{Points of Two Week #20: hearts!}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week, hearts was the word! I decided to go digital since I had the perfect background already on my computer, a scrapbooking paper I made for Valentine's Day.

I didn't know how I'd feel about working in a digital manner -- I used to do a lot of graphics, and am kinda rusty. I also lost most of my Photoshop brushes when my hard drive crashed. So....could I create a page digitally that didn't look horrible?

I think I did a pretty good job for being rusty! I certainly need to play around more, let myself be and just ENJOY.

Make sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for the story behind her page!

Roben-Marie's page:

Re: yesterday's post. I'll be putting up pictures tomorrow, when I've had time to sort through more stuff! Thank you for all the comments -- you have no idea how helpful this will be!

{ playing in the sandbox without an edge }

Next week, we're at 4pm CST. I will always tweet and post on the Facebook group to remind you!

[ may 25th, 2010 -- playing in the journal ]

Look! An actual blog post! There must be pigs flying up above, because these have been few and far between for the last two weeks!

Or, I may be excited because, except for a few tweaks here and there (there is a vast difference between how something looks on-screen and when printed), the class PDF file is finished! YAY! I love creating things that I can hold, whether it be ‘zines or simple workbooks. Binding them is the next best thing, which is why I probably am in love with making my own journals.

As I said in today’s vlog, I haven’t journaled in about two weeks. What a difference working in it makes! My brain feels like it’s been on overdrive, always thinking, creating, plotting, dreaming. And with no outlet, everything just built up until I couldn’t even sleep. Sitting down to work in my journal, however, let me BE. Just leak out and get to the bottom and scoop inspiration and resolve from my Inner Well, allowed me to dig back to the water hidden by the dirt of everyday matters.

I really need to take notes on all the ideas I have, even if that means I am pulling out a notebook every ten minutes in every situation. I will be that girl! My thin Moleskine has a pretty spray-painted cover, now, and I miss writing out journal entries and recording these thoughts.

Have you ever finished something on your to-do list only to discover three more items have jumped on it? Cause this is how I’m feeling. I even have different to-do lists: personal, professional, fangirl (yup, this gets a list, too!). And last week’s great fun with a new medication that I reacted….the wrong way with? In opposition with? Anyway, I lost all motivation and just could not get up. *sigh*

Now, to finish everything this week! And get supplies for a new project! And start packing the studio up for my big move in two months (yes, this last one makes me sad, but I’m also really excited to move!)!

Thank God all the shows are pretty much ending this week — that means I have about two weeks of free nights to work work play (or is it play play work?)  before my lovely summer shows start up again. Maybe I should just record everything and hook up my new music…

{points of two week #19: stars, stencils & stitches}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week, we decided to continue with material/item prompts and went with: stars, stencils, & stitches. Which was totally a ton of fun.

For this one, I used my Tulip Fashion Graffiti sprayer, some papers I made myself, and a bit of sewing machine fun. I considered working digitally over the background, but then decided I like my handwriting too much to substitute it with type. What can I say? I've worked hard on creating different handwriting styles to work with!

Don't forget to check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!

(okay, so i did use type for the date. i'm getting more comfortable with digital/handmade hybrids)

{points of two week #18: CIRCLES!}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week, we decided to focus on CIRCLES! Which was kinda fun -- I'm enjoying working with a material theme instead of a content theme; it has me trying new things! For this page, I used some circles cut from cardstock and my black PanPastel to create the appearance of shaded circles coming out of the page. Shading with the PanPastel is tons of fun, and works so very well. And because of the way they're made/applied, you don't need to worry about fixitif as much!

(click me! i get bigger!)

And be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for the story behind her lovely page. I actually like hers more than mine this week -- so colorful and fun!

{points of two week #17: cheesecloth!!}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

Here's a second material-prompted journal page. Roben-Marie and I were chatting on the phone and she mentioned working with cheesecloth. It was something I'd seen and heard about, but never worked with. So why not make that our theme for the week? I was actually in Wal-Mart when this came up, so I was able to grab a package for $4.50.

And will now have enough to last me several years. ;)

I've been having fun working on loose pages; they allow for greater versitility and more 3-D embellisment. Don't get me wrong, I love working IN a journal, but sometimes, you've gotta just let go and pull out that sewing machine.

(Which I've wanted to do for weeks and just now pulled out and put on my packaging desk.)

So -- there was a lot of experimentation going on with this one. I glued dow the cheesecloth. Then sprayed with the Tulip Fashion Grafitti sprayer filled with liquid acrylics (thanks, Chrysti!). Which actually took hours to dry since there's that word cloth in cheesecloth and I had to water down the paint for it to work...

But I LOVE the effect and now am not limited by the colors made by spray-paint companies. ALSO, with a coupon from Michael's, it was only $4. Much cheaper. May get several to have many colors ready.

Then, I took the bits left over from the signatures in my other journal, pulled out the sewing machine, and went to work. The cheesecloth's kinda hard to work over; paint doesn't spread very well. So I decided to just sew on some papers, do a bit of doodling, and BAM, page done!

And I really, really like it.

While I may not use the cheesecloth for journal pages, I am interested in putting it OVER a painting or something to see how it looks.

(click! i get bigger!)

And Roben-Marie's page:

Check out her blog for the story behind her page!

{in between my mind leaking out my ears...}

Wow. My brain has been eaten by this new workshop I'm putting together; everything's been either in my head or scribbled as notes for the last few weeks, and now I'm collating it all into written lessons and resources and samples. It's a lot of work!

So I created a new journal to work on samples and later film in, and totally went all out and made it messy and fun.

The covers are from a vintage book I picked up at a thrift store a week ago.

Each of the signatures are covered in file folders I layered and spray painted. Totally fun! And I just love how they look inside the covers...

When I went into the studio this afternoon, I saw this buttery new block of handi-carve and just had to make something. And, yes, I've read that we're starting to over-do the hearts-with-wings image, but I just adore it. This one's actually based off the art of CLAMP, who had these kinds of wings in Card Captor Sakura, one of my favorite manga.

Then, doodles for layered pages for endpapers in two new journals I'm binding for etsy.

Of course, I have to make pretty pages in it, so I got right to it, finishing the text edits and such for Week One's stuff (tomorrow, filming for it!). I don't usually work in spreads, but this journal is smaller than I usually work in, at least in the last few years, so spreads feel more natural.

I'll probably work on the pages individually, but it was fun to make this background. I know it may not make sense right now, but take the class, and you'll totally understand what's going on here!

And, of course, I had to journal for myself!

I know most of you don't know what's going on in my personal life, but it's pretty....all-consuming and difficult. I almost didn't post this page because of how much it says, or, rather, doesn't say, but I want to be true when I show myself.

When I got the vintage book for the journal above, I also happened upon a 1927 edition of the Sears Roebuck catalog -- for $1! I'm not huge on these images, but this girl seemed perfect to show how fragmented I feel. The facing page is even more personal, and for once, I'm not showing everything.

I don't have all the answers. It's hard to accept that fact.

Tomorrow -- live vlog! At 4pm central, as usual. Hope to see ya there!

{points of two week #16: label insanity!}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week, Roben-Marie and I decided to focus on material rather than external prompts. So we went crazy with labels! I found a piece of scrapbooking paper in my collection that I bought to cut pieces out of, but found it was perfect for this assignment! I then covered the page with labels from all over -- Target stationary, Paper Source, Making Memories, and my own label creations.

As you can see, this page stands out as a bit different from what I usually do. I think that's the magic of going outside your comfort zone, of giving yourself a limitation of some kind -- in this case, labels -- you end up doing something completely different and new and surprise yourself. I really love what came out of this and kinda want to see what else is down this particular branch of the path.

It's also the first I've done outside of my journal in awhile -- just a loose page!

Be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for more about her page!

See ya all next week! :D

{new paint playtime!}

I just realized I never posted this picture of the finished banner!

This was a ton of fun to make, and a departure from my normal supplies and methods. While it is still certainly "me," I can really see how I'm shifting and absorbing everything I've learned in the scrapbooking world and applying it to my art.

I totally want to make another one of these, now, just in time for summer! I'll have class details for this one soon.

I found these lovely paints at the shop, and was able to borrow them to experiment and report back my findings. I've been tasked with creating the cover for a Maya Road banner album, but, as always when approaching a new material, had to test them out in the journal, first. That's what it's there for, right?

I found they spread....differently over my gessoed pages. Not quite as liquid as my fluid acrylics, but not as buttery as my heavy-body acrylics. After playing for a bit, I found they actually give me the soft, dreamy look I enjoy, but this took a bit of time to get the right mix of water and paint.

The yellow is a great, muted color, but isn't thick enough to hold its own over darker colors. The traditional tan is a wonderful color, though, and I may have to go buy a jar for myself because I loved using it all over the place.

Because I didn't see a red, I kinda had to fight the urge to pull out my own paints. Which I lost, since the page on the left has a bit in the corner. The colors I did get to play with are amazing, and I'd like to do a little mixing once I find a palette knife around here.

Layering with these is great, too!

I've been having a bunch of fun with doodles, too -- as you can see on this finished page, I'm working on making pretty flowers all over the place. Or mandalas. Or different kinds of plants. I love that there's savanna and prairie around here; taking a walk through any of the forest preserves this time of year can be a great trip for discovering tall grasses and tiny flowers.

When I was in middle school, we used to collect them and press them in our hand-made journals. I still have mine, preserved there under clear shelf-liners, the color faded over the last, God, ten plus years?

Maybe all the rides through farm land have gotten to my head.

Tomorrow is the live vlog at 4pm central! I think one of these days, I'm going to host it in the morning for those in different time-zones. But tomorrow, I'm going to be out all morning, and may be running in just as it starts, again! Any topic ideas?