New listings on ebay

Some random things on ebay listed this week and coming up tonight...

A neat tourism brochure for North Carolina from 1952.

Vintage photos from Killiecrankie, Scotland

A whole menagerie of kitty cat cards and notes...

Some pretty cool postcards from 1915 in a saloon in Texas...

And some Red Rose tea figurines.

How's that for randomness?? :)

Have a good Thanksgiving my U.S. friends.

Random Tuesday

Aren't these pretty all laid out like this? I decided this year to make Dec a little more special for Sarah as its her last Christmas at home -*sniff*

So I decided to have her open a gift each day of Dec up until Christmas! Like an advent calendar only bigger...

I wanted them all wrapped up and numbered, but as I was doing this yesterday I wanted to have them all match. I had just got some black, white and pink tags and she loves black and white! I had some silver paper and pink ribbon and it all goes together great.

They are all sitting there and she wants to open them up NOW. I wanted to have them ready before the 1st for anticipation and she says " its just tempting me now and buggin me" Ha! NO peeking.

Speaking of black and white, here is my next journal page. I love the flat black to write on - I want to make a page that looks like a blackboard sometime too.

AND, I saw on Ginny's blog that she got my mail art! See it here.

Now she is sending me one, I am so excited. I will post it when I get it.

I am actually creating today - scary.... :)

But I love it!

Forgotten flowers

As I was listing a book on ebay I came across all of these pressed in the pages...

A book from 1908.

I wonder when these were put in here to keep for another day?

Now they inspire me to keep a record of them in photos....

More art journal pages

Well, these are a little different! This is my next spread and I was inspired to do something more me. I first painted the background a nice flat black. So dark and it covered well.

I wanted to do it reverse. I kept the solid paint as a border and collaged in the middle! I wanted to see what that would look like and then add a solid piece of paper of an object instead of a person and write on that.

I like how it turned out - night and day from the last spread but these pages have ME in them.










And that's always a good thing - right?

Over the top award

Thanks to Tammy and Cheryl for giving me this award!

The rules are:
I need to pass this award on to five people, post on their blog to let them know I left this award, and then I need to answer a list of questions in ONE word.

So here we go:
1. Where is your cell phone?… N/A (no service here)
2. Your hair?… Dk brown
3. Your mother?… working
4. Your father?… remembered
5. Your favorite food?… Cookies!
6. Your dream last night?… Yes
7. Your favorite drink?… Apple juice
8. Your dream/goal?… Travel
9. What room are you in?… Art room
10. Your hobby?… Reading
11. Your fear?… compliance
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?…Everywhere!
13. Where were you last night?… Sleeping
14. Something that you aren’t?… compliant
15. Muffins?… Fruit explosion
16. Wish list item?… New car
17. Where did you grow up?… ON, Canada
18. Last thing you did?… Ate breakfast
19. What are you wearing?… Sweatshirt
20. Your TV?… Off
21. Your Pets?…Beagle
22. Friends?… Need
23. Your life?… Adventure
24. Your mood?… good
25. Missing Someone?… Nope
26. Vehicle?… Car
27. Something you're not wearing?… Makeup
28. Your favorite store?… Winners
29. Your favorite colour?… Orange
30. When was the last time you laughed?… Last night
31. Last time you cried?… Sunday
32. Your best friend?… daughter
33. One place that I go to over and over?… Library
34. Facebook?… connected
35. Favorite place to eat?… Thai

Anyone that wants to do it, can!

New art journal pages

THis is the next stage continuing on from the last post. After painting and laying the border, I then did the 2 figures in the middle.

The girl on the left has a foil doily section for a hat and the top and face is a copy of an old photo. She is letting her inner girl OUT.

This girl is celebrating life holding real pressed flowers.

This was once the penwork was done.

And then the finished spreads with the lettered quotes.

This is so addictive! I have started another 2 pages and have ideas for 3 more. What is up with that? Love it.

My handmade art journal

The Teesha inspired journal page on my last post was done on a lone piece of watercolor paper. I wanted to practice and not "wreck" any good book and I thought I didn't have any Fabriano paper that was suggested. After I finished that page I remembered I had a whole journal book FULL of Fabriano paper!

This is the journal I made at artfest this year in Pam Garrisons class. I went back in my blog and I forgot to post this so I am gonna do it now!

This is the cover and it was so much fun to make and we did them in just one day! And a lot easier than I thought. The covers are just 9x12 board canvases, but you could use any board since it is covered up with  a paper collage that you make first then glue on. 

This is the back. After the outside paper is on, you fold it over and make the inside papers cover the folds. Then the 2 boards are put together with binding tape and you can make it as thick or thin as you like. 




This shows the inside papers and the tape. Once that is done, you have your folded paper signatures and then just sew them
in! You can have your stitching showing but for this, we covered our spines. 

Then we got to doodle and play on the covers as much as we liked! I did more doodling after class, but most of everything was done in class. Wonderful! And Pam was a great and patient teacher. She brought some of her journals and we were all drooling. She also shared! Paints, wallpaper, vintage ledgers. Lots of fun.

Here are some closeups...



These are brads that I put on the paper first before I attached it to the boards.

These letters were glued on later.

So... I thought whoa! I have a whole book here sitting empty! I can use this. And I did - woohoo! and its even "good" - I am so glad I am getting over that fear of wrecking something or wasting stuff. The end feeling is so worth it.

THis is 2 pages prepped with paint. I wanted to try some darker colors this time.

And this is with the collage border done. Stay tuned for these finished pages and now I have ideas swirling all in my head for more ideas. Love it!

As I am finding out, I like to work with ideas and themes, so this journal was made with traveling and letters in mind when I did the covers and I had thought of using it as a travel journal. But I think this is good too cause it is a journey for me too - just an interior one.


Happy trails!

Finished page!

And here is the finished page. I wanted to have a quote on here and one about flowers and found this one that I think goes good with the images.

Of course, it didn't have to match, but I like it that way. :)

Now I can't stop! lol. I started a new 2 page spread and it is already almost done. I want to find things to letter on there and then I will post them. 

Thanks for the great comments.

Art Journaling a la Teesha

I am definitely having fun now! Earlier this week, I watched all the great videos at 

Teesha Moores site on how she art journals from the blank page on. Wonderful!

I kept thinking on it and wanted to try it - so I did today.

First I painted it - I like how bright it is.

Then just go wild and make a collage border, don't think just grab papers that you like and put them where you think they look good. So freeing! I am always so organized and planned out - so this was perfect for me. And it only took 10 minutes!

Then add a central character, add some clothes and make it your own.

Collage part all done. I decided to have flowers and her reaching for them. You can't even tell here that those aren't her original eyes.

The next step was to go around the edges with pan pastels. I don't have them but I used regular oil pastels and just rubbed them with my finger and they worked good! An eraser can get rid of things you don't like.

It really makes things pop. I loved the turquoise pastel with the yellow and how that copied her dress.

Then was pen work. Using white pens, markers, crayons - just outline and define things you think need something. Again - all just your gut, and so cool to see what comes out without too much thinking!

And so far - ta da! I added some collage hands and stamp that I thought looked good. I drew in her scarf and striped leggings and boots and then outlined some things and added details.

The next step is lettering which is coming on Teesha's site soon. So I am gonna leave this for now and then post the finished page when it's done. 

Go make some art!

Pretty cool...

When I went away last weekend, I came home to this sitting on my desk. Bottle of wine - score! Sean has a friend that is friends with Dan Aykroyd and he got this signed bottle  for me.

And then I looked closer and even personalized!

Cool huh? I think it's gonna be a keeper now.