• Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: Christmas and catching up edition

    January 5, 2021 - By 

    It’s certainly been a while since I have joined in on T stands for Tuesday. So much, yet so little has happened.

    This doodle is from before Winter break. Since I have had the same class over and over, I tend to doodle while waiting  for my small group time to begin. I never realized how often I doodle until distance learning began.

    Winter break started a bit early for me…similar to last year. My back was giving me trouble from all the sitting. UGH! At least we found out that we are going to back to hybrid in-person learning mid-Feb. Since all the sitting is really hard on me I tackled making a new table for the treadmill.

    It still needs a bit of work as it now tilts backward a bit which is kind of uncomfortable to type. But now I have the ability to slowly walk or just stand when I need to and still work. I’ve been working from school some days as well to change things up.

    Christmas was a quiet one. We had a blizzard on the 23rd that lasted into Christmas Eve. Not a big deal when you aren’t going any where. The drifts were crazy in places…these were just cool!

    We had fondue and played a couple board games…a nice and peaceful day.

    Marvin always enjoys posing in front of the tree for me. He’s kind of a diva.

    And what self-respecting cat wouldn’t crawl into a present box. Of course he’s huge and didn’t completely fit.

    Since I hadn’t been creative at all for what seemed like weeks I did a page in an art journal to start off the new year. I don’t love it but that ok. Just trying to start the year off right.

    Speaking of starting off the year right…I have chosen the word Strength for my Word of the Year.

    You can check out the post by clicking on the image in the sidebar.

    And if you were curious how I did with last years word: Mindful…be sure to check out that post as well.

    I’ll leave you with a my breakfast and my fortune from last evening.

    T stands for Tuesday
    Today has me working from home.
    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    A second look: Wishes and Dreams

    January 2, 2021 - By 

    I thought I’d play along today with Second on the 2nd and share a second look at an art journal page I had a lot of fun creating.

    Take a look….

    Wishes and Dreams – 11/7/2015

    I’ve been very drawn to the multi layered look of journal pages, collage and mixed media of all sorts lately. The more textural, the better. As I sat down to create, I had two things in mind…texture and spray mist color.

    wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    I placed masking tape down the spine then layered joint tape randomly in opposite corners of the pages. Next I gave the whole thing a thin coat of gesso.  Even with the thin coat of gesso, I got impatient waiting for it to dry so I started spraying sooner than I likely should have.

    wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    At this point everything was so wet I had to walk away.

    After it was thoroughly dry, I began laying down some texture.  I used foreign text from a Brothers Grimm fairy tales book, leftover burlap from my monogram wreath, rusted fabric, a clothing tag and a bit of calico fabric for my layers.

    wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    In addition I used a punched square from an old greeting card as a focal image on the left hand page. A sweet little girl blowing a dandelion seed head making a wish.

    wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    Which ties into the words I used on the clothing tag. The words are from a Tim Holtz sticker pack.  I cut the phrase apart to place on the clothing tag.

    I watered down some black craft paint to make splatters but was unhappy with the result so I attempted to soak them up with a cloth.

    wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

    Lastly I used vintage photo distress ink to stamp a floral vine in opposite corners to give balance to the pages.

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    Hope you had a happy and safe New Year! Wishing you all the best in 2021!

     

  • Blog

    2021 WOTY

    January 1, 2021 - By 

    In years past I have struggled over my word choice. This year Strength came to me and I never second guessed it. It was perfect.

    Strength of character, of body, of resolve.

    If this past year has taught me anything, it’s that strength is so important.  Life isn’t always easy, it’s messy and sometimes really hard. But having inner strength can take you a long way.

    Physical strength is a good thing as well. This will be important for my gardening goals this summer.

    As I go through the coming year, strength will play a big part in a variety of ways.