class fun

One of the things that I L-O-V-E to do is to share art journaling with others.  I have been very blessed to do this by teaching classes.  This past week-end I taught two classes at Quiet Oaks Ministries in Oakdale,CA. This was part one of a series of four that will take place each quarter this year.  We learned the basics of creating an "altered book."  The "girls" did an amazing job...I love teaching techniques and then seeing how differently everyone's pages look...so much fun.  Here are a few pictures of the event...

Set up and ready to go...

Play time...

It is fun to journal at home, but there is so much value in a class environment..."playing" together at art and on the pages of your art journal is an enriching experience...so very "good for you!" :)

Try it!  

playing!

Last month I had the chance to go to a workshop at Kuretake, a company that makes amazing pens, markers...things that make my heart flutter.  :)  (Thanks Sandy @ the Stamp Art Shoppe)

I was able to get some of the products that we used in the workshop and have been "playing" with them for fun...AND for new class ideas...can I just say...too much fun!!!

I wanted to try a "watercolor" technique using the Kuretake Zig Wink of Luna brush pens.

I always start by making a sample swatch to check out colors and "personality" of new supplies.

I thought it would be fun to show the "process" of one of those projects.  I started by wetting the watercolor paper then applying the blue, green, and light green inks to the page. Then I blended the color with a large flat brush...the pigment is so rich and I just love the hint of metallic in these.  I didn't like how "crisp" the edges looked so I spritzed the edges with water, and loved how the ink splattered and softened.  Then I journaled across the page using a medium blue ink that would show but not draw attention to itself.  I decided that I wanted some texture on the page but not collage, so I used the Zig Embossing Pen with a circle stencil and put circles here and there and embossed them...very subtle, and just what I wanted.  Next, I grabbed a Tim Holtz stencil and stenciled the wildflowers over the writing with black ink.  Since I had so much fun with the embossing pen, I drew some swirls on circles cut from dictionary pages and embossed that. Finally, I "grounded" the flowers with text paper and washi tape...outlined the text circles with the light green Luna ink...

 

Here is a slightly different angle...can you see the texture of the embossed circles?





Well!  That was fun!  I can't wait for my next "play date" with my new toys...I'll keep you posted.
By the way, Have I mentioned how good for you it is to "play" now and then...therapeutic even...try it...do something fun, I mean, good for you this week-end.  :)

you can't take it with you...

...well, actually...I did. I took just a few journaling goodies with me and while Mark was working, I had a few minutes of play time in my journal...yay!

Journaling-on-the-go...I highly recommend it.  You just never know when inspiration or opportunity will come, and it really is amazing what you can do in just a few minutes.  

Take it with you and try it.  You'll like it.  :)

Playing with Color

A few months ago I read Wonderstruck by Margaret Feinberg.  I loved it.  I feel like it goes right along with my WOTY, see, and it has challenged me to be "on the look-out" for the wonder of God in my days...At the end of the book, the author includes a 30-Days-of-Wonder exercise, which I have been doing since the beginning of May.  It has been a stretch...a good work-out, in fact...and I think that the days that encouraged paying attention to the wonder of beauty, and of creation...PLUS the need for a bit of "playtime" were the inspiration for this journal page.

I wanted to PLAY with COLOR so I started digging through colored pencils and markers to assemble the colors of this months journal (gray, yellow, green, and blue).  I decided to make a palette "key"...just for fun."

 

 Then I got out my journal and hunted for the right picture...I love this picture of a girl in all white with a splash of color.  I thought it was a perfect image to add to my "color" page.

After she was glued in, I added some fun tape and the palette key.  Then I wrote the word COLOR across the corner and colored it in with some of the pens I found...jotted a few notes on the page...that's it...a little bit of playtime...FUN!

I love color and its always fun to add some to "life", whether in a journal, in my wardrobe, or in the decor of my home...Spring and all the new blossoms are all about color being added to the world after the less-than-colorful season of winter...hmmm...the wonder of The Creator...  :)

How do you add color to your life?