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Friday, July 31, 2015

POP UP ART CHALLENGE #18 - Dog Days of Summer

Holy freakin' cow!!!!  Can you believe that it's already nearly August?  It seems to me like every year goes by faster than the last, and to be honest, it doesn't seem like we've been at this for 8 months.

It's Melody again, bringing you this month's calendar challenge...to celebrate/bemoan the dog days of summer.  Create your calendar for August using dog/paw print stamps...that's it!  You choose the colors, but get those stamps inked up and let us see your puppy love!!!

Here's the AWESOME calendar created by Miss Betty for this month...and here's what she had to say about her process:  "Created in my large Dylusions journal using Liquitex Basic acrylics.  I cut a large circle out of diamond scrapbooking paper, gessoed over it, then went to town making me a hot Texas sun, blending the colors with 3/4" flat brush!  I prominently feature the beautiful Weimaraner stamps that were custom made just for me of my dogs by the lovely and talented Andie Mayr, along with a few other small doggie stamps I had.  The days of the month are a paw print stamp.  Numbers were applied with a #1 round brush and white acrylic paint.  The outline of the fire hydrant is Dr. Phil's black india ink applied with a dip pen.  I actually copied the hydrant image from a Glass Patterns Quarterly magazine I had and transferred the outline image and painted it a deep cadmium red.  I hope you don't get tired of hearing me complain about the heat throughout the month.  This is always our worst time of the year.  Everything turns brown, the heat is oppressive and you wilt when you go outside.  We laugh and say we can cut us out a chunk of air this time of year.  Hope your August is more pleasant!"



Next up is my (Melody) calendar!  So, working in my large Dylusions journal I got busy with a some Liquitex Basic acrylics in Quin Magenta and Titanium White, and some Amsterdam acrylic in Napthol Red Light.  I had already laid down some torn book pages, sheet music and other assorted papers, then applied some gesso here and there all over the pages.  Using my 1" Dina Wakley flat brush I began dragging and blending my paints, not really worrying about balancing the amounts of the two colors, but just painting.  While the paint was drying, which didn't take too long since I didn't go too heavy with it, I punched out my date "tags" from a couple of sheets of scrapbook paper that coordinated with my paint colors.  Then I dug out every dog stamp I possess, including one I carved myself, and began stamping them all over the now dry paint.  Once I had the dogs, I went for an "August" stamp, also taking it all over the page.  While the ink was drying, I stapled two tags together, and once they were all done, glued them down onto the page.  Finally, because I'm from Texas, and we love our bling, I got out some glittery letters to label the month on the stop left corner of my spread!



And last, but not least, we have a super cool calendar by Shana!  She is so stinking talented it just blows me away!  Here's what Shana had to say about the process:  "My August calendar, created in my Canson Mixed Media Journal.   Materials used are as follows: Yellow background is Liquitex Basics in Cadmium Yellow, the blues, reds, grey and orange are Ranger Distress Paint daubers.  My fine lines were made by white and black Sharpie paint pens.

"I had no clue what to do with this month's calendar prompt other than I wanted a puppy on it, so I just started by adding color until I had a fun background, then added the puppy and the paw prints for the days.  It was originally supposed to be a standard calendar layout with the days of the week, but I had a mishap and only did 5 paws instead of 7, so I decided to just go with and covered the whole right side with paw prints!



And there you have it, y'all.  We had a LOT of fun creating our calendars for August and hope that y'all will share yours with us over on the FB page.  Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, July 26, 2015

ARTFUL JOURNEYS: Week #30 - A multi-step challenge

Hey, y'all!!!  It's Melody again this week bringing you a new and interesting multi-step challenge!

This week we're going to start by painting in our 3 favorite colors...then grab a stencil and stamp thru the openings!  The idea initially was to use an "image" stamp of some sort, leaving spaces where you stamp through a stencil. Some of us went with this process, others not so much.

Let's start with our newest team member, SHANA!  Her background just wowed me!  Pop on over to her blog HERE to see her process.




Next up is LYNN'S spread - and here's what she had to say about it:   "The 3 colors I chose for this week's prompt were Apple Barrel Lime Green, Folk Art Light Blue and Americana Razzleberry. Then I grabbed a little face stencil I made using my Cricut machine (this machine can make a BUNCH of different stencils, FYI).  Then I came back with a circle stencil and some Tim Holtz Distress paints and made some circles then stamped my words into the openings of the circle stencil. This prompt was a LOT of fun and so easy, you've gotta give it a try!"



Next up is Miss Betty, and her colorful spread does NOT disappoint!  Betty said she was hurrying to get this prompt done this weekend, after a week of traveling, and her great niece was getting married Saturday evening out of town.   She says:  "Created in my large Dylusions journal using Dylusions and craft acrylic paint in lime green, turquoise and lemon yellow. Some of the paint was applied with a brayer and some with a palette knife. I used the Stampenous "Glance" stamp through a wide feather stencil, revealing only a portion of the image. I added some white slashes with the edge of my palette knife and a few dots around with some TH Distress Ink in Mustard. Assorted ephemera laying on my desk added, and the words hand painted with a #2 round brush and black acrylic paint.  This was an interesting way to use an image stamp, something I only have two of. I think it would be very interesting to use a more detailed stamp, leaving the spaces that happen when stamping through a large stencil. This one I used was not very detailed, but more so than the other one I have.  Thanks for stopping by and having a look. I can't wait to see what you all create."






Miss TAMIE had some fun with hers this week, and as usual, it's so bright and colorful and there's LOTS to look at!  Be sure to stop by her blog, HERE to see what she did!




And finally there's my (MELODY) spread for the week!  Hop over to my blog, HERE,  where I made sure to post plenty of pictures of my process.



Well, there you have it!  I hope you will be sure to visit everyone's blogs and leave us all a little love!  We love having y'all stop by and we'll see you next week!!!!!

Have an artful week!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Melody, Betty, Tamie, Lynn & Shana

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Week 29 - What's on yours?

Hey, y'all, it's Melody again, bringing you this weeks prompt!  

Almost everyone has one.  A bucket list.  Urban Dictionary's definition is: A list of things to do before you die. (Comes from the term, "kick the bucket").  Everyone's is different - short, long, detailed, vague, full of things that take most of us out of our comfort zones.  For instance, I am TERRIFIED of heights, yet one of the items on my bucket list is to take pictures of Paris from the Eiffel Tower.  It's one that actually gets 2 birds with 1 stone.  And while my list isn't overly long, it's one that means a lot to me.

So, let's get after it!

First up this week is my spread, which you can see HERE!  




Next up is Tamie's colorful spread, which you can see HERE!  I think I speak for all of us when I say that her use of color is just awesome!  



Next up is Lynn's spread, and she had some fun this week, I think.  Here's what she said about her process and her bucket list:
"I'm sure my bucket list is NOTHING like other people's, but this is honestly the only thing on my list - I would give away any bucket I had if it meant my grandson could be "normal".  Anyway, I started off using a stencil on both of my pages, then went back with some punchinella to "stamp" over the top using two different shades of blue.  I went thru some pictures I'd been saving and found one that was perfect for this spread,  alphabet stickers are by We R Memory Keepers and a couple of perfect sentiments that sum up how I feel.  Thank you for looking and be sure to go see what other girls did.  They are sure to wow you!"


Miss Betty and Shana couldn't participate this week due to prior engagements so that's it for now.

Thanks for stopping by, and have an artful week!

Sunday, July 12, 2015

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - Week #28 - Scream for it!

Hey, y'all, Melody again this week, bringing you our newest prompt!!!  Summer is here and temperatures are rising, and with hotter thermometer readings, comes a need to cool off, and there's nothing more fun to do that with than....ICE CREAM!!!!!!

Who doesn't love ice cream?  My personal favorite is Braum's Birthday Cake...so yummy!

So this week we have some great pages in store for you...

Tamie had a lot of fun with her spread this week, with paint and doodles and plenty of color.  Go take a peek at her page HERE!





Next up is Lynn, who had a little blingy fun with her spread this week.  She said:  "This was such a fun page to do!  I started off with some Tim Holtz Distress Paint, then took some glittery washi tape all around the border.  I took an old ice cream stamp and used it all over the page, then added a few ice cream stickers and rhinestones.  I hope you like it, and thanks so much for looking!!!




Next up is Shana.  She created this SUPER cute page for this week's prompt...take a look at this!





Here's a sneak peek of my spread for this week...You'll find the details HERE!!!




Sunday, July 5, 2015

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - Week 27: A little fun in the sun!

Hey, y'all!  Melody back again with you this week!  Shana is still traveling and visiting family in the land of cheese heads and hopefully she will be back with us very soon!  We miss you, Shana!

Summer is now in full swing...the 4th is upon us with vacations and trips to the beach, the lake, amusement parks and other tourist destinations in the works by families all across the globe.  Our prompt for this week is ocean/beach/summer fun, and our players didn't disappoint.  

Here's a little sneak of my spread...lots of inky goodness on the pages for this one.  Jump on over to my blog HERE to take a look at the whole thing.



Next up this week is TAMIE, whose bright and colorful spread will NOT disappoint you!  To read all about her process and see the full page, hop on over to her blog HERE,





BETTY created this spread while hanging out in the hot summer sun with unexpected family guests this afternoon. She said she only carried her journal, the found poetry, some oil pastels and some Prismacolor pencils to create this page.  She wants to click her heels in those red flip flops together and be transported to the warm sandy beaches anywhere! 




Lynn and Shana weren't able to play along this week due to vacation time, but they will both be back soon.  Thanks for stopping by and taking a look and please be sure to leave everyone a little love when you go see their pages!  See y'all next week!