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 :-)

Collaged Sketchbook Cover, Art Journal Page Backgrounds

After using it for a while, I decided that the plain brown cover of my ecojot sketchbook was crying out to be made colourful!
Here's the result... which I will likely add more to over time:

And here are a few glimpses of what's inside.

This page was intended to be a background for art journalling but when it was done, I liked it so much that I couldn't write on it!  So I added a little piece in the centre and it stands alone.

Techniques used include dragging dye-based ink pads across the paper, shading in white parts with chalk pastels, border made with a rubber stamp and then coloured in with pens and markers.  The background of the centre piece is made by lightly turning an ink pad in a complete circle.  The idea for using ink pads on background came from the wonderful post Creating Colorful Journal Pages by Aimee of Artsyville.  I am in love with her vibrant blog!  You can also see a video that shows this technique and a few more here:  Art Journal Page Backgrounds

Done on a piece of paper and glued into sketchbook.
The above page was done when I was using wetter background techniques... which caused the thin paper to warp.  I've come up with a great technique that avoids this problem and will post about it soon.
Yet another piece where I suddenly found I didn't want to fill in the sky with words.  Though I did write in metallic pen on the bottom part.
Alphabet stamps found at a dollar store.  Tree stamp was purchased, bird stamp was hand carved from a vinyl eraser (so much fun!).  If flipped around, it can stamp waves/water :-)

Mother's Day Poem

I've been doing so much more creating since spring has sprung but, as you've noticed, not much in the way of actualyl taking photos and posting here!  I hope to remedy that soon.
I'd love to get a scanner to make uploading much easier (my camera is not the greatest and I get frustrated with the poor quality).

This month's CED theme is Intuition - a theme close to my heart.
On Sunday my intuition spoke up and let me know there was a piece of prose just waiting to come out as a gift of appreciation for my mom.

Thankfully I listened to that intuitive voice and stopped what i was doing to write!

Here it is (it doesn't rhyme :):

It's Because Of You, Mom

Children learn best by watching and experiencing
not by being told.

Therefore, what makes a great mom has nothing to do with parenting 'skills'
and everything to do with the kind of person they are.
That is what their children learn to be.
 
It's because of you, Mom,
That your children are the kind of people who
hold doors for strangers,
tip waitresses,
save worms after rainstorms
and encourage their friends to contribute to food banks.

It's because of you, Mom,
that your children are people who know it's
polite to say please and thank you,
rude to stare,
and
would never dream of butting in line ahead of someone!

It's because of you, Mom,
that your children are people who
are considerate of the elderly, the disabled, the infirm
and
treat animals and plants with respect.

It's because of you, Mom,
that your children are good people.

A greater gift I cannot imagine.

Thank you,
from the bottom of my heart,
for who I am.

I Won A Giveaway! Yay!

I'm so excited!

I just won my first giveaway that was put on by Rachel - a fellow Creative Every Day participant.
She blogs at Curls O Fred and her own words speak far better than mine would to her process there:
"As an attempt to express, process, and grieve after the loss of my daughter who was stillborn due to placental abruption at 30 weeks, this blog will be my words, pictures, paintings, drawings in my long journey away from a mere existence to true living again."
Her words and works of art regularly move me.  I am inspired by her determination to move toward truly living life again while still honouring her loss and grief.

I won an awesome bookmark and magnet that will be wonderful reminders of Rachel's indomitable spirit (and hopefully motivate me to pull myself up out of the mental muck and self-pity that I let myself get mired in so often).

You can go here to see the beautiful, vibrant pieces offered in the giveaway: Curls O Fred Giveaway

Spring poem "THIS is being alive"

I awoke early today and was out walking as the sun just barely came above the horizon.  It is warm here in southern Ontario and the wind was delicious and smelled fresh.  It was a joyful walk and a wonderful morning

Upon return, I felt like writing for the first time in a long time.
I've posted the poem/prose over at my wordy blog May Words Flow.
It's called "THIS is being alive"

Redbird sings
sweet piercing
sunrise salutation

Robins, en masse,
hunt for breakfast

and a school janitor
quietly collects garbage
blown around by the night winds.

After walking,
I sit on a bench
and raise my arms to the sky.

Sitting here typing now,
I look out the window and see
a rainbow!

This
is being alive.

Magic Tags and Love Collage

Made from scraps of failed paintings and filled with words I love, interspersed with sparkly tinsel, these 'magic tags' all in a row make my art room a happier place:

Update: I finally came across the photo that inspired me to do these (although the method is a bit different, the core idea was from here).  Like much of my favourite inspiration, this came from Daisy Yellow (thank again Tammy!).

While sorting boxes, I found a collage done a few years ago.
It is so simple yet when I got to this point, I loved how it looked and didn't want to clutter it up!  The wonderful image in the centre is by an artist I love - Susan Seddon Boulet.

Green Your Art! Ecojot Sketchbooks and Journals Review

Ecojot sketchbooks and journals are AWESOME!  I totally love them.
I love the spiral binding that allows me to lie them flat or fold them all the way over, I love the texture and brightness of the paper, but most of all, I love that they don't use chlorine to whiten the paper.

I first found Ecojot when I was searching for paper that had not been whitened with chlorine (because I react to chlorine-whitened paper).  I even have to use chlorine-free kleenex, paper towel and toilet paper (not to mention 'feminine' products ;-).

The first thing I found by them was a spiral-bound journal (the lines are veggie-based inks!).  Suddenly I could write without wearing gloves to protect my skin from the chlorine!!  Awesome!
Then I discovered... to my absolute joy... sketchbooks!
With wonderful, funky covers made with vegetable-based inks and glues - less toxic than regular inks used in printing.  They have sketchbooks with plain covers if you prefer to decorate your own.
They also have scrapbooks, folders, cards, wrapping paper and more.

In addition to using veggie based, biodegradable inks and glues, and whitening with hydrogen peroxide, Ecojot papers, including the hard fronts and backs of books, are 100% recycled and acid-free!  And the few products that have packaging use biodegradable corn-based plastic wrap.  A purchase you can feel good about on every level.

If you have high speed internet, I encourage you to check out their catalogue (will be slow on dial-up).
They also have e-cards. :-)

The sketchbook paper takes every medium I've tried on it well: ink, marker, glue, pencil and pencil crayon.  Some examples of things I've done in these sketchbooks are: Home, Joy, the as-yet-uncoloured flower shown below, and the 'Inspiration Cloud' shown in the image above (you can see a bigger version here.)

What's your favourite eco-friendly art supply or material?

Cute Paper Flower... King Arthur had a parrot!

Did you know that King Arthur, of legend, had a pet parrot?
Neither did I!
I bought an Arthurian Mythology book for 50 cents recently to use for altered pages and that tidbit popped up on a page I was using to paint background to use for paper flowers.
I've seen paper flowers on a few different sites and decided to try my hand at making one. You can make them more 3D than this but I wanted to be able to mail it in a regular envelope to a friend.


Here's the front, it hangs on the wall by a string:

Once I realised that I needed a bead on the back to tie the knot to, I decided I may as well make the back look not half bad (but not so nice that my friend would have trouble deciding which should face out:).
The back view:

After I strung the flower, I spun the layers around until I liked how they were, then used dabs of gluestick under each petal to hold them in place.

It lies almost flat on the wall.

There are infinite possibilities for paper flowers or non-flower decorations!
I love having something funky that can fit in an envelope to brighten someone's day.

Materials:

watercolour paint

page from book

scrap paper

double-sided cardstock (middles layer)

homemade 'milk paint' (food colour and evaporated milk with extra milk powder added)

string

sequins

beads

scissors

gluestick

sparkles