6 X 6 (2)

These are more 6 X 6 art pages inspired by the Rachel Black challenge group, Artful Evidence. #artfulevidence.

Week 4: Tea or Coffee: Almost Coffee.  I rather dreaded this one. It was watercolors and sketching. But despite being outside my comfort zone, I plunged in there and like the results. Even though, it wasn't my cup of tea, technically it's my cup of cocoa, and it works for me. :)

Week 5: Drips and Splatters: Be Your Art.  Nothing I like to do more in my art than splatter paint around the background. I can never get drips to come out the way I like but for interest I added copper paint in over the black. It helped. I loved the background colors too much to do anything else.

Week 6: Spring: Robin Returns.   I made a couple "mistakes" on this one but they are so minor that I only mention them in case it's helpful to someone else. I wanted a soft colored background but the paint I used came out very bright. I was trying to mimic the colors used by Rachel but my watered down versions weren't sticking well. Anyway, to fix the problem I just went over the background with a coat of gesso. I rather like the "white washed" feel it gives the piece. I also, went a bit too far with the texture paste...the little dots. Despite these things, I very much love this page.

Week 7: Tags:  Mimic.  Rachel's example was so up my alley that I decided to replicate it as close as possible. I came pretty damn close. I just love the pop of hot pink against the green. And that black and white contrast...swoon! Seriously, I love the way ink colors pop on this watercolor paper!

If you'd like to see some more inspiration, join the Facebook group, Artful Evidence. Or search by the hashtag, #artfulevidence. You can also find Rachel's videos on her YouTube channel. She does many more videos than just the challenge. (I only mention it in case you'd like to see more inspiration. I don't get anything out of it.)

-Wy

The Halloween Journal: Cats

A square black Dylusions journal is the basis for the Halloween Journal.
This spread is a collage of all my black cat material with a burst of yummy Autumn orange.

As I pulled out my Halloween material, I spied the program to Cats. My sister and I had attended a performance a couple years ago and I kept the program and ticket as I intended alter the program. Instead, I decided to collage with it here, or at least, the cover.

This spread is dedicated to my cat, Aussie, who died on Columbus Day just a week ago. He was my Bubba and often joined me in the basement to help me "craft". I'll miss him. He was 14.

-Wy

"I may be lazy. I may be fat. I don't do laps and I do not chat. I may be selfish, yeah, and all of that. But the one thing I'm not is a Scaredy Cat."  --Lou Rawls, Garfield's Halloween Adventure
PSST: Here's a link to the whole song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB7j-PYk0Xo

Little Owl Canvas

You just have days when you NEED to rip up some paper.

I've had a few of those days recently. Finally decided to just throw it on a canvas.

You may recognize some of his feathers. (Hint: Look anything like this canvas?) I have come to accept that I just love paper and that is what I like to showcase.

I don't give too much "tutorial" when I post about my canvases and that's usually because I never remember all the stuff that goes into them. I'm horrible about documenting the process for these. They do go in stages where I do the background, let it sit, let it sit, try something, let it sit...etc. The background on this canvas sat for several months before I finally dove back into doing canvases. I had been side-tracked with cards, journaling, and the job that pays the bills.

I can tell you that Little Owl is an 8"X 10" canvas and uses primarily paper. Any coloring is added with spray inks (Lindy's Stamp Gang, Dylusions, Glimmer Mist) and gelatos (Faber Castell). The 3-D eyes are buttons, a typewriter alphabet sticker and a plastic ring (colored with alcohol inks). I used ModPodge (Matte finish) to adhere all elements except the eyes which required Multi Matte Medium (Ranger).

Lesson Learned:  I have a great appreciation for what certain shapes can inspire.

Thanks for taking a look! Enjoy the rest of the week!
-Wy
Great Horned Owl Video  
I just found this video on YouTube and decided that's the kind of owl I was going for in this canvas.

My Planner...finally.

I decided since I was making this anyway, I'd link it up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes!).

Here's what I made:

I haven't used a planner since college (um...some 20 years ago). Instead, I have always used just a small pocket calender to jot down an appointment or two. (It's true; I have no social life!) But this year, I saw all the cute little planners coming out at CHA and I have seen the Erin Condren planners...I thought they were such fun. (And I've developed a need to keep more deadlines and work schedules organized.) But there were 2 problems: 1. They were costly. 2. They weren't EXACTLY what I needed.

Most planners seemed to be WAY MORE than my little life required. Yet I was hesitant to make my own because I liked the "schedule" look of the lined pages. Sort of a calender, sort of a schedule. And some times of the year would be more busy than others. I also wanted it to double as a sort of sketchbook for random ideas with blank pages or graph paper or some other place to just doodle.

That's when I stumbled across this video on YouTube:  Sea Lemon Planner
I was totally excited about the template for the pages! That was exactly what I needed and she was sharing it. The size was perfect as well at 8.5 X 5.5, half a sheet of copy paper. So here's the planner I made this weekend. (Only a month into the year; not bad...better than waiting for something from CHA to hit the shelves!)

So the first thing I did was print out the sheets from the template, making sure they were double-sided. (If you're unsure of how to do that, or don't have a printer...with ink...just save the download on a flash drive and take it to a copy store. My local UPS Store can print it out while you wait and do it on a thicker paper, if you're particular about those things.) I just went with standard, cheap copy paper and amazingly I had just bought ink for my very old printer.

I cut those sheets in half as well as some blank copy paper and some graph paper. I stacked it all up as it would appear in the planner. I opted to put my blanks and my graph paper at the back of the book.

On to the covers! I just cut a piece of cardboard in half that had once been the backing of a scrapbook paper pack, I think. (I'm not certain because it came out of my HOARD of saved cardboard. I kept an ungodly amount in hopes of making journals. I'm still working on that...) You can use just some cereal boxes cut up!

I decided on a theme from a new stamp set I had and some paper I loved so much, I hardly used it.

 Scrapbook paper: Hot off the Press, Steampunk. Stamp: Dandy Robot, Stamper's Anoynomous

I cut a 12 X 12 paper down to 12 X 9 and cut off the corners to wrap it around the cardboard. I used Scor-Tape to secure it. I cut another piece down to 8 X 5 to go on the inside of the covers.  I cut the banners at the top from scraps from the paper pack, matted them on black cardstock, and added some old typewriter numbers from my stash.

I stamped the robot onto white cardstock and colored it with Distress Markers. I used Perfect Pearls, Copper to color in the face and hand so he has a little shimmer. I went around the edge of the cover with a ColorBox black pigment ink and added embossing powder. (Lindy's Stamp Gang, Byzantine Bronze) Once I had the cover done, I decided to add a little something to the inside front cover.

I added two coin envelopes decorated with the same paper pack and a few rubber stamps from an old 7gypsies set (that doesn't impress me much). The top one that's horizontal lifts on the right to reveal the pocket while the bottom one is pretty straight-forward.

 
I didn't embellish the back as I want this to be usable. It will be slid in and out of my desk and stacked under projects and stuff. I wanted it to be flat and secure.

When I had everything the way I wanted it, I just used my Cinch binding machine and added the binding. It's a 1/2 binding wire in old bronze. (The Cinch is like a Bind-it-All and uses the exact same wire.)

So there's my new planner! Ain't she a Dandy?
I'll be giving it some work soon. I may need new pens...

Have a great week!
--Wy
"Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker."

Missing Mojo

I have had the most horrendous time trying to be creative this last month and here it is at the end of the month. I seem to have fallen into one of those "everything I do looks like crap" funks. My conclusion is that I have spent too much time dwelling on what other people might like and less on just making stuff that I think looks cool. So I'm taking a little breather and just focusing on stuff I've committed to and that makes me happy.

That being said; I still haven't a good idea for the next Red Carpet Studio Challenge and that deadline is Saturday night! So I think this Saturday is going to be a PLAY DAY!

Sometimes when I get to this spot, it means I'm just beat...tired...in need of some alone time. Sometimes it means I'm stressed and I'm worried about far reaching things. Nothing crimps your mojo like stress. Sometimes even a play-afternoon doesn't help out and I still feel like I've got nothing accomplished, nothing that looks good, or even a good mistake from which I've learned. Mostly when I reach this point, even my main YouTube inspiration gurus can't help...well, except for one.

I admit that I watch A LOT of YouTube. There's all kind of art and craft inspiration on there. I watch Limor Webber, Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner, France Papillon, Aaron from Imperfect Impulses, some others once in a while, and some videos put out by companies like Lindy's Stamp Gang, Lawn Fawn, Faber-Castell, and ImagineCrafts. I've done that for a couple weeks now and I'm still in a rut and feeling like I'll never get up to that level of coolness. But strangely enough, one YouTube subscription is really paying off...Donna Downey.

I've gone back to some of the Inspiration Wednesday videos that I watched religiously when she was filming them. Amazingly, in them, I have discovered some energy; some real "I CAN" attitude. Maybe it's just how she experiments, maybe it's how she sometimes admits that "it's not my favorite page", or maybe it's just how she pushes through the rough spots but whatever it is, it works for me. I'm starting to figure out where my wrong turn was and I'm heading back to Albuquerque.

So I'm cutting back on doing projects for others. I'm doing the stuff that makes me happy. And just maybe the mojo will find it's way back to me.
--Wy
"Do not let your shadow walk you. You are not a slave of the past."  ---Dodinsky