Time is not on my side!

Time is slipping away so fast these days.  I went to a Trade show in Phoenix in January and I seem to have just woken up today.  Truthfully I got sick at the Trade show.  I lost my voice the first day which of course makes it a little challenging to place orders and ask questions about new products.  I am still not 100% recovered but, at least I have my voice and energy back.

I am excited to receive some of the new items that were ordered so that I can experiment with them.

Some of the items that has come in is the new line from Seth Apter with Aladine.  ICE is a new dimensional glaze that has the look of ICE – Shiny and Transparent.  The colors can be layered over each other.  The only thing I have managed to do so far is play a tiny bit in my art journal.  I can’t wait to have some time to really discover what this can do and you know I want to try it with the Gel Plate

 

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It is so hard to see from the photo but, look how black the stamped images still are with the ICE on top.  Stamps are from a Tracy Scott PaperArtsy set.  Click the link to see the whole set.

20200227_190411I will be back soon with the results of my Gel Plate experimentation

Feeling a little sad today

Someone took an art journal that I had been working in since 2010..  I kept hoping it would turn up or be returned, but it has not been.  I even emailed all the store customers to see if they knew anything. The person who took it is probably not even on my email list.

I wish I had taken the time to photograph all the pages I had done.  I probably have a dozen images but that is it.  The funny thing about this particular journal is that I could look at an entry and know exactly the products and techniques I had used.

So today I was thinking about the loss of the journal and it made me sad.  Two days from now it will be a new year and I will work in other journals but today I just feel the loss.

These are some of the pages I did photograph

 

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Believe in Your Dreams

Art Journal Believe in your Dreams

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I found my word

Do you do the Ali Edwards “One Little Word” for the new year?

In a nutshell “In 2006 I began a tradition of choosing one word for myself each January—a word to focus on, to live with, to investigate, to write about, to craft with, and to reflect upon as I go about your daily life.”  You can find out more here:  Ali Edwards

I have done this for a few years but struggled with focusing on my word.  I did not do it the last two years.  This year I feel an inner pull, a shift within and I picked my word  “Soar”

I started my Art Journal with this word. (This art journal is part of the #essartchronicles series we just started at the store)

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I will add my journaling on January 1st

 

P.S. if you want to find out more about The Art Chronicle Class you can click here and search for our next monthly class.

A new class

We started a new class this past weekend called the Art Chronicle.  A year long art Journaling class that can be customized to everyones own needs.

 

An Art Journal Class with a purpose.  Each month we will be making a number of background pages using different substrates, products and/or techniques.  There will also be a list of exercises which will you help you to continue to make art throughout the month.

You can use this as a:

  • Planner
  • Scrapbook
  • Technique book
  • Book of quotes
  • Collage book
  • Book of Lists
  • an A to Z of you
  • Make cards with pages

You are only limited by your imagination

So each month is a new substrate and a new technique.  Although January has not started yet. . . . . here is a peek at one of my August pages.

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January’s class is about Beeswax and Faux Encaustic.  February we will be working with Alcohol Inks.

You can always find out about it on the Classes page of Everything Scrapbook & Stamps

Seth Apter

I was lucky enough to host Seth Apter at Everything Scrapbook & Stamps.  Seth was teaching a two day Bento Box class.

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Everyone had so much fun creating little works of art.  I had fun as I got to eat at a new Indian Restaurant.  I always love to chat with other artists over dinner but it is always extra special if we are eating Indian Food. . . . and this new location was fabulous!!

I finally did it – I made a video

I taught a class in March or April of last year on the Gelli Plate and what we could do with the prints  I came up with this fabulous concept of the Traveling Throw Away Collage Journal.  There was some chatter the next day in the store and someone who did not come to the class asked me too do a video.  Easy enough to promise but difficult to do when you have no idea how to edit videos!!!

Finally I have figured it out:

 

It really is a great concept.  Think about using up your scraps to make your book.  If you don’t have a long reach stapler you can use a 3 hole pamphlet stitch to bind it instead.

I would love to know if you try it

Cutting the page

If you have never tried to cut your art journal pages I highly recommend you trying it.  It makes them more interesting to have windows or shaped pages.

This one required a lot of cutting but was totally worth it.  I gessoed the page with black gesso and then I traced through a Dina Wakley stencil with my white Gel Pen and then cut on the inside of the white line.  I think I may put eyes behind all the openings :)

 

Experimenting with my Gelli Plate

Tried Gelli Plate Printing with  my new Creative Expressions watercolor pallet on black cardstock.  Punched circles and added to my art journal page.

The shimmer on the back paper is unreal!!!

 

Watercolor Powders

We just received some new shimmer watercolor powders in the store and of course I had to try them out.  Loving the subtle shimmer they give me in my moleskine journal.  Adding acrylic paint though a stencil on top of them and the paints takes on  shimmery glow.

An action shot!

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This was one of the “Action” shots that did not make it into the Miami magazine,  It is one of my favorites.  I was so nervous having the photos taken  but this one captured me in a moment of mark making!

I know you don’t see my face but you do see my page!