp out "Week 11".  I almost chucked the whole thing then and there, as I apparently cannot stamp two 1's right beside each other without one being higher than the other.  But I kept going anyway.  Used some stencils and did some writing.  Later I added a face from my scrap stash.

Calling it good, whether I end up adding anything else or not.

It's Still July, Right?

Yes, I know it's not July.  But that is my focus right now.  The DLP Journal theme for July is Ephemera.  I made my July calendar by stamping numbers on various pieces of paper (i.e., ephemera)

There are borders around the pages with washi tape and torn pieces of painted deli paper from other projects.  I also added some tags that came on birthday gifts from times past (history), and in keeping with what I use on hand, added words to one of the tags.  That was from some art I printed on label sheets, and it's funny that the words were appropriate for how I feel I am standing still right now, even though the original art had more words with a different meaning.  And equally odd is how, if I had done this page back in July instead of now, I would have been in a different place entirely.

 

For the journal prompt, Life...with a history, I used a Prismacolor gray pencil to write rambling thoughts at the bottom of the page.  When I write like that, I don't make it legible.  In fact, by next week, I'll forget what I wrote and certainly won't be able to read it!  But history is a fleeting thing, as we all know!

You can see the writing better in person than in the picture, but still I felt it needed more, so I stenciled a typewriter over it.  Seems like most of my jobs over the past decades involve typing, so it is appropriate, as a part of my history. 

 

I may do some doodling and outlining, but overall, I'm happy with the page.  Love the color (Dylusions paints).  Onward!  There is history to be made!

Still Here...

Guess I'd better post something here, huh?  I am still playing in my DLP journal.  Mostly working on different pages all at once, so there are parts in progress.  The March theme was Doodles and Mark Making, which I expected to be the easiest month for me.  For some reason, it has been the hardest for me to connect with.  Not sure why, since I am such a doodler and mark maker.

Nevertheless, anytime I work in the DLP journal, I always smear the leftover paint in my play journal.  The play journal is also where I test out new paints and stencils, etc.   Sometimes I am happier with that than the other journal!

This spread was where I had tested new paint on the left side.  The tubes of paint were different companies, and looked almost the same in the tube, but definitely different on the page.

On the right is where I tested some new stencils, adding tapes and papers to the border.  The big flower was on the cover of the postal service catalog and is a Victorian rose which is featured on a new postal stamp.  The page already had leftover paint on it when I started, and it was lots of fun.  I sponged on Archival ink with the stencils and really like how those inks work so well over acrylic paint with no problem.

Going to try to work more on the March pages now that April is here!

How to Cure a Grumpy Witch

Chocolate cures everything.

The greeting card above is on top of some background papers I did a couple of years ago.  I was playing with the first Dylusions sprays I ever bought.  They were out of most of the colors except purple, orange, and black, not normally my go-to colors.  But I had more fun playing than I ever expected.  I still have a stack of October-ish papers, and every year I think I should make a Halloween book with them.  But so far that hasn't happened.

I still like looking at them though!

Happy Halloween!!!  Don't let the goblins get you! 

Messy Play

I got some new blue paints a few weeks ago and have not had time to play.  I decided today is the day.  I just can't go too long without clearing a space and making a mess. 

I went to my old standby, painting a little of each color to see what it looks like and labeling them.  I also used some other blue paints I had on hand for comparison.  As it happened, I had a plastic case that holds baby wipes.  The wipes had dried up, and I was about to throw out the case when I realized it would make a great palette.

To use up the rest of the paint, I blocked off part of the page with masking tape, brayered and stenciled paints.  With the paint that was left, I stenciled onto plain white paper.

When the paint dried, I cut the white paper into strips and squares and added that to the page. 

Added a little detail with white and black pens, and called it good.  I feel so much better now.

What a Tool

No, I'm not calling names.... just trying out a couple of things I got at Stampaway this year.  One thing I got was a house stencil (Artistcellar).  I decided to use some pan pastels with it, mainly because I got a couple of tools that I wanted to try out. 

One tool is the Brushstix.  It comes in different sizes, but I decided to try the small pointed tip and see how it does with putting pan pastels in smaller areas. It is made by Tsukineko and the package says it is for applying StazOn, GlazOn, and other mediums.  I know StazOn is a stamp pad.  Never heard of GlazOn.  Doesn't say anything about pan pastels...

I really liked it for the small areas.  I wish I had gotten two so I could keep one for dark colors and one for light colors.  I don't know how durable it will be, especially since I was using it on a rough watercolor paper.

I will note here that I do have other sponges and tools for the pastels, but wanted to try something different.  I have the plastic applicator things that have the replaceable sponge tips.  Most of them work okay for me, but some of the sponges (brand new) are already crumbling.  I am very forgiving when it comes to people - I will give you multiple changes in life.  But tools?  If that crumbly sponge is going to waste my time and frustrate me artistically, it's time to find something else!

Back to the houses... I could have sprayed a fixative when I was finished, but I tried something different that I saw at the convention and brushed a mixed media adhesive over the pastels.  Putting on the pan pastels was tedius.  Brushing adhesive over each color was tedius.  In the end, it smoothed everything out better on the watercolor paper, but honestly, I could have gotten the same effect using watercolor pencils and water in about half the time.  But it was very zen-like to sit and dab and paint, so the time was not a total waste.  (The adhesive, btw, did not "set" the pastels, and they will still have to be spray-fixed or the color rubs off.)

Yes, I did mention Two tools...I haven't forgotten the other one.  It's a fatter tool, and I tried applying pastels with it but didn't much care for it.  (Anyone out there who has this tool is probably laughing at me right now...)  I just went to get the package to tell you what it is. It says "Pebbles" on it and it clearly states it is an eraser.  I guess that's why I didn't have much luck with it as an applicator!  Okay, all together now, laugh With me please, not at me!

 

 It had the price sticker on the back where it talks about  the eraser, in very tiny print, I might add. The part below the sticker which was obviously the only part I saw, talks about applying chalk and erasing it.  Okay, now I know.  See how smart you get when you make mistakes!  May you have a very smart week...

Less is More

Just playing around....  Traced stencil with water soluble pencil, brush with water...

Add color with watercolor pencils, brush with water.

 Fill in background with scribbling using No Blot Pencil (writes like a pencil, but turns blue when water is added)...

 Add watercolor to very bottom, let everything dry, add some washi tape and stamping.  Call it good.

Return to mandatory overtime at work and hope for more play time.... Have a good week!

July

It's July.  I know because I just put the word "July" in my writing journal. I am also playing catch-up in my writing journal and there are a few months that have been left blank for now.

I haven't had any time for artsy visual journaling lately, so in working in my writing journal, I have been adding more play just to feed my need.  The July word was cut from a piece of scrap paper where I had used up some leftover paint.

The simplest things make me happy.  I seem to be content just to use a watercolor pencil, then smear it with some water to activate the pencil.  I love the Inktense pencils.  They smear if left as pencil marks, and will transfer to a facing page.  But once activated with water, they are permanent.  I just like the gunginess of haphazard markings.

I have been challenging myself to use all kinds of differnt date designations.  Date stamps, stencils, etc. Then I coordinate the color with some washi tape.

So my "writing" journal has become a little more fun until I can get some Real play time!