• Around home - Blog

    T Tuesday: new chapters edition

    Welcome to T stands for Tuesday…grab a cup and stay a while.

    Last week I had a scheduled post as the boy and I were on a college visit. It was a dreary day but we enjoyed our time on campus very much.

    As we were eating lunch in the dining hall, J said “I could see myself going here.” That’s good sign. This of course was just the first of several visits to different colleges that we plan to see. It’s a tiny very rural college, in fact they have a horse barn so students can stable their horse if they like. I can’t even make that up! It feels as if you are driving to the middle of nowhere. This thought had me giggling when we opened the info packet. The slogan on their brochure was “Welcome to the middle of somewhere”. Very clever!!

    The other thing I mentioned in last weeks post was that I was getting a new washing machine…here it is! I’m super happy with it so far. I’ve been working at rearranging and purging a bit in my laundry room/craft room first in preparation and now after the fact.

    Here’s a work in progress shot. So much stuff and so little space! Time to make some difficult decisions.

    Two bags of books and a box of misc was easier than I thought to get rid of. I also threw away half a bag of random bits and pieces that weren’t worth donating and brought a small stack of papers and supplies to my crafty neighbor to share with her extended craft circle.

    Ah yes…looking better! But now we just learned that my in-laws want to give us their treadmill….that means my sew table will have to be taken down and all my sewing supplies will need to find a new home…somewhere. It seems that my quest of organization and pairing down has only just begun.

    I have done some crafting and a bit of art journaling. My latest journal page is in the previous post. I’ll share my crafty bits I made at craft club in another post.

    That’s it for now. I have some errands to run today including a trip to Goodwill with my donations.

    What are you doing today?

  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    Almost forgotten

    I haven’t been abducted by aliens or went off the grid or any other highly improbable ideas…just taking some time off from computers. I’ve been diligently working at organizing my craft area, doing taxes for the family and caring for my mom. It seems there is no leftover time.

    That being said…I did take time to create a journal page. I once again created an overly thick page in a very skinny journal. The poor book will soon be permanently splayed open.almost forgotten art journal page

    I layered small pieces of both card stock and scrapbook paper one opposite sides of the spread as the base of my composition trying to create a sense of balance and movement through the pages. Then added torn bits of fabric and finally some thick upholstery trim again to each side.

    almost forgotten art journal page

    I then came in with color mists in a couple shades of brown. I dragged color along the edge of the page then lightly spritzed with water to make it run…dabbing off any excess as I went. Drying with my heat gun at various stages when I wanted something to stay exactly the way it was.

    almost forgotten art journal page

    Oh yes…I almost forgot. I lightly added modeling paste BEFORE the color mists making sure it was dry before the color processing. This gave some great texture.

    After I was happy with the color I lightly drew around some of the papers and smudged with my finger to create a shadow.

    The last piece was my found text. The phrase almost forgotten fit both the feel of the page and how I was feeling about my blog and the actual creative process lately. I’ve been putting creativity on the back burner for a little while and it’s making me crabby. Hopefully I can squeak in a bit of creative time here and there so I don’t get too snippy.

    almost forgotten art journal page

  • Around home - Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: behind the scenes edition

    This post was meant to be published last week. That just didn’t happen so I’m presenting it this week for T stands for Tuesday. I must also confess that I’m scheduling this as I will be on a college visit with J. AAAHHHH…did I just say that!?! My first born can’t be ready for this right?!? Time…whoosh.

    Anyway….back to the post.

    I wanted to share a journal page that I started with the intention of fitting a challenge theme. I quickly took a sharp left and did my own thing.

    I used a preprinted background in purple and gold….everything else just seemed to happen over the top.

    Little bits of this and that…napkin, ribbon, trim and found text.

    In the end even though my creativity went in a different direction I was very happy with the result.

    Shortly after taking the photos of my newly created page I turned around and spied this…

    Now you know the secret of my backdrop. It’s a barn wood frame I picked up at a garage sale. It is a perfect backdrop in my opinion for the majority of my projects.  

    Currently the barn wood frame rests on the bottom of the plant cart…and Marvin rest upon it.  Soon the frame will have to move as I will be starting my seeds. I can’t wait for gardening!! We got a new LED grow light in the mail the other day that should help immensely with a full spectrum set of bulbs. I’ll likely share that in a later post. 

    Until then Marvin is enjoying his new found sunning spot. Just look at those whiskers!!!!

    The other thing I managed to do over the weekend was the reorganization of my primary work zone. I won’t show the rest of the area right now because it’s still kind of crazy! And frankly will be until at least next weekend…did I mention my craft room is my laundry room? My washing machine is on it’s very last leg…as in, I’m afraid to wash another load. Mr. G has replaced several parts over the years to keep it in service but alas this last repair would cost nearly what a new machine would so I have ordered a new one…delivery on Thursday.

    So as I’m off visiting a college campus…what are you doing?