In my spare time I've been busy with Art Journal Challenges.

My favorite is Mission Inspiration Facebook Challenge. Currently we get 8 prompts to make our page along with color suggestion and words/ideas for pages. This is a monthly challenge.

This is my take on the March Mission:

 I've also been doing Journal 52 facebook page . Every week we get a Journal prompt card with a word, ideas, etc. I started late so I only have half of them done.

This was the latest and the word was balance.

This one was Truth.

I'm having a lot of fun with these and they do help me grow in many ways.

March Month Challenge

Over at The Craft Barn we received the next Installment for the Twelve Month Challenge.  Every month we receive a line from the Sarah Coleridge poem Twelve Months and then we interpret it. This month it's:

March brings breezes loud and shrill
Stirs the dancing daffodil

The constraints are that we must have daffodils in our entry as well as a March Hare. ?????? 

Looked up the Hare and found some real disturbing pictures.

I don't have a stamp for either daffodil or hare so I preceded to draw and paint my own.

I decided to use the Disney March Hare and I have him holding a daffodil. The colors are much brighter in person, but we are experiencing a Blizzard right now so the light is actually horrible .

Until next time!

Tag

I made this little tag to enter into The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. 
 This week it's Tag you're it, where you have to make a tag or add one to your creation. They are also highlighting Ranger products so they invite you to use them although you don't have to.

I have a lot of Ranger products so this was a piece of cake. I already had a tag where I had started the background with distress inks and I filled it in with more ink through some stencils. Then I used some Ranger stamps by Dina Wakely and Tim Holtz. The focal point is a Silly Bird who is colored with distress inks. I layered him so he had more dimension. The saying is from Tim Holtz's Small Talk sticker pad. I used some yarn for the top of the yard.

A simple tag but fun!

I made this card for a friend who's Mother just died. I first used gold embossing powder on a Inkadinkado flower stamp. I used several Distress inks to blend the background, Peeled Paint, Seedless Preserves, and Mowed Lawn. Then I colored the inside with Fired Brick Distress Ink. I used a Kraft card, which I felt complimented the colors.

I am entering this into
The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Fantastic Florals.

February

It is time for the February entry for the Twelve Month Challenge over at The Craft Barn Blog. We are working on the Sarah Coleridge Poem The Months.  The line this month goes:
                             
February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again
We have to include a heart and a cherub in it. I have to admit for a day or two I debated whether to continue this as I couldn't figure this out.
So on a snowy day (8 inches in all) I had an inspiration! I was flipping through  a small paper pad that I bought at the store that was Victorian Valentine themed; when I came upon a page with cherubs in a cloud! I decided to cut a pair out put them in the sky. I found a stencil with a cloud on it and traced it and cut it out.

I decided to play with my new Yasutomo  Pearlescent watercolors. I felt they would give me the hazy look a winter rain can have. I used a blue and then put a grey in. The cloud was painted in silver watercolor. I then put a greenish pond om the bottom where I wrote the phrase. Still didn't get the ink for the printer. We've been experiencing way too much snow lately.
I received inspiration for the hearts in the rain from a Darice embellishing folder that I have!
Of course I thought I was so clever, but upon going to the  website I did discover that there are quite a few others with the same idea!

This was a toughy, but I admit the challenges do make it interesting and forces me to be a bit more creative!

Janurary

Here we are in a new year and The Craft Barn has a new Challenge. This one is a Twelve Month Challenge where we have to get it done every 3 weeks. A little less pressure!

This Challenge is based on Sarah Coleridge's poem The Months.

Every entry must have the rhyme for that month shown.

 

The Rhyme is:

                January brings the snow

makes our feet and fingers glow

We also had to have a bird wearing a Wellington. Seems this is a rainboot in England!

I used the same journal from the Dictonary Challenge. I had exactly the right amount of pages left!

I put black gesso all over the page and then used the stencil birch trees by Crafters Workshop. I applied white paint through and then  sponged the bottom to look like snow.

For my bird I decided to shrink down one of Tim Holtz's Crazy Birds. This was a problem as I have no ink for my printer and it still isn't set up from the move. I decided to buy Shrink Wrap and try doing that. I stamped several birds and colored them with colored pencils. I trimmed one all the way down but the other I cut loosely around. I used a heat gun and when it was all done I laughed to see how tiny they had become. So cute!! They also became hard and I couldn't cut them. Thus  I had to use the red one. whom I liked the best anyway. The boot I drew myself and colored with my Spectrum Noirs.

After gluing everything down I decided it was too flat so I added some mounting paste for depth and glitter for the snow glistening.

You can't see the glitter in the photo, but it's there.

I had to print the words myself. Got to get me some printer ink for the next month!

Until next time!

I can't believe it's been a whole year for The Craft Barn Alpha/ Dictionary Challenge ! I am now posting the very last letter ...P.
I have to say it's been quite a ride. I personally had an eventful year and found it challenging just to complete each letter. It was fun and I now have a very interesting Alphabet book.

So I decided to make life easy on me and picked the word penguin. I have some cute stamps from Lawn Fawn and Hampton Arts which I used to make some Christmas cards so I knew where they were. I used Distress inks to make it look like an Artic sky and ground.

I cut out a snowflake and then used the hole as a stencil. The penguins are colored in with Spectrum Noir pencils and I used a stickles to make everything glow. The light picked up it too much as it looks much more subtle in real life.

Onward to the next challenge!!!!.....

The Letter M

Here we are again with the new letter for The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge.  The letter this time is M. I went through a lot of different words and finally decided on Mushroom.  I decided on this mainly because I had some nice stamps of  mushrooms from Dylusions. I stamped the page with the stamps and then colored them in with my Spectrum Noir Markers. I love these markers as they are so colorful and bright.

 

I used my Distress inks on the page and some washi tape on the bottom. I was starting to play around with my Gel pens when I realized it was getting late and I better post the page as tomorrow is Christmas and I need to get a few things done.

This leaves us with one letter left...

Y is for Yawn

Where  did all the time go? Another fortnight has gone and I find myself once again finishing my entry for The Craft Barn's Alpha/Dictionary Challenge just at the nick of time.

I like to draw faces so I studied a picture of a person yawning and came up with this. I did it with pencil and then debated whether to add color to it but decided to leave it as it is. I used Distress Inks to color the background using 3 different yellows. I added an emoji for yawning. I'm asked several times a day at the store if I have things with emoji's on it so I'm going with the flow. In case anyone is interested we only have stickers and a lollipop with the poop emoji. Strange world we live in.
Two more letters to go and we are done. I will miss this.

I is for INK

Well it's been 2 weeks since my last post and of course it's that time again for The Craft Barn's Alpha/Dictionary Challenge. This time the letter is I.
After much thought I came up with INK.  I used Distress Inks as the background and used different inks throughout my journal page.

I used Dylusion inks in a water brush to color the flower. I put Alcohol inks on my mat and soaked them up with photo paper and then used a Tim Holtz Butterfly die and stamp on them. I also stamped with pigment, dye and solvent inks. I used gel pens, and art pens.

I had fun with this page and learned a lot about ink.

Can't  wait until the next letter to start this all over again.

Thanks for looking and for all the comments. They really helped me through out the past few months.

Whew! What a 2 weeks this has been! It took us over a week to move out of our old place. We had people who we thought were going to help, but most were no shows,  some had a very limited amount of time or attention spans. Did get help from unexpected sources and have to thank those who lent a hand. I never want to move again! The apartment has nice storage and decent size rooms. The kitchen is very old and some features are not too workable and some are just odd. I'm working on making this more manageable as I love to cook and I'm finding it hard.

Amongst all this The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge came up. This time the letter is U. My first thought was uterus and just couldn't get past that for a while. Keep in mind I was very stressed out with the move and the events taking place in the country. This actually led me to come up with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!!!! 

Now I had my pages half way done and than the election  results came in while standing in a misty rain, packing up our truck at 3:30 in the morning. The next few days I was extremely tired, sick, depressed and secretly trying to figure out which country to move to. Took a while to finish.

While working on this I was still moving and most of my supplies were packed somewhere and hard to find. I did make sure I had my book that I've been using and some distress inks handy. Luckly I am a manager at a Craft Store and was able to find a map of the US and some stickers to depict the meaning of this country. A real quick collage.

Looking forward to a calm 2 weeks and more time and resources to make up the next letter challenge. Until then...

V is for ...

Got this one done quickly this time as I need to pack as I think I'm moving next weekend Yeah!!!

This weeks Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge  is the letter V. Decided to do Vase. I have no real stamps with this and all my magazines and collage stuff are packed, I decided to draw them myself. I went on the internet to find images and tried to replicate the ones that I liked.

The background was done with Distressed Inks. Can you tell I love them? I used a  bunch of different stencils. I have one little stamp by Inkadoo with flowers and  a vase. The colors on this is so much more vibrant in person. All of these were done on white cardstock and I used watercolors, stencils, distress inks, Perfect Pearls as well as a paint pen on them.
I had a lot of fun doing this and hopefully will have my art stuff unpacked before the next one ends.

E is for Elephant

Getting this in just under the wire!  The letter at the The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictonary Challenge is the letter E. I decided to go with elephant as I'm in the mist of getting ready to move so my supplies are packed.

I used watercolor pencils to create the backgrounds. The elephants are wonderful dimensional stickers from Jolee.

I just noticed in the picture my Dictionary definition is starting to come off a bit. OOps.

I am hoping I can keep up with of this while moving. Thank goodness it's every 2 weeks.

Hoping this post comes through as Microsoft did an update and now nothing really works on my computer.

The next letter for The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge isi X!  What a tough one. Decided on X-ray as my friend was a Dental Assistant and lent me an old textbook with pictures of X-rays of mouths and teeth.
I painted the background with Squeeze Orange paint from Dylusions. I put Black Soot Distressed inks through a stencil and stamped Vintage Photo on it.

The Pictures were mounted on brown paper and thenone mounted on silver foil paper to give it that look of the stencil being on the old fashioned machine where they read the x-rays.  I couldn't resist stamping a skull wearing a hat. I diecut a square in silver foil paper to put around him to make it loo like he is in a machine.
Used white foam letters for the x-ray word and of course the dictionary definition in the middle.
This was rushed as I'm still packing and I can't find all of my supplies anymore. Got this done under the wire and praying this will post with the picture.
Fingers crossed

O is for Owl

So here we go again with a new letter for  The Craft Barn Alpha/ Dictionary Challenge! This time it is the letter O. I thought of some interesting words but in the end I decided on Owl. Now I know there are going to be a ton of entries with  Owls but I have a coloring book just on owls so I decided to use a section of a page on my entry.

I loved the Owl and the Pussycat one so colored that one in pencils and cut it out. I first painted the pages in  blue that I mixed together with white. I wanted a color that could be sky or water. Where the cut outs are on the bottom of the boat I used a white gel pen to give the feeling of foam on waves. I used a foam letter O sticker and the dictionary cut out for owl.

I could have done more to the background but alas I am packing again as the landlord wants to rent the apartment to someone else and raise the rent a lot!

As always I really appreciate all the comments.

H is for Hat

The next letter on The Craft Barn Alpha/ Dictionary Challenge  is the letter H. I decided to do the word Hat.  I've been dying to use the stamp set I won from a prior letter and pulled out my Lynne Perrella stamps by PaperArtsy. The woman with the teacup HAD to be the focus of my project.

I used violet blue paint as the background, and used a few blues through some stencils. I used a written stamp from the set. I used a Tim Holtz stamp of men in hats and used a stamp set of women from the 20's or 30's in hats. The Letters are from an old sticker set I had. I then stamped a top hat and placed it on top of the H.

Got this one in just under the wire. Next letter announced tomorrow!!!!

The next letter in The Craft Barn Alpha/ Dictionary Challenge  is the letter Z. As this letter isn't hard enough already we also have to have a pearl in it!

As I always try to use a word others might not have used I choose zenith. I used the definition meaning at the highest point and showed her on a rock in a mountain range above the sun. The pearl is in her hand. Lots of Distress Inks and a ton of masking off.

I looked through my journal to see what letters are left and looks like its the more difficult ones. Yikes!

Until next time. And as always comments are always appreciated.

C is for Choice

This time the letter on The Craft Barn Alpha/ Dictionary Challenge
is the letter C. Now I had figured out what I was going to do with this letter a long time ago as I had first thought of doing it for another letter and word. I choose CHOICE.

I first colored the pages using 4 different Distress Inks in yellows, orange and pink. I then made rectangular masks to reflect portals or doors and the girl is a mask from a stencil set I have.  I also made a circle mask for the corner. I sprayed my journal pages in Dylusions Midnight Blue  ink spray. I rubbed some of it off under each portal and then used a stamp I have that is supposed to look like I flicked white paint all over. I wanted more control of the dots so using the stamp with  white paint was much easier.

I put the symbols on the portals to reflect the choices  we make during our path through life. We can pursue  fame, happiness (love), or money. There are of course many others to choose from but I have a small journal!

I really like the effect of this picture.

As usual I had a great time with this. Can't wait until the next letter!

N is for note

Here we are again with a new letter for The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge. This time is the letter N. I had a tough time with this letter as I kept coming up with naughty words, strange ideas  for words, etc. I wanted to use the word nincompoop and put pictures of a couple of well known candidates for President. Figured that would get kicked out so I thought of using the word  Nothing and just have a blank page. Between these silly thoughts and the horrible heat here in New York (94+), I just couldn't get my act together.

So I decided on night. Made a great background with a moon, fairies, etc. Problem was I used  Distress inks and in this humidity they were extra juicy and they came on way too heavy and they spread. I hated it.

I ended up changing my word to  NOTE.

I covered the night picture by using  some very thin decorative paper with notes and used distress inks on it. Ended up putting Gesso over parts of it and putting more ink through a stencil. I drew some musical notes on paper, used Distress inks and used a punch to make it look like it was from a notebook. The definition is also on a paper that I used that punch from. Note is from a stamp set I have.

Looking forward to the next letter. Hope its a fun one!

W is for Wine

2 weeks ago I bought a really cool wine stamp as I felt that the next letter in the challenge would be W.  On that Sunday when I checked the next letter it was W!!!!. So excited. I had a very busy week what with my birthday and the 4th of July weekend so I didn't get to complete my entry until last night. It's been so hot here the past few days. Mid 90's with killer humidity. Not much better at night. I don't feel like doing all that much when it's like this.

I used Distress inks (what else?), dusty concords, shaded lilac, peeled paint and tea dye. The stencil is from Dina Wakley.  The main stamp was colored in with watercolor pencils and the little stamp in regular colored pencils. The quote is from Billy Joel. I used some letter stickers to print out wine. And of course the dictionary meaning from my big old Webster's Dictionary.

As always this will be submitted to The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge. Thanks for looking and comments are always appreciated!