Another Smash*ing challenge

It took me a few days to finish, but the smash*aholics facebook challenge was to use paint, glitter, and three pictures!

I had this page pegged from the day I bought the book!  I couldn't wait to smash it in...

Work got in the way Sunday and Monday, so I finally finished it tonight! 

All pics of food/ us eating those foods!  MMMMM  

We had a great time last summer in Philly and Washington DC with my sis and the fam,  seeing all the sites of our wonderful capitol! 

I was super happy to use Mary's photo transfer tutorial (find it here!) 

for the Jim's steaks sign that I printed out on reg-o printer paper! 

Just a little bit of glitter glue for the "Ben's" sign, and I was almost done!  

I washi'd up the pics, and voila!  a fun smash* page was born! 

I hope you're enjoying all my creations!  Feel free to follow along, or leave lovely comments!  Have a smash*ing evening!  Remember to create something today!

Made my own Smash* book

I seem to be on a bit of a smash* kick lately!

Last week I got my first "real" smash* book, and I love her, I have already done a few pages in her

and that got me thinking how much I would love to have the freedom of being able to take pages in and out,

and move them all around

You put your left foot in, you take your left foot out...

Sorry I digress..

So I pulled out all my double sided scrapbook paper, found I had enough to make a pretty book

Stopped by a local thrift store, where I picked up a smallish three ring binder and I went to work!!!

I had to make a cover, so I pulled out my pretty batiks, and made the red cover, in the process I found these crazy quilt squares that I had made and were in my UFO (unfinished Objects) pile!

What a perfect place to use a few right??

Once the cover was finished I just had to cut the papers to fit inside, and punchy some holes in them and voila, my very own smash book!!!  With removeable pages, and versatility!!! 

These are just a few of the inside pages I can't wait to get to work on these new pages!!! 

Any suggestions for my inagural page?? 

A Smash*ing good time

Yesterday I lounged around all day in my pj's..

Well except for when I ran to the Wal-Mart for dog food!

So after that little outing I put the pj's back on...

And sat in my studio while the hubs was at work.. and had the house to myself 

I churned out a few things, and have a few more to work on still.... but here's a little sneak peak 

I know those of you that follow me know I'm not buying any new product this month...

I did deviate a little from this... I did get a real live smash book...

HOWEVER... I got it with a gift certificate that I won thru work for carpooling one day last month!!!

Yeah!!!  $20 at Target got me the large blue smash book, a roll of 4 washi's, and some other 

embellies!!!  I was super excited to get down and dirty!

Hubs could actually place where we were in this pic! Kudos to him..

Bonus was that I got to use my "label maker" gun finally!  

Hope you're having a fabulous Fathers Day!  Give the dad's in your life the special treatment today! 

Even if their like my hubby and are just a dad to your animals!  They are still 

so very special to our lives! 
entering this page into the eyelet's challenge at: cupcake challenges

Flowers??? How thoughtful

Sometimes I find myself wandering around those big box stores admiring the pretty "spare parts" 

the wonderful flowers that look flawless.....

I pick them up and do my best to try to figure out how they were made....

I of course picture a big factory where these flowers are churned out by the thousands... 

I CAN do it! 

So I decided to try.... 

1. Pick out your fabric.... Satin seems to work best but you can use any kind you want.

2. Cut circles from your fabric.  These can be as big or small as you would like, but you want them to get progressively smaller.

3. Light your candle.

4. Burn just the edges of the fabric.  If you're using satin you will notice how the edges start to curl up.

5. Layer your burnt circles with the largest on the bottom.  There are many ways to finish off the flower.  You can glue the circles together, you can sew them, you could punch a hole in them and use a brad to hold them all together.

Voila!  You have a beautiful hand made flower to add to your art project! 

I like to make them while sitting on my couch watching my favorite show... then they are all ready to go when you start a new project!

Saturday finds

About two months ago I stopped working the graveyard shift, and now have to be up at 4:30

in the morning 3 -4 days a week.  

However I'm off on Saturdays! 

So at 6 am I get up, make a cup of coffee, and head out to see what I can find to use in my art!

Today I ventured up to a 55+ community and ran into a couple of estate sales.

Sometimes they creep me out.. but I'm in search of maps, and vintage metal findings,

books, ect...

Today was a bit of a treasure trove!

Maps, pictures, a copy of "Little Women" with a signature and date of 1949. 

The pictures are all old black and whites, 

 

 

 

and there are actually about 5x's the amount of 

postage stamps as you see...

The maps are from Germany, and most dated in the 80's

There was also this little hand held scorecard for Bridge

All are enough to get the creative juices flowing...

The bonus is that the stamps I found have some value... I paid 50 cents for them, and I found one worth 15.00!  I'd say that's an investment... If I could find anyone to buy it of course!!!

What do you look for at yard/estate sales??  How do you plan to use them in your future projects?  

Please feel free to post your pictures, or link up to the treasures you have found!  T

Thanks for looking, and come back soon!

No Art Days!

Yesterday was one of those... No Art Days....

My work week starts on Sundays right now, and I work 12 hour shifts... It makes creating on work days difficult!

And yesterday was one of those "I'm too tired to even eat dinner" days!!!

Today however.... I was wide awake at 4 am and had 2 hours before work.... 

I still didn't create... I did however get to the gym... 

OHHHHH how wonderful that felt... 

Its just the start I needed to get the juices flowing, and hopefully keep me up those few extra hours tonight so I can create!  

On the agenda is a Graduation Card for my brother in law, (Master's from Duke!!!) and of course a Mothers Day card for mom... and A birthday card for my sister!!!  

That should keep me busy for an hour or two!   And on top of it I'm gonna get hubby to help since one of the cards is for his bro! 

Sorry I don't have any pics today... Hopefully tomorrow I'll have lots of pretty pictures of cards created!  

When do you have the time to create??   

Self portrait

I love to follow the challenges on http://artjournaling.ning.com 

While I haven't had a chance to do any of their challenges up until now, I love the 

inspiration that they throw my way!

This week the challenge is to do a self portrait.....

While looking in the mirror, and without really lifting the pen from the paper! 

Oy I said...

I can't draw....

Then I realized that was the whole point right??  

Just do it!!!  

Try something new!

Sooooo......

this is mine.....

No, I don't have pink hair!  or green eyes for that matter....

Part of the challenge was to use your favorite color...

So I colored my face yellow! 

Then I looked over at my doggin Sierra, and figured why not... so I drew her too!  Isn't she cute??

Check out the challenges...

And enjoy the journey.... after all isn't your art journal a place for discovery and trying new things???

Journaling with a group

If you've checked out my bio at all you know that I moved to Arizona from Florida a few years ago.  And while I wasn't much of an "artist" while I was in Florida, I fancy that I have much more of an artistic streak now.  And while I have my very safe haven of my studio craft room I have found that it's important to have someone to bounce ideas off of. 

Since my work schedule has been all over the road for the last 4 years, it's been hard for me to stay with a group! 

First there was a group of quilters/ sewers that I met through a friend.  I was (and still am) a novice to the world of quilting, and it was great to have some older women who could give me tips and tricks to get things done!  Sadly this group met on Wednesdays, and when my work schedule changed so did my ability to go.

Then last year I wanted to try my hand at cake decorating.  I signed up for a class at a Joanns, that was cancelled, and rescheduled, and then cancelled again.  I finally got into a class and it was awesome to have others that were learning the same thing as me.  However when the class ended, and I signed up for the next one, it was cancelled, and changed, and cancelled and changed again.  I got annoyed and moved on to something else.

January is usually a month of resolutions and beginning new things.  As I looked around my studio I saw a lot of remnants of started projects, and thought what can I possibly do with these?  Enter art journaling.  It is a perfect outlet for trying new things, and of course using up some of those old things too! 

After about a month of going it on my own I turned to meetup to find a group of likeminded artists friends that I could bounce ideas off of, and get inspiration from their work as well.  I found a great group that meets periodically at the local starbucks.  How wonderful to know that there are others doing what I'm doing, and they are willing to share their knowledge with little old me!  What tools have you used to jumpstart your art??  Where do you go for inspiration??

Smash Book..... a work in progress

I seem to have lots and lots of Works in Progress.........

Hubby always makes fun that I never seem to finish anything, maybe it's the little bit of a perfectionist that lives inside me, but I want things to be just right.......

When I started Art Journaling earlier this year I promised myself that I wouldn't do this with the art journal, that I would just turn the page and move on....

For the most part I have been able to do this, but I have one page that has been very slow to progress, and that I seem to always want to tweak!

This is that page for me.....

It just doesn't seem to have enough "stuff" on it! 

First I did the background and added the bird... then it sat for a while...

Last week I added the lettering, and then it sat for a few more days

Finally I started writing... Just whatever I needed to get out.

I love that I got to use my punchinella for the very first time on this page, but it still doesn't feel quite right.

Maybe I should add a tree next to the bird? 

Or some glitter or fun stickers??  Maybe I should let it simmer for a while longer??

What do you do when your pages aren't just right??

Art Journal Travel Page

I am totally in love with learning new techniques and trying out new crafts.  I tend to jump from project to project, and am super excited when I finally finish one thing!  While the Journal itself is not done... NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!!  I did however finish this page! 

Hubby and I made a quickish trip to California at the beginning of April, and this is the page that ensued!  At the prompting of Mary (Mary's blog link) I am trying to do 30 pages of my journal, and this one came together lickity split! It's very nice to have those prompts to fall back on when in-spi-ration (as Chef Ron Ben-Isreal from food networks Sweet genius) would say!

There wasn't too much technique/ magic involved in this page, lots of modge podge and some fun postcards that were a give away at the restaurant we fell in love with.  I started with a wash of water color for the background, and cut up a piece of a larger touristy map that I picked up at our hotel,

then added the fun postcards, tape and travel page (K&C) and voila! Super Easy, just add a little journaling and it was done! 

I do find that it's much easier to start a page if I put some color on it first!  There is something about that big blank white page that is very scary!  

Please feel free to leave a post!  All input is greatly appreciated!