Journal Making - AEDM Day 1

AEDM Day 1

It's November and that means Art Every Day Month. Leah over at Creative Every Day is inspiring and encouraging us, again this year, to create art every day during November.

I've been home because of Hurricane Sandy, working via my blackberry (my day job does not have power), so I've been creating. 

The above are different views of the same journal that I am making for a very dear friend. It's a surprise (now don't all of you think you are getting it). :)

I used pieces of paper, mod podge, clips from magazines, lace, wallpaper, sheet music, watercolor paper, ribbon, stamped the front with my rose stamp, hand stitched a little, and made cute cut outs on some of the pages.

I loved making this. I hope she loves it, too.

Hop over to Leah's website and check out the art of a few other creative souls participating in AEDM.

WOYWW - What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

 I am linking up with Julia over at Stamping Ground for WOYWW - What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  It has been a few weeks since I played along. 

My desk is rather clean for once as you can see above.  I am having so much fun playing with watercolors, doodling and now adding black pen line art to my journal pages.  I can't wait to play with those pan pastels that you can see in the photo above.

Below is the same page but with some of the black line art added to the page. This still needs a lot of work.

Do me a favor and hop over to Stamping Ground and check out a few desks today to see what other people are working on.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) - Color Love

I'm linking up with Julia at Stamping Ground again this week for WOYWW.  My desk is still a mess and I have been creating while I sit on the bed - hopefully this weekend I can change that but until then this is it.

I've been playing along with Joanne Sharpe in her Color Love class and learning so much. I am learning to play with supplies that I've never used before - heck, I'll admit it I didn't know they existed. :)

She asked that we create a cover page in our journal using Prismacolor pencils, Inktense pencils and watercolors. I love the way the colors just pop due to the layering of the supplies that she had me use. I couldn't help but doodle a little on the page.

She next introduced me to watercolor crayons. Can I just say that I felt like a kid again! 

I love the idea of learning and creating a journal where the how to use a product is on the left and the creation is on the right. A great reference for later after the class is over and I need to refer back to something that was taught.

For the journal page, I created it using colored pencils and watercolor crayons I chose to use a color palette that I honestly don't gravitate towards. I'm more of a red/yellow matched with earth tones sort of girl but I made myself a promise that I use other colors during this class (it is called Color Love) so here are the pinks and purples.

Now I need to get caught up with this week's lessons. 

This is so much fun!

Make sure that you hop on over to Stamping Ground and hand pick a few other blogs to see what they have been working on this week. 

Thanks for visiting!

What's on my desk...this week

Today is Wednesday and I recently started to play with other lovely artists and Julia Dunnit over at Stamping Ground by participating in WOYWW - what's on your workdesk Wednesday. 

The makings of journals...

As you may remember, I recently visited my family in Wisconsin. I gave my parents an assignment prior to my arrival and list of stops that we had to make upon my arrival. Well, my Dad accepted and completed the mission. I grew up in a town of 5,000 +/- people and my parents, brother, and niece still live there. Yes, I know, you're asking how did I end up in NYC? That is a topic for another post...some day.

Back to my Dad...he visited the local paint and decorating store and scored a few vinyl wallpaper sample books. Two weeks ago he picked me up at the airport and took me to Michael's to buy mod podge, gesso, and (little did he know) a frame for his gift. 

There was so much paper to pick from. Now, I know vinyl wallpaper isn't as wonderful as the old real paper wallpaper BUT...it reminds me of cloth, can be written on, makes a great cover (when reinforced with cereal box board and mod podge), adds color and texture to the journals I made.

My Mom had to work and during the first couple of days my niece had school so I was left to create alone (well, my Dad was home but he didn't play with me - giggle)...and selfishly I loved every minute.

I raided my Mom's plethora of artsy supplies and discovered some great lace which accents a few pages beautifully. I incorporated the magazine snippets, used different types of paper and created a few journals. 

I still need to stitch them, create a few more, and then give a few to friends.

Sigh...this was so much fun and honestly the best part was the space and the ability to spread out on a kitchen table (oh, how I miss having a kitchen table)...sigh, again.

Well, I have back in NYC for a week and I am back to the "day job" so finishing my new creations will need to wait until I can take a breath. 

What's on your work desk? 

Don't forget to stalk other artist's over at Stamping Ground and visit their blogs today.