Tangie Baxter’s prompt was “Tickled Pink” for week 14 of the Art Journal Caravan. Of course my first thought was our girls. The journalling is on my heart, not evident in the “artwork.” It is about being tickled pink with my house full of girls. But, at the same time, I’ll never know what it would have been like to have my middle child, a boy, thrown into the daily craziness. His sixth birthday is tomorrow. He died during childbirth. He is on the other side of grace, and we are on the other side of grief. We have a happy household. But we do miss Gabe, he still shows up in most of the family portraits my girls draw. Right in the middle of them where he belongs.

The vintage dolls are a freebie stamp I found. But they looked a little scary, even for a bittersweet subject. So, I gave them Manga eyes from another free brush set I found. There are a lot of blending effects here with the four papers used, so most of them don’t look like the original. I love the black and white curtains, they are from Tangie Baxter’s Impossible Things kit. And Anne DeJong’s paper feather was the perfect finishing touch!

Credits: Tangie Baxter, Dianne Rigdon, Anne De Jong, http://visionofviolet.deviantart.com/art/Manga-eyes-for-Newbies-77930122, http://brushes.500ml.org/list2.php (vintage toy brushes)

Can I say something without sounding like I’m knocking my parents? When I was growing up, I kid you not, it was hard to find a blank piece of paper to draw on. I remember looking at my dad’s legal pads from work hoping there would be a blank page somewhere in there.

I’ve kind of taken the opposite approach with my girls. They don’t have permission to use my supplies. But, they have a little table and chairs next to mine. And a cart full of their own supplies.  I let them paint whenever they want to. The only problem is they get really messy. We need to work on clean up time, I know!

My oldest daughter and I had a whole lot of fun making Junk Journals last month. I just have not gotten around to posting the photos on my blog. She really enjoyed watching Tangie’s videos, picking supplies, and following Tangie’s directions. I let her use my Tim Holtz ink pads for this project because her stamp pads are recessed and would not work. You can see even the little one got into the action…I let her glue the “scraps” together. It kept her entertained most of the time we were working on our books.

If you want to learn more about Junk Journals watch these videos by Tangie Baxter. Danielle was so proud of how “fat” her journal is, she kept talking about it so her dad finally said, “I take it *fat* books is the goal here?” Yep, and imagine how fat they will be when they are filled with all the “junk”!

Tangie Baxter’s Supply List:
*Composition Notebook
*Ink Pads
*Scrapbook Paper
*Glue (Aleen’s Tacky Glue, Tombow multi-tip, UHU glue stick)
*Thin Ribbons
*Binder Clips

My comments…I didn’t find the UHU glue stick tacky enough to suit me. Aleen’s glue worked better but it was wet and took longer to dry. I’m a big fan of Tombow, if I’d found the multi-tip I bet I would have liked it. Also, I used some “post it” style plastic tabs…very cool. I just stuck them on and pasted a scrapbook page over it.

This past Valentines day we went to the church my FIL pastors. We stayed for their monthly fellowship dinner. There is a woman that is part of his congregation that blew me away with her talent and generosity. Her name is Chris. A year or so ago she lost her only son, still a boy, after dealing with life long health issues which kept her from being active at church for most of his life. It is very sad. It is heartwarming to see her love for children shine so brightly.

On Valentines day she volunteered not only to cook lunch for the entire church, but she was in charge of games, and all of the prizes. She brought enough prizes for a church twenty times the size of our little community church. She made a table full of lamps from parts she had picked up here an there. They were beautiful. And, she made dozens of little jean purses lined with taffeta. Plus she brought a table full of toys for the children. All of this and she was still a relaxed hostess. I’d never met her before, and was happy to meet such a gracious woman.

I decided she needed a very special Thank-you card. The verse is 1Peter 4:10– “Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well.”

I hear she framed it, and that made me smile. Then she sent me a whole bag of ribbons and trim so I could make more cards. I guess she is in for another pretty Thank-you card now!

I hope to get to spend more time getting to know Chris, I feel a connection with her since we both lost our only sons and we both love crafty things. Anyway, she is a beautiful reminder of how all talents, even of a craft nature, can be used to bless others. I love it when we find ways to use our crafty talents to fulfill God’s purpose!

Credits: Tangie Baxter and her equally talented Mother (the Illustrator) Rebecca McMeen, Tracy Ann (paper), Maya (book “nook”), New Life Dreams (lantern), and the edges were distressed with purple/yellow/green cat-eye chalk ink

P.S. Sorry about the photo quality, I’d lost my camera charger and had to use our video camera to take a picture before I gave the card away.

I have not used my Copic Multiliners and Sketch markers nearly as much as I planned to on the Art Journal Caravan at Scrapbook Graphics. It is just that illustration is not an easy thing for me. It is something I want to be better at. But, it takes time and time is our most precious resource. Anyway, I was inspired by “Nevermore”’s Zentangle/Zendoodles. I’d never heard of it. Evidently, the company decided to make a buck by publishing “styles” of doodles and sort of a dice game to get you moving when you get stumped. I looked for a free source of inspiration and found a great blog.

I’m tickled pink that it was just what I needed to keep me moving quickly through the creation of this illustration! I used a “how to” book on drawing Manga as reference for the Mermaid’s upper body. I winged it on the tail. For the seaweed I used some Dover swirls as reference. And the rest of the doodles are either mine or borrowed from a page on the blog.

I think that most people use the Zendoodle process for more abstract art? I don’t know, but I hope I get inspired again because that was a lot of fun!

I started by drawing the fish outlines and the wavy lines behind them. Then I did the seaweed at the bottom. It was an afterthought to add the Manga Mermaid. I’d been wanting to do some illustrations of little girls. Once I had the Mermaid positioned I drew and colored the reef life around her. Then I colored the Mermaid and the fish.

You can’t really see all the Stickles glitter on the mermaid and the little fishies in this scan. Nor can you probably tell I used Liquid Pearls for her necklace and in the dots on the crests of the waves. The net or hammock was kind of an accident because I started doing hashed shadows around her and decided to make it a net. I figured she is startled because a diver just woke her up from a nap!

I left room at the top in case I ever want to add a sentiment and make this into a card for someone.

Wow, I’ve been a little busy. I’ve been building a blog and two websites with Joomla! I won’t be done with both of them until the end of April. But hopefully I’ll still have time to exercise a little creativity.

Kiki Halbert came out with a pack of papers in lovely spring colors. Creating this layout from last Easter made me even more excited that it is spring! Catch Kiki’s “Olivia” on sale through today at Scrapbook-Elements.

This week’s journal prompt at the Art Journal Caravan is “Collection.” I was working on this layout anyway and it struck me that bubbles are a collection. They give kids a lot of joy just like our collections. But they are too fragile to touch just like all of my late grandmother’s carnival glass. And, I thought of other things we can “collect” to make us feel good or bad. Like compliments. You can go chasing after compliments because your self esteem needs them but then that good feeling doesn’t last…just like a bubble. My best source of confidence comes from God, and I give him credit for every ounce of creativity!

Credits:
Frame is Paislee Press all else is Kiki Halbert. Papers from new kit Olivia. Tab and filmstrip are LeGrunge. Butterfly is from Neopolitan Sundae. All other elements are from Cool Nights Blue Skies. The alpha was created with Atomic Cupcake’s Pristine Chipboard.

I am not the slightest bit musically inclined. I wish I was. Music can get my creative juices flowing, not really that it gives me ideas, more that it just puts me in the right frame of mind to be creative. I was wondering, does art do the same thing for musicians? I have a friend who is a musician, I might see if I can get her over here to comment.

This week the part of the journal prompt at the Art Caravan that inspired me was, “What music really inspires you? What gets your toes tapping involuntarily? How can listening to music while you art journal influence your work? How can music change your mood?” To tell you the truth music has not been a huge part of my “down-time” since I’ve been married. So, thinking about what music inspired me took me backwards in time.

The first person that came to mind was Lyle Lovett. He and Sheryl Crow are probably two of my all time favorite musicians. I guess I love folksy, bluesy, alternative country music with a bit of gospel thrown in. Lyle Lovett is really a category of his own in my opinion! I saw him on the “Big Band” tour at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio, I think the year before he married Julia Roberts. I was on the 2nd row center aisle and it blew me away.

His “Church” song brings a smile to my face, it hits the climax around 3 minutes and 15 seconds. It reminds me of growing up in the Baptist church. I remember many a sermon where I was hungry. But, momma was not home cooking dinner, she was at church. And, cooking didn’t start till we got home, which meant even longer before the stomach would stop growling. So, pot roasts on Sunday were common at our house, they could be cooking while we were at church.

Anyway, the reason I like Lyle is that the humor and sarcasm in his songs make me smile inside. And, it seems that he stays grounded in his Faith despite the twisted turns life brings his way. That is what made me relate to him way back then. So, when he married Julia Roberts and the world was stunned I wasn’t, I got it. He sang to her soul and made her laugh. It made me sad that they didn’t make it. I hope all of the “Beauty and the Beast” tabloid stuff was not responsible. According to the oh so reliable press, they are “still friends.” That picture was their wedding day, don’t they look happy?!

Credits: Church photo is mine. Photos of Lyle and Julia are borrowed from the Internet. Lyrics from “Church”, “She’s Already Made Up Her Mind” and “She Makes Me Feel Good.” Several element’s from Bisontine’s Song of Love kit. An altered abused film border from CRenee. Music alpha from As You Wish Designs. Swirl from Rhonna Farrar. Papers from Blyth Evans.

The art journal word prompt this week is bliss. The first thing that came to mind was ignorance is bliss, but I think “Innocence is Bliss” would be kinder and more accurate for children. So, that is the underlying theme, but the photo painting is hopefully making you think of a cool breeze warmed with sunshine on a fresh spring day.

I’ve done a scrapbook layout with other photos taken on this day. It was taken on the first day of spring in 2009 at a graveyard. The building is sort of an old gatehouse made with rough stonework and it has an amazing red wood door. You can see the door from the road on the way to my husband’s work. It was calling my name every time I drove by…so one day I took the girls on a photo shoot. I told them it was castle ruins. It just added to the magic of spring.

I decided to take my husband’s recent advice to a friend and “not pull a Gilligan.” I asked him what in the world he meant and his answer made me laugh out loud. He said Gilligan and team never tried the same thing twice. If a boat didn’t work then the next time they’d try a plane. That they had a bunch of great ideas, but they never stuck with any idea long enough to perfect it.

So, I decided to keep working on my digital painting technique, using my own photography as the canvas.

This time I started with a wonderful freebie glass plate negative. I used a few variations actually, stamping them in different shades of cream/tan/brown.

I drew an outline around the girls, tree, door and some bricks in a brown color. Then I clipped the picture to a glass plate negative, merged the two layers and used it as my “paint”. I made a new layer under that layer and “painted” the majority of my “painting” using a bunch of free brushes from the BitBox site (thanks to someone in the Caravan forum for posting about them.) And, added the distressed scrolls from BitBox on a layer above the “painting.”

Then I used Kim DeSmet’s bright grunge papers as paint over the photo layer. I painted highlights with a yellow paper and used a pink paper for a nice color cast and slight texture. This helped it look more like a painting and less like a photo.

I used the cloning tool with the original photo as reference to paint in shadows on the dresses. And Kim’s pink paper helped make their faces more painterly.

Finally I started adding some bling and dimension with elements from New Life Dreams and Jofia Devoe. In the end I decided to stylize it just a tad more by making my “drawing” and text have a bit of bling, using Microferk’s glitter styles.

Here is the original photo for reference.

The Art Journal Caravan verb this week was “simplify” and you were supposed to journal about yourself. While this doesn’t look like it is about me, in a round about way it is. My mom and stepdad square dance. I’m thrilled that they have such an active social life. A few years ago they tried to recruit us to join and learn. It was sweet…but so not anything remotely of interest to us.

Anyway, one evening Neal was otherwise occupied and, I decided on the spur of the moment to take the girls by a dance. I just love that recreational center, it is a huge room with gorgeous old wood floors and “church-style” benches all the way around the room. So quaint. In fact, we had our rehearsal dinner there. It was simple and laid back. We had red checkered table cloths and catered barbecue. My MIL picked sunflowers that morning and put them in old tin pails. It was completely understated and we loved it.

This was the first time I’d been there for a dance. It was really sweet watching all the couples have a ball dancing. And even sweeter letting Granny show off her grand-babies.

In this photo Danielle is joining her Granny for a line dance. She had recently seen the Hannah Montana movie, so she totally thought it was COOL! She wants her granny to make her a big fat skirt so she can go dancing again. I love it that *she* thinks it is cool!

And, I want to make it a point to take her back…it is just always after bedtime…such an effort to get there…but such simple pleasure once you are there.

Here is the photo I used to “paint” with:

Here is a photo of the girls dancing on a break:

For the journal page I scanned in a page from a very old songbook. Next I used my Wacom pen to trace an outline of the ladies in the photograph. I tried to be slightly more precise on my main subjects and purposely jagged on the background dancers. I then brushed with a slightly translucent wet black brush roughly behind the people in the collage. That layer was clipped to an off-white painterly brush stroke by Dianne Rigdon. It helped tone down the music in that part of the collage, I was going for a “wash” effect. Then I “painted” with slightly translucent wet black again on another layer, this time staying inside the lines of the people. I wanted the colors from the photograph to show through so I clipped that layer to the photograph. I love how the reflections of the dancers show on the wood floor.

The alphabet is a music sheet alpha by Blythe Evans. “Simple” is blended as a linear burn and on “Pleasures” I deleted the base layer of music to let a pink paper show through with the blending options.

I hope this is a reminder to me to force myself to do stuff even when I really don’t *feel* like it!

A friend of mine commissioned me to create a wall hanging for her husband’s office. I know he will not be on my blog, or Facebook, so I am giving you a sneak preview. The adorable photos of their family have been removed.

Shutterfly is having a great special on wrapped canvas prints. This will be a 16 x 20. My client didn’t even have to pay shipping because of their Valentines day special!

It is probably a little late for me to get another one done. But, be thinking of Fathers Day, it is just around the corner!

Thanks “Just Shoot Me Girl”….that is my husband’s nickname for you. He came up with it when he met you years ago and I’m sure you know why! LOL! This really doesn’t do it justice because your adorable family makes the layout!

Credits: Tracy Ann, Nicole Seitler, Blythe Evans, Mira Designs, Paislee Press, Vicki Stegall, Microferk Designs, Obsidian Dawn

As I sit here watching the second huge snowstorm of the season quickly melt away I remembered a layout I have not posted. While my blog was out of commission I responded to a One-Kit-Call by designer Heather Manning. For those of you that are foreign to the digiscrap world, that means I got her kit for free in return for posting my layouts around the digiscrap communities.

It is such a cute little kit that almost makes you go, “brrrr”. OK, maybe I’m just cold.

I shot these photos of my SIL’s family when we were in New Mexico during Christmas Break in ‘08. The snow made the photo extraction of the lift shot a breeze!

Credits: Heather Manning (papers, elements), Katie Pertiet (frames), Diane Rigdon (alphabet)