• Art - Blog

    Wishes and dreams

    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.

    Art Journal Journey

    I am linking up with Art Journal Journey today. The theme of the  month is Inspired by Autumn colors. The warm browns and splash of orange fit into my vision of the Autumn landscape around me.

  • Blog - Outdoors - Tutorials

    T Tuesday: smudge stick edition

    During the process of putting the garden to bed for the winter, I drastically trimmed back my herbs. Now I am crossing my fingers that the plants themselves will overwinter.

    Anyway I decided to make some smudge sticks as I have heard that burning sage helps deter mosquitoes.  Worth a try.

    IMG_0619

    I found a spool of heavy duty cotton button thread in my stash and set to work.

    Smudge sticks

    I likely could have made 4 bundles but honestly they were a pain to make. It will be interesting to see if they work next summer.

    I’m linking up once again with Elizabeth for T stands for Tuesday

    vintage look tea

    my beverage is coffee again. Soon with the weather changing I’ll be back to tea to stay warm.

    Lots on calendar today including 2 doctor appointments.

    What are you doing today?

  • Art - Blog - Crafts

    A second look: Creative ADD

    Secondlook

    This month for Second on the 2nd, I’m sharing a post from February 2012 that still makes me laugh at how all over the place my creativity takes me. Sometimes even in the course of a day. Right now I’m just wishing that creativity would kick back into gear…I’m in a bit of a dry patch on the creativity front.

    Join me for a look back…

    eyes

    I’ve been all over the place lately when it comes to creativity.
    I think I may have Art ADD (attention deficit disorder).
    Ok…some might argue that I have ADD in other areas of my life as well but the Art ADD is self-diagnosed.
    I blame the other on Motherhood. Children steal you’re ability to keep a clear running thought in your head. 🙂 But I wouldn’t change a thing.
    Anyway…these are the things I’ve done in the past week.
    I papered our recycling cabinet to match the fridge.
    Knit another dishcloth on the loom

    Knit a cowl on the loom…

    Miniature terrain on a recycled CD…
    Another terrain piece…
    And last night I started another twirly crochet scarf because my elbow was hurting from the repetitive motion of the knitting.
    Crochet seems to work my wrist more and doesn’t bother me.

    In addition I’ve been washing and ironing my way through a large box of old linens. Deciding what is decent enough to save and use and what I can use in my artwork. Vintage linens and fabric are part of my idea for the Postcard Challenge book.

    So, yeah…definitely Art ADD.

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    That was a crazy amount of creativity in a short amount of time. It would have been really great to bottle a bit of that enthusiasm for a later date such as now!

    On a side note…what do you think of my blog makeover? I was feeling the need for a change. I’m still tweaking things here and there.  Please let me know if anything is weird or not functional for you. Thanks!!