Today's Bits

A few photos from this evening's play time in my studio.

I covered this awful thrift store find with gesso the other day and then started some collage on it tonight.

I wasn't too happy with the way this canvas was shaping up, so I added some collage elements and a white glaze, along with some scratching into the surface of the white paint.

An art journal spread.  I like this vintage drawing of a woman, and thought it would look good in my art journal.  This image came from Create with TLC.

I think I'll add some color to her, once the gel medium I used to apply her is dry.

A Little Night Collage

Every evening I try to spend at least a few minutes in my studio, just playing around with paints, collage elements, color sprays, stencils, and stamps.  Sometimes I just gesso something--some art journal pages, an upcycled canvas or board.  (One of my favorite things to do is to hit up the thrift stores for "art" on canvases or boards, gesso over them, and use them for painting and collage!)

Tonight I did a little collage with some music pages and played a little bit in my art journals with color sprays and stencils.

This is a page spread that I started weeks ago, and am just continuing to play with.  Right now I think it's kinda ugly, but that's OK.  I will keep coming back to it!

The stencilled elements in this spread didn't turn out nearly as crisp as I had wanted, but I kinda like what's going on here, nevertheless.

Just a little play time before settling in to watch some TV and knit!

Tags and Art Journal and Collage, Oh My!

I wandered down into my studio this evening and played around a little in my art journals.  I bought a couple of old books today at the antique mall to use in my work; I have to say, it was a little tough to start tearing pages out of a book, even an old torn-up one, but once I started, it felt surprisingly liberating to tear up book pages!  And I really like the way the pages look glued in my journal.  I think next time I might glue the book pages down and then paint over them, although this is a good start and I probably will go back in with more paint.

I also added some orange to my Dina Wakley faces page.  I'm not sure where to go next with this one--I think I'll just let it simmer for awhile.

I did a little collage with paper scraps on a piece of kraft paper.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this--maybe paint over it or use some Distress Inks on it once it's dry.  I'm thinking this will be cut up for homemade pattern paper or tags.

Then I played around with some of the new Distress Stains I got recently and made a bunch of tags bases.

I have good, inky fingers now!

Dance

Today is Day 16 of Smeared Ink's month-long Halloween challenge and blog hop, 31 Days of Halloween.  Welcome back to my blog!

Today I have an ATC for you, entitled simply "Dance."

The details:

1.  Skeleton rubber stamp from my stash

2.  Background collaged from paper scraps, sprayed with various ink sprays, and sanded

3.  "Dance" stamped with All Night Media Jive alphabet stamp set and embossed with Ranger Embossing Powder in Seafoam White

4.  Skeleton highlighted with Sakura Gelly Roll pen in white

That's it for me today!  As always, thanks for stopping by and thank you for all your comments--they really keep me going!  To follow the entire hop, please see the blog roll in the right-hand sidebar.

Kickstart Your Art Days 5 & 6: Tea Time's Delicious!

Today is the sixth day of a Smeared and Smudged Forum challenge, Kickstart Your Art!, an Art Journal Every Day challenge.  We are given a prompt every morning and then have 24 hours to produce a journal page.

Yesterday's prompt was to use an organic medium.  I chose tea, mostly because all the coffee was gone by the time I started my page!

 I started with a wash of very strong tea, letting it run down the page.  I let that dry, then followed with two more successively darker washes of acrylic paint thinned with the tea, again letting it run down the page.

After yesterday's overblown piece, I tried to keep this simple, finishing with a stamp from A Day for Daisies and the hand-lettered word "Simplicity."

Today's prompt was to use a magazine or book page.

Since we always have cooking mags lying around, I cannibalized one of those, then added some collage elements and scribble-painting with a Gelato.  I finished with the stamps of the hand with chopsticks holding a shrimp, for an all-around foodie page; then added the word "Delicious!"  The shrimp doesn't exactly go with the bit dessert pic in the top left, but oh, well!

Fears by Ike's Art with LOC Challenges

I am thrilled to be able to announce that I am a new member of the Design Team for the Left of Center Challenges!  I can't tell you how excited I am to be a part of this great team of artists!

Today is my first DT offering for a challenge, which is the "Fears with Ike's Art" challenge starting today over at the LOC site.

(If you are looking for my post for The 12 Days of Creepmas, please scroll down to the post below.)

This is my creation, using the Ike's Art image called Girly Pin-Up.

Thanks to Maureen and the rest of LOC Design Team for allowing me to play!

The Rejected and Unfinished

Today is the thirty-first (and very last) day of the 31 Days of Halloween Challenge and Blog Hop, sponsored by Smeared Ink and the Smeared and Smudged forum!  Woohoo!!  We made it!

To see everyone who is participating in the blog hop, follow the blog roll on the right.  If you're following the blog roll, you probably got here from Sue's blog and will want to proceed to Leslie's blog after you've stopped here!

I figured there would be lots of bloggers on the hop today who would finish off with a bang, showing you some sort of major and wonderful creation, so I decided to take the opposite approach and go out with a sort of weak whimper.  Instead of giving you a grand and great piece of art, I give you:

The Rejected and Unfinished!

These are the things I worked on that just didn't make the cut, for one reason or another.  Let's start with the rejects:

This just never quite jelled, although I certainly worked at it and wanted it to.

I don't even know what to say about this one.  It's just weird.

Somewhat blah, and not very Halloween-ish.

Meh, as my kids say.

Now the unfinished:  things I started but just didn't go much of anywhere:

I had something very atmospheric in mind here, but it didn't get there.

I made this base very early on, and then it languished at the bottom of a stack.

These two pieces were once part of the same piece, which I tore apart and started playing around with in other ways.  This is where it ended, for the time being.

These are all background of one kind or another that just never quite found their proper place this month.  They are not abandoned, just patiently waiting to find their true calling.

So there you have it folks!  My poor rejects and unfinished bits and bobs, all holding such promise early on but not yet having realized that promise in finished form.

I hope you have enjoyed at least some of my projects this month--thanks for hanging in there with me and for all the lovely comments each day.  It's been a blast!

Please come back and see me again for more of my adventures in papercrafting, knitting, crochet, and quilting!

The Witching Hour

Today is the twenty-ninth day of the 31 Days of Halloween Challenge and Blog Hop, sponsored by Smeared Ink and the Smeared and Smudged forum!

To see everyone who is participating in the blog hop, follow the blog roll on the right.  If you're following the blog roll, you probably got here from Sue's blog and will want to proceed to Leslie's blog after you've stopped here!

Today I have a mixed-media piece which I have entitled "The Witching Hour."  This is another of my collaged backgrounds, to which I have added a stamped and colored landscape.

The details:

1. Tree and moon stamp--from my stash
2. Witch stamp--from Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers Halloween UM set 1 at Stamp Francisco
3. KimberlyGeneral’s,  Loew Cornell, and Prismacolor watercolor pencils
4. Background--collaged with scraps, Gelatos, chalks, etc.

Death Considers Growing A Mustache

Today is the twenty-eighth day of the 31 Days of Halloween Challenge and Blog Hop, sponsored by Smeared Ink and the Smeared and Smudged forum!

To see everyone who is participating in the blog hop, follow the blog roll on the right.  If you're following the blog roll, you probably got here from Sue's blog and will want to proceed to Leslie's blog after you've stopped here!

As the penultimate entry into my Death Has A Life Too series, I offer you "Death Considers Growing A Mustache."

The details:

1. Death--Grim Reaper from Viva Las Vegas Stamps
2. Mustaches--Mustaches Clear Stamp Set by Stampabilities
3. Alphabet--Studio G Alphabet set
4. Background--collaged from scraps, etc.

Pumpkin

Today is the twenty-fourth day of the 31 Days of Halloween Challenge and Blog Hop, sponsored by Smeared Ink and the Smeared and Smudged forum!  Today is Friday, so it is also a Smeared Ink day, featuring images from Smeared Ink.

To see everyone who is participating in the blog hop, follow the blog roll on the right.  If you're following the blog roll, you probably got here from Sue's blog and will want to proceed to Leslie's blog after you've stopped here!

Today I have something a little different from my usual style, although I had a lot of fun making it!  Earlier in the hop, someone (I'm sorry, I can't remember who!) blogged about how they saved all their scraps and odds and ends and used them on Sunday to make a collage.  I thought this was such a great idea that I have been doing the same, except there's no way I can wait for Sunday--I have too much fun doing this to wait for the weekend!

This is one of my collaged backgrounds, with a focal point of the Autumn's Pencil pumpkins popped up above it.

The photos are a little washed out, as I took them in the late afternoon sunlight, but on the other hand you can really see some of the texture in the background.

Here's a shot taken in the shade, which shows the true colors (but not the texture) a little bit better.

I would love some feedback on this piece, as I've looked at it so much I'm not sure whether I like it, it needs more work, or it's just a big hot mess!  Constructive criticism is welcome!

The details:

1. Pumpkins--from Autumn's Pencil rubber set from Smeared Ink (not yet available to the public)
2. Background papers--scraps, found papers, embossed scraps
3. Faber Castell Gelatos
4. Clearsnap Colorbox Chalk Inks
5. Watercolors
6. Alphabet--unknown maker