Best Medicine: A Hug

I love this little picture of the little girl and teddy bear it's so cute. I bought Crafty Secrets Creative Scraps from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  They have so many different items to use on the scrap sheets that it lasts for a long time. Love them.

I am currently going through a pile of canvas that I've either painted or started a project but never finished.  Once a week I'm going to take one, paint over it and start something new. This one I started a couple months ago with a great idea and started it with yellows and reds but had to walk away and when I came back the idea was gone! Happen to you?  I decided to paint it Robbin's egg blue, add some stencils, paper, embellishments and it was done.

 

I pulled most of the embellishments out of my box full of little pieces of this and that. I keep it on my desk and throw leftovers in it to use on another project. What do you do with all your little leftovers?

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Wishy Washi

If I haven't told you before I love washi tape or any kind of tape. The one issue I have is that I keep buying it but forget to use it. So I decided to dedicate one art journal to it. I know weird but that way I can play with it more and use it up so I can buy more.  Win win situation for me.

Today's page for Julie's Art Journal Every Day came together quickly. All the supplies on the page were on my desk so I used them. As you can see black and white washi tape and scraps of black and white paper. 

 

The quote and women in the picture are from a 2012 daily calendar called Getting in Touch with Your Inner Bitch by Elizabeth Hilts (Amazon). I have kept a few daily pages from the calendar to use in my journals.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

  

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer - DVDs

I received two of Julie's DVDs as a gift; Stamp Carving Adventures and All About Faces.  Last weekend I had my god-daughter, Cassidy, for the weekend and I decided we both would learn something new. First, Julie's style of teaching is so much fun, carefree and so easy to understand.

The first DVD we watched was All About Faces.

I have always wanted to learn to draw faces but afraid to try. Julie made it easy. Although my first face looks like she's under a spell or possessed.  My second face is a lot better. I decided I need to draw smaller.

Here are my faces:

 

 

Here are Cassidy's faces.  She even drew a face and painted it. I wasn't that brave yet.

 

 

 

Julie teaches you the placement of the eyes, nose and mouth and the reasons for their placement. Also, how important eye brows are on the face. Never thought about it really.  Well I need to practice a lot.

 

The next DVD was Stamp Carving Adventures.

 

 

I didn't get a chance to carve I only had one tool so Cassidy carved stamps instead. Julie shows you many ways to carve stamps. I only had one way but I have some ideas for more the next time.  Here are Cassidy's stamps.

 



 

 

She loved making them.  You do have to be careful because the tool is very sharp. Cassidy is twelve and follows instructions well so she was able to use the tool. 

 

We had lots of fun with these DVDs and I think I found something else she may drive her mother crazy for now!

 

Thanks Julie for all the fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

 

 

Never Look Back

I have a small moleskine journal full of quotes. Everytime I see a quote or word I write it down. I want to use many of them on canvas but my mojo sees a blank canvas and shuts down a little. This is where an art journal comes in handy. You can play with colors, textures, embellishments and figure out what looks nice.  I found doing this page I love the color combo of this distress inks.

 

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Romance!

I found tissue paper with film strips full of couples in romantic embraces and stickers with black and white pictures of buildings. The buildings are pictures from all over the world. Who wouldn't want a romantic trip around the world?

 

 

The background was made with acrylic paint (white and Payne's gray (new fav), vintage music paper, crackle and modeling paste.  Here is a close up.

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

I Do Know Crazy

This is a 5"x5" mixed media canvas and I found a frame made for this size canvas in an art store, Jerry's Artarama. The only change I had to make to the frame is I took out the glass because of the wired flower. I love the way it looks in the black frame.

 

Lots of acrylic paints, stencils, paper, wire, and washi tape. It came together rather quickly. Its one of those projects where you go in with a certain idea but your hands do the complete opposite of what your mind is seeing. Sometimes those projects are the best.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Art Journal - Quick and Easy Texture

Today's art journal page for Julie's Art Journal Every Day is quick and easy. I worked late but needed to wind down and my art room is where I can leave all my stress behind. All I used is a Crafters Workshop stencil and gesso for the background, scraps of bits on the table, Liquitex Acrylic Ink and a rubber stamp.  It only took 20 minutes and it made me feel better.

Click picture to see it larger

 

Sometimes less is more! I love the simplicity of it.  Here is a close up.

 

 

 

 

Also, I received a couple of questions on what paper or journals I use for my pages. As you can see from the blurry picture I use many kinds of journals.  I started with Strathmore Mixed Media journals, then started using my old calendars and any other book I can find. The large journal with the purple binder is actually an old leather bound photo album where you have to use photo corners to add in the pictures. The paper in that is wonderful and it's one of my favorites. Right now my other favorites are watercolor paper or mixed media journals (Cranson) because they can take all the paint, sprays and modeling paste.  The Cranson journals are perforated and rip out very easy. I have taken some of my pages and framed them for gifts. As you can see there are all shapes and sizes and there really isn't any method to my madness. There are a few that are designated for collage or pan pastels but now I mixed all the mediums together. I hope this answers your questions.  Any more questions, just ask.

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

A LITTLE MODERN WITH A LITTLE VINTAGE

This canvas was inspired by the photo. I bought some Crafty Secrets vintage scraps from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Linda has a wonderful selection of products and her turn around time for orders is fast.  I have had this canvas painted for a long time and couldn't decide what to do with it. The background was made with stencils in various shades of gray. I have a small box on my table with miscellaneous small scrap of papers, embellishments, die cuts, etc. and I saw this picture on top and had to use it. I just started pulling out all the elements and started adhering them to the canvas. I love the way it came out. It's a little modern with a little vintage.

 

The quote reads, Smile and the whole world smiles with you.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Playing with leftovers

This journal page was fun to make because it helped clear off all the little odds and ends on my table. I'm trying to figure out a better way to keep all my odds and ends. Does anyone have any suggestions?

This page I happened to use for leftover modeling paste and inks on my stencils. The colors were already there but I just added a little more.  I chose at random a few odds and ends and made a small collage on the page.  I'm linking this with Julie's Art Journal Every Day. Go see what everyone created!

click on the picture to enlarge it

 

Here is a close up of all the textures.

 

 

 

I love all the texture and those die cut circles I'm definitely going to use again.  The quote reads:

 

 

 

 

I'm off to go play in my art room today!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

 

A CREATIVE WEEKEND

My goddaughter, Cassidy, loves to come over and play with all my art supplies. A weekend before Christmas she came over and we had a weekend of artsy play. I thought I would share what she made.

A beautiful tag.

 

 

And beautiful ormanments.

 

 

 

These are only about 1.5 inches. I found a tiny stocking, candy cane and Christmas bulbs to put in the bottles on a layer of snow.

 

She also made ornaments out of shrink plastic. Sorry the picture is very blurry.

   

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

  

CHOOSE WISELY FOR YOURSELF

My nephew doesn't read my blog so I can show you what I made him for Christmas. I decided to do it in shades of green his favorite color.

 

The choices you make are ones you have to live with.

Choose wisely for yourself.

 

 

I used a 12x12 stretched canvas, acrylic inks, paints and sprays, modeling paste, Crafters Workshop stencil and alpha stamps.

Here is a close up off off the texture and color.

 

 

Hopefully, he will like it.  This is the first year I'm actually giving my art as gifts.  I usually keep everything I make.

 

Thank so much for stopping by!

 

 

BIG KETTLE OF CRAZY

This year is seems my art journals are call my name. I find working in art journals very relaxing. This journal I use when using modeling paste.  When I have extra I open up a page put it on.  I started this page with washi tape but never finished it so added the extra modeling paste which helped to complete it.

Quote:

When you find a big kettle of crazy

it's best not to stir it.

 

 

[click on the photo to view it larger]

 

I am trying to use colors that I shy away from like purple. I love the color purple and it's my favorite color but I don't use it in art very much. Don't know why.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Playing with Watercolors

Happy New Year!

I finally found a work around for uploading photos to blogger. FYI it's an IE9 issue and blogger is trying to fix it.  You can click on HTML mode and upload your picture and then switch back to compose mode.

A new year and a new art journal.  During the holidays I was able to get into my art room and clean it so I can play. My daughter joined in too!  I love watercolors and have many watercolor pencils, crayons, markers, and paints but I haven't taken the time to play with them.  This page for Julie's Art Journal Every Day I used all of the above. I love the vibrant colors and the abstract look. I also have a bin of small scraps of paper that I have been saving to use one day and now I'm addicted to using them like a collage of sorts. I think my watercolor journal will be full of bits and pieces.

 

 



Thank you so much for stopping by!
 

 

Trying to post but......

Hi Everyone! Thank you for coming to visit me. For some reason blogger is not letting me upload photos so I haven't been able to post anything. Talking about my creations without showing you is not going to work.  If anyone is having the same issue and fixed it, let me know.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Karenliz

Peace and Joy for 2013

 

 

Wishing everyone peace and joy for 2013!

 

My New Years Resolution

 

SMILE

 

 

 

I hope 2013 brings you lots of SMILES too!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!