enjoy the process

Just thought I would give you a peek at PART of what goes on around here as I am preparing for classes...I pull out everything that I think I might want to use, and then begin to put things together.  This weekend I am teaching an altered book class, as well as a mixed media card class so I had lots of ideas, lots of goodies to "play" with...

The process IS a huge mess, but it is a lot of fun to play with all my "toys."

It all came together and here is the result of this particular process...   :)

Create something today...and enjoy the process!

book report

If only...

If only I had been allowed to do book reports like this as a kid in school!  :)

So...our Women's Bible Study just finished a short 3 week study on the "book" of Habakkuk...It was a wonderful study:  relevant, deep, applicable.  I loved it...and I haven't been quite ready to "be done" with Habakkuk so I decided to do my own review during my quiet time...which led to jotting down highlights...which led to these blocks all lettered out...  :)  Since I penciled it all first and then inked it (with my favorite pen...the Sharpie PEN)...I got to REALLY "handle" these highlights...so, not only was it a fun review but interacting with the Word helped reinforce it too...very fun!
...hmmm...I'm thinking color might be fun now...  :)

What do you think?  Give it a try with the next book you read...the who, what, where, when, why and how just might be alot more fun penned with a little playful "flair".  :)

and finally...

This is continued from my last post-which "got published" before it was ready...this is the page after I did a little "pen work"...as usual it may or may not be finished...you just never know when you may want to add a little something else to a page...and I love that in my art journal that is perfectly acceptable...  :)  ...a work in process.

THANKS

 So...its been a while...here is the acrostic I came up with for the word THANKS...its meant to be read like a sentence-ish...     :)

Today, each day...To
Him, my Heavenly Father, my God, my Lord and King
Acknowledging, Appreciating
Naming, then
Kneeling in gratitude for each and every
Small and/or Significant gift given from His Hand.

Here are how the "pages" are progressing as I journal on them, a bit here and there...as I can...

The first page...T...

and the back...
  (dictionary scrap glued down, gessoed, Distress Ink in Wild Honey , acrylic paint over drywall mesh tape   across the bottom corner, Tim Holtz clock stamped with black Archival Ink on vellum cut out and glued on with Glossy Accents...)

Next is H...
  (Distress Inks-Rusty Hinge & Gathered Twigs- sponged and textured on background, script stamped with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink in lower left corner, letters and words cut from magazines, glued down with clip art...words inspired by Ann Voskamp.)

and the back...
  (dictionary scrap, gesso, Distress Ink-this time Seedless Preserves, Peeled Paint Distress Paint over my own stencil, stamp on vellum, graphite pencil to highlight around stencil...)

 

 Fun, fun!  And as I have said before, I just love the meditative focus and process of "working" in my journal...or is it "playing" in my journal?...either way it is ALL GOOD!  :)
Give it a try...Enjoy!

beginning

in the beginning...I collect all the "ephemera" that is inspiring to me at that moment...what a fun mess!

 

 This crumpled piece is actually a paper towel that I has used to blot and clean with...I loved the inky colors and saved it (I should probably be embarrassed by that but I'm not...sigh...).  Now I will use it for texture and to add a little character, to alter this book... :)

...kinda like what happens to us...colored, torn, wrinkled, used by our life experiences...AND in Him, we are altered into something beautiful, something new... 

 

...as I was doing this, I started thinking of icons...images that hold some significance for us...I know that I am drawn to certain images and will use them over and over again...things like keys, clocks, birds, butterflies, etc....and without putting more weight on this than it deserves, I still like to ponder why it is that I like these images...anyway, instead of using any of the things I initially pulled out, I chose these mini images by Tim Holtz, stamped, cut them out, glued them down...again, the "process" was fun and meditative.

I may add more journaling to this, maybe not...but I'm happy with it...the scrunched and wrinkled color in the bottom corner grounding the black and white "icons"...what are your personal "icons"?

how???

how do we keep plugging along...keep putting one foot in front of the next when it seems like it is all too hard, too much?

I'm not sure what the answer it, but I DO know that it seems that God keeps impressing on my heart, keeps whispering, and somehow it is encouraging...it is NOT easy, but it is simple...the answer is always JESUS...The Way, The Truth, The Life...

...so to help me process...to help me get it down under my skin...guess what I did?  You know it!  I gathered my "stuff"...

I wrote what was on my mind...

Then I added clip art of a "one way" sign...a perfect visual reminder.

Finally, I lettered a quote on the page with a the brush tip of a distress marker...

I decided that the lettering needed a little"help", so I outlined it with a Sharpie pen...much better...

And so by the GRACE of God, I keep putting one foot in front of the next...  :)

a new month

A new year, a new month, a new week, a new day...all are so exciting.  So full of possibilities.  This year I decided to make a "small" art journal for each month.  It has been very fun...easy to complete and "fill" because they are small:  so far no bigger than 6" x 6" and about 10-12 pages...This is perfect since I mostly work in 10-20 minute time slots.  (I rarely have more than a 20 minute chunk of time "just for art")  I have also been trying to stretch my color palette "muscles"...using different colors than my usual favorites.  So, this month I chose some paper I found at my favorite stamp store (Stamp Art Shoppe in Roseville) to inform my May palette:  yellow, gray, green, and blue...kind of a funky combo, if you ask me...but I am loving it!

  

This is the cover...so far undecorated.  I usually do my covers last unless I am inspired sooner than later.  Also, I spiral bound this one...just to try working in this format...we'll see...(The past 4 months have all been stitch-bound.)

Bordering my first page...tape along bottom.  then I chose catalog pics that spoke to me at that moment...probably thinking about journalling so I chose the pen...and I always LOVE script and books :) 

  ...glued those in place...

Then I punched some little butterflies, and cut a bigger one out of notebook paper.  I played around with placement, and glued everything down, along with some fun tape.  I love the sense of movement on the page that the scattered blue butterflies give.

 

I added the words "explore," "discover," and "wonder" which I stamped on white paper...(I am doing 30 days of  WONDER from Margaret Feinberg's book Wonderstruck  so I want to include that in this month's journal)...I like it so far...I will journal, doodle, and embellish it more...as I "live" with it.  That is the happy beginning...

Happy MAY!  

MAY you be happy!

 

I don't know about you but I don't do well when my routine is thrown out the window. :) And this was a week of "interruptions"...as the week wore on and I was feeling more and more "squeezed", I was reminded that I am still "in process"...I don't like that my flesh STILL wants its own way...I want to be done with THAT struggle...(life has enough trials of its own, after all). BUT GOD reminded me that I have been altered AND am being altered into His image...PROCESS!  And so, I am resting in Him, cooperating with Him as He works in me.  And as Easter approaches, I am remembering Him...what His life was about as He approached the cross...and I am encouraged. 

Here I am!

Welcome!
I am so glad you are here.  Starting this blog has been a long process.  God has prepared and very gently nudged me along until I realized that this was something that I HAD TO DO...and I am so excited!  When you visit here, you will find lots and lots going on:- lots of art, especially art journaling...what I am creating...what I am learning...what I am reading...questions I am pondering...things I am processing...aaah...the glorious mess...all mixed together and being altered by God.
 Grab a cup of coffee, and stop by anytime...let's journal,create, learn, read, ponder, process together!