Life is what you make it

The Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn is a year long creative challenge,

using a letter from the alphabet every two weeks as inspiration. 

The next letter (as it is not being done in alphabetical order) is

L

& we must include a definition of our chosen word.

I am making a set of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for this challenge.

I have chosen the word
Life

Artist Trading Card (ATC)

One of the key factors of Resilience,
which is my chosen theme for my art this year,
is realistic optimism,
making conscious decisions to turn negatives into positives.

Understanding that with each and every experience,
you can learn valuable lessons.

Ultimately, life is what you make it.

The words were cut from the same old book that I use as a resource for my work.

I love searching through it to find just the right words.

The image of the girl is from The Graphics Fairy.

The patterned paper is by K & Company.

This ATC will have a place in my Art Journal for Week 8.

Art Journal Week 7

With Valentines Day during week 7, thoughts turned to those I love & those I have loved.

Art Journal page inspired by the Colour Me Positive prompt.

I used acrylic paint to create the background, aiming for a watercolour style.

I used a Stabio All pencil in black to draw the outline of my grid,

smudging the edges with a damp paintbrush.

I cut the flowers & heart from the cellophane & paper

that were used to wrap a bunch of flowers,

a gift from Valentines Day.

I searched through my blog for all my "heart" postings

& came across one from eight years ago,

in which I wrote a poem for a very dear friend of mine,

who sadly is no longer in my life.

The words do overpower the page,

but after hesitating for far too long, I just went with it.

I decided to cover over some of the words, so added a hinged ATC.

The base paper is more of the bouquet wrapping paper.

The other papers are from a very old patterned paper pad by Lasting Impressions.

I added a square of textured paper, a gift from my dear sister.

The final touch was a few more words,
this time from a sheet of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Remnant Rubs
& a little Tissue Tape.

Remember to cherish those you love & care for.

Art Journal Week 6

This is the completed art journal page for Week 6.

The Artist Trading Card (ATC) was made for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge.

Click here to find out more about this piece.

Artist Trading Card (ATC)

I have followed the week's prompt on Colour Me Positive.

I used the same technique to create the page background as per Week 5,

but this time used a black pen to outline the sections & doodle.

The words in this section were cut from the same old book that I use as a resource for my work.

Here are Week 5 & 6 side by side.

I added a butterfly from BGU to help tie the two pages together.

On point

The Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn is a year long creative challenge,

using a letter from the alphabet every two weeks as inspiration. 

The next letter (as it is not being done in alphabetical order) is

F

& this time, we must include a heart
in addition to the definition of our chosen word.

I am making a set of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for this challenge.

Following my theme this year, I have chosen the word
Flexible.

We should be flexible in our thinking, adapting to new situations
& improvising when we come across different types of challenges.

The image of the ballerina is from The Graphics Fairy.

I chose her as she was forming a heart shape with her arms & hands,

& she needs to be flexible to dance ballet.

I have given her a little pink heart.

The butterfly is from a collage sheet included in this month's BGU Soul School class.

The patterned paper is by K & Company.

This ATC will have a place in my Art Journal for Week 6.

Art Journal Week 5

Week 5

I have followed the prompt on Colour Me Positive,
although I have put my own spin on it.

The image of the couple is from The Graphics Fairy.

Truth Card

The Truth Card is from this month's Soul School class from BGU,

together with the patterned papers & butterflies.

I have added a few glitter gems to add a little sparkle to the page.

The journal page background is acrylic paint applied over gesso,
with some paint removed by using a wet wipe through a Tim Holtz stencil,
to reveal the white gesso underneath.

I have then used a white uni-ball Signo pen to outline the sections
& doodle around the edge of the page.

Art Journal Week 4

I have followed the prompt on Colour Me Positive,
by using a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I have added journaling on the reverse side of the card.

This is my Artist Trading Card (ATC) for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge.

Click here to find out more about this piece.

The image of the girl is from Lisa's Altered Art

& the papers are from K & Company.

The background is acrylic paint, with gesso applied through a Tim Holtz stencil.

Let me think ...

This is my Artist Trading Card (ATC)
for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge.

The next letter is Q.

The letter Q is always is a tough one,
especially when you are working with a theme.

Throughout this year
I am focusing on the word
Resilience
for my art projects.

One of the aspects of this is to understand
your thought patterns when you face a challenge.

When faced with a challenge, you can react in a variety of ways,

so you should train your thinking to focus on the solution,
thus reducing stress & anxiety.

Whilst you cannot control some situations or events,

you can learn to control how you react to them.

These words were cut out from an old book that I use for my art projects.

 The patterned paper is by K & Company

from their K-ology Addison range.

The image of the girl is from Lisa's Altered Art.

This ATC will have place in my Art Journal for Week 4.

Art Journal Week 3

I have followed the prompt on Colour Me Positive,
by using a Haiku I wrote last year 

Every minute counts

As time passes by so fast

Each moment matters

The background is acrylic paint,
with Distress Ink (broken china)

overlaid using a Crafters Workshop stencil.

The paper shapes are torn from an old book, adhered with Mod Podge.

There was a moment of pure delight when I noticed the words on this square.

Serendipity in action.

I am trying to keep my pages simple, but varied.

I made an ATC inspire by the snowy day we had at the weekend.

The image of the girl is from Lisa's Altered Art
& the papers are from K & Company.

The image of the clock face is from The Graphics Fairy.

I have now added another graphic to this page, from Shanty2Chic.

My Art Journal is always a work in progress ...

New Beginnings

During the first few weeks of January,
I have given much thought to how I want to spend my creative time this year
& have settled on a few ideas.

I have chosen a word to focus on during 2016, which will form the basis for my art projects.

Resilience

It is a multifaceted word which will allow me to draw inspiration
from it's many parts throughout the year.

More on that later.

I will be working in an art journal, which is the same Dylusions journal by Ranger,
that I started to use for the Documented Life Project last year.

Those pages have been removed, so that I can begin again with a fresh clean journal.

Using one page for each week, I have enough pages left to last the year.

I created a page template, which can be used four different ways 

& will bring some continuity to my pages.

The large rectangles are big enough to contain an ATC
& the smaller squares can be used for inchies.

My journal will be a way to document my year, with space to insert other projects along the way.

For Week 1,
I have used the prompt from Colour Me Positive,
together with a Truth Card from BGU.

I have also used the space to include a couple of cut-outs from a publication.

This new butterfly, which has been named after Sir David Attenborough,
is a Black-Eyed Satyr.

Hidden under the Truth Card, is something that made me laugh.

Truth Card hinged using Tissue Tape

The background was made using acrylic paint, over a textured gesso layer,
then Gelatos (Passion Fruit) through a Tim Holtz Bubble stencil
& the larger circles were made using a Faber-Castell dabber tool.
                                                                                                                                   
Week 2,
I again followed the prompt from CMP,
together with an ATC made for The Craft Barn 2016 Alpha Challenge.

ATC attached to journal using photo corners

I have decided to join in with their challenge as I thoroughly enjoyed it in 2013,
but this time I will be making ATCs rather than tags.

I grabbed an old dictionary from the bookshelf
& a part used pack of paper by K & Company
from their K-ology Addison range.

I have used a small blue gemstone for the bird's eye.

The bird image was from The Graphics Fairy,
(as was the image of the girl,
which is held in place by a strip of tissue tape from Tim Holtz).

The background was made using acrylic paint, over a textured gesso layer,
then black acrylic paint through a Tim Holtz Flourish stencil.

Both pages were edged with black acrylic paint.

A look back at 2015

At this time of year, as one draws to an end
& another begins to unravel, I like to reflect on my creative work.

I tried several different things, but there are two projects which stand out for me.

I joined in with ICAD this year, on my own terms,

but still following the general idea & prompts.

Here is a short video of the thirty-six index cards that I made.

If you are interested in learning more, just click on the ICAD2015 tag.

The second was a year long project of my own, which I called Waddington Weekly.

Here is a short video of all fifty-two altered playing cards.

If you are interested in learning more, click on the link above or on the Waddington Weekly tag.

I have a few ideas for 2016, but nothing certain as yet.

Blogs per se seem to be fading into obscurity,

but mine has always been about being a place where I just record my art projects,

like an art journal.

Visitors may be few & far between,

but I will continue to leave it as an open resource.

I have enjoyed my creative journey this year

& am looking forward to seeing what adventures 2016 brings.