In The Garden: A Tunnel Book

I recently made a book. A couple of months ago, I enrolled in the "tunnel book "class taught by Kelly Hoernig over on Jeanne Oliver Designs and then awaited the beginning of the course. Last week, I finally was able to have time to look at the videos and get started.  Kelly is a wonderful teacher and it was So. Much. Fun!!!

The first step was to apply gesso to my pages on both sides and then let it dry. That was the hardest part for me because I am not very patient when it comes to waiting for things to dry. Next, I painted the pages with a wash of color. We used acrylic paints, which I am not as familiar with except for craft projects, so the background ended up quite a bit darker and more intense than I had envisioned at first.

After binding the pages together, I traced the patterns onto each page and then carefully cut out the openings with my exacto knife.

This was pretty fun, because the book was really starting to take shape and I loved the view into the book.

Next came the painting part. I did a little bit at a time, following her wonderful instructions, but made a few of my own modifications, the main one being the addition of a tiny ladybug on most of the pages.  

Why don't you take a peek inside yourself?

I loved the process and am planning on making another book soon (the gesso is drying as I type). This time, I'm going to try to create my own scenes and hopefully it will be worthy of sharing when I am finished.

A New Palette

Back in the fall, I took my first ever watercolor class through the Jeanne Oliver Creative Network.  It was an online class and the teacher was Michelle Wooderson.  I had followed Michelle for quite sometime back when she was a leading scrapbooker--her blog MishMash was on my regular blog roll. I was completely intimidated by the thought of sharing my work with others in the class, but she soon put us all at ease by reminding us that "practice is art".  It was one of the best classes I have ever participated in!

Throughout the last few months, I have continued to practice and am enjoying watercolors so very much.  I have been reminded of basic color theory principles that I haven't used since high school and am learning so much through my experimentation.  Although one of her warnings was not to get too caught up in the "supplies" that you forget the art, it is really hard to do.  I love color and I love texture and I love all the techniques that use them.  Prior to this class, my watercolors have consisted of the inexpensive set of paints I have been using for Bible journaling.

These are great, but I dipped my foot into the water of professional paints, and love the intensity of colors and their "mixability" (I'm sure that is NOT a real word, but sometimes you just need to make one up that fits).

Since the course, I have also kept my eyes open for new ways to build a palette of paints.  One of the ladies in the course sent me a small hinged tin from Great Britain to make my first one and I have taken it with me everywhere.  It is only about 3.5" x 3", but it holds 20 different colors.

On my fall trip with Valine, I picked up a vintage cigarette tin at a small antique store.  I think it must be made of brass and has several sections inside it that are perfect for an expanded palette, even though it measures less than 5" x 6" on the outside.

I thought about cleaning and shining it, but for now, I am kind of liking the patina.

In this one, I am able to hold 24 different colors plus a few extra supplies as well.  Before putting in the paints, I wanted to see the best way to arrange them.  I use small squares of paper with color swatches to keep up with the colors I own and can move them around to decide on the arrangement I want in my palette.  (Learned that idea in class)

I used a little bit of sticky-tac (a teacher staple, for sure) to keep the pans in place. When they are empty, I can refill them from the tubes or rearrange them if I decide I want to try something different.

When the paints are dry in the pans, it is sometimes very hard to determine which color is which, so I also made up a small grid with color swatches.  This particular tin is so perfect because it has the little cover that lifts away to reveal the paints inside. I used that little part for the handy chart, as well as a copy of my color wheel on the other side. (I made a new copy for my smaller tin as well)

For the final touch, I decided to do a little paint mixing practice. Even though I understand color theory, etc., it is still difficult for me to know what colors to mix together to get a desired shade with these paints, so I made a little chart to put in the lid of my tin.  I knew there was not room to mix every since paint, but greens are particularly difficult for me and I also have a couple of new tints that I wanted to include.  While I was mixing, I noticed how pretty the colors looked.  I use some vintage bird saucers and coasters that I have picked up over the years and the little dots of mixed colors looked so pretty.

I am going to be taking a new class beginning in October--another one that will take me FAR from my comfort zone--and can't wait to use this new palette!!

Crafting With Callie - One Little Word

With a day off from work yesterday, Callie and celebrated by having our first ever "Craft Day".  She and Luke came over this morning and, with supplies spread out across the dining table, we set to work.  Both of us are participating in Ali Edwards' One Little Word class, so that is where we began.  I love that Ali encourages you to use her prompts and interpret them in your own style.  Callie's word for the year is "CHOOSE" and mine is "HOME" and we have very different styles of creativity---she tends to excel with the written word, while I prefer the visual arts to express myself.

When he wasn't helping us with our creations, Luke rolled around on the floor by the table.

For my cover page, I again used watercolors to make a simple drawing of my house.  While my goals for my word include a lot more than the physical house, it is a great visual reminder of the word.  

I included a photo of myself and a description of the reason why I am going this project this year, particularly since I never finished the project last year.

For January, we were also prompted to answer a few questions about our chosen word.  I used the watercolors to paint a wash background for each question.

I painted a wash on the other prompt page, as well, but was less than thrilled with how it turned out, even after mounting it on a piece of colored cardstock.

I added a patterned border and black zig-zag stitching and like it much better now.

Finally, we were asked to list our intentions for the year---what actions we wanted to take to bring our word into our life in a meaningful way.  I created my own page for this documentation, and cut a page protector in half lengthwise.  Strips of washi tape seal the edge.

I may be jumping the gun a bit on the OLW project, but I felt like I needed to organize my thoughts a bit more before actually getting to work on making my word a part of my life, so I made task cards listing specific tasks I want to do this year.  I plan to replace each card with a photo of the task as it is completed.  I think this will also help me to reflect on how things are going throughout the year and remind me of what's next on my list.

We had a great time on our first Craft Day and were quite productive---the only thing missing was Jana.  But, she actually was doing a little work on her own OLW project as well, with yet another wonderfully creative style!

An Instagram Album - August Break

I enjoyed participating in the Susannah Conway's August Break Instagram project so much that I wanted a way to preserve those photos in a more tangible way.  Sure, I can always go on Instagram and search for the hashtag, but I still love having something in my hands that I can flip through from time to time.  I also wanted to express myself creatively without spending tons of time doing it. While shopping at Hobby Lobby with Jana, I purchased a couple 4'x6" watercolor paper pads.

With the LSU football game on screen in the living room, I spread out my supplies and set to work.  I traced the 4x4 outline on each piece of paper then painted the surrounding area.

I didn't spend much time or thought on it, but instead just brushed colors on and let them dry.

I generally get my photos developed at Walgreens because it is so convenient to my home and there are always coupons for the processing.  Having the app on my phone made ordering the Instagram photos so easy!! I just trimmed the photos and attached them to the paper.

I mounted each photo on a card and wrote the prompt and the date.  Because I used 4x6 paper, they pages slip easily into a brag-book style album.  I found this one at Michael's for $1.99, but they might even have them at the dollar store.  I slipped out the cards from the front and back covers and traced around them before painting.  On the front, I did an Instagram icon and for the back, I just made stripes. Easy peasy!

The last little touch I added was ribbon.  I punched two holes in the middle of the spine (which is easy to find on these brag books) and pushed ribbon through each, tying it in a bow on the back.

Such an easy little project and makes me more likely to look back through the photos than if they were only on my phone.

Graduated

September SNAPS 2014 - Day 10 - GRADUATED

GRADUATED - (adjective) 

1.  characterized by or arranged in degrees, 

especially successively, as according to height,depth, or difficulty

2.  marked with divisions or units of measurement

3.  (of a bird's tail) having the longest feathers in the center, 

the others being successively shorter.

(verb)

1.  to receive a degree or diploma on completing a course of study 

2.  to pass by degrees; change gradually.

How will your photo capture GRADUATED?  In color? In size?  From high school?   

Don't forget to tag your photos #SeptemberSNAPS 2014 so that we can all enjoy them!

Time for a Change

With fall just around the corner (I hope), I decided it was time to roll out my new blog header.  This summer, I spent some time experimenting with watercolors.

I ended up creating a coupe of new blog headers in the process.   For some reason, the arrows above remind me of that time between Summer and Fall--before the leaves have changed color or fallen from the trees.