What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

Here's my creative mess. Taken in the midst of creating several thank you cards. Still pursuing my goals for 2017, working on my layering, incorporating my photographs in my art and creating more RAK's.  The photograph for the second card is setting to the left of all that ribbon. The wooden letters are left from a journal spread, waiting to be cleaned and put away (a job I despise and will continue putting off).  The heat tool is pointing to an envie I made from my underpaper.

Here is a close up of the card & envie:

Using that painty underpaper for wrapping mail!

A dirty little secret that doesn't show up in my desk shots....

basket of odds and ends of scrap paper and ribbon.  Overflowing and needs to be cleaned out. Not sure what to make with it as collage just isn't my thing.  Do you have one of these?  What do you do with it all?

Joining up with What’s onYour Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun!

What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday:

The hearts with the glass bead gel took on quite a transformation since last week  They have been painted, glued and outlined with a distress marker. The distress paints are waiting to put away as are the butterfly stamps and Sakura souffle pen.  The Distress Oxide in wilted violet is just visible (absolutely LOVE it). The wrapped almond fudge biscotti has been sitting there for several weeks now.  When I brought it upstairs I must have thought I would find time to munch on it without putting any thought into the fact that it's rather difficult to eat when my fingers have paint all over them!

This spread in my Listen to Your Heart art journal was tedious and pushed my patience but I love how it turned out. For a closer look click HERE.

The next day I took another desk shot as I thought you would all get a chuckle at how I have to work around Allistair.  I use that phone book as a glue book.  When I apply glue to paper I have a tendency to get it everywhere so I use an old magazine or phone book, turning the page when I need a clean surface. Of course, Allistair sat right where I was gluing!  Fortunately, I have a solution for this:

a cat window seat!  We have four of these in various windows in the house.  This one in my craft room saves me from having cats walking across or sitting on wet paint.

Lastly, a handmade postcard.  The swap theme was "put a definition on it".  It is traveling all the way to the Netherlands.

I wish all the deskers at WOYWW  a fabulous week.  I've come to realize that some of the participates are going through some difficult trials and I just want you to know my thoughts are with you.  I'm sending hugs and love to everyone's desk this week.

Joining up with What’son Your Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun! What's on your desk?

Whats On Your Workdesk? Wednesday: Desk of hearts

Working on hearts for an art journal spread.  I pushed the journal along with a postcard out of the way to keep from getting unwanted gel on it..  The decoupage and napkin are waiting to be incorporated in the journal spread. Pushed behind the journal are the paints I plan to use.  Most of them distress paints which I seemed to have gravitated to and a favorite, Golden's quinacridone magenta..  It matches the napkin perfectly. To the right, half out of the photo is a completed mixed media piece I finished and shared HERE.

I used the glass bead gel and a catalyst on the hearts. 

Finally got around to changing my underpaper.  And Shoshi,  I don't throw it away, I use it to wrap mail boxes.  Because it's freezer paper  it has a plastic-like coating on the opposite side which makes it difficult to use for much of anything.  It doesn't glue down well in art journals.

Lastly, two post cards I made using quotes from the Seize the Day desk calendar.  I love the pages and hate throwing them away so I try to incorporate them into my art.

Joining up with What’sonYour Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun!

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday: An Altered Postcard

On my desk after a morning of creating is an altered postcard, Listen to My Heart art journal, recently purchased collection of old photos, and new coffee mug from the clearance at Pier 1 Imports.  My underpaper desperately needs changing but I always am too busy painting to bother  

I enjoy taking an ugly postcard and turning it into a work of art! These can be created while you are waiting on another project to dry.

Step 1: Go through your PC stash and find one that you dislike, find ugly, or simply would never send to anyone.

Step 2: Cover it with gesso.

Step 3: Paint it.

Step 4: Glue on scrap(s) of paper.  If going through the mail use a strong adhesive.

Step 5: Paint the edges of the paper.

Step 6: Add torn bits of decorative tape. (if mailing, use glue stick to on the sticky side to ensure it stays in place on its journey).

Step 7: Add a quote or a note and any other little touches.  I added some blue glitter paint.

From ugly to beautiful in less than 30 minutes!

Returning to What’sonYour Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun!

WOYWW: Valentine's Day Tags

A Valentine’s Day ephemera explosion!  Creating tags this weekend.  Painting, cutting, and gluing in pink and red is not my usual preference but I found myself in the mood as of late to have some creative fun to celebrate the holiday.  The pink rose ribbon is newly purchased for 50% off.  I love the texture it adds and it matches perfectly with Dylusions bubble gum pink paint.  The plastic bag is full of Sari ribbon which I am newly addicted to.  I found THIS great seller on Etsy.  She has every color imaginable.  The Spirals art box?  That is for a wonderful project I found on Pinterest.  I am giddy with excitement and  looking forward to sewing and painting on it this weekend.

Joining up with What’s onYour Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun!

WOYWW: Sometimes you just gotta paint!

There are times when I simply HAVE to paint.  After a long day dealing with state testing and kids that could careless about it, I just had to paint.  On my desk is my left over paint journal, a selection of acrylic paints, brushes, gel pens, stencils and a remnant of a napkin from my napkin journal.  Oh, and Allistair!  Honestly, he hears me pulling out paint and he comes running from wherever it is that he was sleeping.  It's not the paint he wants to play in but the water in the cup.  I've learned not to leave him unsupervised with water.

The carnage

I purchased the Golden Fluorescent pink paint  and the POSCA pens with Christmas money.  I had fun using them for the first time today.

Final spread

I tried a new technique, layering over a stencil 3 times using a different color each time.  The final layer, lime green did not show up as bright in the photo.

Using the POSCA pens to doodle over a stenciled image.  Letting go and having fun.

I will leave you with this beautiful image I just snapped from my back patio.  The light is changing. The days are lengthening.  There is hope for spring.

Joining up with What’s onYour Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun!

Playing with color and paint along with Carolyn Dube’s Let’s Play at aColorfulJourney.com  Won’t you play along with us?

WOYWW: Struggling this week

This desk shot represents struggle although Pandora seems to think it is all about her.  I’ve been struggling to complete an overdue journal spread in a friends journal.  It sat on the shelf for several weeks, waiting to be opened and worked in.  Last Saturday, realizing I was putting it off, but not knowing why, I opened it and forced myself to begin.  Here I am laying down a background of newly found tissue paper. I was trying to figure out how to incorporate this fabric.

It dawned on me that I’m struggling because I’m in that spot where I just haven’t found my own painting style.  I’m still painting using what I learned following Rae Missigman’s 15 minutes of  Mixed Media with hints of myself showing up here and there.  So the struggle to work in this journal was not fear of creating something awful, rather a feeling of frustration of not knowing how to create something that is me.  I read somewhere that this place where I am, this frustration, is actually the first step in finding one's own style.

The completed spread

Adding the fabric and stitching

Using crochet thread to add textrure

Pushing modeling cream through a stencil for more texture and contrast

I came home from work yesterday to find a much anticipated package in the mail, all the way from Australia:

I won the drawing for the needle keeper over at Judy's Paper and Textile Creations!  I was so excited as I rarely win any of these drawings.  And she made this gorgeous tag which I added to my tag journal.  I am in awe of her work and have added creating a fabric journal to my list of creativity projects for 2016.  Many thanks Judy and I will be sending you a little something soon.

Swapping

I have greatly limited how much I swap, instead focusing on creating for myself.  I host a monthly tag art journal swap and participate in postcard swaps but that's it these days.  I stopped making ATC's altogether, although I will participate in the WOYWW's swap (I even have it on my calendar so I won't procrastinate).

 New Year's tag

Joining up with What’s onYour Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun!

WOYWW: Art journal

My new painting venture is waiting for the final stage of my first lesson in the book, Paint Mojo.  I ran out of steam then didn't seem to get back to it.  For the new step I am to apply paint to the stamps I have laid out. I've been good about washing my brushes, you can see them in the plastic cup.  There is also a receipt from Office Depot for craft labels for the 2016 DLP, which I have not started.  It seems I started 2016 off with great intention but lack of energy to get anything done.  Will have to fix that.

 Sunday I did work in my altered book - still lacks a proper name - and got this spread completed.  My word for 2016 is Fearless.

Some of you may have noticed my comments last week were littered with misspellings.  Well, I had some "help" in writing those comments...

Enjoying a leisurely day watching college football bowls after several days family activities.

 
It's difficult to type with a napping cat on the keyboard.  Allistair of course didn't seem to think there was a problem.

So, do you have a word for 2016?  Or perhaps a long list of intentions (To Do list) for the year?  Perhaps we can find a way to encourage each other to stay focused as the year progresses.  I know I am in need of some!

New Year to all of you deskers!   I look forward to crafting together with you in 2016.  

Joining up with What’s onYour Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun!

WOYWW?: Winter Blues

This is the way I left my desk yesterday.   I started working on my Winter Blues art journal.  The idea for this came last year and I have been stowing away bits for it since.  The journal will incorporate all things blue or winter: postcards, cards, photos, ATC’s, magazine clippings, ephemera and winter quotes. 

When I begin a journal I like to sort things into various piles so I know what I have:

These are the pages I created yesterday.  The photos were taken last winter, the garden deep in snow.  Good thing I took them as this year I would have had to change the color of the journal to greenish brown blues!

Today is our day to take down and put away all the Christmas things.  A job neither my husband nor I enjoy but we like having it done before the New Year.  Unlike most years, I did not hit the after Christmas sales.  We are at a point where we are paring down, limited ourselves to only what we need or enjoy, or in the case of lights, what works.

New Year’s Day I will be watching football and getting my year organized.  Annually, this is the day I sit down with the 2016 calendars, writing in all the birthdays.  I make lists of things I want to accomplish during the year.  I joined the Documented Life Project once again this year.  They are going back to their original roots, creating a planner, something I want to get back into.  I dropped out after 2 months this year because I wasn’t documenting my life, it was more of a practice in using various art journaling techniques.  Not why I joined.  My hope is that getting back into using a planner I will be more organized, an ongoing battle I have with myself. 

What about you, how do you spend New Year’s Day?  Do you take time to organize your year with a beautiful planner or organizer? Do you make lists of things you want to get done over the year?

 Note: I’m in need to blue die cuts if you happen to have any in your stash.  Snowflakes, frames, flourishes, circles, ovals, rectangles, tags, anything you might have would be welcomed.  Also fun ephemera.  You can contact me via the CONTACT tab at the top of the blog. 

Joining up with What’s on Your Workdesk? Wednesday where desk snooping is not only allowed but all part of the fun!