Adventures in Art Journalling

As if I really need another hobby, I have adventured into the amazing world of Art Journalling.  I have been drooling over some of of the journals I've seen over the past year (maybe two).  I even started a board on Pinterest for Art Journalling, which up until recently didn't have many posts.  Now there are many.

To be honest with you, for as much as I admired the work of so many others, I kept thinking I could never be as creative or colorful.  Yet I've continued to be drawn to mixed media artwork.  Recently, however, I joined a mail art swap.  Having no idea what mail art really was, I started doing some homework and found that there is (or can be) a lot of mix media involved.  Here was my chance.  

My husband, who has always been an awesome supporter of my need to create, travelled with me to the craft store to purchase a few starter supplies.  Fortunately, many years ago I had done a (very little) bit of scrap booking, and therefore already had some supplies.  

So I went to work!  I started by spreading some gesso over two pages of my journal, then layering some distress inks on the pages.  Once dry, I sprinkled some water droplets over the pages to give the effect below.

Amazing what you can do with just water and paint!

I knew I wanted to create a woodsy theme, but wasn't quite sure how to get there.  I don't have any fancy stencils or an embossing/die cutting machine with cool tree patterns.  I pulled out my Koi Watercolor set and tried painting a mountain scene, but wasn't feeling it.  

I searched the internet for some free tree artwork that I could print and glue into my journal, and while I saw some neat ideas, nothing really jumped out at me.  Then I remembered that I had a few books of printed craft paper that I use for origami.  And I found this:

Perfect!  I could cut out the trees and glue them into my journal.  Here they are before I cut off the excess pieces hanging over the edges.

And after...

I glued all the trees on using gel medium, a technique I saw on a YouTube video.  I still have a lot to learn, as it further mixed the distress stains and water splotches.  I didn't realize that would happen.  So I just filled in the spaces with some more color from my Fabrer Castell Gelatos, which are really nice to work with....

Then added some more trees, birds, stars, and leaves...

And I'm not sure how I want to finish it off, so I'm just letting it be for now until the remainder of the inspiration comes.  I'll make sure to post a picture of the finished page when it is, indeed, finished!

A Much Anticipated Break

Yay!  I made it through another busy semester and now I have a couple weeks to get caught up around the farm.  Monday was officially my last day, and I have spend the past two days sewing up a storm and getting some more baskets listed on Etsy (including the one above - don't you just LOVE those colors!?).  I finished a few Baprons (baby aprons) for a friend, and made a few for my next door neighbor's little one.  It's such a fun and simple pattern!  I also finished an adult apron pattern that I'm working on.

A few months ago I bought the Book "Spin Art" by Jacey Boggs (a fabulous book, which I'll blog about another time).  It came with a DVD where she demonstrates some of the spinning techniques.  And I noticed that she was wearing a long apron while she was spinning.  That of course got me thinking, "Why haven't I thought about that before?"  I'm always covered from head to toe with fiber when I spin.  Wearing an apron would be a perfect solution.  So I began designing my own - a Craft Apron.  I think the pattern still has room to grow, but I'm loving it's development.  I've made a bunch as I've been tweaking the pattern and am hoping to offer them on Etsy soon.  Actually this one above was suppose to be for sale, but I made enough "mistakes" that I didn't feel I could sell it.  So, I'll add it to my own personal collection.  =)  I love this fabric!

Those patterns go so perfectly together.  Perhaps I will have to make another like this.  

There is so much that needs to be done around the farm.  While we got our garden fenced in, only one 4X4 plot is ready to be planted.  I think I will put in some purple potatoes I found.  We did sweet potatoes two summers ago and they grew wonderfully.  But the red potatoes we planted last year - not so much.  I'm a little overwhelmed this year by what to plant.  I'm going to move the sunflowers up to line the garage.  I think they will look so pretty there.  That will free up some room.  We also will have the "experimental" plot free for more vegetables this summer.  Our experimental plot ended up being flax from the rabbit food.  It sure was pretty to watch grow.  I might just have try planting some in a pot for the fun of it.  Either way, I'd like to get the garden in before June this year.  We were a bit behind last summer.  That's coming up soon.  

We got home just as the sun was setting last night. It was the first time I left my chickens all alone and was anxious to make sure everyone was okay. It's not always easy to find someone to 'chicken sit' during the holidays, but I knew the cold weather was going to break, so I didn't have to worry about frozen water buckets in the morning. I stocked them up good with a huge head of lettuce, seed, plenty of water and food, and a nice clean coop the morning before we left to go north for Christmas. I knew they would be fine, but it was still nice to come home. And what a welcoming we had! We arrived to the sound of the coyotes howling off in the distance, the sky was gorgeous shades of pink, orange, blue and purple, and three eggs were waiting in the nest boxes! I was overjoyed! We haven't seen a 'real' egg since Thanksgiving!

One more week of relaxation and then back to the grind. How time flies when you want it to go slow. I think I will force myself to take this week and catch up on some of my crafting. I should be getting a spinning wheel sometime this week, and I can't wait to spin on it! Though I've sure developed some mad drop spindle skills! Perhaps I'll get around to posting some pictures of my creations this week as well. Until then, goodnight from the farm.