Expressions of the heart.

Happy Thursday Everyone!!  I am so happy that Friday is right around the corner. I love getting to spend time with my family on the weekends, but this weekend is when Flying Unicorn will be revealing this months kits. *SQUEEEEE*  I have already ordered mine during the sneak peak pre-orders and I am (very un-) patiently waiting for it to arrive in the mail. :)  In the mean time I have been on an art journaling kick lately. I wanted to share a page that I created recently. 
    I came across a quote by Georgia O'Keefe recently that has really spoken to my heart.  "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way".  Have you ever felt that way?

Challenging myself to use my sticker hoard, my gem hoard, my doily hoard, awesome paper clip hoard, and lace hoard. Oh my I am beginning to see a hoarding issue. LOL

Here is an over view of the entire page.  I am really loving this mica flakes that came in my February kit. I really love how soft and pretty my Lindy's sprays turned out. 

I really love the way this butterfly tucks so perfectly into the fold of the book pages. I am NOT good at rub ons. I love watching people use them on their projects. However, when I try oh my goodness you should see the fail. This time they came out amazing. Maybe I it was because I slowed down and took my time and really relaxed while making this page.

Here is a close up of the mica flakes, I love this heart vines lace, I found it at a local flea market here. How awesome do the Lindy's sprays look? I find that I am happier with the results of using them when I use a paint brush the move them around the page. I am really thinking this page may have been a page about craft supply hoarding. :)

I love this tulle flower that I received in a swap. 

I usually LOVE the stickers I buy when I am in the store buying them. I get them home and put them in their nice organized drawer and then, wham I never use them. Well, no more I say.  I have come the conclusion that if I don't use them I can buy more. 

This was the first time I have ever tried to stamp with liquid India ink. I think the harlequin stamp came out awesome. Esp for not using an ink pad. I am really loving using found objects such as caps.

I am so happy and grateful that I have begun expressing myself in my art journal. There really are things that are best not seen by others. This way I can get my feeling (good or bad) out and onto the paper. 
I hope you all have a wonderful day!!
Haley

More fun "Catching" up.

For Christmas this year I got several stencils. I must say that I am really loving playing with them.  I has seen video after video where fellow artists were creating the most wonderful master pieces by incorporating them into the pieces. Itchy to give it a try myself. I came up with this:
                                                       

Here is the final project.

 I wanted to make an underwater scene, nice and inky and wavy.  I started by thinking about how in heck I was gonna find and print off the Koi fish that would be just perfect. I went to google images, then headed over to youtube. I watched and looked about a bazillion (4 to be exact, but bazillion is fun to type) videos. I finally came across one that gave me a basic sketch and encouraged me to personalize it from the basic sketch. I am really proud of my drawn Koi fish. I really wanted it to be much more fluid than the one showed in the video. I wanted it to look like the fins were moving with the flow of the water. Once I had the fish drawn I totally freaked out about adding color to it. So, I set it to the side and began working on my backround.
I used  some music paper from an old music book someone gave us ages ago. I gessoed the paper so, that it would be able to take all the product I planned on using. Now that the Gesso was dry I sprayed Lindy's Stamp gang flat fabio sprays in the colors Ocean breeze blue and Caribbean blue with just a few splatters here and there of Tim Holtz distress stains Broken China. This step is where I went just crazy and buck wild (well, for me anyway). I dropped Black India ink unto the paper in large globs and using a straw I blew the ink around. I am really am happy with the way it came out.  Next, I took one of my Crafter's Workshop stencils (Art is) and used some Gloss medium thru the stencil just like you would modeling paste, paint or ink. I really love that it smudged the words just enough for them to not be completely legible. Once that dried I used my Crafter's workshop stencil that has cup rings and spatters to add some modeling paste and back India ink.
Gulp, it was back to the best picture I had drawn from scratch in ages. Well, I pulled up my big girl panties and broke out the water colors and just started moving them around on the image as I held my breath and hoped beyond hope that I would like it in the end. :)  I walked away for night. The next morning I broke out my markers and began outlining and adding in small details like the spots on the fish and his mustache. I cut the image out from the paper that I drew it on, leaving just a small border. I was so happy with it. I used gel medium to decoupage it to my background.  When I added it to my art journal I decided to add a black border. I am glad I did it really makes it pop for me. The last step was to add the "bubbles" and go around them with black ink to help them stand out more.

I hope you enjoyed looking at and reading about the process.
Have a great day,
Haley

Challenge

Hi everyone!!

This Tuesday I was given a canvas that was going to be thrown away. The canvas had been used to tryout some melted crayon art work. I must say I very much regret not taking a before picture. I was given the canvas to upcycle. :) Below are some pics of the finished product and proof that Tim Holtz tissue wrap can be glued down with melted wax. It was really fun to play with a medium I don't normally use.

       The handle across the top is a purse handle a sweet friend of mine gave to me to use.

   Recollections micro beads that have been in my stash  for easily 5 years. Check out that super cool giant glass stone wrapped in copper foil (or something similar). It is super cool.

Have fun and give upcycling a try.
Haley

New project

Hi Everyone!!

Holy moley it has been so VERY long since I posted to my blog. We have moved roughly 1200 miles from where we were in Texas to Wyoming. It is truly lovely here. I am exstatic to tell you that we had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!! It was amazing. Enough about me, how have ya'll been?? I hope each and everyone of you are in good health, peaceful spirits AND filled with love.  I wanted to post some new projects I have been working on. Today's project is one that I will be hosting a class on at the end of February here locally :)  I am SO excited. Gonna be singing that one all day. Bellow are some pictures for you.

                                            I have had this owl for SEVERAL years. This year
                                          one of my goals is to stop hoarding supplies and use
                                          them and enjoy.

I recently started a monthly kit subscription to Flying Unicorn kits. I cannot tell you how awesome the kits are. They have 4 yes, thats right you read that correctly 4 different kinds of kits to choose from. How cool is that?? :)  I used the stencil we got in our kit this month on here. I also used the Shimmerez sprays and paint that came in my kit. A few of the flowers and metal embellishments were also from there. Most of the flowers and supplies came from my stash. I have decided that if want new and exciting ideas and objects to work with then I have to clear out the creative clutter that is already here.  I am so happy that I finally stopped waiting for something "worthy" of my hoarded supplies . I feel so free.
Have many more projects to post of the next few days to play catch-up.
Have an amazing day,
Haley