Remembrance Day 2014

The tragic deaths of two Canadian soldiers on home soil last month are still very much on the minds of all of us here in Canada and never more so than today, the day we honour those who have served and especially those who died in uniform.

We shall not forget.

Journal Junkies November 2014

I wasn't able to make it to tonight's Journal Junkies meeting at Bizzy B but I did finish my journal page.  This month's theme was "spirituality". I used a page that I had made in my daily journal during one of Julie Balzer's classes last month.  She'd had us draw a face with a brush dipped in black ink and then fill in light and shadows with paint.

I had cut a wavy edge down the left hand side of the page and taped the cut off piece back into my journal with decorative washi tape.  Last weekend, I wrote my "to do" list under that flap as my entry for November 1st.

For the JJ page on the next page, beside the face, I used quote from the singer Bonnie Raitt. (You can see the date stamps for the end of October underneath the wavy edge on the left).

Haiku My Heart Friday: Beginning

Every journey starts
the same, with one simple step;
a new beginning.

Day 7 - bird

I've started a challenge with some artists friends on Facebook. It's called Sketch365. It involves doing one sketch every day for a year as a way of improving your drawing skills.

Day 1 - turning back

Some days, the drawings will be more simple:

Day 2 - saying goodbye

Day 4 - bracelet

Others, they will turn out just plain wonky, like the top on this bottle - a simple round shape that should have been fairly easy to draw - not so much!

Day 3 - bottle

I seem to have focused on the letter B this week.

Day 5 - bunny

Day 6 - ballerina

Sometimes I drew things around the house. Other days, I found images on Pinterest that I liked and used them for inspiration (with apologies to the original artists, whose images are much better than mine!)  I think I'll do the letter A next week and then follow the alphabet along each week. Seems like an easy way to get an idea of what to draw, which is often the hardest part of this daily exercise.

I'm feeling like I'm off to a good start.

More Haiku My Heart Fridays can be found here:  recuerda mi corazon.

2 Cute Cards

A few weeks ago, my friend Dianne gave me these two pieces of scrapbook paper she had decorated with ink and cute stamps of dogs and cats. I knew right away they would be great to use to make a couple of cards for the Facebook group I belong to that sends cards to random people each week who need a bit of cheering up while facing life's challenges (illness, bereavement, etc.)

I added some coordinating accent paper and lace and here's how they turned out:

I was delighted to hear that our two recipients this week were a mother and daughter, one dealing with cancer, one with being a caregiver.  I like the idea of these two cards arriving in the mailbox at the same address at the same time (hopefully the postal system can make this happen!), for each lady to enjoy.  I've been told they both like critters so they should enjoy the animal designs!

Happy Birthday, Janine!

It's my sister's 45th birthday today.  I made her this card.

Now that I see it in a photo, I feel like the colour of the number 45 is totally wrong (way too purpley!) but I didn't think it looked that bad in person. Oh well.

The lettering of her name on the envelope more than made up for it, in my opinion! ;)

Happy Birthday, Sis!! xo

Journaling and Gelli with Julie

Julie Balzer just posted about her visit to Bizzy B a few weeks ago and she very kindly included a link to my blog post about her stamp carving class. I thought I'd better get bizzy and post the rest of my photos from that weekend, although having scrolled through her post and see her pictures of all the fabulous artwork done by my fellow students, I can't imagine how I could top that! I simply can't, but it's not a contest, so I'll just share these photos as a compliment to her post. :)

The all day Saturday class was all about art journaling.  Julie taught us various techniques and how to layer them on our page to create a more interesting result.  The best takeaway from this class for me was how to turn a page that you just don't like into something you do.  My example is this two page journal spread below. I had started it several months ago and absolutely hated the result. I didn't know what to do with it so I just left it and kept quickly flipping past it every time I looked through my book. It was much too busy and I didn't like the colour combinations and it was just plain fugly (I wish I had taken a before picture but you'll just have to take my word on it).  After utilizing some of the techniques Julie taught us, my page ended up like this:

Imagine the designs inside the circles covering the entire two pages. {{shudder}} That's what the original pages looked like.  It was sensory overload when you looked at the pages. I like this finished spread so much better!

Here are some more journal page backgrounds I created in class:

I like that they are different from anything I have done before.  They have a lot more colour and energy.  Can't wait to keep working on them, adding more layers as the mood strikes me!

On Sunday, we played with gelli plates (if you aren't familiar with a gelli plate, check out the Gelli Arts website find out more about it). We made so many prints, we filled up the clothesline and had to spread out onto the floor! (luckily they dry fast).

We learned a lot of different techniques about using the gelli plate.  Of course, all that learning and creativity makes you hungry.  Lunch was a delicious pasta and yummy garlic bread made by Tony. Here's Kat about to do the taste test:

Here's our happy group at the end of class:

It's hard to get a clear photo of Julie, only because she is a bundle of energy and talks with her hands a lot.  I love this one though (and check out that gorgeous page from her journal, wowza!)

Here we are together:

It was such a great weekend! My head was crammed full of information and ideas by the end of the three classes. Julie taught us so many new techniques.  Thank goodness I took notes because I've already forgotten so much about what I learned, there was just too much info for my brain to absorb all at once.  I'm going to read through my notes, savour every morsel and then put it all to good use in my journal.  Thank you so much, Julie and Bizzy B, for a fabulous artful weekend, let's do it again soon!

Focused on Yellow

I drove up to the cottage just for the day yesterday.  All along the route, nature was proudly showing me her yellow palette.

The only trees left to shed their leaves this late in the season are the yellow ones, the vibrant reds and oranges from a few weeks ago are no more.

They lined the sides of the road like a golden carpet.

This time of year, the tamaracks stand out clearly against the increasingly drab background, putting their green cousins to shame.

My mother has been telling us about tamaracks for many years, pointing them out to us in the fall as their needles turn yellow.  What I just learned today on the Internet is that "the word tamarack is the Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes"." (Wikipedia)

I distracted myself by looking for these various yellow items along my route, choosing to ignore the all too frequent peeks of white.

Although in one particular case, it was much too obvious to ignore.