A Year in the Life of an Art Journal|one

I am happy to be taking part in A Year in the Life of an Art Journal challenge again.

This year the prompts are for photographers as well as art journalers. 

The challenges are given out on the 15th and 30th of every month.

Here is the challenge for January 15, 2013:

PROMPT: New Year's resolutions or ONE WORD. 

Do you make New Year's resolutions, or take part in the ONE WORD project? 

SHOOTERS: Shoot your mug with your word or something that symbolizes your word.
(Sharing on Monday Mugshots on fb also)

BOOKERS: Use watercolors on your page to emulate your word... (if you don't have water colors, watered down acrylic paint will do just fine.) use color to convey that word and what it means to you. While your paint is WET, sprinkle salt on it, and let it sit. When your paint is dry, brush off the salt.  (people taking part in the creative prompt can put their mugshot for this prompt on this page.) 

 I have been choosing a word for my year for the last five years.

I tend to over-burden myself about unnecessary things 

and this year, I've decided it's time to MINIMIZE.

 For these pages I used a double spread in my almost complete (YAY) journal that was already gesso'd and started covering it with a layer of mod podge and then random pages of vintage text from dictionaries, old scouting book, vintage hymnal, worn copy of Pride and Prejudice, etc.

I just mod podge'd away and didn't worry if there were wrinkles or anything.

Then I started painting on a water color wash of orange...my favorite.

(Make sure your page dries in between each thing you do.)

I added two pictures that I printed off quickly on my regular printer.  One is of my coffee mug that I wrote my One Little Word on.  I used a Sharpie Marker and free-handed on the mug. Then I placed it directly on the oven rack at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or so.  Won't wash off now. :)

The other picture is a little setting I made with some Scrabble tiles to spell out MINIMIZE.

   I added scribbles of oil pastels and gelato here and there.  Did some smudging.  Then I took some Bahama Blue acrylic and just let it drip down my page.  Just anything that made me smile and broke up the orange a bit.

 I began to write random words that represented things I wanted to minimize.  I used a Sharpie marker for the bold words.  Then around the word I used a Glaze gel pen to write how I would MINIMIZE those areas. 

I have found that the Glaze pens work great on top of any type of medium - even the waxy oil pastels.

 I may continue to add things to the pages that I want to MINIMIZE as I think of them, but this is it for now.  

To MINIMIZE fear:

Psalm 56:3~But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

Colossians 3:15a.~Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,

Do you art journal or like taking photos? You can join in on the fun twice a month too!  Just head over to Rachel Whetzel's page to play! 

Doodle Challenge...

A few months ago, I joined a couple Yahoo Art groups so that I would be motivated to complete challenges and swaps and to learn and share new techniques. I have really enjoyed these groups and have learned so much. This one focuses on Art Journaling. The moderator is Sarah. She is so talented, but more importantly - she is generous. She is generous in sharing her knowledge, her inspiration, her personal art work and even in sharing things like this:

She recently had a doodle challenge over at the group and the theme was animals. Well, I doodle animals for my children all the time. So I doodled some of our favorites and posted them to the site. To my surprise, I was chosen as the winner for that challenge! Woo Hoo! Well, I had no idea what I had won. I was just so excited. This was the package that came for me.

For someone like me, this is a treasure chest of goodness. You can click on the picture to see up close, but there are so many wonderful things here. Vintage ads and comic book pages, stamps from all over, cool napkins and tissue paper, pages from some really neat books of poetry, music and even Alice!

My favorite item in the package was this original art piece from Sarah. I just love that she included this little piece of her. Of course, my girls were all trying to claim it for themselves. Very cool.

A closer shot....

I kept finding more and more treasures. There was a little paper bag that I thought was empty, but when I went through my stash for the third or fourth time, I felt that it was full. These adorable little cards were in there. Love the witty sentiments that go along with the vintage photos. There are also some Chinese playing cards and one with Frida on it.

Then I found the tiniest little baggy that must've gotten shuffled along with the larger pieces. I opened it up to find these wonderful stamps and curious cigar wrappers.
Lots of fun and inspiration in one package. I'm already using some of the Vintage Christmas sheet music for some ornaments I am working on for a swap.
You can follow Sarah at her blog: CASPIANA I know you will be as inspired as I was!

Gratitude Album for November Blog Challenge...

I hosted a Gratitude Blog Challenge over on my other blog. Here is the album that I put together for all the journaling and pictures.
I had so much fun with this album, because I didn't stick to any "rules". I just had fun. I will keep this on a shelf in my Scrap Space, but will put it out on the mantle or somewhere every November so that I can remember all that I was grateful for this last month.

There's also a new challenge going on for December - so check it out.
I will add album details later today.

Side view...