"Tropical" Art Journal Page

It must be all those Facebook "memory reminders" that have popped up more than once this month with photos from our time spent in Hawaii 2 years ago, the cold winter weather and all the "escape to the sun" promos I see that have left me pining for the tropics, resulting in this journal page.

Day 22

Ended up creating 2 pages for December 22 because it was an action packed day, and of course I tend to take far too many photos which meant creating this page with an interactive element, adding a flap that opens up to display extra photos hiding behind the flap as seen below.

The Power of Words

Such a good reminder ...

Day 22

Well, the highlight for December 22 has to be the arrival of our daughter and her family. The countdown was finally over!

Days 20 & 21

Had fun making the baking embellishments using a Martha Stewart stamp set I picked up years ago ... I stamped the images in black using Jet Black Staz-On, watercoloured and then embossed, using clear embossing powder. I popped them up to add a bit of dimension. Oh my, it would be nice to complete this December Daily album by the end of this month but that's a minimum of 10 more pages and I don't know if that's going to happen ... hmmm what do they say? the best prediction of future behaviour is based on past performance? Oh no! I think I'm doomed! :-)

Follow your heart

What better way to spend a cold, dreary and gloomy Sunday afternoon than to play in my art journal.

#Imagine

Took this illustration from the May 2016 Oprah Magazine and enjoyed the article written by Elizabeth Gilbert, which ended up being the inspiration for this 2 page art spread in my art journal.

Zoolights 2016

When I saw the weekly sketch challenge on the Hip Kit Club FB group, I immediately knew which photos I'd use for this layout and while I'm happy with the result, I have to say, I'm NOT happy with the photo for a couple of reasons: 1. because it didn't photograph square (the corners themselves are a bit warped where I added those blue snowflake patterned paper and unfortunately, I couldn't fix that in problem in photo editing), and 2. the photo doesn't show the awesome white "wink of stella" glittery outline finish on the snowflakes {*sigh*} so you'll just have to trust me when I say it really is pretty in real life!

Inspired watercoloured card

I recently discovered "Kiss My Creative - Artist Journal" you tube videos and have been binge watching them (while working out at the YMCA on their wifi enabled treadmills). Samantha's videos are so inspiring I reached out to her asking permission to re-create one of her cards, which she graciously granted!

December Daily - Days 18 & 19

Still plugging away on my December Daily album ... and the most exciting stuff is just around the corner!!

December Daily - Day 16

December Daily - Days 14 & 15

Perfectly Imperfect

I started out creating a page in my art journal, using a technique new to me: squirt out 3 different acrylic colours on a craft mat, run your brayer through those colours (in different positions on the brayer), and roll off in different directions on my page (which had been prepped with clear gesso in advance). I liked the result, and then wondered where to go next. I had a photo of myself printed out on my desk (to be included in my December Daily album) and it just begged to be put on top of this background and so one thing led to another and I ended up with an art journal inspired scrapbook page ... who knew that would happen!

Create everyday!

As the name of my blog suggests, I am preoccupied with all things artsy! I am venturing into the world of art journalling and while I don't really have the hang of it yet (it seems that those who do art journalling are real deep thinkers; their creations include a lot of imagery that relates to them in some way, which is nothing you'll see from me, unless this art journalling journey takes me there!!), I really do enjoy the freedom of creating without any "design" rules. It really does feel like play! So with that in mind, I try to "play" every day, and when I do, I will post the results here.

December 11-13

Still plugging away on my December Daily album ....

December 9 & 10