Glam Girl Using Printmaking Unleashed Techniques

While I was participating in Traci Bautista's Printmaking Unleashed 30 day event, I did a lot of work on a bigger sheet and decided to do a Glam Girl over the top, ala Doodling Unleashed. I used a background I started two years ago when I took her Strathmore online class and started to add to it. I used stencils, spray paint and spray ink, found printing tools, markers, puffy paint, acrylic paint and more. So many things going on here. The flowers in her hair are decoupaged from deli paper print cut outs. I think she turned out pretty well. The photo doesn't show up well, but there are highlights using a metallic gold pen throughout her hair. It really shines in the light. Now all I need is a girly-girl granddaughter to give it to ;)

I am joining in Pink Saturday over at Beverly's place How Sweet the Sound today.

English Garden Art Journal Page for Round Robin

This is the original mock-up in my own book for the current altered book round-robin I am participating in. I wanted to try a mono-chromatic look, which is also a prompt from The Documented Life Project, found here, which is another challenge I am participating in.

To make the background, I gessoed the page, then scraped two colors of pink acrylic craft paint  onto the page with a credit card. Then I stenciled the flowers with white gesso. I stamped various flowers onto the page in varying colors of pink. Then I went over some of the flowers with texture paint, puffy paint or glitter glue. Then I stamped the title and outlined the letters in a darker pink pen. I did put a little green on for the flower stems and leaves. My dear husband pointed out that it really wasn't monochromatic, then. Oh well. It's my first try. I also tried shading some of the flowers and stems, but I wasn't particularly happy with how it turned out, so I abandoned that for the final version.

This is the final version of the book. The book theme I am working in this month is "An English Garden" and will eventually wing its way back to England to its owner. I have one more spread to do for her before I mail the book on to the next participant.

Altered Book Page - "Be Irreplaceable" & Pink Sat.

This was a fun spread to do in one of my altered books. I used up lots of scraps from other art journal endeavors. The background is made using paper that I used to spray other items with stencils. I just glued the paper down and trimmed. I love the vibrant colors. I also used the remains of a paper stencil that I had used to spray a red ink for another spread. That paper stencil had been used many times for many colors and was on its last legs for usefulness. I used the remains of the background paper to stamp on the quote from Coco Chanel. The image of the woman is from a greeting card and the car is a sticker. The paisley stamps were a one dollar purchase to use for the Bohemian themed book I was just working in as part of a round robin. I didn't actually end up using the stamps for that, but love them here. The quote was recommended by my two daughters. : )


I am linking up today with Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday.

Doodles Unleashed Workshop & Pink Saturday

It has been a while since I've posted, but I've been making art just the same. Today I want to post a few of the pieces I've made taking the Strathmore Online Workshop, Doodles Unleashed, by Traci Bautista. The Strathmore Online Workshops are a series of three free workshops and this one has been fabulous. You still have time to join in. There are two more this year, along with this one. I did it last year and it was fabulous. And they are absolutely free! I am learning so much!

These are my first attempts, so I'm not totally happy with the results, but I've learned a lot. The best thing is the freedom to just play that is an integral part of the workshop. I have never worked on this large scale before, so that is also a huge learning curve. And another huge bonus is that I have convinced both of my daughters to "art" with me. That has made it much more fun and meaningful - spending quality time with my girls.

This is from Lesson one, "Playful Printmaking".

Close-up detail.

This piece is quite large (18"X24") and is done mostly with water color and ink. It is from Lesson 2, "Spontaneous Watercolor Backgrounds".

Another Try at Lesson 1, "Playful Printmaking". Work in progress.

I have done more, and will post them later. The last two workshops are making her "Stylized faces", which she calls "Girly Glam." Lots of fun!


I am sharing over at Beverly's Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound. Join in the fun and check out many wonderful pinks!

Altered Book Round Robin - Vintage Gypsy

I have just finished participating in my first ever Altered Book Round Robin. I joined in with seven other participants from the Altering Without Limits (AWOL) Yahoo Group. My book theme was "Vintage Gypsy".  Each of us chose a theme and decorated our first page and the cover and sent them on their way. So this book is well-traveled over a time span of eight months and states from Arizona to Michigan. Below are photos of each page. I am so very excited and pleased with the final results.

Front cover

I textured the book cover with "Texture Magic", painted with Pearlescent Liquid Acrylic paint by Daler-Rowney, inked with brown ink to give a distressed, aged look, and then used rub-ons to embellish. I will go back and add more rub-ons and a title now that the book is back.

Front and Back Covers together

 Sign-in page on the front inside cover of the book. 

I collaged maps, painted with watered down gesso, and then stamped on the suitcases and lines. I like that each of our books had a place for each artist to sign in.

Instruction page

I used a tag inside an embellished pocket for my instructions.

This is my decorated page. 

I gessoed and decopauged a painted page, did some stamping and added an overlay on which I printed out a vintage picture of a gypsy. I then machine stitched the trim to the top of the page.

"Take Me With You" - Two-page spread by Sue Pierson.

This gorgeous spread was done by Sue Pierson. There is so much detail to this page. I don't know how well it shows up. She even has a tiny safety pin and charm on the bottom right page that says "Made with Love". Every detail is so amazing. The trim she added to the right side of the spread exactly matches the headband the little girl is wearing. If you click on the photo, maybe you can see more of the details.

"I See It In the Stars" two page spread by Linda Liabenow.

This is another wonderful page that is so colorful and intriguing. I love how she focused on the cards that gypsies use for fortune telling.

"Gypsy Life" by JoAnn Duplantis

I don't know if you can tell by the photo, but the background of these pages is a material that looks very much like riveted tin. So very cool. And I love how she added these two photos that look so very real. The one on the right is glossy and looks like a real photo. Notice the owl in the photo on the left! Awesome!

"Waiting For You" spread by Sandy Alsfasser
http://altered-artifacts.blogspot.com

This spread has beautiful layers, although I don't know how well the camera captures them. She has the rose leaves overhanging the book - I love that! She has wonderful dangly trim on the bottom that coordinates perfectly with my book cover. You can see the trim better in the photos of the Instruction page.

"A Gypsy Life" by Cynthia Chapman
Cynzplace

This wonderful spread has music sheets collaged on the background and three dimensional flowersl. It is so beautiful in real life. The photo does not do it justice. And I love, love the colors! The aged, sepia tones and the words collaged on the top.

"Raven's Call" by Wanda Smith

This is another gorgeous spread and I believe that the picture is torn from an old book. The poem she has added is perfect, along with the raven feather, the raven in the picture and the beautiful trim.

"Where Should I Go" by Terry Glover

This is the last entry and a very haunting one. The text is from a poem in a book called "Bury Me Standing" The Gypsies and Their Journey. I love, love the background and how she complimented her background with the existing page background.

Inside of Back Cover "Mailing List" and "Book Belongs To:"

I included a list with the names and addresses of all the participants. I read about doing this on a "How to" post about Round Robins somewhere, and I thought it was a great idea.

This is the last of the book. This was a super fun project and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves altering books. The schedule keeps you "arting" and the anticipation of what your final book will look like is wonderful. I must say that I was not disappointed. All of the ladies did a fabulous job!

I am linking up with Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. Pop over there and check out other wonderful pink posts. It is truly a great Meme and full of wonderful people.

How Sweet the Sound 

I am also linking up with Just Journals Link Party over at Marcia Beckett's blog, Dabblings.

Dabblings

A Smattering of Altered Book Pages & Pink Saturday

Today, in honor of Pink Saturday, I am posting a few altered book pages. I don't know whether they are actually complete - when do you know?

"Remember"

"Choose Gifts"

"The Birthday Fairy"

They are all pages that lend themselves to Christmas. Remember wonderful times with family is a very important part of Christmas for us. Choosing gifts is a special part of Christmas for us, too, because I think most of us show our love by giving gifts. It is really fun to try to find that perfect gift for someone that fits them and their personalities. Watching the smile on their faces when they open them is really awesome!

And last, but not least, is celebrating the reason for the season, Jesus' Birthday. It is often difficult to keep that in mind with all the hustle and bustle and the bombardment from media to buy! buy! buy! But this year, I am trying to focus more on the reason for the season.

I am linking up to Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. Take time today to go over and visit Beverly and the wonderful bloggers who post to celebrate Pink!

Last Rose of Summer - Pink Saturday

Below is a picture of our last little surviving rose from Summer. It is from my Fairy rose bush which often has the first blooms of summer and the last. She is a wonderful rose - requires almost no care and produces bountifully all season long.

Photograph by Jessie Leng - An Organized Madness Photography

Head over to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound and visit the other wonderful pink posts today.

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Guest Blogger Today at Balzer Designs

Today I am so thankful to be featured on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog as a guest blogger talking about altering my books and art journaling. I was just floored to even be asked. She is such a fabulous artist, so creative and full of energy. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that she is one of my art heroes! You can find the post here: Art Journaling Every Day - Altering a Book 

Here is the finished page that I submitted:

The Elf King

She hosts a monthly Art Journal Every Day blog party where people post there art journal pages. It is a great treat to visit the blogs to see all the creativity out there. Be sure to visit Julie's blog and get inspired!

I am also linking up with Beverly for Pink Saturday over at How Sweet the Sound. Stop over there and enjoy all the pink posts this weekend.

Autumn and Homecoming

Jess and her friends before homecoming.

Her sister did her hair.

Jess and her friend, Brigette.

I'm linking up with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. Pay her a visit and see all the wonderful Pinks that are being shared.

Birthday Bracelet - Pink Saturday

I bought myself a birthday present - a handmade pearl bracelet. The artist is from Washington D.C. and made it to look like cherry blossoms. I splurged, but it is beautiful.

I am linking up with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. Autumn is in full swing here in Michigan. Not a lot of pinks around - reds, oranges, yellows and greens. So if you are feeling the need for a little pink today, skip over to Beverly's Blog and enjoy the pinks!

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Spread Your Wings and Fly

This is a art journal piece that I just finished. I can't say that I am really happy with it. I kept working on it trying to improve it, and I have decided that it is done.

 Spread Your Wings and Fly

 It actually started out as a mock-up for a round robin I was doing, but I didn't really like how it turned out so I ended up doing something completely different for that one. But here it is - and maybe I'll have a fabulous idea at some point to make it better. But for now, it stays like this.

I am going to link up with Julie at Balzer Designs: Art Journal Every Day: September. You can visit her and see lots of wonderful art journal pages. Her own pages are just phenomenal! Great inspiration!

I am also going to link up with Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday! She always has such wonderful bloggers posting every imaginable type of pink. Go visit - I know you will love it!