Mind. Body. Soul. (Art Journaling)

I'm happy to say that I've completed the work for week one in my beautiful friend Leslie's new E-course, Mind.Body.Soul. Our task was to create two journal pages focusing on positivity and the word Believe. Here is what I came up with:

"You Are Enough"

Elements attached with string and staples

Revealed message

"Sit with it for a While"

Torn papers and rub-ons

Stamping and a page full of decorative tape

And just as a side: I broke out a new journal for this class, the Strathmore Visual Journal, and I'm more than impressed with it. It's a Cold Press watercolor journal with a good weight (140 lb) and no matter how many layers (painting, rub-ons, stamping, gluing, image transferring, um, glittering . . . ) I put it through, it stayed with me (no balling up or wrinkling). And I loved the 5 x 8 size as it was very easy to complete in one sitting. At around $5 (I got mine at Michaels, but they are everywhere), I would recommend it in a heartbeat!

Thanks for looking! I'm now off to see what's in store for Week Two . . . please feel free to join us, it's inspiring, fun & free!

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday (Week 52)

"A little Something"

WIP

I have no idea where this is headed (a painted paper perhaps?), but I thought I bring my lil' WIP to the Anniversary Party. . .

Congratulations to Kristin & Eva for having hosted a year's worth of beauty and inspiration. Thank you both for your time, energy and efforts in bringing us all together: my Fridays just wouldn't be the same without you! 

"It's Friday night and I'm ready to swing. Pick up my girls and hit the party scene."

- Aaliyah (Back and Forth lyrics)

See you there,

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday (Week 31)

"Hello, Bird." 

16 x 20 Canvas Panel

(Bird & Crown clip art from The Graphics Fairy)

Whew . . . she's done! Now I can return to my regular Mommy-ing schedule . . . 

Thanks to Eva & Kristin for hosting this wonderful Party!

Kristin xo

If You're Anything Like Me . . .

Vintage Book of Sheet Music, circa 1919

So I've started a new project. I think. You see, if you're anything like me, you're somewhat of a hoarder. Old pictures, vintage books, wallpaper, ledger pages, love notes, random broken pieces of well, anything that may be paramount to the success of some future art project . . . sound familiar? Well, if you're like me, then you also don't get around to actually using most of it. Fears of "ruining" something special often stops me from ever picking it up again once it makes it through the front door. . . 

Well, no longer. I. am. determined. to breathe new life into some of these things I have lying around and give them the attention they deserve. With that in mind, I've started altering a book of vintage sheet music just to see what happens. No preconceived notions, no calculated plan of completion, just fun. A place to go when I have nothing up my sleeves, but I wanna art. This is what I've done so far:

I separated the book into 10 sections. Yes, with staples (gasp!) 

But in my defense, at least I'm getting somewhere fast. . .

And this is where I left it. The beginnings of something. What, I'm not quite sure. 

But the first layer is down, ready and waiting for our next play date.

(Rocking Horse image from The Graphics Fairy)

Wish me luck. Fingers crossed, I will actually come back to it soon. I'll let you know what happens when I do . . .

Kristin xo

The Summer of Color - YELLOW

"Bewildered"

8 x 10 Journal Page

{You've inspired me to play with collage this week. The circular form was taken from a vintage Naval navigation sheet and the "scratchy" edges were directly influenced by my friend Amy's pink piece from last week. The text reads, "she stared at me, bewildered and then she smiled."}

Oh, pretty, pretty Pink . . .

What a beautiful week! Your pieces were full of life, color and often, femininity. I love that pink can be so many things to us - cool and rich as well as soft and sweet - and as a group, we had it all. Thank you for your excitement and encouragement to one another as we continue this colorful journey together. I'm honored to share it with you.

Speaking of share . . .

If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to join our Facebook page to really immerse yourself in The Summer of Color experience. There you'll find interesting links and discussions as well as colorful quotes and questions that we have along the way. I for one am loving it there! Also, please feel free to add your work to our Flickr group found on the sidebar to your right. It's growing at a tremendous rate and at last count, we had over a 150 pictures in our community pool. If your work is not yet represented, please feel free to add to it at any time. 

Half way there . . .

Can you believe it? As of this week, we're half way through our color prompts. From this point forward, there will be a total of four (4) more color prompts in addition to one wrap-up week in which we'll be sharing all that we did and learned along the way. If you have not yet participated in The Summer of Color and would like to, please know that you are welcome to pop in at any time. We would be thrilled to have you.

Who won, who won!? 

Glad you asked. The Random Number Generator has done it's job and the winner of the Pink giveaway (pictured in the post below) is  . . .

YOU

Congratulations! Please Email me your address and I'll send them right off.

And now, welcome to YELLOW week!

Your color prompt for this week (Monday July 4th to Sunday 10th) is to create something - anything - that you'd like inspired by the color yellow. Your Bonus! challenge is to somehow incorporate metallics into your work. As before, please (A) link your work in the widget below so that others can find you, (B) leave one comment if you created a Yellow piece and (C) leave two comments if you completed the Bonus! challenge. Good luck!

Here's what's up for grabs . . .

A large (28 x 22') sheet of yellow decorative paper, two vintage (written on and stamped) postcards from the 1930's, Recollections extra fine glitter in Sunflower, one Elite package of 18 and 30' necklace chains, one Jolee's Swarovski crystal pendent in bright yellow, a package of Bristol ATC cards, Craftsmart paint pens and a sprinkling of clear and iridescent Swarovski crystals and beads.

And what is next week's color prompt?

BROWN!

(Monday July 11th - Sunday July 17th)

"I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns."

-Winston Chruchill

Next week's Bonus! Challenge . . .

Should you choose to accept it, next week's Bonus! Challenge is to incorporate a bold shot of color in your work. Anything at all . . . have fun!

Kristin xo

SPA: Dance

"Dancing Feet"

6 x 4 Postcard

I had a lot of fun with this week's prompt, Dance at Sunday Postcard Art . . . I started with the cutest image of dancing children from The Graphics Fairy which I enhanced with colored pencils, pen and Stickles glitter. I then placed them on a background of blue and white acrylic with painted drapes (to represent a stage), some charcoal for a bit of distressing and an image of a chandelier. Final touches included outlining the dancers in black ink and the addition of more glitter on their shoes to underline the sentiment, "Dancing Feet." 

Thanks for looking! I look forward to seeing all your beautiful Dance pieces this week . . . 

Kristin xo

Moleskine: Eyes II

"She had stars in her eyes"

5 x 8 Moleskine Journal

Finished! Close inspection reveals dictionary pages with the words, "Eye" and "Star" as the base, upon which several layers of painted and brayered (if this is not a word, it should be ;) on acrylic, water-soluble crayons and gel pens are added. The cut out image of the chair on the right is from The Graphics Fairy. Other details include an eyebrow formed with the words, "A small piece of combustible composition - resembles a star" in addition to various swirl and star stamps, metallic gold and white gel pen, Stickles glitter and (surprise, surprise) Swarovski crystals . . . xo