Under the Shagbark Hickory Tree

A provincial park near me has a wonderful tree that I love to sit under.

It's a huge, mature Shagbark Hickory that takes a while each spring to fill out... but when it does... it's glorious!

Lush, thick leaves tower toward the sky, providing welcome shade on hot summer days.  It has a nice amount of space under it where there are no branches - more than 8 feet of clearance.

I take a chair, blanket, snacks, book and camera and can happily spend a day there.
Some lovely sights within a few feet of my chair:

This is the sunny St. John's/Joan's Wort, the plant that helps keep my mood balanced without side effects since I've become sensitive to pharmaceuticals. It works best for mild to moderate depression but I have found that it does help lessen my severe depression and SAD, especially now that I've discovered some other supplements that help including (but not limited to :) folic acid, selenium, B12, vitamin D and 5HTP.

One of these days I'd love to grow and harvest it myself instead of buying it.

(please consult health care provider before using anything I mention :)

Does anyone know what kind of butterfly that is? 

P.S.

Just for fun... here's a photo of my cat sitting on a box... why not!?  ☺☺☺  He loves boxes and was a bit put out that 'his box' had been turned on it's side so he could no longer do his fancy leap into it.  But he made it work for him this way too ;-)

Doodle: Don't Wait! Do Something You Love Today

Much to my excitement, I sold my first drawing recently.
It's on it's way, all across the ocean, to Finland!  How awesome is that!?
I have 2 more copies of it in the Etsy shop I just created and more can be made if there's a demand.

This inspired me to draw more - something I really love but hadn't done for a while.  'Kiitos' Michelle! ☺

Here is one of the things I drew in the last week.  At 2.75" x 3.25"  it's not exactly the right size to be a wallet card... or an ATC... it's just a cute little reminder.  The size was dictated by some cardstock scraps I had.
I laminated it when done to protect from moisture.  My opinion on self laminating sheets is not high after trying them.  I used the kind that does not require heat to bond - it's a simple adhesive.  It was relatively easy to use but not nearly as durable as I would have liked.  The bonus was no fumes.  :-)

Apropos of nothing I'd like to say that ♥♥♥ I love, love, love my Micron pens. ♥♥♥  Wonderfully crisp lines that, once dry, most markers will not smear when colouring.

Front and back before colouring:

After colouring (unfortunately I really can't capture how vibrant the colours are in real life):

If you have a keen eye, you may notice that more detail got added after colouring.  I always want to add more and more.  Hard to know when to stop!
I will be taking my camera in to 'repair'.  Which usually means they just give me a new, upgraded one :-)
Maybe I will be able to take better photos soon!  Yay!

New Hard Drive... and a minor earthquake!

Sorry to have been incommunicado for a while.  My hard drive died.
I have a new one now and have finally worked out all of the tech issues (I hope!).
Soon I will have my photos back on here and can share some of what I've been up to creatively :-)

My little bit of 'excitement' recently:
I experienced an earthquake yesterday!  Well... just the mild tremors of the aftershock :-)
There was a mild, 5.0 earthquake centered in Quebec and it could be felt up to 500km away.  Yesterday afternoon I suddenly felt the house shaking and things on top of the fridge began to rattle.  In passing I mildly thought, "Maybe it's an earthquake... nah, just a big truck somewhere nearby."  But later found out there had, indeed, been an earthquake.  Not a common occurrence here at all.  I think the last one was over 10 years ago.  Of course this can really only be 'exciting' if no one gets hurt - which no one did from what I could tell.

I'll leave you with a photo from a few summers ago of where I'm daydreaming of being (instead of in the hot, humid, icky weather at home):

Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario, Canada.

Wild, breathtakingly beautiful, freezing cold water even in August (which never, no never, stops me from swimming :).

If you're somewhere hot, what do you do to keep cool?

Creatively Processing 'Darker' Emotions

I am a person with tendencies towards deep depression at times and have found creativity to be one of the few things that can help get me through those times.
Sometimes the 'darker' emotions are strong enough that I feel stuck creatively.
Those are times when I pull out magazines and go through them to find material for collages or art 'journal' pages (a bit of a misnomer since there is often very little journalling... but I'm not sure what else to call them).


Often, the images I will be drawn to cut out reflect my emotional state.
By the time I have cut out images for a while, I've been brought more into the present moment and reconnected with my creative juice - and am then able to collage or art journal.
Sometimes, this process actually lifts me out of the difficult emotions.  It feels healthy and healing - like the emotions are actually being processed, not ignored or shoved inside to hurt me.

Here are a few pages I did a while ago - adding to them each time I was in a dark place.  Sometimes these pages get journalled on later.

I give  myself permission to be messy :-)
In the above page, the background was done, in part, using this technique I came up with to create a  random/chaotic look on thin papers that would warp with wet mediums.

In the above piece, I wanted a messy stamp and didn't have one so I carved one from an eraser (stamp carving is another thing that can totally absorb me and bring me into the moment).

Are there certain creative things that can help you when you feel sad, angry or down?

Finding Beauty In Everyday Things

I try to notice the beautiful in everyday things - pleasing colours, shapes, textures and light.
Here are some pictures of things that have made me smile recently (apologies for the poor photo quality - neither my camera or editing program are great):

Vibrant pollen on Jacob's Ladder stamens - these smell divine!

Variegated yellow corn on the cob dripping with butter looked so wonderful against the blues of this awesome plate my mom made (she's a potter)

Both of the cats fit together on the tiny stool!  Which is more impressive if you know how... erm... wide the cat on the left actually is :-)   The cats love open windows.

I loved the contrast of the purple and green on this spring violet.

Luscious buttercup soaking up the sun.

I couldn't resist another photo of this amazing plate.  It is the most perfect toast plate ever!  I eat some pretty curious food - that's gluten-free toast and sunflower seed 'butter' with stevia sprinkled on top (to make it sweet) and sliced organic banana on the sides.

Tutorial: Making Colourful Backgrounds That Won't Warp Thin Papers

I finally created a photo tutorial for the art journal backgrounds I've been talking about.

The technique can also be used in card and tag making, bookmarks, collage, ATC's, handmade wrapping paper or anything you can think of!
I'd love if you shared your ideas in the comments area :-)

This is mostly a 'dry' technique meaning that it won't cause thin paper to warp or buckle when applied.
I do also include a variation of this technique that is 'wet' for those who don't mind buckling or who use thicker paper.  The wet version has some really awesome effects like these (and even more fun ones if you colour-mix):

I confess that I hate typing so I've written the directions right in the photos.  If anyone has trouble reading my messy printing, please let me know and I will type out the directions below each photo.
Also, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask them in the comments area.  I've turned off that pesky comment security device so you don't have to type in any characters before commenting :).

Okay... here we go!

*note*
I should have specified NON permanent markers :-)

*other types of plastic may give different effects - experiment if you like!

Eventually I will post a video showing just how quickly this is actually done :-)  The faster, the better.

 

WET Technique:

 

close-up:

 

~

 

If you try any of this out and post somewhere online, please share in the comments area!  I love seeing what others do :-)

A Meaningful Bookmark

photo taken in front of mirror to show front and back

shown separately below

I'm not much for words today but wanted to share a bookmark that I made for a loved one.  The CED theme for May was 'Intuition' and I tried to use entirely that when making this!  I went into it with no plan at all - just the intent that the bookmark would be one that would be meaningful to the receiver.
This person is someone who is a bit selective and it's hard to know what will be a good match for them.
Happily, it turned out far nicer than if I had planned it.  And the words and images on it felt like a good fit for the person.
Thanks intuition!
:-)

The backgrounds on both sides were done using a fun technique with plastic wrap and markers that I promise I will try to post about soon!  It works very well on thin paper without warping it but has a much more natural feel than if I tried to actually colour the background with markers.

The blue border on the darker side was done with the edge of a stamp I carved from an vinyl eraser with my new favourite toy: the Speedball Linoleum Cutter.
It feels about a million times better than using an exacto knife :-)

Slow Journalling on Conflict

A big thank you to Tammy of Daisy Yellow for introducing me to her style of Slow Journalling.  I found that I came to a deeper understanding of what I was journalling about than if I had written in the normal way. 
The care and time that it took to make my letters fit the varying sizes of space brought me more into the present and somehow, at the same time, tuned me into my intuition more.

Have you ever tried Slow Journalling?
At first it didn't appeal to me at all but I decided to try it and really enjoyed it.  It was a good stretch for me.

Grunge Star Rubbed Impression Page with Ink Pads and Cereal Box Stars

Did you save the shapes you cut out from the cereal box template project?
If not, you may end up cutting out shapes just to make fun pages like this one!

How To:

Lay a piece of thinner paper (ie printer paper) on a totally flat surface.

Take a stamp ink pad and lightly rub it and drag it around the page until you like how it looks.  *If you have an almost dried out ink pad this will be very easy.
All of mine are newer and the trick to prevent big blotches is to have the pressure so light there's almost none... and keep it moving!*

Repeat with as many colours as you like - preferably working from lighter to darker if you care about contaminating the lighter pads with darker colours.

When you like how it looks, take your cereal box shapes and lie them under the paper.

Take an ink pad of a darker colour (or the same as the most dark you have used so far) and rub over top of the paper in the area of the edges of the shapes until you like how it looks!

So simple and easy!

In the basic image above I just used 2 colours and only used the cereal box shapes on the final layer but you can play around to make this much more saturated, with shapes on various layers like this:

It only takes minutes to do but be warned - it's so much fun it can be addictive!
Now I just need a project to use these pages... which I will likely have way too many of soon :-)

If you do something like this and post on your blog or site, please let me know in the comments!  I'd love to share the links for readers.

How To Make A Drawing Template From A Cereal Box

Some people can draw crisp, clean shapes freehand.
Not I.
:-)

If I want a reliable, nicely drawn shape or line, I use a drawing template or ruler.
These are normally made from stiff plastic and are very durable.
At the moment, I have ones for circles, ovals and curvy lines.
I have been wanting ones for stars but am on a budget and felt like I couldn't justify the cost.
Instead, I decided to try making one from an old cereal box!
It won't be quite as durable as a plastic one but when it becomes unusable, I can simply recycle it and make another.

I used a cereal box but you could use any thick, firm 'boxboard' such as a facial tissue box, cookie box etc.  It needs to be thicker than cardstock paper.  I don't think this would work well with corrugated cardboard - it may be too flexible.

If you can draw well, you can draw shapes directly on the cereal box.
Or you can do as I did and print out shapes to use (many free templates can be found by searching Google with words like "free printable templates").
If printing, cut loosely around the shapes, leaving some of the printer paper around the shape - this will help you know where you have cut because the printer paper will be cut away.
In the picture below, the star on the right has already been cut out though I haven't popped out the piece yet.

Attach the shapes to the cereal box with a dab of gluestick.  This makes sure the paper doesn't slip while you are cutting.  You don't need to glue every bit of it though you can if you want.
Make sure you leave space between the shape and the edge of the cereal box - this will help the template be stronger.

Using a sharp exacto or utility knife, carefully cut along the outline of the shape.

I know you know this but I have to say, "Please be careful not to cut yourself!  Keep fingers, thumbs and other body parts out of the path of the knife" ;-)

I use a metal ruler as a guide - the cork that is normally on the back of these rulers has been removed so that it lies perfectly flat to the paper.
Cut from the outside edges of the shape towards the centre - that way you don't have to worry if you cut a bit too far - the extra cut will be into the centre piece that will be discarded at the end.
When you are done cutting around the shape, gently press from the bottom up to loosen the centre piece.
*If there are bits of the corner still attached, carefully cut them with an exacto knife.  Pop out the shape, trim any rough bits, trim the edges off the cereal box, recycle the scraps (or use them for one of the ideas mentioned below) and you're done!

In this second picture you can see the utility knife I switched to when I realised my exacto wasn't sharp enough to cut easily.  You can also see a 15-point star I drew using the small star template.
I still have room on this template to ad a few small stars.

*This template could be made stronger by gluing 2 layers of cereal box together.*

If you didn't cut too far into the centre of the shapes, you can use them for other crafts!

Here's one fun way I've used them so far:
Grunge Star Rubbed Impression Page

Other Possibilities: 

• collage on one side of the shapes and glue into an art journal page
• collage both sides and hang from a string somewhere just for fun
• cover both sides in some kind of pretty handmade or cardstock paper, decorate with sequins, beads, jewels etc... hang on a string
• glue onto canvas before painting to add depth/dimension

Do you have any other ideas for using the cut-out shape?

Tips to make this template process better/different?

Did you try this and post on your blog?

Please share in the comments area :-)