Lots of HeART Inspiration...

I have been learning so much and getting so much inspiration from my art journaling groups.  Not to mention the healing that comes through art.  It's like a whole new world for me!  This week, I've been playing catch up in my Life Book...just finished last weeks project and haven't even started, though I did watch the video for this week's.  Looking forward to playing this weekend.

We worked on an awesome layout honoring those who've impacted our lives and we theirs.  Of course I chose my immediate family who have brought me sooo much joy and my two best friends, whose friendships are priceless.  The page flips out which I think it's gonna look so cool once we bind the book, so on the first page we were to list out all the names of everyone including those we didn't include in the photos.  You all know I'm still working on liking my handwriting when it comes to my art...so I cheated and used Wordle.net and did a scramble of the names.  Love it!   

This week I signed up for the Prayer Flag swap...I've never done one before so it was a totally new experience to paint on fabric..I'm no sewer so this was what I came up with...fun, fun, fun!  We have some amazing sewers in our group and they've created some wonderful flags.  I'm trying to build the courage to join another group so I can get some more HeARTful flags!

I have to admit with work (it's been busy), getting the prayer flag done, finishing up Life Book and all the other stuff I got going I didn't make but one entry in my BOD.  Some have moved on to bigger books and now I'm itching to do the same, but I really want to finish out this book before I do.  I may have to journal more a page a day or so.

Anyway, today I was inspired by Phoebe, one of my BOD sisters who drew this really awesome hair on her girl in her book.  I struggle with hair and I wanted to give it a try, this is my variation of hers. I'm liking it and may have to play with it some more in other paintings.  I also really like the message on my page. I've been struggling a little with my life journey and I needed to reinforce that I do trust in the Universe, that it will provide and that all IS well, despite how I may feel and how it all looks.  I'm really enjoying painting faces, they all are so different.  Doesn't her hair look cool?

Jan Fox, another sister in the BOD and host of 52 Play Dates shared in one of her videos how she arts over top of another paper and allows the over spraying to fall on it or any other painting processes to do the same.  Then she uses those papers in some of her other art.  That gave me a wonderful idea.  I figure, my art hobby is getting expensive so I need to be creative in how to save money and not waste product.  I love my ranger craft sheet and still art over it, but now I also have extra sheets of paper upon which I brush off my brush to clean it or brush on any extra paint I have left over on them and so on.  I've collected a few and decided to go over them with a brayer and gesso or use some punchanella to finish them off.  I planned on also using them as part of other art creations.  But then I watched Effy's latest UStream and she made ACT cards...something I've never done before, and thought these papers look so yummy I should go for it and cut them down to ATC cards for Happy Mail!  I'll be putting a message on them and sending them off soon.

One last thing...so, I live in the boonies cos' every time I look for simple art stuff it's no where to be found.  Effy used these fun paper doilies in one of her videos and won't you know it not one to be found here.  So I got out my Cricut and went to work...check these out!

Pretty cool huh?  I used them over my papers to make the ACT cards and I didn't have to drive all the way to New Mexico, to get doilies, lol

Yes, it's been an inspirational journey this whole art journaling thing and I'm loving every minute of it ♥

Arting My Way to Health

That's a message I so needed to hear...I sure have been challenged with my health this month and it's left me worn out and tired.  I started out the month finally releasing my kidney stone that I was diagnosed with back in November, that was no fun journey.  I was so glad it was over and thought this month would be the start of feeling good again.  No sooner did the month start that I got sick...having a little one in preschool exposed to all those germs hasn't been fun.  We've had a lot of sick days this season.

But he's loving it and enjoying all the socializing that goes with it.  Here he is in my Valentine's Day spread.  Despite my cold, which has left me with a lingering cough, and my cluster migraines not to mention my IBS....all of which I've had the joy of experiencing these past few weeks, I have been learning lots about Mixed Media art and arting my way through the tough stuff.  So, let me share what I've been doing...

In the Book of Days (BOD) with Effy we had a napkin swap and I can't begin to share the variety of napkins we've been receiving....it has been awesome.

In the above picture I used one behind our photo and in this one I used one complete napkin in the whole spread.  I'm really loving and enjoying the layering effect. See the little piece of tape above the tag? It looks like I used some of the ever so famous, gotta have, washi tape doesn't it, well, I didn't.  I just used my stamp and stamped over masking tape.  This is only one of so many clever ideas that are going around in our Book of Days Facebook group.

While dealing with my kidney stone I did fall out of my healthy habits of eating greens and such.  Maybe that's the cause of my feeling so icky lately. But who can blame me when everything I read made me feel I was doing it all wrong.  I stopped taking vitamins, as well since I had read taking calcium causes stones as does leafy greens.  All of it was confusing and frustrating.  I'm still not sure why I got the stone and how to prevent future ones.

So, being under the weather and feeling flat, I've turned to my art for healing.  Here's what I worked on today.  I'm still learning shading and proportions, but I have to say this Buddha is one of my faves so far.  Meditation has been a big part of my life this year.  I've been enjoying my silent times.  Using guided meditations to ground and recharge.  Elemental meditations to reconnect and just silent meditations to be still and listen to my inner wisdom.

Also this week I created this page using a picture of one of my previous art that I made in one of Tamara's classes.  My journaling quotes one of my Goddess Sisters....Demi a mermaid sister.  I also found this wonderful  quote  by another mermaid artist...Susan and I had to use it on this page...Float Freely, Swim Deeply, Love Completely...love it!

Here's another one where I used napkins...only this time I cut the flowers out...this one was inspired by Effy's page where she showed us a different way to layer our stamps...cool idea, huh?

Finally, I've also been working along in our Book of Life with Tamara and a variety of teachers.  This week we learned how to pull art out of a collaged page.  After collaging, you look at the piece in different angles and "pullout" what you see...I totally saw the feathers first, from there I picked up on the hair and the profile, then I just painted it out.  I did some journaling underneath...which is one of the reason I LOVE this kind of art.  Then collaged over it.  I see her as one of my spirit guides and she had a wonderful message to share with me.

Well, that's some of the art I've created in the past two weeks, I like keeping an art journal it's a very unique and different way to journal and express myself...adding flavor to my live journey ♥

Inspirational Friday~Healing and HeARTing

The Lotus...my healing symbol.  It came to me during one of the meditations in the Creative Goddess eCourse.  Now I think of it and meditate on it when I need healing, any kind of healing really.  Mostly, though when I need to return to myself.

I've been sick all week...first time in over a year and I'm really not surprised as I mentioned before I've had my little one sick constantly since he started preschool.  I was bound to come down with something sooner or later.  So, it's been a quite week...lots of soulful heART and reflection.

In Book of Days, where I've fallen behind, but it's all good, my art is totally reflecting where I'm at right now.  It's all about meditating, stillness, going within...as I grow, transform and bloom.  Here's a page I did to the prompt "What do I need to tell myself"...  "Connect and listen, all the answers are inside you".  Our challenge was to add an envi to our page.

Then I decide to declare February Self-Love Month, and so, I created my February 1st page to reflect just that.  I also added one of the wonderful pieces of Happy Mail I got from Aleta, one of my sisters in the Sisterhood of the Book.  It flips out so I could include jouranling and add a picture of me.  I also included a quote I came across that I thought was a perfect message..."You yourself as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection."

I'm really lovin' learning how to do all this layering and these different techniques. I think I finally got it down...layer in solid and transparent layers...and it's been working like a charm.

Effy (from the BOD) came across this wonderful Quan Yin prayer and we all did a variation of her spread.  I loved the photo Tangie used so this page was inspired by both of them.  This page speaks to me sooo much...you all know how close to my heart Quan Yin is, I have various statues of her from my alter to my mini alter in my studio area.  The layering I did gives it an ancient feel to it.  I like how I added the tags in order to get the whole poem to fit in my little book and of course how I accented her head dress with gliter and gems.

This week in the Book of Life, Tamara was back with another awesome class!  I soooo enjoy arting along with her...I don't know what it is...but she's such a great teacher and so authentic that just having her videos playing as I'm painting is just wonderful.  Anyway, this week was about paint over a collage...something that I've been seeing in various Mix Media blogs/classes.  I always seem to distort the faces...but this time I'm really thrilled with my piece...again, I feel it's the wonderful teacher that makes me a better artist.

So, she had us take a picture of our collage prior to paining on it.  This is what mine looked like...I did make one more change prior to painting on it though...I gave her a pattern on her dress by using some more of the green floral scrapbook paper on her dress. 

I think the transformation is amazing, I am in love with Mix Media art and I feel I'm like a sponge trying to absorb EVERYTHING there is to learn.  I can't imagine a better place to do so than on the Life Book course with all these amazing teachers!  Here it is completed I'm thrilled with how it turned out!  I love her dress, her wings and all the little subtle significant symbols throughout...Love it!

Happy HeARTing ♥

Inspiring Links and Life

This week has been a slow week for my "day job", if I were at the state of mind I was last summer, I'd be freaking out...but instead I'm enjoying my time and chanting my mantra, as I move forward knowing everything is as it should be.  Despite we had a week of gloomy weather...it wants to snow but it won't come.

My little one has been sick...again. Poor guy ever since he started preschool he gets one cold after another.  Apparently, according to the docs, that's what happens when you have a child who stays at home with you from birth...he doesn't get exposed to the germs in the world until school years.  They said it's expected, I say it's a drag.  Even tried upping his immune system with supplements but no luck.  So, I've had a long and sleepless week, but that's life.



He's such a creative soul...he spent most of the week drawing.  He pulled out my various scrapbooks today and as he was looking through them told me, "These are great books, they give me lots of ideas for drawing"...I asked him if they inspired him...he said "Yes, they inspire me very much."  LOL




I had a blast this week with life book.  We had to do a self portrait through acrylics transfer.  I can't tell you what a mess I made...my first transfer I transferred my faces onto a green background...never thought twice.  My 4 year old came over as I was pressing on the image and he said, "Mom, is that a picture of you?  Are you going to be green?"  Hello...when I started rubbing it off...you got it I was green!  LOL  I tried painting over it but lost all the detail and it looked nothing like me.  A do over was in order.  This was the second time I've ever done a transfer so I was hesitant and expected to fail.  See I set myself up for failure.  Second time was a charm...though the face color is on the gray side and I had a heck of a time matching my skin color to my face...overall...I love it.  I realized I challenged myself by choosing a 3/4 photo of myself that had me sporting a broad smile...never had to draw teeth.  The good thing was that my transfer was clear and I could see the details better than the first transfer, so I kinda like it, even if it is pretty funny...I'm no portrait artist that's for sure ♥

The idea was to make it whimsical...so of course I had to add a headpiece and I really love the fairy wings.  All in all it was another fun art class.

Hope your week was magickal and inspiring.  If not here's are some great Blog posts that I enjoyed this week:

Metta Drum ~ The Healing Power of Gratitude. If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice ~ Meister Eckhart

Dream Life Studios ~ Lets Have a Party and a Giveaway!  On Saturday, February 25, at 3 p.m. EST, bring your coffee mug and your angel cards and meet me here. We'll chat, pull cards, groove with the angels and basically have ourselves a big ol' time! During the party, I'll draw names and give away gifts!

Stella Seaspirit ~ Cut Cords. Without realising it, we create energy cords that act as etheric threads of connection to people and sometimes circumstances in our lives.

Hibiscus Moon ~ FREE eKit! Create Your Own Sacred Space with Crystals. This is a beautiful yet simple, fun & easy way to start out on your journey with crystals. Artists, Crystalline Cohorts, light workers, healers, crystal aficionados & spiritual hearts of all kinds have magically collaborated to come up with this enchanting feast.

 Enjoy!

Inspirational Friday ~ Art Journaling

I had a busy week, between my day job and working on getting my latest line out of Copper and Brass Heart pendants, for my shop; so I didn't have much journaling time in my Book of Days.  I did get through one awesome spread though.  But I have to admit it went through some major transformations. If I learned one important lesson working with art journaling, it's that mistakes can always be painted over or transformed ;)

I did a two page spread this week, I wanted it to look magickal, glittery and ethereal.  Though the final layout wasn't what I had envision, I love it all the same.  I did a white wash over my original art so it would be more muted and added gold as well as glitter (of course :)

Did you noticed the cool hearts??  I made them myself.

It was fun and super easy.  I took some walnut ink (I have some in a spray bottle by Lindsystampgange.com), it's cool glittery ink!  Sprayed some on my mat (Ranger reusable nonstick craft mat, which I love!) and then I took some of the pages I originally ripped out of this book to make room for my art.  Rubbed it through the ink, then added some darker distressing ink..I used Cocoa from Close to my Heart.  Then I just used a stamp since I didn't have a stencil of the hearts, traced them and cut them out.  The last finishing touch was to darken the edges.  I went dark with my inks but if you want to see more of the words than by all means go lighter :)

In the mist of all the fun I was having this week...I had a little accident.  I burned my ankle on the heat gun!  Yep, I put it on the floor cos' I have such a small surface to work on and I didn't want to burn my hand on it...instead I stepped back and burned my ankle, LOL  Usually the worse that ever happens is that I get permanent inky fingers for a few days, this time it was a little more serious.  Oh and I treated it with my Aloe plant right away so it didn't blister...so the next day I came out of the shower and saw this perfect circle tattooed on my ankle...for the life of me, I could not figure out what it was (talk about short term memory, LOL)...it didn't hurt and it wouldn't come off.  It wasn't until the next day that I remembered I burned myself on the heat gun...I didn't realize I hit it straight on, creating a perfect circle.  Oh well, could have been worse.

Talking about inky fingers...what I blast we had this week with our Life Book page.  Bonnie Rose Bryan taught the class this week; the theme was light and dark sides of ourselves represented through Goddess archetypes. She shared two wonderful videos, one was all about ink art, with hatching and cross hatching marks. I didn't do the inking...though it looks great, I wasn't ready to take on such a challenge.  But I did come up with Artemis and Aphrodite, as my Goddess opposites that represent me.  Though I love beauty and am passionate about art, dance, music and such AND enjoy being showered with love and attention, plus... I have to admit I am vain.  I do have this other side of me that tends to be an untamed spirit, I enjoy my freedom and personal space, am protective and nurturing, not to mention I feel at home in nature and the wilderness, don't mind getting dirty, LOL.  So, though I've been known to be "that" girl that is all about love, fire, soft, slinky, silky, sensual and musky, I've also been known to be courageous, focused, fearless, protective and... impulsive :)


See the cool swirls around the edges? That's the second video that Bonnie shared.  It's an inking technique we learned this week with ink and shaving cream!  Yep, it was interesting, as well as messy but  ooooh so FUN.  I heard about this technique through my scrapbooking circles, but up til now, I had never tried it before.

Here's a close up of the edge....cool huh?? Gonna be doing more of this soon :)

Hope you are enjoy creating HeARTful Art ♥

  

Lots of HeART this week!

I've really been enjoying my year so far.  I'm still as busy as ever balancing life and self-care/nurture; but for some reason it's all flowing smoothly and I don't feel the "stress" that I usually feel.  AND...I'm getting things accomplished!

I've been moving along with my Yoga and Meditation practices and even got in a Miracle walk today.  It's been awfully chilly, (though no snow, which is odd) but today the wind died down enough and it felt right.  Especially after being visited by one of my Guardians...the Red Tail Hawk.  He soared above circling and calling out in it's raspy scream.  I was moved to create yet another page in my Book of Days.

This year is about my spiritual journey...thus TRUST as my word for the year.  I'm learning to trust more and in doing so, become more open to receiving.  The Red Tail Hawk appeared to me about a year and a half ago.  When I needed reassurance...a sign per sea.  Anyhow, I'm visited by this mystical bird of pray often and hear it's screams usually when I need to pay attention and listen.

We were graced with a wonderful Full Moon this week. Which according to some is the perfect time to do a dream board, and so I worked on mine for our Life Book... ( often do my dream boards during the New Moon, but have seen others infuse theirs with the powerful energy of the Full Moon.)

My dream board focus was around wanting to be complete with this area of the US, I live in the Southwest.  I've lived here for 23 years come April...my first 6 years were in Colorado Springs and the last 17 have been here near the Four Corners.  Our plans are to move to Oregon the summer of 2013, so I wanted to be complete before leaving.  There are places that are just around the corner that I have never visited...and so, we plan on taking some short road trips this year, explore, hike and discover some of the magickal places that are just in our backyard, before we move away.  So, that's my dream for this summer, I hope to visit all the places I want to before leaving.




I was also inspired to create a wonderful Full Moon spread on black gesso...this was my first time playing with it and I really enjoyed it. This is my sweet whimsy Owl I created for my Full Moon spread this week.  She was inspired by Juliette Crane's wonderful owl art work.  You know me and Goddess-y headpieces...isn't she stunning?

Since last Fridays post I also completed a few more pages in my Book of Days...

"Namaste ~ The light in me sees the light in you, bow to me, I'll bow to you."  This is off my son's ABC Yoga DVD that he does.

We had a blast making this window art out of wax paper and crayon shavings...will have to post how we did it soon ♥

Inspirational Friday~Mix Media HeART

My word for 2012

I have started out my year full of HeART and Loving it!!!  I signed up for Effy Wild's, from Wild Precious, "Book of Days" eCourse, (it's FREE but donations are welcomed), knowing that I would be learning some awesome tricks of the trade when it comes to mix media art.  Effy is another wonderful teacher I've come across in my Art Journaling venture.  I absolutely love the tidbits of info she shares in all her art videos.  Being new to mix media, most of the time I'm at a loss of what's out there, without fail though, every time I watch one of her videos I learn something new be it a product or technique.

Although I signed up for it prior to the New Year I did something wrong cos' I missed out on getting all the earlier newsletters.  BUT I'm not discouraged, there's an archive and slowly but surely I'm catching up! She shared a wonderful video on altering a book!  You know how much I enjoyed her video on altering the comp books and this one was just as fun!  Here's a picture of my cover can you believe it was an old dictionary??  Yep, it was my medical pocket dictionary that I had when I went to Medical School in 1989.  Here's what it used to look like....pretty cool huh?  One of the things I love the most about mix media is that I can incorporate my scrapbooking supplies and ideas into my projects.

 
So far I've got the inside cover finished where she suggested we make pockets.  Effy taught us how to make a secret pocket, which I think I'll be adding a few of those cos' you know how I love to collect things, and she showed how to make a square pocket.  I chose to make my own little side pockets out of scrapbook paper and Terrifically Tacky Tape!  Here's my completed pages.  As you know, from my Elemental page for the Elements of Art Journaling, Dragonfly is my spirit symbol.  So, I included a Dragonfly both on my cover and 2012 pocket page.

"Trust not what your hear, Trust not what you see, But Trust what you feel" ~ Sri Chinmoy

They were really simple, I just took the measurements and accordion
folded the bottom and outer edges.
Then added tacky tape and placed
it on the page.  LOVE IT!

I also finished my first page HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"Suspend all concerns around money, time, circumstances and anything else that will stand in your way, and DREAM BIG!" ~ Doug Daugherty

I plan on sharing my journey through my Book of Days and Life Book throughout the year.  As much as I want to do all, I am not pressuring myself if I can't art journal everyday in my book of days, cos' I know either way I'll be learning new techniques and growing and healing through it all.

YES, I finally finished my first page in my Life Book!  Celebrating my Goddess Super Powers! Gearing up for week two with Juliette Crane and Bonnie Rose!!  See ya next week ♥