A Little Diversion

Because all the shiny squirrel people like us need a diversion right?

I thought so.

I forgot I had videoed one of my calendar art journal squares a while back so I thought I'd share it. This is how I use stamps to inspire me, but I really don't end up with anything that looks like the original stamp image.

For the Ash Wednesday Square I started with a very faint impression of one of the flower clusters from Painted Petals and some of the leaves and stems just as a very loose guide. Then I used my Brusho powdered watercolor pigments to loosely paint on top of that.

So here's the video. It's a little on the long side, but I wanted you to see my whole process. Everyone has ten or so minutes in their day to squeeze a little art into, and I've really enjoyed doing this calendar each day.
If you don't see the video player below, click here to view it.



Those disposable washcloths are still proving to be amazing - I have yet to throw one away!

On to the weekend!

Loveyameanitbye.

The Touch Screen of Death

I saw a super cheesy commercial this morning for some insurance company where two people were happily swooshing things around on an imaginary floor to ceiling touch screen control center thingy.

Why is this presumed to be the technology of the future?

Thankfully, I telecommute now, but when I had to slog to an office every day, I"m just going to be honest - those places are FILTHY! People are filthy! Have you ever seen an office microwave? Ours always looked like someone had cooked several human heads in it. Or have you seen a coworker bring their salad into the BATHROOM and leave it on the sink while they go into a stall and proceed to talk to their mother whilst relieving themselves, and then leave without washing their hands?

I have, my friends. And MUCH, much worse.

The last thing in the WORLD I want is a giant, non-porous surface that is constantly being touched by these same people.

NO.

Can you say plague?

Touchscreens should be completely dedicated to one person only. Some things just aren't meant to be communal. Actually, most things aren't.

Keep your germs to yourselves, weird future people!

Okay - remember this card that I made with the new Artisan Embellishment Kit die cut, after turning it into a stencil? And remember in that post on December 11th I told you I'd be back the next day with the OTHER cool thing I did with it? And remember how it's now January 25th?

Whatever. You're too detail-oriented!

Anyhoo - here I am with the second half. So after I sprayed the stencil to make the positive rose design on that card, my stencil was covered in this gorgeous red-gold wet spray - so I MONOPRINTED with it!! Just pressed the wet stencil onto watercolor paper. I actually think I like this method best!

Then I tore my studio apart, threw my house into chaos and only now found the pile that that beautiful little print was in and FULFILLED MY MONTH OLD PROMISE TO SHOW YOU!

Cool eh? Then I smooshed my Encore gold ink pad onto one of the little hellos in the kit and then mounted it onto the Gold Soiree DSP and then onto Crumb Cake Cardstock.

It's so happy and bright. I find myself grudgingly liking gold these days - I never did before and now it's growing on me.

Unlike communal touchscreens. The toilet seats of the future.

Oh speaking of the future - here are a few more days from my Calendar Art Journal.

This one features Fine Feathers (RETIRED) and Twinkling H20s and a Faber-Castell pencil.

This one is just quick watercolor balloons with Koi watercolor, and strings drawn with a crow quill pen and Bombay India Ink in Turquoise. The sentiment - prepare for smirking - is the FRENCH version of the A Happy Thing Sale-A-Bration set - that's right - I'm a genius. 

When you're done earning all your SAB freebies, you can start over and get them in French! Love it!

La belle vie indeed!

Hope you had a good lazy weekend.

Loveyameanitbye.

(You Have No Events Scheduled Today)

For the first time in about 8 months, I woke up to this message in my inbox.

Bliss.

Pure bliss. Especially since I will soon be at Leadership, which will be a non-stop week of 18 hour days including two full hours of access to the TOWER OF TERROR!!!!

At our Manager's reception, among other fantastic perks, we have private access to the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster - no lines, nothing. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. The TOT is my favorite ride on earth. Expect NUMEROUS pictures of me on this ride, because I plan on spending the entire reception on it! The rest of the time will be spent in classes, doing make & takes, and general shenanigans with my friends.

Now a day with no events in it, of course is not a day with no events. It's a day filled with events I don't get to do without guilt when things are scheduled - like ART. Cat patting. Hiking. Doodling around on the internet. Organizing. Napping. Yay for napping!!

I finally had time to take pictures of the second project from our Butterfly Basics class. I used an awesome technique that +Jennifer McGuire showed on her blog for partial die cutting. See her video here.

 

Click links to buy supplies below!

Stamps: Butterfly Basics - bundle with matching dies. Ink: Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight Paper: Painted Blooms

SUCH a cool technique and really easy to do. We had fun. I'll have one more card for you from this class before I head out and then check back for my live Leadership coverage starting Tuesday!

 Now for some exciting news!

I WILL BE HAVING A RETREAT IN MAY!

Please clear your schedules!

There will be at least 8 classes and it will be a 3 day retreat - the first day will be exclusively for my team - and anyone who joins my team prior to the event is eligible.

The next two days will be open to the public, with two full days of mixed media classes and technique classes.

This retreat will take place in Central Texas, and I'll make it as convenient to a major airport as I can.

Registration dates will be announced, and registration is first come, first served. These classes will all include products to go home and play with, prizes and all the trimmings. So save the dates! What dates? ALL the dates - I don't have the date info yet so just save the whole month!

Speaking of dates, I'm carrying on with my calendar. Here are a few more days worth of experiments.

 

Fun, eh? The 23rd was created using a technique featured in next Friday's +Splitcoaststampers Mix-Ability mixed media challenge, so stay  tuned! #tease

Hope you are having an uneventful Caturday too!

Loveyameanitbye.

Visual Diary

My maternal grandfather, who was a more disciplined person than you'll ever meet among his offspring, kept a diary / datebook that he wrote in every day.

(Were he here today, I am quite sure he would not approve of blogging as a substitute.)

Every year my mom would buy him the datebook, and every year he'd fill them up. I need to see if someone still has them. I'd love to read them. I'm quite certain there were no cat pictures in there, and not just because he didn't have a cat.

My paternal grandmother was a prolific painter. She'd paint on ANYTHING - pieces of wood - pieces of cardboard - any inanimate object.

I realized, after I started my most recent diversion, that there's a chance that I'm not a genius or an inventor, but in fact, quite perfectly settled between a few widely varied chromosomes.

My friend & co-worker Lori inspired me with this pin to embark on this project, which I ADORE.

It's the perfect mix of discipline and artistic chaos. I love it so, so much.

Here's what I did.

After my class last Saturday, I went to Staples and bought this calendar, after touching every calendar in the store - sooo many are wrong for this project. Lines in the squares, squares too small - words everywhere. This one was perfect. It has a very soft, leatherish cover that I like and I like the minimalist design on the front. Now that I found this on Amazon, I am pretty peeved that my Staples didn't have this gorgeous aqua one, but I'll get over it.

Now mind you, I didn't do this until the 17th, after my stamping class, so I was already part of the way through January. But never you mind. Better late than never.

I took my fave gesso - American Journey Gesso (it's my fave because you can watercolor on it - most gesso is made to prime for acrylic) and 1/5th of an old Amazon gift card that I use like a palette knife, and carefully spread gesso onto the square for January 19th - the day I started.

Then I just did a quick little painting on top with Golden Fluid Acrylics. It took me all of about three minutes. And I squealed. And I did it the next day. And I did it today. SO fun.

For the second day, I used the Indescribable Gift Stamp set, and stamped it in So Saffron on top of the gesso and then just did no-line watercolor over that with Strawberry Slush and Mellow Moss Ink. Again, just a few minutes.

It's so fun and so quick. If I keep it up, won't this be a cool visual diary at the end of the year?

Today, it rained, and so today's little painting is grey - I'll show you that soon.

If you want to do this - be sure and have some freezer paper on hand. Put that between the pages while you're working so that nothing bleeds through the pages before the gesso is dry. Also, on the second day, I taped off my square with 3M tape before starting and it made it easier and cleaner.

I like having the dates show, but you can certainly gesso over those.


I don't have a plan for this other than to take a break each day and do something in it. It's just minutes to do a square. I think I will just let each day dictate what I put there and not overthink it.

I'd definitely recommend a calendar that opens flat like this one.

I'd also recommend not leaving watercolor water on your desk for your cat to knock off, but that's a tale for another day.

Loveyameanitbye.