Monday, September 8, 2014

A Happier Place

I've got a bunch of stuff to share this time.  

First, I'm going to share my Journal 52 (J52) page from last week.  The prompt was to "make a page that's all about time" and here's what I did:



"over time"

I got the inspiration for this page from this song, "Over Time" by Lucinda Williams (you may want to turn down your speakers, btw, because the tremolo on this song is pretty loud):



I had some sad-sackery insights into this page and song and was going to get all philosophical and blah, blah, blah...but then I stopped myself.

I've been on a binge of depressing stuff for WAY too long, and I'm going to try to pull myself out of that habit.  It gets old, you know?  

So I'm sorry for the long term wiener-ness that's been happening on the blog and let's try to have a binge of good stuff for a while, ok? :)


For this week's Documented Life (DLP) the prompt was to "use a white pen prominently on your page" and here's what I did:


The right page is actually a dark purple, but for some reason it's showing up funky...I don't know why...camera user error is my best guess...

This spread was a little bit of a battle for me.  I had done something else completely, but the pages sucked up the white pen and it was really faint in the end.  I decided to start over and painted over everything with acrylic paint.  I like it much better now.

I love the way the background shows through the paint on this and that the previous layer picked up too!

On the left page especially, you can see parts of the original stuff I had done (and the SmashBook image, a rotary phone, comes through as well)...I think that's pretty neat.  And I like the way the blue and orange set each other off so well...oh complimentary colors, you are making my day!


"Don't you know yet?  It is your light that lights the world." - Rumi


I saw that quote on Pinterest (where else?) and thought it was a good one to use with the white pen on dark backgrounds.  

Wouldn't that be such a nice thing to have someone say to you?  "Don't you know yet?"  I like that...  Sometimes we don't see our own good things...but someone out there does.  The "yet" gets me right in the feels, because he's saying 'one day you'll see it too'...that's such a nice thought!

And finally, this week's J52 prompt, "Create a page that has a lot of texture":

I was inspired by the fortune cookie fortune I got on Friday: "Now is a good time to explore the nearest coastline."

Can I just tell you how very stinking happy this piece makes me?  Cause OOH BABY!!!  I love looking at it!  Seriously, like running around the house holding it above my head going "TRA-LA-LA" because I love it that much!

Here are the textures I used (I tried to pack as many as I could into this one spread): crackle paint (thick layer for big cracks), coarse texture gel, glitter glue (cheapie kind) and Stickles  for the sand textures, gloss gel medium  (tinted and not tinted) and acrylic paint with micro beads added to it for the water, THIS aluminum foil technique for the palm tree trunk (I used brown paint instead of black), book pages, handmade paper, and crackle paint (thin layer for smaller cracks) for the palm leaves, and Crackle Accents, Enamel Accents (the black holes) and Souffle Pen (white accents on the holes) for the coconuts.

Be impressed because I cut all the shapes out freehand, and if you know me, you know how much I don't care for snipping! :)



I like it so much I have to show you two pictures, because this one shows better just how shiny the water is...ooh  I can't stand how much I like this!

I did this piece on Grungepaper (from Tim Holtz/Ranger).  The dimensions of it is 12x6, and so it's a weird shape compared to the rest of my J52 pages...it kind of makes me love it more...

On a side note, I don't know if anybody else is familiar with Grungepaper, but if you know of any technique tutorials using it, would you pass them along my way?  It's got such a strange feel to it that I'm not super sure how to work with it...it's not like paper, it's not like chip board, it's not like cardboard...it's strange stuff!  I'm at a loss as to how to use it in the 'intended' way...

At the end of this month, my mom and I are going to the beach for four days away, and I am so excited and ready to go!  I've been looking forward to this trip since last year!  And now it's just a few short weeks away and I am in kid-going-to-Disneyland mode...aka I wake up at 4 AM going "Is it today? Is it today? How much longer? Are we there yet?"  

It's probably a big part of the reason I like this spread so much...it reminds me of the beachy goodness just around the corner...even though there are no coconut palms where we are going (they have Palmetto palms...which are very short and a little anti-climactic if you are expecting the big tall palms)!  Coconuts or not, I'm ready for the beach to go!!!

6 comments:

  1. Your palm page is gorgeous!,, all the textures and colors are very cool! Kudos for cutting out your own palm fronds very ambitious! Your girl is very nice as well.... A moody beauty! White marks for DLP is very effective on the dark blue/purple paint!

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  2. Oh Sweets, the overtime page is so lovely. Two questions, 1. what did you use for her hair? There is no texture there, but the paint or chalks or whatever you used give it an amazing look. 2. Holy Moly, I love the "overtime" script. did you do that by hand? LOVE it so much.

    The Rumi quote is amazing. Must know what type of white pen you used for both pages.

    Absolutely-Freaking-Gorgeous beach scene! I just want to touch that page... just amazing!!! I give you permission to run and scream Tra-La-La. Because honey, just as Rumi said, your light is shining and you need to scream it from the roof tops. HUGS Pamikins!!!

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  3. What Pam said.
    Seriously! Love your beach scene, love the texture, love that you run around with it like that. I would've, too!! And to look forward to going to the beach, ohhh...yeaaahhh :-))))

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  4. Love this page. The palm tree is great. All the texture makes me try to touch it through the monitor.... I'm going to check out the aluminum foil technique next. The best part about this blog post is how excited you are. I can almost see you running through you house in joyful abandon.

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  5. You succeeded excellently with your textured page. Wonderful job!

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  6. I really love your palm tree! With all the golden tones looking at it makes me feel like I am in the middle east - probably more the middle east of myth and legend than the actual middle east. Sitting under some stars, eating some turkish delight, everything smelling like roses and saffron (and possibly camels and dust), and a bit like the inside of I dream of Jeannie's bottle. Thanks for that Sweets, I was in need of some mental escape from my one bed flat in Bristol! x

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