Category Archives: Musings

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!

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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!

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Filed under Art Journal, Mixed Media Mania, Musings

Tagged as mixed media art journal, paint, Swirlydoos

December 11, 2013 · 12:23 pm

A Post From The Tundra

Snow dancing!

I am only half joking as I write the title of this post. The high temperatures in the last week have been in the low teens to single digits. I am not a winter person. No sun = little ambition. Cold + no sun = no want to do nada. I’m not a math person either. Just FYI. In spite of all these calculations I have been making stuff. I’ve been making lots and lots of cards.

A pretty and girly card

A grungy card for mom using hand carved (by me) stamps, ball chain, altered ribbon, resin coating, and engraved foil tape.

Lots of mists, modeling paste, glass bead gel, Twinkling H2Os

Embossing, inks, and stamping

Back to the pretty pink and flowers, fussy cutting and ribbon

A tri-fold card with super patina and distresssed metal (started out shiny brass)–love this card!!!

Modeling paste, Lindy’s Stamp Gang mists, Inkagold pastes, and Silks

3D stencil paint, embellished Blue Fern Studios chipboard

All alcohol ink mixed with different mediums, except for the heart and wings which is colored with Inkagold

Small sign for a holiday fair booth

Custom birthday card made for client–antique doily piece, distressed chipboard keys and birdcage, stamping

Holiday cards packaged for sale

Custom birthday card for client–distressed barbedwire chipboard, modelling paste heart, bound like a book

holiday card using stencil cream, fussy cutting, flower and berry pick, ball chain and blingy dangle

Leftover snowflake die cut, piece of burlap string, stamping, distressing

glass bead gel on flower, misc leaf and berry pick, glitter smear, Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist

Stencil cream, doily pieces from stash colored with Lindys Stamp Gang mist, bling from stash

Non-traditional holiday card–distressing, twine, ribbons, stenciling, feathered flower colored with mists, Stickles touches

Ferro, Silks, mists,

Well, that last one is a layout of a most delightful salad I made one day!

I’ve also been working on some mixed media projects

5×7 flat canvas–used my photo

Wall hanging for a sweet little girl–Silks, acrylic paint, Gelatos, chipboard, lacy ribbon

5×7 canvas using all kinds of goodness including MuddPuddles–you can watch a video of the making of this piece on my YouTube channel–Katyoparty

Alcohol inks, stamping, Silks on recycled packaging–check out my YouTube channel–Katyoparty for more info on this project.

Please feel free to leave me questions, comments, compliments! Thanks for visiting!

ArtOutWithYourHeARTOut!

3 Comments

Filed under Mixed Media Mania, Musings

Tagged as alcohol inks, creativity, holiday card, katyoparty, mixed-media, Silks, texture

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!

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Filed under Art Journal, Musings

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

September 23, 2013 · 11:01 pm

Transitions

Fall is a time of transitions for Mother Nature. Fall is a time of transitions from the activities of the warm months of basking in the summer sun to the crisp temperatures and shorter days and slower pace of life Indoors. No longer do I crave those bright colored frozen desserts and drinks. It’s all about the transition to warm and hearty soups and rustic breads. It seems even my art palette is transitioning along with everything else. I’ve passed through my summer long pink phase and now find myself embracing rich metallic copper and bronze and vibrant rusts and reds. I’m leaning more toward leaves and straw and rough edged blooms. It’s strange and amazing how all these choices happen so subconsciously. I don’t plan on April 1st to use only bright tropical colors through Labor Day and then switch to a new palette through the winter months. Even the appeal of my favorite mermaid colors seems to have waned lately. I seem to be affected by strings of cloudy days and brittle cold temperatures so I am planning ahead this year. On those days when I feel as if I want to hibernate away and snarl at everyone within sight I am instead going to pull out all my brightest colors paints and inks and papers and recreate the beautiful warm scenes of summer. What do you plan to do to ward off the winter doldrums?

Art Out With Your HeART Out

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Filed under Musings

Tagged as Fall, nature, palette, transitions, vibrant colors, winter

August 14, 2013 · 10:33 am

Dragonfly Dreams Canvas

Dragonfly Dreams of Being a Mermaid

This is an 8″x10″ canvas board I picked up at a thrift store earlier this summer. I’m guessing it might be 15-20 years old because I got eight of them in various sizes that were still in their original packaging and all for $2! What’s a girl to do with all those blank boards but start smooshing and spreading and getting her hands messy!

I started out with summer colors–bright orange and turquoise blue but as you can see that didn’t last long. I ended up with “mermaid colors”. The dragonfly began as a Tattered Angels piece that I misted and then built up with acrylic paint, Inkagold, and Shiva Paintstiks. At some point it was outlined with a Pitt pen.

The canvas itself is layered over and over again. I started out experimenting with Kroma Krackle and I am in love with this stuff! You can see the deep cracks in many areas. I put it down on one layer but then went back with it several times after adding more layers with different mediums.

My “swaying” peacock feathers were stencilled with glass bead gel over several layers of paint, mist, and Inkagold paste. I love the variations of color that you can see through the bead gel. I continued to layer with 3d stencil paint and then toned down the gold with Smooch sprays, Lindy’s Stamp Gang sprays, and Shiva Paintstiks.

I also used Golden Crackle Paste to stencil some flowers randomly in one of the first layers I put in the background. I used some Vintag metal brads to anchor a simple organza ribbon for hanging.

I am happy with the way this canvas evolved and turned out. Thanks for visiting and come back soon because you never know what can happen when you….

Art Out With Your HeART Out

6 Comments

Filed under Mixed Media Mania, Musings

Tagged as dragonfly, katyoparty, mermaid colors, mixed-media, peacock feathers, Shiva Paintstiks, texture

August 10, 2013 · 10:05 pm

Passion Blossom Greetings!

Yesterday I made this simple card I call “In The Pink”. A bit of fussy cutting and some flowers!

In The Pink

Happy Day! Thanks for visiting!

Art Out With Your HeART Out

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Tagged as flowers, fussy cutting, katyoparty, pink, Prima, sweetheart

August 9, 2013 · 1:03 pm

Summer Potpourri–Car and Gardens

Hot Summer Wheels

Hello hello! Isn’t that the most beautiful summer car??!! Yeah–too bad it isn’t mine, but it does belong to a good friend. I thought I’d share some of the other things I’ve enjoyed this summer.

In June I went to a garden open house at the home of a local garden guru. It was absolutely gorgeous with the profusion of colors and vignettes around the property. Here are some of the shots I took:

Tiny drops of sunshine

A proliferation of perfume!

Purple buzz

A cornucopia of cacti!

Tiny Stone Gardens

Soothing Symmetry

Lush and Lovely

Circle in a Circle

The Artist’s Palette

Pond in Purple

Shaded Serenity

Sweet Eternal Slumber

I hope these images have given you a moment to take a deep breath and smile. Thank you for visiting today!

Art Out With Your HeART Out

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Tagged as flowers, Imperial, katyoparty, palette, summer

August 8, 2013 · 10:47 am

Transform It!

Hello hello! I wanted to share a layout I did this week for the August Swirlygirl Challenge over at Swirlydoos (http://swirlydoos.com/news.php). This month’s challenge is hosted by Christy at Creating With The Girls (http://creatingwiththegirls.blogspot.com/). The goal was to take a piece of paper and transform it’s look using whatever you wanted. Since I am a fan of mixed-media I pulled things from my bag of tricks….

Here is the Before:

Cotswald Manor by Splash of Color

This month’s kit from Swirlydoos is filled with the most beautiful papers it was hard for me to choose one to transform. They were all gorgeous on their own! That said–here is what I did…

In The Pink

I recently received some corrugated snowflakes in an RAK from the Funky Junkie Boutique (http://www.thefunkiejunkie.com/) so after gluing those down I continued layering with various and sundry mediums to get to the end result.

Here is a close-up:

I am obsessed with pink right now and can’t seem to get enough of it! The photo is from a clipart sheet I bought several years ago from ArtChix Studio (http://www.artchixstudio.com/shop/home.php?dir=home).

Here is a list of the supplies I used to create this:

Dylusions spray colorant in White Linen and Funky Fuschia

Inkagold in Rose

Liquid Pearls-Flamingo

Gelatos

Prime and Bo Bunny flowers

Plaid craft paint in County Twill

Versacolor ink pad in Peony

gesso mixed with Dylusions in Funky Fuschia

Heritage 3d Stencil paint

Thanks for visiting today and don’t forget to

ART OUT WITH YOUR HEART OUT

3 Comments

Filed under Mixed Media Mania, Musings

Tagged as flowers, katyoparty, mixed-media, pearls, texture

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.