Art of Wild Abandonment Giant Bloghop

Hi!  If you're here for the "Art of Wild Abandonment" Bloghop, you have probably just arrived from Karen Maldonado's blog.  This is a HUGE hop and you are now more than half way through.  :)  Kudos to you if you have stuck with us this far. :) There is so much talent out there and I'm having a blast checking out all the inspiration...I hope you are too!  Don't forget to continue on by visiting Sheryl Callan Meilahn here.  And if you haven't started from the beginning, you can join in on all the excitement by clicking here to learn all about it.

When I first stumbled across Junelle Jacobsen's art, I immediately fell in love with her style!  So when Christy Tomlinson announced that she was partnering up with Junelle to teach an art journaling class, I was absolutely giddy!  It has been worth every penny!  I have soaked up the videos and although I haven't had as much time as I would like to create art, I've been squeezing some in here and there.

Here's a look at a little bit of what I've created so far.  Some of these pieces are from the art lessons we learned in class, so they may look similar to what you may have already seen throughout the hop.  

"Spring Lineup"

 This was my first entry in my new art journal.  I pretty much copied Junelle's idea and added my own meaningful words.

 I made my little nest from thin hemp string.

 White Sharpie paint pen...my new favorite for highlights!

Silly little bird!

"Spring Gifts"

This is watercolor on gesso.  I loved drawing the peas!  I never would have thought of something so simple and creative without Junelle's perspective.  So fun and playful!

 

 

"So Many Ideas"

Another one of Junelle's ideas I stole.  Hers was about laundry...mine is about all the creative ideas that are floating through my head.  It seems there's never enough time to get them all onto paper or canvas.  :)

"Bright & Beautiful"

Our neighbors have a small farm.  This spring I have loved watching the baby animals romp and play together.  This little calf caught my attention because she has a nearly perfect heart on her forehead.  I attempted to capture her in watercolors.  I'm such an amateur!  :)

Well that's it for now!  I have a sheep canvas I have finished (so cute!!), but I will wait and post it tomorrow.  This class has been so much fun!  I hope you will consider taking it.  You can sign up at any time here.  Don't forget to check out the next blog in our giant bloghop!  Thanks for visiting!

 

Blog Hop

Over the past few weeks I have been taking an online class taught by Junelle Jacobsen and Christy Tomlinson called "The Art of Wild Abandonment."  I have LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this class!  If you have been following my blog, you know how much I have loved learning mixed media art from Christy.  And after taking this class, I've decided Junelle is one of the sweetest people around.  I immediately fell in love with her art style.  I have also been inspired to dust off the watercolors and try my hand at them in an art journal form.  I have loved learning new techniques, but most of all, I am learning from Junelle how to open my eyes to the beautiful and simple things that are all around us (like radishes!).   

This weekend, many of the participants in the class are having a HUGE blog hop celebrating our "wild" art.  If I did the time conversion right, it will start at 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, May 5th.  Be sure to check out the amazing art from so many of the wonderful women I have met through this online class!

p.s.  It's not too late to sign up for the course.  Check out all the details here.

Here's a peek at the first watercolor in my new art journal...

See you at the blog hop!

Hold Hands Tightly and Hearts Gently

Here's a simple 8x8 canvas I made.  This was my first time using a burlap canvas.  I love the deep texture of the fabric, although it was a little bit different than painting on a traditional canvas.

The background was made with acrylic paint and then a little stamping to add texture. I bought a bubble wrap stamp to use with my altered art projects, but I like stamping with real bubble wrap better.  Too funny!

 I didn't use many rub-ons on this project...just doodling and some stamping.

 I used white Liquitex acrylic ink over book paper for the roof because I wanted it to be transparent so the words would show through.

 This is one of my favorite quotes!  I'm sure I'll use it on more projects.  :)

 To make the cloud, I used the negative portion of a die cut and swirled light modeling paste over it like a stencil.  I love how fluffy it looks!

Now it's off to live at a friend's house.  Hope she likes it!

Young Women Values Girl

In my church I am over a group of girls ages 12-18.  Our Young Women's program focuses on 8 values that we encourage the girls to develop in their lives.  

For an activity one night we made She Art Value Girls.  (I borrowed the idea from a canvas Christy Tomlinson designed).  The young women had so much fun getting messy with paint and mod podge!  To make things simpler (and less expensive) we didn't use rub-ons like I usually do on my canvases, but we had plenty of texture stamps there that they used instead, along with doodling.  

Here's the one I made that they used as an example.  It was so fun to see how each girl personalized hers with the paint colors she chose, the texture she used, and how she styled the hair.

 I prepped the backgrounds ahead of time by mod podging tissue to the canvas and then painting the blue and green.  Then the girls added their own texture with stamps and paint.  (At the thrift store I found a fabulous stack of old sewing patterns that I used for tissue.  They worked great)!

I created the blouse from muslin and mod podged it onto the canvas.

To save time, I made high quality color copies of the skirt and blouse from my canvas and printed it onto cardstock.  The girls added arms, legs, and a head from book paper to their own canvases, then glued the cardstock dress over the top.  That way they didn't have to deal with cutting and decorating the patterned paper layers.  This saved us so much time!  The girls did add their own lace and buttons as accents.  When they were done stamping and doodling, you couldn't tell it was a copy at all!

Love it!

More She Art Canvases

I made some more 6x6 She Art canvases for gifts awhile ago and realized I never shared them here.  I tried to make each one as personalized as possible for the friend who was receiving it.  I love how they all ended up having their own personalities!

"CANDI"

I love the little boots!

"KATHY"

 I had some problems with Kathy's hair to start with.  It turned out WAY too big!  It was actually quite comical.  Thank goodness for paint.  I just covered it up and started over.  :)

"AMMIE"

Did you know you can sign up at any time for Christy Tomlinson's She Art Classes?  Check out all her workshops here.

My 2nd Class for Cindy's SB Conference

I finished designing the layout for my 2nd class for Cindy's Scrapbooking Conference coming up on May 18-19.  I used papers from Crate Paper's "Farmhouse" Collection and a little bit from Simple Stories' "Year-o-graphy" line.

I'm teaching the people in my class how to make "Lolli" or Accordion Folded Flowers using a Martha Stewart Scoring Board.  I also made a tutorial here.  I have decided that using hot glue to secure them is a lot easier than waiting for liquid glue to dry.

Cindy's Scrapbooking Conference

Cindy's scrapbooking conference is coming up May 18th & 19th.  It will be held at the Red Lion in Pocatello.  You can find all the info here.

I haven't scrapped too much lately, because I have been spending time painting, drawing, and watercoloring.  I have been taking the "Art of Wild Abandonment" class, which is taught by Junelle Jacobson and sponsored by Christy Tomlinson.  Can I just say F-U-N!!!!  But that's a whole different story for another day...

It was fun to pull out my scrapping supplies and use them on a layout instead of on a canvas or in my art journal.  I have to say it was hard not to drag out the Mod Podge, though.  It is so much easier, and messier, and fun to play with Mod Podge than it is photo squares.  ;)

I finished one of my classes that I'm teaching at Cindy's.  This is a doodling class that will be taught on Friday evening.  Love these new papers from My Mind's Eye!

I'm in love with rolled paper flowers!  They can add the perfect embellishment anywhere on a card or layout.

I have one more layout to design for Cindy's conference.  Then I might post some pictures of She Art canvases and art journaling I have been doing over the past several months.  (I know...my poor neglected blog)!  See you soon!

Charity Auction for Stone Family

On February 6th, Melissa Stone, along with her baby boy and 2-year-old daughter, were in a horrible car accident in Utah.  Melissa sustained critical injuries; Baby Edward only had a couple of cuts on his head; but 2-year-old Ethne didn't survive.

Lawrence Stone, Melissa's husband, grew up in my neighborhood.  His sister is currently running a charity auction on Facebook to help raise funds for their medical and funeral expenses.  If you are interested and can help, please go to Facebook and take a look at all the wonderful items people have donated for the auction.  She is taking bids until Wednesday, February 22nd.


Here are some of the items I donated through Lucky Lark Designs, but there are so many other items as well, including hair bows, inspirational posters, gift baskets, Mary Kay and Avon products, handmade hats, aprons, socks, and jewelry.  The list goes on and on.  If you aren't interested in the auction, or don't have a Facebook page, you can still donate money on the family's blog here.

"Baby's First Year" Auction Link

 "Family Ties" Auction Link.

 "Love" Auction Link

"Family Favorite Recipes" Auction Link

Thanks for your help and prayers in behalf of this wonderful little family!