2010 - day 4 Journal Page

Hello Again,

I got to play in my journal today. I decided to follow Misty Mawn's prompt so I went into my computer and picked a photo I took to play with. As I am still thinking about friendship after the wonderful display of love my granddaughter showed for her cousin yesterday I decided to play with a photo of them. As pink is their favorite color and has been for many years now I made them pink. I think they would both love to have pink hair. LOL! I painted 2 pages in my journal and then created their special page. I will forever be reminded of the special bond they have at this time every time I look at this page. I used watercolors, ink, stamps and collage. There are several hidden messages in this also. One can be easily seen, the other is partly covered but I am sure I will remember what it says, maybe. :)

I definitely like the heavier weight paper I used to make this journal better. The left side of the best friends page is my first attempt at painting with bubble wrap. After I painted the two shades of blue on the friends page I painted the opposite page yellow and then closed the journal. I loved how it looked when I reopened it. I don't think it's done though, too much yellow. We'll see what I come up with next. I have a new idea for some new ATC's also. I have some pieces of this paper left cut off one side that will work perfectly for ATC's.

I won't have time for crafting tomorrow, it's a big scout night.

Until next time I hope you are settling into January just fine and staying warm.

Be Happy, Be Healthy & Be Your Self,

Tess

Doing Lots and Lots To Do!!

Hi all, I've been so busy I forgot to post here. So sorry!

I have always loved Teesha Moore's artwork and through Facebook came across her 16 page journal tutorial. I watched and then watched another and another and decided I just had to make one. Last Saturday I went looking for supplies. I finally found 90 lb paper and the pan pastels at Varney's Book Store in Aggieville. I know she said to use 140 lb. paper but it wasn't in my budget. This book store is right near Kansas State University. I'll go back for the heavier paper next time around. I made the entire journal in one setting. Oh and I did not have the type of thread she used and when I mentioned it to hubby he told me about how when he used to be a sail maker they waxed their thread with bees wax. I just happened to have a beeswax candle and so he showed me how to wax my thread. I used regular embroidery thread. It seemed to work just fine and besides it's just experimenting and just for me. So far I've painted all of my pages and have started collaging the cover. I'll take pictures later in the week, I scheduled a few days off from work to play. (I've already decided I want the 140 lb. paper for Christmas.)

I took the new camera out for a spin again today and caught these images. The weather here has been unreal, it's been way too warm for November and I am loving it.

I decided I liked the imperfect and rusted look of these silo's and the shadow of the tree that looks to be another tree but isn't.

These hay bales look like giant dirty marshmallows to me.

I also added a few more pictures to imagekind this weekend.

Hope you all had a good Sunday and will have a wonderful week ahead.

What creative activity have you been up to?

Tess

January's Journal Challenge - Day 25

!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEREK !!
Happy Sunday to you all,

Howdy folks and have I had an adventure today! I didn't get my laundry done yesterday with the blogging and painting and play and up and down the steps and well, I really don't have an adequate excuse. So today after morning rituals it was back to the laundry. I only had one last load of my daughters in the dryer and was able to start on mine. I got one load washed and into the dryer and another load started when I decided to do some rearranging in the laundry room. And it was a good thing I did. I heard a strange sound, water, and not a good water sound. As I looked over toward the washer the floor was wet beside it. Further investigation found the pipe leading to the outside that the washing machine drains into had sprung a leak. I quickly shut off the washer and removed the hose and made a mad dash to the floor drain. Barely enough length to get it there but I did. I let that load finish draining (it was getting ready for the rinse cycle) and figured I'd just leave the hose there and finish up. So I turned the machine back on. No deal. With the hose down like that all the washer did was drain as it was filling. Sooooooo........ Off to the laundromat. I have not set foot inside a coin-op laundry in over 10 years. I called my daughter and she suggested the best one to try for being open on a Sunday. I loaded up their clean laundry, and my dirty and still wet, and off I went. The laundromat was really nice but gees, the cost. I had no idea. No wonder the kids were coming to me. I was impressed with the machines though and I did remember to grab my journal.

Today's journal challenge prompt is shapes so i looked around and realized there were shapes everywhere. Square machines with circle shape doors. Rectangular folding tables and an octagon children's table. Tile floors that looked square or diamond shaped depending on how you were standing. And lights hanging from chains hung from the ceiling, forming a triangle. So here is my sketch with lots of shapes. The page is dirty as the painting from yesterday was on top of it and I over drew and over brushed now and then. The laundromat, called Wash Tyme, had a very clean floor.

I hope you all had a good and restful Sunday. Peace be with you and yours this day that HE hath made.

Till tomorrow,

Tess

January's Journal day 16 - Red

Greetings, Today's color is red. I love red, red is romantic, red is Mars, red is the color of the blood moon. Red is fiery and vibrant and sensual. I had no idea what to do with this color. So I thought and I thought and I thought and of course hearts came to mind. I thought many would be using hearts. Red hearts on Valentines, red hearts with inspirational words, red poppy's, red roses. And then this came to me. "Red Hot Momma" OMG, this phrase is such a joke between me and my daughter. This journal page will help remind me of that joke. So I went looking for red items from magazines and found a red and white pot and a red apron and then this voluptuous red hot momma with her "nerd" looking over at her, and he's not in the mood for dancing. He wants what is not in the pot yet.

"Hey Red Hot Momma, put your apron on".

He's even trying to seduce her to cook with a pretty bracelet of hearts but no dice, she just wants to dance. Hee Hee I have two colors of red paint and didn't use either one. I had too much fun with the mod podge and red papers and pens and magazine finds.

In a comment someone asked who Misty Mawn is. How do I answer that? I have never met Misty but would love too. I found her through another blog I think. I don't even remember now. I loved her paintings, her photographs and her honesty in her blog entries. Then I started reading about how she teaches Art several times a year. Reading about her travels is so much fun. She takes me places I doubt I will ever go. Maybe someday, maybe, I will get to take a class with her. An artists retreat would be so much fun. She's been published too in Somerset Studios magazine. Read about Misty in her own words. She makes books, wonderful journals, and she makes wonderful mixed media paintings. She dreams big and she accomplishes inspiring others. I like to think of her as my friend and my personal teacher. And for now she is just that as this January Journal Challenge is keeping me busy thinking, creating and finding my abilities that I didn't even know or remember that I had. I'm also being connected to many other artists in this great big world. Other people like me that have always felt the need to doodle or write or draw or paint or cut favorite things from magazines and paste them into other magazines. I did a lot of that as a teenager and am doing it again. Sometimes when I write poetry or cut and paste I am working out a personal problem or dilemma and Misty, well She helps me with these things and she doesn't even know it. I'm glad you all are reading and following along with Misty and me this month. I hope you liked my red page and for tomorrow, we shall see lots of yellows.

Good Night,

Tess

January's Journal - Day 14 - Green

I'm still working on Misty Mawn's Journaling Challenge. I've visited so many wonderful artists blogs and seen such wonderful stuff. There are a lot of people participating in Misty's Challenge. So much inspiration out there. I hope to make many new online artists friends with this challenge also.
When I seen the color for today was green I knew I had to use some of the many green tea bag wrappers I have been saving. I think this is a great start, a background of sorts:I didn't know what to do with it so I sat it aside and started a collage. I was thinking of green tea 4 two in a big green field sitting on a blanket. I am not completely happy with the outcome but it is what I had planned. Clouds are harder than I thought, at least for me anyway. I wanted to use some of the tea bag wrappers to make more clouds and I used some of the green fiber paper. I covered some of it over with tissue paper as it was awful. Lessons learned, I have Misty to thank for that. Her challenge and me attempting that challenge. I wanted to make a few ATC's also and came up with these:

I hope you've enjoyed my bit of green. Tomorrow's color for the challenge is white. Today I've been thinking white on white, snow white. Hmm! I really have no idea how I'm going to attempt this one. It will be interesting to see what others come up with. It's very cold here in the land of Oz. We have a cold front coming in. I am grateful though as it isn't nearly as cold as it is in Minnesota. Brrrrr!

You all have a good evening and please try to stay warm.

Tess

January's Journal Day 13 - Orange

I started this page this morning, added more during the lunch hour and finished up just a few minutes ago. I used water colors, acrylic paint, glitter gel pens and crayons. I suppose some will think it needs more. I may even think so and add to it some but for now this is my Orange Journal page. I love doing leaf rubbings and leaf transfers. I do them with my Cub Scouts. They get a kick out of it. I love the colors of the changing leaves in the fall. I have one tree that turns from green to a vibrant red almost overnight, then a orange/brown color before falling. I love how leaves can float and seemingly sail the winds while falling. It's very hard to find leaves this time of year. I found the ones I used for this in a cub scout box left over from a crafting project, dry and brittle. They weren't the best for leaf printing but hey I made do anyway.

All I could think of today was about this silly knock, knock joke a Tiger Cub Scout loved years ago. He's a Boy Scout now. He loved this joke and told it over and over one year. I'm sure he'd be embarrased about it now. I love the age of Tigers (7) because little things tickle them soo. They have such a strange sense of humor and yet can be so hilarious. They love riddles and jokes and rhyming. Need to occupy a 7 year olds mind for awhile? Play a rhyming word game. Hilarious! I'm sure you've all heard this joke many times but here it is anyway:

Tiger: Knock Knock

Leader: Who's there?

Tiger: Banana

Leader: Banana Who?

Tiger: Knock Knock

Leader: Who's there?

Tiger: Banana

Leader: Banana Who?

Tiger: Knock Knock (there is an end to this)

Leader: Who's there?

Tiger: Orange

Leader: Orange Who?

Tiger: Orange you glad I didn't say banana.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAh

This kid came up with many variations of the joke and cracked himself and others up everytime. I didn't remember this until after I started the orange leaves or I could have done a knock knock joke journal page to honor that silly Tiger Cub. Maybe I will anyway.

So tomorrow's color is green. Green, I love green and this one is easy, got my page all planned out in my head already. How about you, have you planned out your green journal page?

Enjoy your evening,

Tess