NaNoJouMo

I’m participating in National NonStop Journaling Month this month at D'blogala . I’ve done just about every prompt.

1. Freedom
2. Purity- haven’t done yet
3. Inspire
4. Beauty
5. Solitude
6. Felicity
7. Compassion

This is really fun! It’s making me DRAW SOMETHING. We then (if ya want) upload our drawings/Art Journal pages to Flickr to the group created for this.

Here’s a little collage of what I’ve done lately.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s prompt will be.

Well….I guess I can go back and do PURITY since I missed that for some reason.

Overwhelmed….

I knew I was overwhelmed today because as I walked around Hobby Lobby armed with my 40% off coupon I didn’t know what to spend it on. First stop was the Art Supply section. I checked out all their markers and some calligraphy inks. Then I went to the stencil section to see if they have any new stencils I liked. Next was the scrapbook section where I checked out the Sakura gelly roll pens I’ve heard so much about. All of a sudden I remembered that I’d really like to get a date stamp where I could roll today’s date in and stamp it on my work. I even asked a nice lady stocking the shelves if they had one. I’m thinking that an Office Supply store may have one. I then got so frustrated, I didn’t know what I wanted! I became so overwhelmed. When I get like this I’ve learned that it’s best to just leave, to not buy anything (you know be stuck with Buyer’s remorse) and so I picked up an encouraging card for an old friend that’s going thru some rough times right now, and left. I saved a whopping 40 cents with my coupon!

I’m participating in D’blogala’s NaNoJouMo this month and the prompt for today is Solitude. The prompt for yesterday was Beauty. I started this Cardinal drawing yesterday and thought I’d journal in the white area of the post. But I got stuck!!! So stuck! Not because of lack of ideas, but because I had too many. I thought a nice quote would work, but would it have to be about the word or the bird? I didn’t know if I should use the 2 prompt words and tie them together in a cute little poem like…. “Cardinals, awww beautiful Cardinals- they seem to like their solitude, like me”. But that’s so cutezy and I’m really not that cutezy!

Then after I got home from shopping I thought how easy it would be to just plug in a digital image from my ScrapGirls stash. It would look so neat and this one would work (see below). It’s positive and expressive. But again, it’s not me!

So, finally I took out my personal journal ( a composition book like these ) and wrote out my frustrations. After a little bit of editing I was finally okay with a piece of me that made it to the page.

It reads: I seemed to have lost my focus today. I have been taking in & taking in- getting excited about new art- new pens- new people- new attitude. I am so overwhelmed.

Oh, before I forget, does anyone know where to buy a date stamp like the NOV 5 09 in the bottom right corner? The one used here is digital.

All the best, [Eden[

Happy Halloween

  How to be a scarecrow for $10 or less…….

• Buy the straw bands (pack of 5)  from Factory Card Outlet~ $6.99
• Buy a black Hat from Halloween Express~ $2.99
• Grab some rope from your Halloween costume bin, detach the fake-bloody orange arm that the kids tied at one end of the rope that was used to scare people as they came to the door to Trick-Or-Treat~  FREE
• Grab old fake Sunflowers put away years ago in the basement box for a future project~  FREE
• Baste scrap fabric onto the jeans and Son’s old shirt in a random pattern~  FREE
• Find Fake Bird kept in Christmas decoration bin and attach to top of hat~  FREE
• Steal yellow bandana from daughter that she was given for a School parade last week~  FREE
• Obtain Red lipstick (that you never wore from Clinique free stash) and do cheeks~  FREE
• Obtain eyebrow pencil from make-up drawer and put a triangle on your nose~ FREE
• SMILE !!!~  PRICELESS

While working don’t forget to have a little fun!!!  Otherwise you’ll go CRAZY!!!  But that may redundant, see below!

Lyrics….”clowns to the left of me….jokers to the right….Stuck in the middle with YOU!!”

Faber-Castell Pitt Pens……chart

I love that FB puts numbers on all of their pens!  Helps me to keep track of what pen goes where, and what it does when it gets there! Ha !

I like the Bic Mark-Its too, but of course, absolutely no identifier on them!  Ugh!  And I love the Sharpie fine point markers, but has anyone seen a special note about the color/ a number to identify/ even a name (like they do with crayola crayons)?  Not I !!

I bought this last week.  8 new pens! Yum, I had two from the collection already, but you can never have too many pens even the duplicates, right?  Next, I’m going to check out the  BRIGHT COLORS  and the CLASSIC COLORS!  I get so overwhelmed when i go into my favorite Art shop and they have the whole display!  I just don’t know which is the best color choice for me, that day!  These 8-packs are perfect for the little beginner-me to try out all different colors.  And of course, over time a few favorites will appear.  Then i won’t be so stunned when I go back to the Art store!

How do you keep track of your art supplies that aren’t numbered or named?  Do you create your own system?  I guess I could use my Brother labeler and make my own identifiers……hmmmmm

Sun Series…..ColorSplash

First it started with this drawing…..Wait, No! It started with this picture I saved into my FAVORITES in Flickr. Then I found a background I like from Aimeslee. So, I taped up a moleskine page and watercolored the triangles. Then drew the birds and colored them in. I love how the bird in the middle seems to be talking to the one on the left….i digress……………………………….Then I WAS STUCK!! I couldn’t do anything with this drawing! I was SO missing something!

So, I moved on and forgot about the Bird Drawing and started a new page with my new favorite stencil, The Sun. I wanted to add a lot of color so I made a bunch of squares and colored them in. I know it doesn’t look like it but there is a method to my madness in coloring the squares. Each diagonal of squares follows a red series or blue, or green or yellow…….

But the squares were needing something! But what????? Then I remembered my birds. So, I brought my drawing into Photoshop and cropped the trio out. I then enlarged them and triplicated them (in case i had sloppy scissor-hands).

After I cut them out, I traced them onto my colored squares. Then I pulled out my new Dr.Ph Martin’s Pen-white ink.

Then I outlined the trio in .03 black prismacolor. And spruced up the Mr Sun-side! I didn’t know if I should put a face on the sun guy but he needed something. I think he looks a little proud…….as a sun should!!!

I seem to be hooked on the following in my journals;

• checkerboard
• diagonals
• journaling in this loopy way
• COLORS; red, green, blue, yellow
• And that White Pen Ink from Dr.Ph Martin’s

Well, that’s all folks!!!

[Eden[

Red Fall Leaves

“We learn to be kind, accommodating, and nurturing to others while denying our own thoughts and desires. Creative expression requires just the opposite-----lots of self-nurturing and a willingness to speak our minds.”

-Christina Thompson

From Women Embracing Creativity at amazon

We are having gorgeous weather this week! Those days in the upper 60’s and low 70’s with clear skies are my absolute favorite. Went swimming the other day and a friend was out stretching for her run and I told her that it’s days like this that made me wish I was a runner. But only days like this!!! LOL!! Ahhhh, to be out enjoying that weather. I really need an outdoor project other than trimming bushes, pulling up weeds…. I’m a virgo, the Earth sign and you’d think I’d like that sort of stuff.

I looked out my bedroom window this morning and the entire tree was RED! A gorgeous red. I should’ve taken a picture of that, but I wanted to grab a good red leaf and paint it. Here you have it. Simple dots done with my white-pen ink. Still getting to know my brush and ink.

First Moleskine……complete

I love these moleskines! They are the perfect size for me. The paper is just right. I’ve had no bleed thru to the lower papers, and I’ve used Sharpies, Bic Mark It's, Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens , Sakura Micron Pens, Prismacolors and Watercolors.

I didn’t date my pages, but I’ll date my book. I have so much to learn here. Here being between these moleskine pages. I’m unbelievably hooked on markers!!! Markers, why markers? I have some really cool watercolor pencils, but I shy away from them because I don’t know what I’m doing. But they’re in my arsenal and when I get in the mood I will use them!

What I’ve discovered thru Tammy at Daisy Yellow is India Ink. What a cool product. I only have black and white right now, but I think I’m hooked and will have to get more colors. Of course, I’m not using a Dip Pen cuz it’s too hard for me. I really must practice. What I’m more comfortable using is a very small round brush. On the bottom pic. I tried highlighting and a little shading with the India Ink. Very comic book looking but it’s a start.

I’m curious in your Art Journals what is something that you’re trying to learn? A technique? A new product?

Family Room Project…….coming along….

I’m slowly getting there. This is Step 2 of the BIG FAMILY ROOM project that is now…….COMPLETE R.

I need something on my teeny tiny mantle, possibly a tall plant or vase or something…..If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them, cuz it looks pretty darn barren there, don’t ya think?

After printing and hanging up my black&white pictures my Dear Daughter says to me, “Mom, you should’ve kept something colored on each picture, like with Gretchen’s scarf, keep it red”. Wow! Why didn’t I think of that? So the current group of pictures may get changed. I love her suggestion!!! Don’t you?

The above is Step 3 of the project which is now…….COMPLETE R. I appliqued our last name on some pretty white fabric (oh, about 4 yrs ago) and finally this summer I sewed the border on and had it framed. The border fabric is one of my favorites in my fabric stash, so i get to look at it all the time now!

And here is Step 4……………….what do i do here? Anyone? Anyone at all? I’m completely clueless. I do know that I want a light I can work under. I’m thinking about getting this Alang lamp from Ikea , I like this because it’s only 5 ft tall and it’s adjustable. I could possibly get two????? or I could get a couple wall/reading lamps similar to this. I have a big mirror that I could paint the frame black and put in this space. B.u.t……the couch isn’t centered on the wall, then would it look stupid if i centered the mirror on the wall? Ugh….no creative ideas for this place AT ALL!!

Jane Sassaman Quilt…….assignment to self

I went to our public library the other day and I got so excited when I came upon this book….. Masters Art Quilts. Oh My! Oh, My!! Talk about eye-candy, talk about talent. The above piece is just part of the whole quilt created by Quilter Jane Sassaman. Not only would I love to be able to quilt such a masterpiece, I totally fell in love with her design….her art, here. Below, is the whole entire quilt. The yellow box is the small portion that the above picture shows.

So, needing something to color in using markers (because that’s my latest obsession), I used her quilt as my guide. I put my own little spin on it in many areas. This was a lot of fun.

(click on image to see it larger)

To see more of Jane Sassaman’s work. Just follow this link to her very own website. Lots to oogle about over there :)

Thanks for stopping by, vEden v

Enhanced Freehand Writing

Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself- it is the occurring which is difficult. - Stephen Leacock

I’ve been working on my writing-style, the look of it. This isn’t really calligraphy because I’m not using a calligraphy pen. But I’m trying to develop some styles that i can use in my Art Journals and what-nots.

Since my daughter is going to a Retreat next week they asked each family to write a letter to their child. What a perfect opportunity for me to play. I first wrote everything out on lined college paper with a .01 nib Prismacolor pen. I tried to be super neat and use all caps. Then I went back in and filled each and every letter with more ink. I used a .005 to fill in and Enhance certain characteristics of each letter. This was the fun part. But after 45 minutes of doing this my hand was screaming for a break. Hence, this took 2 days to complete. Yeah me! Got it done and mailed for the deadline on Monday. This will most likely embarrass my daughter. I’ll ‘betcha she says something to me about my writing style, you just wait!

Oh, before I forget……On the first big picture the actual font I used was my own. See the writing at the **. There is a Font Generator website that lets you create your own personal font for FREE! Gotta love FREE! Check out This Site They have very easy to follow directions. You get to print out the template as many times as you’d like to practice. Then just upload your Page and it will create a text file that you put into your text font manager. Simple! Really!