Stamps!

I have enjoyed carving my own stamps for a few years now. When I find erasers at a good price I pick up enough to do an alphabet. Here is the one I made last night:

I'm looking forward the the upcoming Fall Fearless and Fly challenge where I hope to get the chance to use them :)

Giving flowers

I prepped this background with an icy sort of  blue but then didn't want to do a blue page. I had a cut-out flower lying around on my desk so I grabbed it to use as a mask. A few dots of colour down one edge dragged out with a glue spreader and suddenly I had a pinkish page rather than a blue one.

It sat on my table for a couple of days. I added some centres and stalks, but what should the words be? What was the page talking about?

Yesterday a dear lady from our morning congregation died. She was a gift-giver - taking note of what people liked and giving them small gifts in that area.

As usual, death set me thinking about life and how short it is. The wording 'always give flowers' talks about building people up rather than pulling them down; taking the time to encourage and be generous with our money, time, and ourselves. We don't know how a small gift, a smile, an encouraging word can change someone's day or even their life.

Be a life-changer - give flowers.

Psalm 23 cont'd

So I'm up to verse 5a - 'You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies...'

This lets me know that no matter what my situation, even if I am surrounded by enemies, God provides for me in a bountiful way. He makes sure that I take time out to be nourished even in the midst of battle.

I am not a robot!!!

I'm sorry. I have to say it. I've been holding it in for a long time but today I've had enough.
I have had a lovely time looking at everyone's work on Art Journal Every Day and various other things I like to peruse from time to time. But now I have been asked for what feels like the 78th time to prove that I am not a robot.

AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

All I wanted to do was leave some encouraging feedback!

Now, I don't know about you, but I only have a certain amount of time to indulge in blog-hopping. I don't want to spend lots of it squinting while I try to work out what the blurry words are and what case they are in when they are all different sizes. I am not a robot, yet still I sometimes get it wrong. I have to tell you, I am more likely to abandon my attempt to comment than persevere.

Come on, people. Let's trust that people aren't robots and stop asking them to prove it.

Seeing in the dark

When I acquire a new book to journal in - often a decommissioned library book selling for a dollar - the first thing I do is take out some pages if the book is quite thick. Then I cover the pages by either adding a layer of gesso, some masking tape, brown paper tape, pages from foreign-language books, collaged papers or images, or a combination of these things.

Occasionally I use black acrylic paint.

When I come to one of the black pages I often wonder why I did it. What was I thinking? What can I do with this page.

This time I was pleased to see that there were gaps in the black where I could put some colour. I went for a sunny yellow. The black didn't seem so bold then, and the strip of yellow down the middle meant that I ended up with two panels.

I thought about how we often focus on the dark rather than on the light that spills in around the edges, so that became the first panel.

With it being spring here in Australia, I have been planting some vegetable seeds. I thought about how they start to germinate in the dark - how they need the dark to germinate in a lot of cases. When we go through bleak times there is often something that germinates within us during that time. Something that we don't see the fruit of immediately.

So don't disregard the bleak times. Ask yourself where the light is spilling in and what is starting to grow in you.

I'll be linking this to Art Journal Every Day. Look forward to seeing you there!

A work progresses

 I thought it would be fun to see how my pages progress. Sometimes when I'm finished I can't remember all the layers that went in, so here is one photographed along the way.

I started out with a page covered with brown paper tape - the sort you use to stretch watercolour paper. On top of this I applied some gesso with a plastic card.

A layer of acrylic paint was applied with a baby wipe. 

Collage on a few pieces of paper and tape. 

Add some more paint.

The bit you can't see is that this is the stage where I decided what the page was going to be about. In this case it is a quote by Helen Keller based around a heart, so I put one on the page.

The quote was then stamped on with two different sets of alphabet stamps, edged, and coloured in.

The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.      Helen Keller

A few small hearts were stamped on.

I placed a few winding leaves to fill in what felt like empty and unfinished space with a Copic marker. 

So there you have it - journal page from start to finish.

What's your process?

All at sea

There are times when I have no idea what is going on.

Times where I feel as if I'm in a very small boat on a very large sea.

With no landmarks in sight.

When I have an idea of the direction I should go in but no clues, I need to use a compass.

When I have to rest but don't want to drift, I need to use an anchor.

Faith provides both for me.

Thank You, Lord.

Comparison

I found this quote on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog - go and have a look, it's fabulously inspirational. I shall be linking this post to her 'Art Journal Every Day' link list on Friday (which will be Saturday for me :) )

Comparison is the thief of joy - Theodore Roosevelt

How true!

How often do we compare ourselves and not like what we see?  Instead of being content with who we are and what we have, we look over the fence and desire what is there.

As artists this comes up a lot. We see a piece of work by someone else and like it. But instead of just being blessed by the fabulous creativity, we compare our own work with it. Often what we have previously been pleased with we now start to see faults in.

Why do we do this?

What we have to remember is that we are not comparing like with like. We are all unique. We should be content with being an original rather than a carbon-copy of someone else!

Vigilance!

Back out in the garden again this week. All the rain we have had over the winter combined with a plague of hairy caterpillars has meant that the weeds have got out of hand! I've filled up our green bin with long grass and weeds pulled from between the vegetables, most of which have just about held their own against the insect invasion. It's jolly annoying how the things that I want to eat from the garden are the same ones that the insects love to eat as well. There are so many weeds out there that they could munch on but no, they have to eat the artichokes and spinach.

Anyway, all this weeding made me think about how vigilant we have to be. The weeding really needs to be done little and often to keep on top of it, much like keeping bad habits out of our lives. If I want to see obedience, fruitfulness, and righteousness in my life I have to not let them be choked out by anxiety, stress, covetousness etc. Each and every day I need to sit before God and ask Him to root out the bad stuff and nurture the good stuff. It's easier to do bit by bit than have the radical ripping out of 5ft high weeds.

Where does your life need weeding?

More of Psalm 23 book

The top two pages have cut-outs that allow each side to show through. I'm already thinking that cut-outs are a pain in the neck! However, I am pushing on with them and hoping that the pages don't look too samey when they some of the same elements.

recycling

I like to make my own journals. I also like ones that are not standard sizes and have a decent number of pages in them. This is my latest. It is 11½ x 8½ x 4in and covered using an old denim jacket. I liked using the jacket because it has allowed me to put a pocket on the front, one on the back, and utilise the buttons as a closure. Also I don't like to let anything go to waste. 

speaks for itself

Jewish proverb. 'Nuff said.

Look at these great pianola rolls that my thoughtful hubby picked up for me to play with. Now, which idea to go with....

sowing and reaping

How often do you think to yourself, 'I wish I was thinner/healthier/had a different job' etc. Too often we want the fruit without having to sow the seed.

If you want to grow something, you first have to plant it. But that's not the end - you have to cultivate it as well. That's what takes the time. As my husband pointed out in  his sermon on Sunday, you can't go into your garden and pick an apple if there is no apple tree planted there.

Lots of us would like  to be more patient, but it doesn't happen overnight. You become more patient by cultivating patience - by actually just doing it. Yes, we'd all like to wave a magic wand and become saintly in an instant, but that's not how it works. We build muscles by using them.

We grow virtues by practising them.

We need to plant the right seeds.

playing...

Have been playing with my new Copic markers. I like this Magenta stamp - it has so many colourway possibilities. Here are a few I tried out: