Another Art Journal Pajama Party

I was able to squeeze another one of Classygirl's pajama party's into my schedule. This latest one was again focused on making an art journal page, this time using a magazine ad for inspiration and showcasing information about how you spend your day. So while I didn't necessarily provide information about how I spend my day NOW, I definitely journaled about what I want my day to look like in the NOT-TOO-DISTANT future. Yep... I'm already thinking about retirement!

Project #29 out of 50

For this piece, no paint was used. The pages were primed with Gesso. Mists and templates were used to add color and patterns to the background. Distress ink pads were applied directly to the paper and rubber stamps were used to represent daily activities. I used rubber stamps for the two titles, the flying clock and the dancer. A ZIG Dotta-Riffic pen was used to write the captions and journaling as well as outline the squares and add the blue dots to the page.

Remember these? This one is probably 10 or 12 years old and it's still juicy!

 **I just love that I'm looking into my stash of embellies and tools and trying to use stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in forever!**

I think I'm really starting to like this art journaling genre of creative expression. Let's see where this leads me.

Thanks for looking!
WrinkleFreeDiva

Art Journal Pajama Party

Got the chance to participate in another Classygirl Pajama Party. This time the emphasis was on art journaling. Totally out of my comfort zone, but fun nevertheless. Tiare actually provided a sketch to inspire us and a short prompt...I don't remember but I think it was something about a place where you have/find peace.

All I could think about was the drive from AZ to Las Vegas via US 93. As you travel between Wickenburg and Wikieup you are treated to Joshua Forest Scenic Road where the Joshua Trees are abundant and there are some amazing rock formations. Driving on that road just makes me lean back in my seat, close my eyes (when someone else is driving!), and just exhale. That road is what inspired my first art journal. CONFESSION: This is actually the second one I created; I tore up the first!

I covered the page with Gesso, then pulled out all of my green and brown paints from my limited acrylic paint collection. Mixed the lightest green with Gesso to paint the background. Used a template and spritzed with Glimmer Mist. Add the rectangles in greens and blue. Used scrapbook paper I don't like to make the mountains as well as for the pieces at the top and bottom. Used brown and rust paint for the mountains. Pulled out some really old Making Memories foam stamps (the flower) and stamped with yellow paint. Used a rubber stamp (Joshua Tree from Viva Las Vegas Stamps) to stamp the trees and a Sharpie marker to outline the mountains, one of the flowers and draw a road. Decided to add a little gold Smooch Ink to the middle tree and journaled around the rectangles. To make the title I used letter stickers as a mask and painted over them, and the removed the stickers. Once the title was dry, I outline with a white Uni-Signo pen.

Think I kind of enjoyed this. So much so, that I'll do it again!

Thank you so much for checking out Project #28 out my 50-Project Challenge!

WrinkleFreeDiva

Projects #22 through #25

Yesterday and the day before, I referred to Projects #26 and #27. But what happened to #22 through #25? Well, #22 was a card made for my Aunty Narvalee's birthday during an impromptu FNC over at SOC hosted by Mary Joyce. My dear aunt turned 88 on March 9th.

Image by up and coming artist K. Kristoff

Projects #23-25 were cards made at a class I took last week taught by Jennifer Dove. She is one of the most creative Copic users I know and I was fortunate enough to be able to take her Copic Build-A-Book class. Now if I could just get in more Copic practice time I would be pretty darned good! All of the cards used House Mouse stamps and were designed by Jennifer. I just love those little critters, don't you? (**CFF Sharon, DON'T answer that question!)

I enjoyed making these cards and am feeling just a little bit more confident with my Copics.

Thanks for looking and I'll be back soon!
WrinkleFreeDiva

More Vinyl, No Fear!

Yesterday I mentioned that I used my Cameo for the first time to cut vinyl. Because I was so pleased with the results, I couldn't bring myself to put the vinyl away quite just yet. Took a glance at my Cameo and it was begging to be dressed up a bit.

So I found some cuts in my Silhouette library (remember, I can't buy anything new). I chose the "Create," the Southwestern Pot Set, and a Flourish Flower Corner.

After cutting out the images, I found one little shortcut for weeding some of the tiny pieces. Scotch tape! You have to use a small piece and gently touch it to the vinyl while holding the vinyl down, but it really helps to get out the teeny-tiny pieces in one fell swoop.

After finishing my cuts, I put some of the pink vinyl behind the cut-out sections on the first two pots. It wasn't until after  laying the cuts down on my Cameo with blue painter's tape that I realized you could see the outline of the second piece of vinyl and it really didn't look too good. Oh well.... realized too late that I could ungroup the pots in Silhouette Design Studio and just recut the portions that were removed from the pots and so I did that for the third pot. Much smoother, don't you think?

I didn't put any pink in the space at the top of the middle pot, and after looking at it for a little while decided I didn't like the white showing through. But it was too late for me to cut that portion out in pink because I had already closed the file and hadn't saved it. I would have had to guess at the size...that would have been way too much trouble! So... Smooch Ink in Gold to the rescue! Remember when those were all the rage? 

And here is my dressed up Cameo. I put rhinestones in the center of the flowers and gave her a bit of pink vinyl on her control panel. Couldn't let her be unmatched, could I?

I think it's safe to say that I no longer fear vinyl and am actually pretty excited about how easy it is to work with. I will let you know when I cut the iron-on vinyl in my stash (purchased about three years ago) for the first time!

Thanks for looking at Project #27 out of 50 to be completed!

WrinkleFreeDiva

Vintage Vinyl and Well-Used Washi

I just love Spring Break! It gives me the opportunity to give my brain (and my mouth!) a rest and just be! That's when all thoughts turn to "what do I want to work on in my craft room now?"

Today it was breaking out the Cameo and some vintage vinyl and seeing what I could personalize. I say "vintage" vinyl because I think it has been in my stash since 2008 or 2009! I have some Oracal 651 and Cricut Vinyl (which says Oracal 631 on the back). Did I mention that I've had it that long because I've had some deep-seated fear about how to use it and the amount of work (translated: weeding) that would be involved?

This week I redid my Copic storage case because I had placed the fluorescent light panel a little too low in the case and every time I took my markers somewhere they slipped out of place. (Here's a link to how to make your own...) So... after my dear honey cut and replaced the dowels for me, I had to put every marker back in the correct order. I figured that since this was the task of the week I would do something to identify my markers AND personalize the top of the case.

I used washi tape (that I never should have bought in the first place!) to identify my Copics. Got the idea from a lady in a class last week who was using thin black artist-type tape to identify hers. I don't have any black tape, but I have TONS of washi tape that I never use. I managed to use up 2 1/2 rolls.

I need to get over my fear of using vinyl and decided to use some to decorate the cover of my case. I made a simple design (that wouldn't require a lot weeding)  in Silhouette Design Studio. Before moving everything off of the virtual mat so that I could cut everything separately, I took a screen shot of the design so that I would have something to follow when I began laying everything down.

I couldn't move the white roller over on my Cameo so that I could feed the vinyl directly into the machine, so I used a cutting mat for another die-cutting machine (which shall remain nameless). I have tons of those mats and use them all the time in my Cameo although this was my first time ever using my machine to cut vinyl. I used the cut settings for Silhouette vinyl and it cut like butter. All of the cuts came out perfectly and the weeding was a piece of cake.

I left the white piece of vinyl on the mat and layered all of the pieces on top of that BEFORE putting the whole thing on the case. If I had it to do all over again, I would put the white piece on the case first and then add each of the other layers. I used blue painter's tape as my transfer tape for everything except for the large piece. For that, I used a regular 12 x 12 transfer sheet.

 

Considering my limited supply of colors I'm pretty tickled with the way it turned out.

Project 26 of 50 in my quest to use up my stuff!

Stay tuned for my next post and see what else I did with my vintage vinyl.

Thanks for looking!
WrinkleFreeDiva