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!

Spinning Singles

I taught a class today at my local yarn shop, Red Barn Yarn Farm.  It was a one-afternoon workshop in fixing mistakes and other tips and tricks.  It went well, although I only had one student!  Oh well, that woman got a one-on-one lesson.

Then I came home and felt a little restless, like starting something new.  So I picked out some fiber and starting spinning singles.

I'm spinning this with the intention of leaving it as a single.  (If you look at the treadles of my spinning wheel, you can see my hand-knit socks!)

Art Journaling on a Thursday

I did a little work in my art journals this evening.

Played a little bit with my new Vintage 1950's Fashion stamp set from Flonz Craft.

Worked a bit more on this page with the Dina Wakley stamps.

I don't think this is done yet, although I'm not sure exactly what it needs.  I'm thinking orange, though.

Drawing at the Dentist's Office

I took my stepdaughter to the dentist's office today, and while I was waiting for her I took the opportunity to draw a couple of the people in the office.

I've issued myself a challenge to draw, paint, or work in one of my journals every day.  When I was younger, I used to draw often and had dreams of being an artist one day.  Time to re-awaken those dreams.

This evening I went downstairs and played a bit in my art journals, doing some collage and working on one of the pages I prepped with acrylics the other night.

I like these Dina Wakley stamps, and I like this technique of stamping with archival ink on tissue paper and then adhering the tissue paper to a colored background.

Till tomorrow...

Lazy Sunday

Today was a lovely, lazy Sunday.  I hung out with my kitties, Frank and Dimbo.

Made chocolate chip cookies.

Gessoed a few pages in my art journals.  This is the one I didn't like too well from last night, so I put a gesso wash over it.  Interestingly, the blue in the bottom right-hand corner is a spray (on a stencil) that I put on the acrylic as an afterthought.  It was really lost in all the colorful paint, but once I applied the gesso wash it really popped through the gesso layer in a way that the acrylic doesn't.

 And did a little knitting on my Ashton Shawlette, which I am working on for a class I'm teaching at my local yarn shop, The Red Barn Yarn Farm.

A relaxing, lazy Sunday!

Studio Therapy

I felt in need of some studio time this evening, so I went downstairs, got out my art journals, tags, paints and Distress Inks and started playing around.

Tag bases with Distress Inks.

More tag bases, with Distress Inks and stencilling.

An art journal background spread using acrylic paints.

Another art journal background spread with acrylics.  This one got a little muddy, so I may go back and put a gesso wash over it when it's dry.

Art journal background using sprays and stencils.

Art journal background.

A finished tag.

I was trying to use some of the techniques and ideas from my recent Craftsy classes.  And I feel better--more calm, more centered.  Art as therapy, for sure.

Poppy Bookmark

It's been unseasonably warm here in NW Missouri over the last several days, and yesterday was almost oppressively warm (well, for November, anyway!) until the skies opened up in the afternoon and we got a huge thundershower and hail.

The kitties were quite perturbed.  Here's Hilda, wondering what in the world I was doing outside in such weather. I'm sure she was worried about me!

I've picked up a couple of Craftsy classes recently that center on stamping and mixed media techniques.  After watching the classes, I was itching to get down into my studio last night and play.  So at about 11:30 p.m. (!) I wandered downstairs and started to play around with a bookmark-sized scrap I found lying on my cutting table.  I spent 30 happy minutes and came up with this bookmark.

The details:

1.  Distress Inks

2.  Prima Marketing stencil, "Crackle"

3.  The Crafter's Workshop stencil, "Mini Woven"

4.  "Poppies" stamp by Magenta

5.  Black and white embossing powder

6.  Red Sharpie