New signature tag for AJC 2014

Here is my new signature tag for Art Journal Caravan 2014

I just wanted to share one of the biggest opportunities with all my art friends. As many of you know I have been a member of the Art Journal caravan by Tangie Baxter for the last four years and I have learned so much. She has truly enriched my life and now it is time for me to help repay her for everything she has done for me.

Tangie's dream is to open a studio in Mesa, AZ and I want to help make her dream come true. Read for yourself what Tangie is doing to make this dream a reality

A New Year and a New AJC Journey

Here is my passport stamp for AJC 13

I will use it on all my posts and pages I post.

Bright Blessings
WyldCat

Art Journal Map of My World

As a member of the Art Journal Caravan 2012 we get the benefit of many great tutorials from Tangie Baxter, the genius behind the creation of the Art Journal Caravan. One of these tutorials taught us how to use a photo of ourselves  and make it into a map. This map then was open for interpretation and here is my resulting art journal page. When you right click on the image and choose open in new tab/window you get the full 8x8 image so you can see the details better.

Credits are available here

A rainy Saturday is perfect for art journaling

It is gloomy and wet outside, but it makes it the perfect day to spend on the computer and play with imagery. I was working on my personal credo today and and just enjoyed playing. I am actually planning on printing this in a 8x8 and hanging it right above my computer so I can see it and remind myself of what is important to me.

Credits can be found here

Personal Symbol and pen obsession

I picked my word for the year: Potential. I also created my personal sigil for my word

I also have an obsession with pens and I  think I will need an intervention soon.

Today was an art day...

(all links open in a new window)

I spent most of the day working on a digital art journal page for Tangie Baxter's Art Journal Caravan. Also treated myself to the new Loreena McKennitt album The Wind that shakes the Barley on iTunes . Listened to it meanwhile I was working on my page. Besides exploring all kinds of issues during this year I also want to learn more about Photoshop CS5 and how to use it for my art. I think I am doing well with the basics and I am always keeping my ears and eyes open for techniques which I can adapt to work on an art journal page digitally and emulate some of the effects I can get when I work on a page physically.

When I worked on the page below today, I wanted to explore how I felt about phobias. This subject really hit a spot in me. I have acrophobia, caused by a medical condition--Vertigo. I just found out last year about the medical condition and finally things started making sense. People would always tell me to "just face your fear" and whenever I tried I would get physical symptoms and was always told "it is all in your head." Well, last year I finally found out it truly is all in my head *lol* but not in the sense as the well-meaning friends and relatives thought it is.

Here is the journaling from the page:

Acrophobia -- Fear of Heights

In my case I remember always being afraid, strangely enough however only when those heights are associated with man-made structures. Last year, this finally started to make sense after I was diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV. The vertigo associated with BPPV
is due to loose crystals — or ear rocks in the inner ear. Within the inner ear, there's a little pouch called the utricle that contains about 1,000 little pebbles made of calcium carbonate. The tiny rocks serve an important purpose: They stimulate nerve cells when we move our heads — and send signals to our brain that guide our sense of up and down.

Normally BPPV is treated with a series of simple head movements aimed at putting dislodged ear rocks back where they came from so they can be cleared away by the immune system. Unfortunately, this treatment can't be applied to me because I have had my neck fused and no doctor is willing to make the adjustments.

This has led to the condition coming and going without me having a whole lot of control over it. Some things have become almost an impossibility, for example, riding in an elevator, flying in an airplane,
going on the top floor of a high building. My fear of heights comes from early childhood experiences of vertigo; not understanding what was happening just made me fear heights.

Credits (in no particular order):
Journey 12 by Tangie Baxter;
The Good Guys Conspiracy by Julie Mead;
52 Ave Money Talks by Studio Rosey Posey;
AJC 11 Parcel 43 by Tangie Baxter;
SG Alphamasks by Tangie Baxter;
Ecology by Lynne Marie Favreau;
AJC12 Parcel 3 by Tangie Baxter;
2012 Toppers by Tangie Bxter;
White Wash Overlays by Sherrie JD;
gesso mats by Tangie Baxter;
Journal Anthology 2 by Tangie Baxter;

Have a great day!

Time to start again...

After some turbulence in my personal life I am finally back in circulation. I also have started working on my art again and I have joined this year's Tangie Baxter's Art Journal Caravan as well. I might not post in the online gallery much but I love reading the forum and love going to the gallery for inspiration. Those caravaners create amazing pages. If you like to find out more about it feel free to check out this Scrapbookgraphics forum  or check out Tangie's Blog for info and inspiration. All links will open in a new window/tab!

So to begin the journey and address the first Adventure Quest of the year, I created this page for my digital art journal. It expresses some of my uncertainties and explores my goal for this year - to discover who I truly am, what I want to do and how to get there.

credits can be found here

Anyway, back to blogging.  I gave the blog a bit of a face life and hopefully here over the next few weeks some of my creations will appear and my random ramblings as well. My daughter now lives in Indiana, and I miss having a partner in crime when it comes to making art. I guess, I might have to take a few trips over this year to see her and perhaps she also will be able to come down for a weekend or so. Until such time, I am a solitary art journaler again at least here in my studio (at least that is what I am calling it *LOL*).

Anyway I guess I should show you what my studio looks like at the moment (it is always subject to change)

Below is the view towards my studio corner from the middle of my getaway room in our house:

The photo below shows my computer station where I do most of my digital art work and it also serves as my home office.

My studio is laid out like a U shape. I have two 6 foot tables in front of the window wall. Another 6 foot table holds my computer, printer and shelves for digital storage in front of a peg board filled with art and EHDs. At the other end of the 12 feet of tables is yet another 6 foot table that holds storage units on top and underneath. Behind my chair and opposite the window is a long buffet table that holds an antique library book catalog cabinet which I modified (removed the rods) and which now holds all kinds of embellishments. Beneath the table is a rolling file wagon and another table with four drawers which look like books which holds my stamps and journals.

The photo right below is the the corner view and part of one of the 6 foot tables in front of the window wall.

And down here is the view on my main work table for all things physical art. This corner also has a lap top for viewing YouTube tutorials or live streams regarding art. In addition, I really enjoy all the natural light I am getting and the view (we live sort of in the country). Occasionally I can even see deer traipse across our lawn and last year there was a doe with three (3) fawns out there.

This is the table with all the storage units

and last not least the storage behind me

Well, that concludes the tour of my little art space. It is simple, but it makes me happy. It is my corner of the world to just be, no rules, no stress and no expectations.

Wedding, stress and art

My daughter's wedding is next Saturday and stress has been building over the last few weeks. Everyone wants everything to be perfect, yet we all know perfection does not exist and is only an illusion. The wedding will be nice and we all will have a good time and great memories of that day...but perfect it will not be, no matter who does what or what we do! Having come to that realization means that I am much more relaxed about the whole affair and don't feel the pressure to create a dream come true. It will be what it is and I think everyone will like it.

I think arting really helps me keep life in perspective and recently I have been watching Effy Wild's vlogs on YouTube  and many things she talks about really resonate deep within me. I have been on a 30 year (so far)  journey of self-realization. I strongly believe that we have no choices about the family we are born into, but we have tons of choices available in our interactions with family, how our past relationships and experiences influence us, and how we shape our futures. For example, I know that a lot of my initial reactions to an occurence, event, issue have to do with prior experience whether negative or positive. The important part for me is to recognize this, reflect on it and then make a conscious decision reflective of who I have become and who I want to become, instead of letting my past dictate my choices now.

Sometimes, that is easier said than done, sometimes I miss the connection completely until months or years later, but I am continuing to make an effort to see those connections and not just act on impulse. Sometimes something I experience will trigger an emotional response which seems out of proportion or exaggerated or even inappropriate, yet I have found, after I start to dig and try to figure out what made me react that way, that often the origin of my reaction is in my past, mostly in my childhood and adolescence and that there were still unresolved issues I struggle with. 

Having made that observation, I find that art journaling often helps me or is cathartic when I struggle with an issue from the past. Often I find that through the process of art journaling I can explore issues in a safe (to me) way and really get to the nittygritty. After I explore an issue I can then go on and resolve the issue so I feel okay with it and my reaction is not determined by someone else in my past, but by the woman I am in the here and now, with as Effy puts it so aptly "all the warts, bumps and scratches." Thank you Effy for just being you and vocalizing some of the things that I experince as an inner truth as well.

It has been a long time

Well, I finally made it to my blog to post again. I added my flickr thumbnails on the right for anyone who is interested to see what I have been up to with my mixed media. So far, I have been able to keep to my resolution of being creative every day. Even when I do not post, I try to do something creative every day and have been since January 1. I have made quite a few things I am very proud of, among them the altered dominoes and the faux cloisonne items I created after watching a tutorial  by the ueber-talented RachO113 on YouTube.

I have met so many new people in the last few month and have been inspired by so many that I feel guilty for not having updated my blog list yet, but I will do so soon. The semester is winding to an end, and once my students had their final exams I am off for four weeks before the summer session starts. Time to relax and art :)

Well, I am going to keep this short, but if you like to see my recent work, please click on one of the thumbnails of my flickr stream and you can see what I have been up to. 

I am a bad blogger...

I haven't blogged in a while, however, I have been creative every day. I will upload pictures of my newest creations when I return from conference this weekend. It has been hectic so I have not found a lot of time for blogging. Once I am back I will try to blog on a more regular basis again.

New Art Journal page

This week is a bit hectic at work, but hopefully by this weekend I will be able to play a little more. I am a member of the AJ Project 52 by Sherrie JD and I watched last week's tutorial and tried it out myself. I am happy with the results and enjoyed playing in my art journal. Here is my page

 

Credits:  I used Golden Fluid  acrylics and water color for the sky. Stamps used for title work are Stampin' Up from  about 10 years ago.

I am also a member of  Tangie Baxter's AJC Expedition 2011 and worked in my digital art journal for a bit and this is what I came up with

Thank you all for looking :)

Played in my art journal...

One of the items in the AJC 2011 required us to write a letter to ourselves. I have been thinking about the idea, but hadn't done much to realize it. We had a snow day yesterday , which I consider a bonus free day, and I decided it was a wonderful day to spend painting, collaging and otherwise art journaling.

This page has about 8 layers of Fluid Acrylics by Golden & Liquitex Gesso as well as various papers for collage. Added to the collage papers I used one of my punches to punch spirals which I attached to the first layer of paint and painted over in subsequent layers so the page would get a nice texture.

In addition, I used Adirondack Color Wash sprays in three different colors with punchinella and various stencils. I also carved a stamp into a spiral and then used it to add the same spiral as a rubber stamp that I had used earlier as a punch. Then I rubbed paint back off with baby wipes so the layers would be visible in places.

There are other foam stamps I used (the dots for example) and the stencil stamps on the year. I attached the year card with green duct tape and used a Tim Holtz grunge board hinge which I inked and then used antique gold perfect pearls powder on. I attached the hinge with Tim Holtz brads to the envelope and used the texture hammer on all of that.

I cut a #8 tag from a manila folder and inked it with distress ink and then wrote my letter to myself on there. I then put the letter (tag) in the vintage envelope I had cut in half and attached to my page with gel medium before painting over it a few times.

Well, thanks for looking and I better get off here and get some work done so perhaps tonight I can play some more.

Another snow day...

No work today because we had a bit of snow and ice overnight. So I will have all day to play with paints and such and work on art projects :) At the moment I am transferring files from one EHD to the other, oh what fun - NOT!!! Anyway, I wanted to post an art journal page I made on Wednesday and hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

There are about three coats of acrylic paint as a base, then some punchinella stenciling, collage of course, and some water color shading. I also used Sharpie Poster Paint pens (water based) for lettering and doodling on the collages. I am really happy with the way this turned out.

Credits can be found here

Thoughts on thriving...

I worked on an art journal page last night which was the culmination of about ten days of mulling a word over in my mind. The word was "to thrive" and according to Merriam-Webster online  here are the definitions.

thrive
intransitive verb
1: to grow vigorously : flourish
2: to gain in wealth or possessions : prosper
3: to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances —often used with on (thrives on conflict)

Examples of THRIVE
   1. these plants thrive with relatively little sunlight
   2. going to a school for gifted students will help him thrive as a musical prodigy

Origin of THRIVE
Middle English, from Old Norse thrīfask, probably reflexive of thrīfa to grasp
First Known Use: 13th century

I considered how thriving applies to me and this is my interpretation in my art journal. Besides the obvious message contained in the words, there is symbolic meaning there for me when I look at this page. The art doll in the pajamas for example, the different type of birds, birds hidden in the grass and the chunky wooden letters that spell out thrive. I had no preconceived idea as to what I would create, but let my thoughts guide my hands and just do what felt right. To me that is what art journaling is all about. Expressing something which needs more than words.

Credits can be found here

I will spend some time in the studio today working with paints, now that I cleared my mind and allowed "thrive" to percolate through me and expressed what it means to me.

Just a quick hello tonight...

It is hard to believe that this three day weekend is already coming to an end. Sometimes I feel like time is just zooming by and I can hardly catch my breath. I did work with my art a bit this weekend and here is another page I like to share with you from my physical art journal. It is far from finished but for now that is what there is...hopefully sometime this week I will be able to play some more with it.

Time...where does it go?

Time truly seems to fly when I work, and by the time I get home in the evening and cook/have dinner,  I have perhaps 30 minutes to work on something creative before I am so tired that all I want to do is go to bed. I am truly fortunate because my SO does all the dinner cleanup and dishes and he doesn't mind at all. Still, I feel exhausted most nights and always look forward to the weekend when I can spend some time with my art.

Today, my daughter came out and we both were working side by side on our art journals. I really enjoy those times, even though we are not constantly talking we are there together, doing something we both love.
My art journal entry for today dealt with traveling and the images the word travel evokes in me. It was cold and dreary here today, so the green and yellow colors and the images certainly evoked a longing to escape to the tropics somewhere. Alas, it will only happen in my mind!

With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day coming up on Monday I find the quote I used even more appropriate. I have always enjoyed Mark Twain's wit and his way of getting to a point with humor and yet the precision of a surgeon with a scalpel when he dissects the human condition. His quote "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness" is wonderful and I used it to illustrate my travel art journal page.


This page is in my hand-bound journal and has about four coats of paint, some punchinella stenciling, doodles, hand-drawn flowers with Prismacolor Artist Colored pencils, and some shading with Conte Pastel Pencils.

Credits can be found here

Today's happenings...

I was in Clinton County today for workshops and then found out that all night classes were cancelled because of inclement weather which means I did not meet my students tonight for the first time. I can only hope they check BB because otherwise we will have lost a week's worth of class material and work.

I also noticed that daily blogging does not always seem to work for me, so some adjustments are in order. I figure as long as I blog regularly I think it will meet the spirit of my intent to become a better blogger. I also expanded my definition of create every day, because some days I might only be creating in my mind when I consider colors or  compositions for art pages, or for that matter not be able to physically create anything "Artsy" but have been creating documents, handouts and workshops all day. I can truly say I have been creative every day since the first of the year, at the moment however, my creativity seems to be taken up by helping other people create better online courses.

I will be able to spend some time creating hopefully tomorrow night or Thursday; I think I will start a series of tags with the verb of the week from the AJC 2011.  I like this idea because at the end of the year I would have 52 tags with my interpretation of the verbs. I also decided I wanted to join Sherrie JD's workshop as well. I have learned so much in her C2C workshop that I am sure I would enjoy this one as well. 

Book I am currently reading: 
Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer. It is a behind the scenes look at Nazi Germany from one of the people who was in a leadership position. I have decided to keep track of all the books I read throughout the year on my blog to have a more accurate reading list for each year than writing it down in a note book somewhere :)

For now I bid you good night and sweet dreams!

The weekend is almost over....

Unfortunately, the weekend is almost over. I was busy today with preparations for my class and didn't have time to do much art. However, I did prepare a canvas for a project at a later date and yesterday, although I did not blog, I did spend time to make a few things.

Let's start with the canvas with my word for the year. I had a small canvas and wanted to display my word for the year prominently. There are four different layers of acrylic paint on here (mostly Golden Fluid Acrylics, but also Createx pearlized Air Brush Color), then the doll and palette collages. After that I went over everything with Liquitex Clear Gesso and Golden Fluid Acrylic Titanium White mixed and watered down a bit and then rubbed most of that off with an old t-Shirt, then the letters were inked and I used a clear crackle paint on them after inking. After they were attached the whole painting was sprayed with Tattered Angels "Jingle Bells" Glimmer Mist.

Credits can be found here


I also created a digital art journal page with a quote I absolutely adore. Here is that one:

Credits can be found here


Last not least here is a picture of the canvas that I have prepared for a project at a later date. I really liked those colors and love the way the canvas came out:

You can click on any of the pictures to see a larger version. Thank you all for looking :)

I am tired tonight...

It has been a long and hectic week at work. I have given 10 hours worth of workshops along with preparing my courses for Monday. I feel worn out tonight, but I am smiling. I just watched some video tutorials about art journaling and planned out the two projects I want to tackle tomorrow. It has snowed about 3-4 inches here and it has been very wet snow. So tomorrow I will stay nicely tucked in my house, meanwhile my SO goes to his office to work on his courses. I am dedicating tomorrow to feeding my spirit by creating some art.

For tonight I am keeping this entry short, but I am trying hard to get in the habit of blogging every day even if it is only a short entry :) I bid you good night and may all your dreams feed your spirit!

My Art Journal page for today

I am really tired tonight, but wanted to create another page. This is what came out

 Credits for materials used for this page can be found here

I am going to keep this short and sweet tonight. Have a good night everyone :)

Creating every day...

So far I have been able to keep my goal of creating something every day. Last night I altered a sturdy cardboard box with lid to hold more art supplies, and tonight I have created another digital art journal page. I really enjoyed  how this page came together; it was effortless and just flowed. I did not over think this one and just let my right brain bypass my left one. No rationalizing, no critiquing, no "you can't do that" but simply allow my spirit to take over and create. I rather like the outcome :)

Credits can be found here

I have been extremely busy at work these last few days and will probably continue to be so for another two weeks, because I am giving a ton of workshops. I found that coming home and playing with my art supplies or even digitally allows me to relax and to wind down. My daughter and I will have an art day on Saturday, when she is planning on coming to my house. I really enjoy having a studio where there is room for both of us to work side by side and share all the art supplies I have. She is currently working on an altered Alice in Wonderland gateway book and I just work on whatever my heart desires.

My Journal

I just wanted to post a few pictures of the journal I made for Sherrie JD's Countdown2Christmas class at Deviant Scrap. I did not journal every day, in fact only the first page of the journal is finished, although there will be at least three to four more Christmas themed journal entries. The other entries will be made throughout 2011. All pages have at least one coat of paint, many of them have a second one or already something added.

I am considering using it for the AJC 2011 or perhaps even getting more paper and making another journal for that adventure. However, at the moment I have dedicated a Canson 90 lb Mixed Media spiral bound XL journal for the AJC 2011. We will see how I like it, but perhaps what I should do is just use my started art journal and continue after the Christmas entries....hmmm, I will have to think about that!

I used Fabriano Artistico 300 lb Hot Press paper in sheets of 29.5x41" and then folded each sheet so I got 8 double pages out of each sheet. I used a pair of old denim jeans for the binding canvas, PVA glue and book plates from a book I had been using for collage fodder. I am planning on covering the book plates with fabric and old lace and some other embellishments once the journal is finished.The dimensions of my journal are 11x7.5 inches and it is a good size. No buckling even with heavy water use and collaging. The finished journal contains 5 signatures with 16 pages each for a total of 80 pages.

I adore the Fabriano Artistico Hotpress because it is so sturdy and yet it is smooth; I just love it!

Here are some pictures of the journal:

Introducing Naila....

I also created a digital page for my art journal expedition 2011. I wanted to introduce my trusty travel companion, Naila! I chose the name Naila for her because in Arabic it means acquirer, obtainer, one who succeeds and if she travels with me she has to acquire patience and obtain directions ( I get lost easily) and hopefully together we will succeed. It had been awhile since I created anything digital, so it was fun and at the same time an affirmation that I can do both, paper and paint and digital for my AJC Expedition 2011.

Material Credits are here

Aside from art, today is the first day of work again after a two week break. I am giving a Blackboard workshop this morning and afternoon for faculty. It will take awhile to get back into the groove of things, but I will manage. At least the first two weeks I am on regular hours which means I will get off at 4.30 p.m.
Once classes start and I am teaching again, this will change to my four day schedule from 7.30 a.m. until 6.00 p.m. and off on Wednesdays and of course the weekend.

Beginning AJC 2011...

I created and posted my first page for the art journal caravan expedition 2011. I think I decided I will truly work in all media: paint and paper, digital as well as hybrid. I started a dedicated journal just for the AJC 2011; in fact, I am going to use the 9"x12" Canson Multi Media XL Journal I bought at Blick's on Black Friday when I was in Columbus for Thanksgiving. In addition, I will keep my regular art journal for everything non-AJC 2011.

Here is the page I created today for the AJC 2011

The background was created by using Golden Fluid Acrylics in Cobalt Teal, Quinacridone Violet and Cerulean Blue Deep. I also used some collage images which have been collected over the last few years. I colored the bird to match my color scheme for the page and I worked with blue chalk and dark graphite to shadow the images to make them "pop" more. The title work was done by using clear stamps with a clear stamp ink pad and then filled in with Sharpie Poster Paint pens and Brush pens. I suck at hand lettering (something I will try to improve this year), but really like the way the stamps and hand coloring work together.

Great Blog Candy and Giveaway and finally some Art....

Before I tell you all what I have been up to, I wanted to let you know about the hugest & best Blog Candy giveaway ever. Erika Taylor of Taylord Concepts Ink Cut & Fold is celebrating her Blog Anniversary by giving away  about $ 900 worth of wonderful craft supplies. Go head over to her blog to check out this scrumptious craft goodies giveaway.

My daughter and I have been working in the studio today and here are my results:
Unfortunately, neither the scans nor the photos do the tags justice. They look so much better in person than they do on either the scan or the photo. If anyone has any tips on how to get a truer representation of one's work, please let me know.At this point I scanned each tag and also took a photo of it and I am showing both.

This tag was inspired by the colors, the green, orange and red as well as the vintage browns spoke to me and I enjoyed working with them. This tag is wrapped down the center in vintage lace which I dyed to match my colors. A bit of bling adds that extra touch along the side with the amber tear drops.

This next tag is important to me because of what it symbolizes. It is my word for 2011 -- Create -- a word I want to be my guiding light throughout the coming year. In fact,

I want to create more art
I want to create more joy
I want to create my own inner sanctum
I want to create less stress
I want to create more harmony
I want to create the person I know I am

So here is the tag with my word, both as a scan and as a photo.

I really enjoyed creating these. I started by cutting my tags from a manilla folder (dimensions are those of #8 tags) and then rounding the corners. Both tags incorporate some vintage lace I dyed myself. The "Create" tag utilizes Tim Holtz's Lost and Found Papers and also Grungebord and his Adage tickets and various Distress Inks for the background.

Feeling creative...

I have been working on my art journal today. I am really enjoying this new journal and love working in it. It gives me immense pleasure to know that I made that journal and that it truly is an expression of me. I love handling it, looking at the pages and imagine the year ahead...

Hopefully soon, I will post a few pages to give everyone an idea of what I have been up to this last few weeks. For the last four days I engages in a cutting marathon of collage sheets and printed ephemera, and I filled one of my collage fodder boxes to the prim. I really love having all the images ready to work with when I am art journaling.

I received one of my packages today as well and put away the new supplies. I think I will enjoy working with the crop-a-dile big bite II and the corner chomper as well for my scrapping projects. Now all I am missing is the Vagabond to make my art room complete...well, I guess there will always be a wish list...I think I will need a bigger studio *LOL* Anyway, I am enjoying my time off and the return of my muse.

Change of Plans...

My son just called to let me know that they will be arriving in the morning, not tonight as they had originally planned. It appears he had a bit of trouble with his car and needed to get a few things fixed. I hope everything will be alright because after they visit with us, they are going on to WV to visit with her parents.

On the bright side, everything is ready for a nice Christmas, the turkey is thawed and ready for the oven tomorrow. I do enjoy that we are celebrating the 24th instead of the 25th. I am looking forward to having my kids here with me for Christmas, and of course Leeric as well. I am just hoping everyone is enjoying themselves and the company of each other.

David is making cabbage lasagna tonight, something we have not had for quite some time, so it will be extra special. He also baked a carrot cake for the festivities tomorrow and did all the shopping and cleaning upstairs. I cleaned up the downstairs and got it ready for company, which appears now to have been an unnecessary step.

Getting Ready...

Still have a ton of things to do before my son and his girlfriend arrive on Thursday night. Also still trying to get the art supplies organized. My studio space is growing, or should I say overflowing with storage containers full of supplies. I am also still waiting for two packages, one from Jo-Ann and the other from A2Z Scrapbooking Supplies. Lots of Tim Holtz goodies in those orders and perhaps in February I finally can order the Vagabond Machine; we will see.

The day is still young and Ia m sure I might add to the post tonight, but for now this will be it.

A new year is fast approaching...

2010 is soon coming to an end and I decided that I will try to become a better blogger in 2011! I am currently a member of the Countdown 2 Christmas Art Journal class with Sherrie JD over at Deviant Scrap and learned a ton of techniques for hands on non-digital journaling. This class was wonderful! I fell in love with paints, inks, sprays, collage and binding my own journal all over again. I made a beautiful journal filled with Fabriano Artistico hot press paper and I love working in it.

I also joined the 2011 Art Journal Caravan with Tangie Baxter over at Scrapbookgraphics. I am an Alumni of AJC 2010 and had a lot of fun and learned a lot about myself. It was an amazing 52 week journey and although I have not blogged about it consistently, there are some blog posts here which show some of my art journal pages. I am now happily looking forward to Expedition 2011 on the AJC and hope to show you more of my art journal pages next year as I create them, be they digital or paper.

I am also planning on blogging at least twice a week ( I would like to say daily, but I do not want to set myself up for failure) and on taking some time to reflect, here on my blog and through my art journaling. I have good intentions, but only time can tell whether I will be able to follow through on them.

Enjoying my day off...

I am still transferring files and probably will be doing this until this weekend. After that I will have to hook the old computer back up to get all my documents off and access my old pop email account to get important stuff off there. Once all of that is completed I will reformat the machine for my SO and we should be in business again. I will try to post on here every day, even though it is mundane things. I am hoping to establish something like a running diary if only for me to access it and be able to keep track of what is going on in my life. That probably will help my scrapping as well.

I actually watched TV this morning (something I rarely ever do) and watched the History Channel. Learned about vampires and werewolves. Yeah, I know not the most useful things to learn about. Definitely can tell it is getting towards Halloween.

Once all the file transferring and saving is done and everything is set up I am looking forward to scrapping and art journaling. Last weekend I actually paper scrapped for the first time in a long time. I had been working on paper art journal but haven't paper scrapped for almost three years now. It sort of felt weird. It took me a while to get the look I wanted and it still isn't as comfortable as digi scrapping is now. It is amazing that 6 years ago all I did was paper scrap, now my digi scrapping has certainly displaced and almost made non-existent all my paper scrapping.

It is a beautiful sunny day and the last of the glorious fall colors are blazing. Soon the last leaves will be off the trees and winter will be here. I am looking forward to it and hope that it will be snowing a lot. I must really be strange, most people I know hate snow, but I miss it. It doesn't snow enough here for my liking.