Farm Fresh Friday Challenge!

The Farm Fresh Friday Challenge from The Greeting Farm this week was to create a 'School's Out' creation!! Now that my girls have been out of school for about a month, I sure have a lot to say, so this challenge really hit the spot! I know it isn't a card but I made this page for my art journal.  I have the spot on the left, in the report card, to put my journaling, I just haven't written it in there yet!

Wild Art Summer Fun!!

We are back from the beach . . .  kinda bittersweet. So glad to be home but I really miss the pace of a beach vacation!! I love the rhythm of waking up and drinking coffee on the deck while listening to the sounds of the beach, casually putting on swimsuits and heading off for the day. Granted, during the summer even at home I have time in the morning to relax with a cup of coffee in the morning, but then the fun of kids' activities begins!! 

My last few mornings have been full of art time though!! This is the first week of Junelle Jacobson's Wild Art Summer class. I ADORE her classes because they are easy to follow and she makes you feel like you can do anything! We have started with watercolor flowers and a cute block project!! Love. 

I have a LOT to learn about watercoloring!! I am putting these here just so I can see how much I can grow this summer while taking the Wild Art Class!!

And here is the yellow house that I watercolored on vacation put into my art journal.  The little yellow house had an adorable tree swing in front and I had to include it!!

Watercoloring on vacation!

Well, I got my wish . . .   A couple of rainy afternoons!  All I have with me is my sketchbook, a couple of brushes and my traveling watercolor set.  There are so many houses, trees and areas that just want to jump right into my art journal.  

What I plan is to take these watercolors and cut them out. Then I will add paint, paper and glue to finish off the images!!

 

 
 

I am on beach time!

We are at the beach!
 I LOVE the ocean, the beach houses, the wind, the sounds ... everything! The beach we are staying at is in a sleepy beach village here in Georgia. The trees loop down low and have spanish moss draped on the boughs. The cicadas are singing and the sun is shining bright. I honestly don't know how it can get better than this!

 There are some of the most adorable little houses on our block. Tomorrow I want to take pictures of them because I definitely feel like they belong in my art journal! The colors are soft and the details are amazing! I did bring my sketchbook and watercolors with me. (Secretly, I am hoping for one rainy afternoon so I can sit and sketch without feeling guilty about not being in the sand and surf with the family!) Is that bad? The beach is just always somewhere I feel inspired. There are just so many beautiful and interesting things to look at and observe. Where do you feel most inspired? The beach, the mountains, the city ....

This sailboat was a journal page I did before we left. I gelliplated the background. Then I sketched, water colored and cut out the sailboat. Just a very simple page, I know, but I like how the sailboat turned out! The sentiment is dear to me. Have a great week everyone!

Was it all a DREAM?? Blog Hop!

Welcome back!!  I can't tell you how much fun it has been to use the "Dreamy" kit from The Greeting Farm!! I adore these stamps and I am happy to let you know . . . it WASN'T a DREAM!!  

Today is the super special mid-month RELEASE DAY for the brand new mixed-media DREAM kit... appropriately titled "DREAMY"!   This jumbo-sized, 8.5x11 FULL sheet of stamps is available starting NOW over in the TGF Store, so be sure to grab yours before they sell out! 

Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to hop to all the amazing "Dreamy" artists today!

I started this project with a scrap of wood leftover from another project, but it was a perfect size to work with! First,  I covered it with an old atlas map page (of Scotland, one of my favorite places on earth, ) dictionary paper and some leftover blue and green paper scraps.  Then I mixed some white paint with water and covered the paper to tone it down a little.

I drew and painted the camper on plain paper and stamped the wheel on with the "Dreamy" kit!  Next, I cut out the planters and stamped the topiaries.  The piece needed something in the corner and so I used distress ink to color the banner stamp. Finally, I glued all the parts down, distressed the edges, put on a couple of rub-ons and doodled to finish up! Whew!

(This was the starting piece of wood!!)

And I just kept going and it has been hard to keep these projects under wraps!! Everytime I made a new canvas, the "Dreamy" Kit stamps were begging to be used!  SO enjoy . . . 

The background used Donna Downey's chevron stencil and leftover orange spray on a stencil from another page.  I used the "Dreamy" kit for the black stamp in background.  I carefully used distress ink on the banner stamp and it took a few tries, but I loved the final result!  

The sign post is paper pieced from Allison Kreft's Composition and Color line.  Then I doodled!!

  













Then I saw the circular "Dreamy" kit stamps as Gnome bellies . . . I don't know why but I thought they turned out rather cute.  The background was made on a gelli plate with water sprinkles.  Then I stamped on the texture with the "Dreamy" hexagonal stamp for some texture.  I colored the banner stamp with markers.  Finally, I stamped on the text stamp and doodled!



 










This one  is actually a rough draft of an idea . . . but I kept going with it!!  I thought these little houses reminded me of a cartoon from my childhood, The Littles,  (That might just date me, I know!) They looked like miniatures to me! The backgound is book paper colored with green and blue ink sprats.  I cut out some grass, stamped the centers of flowers from the "Dreamy" stamps.  I painted plain white paper and stenciled on top to give the flowers a little more visual interest!

And finally, a pretty plain art page from my journal.  I embossed the stamp with black WOW powder and colored her in with twinkling H2O watercolors! I do love her though!  I simply adore the sentiment on the "Dreamy" kit stamp!














Can you tell how much I have used these stamps since I got them??  I love them!!  There is so much versatility in their design and the possibilities seem endless! 

We have a super awesome lineup of Guest artists for you to visit today, so if you're just getting here, be sure to start on the TGF BLOG for all the details, or you can continue here and just make sure you've visited everyone because ONE LUCKY WINNER who completes our hop today will WIN the DREAMY kit!

Here's the order for today's special release hop:

JENNIFER SAGER

SPIKE

MARY BROCKWAY

CARA BOOHER

KAREN CROSSEN

SHIRLEY STARK

SANNA FRIEDNER

KIM HUTCHINSON

KELLI GREEN

Be sure to stop right back over on the TGF BLOG to let us know you've completed the hop and you're entering to WIN the "DREAMY" kit!   Winner will be announced first thing MONDAY morning on the blog so you have the weekend  (through Sunday, June 16th at 11:30pm CST)  to relax, hop, and DREAM of the possibilities of creating with this awesome new kit!  

Thanks for joining us, everyone!

Loving my new watercolors!

Seriously, I am  loving painting with watercolors!! I bought some new colors and I can't believe how vibrant and lovely they really are!! 

I started the background off with a Gelli Plate print I had made a couple of days ago.  Then I painted the Cupcake flowers on watercolor paper, cut them out and glued them onto the page! So just a fun page tonight. I journaled with my favorite saying of all time, "Always believe something wonderful is going to happen!!"  Because honestly, if cupcakes did grow on flowers, I think I might be a better gardener!!

The "Dreamy" Kit from The Greeting Farm!!!

Well, I have been SO super lucky to get to Preview the '"Dreamy" stamp kit from The Greeting Farm!! I knew the minute I saw it, that I was going to LOVE it!! And I was right!! There are so many perfect stamps for backgrounds and main images!!

This one was my first canvas using the "Dreamy" circle stamps to make the lollipops and "Dreamy" hexagonal texture stamps for a little bit of background texture!! I drew on the circular stamps with my Faber Castell Pitt Pens, stamped them onto plain paper and cut them out!! I hand drew and cut out the mason jar shape.  Then I cut paper straws in half to make the lollipop sticks! 

 To make the background,  I used a dictionary page (with lollipop on it!) and the Blazonry stencil from Crafter's Workshop with blue paint. 

 I had so much fun!! I just can't wait to show you all the rest of the mixed media canvases and boards that I have been able to make with the 8 1/2 x 11 kit!!

The kit is going to be released on June 15th!! Mark your calendars for sure!! These stamps are uber versatile and super fun!! To see the rest of the amazing "Dreamy" Kit Preview, make sure to visit all the other preview posts and the The Greeting Farm Blog!

Think I have been in the Sun TOO much!

At the pool my girls and I eat animal crackers!! We buy the little bags at Target for a dollar and then we just eat and eat!! We love them!!

  When I was looking at my sketch book, I realized that I had all kinds of little animals inspired from different places that were just sitting there, waiting!! They reminded me of the crackers we have been eating . . . here they are!! 

Tennis Season and time to paint!!

I love this time of year because there is tennis on tv all morning!! I know.  Really. Tennis? I love the game and if I can't have football on tv, I am going to have to watch tennis.  In fact, I kinda have two sport seasons, tennis summers and football fall . . . love! So I turn on the French Open or Wimbeldon, grab my morning coffee and sit down at my desk to create.  Really my favorite mornings!!

And this summer is moving right along!  Father's Day is coming up soon, in fact we are going to be celebrating early because we will be at an ice skating competition all Father's Day weekend.  And I KNOW, that is not the ideal father's day, even though he loves watching Grace skate!  Luckily, we thought ahead and plan to do something this weekend! I used this adorable Greeting Farm Stamp. It reminded me of my hubby because he loves to drink his coffee in the morning!!  And the quote, totally doesn't fit the page, but it certainly fits our life!!

This is the strangest page I think I have ever done.  It started out with tissue paper and gesso.  But I hated it.  When I took the girls to 5 Below for some summer goodies, I saw this duck tape . . . and fell in love!! I just KNEW that I wanted to put it into my joural.  Luckily, I had this really ugly page and it screamed for tape!!  After I did the framing, I realized the middle needed something plain-ish . . . I don't think i am done here but I adore the 70's flower Duck Tape!!

In my journal I really do find myself creating pages about things going on in life around me. Sometimes there are things just out of my control and I just wish there was something I could do.  I have found myself creating quite a few pages lately about family.  This is the first one . . . I don't know why I thought about kites but my other one is of a sailboat, so there must be something about wind and sails.