Category Archives: Art Journal

April 2, 2014 · 5:12 pm

Feeling Springy

Are you with me? Feeling springy yet? It is happening slowly but surely in my area–a day of sunny gorgeousness and then a few days of the dreary clouds. I see nature changing her coat from brown and drab to colorful and light and it does my spirit good. How does the change of seasons affect your art and creativity?

For me I notice my color palette changes to more brights and even more sparkle. I always love flowers but I love them even more in spring and summer.

I did the art journal page above for my last video as Swirlydoos Guest Educator for March. I really wanted to use one of the feathers from the art journal starter kit and some of the printed pages included in the Finnabair art journal. This was a simple page and it was the first time I’d ever colored a feather (I used a Lindy’s Stamp Gang mist held high above the feather so it didn’t get too saturated). Here is the facing page I did simultaneously with this one.

I used a lacy leaf and many layers of mediums for this page. I really like the symmetry of this leaf facing the feather page with their similar sizes and spine down the middle. I cross-pollinated colors from each page to the other as well. Here’s a pic of the pages next to each other.

Here is the next page I did in this particular journal–can you tell the season has been changing?

I had a great time playing with deli paper and various dry and heat embossing techniques, paints, and glazes. Those bright colors energize me!

Here is a page out of my usual art journal–

One of my internet friends is Patti Tolley Parrish of Inky Obsessions. I really like her art endeavors and her videos brighten my day every time I watch them. She recently released a new line of her own stencil designs from istencils.com and they are FAB! I used the Infinity design for this page with both spray mist (bottom right) and with glass bead gel (top left). The background was done with all Gelatos and the flowers are embossed and inked deli paper.

Lastly, I went to a paint and sip painting party a few weeks ago and did this painting. It was hugely fun to go with some girlfriends and follow along the step by step process. Don’t look too closely or the illusion that I am any kind of painter will be broken–haha!

Thanks for visiting and sharing part of your day with me!

Art Out With Your HeART Out

7 Comments

Filed under Art Journal, Musings

Tagged as art journal, deli paper, embossing, gelatos, mixed-media

March 6, 2014 · 10:28 am

Swirlydoos March Blog Hop–I’m A Guest Educator!

Hello, hello Friends! I am so excited to participate in the Swirlydoos March Blog Hop as a Guest Educator for the Art Journal Starter Kit. If you have been interested in art journaling this is a fine place to begin. I know you will see many gorgeous and creative inspirational projects from all the designers on the Swirlydoos Design Team and there are fabulous prizes in store for the winners of the hop. Thank you for visiting today and please stop by again soon!

Art Out With Your HeART Out

Welcome to:

Swirlydoos Kit Club

March Scrapbook Kit Reveal & Blog Hop!

If you came here from Petaloo’s blog, then you are on the right track. If not, go back to Swirlydoos’ blog and start from there. We have some amazing projects for you to see today !! Make sure to leave a comment on all of the blogs for a chance to win!!! Make sure you have LIKED & FOLLOWED Swirlydoos on Facebook!!!

Swirlydoos is proud to bring you our beautiful March collection:

Salutations

And check out these coordinating add ons that perfectly compliment our March scrapbook kit!

Are you a subscriber? If so, your kit is on it’s way! If not, check out the Swirlydoos store to see if there are any March kits or add ons in the store!

***All of our monthly scrapbook kits are available in our store while supplies last!***

Has it sold out? – become a subscriber and not only will you never miss a kit again, but you’ll also pay less for your monthly scrapbook kits!

*Mention this blog hop and save 10% on your first kit*

We have some absolutely beautiful scrapbook projects for you to see today !!

Here is my project for the blog hop!

Swirlygirl Journal

Beautified butterfly

Loads of texture and mixed media!

Lots of goodness in the Art Journal Starter Kit at Swirlydoos.com

I also prepared a video to show you the basics on how to prepare your pages and get started with your own art journal practice! Visit Swirlydoos channel on YouTube to check that out (http:\\swirlydoos.youtube.com).

So, let’s get started! Make sure to leave a comment on all of the blogs for a chance to win!!!

You have until midnight, eastern time, on Friday 3/7 to complete the hop. Winners will be announced on the Swirlydoos Blog on Saturday 3/8. In order to qualify to win here is what you need to do:

1: Visit all of the blogs and leave a comment on each. This way we know you were there. Take your time. There are REALLY beautiful things to see along the way.
2: Before you leave each blog, look for the “special” words and write it down.
Once you have visited all the blogs and collected all the special words, they will create a sentence.
3: Finally, go back to the Swirlydoos blog and leave a comment letting us know how much fun you had, tell us the sentence that was created with all of the special words you collected. Can’t wait to hear from you.

My special word is : SHADOWS

The party continues over at Paulien’s blog. Have fun!

67 Comments

Filed under Art Journal, Mixed Media Mania

Tagged as art journal, color, glass bead gel, mixed-media, Swirlydoos, texture

March 5, 2014 · 12:35 pm

Art Journal Update for February

Art Out With Your HeART Out

Hello hello friends! A quick check-in to show you some of my creative journey from February. I worked in my art journal a bit….

Neon Garden

This page started out because I wanted to play with twisted masking tape for texture. After I put down my masking tape and gessoed over it I stenciled the bricks and started squirting acrylic ink around and one thing led to another and thus was born Neon Garden.

I love, love, love, how the bricks turned out!

Abstract to the Max

When I began this page I knew I wanted to do something abstract so this was completely experimental. I kept layering and layering with mists, paint, gloss medium, and finally Vintaj Patina for Metal! I love the effect and texture that this medium added to my page. I used it in two different ways and can’t wait to experiment with it again. Here’s a couple of closeups….

More play with another Julie Nutting stamp. A reminder to myself to live in the Present! Renewed my love for Twinkling H2Os and texture paste!

The first scrapbook page I’ve done in quite awhile….

Last but certainly not least–

Proving to myself that I will never be a professional sketch artist!

Thanks for visiting today and I hope to see you again very soon!

Art Out With Your HeART Out

3 Comments

Filed under Art Journal, Mixed Media Mania

Tagged as abstract, art journal, katyoaprty, masking tape, mixed-media, texture, Vintaj metal patina

January 31, 2014 · 2:21 pm

Blending the Past and the Present

Hello hello! Hope all is well in your world. Thanks for visiting!

I did something today that involves blending the past and the present. I had a blog previous to this one and I wrote about a variety of subjects but many involved my creative projects. Well I discovered a WordPress tool that allows a blogger to meld one blog into another. So I did. Feel free to explore some of my older posts. I love comments–what blogger doesn’t–so let me know your thoughts!

For the past few weeks I’ve been obsessed with a few things–being creative, the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, and my team–the Denver Broncos!

Here are some creative projects I’ve worked on:

Super Simple and Sweet

Bloom Where You’re Planted In the Garden of Life

It Was A Wild Dance In Her Castle Of Dreams

It is said that art is in the eye of the beholder and although this might be a bit of a stretch…I appreciate all forms of art including sports! My most powerful current ~~obsession~~ appreciation of art is the Denver Broncos in the Superbowl this Sunday! Omaha Omaha–Hurry Hurry!! PFM PFM!! This Sunday will be SUPER! Time To Ride! Let’s go Broncos!

Until next time….Art Out With Your HeART Out!

4 Comments

Filed under Art Journal, Mixed Media Mania, Musings

Tagged as creative projects, Denver Broncos, Hurry Hurry, katyoparty, mixed-media, Omaha, PFM

January 4, 2014 · 2:56 pm

Which Path For The New Year?

I hope today’s post finds all of you healthy and happy in this new year! Even though the world in my area is freezing and cold, I am feeling warm and creative on the inside. I enjoyed creating ornament gift bags for holidays….

I really enjoyed decorating the tree….

Now that all of that is behind me, like a lot of people, I’ve been considering my goals for the new year. Personally my goals are much like many people–work on balance in my life, lose a few pounds, be fiscally responsible, yadda yadda yadda.

Artistically my goals are not so clear these days. I love working with paper and mixed-media and paint and art journaling and beads. Over the years my skills and interests have expanded and changed and morphed and melded into a wonderful and colorful experience. With the start of the new year I find myself wanting to turn some sort of page with my creativity.

For the past few years I’ve experimented with selling my one of a kind mixed media cards and met with some success but now there are various outlets (i.e. discount stores, box stores, kits) that now sell handmade “looking” cards for cheap. I’ve decided to continue making cards for my own personal giving and also for art abandonment and charity purposes but no longer for retail sale in the traditional sense.

I’ve also enjoyed scrapbooking for the past 8 years or so. I’ve filled some nice fat albums with my layouts and given them as gifts at times. My family enjoys looking through them from time to time and appreciates the work I’ve put into them. I’ve belonged to several monthly scrapbooking kit clubs over the years (currently Swirlydoos), but there is no denying it is not the be-all and end-all of my creativity these days. I will continue to do my kind of scrapping but I’ve decided to really limit my participation in challenges and round robins. Sometimes I have so many deadlines to meet that I am not taking time to experiment and explore creatively outside those things.

2013 found me delving into the world of YouTube videos and photo tutorials for learning things and laughing at things. I even delved into making some video and photo tutorials myself (yikes!) Look up the Katyoparty channel if you want to check those out. I am enjoying the fumbling and funny learning curve that making videos entails. There is so much more to it than just clicking record…… I am going to continue to experiment in that area.

My fascination for mixed-media has been growing over several years and that is what I am whole-heartedly embracing these days. Art journaling is my current obsession for experimentation. I am completely enamored of art journaling because there are no rules or expectations and you can mix any technique, medium, and/or elements you desire. Do what your heart desires–it’s all good! I am going to continue with my art journal play.

My mixed media play has now jumped to canvas and I’ve been adding more paint and other mediums but I’ve only experimented on small substrates. I want to work on something bigger–something really messy!

I’ve never been published so I’m going to submit something to somewhere at least three times this year. How’s that for a vague-ish goal????

Another of my goals is one that is very well-known by many…..

Dance Like No One Is Watching

Dance Like No One Is Watching!

Until next time….Art Out With Your HeART Out!

3 Comments

Filed under Art Journal, Mixed Media Mania, Musings

Tagged as mixed media art journal, paint, Swirlydoos

November 24, 2013 · 10:08 pm

Happiness=Creativity

Hello Hello! What a wonderful creative fall season I am having! I traveled to a beautiful, serene, and healing place for some rejuvenation and it was absolutely all those things. I returned with renewed inspiration and mojo! Here are some of the things that inspired me.

A reflection spiral–

Beautiful bronze sculpture…

Beautiful hiking

Warm hearth and warm heart….

Here is a journal page using a Stencil Girl stencil designed by Sue Pelletier.

I will share some more of my art very soon in my next post. In the meantime…

ArtOutWithYourHeARTOut!

2 Comments

Filed under Art Journal, Musings

Tagged as inspiration, mixed media art journal, Sue Pelletier.

August 7, 2013 · 7:59 pm

Summer Potpourri–Art Journal Update

As promised here are some other things I’ve been working on this speedy summer–where has it gone??!! My arting time has been more sparse than I prefer but I have been doing some creating! Here are a few art journal pages I’ve done this summer. I am still enjoying working in my art journal and experimenting with new ideas, supplies, and techniques.

I have been putting tape over my center seam on every set of pages to prevent bleed-through. I have also been gessoing every page for better “tooth”. This page I did some paint washing and then stamping and used some felt letters.

Acrylic paint over gesso, metallic paint, banner with Stickles “stringer”, stamping, outlined lettering, papers from stash.

Love the patterned paper I bought in a grab bag and also love the big bloom stamps and little poppy scraps from my stash. Acrylic paint on the edges.

One of my fav pages–hearts everywhere!! Heart stencils, heart stamps, hearts for everyone!

Must’ve been a blue day huh? Dylusions mists, Inkagold sparkly 3d paint, stamps, modeling paste. Fun and free flowing!

Experimenting with black gesso. One of the points of art journaling for me is that I want to use up some of those bits and bobs that are left over from projects. Too small to be a project on their own but I can’t bear to part with them. This page uses modeling paste colored with alcohol inks, embossed metal that is painted with gesso and alcohol inks, tiny laser cut butterflies colored with Smooch inks.

Last but not least…muted soft beachy colors and metallic acrylic paint. I textured the page with bubble wrap, and a piece of cardboard cut so it had teeth, a cardboard roll was used to make circular patterns along with a foam circle and square shapes.

Thank you for sharing my art journey and spending a bit of time with me today! Look for the glimpses of beauty in your everyday life and…

Art Out With Your HeART Out

4 Comments

Filed under Art Journal, Mixed Media Mania, Musings

Tagged as art journal, beachy, katyoparty, mixed-media, pattern, scrappin, texture

August 7, 2013 · 7:33 pm

Playing With Paper 53

Hello hello! I discovered the super fun app Paper 53 a few months ago and have been ~~wasting time~~ playing with it. If you haven’t given it a try you should. The free version is okay but for a few bucks you get all the tools. Here are some of my doodles…

Thanks for visiting!
Art Out With Your HeART Out

4 Comments

Filed under Art Journal, Doodlydoo

Tagged as digital art, Doodling, watercolor

May 24, 2013 · 3:38 am

Learning From My Art Journal

It’s been several days since I began my Art Journal Experience and I look forward to it every time. I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned so far.

–You can use up a lot of bits and bobs that you’ve been saving. The entry above I finally used the rose in the vase illustration which I had cut out of an old children’s book and had in my stash for at least 5 years.

–Don’t put a brad through the previous page without figuring out how you are going to camoflauge the back of it on the next page. Lesson learned. My least favorite part of this page is the metal tape embellishment I put over the back of the brad (upper left corner).

–Put masking tape over the center seam of the book before you cover it in gesso so your paints, inks, etc., don’t leak down into the book spine and bleed over into other pages.

–Put scrap paper under each page you are working on to keep any overflow mediums from going over the edges onto already done pages or the next page. Some people may not be as picky about this as I have discovered myself to be!

This page is pretty much strictly paint and a bit of Lindy’s Stamp Gang mist. I started out wanting to use up some of the scads of leftover alphabet stickers in my stash. You know how when you buy alphabet stickers and use up all the “good” ones and then you’re left with lots of consonants? I’ve created several items in the past using these poor “old maid” letters. If you look closely you’ll see the stickers are the base of the stems, leaves, and flowers on this page.

I started out this page wanting to use some InkaGold color pastes. I started with those vibrant Dylusions Spray Inks and then progressed to Luminarte Silks paints, some metallic 3d paints and finally added some painted masking tape I made months ago. On this page I learned that I love all these rich and shiny colors together!!

Other things I’ve learned:

–Roll with whatever you’re doing–there are no rules in your own art journal. Use whatever colors you want and put things anywhere you want. You are the Boss With The Hot Sauce…or the metallic paint as the case may be.

–Be patient when it comes to waiting for things to dry. I am completely impatient with this and my heat gun is my best friend. There are some mediums that dry differently if you force dry them and it kills me to have to let them air dry naturally. I will keep working on this.

The most important thing as always is….

Art Out With Your HeART Out