Artful Tactics with Shana - Painting a face using Dylusions paints

Sooooo.... I did the art journal prompt #17 yesterday using the Dylusions paint and the main question I received was how I created the smooth skin and shadows of the whimsy girl face in my spread, so I decided to do a video of just a basic face to show how to create the facial contours using a very basic pallet.

Creating a smooth face with shadows is all about blending so using the Dylusions paints already makes the process easier since they are made to blend. Normally when I do a face I either work quickly so the paint is still blend-able or I mix my mediums so I can blend in the highlights and shadows over top of the paint. Additive can be used if you only want to use acrylic paint like slow-dry mediums or using many wet layers of paint.

I love that I can just use the Dylusions paints without having to hurry or work so hard at blending, I used mainly my fingers to create the blends. In the blog I will show you the step by steps of creating the skin, I will also put the video of the full process below!




The 1st step is to create the outline, these are also the darkest shadows in the face.





I used the the Melted Chocolate to make this outline, Melted Chocolate would be the 1st step in any natural color skin tone.








The second step is to clean the brush and remove the excess water, you still want the brush to be damp.


Using the clean damp brush blend or smooth out the lines, don't worry about it being neat! details come later!














Now its time for the magic to happen, grab your White Linen paint.

Load your brush up and smoosh the paint all over the face, again, it doesn't need to be beautiful at this point!














Here is where we get our hands dirty!

Use your fingers to blend the colors together, I suppose a tool could be used but I have never used one, I just love having painty hands!

if at any time you have trouble blending dampen your finger with water, you do not want dripping water, if you can wet a sponge to use to dampen your finger.
















 Apply two dots, these are actually a bit to much, of Postbox Red to the cheeks

and use your finger to blend, the picture on the right is after blending the red in, Note the lack of perfection!

We now need to add another layer of White Linen to tone down the cheeks a bit! again we are blending with out fingers! also at this point if you feel (as I did) the nose is to short or needs additional highlight add a bit more white at the tip and blend up into the forehead.

The last step is to go back to your original base color, in this case the Chocolate Brown, add more shadows and blend if needed.

You can finally pick your brush back up, add your darkest shadowed features, top lip, bottom lip shadow, bottom of nose and the top lash line of the eyes.

You now have a wonderful blank face to add features to! If you watch the video below you can see how I completed the simple faced girl!

Hope you try it! Have fun!!

-Big Hugs and Mushy Stuff

-Shana

Artful Journeys - Week #50 Art Prompt

Here we are, week #50 of a year-long art challenge.  Can you believe it?  This whole year has just seemed to fly by and now the sudden realization that there are only two, yes TWO very short weeks left of 2016.  I'm not finished with all the things I wanted to accomplish this year, in my art and in my daily life.  Are  you? 

A special request:  While we are all thinking about the impending Christmas holiday, food, shopping lists, gift buying, wrapping, parties and social events, excited children, frustrated shoppers, let's also remember to stop every single day, even if just for a moment to consider and give thanks for the many blessings in our lives.  Think of something you can do for someone who might not have enough food to eat, warm clothing to wear, no family to share the holiday with, or anything to give to their children for Christmas. Can you involve your children or grandchildren to help teach them the value of giving and volunteering?  Consider buying a gift for a deserving child on an angel tree, helping a homeless person get a hot meal, volunteering in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, spending some time with someone who has no family, sharing some joy with someone, to help make their day a little brighter.  I have so many blessings and things to be thankful for in my life, and I LOVE paying forward my blessings and helping those in dire situations that need the help...and not just during the holidays... I do it throughout the year, and as a matter of course. Giving is a big part of my life.  Consider sharing your blessings the whole year through. You, and your life will be enriched by the experience. 

This week at Artful Journeys, we're thinking about winter. I particularly am jealous of those of you who live in climates where you see and get snow regularly.  Snow brings out a special kind of happiness for me, and fond, fond memories of my childhood and the rare snow events of my life, all of which I can almost clearly identify they have been so few.  What memories does snow evoke for you?  Do you hate it, love, it, go play in it?  So show us!

OUR PROMPT:  "LET IT SNOW"

My spread this week reflects the fun memories from my childhood regarding snow and snow days. Here's a sneak peek, but to see the whole thing, hop on over to my blog, HERE

 

MELODY made this very pretty page, in her favorite "signature" color and left plenty of room for journaling about her winter days. I know she is hoping for snow too, but she still wants the schools to remain "open" for a quiet day at home!  One thing about Melody's journals, she likes "writing" on a painted page, and most of her backgrounds for writing are always so smooth and luscious.  I can't wait to see her writing around those snowflakes!

 

SHANA submits this vision of loveliness for your inspiration this week.  She says, " This was one of my 1st journal entries mixing acrylic paint and my Prismacolor pencils.  I used a stencil for the blue and white background and most of her hair is pattern paper showing through. For the snowflakes I used my white Faber Castel pitt pen on some stamps, along with the Pitt pens for the smudgy shadows."  Shana told me that she actually painted this journal page on her first winter without snow, when she first moved to the desert.  Being a Wisconsin cheese-head, (a title she proudly professes), Shana knows snow.  But alas, living in the low desert, she has to find a mountain or go home now to get any!  LOL 

 

                 

Be inspired this week by winter.  Let the magic of "snow" get all in your head, and in your heart...even if you are living in a warm climate!  Maybe you can fancy up some palm trees covered in snow?  You'll never know until you try!  And don't forget to share at ARTFUL JOURNEYS!

Have a great week, and as always, keep it artful!
 

ARTFUL CHICKS

~~Betty, Melody, Shana & Lynn

 

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - Week #49

Hi y'all!  Betty here again this week to bring you our prompt!  With the approaching holidays, we know most of you are busy shopping, decorating  your trees, your homes, your yards.  So of course you need a little holiday decoration in your art journals as well!

This week's prompt:  "AND THE STOCKINGS WERE HUNG..."

MELODY made this cute spread in her journal, with plenty of room to write about a favorite Christmas memory and says "This week's spread was pretty basic. It's been a tough week and no art has gotten done. I started in my small Dylusions journal with burnt umber and titanium white creating a wall and mantle to hang the stockings from. My stockings are by Jolee's Boutique and found them when I was hunting up some stickers to use in my journal for Christmas. Hope you like it."

SHANA sends along this sneak peek and a link to her video!  Follow through on the link to see the process and the finished spread HERE

That's it from our end of the world.  Lynn and I were unable to participate this week due to outside commitments.  Let this prompt challenge you to create a special memory, or recreate one.  Maybe add a special Christmas story as a tip in!

As always, keep it artful!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn and Shana

Artful Journeys - POP UP #27

Betty here, bringing you our Pop-Up this week. Guess what day it is?????  Last day of the month (already?) and time for another POP-UP art challenge for your journal. 

Yes, it is time for you to make a gorgeous, beautiful and delightful DECEMBER CALENDAR using holiday colors (if you so choose--or not).  This will be your last calendar, and I promise we won't do them next year.  Seems like I am the only one on the admin team who really likes having them in my journal, but they are a great "marker" to know when you did something if you don't date your journal work like I do.  I will do them next year, as I have done every year since I started journaling, but we won't have them as a prompt!


LYNN made this beauty... Isn't it pretty?  Here's what she had to say: "I got lucky today and got this piece of deli paper that Betty made with the gelli plate and I loved it so much I wanted to use it for the background for the calendar. Just punched out a bunch of circles and added birthdays that I have this month."  

 

MELODY made this super cute calendar in her usual cheerful style!  "For my calendar I started with tube acrylics in red and white to create the background, then punched circles out of scrapbook papers from my Christmas collection and glued them all down. I added some stickers for the month and a little somethin' extra. Thanks for looking!"

 

BETTY - My page this month is full of wintry and holiday cheer.  Background was prepared with acrylics in red and white, applied with a brayer, then some circles stamped with leftover paint.  I punched out the date squares out of holiday scrapbooking paper, added the dates and snowflakes with Posca markers, then the embellishments. Sadly, I got the "December" that was stamped with Stampin' Up's Alphabet Attitude stamps a little bit high, but oh well!  

SHANA says: As you know I do not enjoy doing Calender's! there is too much planning do do, spacing for the days of the weeks and making sure you have the right amount of days in the month... so since I was just going with it I decided to use what I had to go with the red and green theme, I had a background that I had just made using red and green with a brayer some time ago and started with that. I had a piece of watercolor paper that got ripped so I trimmed it down and laid down some green gelatos for a border then wet the whole piece down, I then sprayed with Dylusions in red. for the days I had some copy paper that I just did random sprays of the dylusions. I glued them all down and uses my sharpie paint pens to number them and add the month at the top. I actually like how it turned out with the mash of red and greens with no real shape, and I got to get my hands full of color! big hugs!

Did we motivate or inspire you?  Can't wait to see your calendars!  Be sure and share them with us at ARTFUL JOURNEYS!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn and Shana

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #48 "Hang a Wreath"

Hi y'all!  Betty here this week with a message of good cheer and glad tidings, and your weekly prompt!

The holiday crush is upon us!  Thanksgiving is behind us, only one more "big cook" left until the new year,  with shopping and decorating in full swing across most of the country.

We want you to also "decorate" your journal this week by "HANGING A WREATH" (by creating one) in your journal. You can draw it, paint it, collage it.  Do you have a holly leaf punch and some green construction paper? There you go! You can festoon it any way you want. Use the gorgeous autumnal colors of fall, or think about cold, wintery cool blues or icy white, or start your holiday decorations with a full-on red and green wreath.  Perhaps you have some awesome greenery in your area and want to construct a "real" wreath using actual greenery  (be sure and preserve with medium or mod podge so it doesn't come apart all over everywhere a month from now!) And of course there are a bazillion options out of silk!  Add a nifty or appropriate quote or some journaling about your  holiday season and make it your own! However flat, bumpy or lumpy you get it done, hang a wreath in that journal for us this week!

Our spreads for this week are as varied as the four of us are, each taking a unique approach to the prompt.

MELODY made this beautiful spread and here's what she had to say: "I started by hunting up this background....I knew I had made it during the retreat and thought it would be perfect for a fall wreath of pretty leaves. The leaves are Recollections from Michaels, and I started by using a large candle to "draw" my circle, then began by laying down the leaves. Once I knew it would work, I pulled them off to glue them all down, then added some smaller leaves over the top, just to give it a little more depth and texture. Thanks for looking!!" 

LYNN put her thinking cap on and crafted up this pretty page ... "The "wreath" that almost wasn't. I spent over a hour trying to paint something pretty and oh boy the more I tried the worst it got so finally trashed it and said oh where is the cutting machine. Cut out leaves until I had enough to make a circle glued them all down and added the Christmas flowers. Punched out a few snowmen and the ribbon is fabric. The Christmas tag I cut and below that is a Christmas sticker.Thanks for looking and make Sure you see what the other girls came up with."

My spread was a lot of fun. My initial idea was a kaleidoscope of color, but it didn't quite turn out that way..... check it out on my blog HERE








We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, thought about the many blessings in your life and got to spend some quality time with friends and family!  We are truly blessed to have you all be a part of our lives, and wish each of you a  stress-free upcoming holiday season!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

Are you missing some prompts from earlier in the year?  You can find a permanent link at the top of the blog "2015 Weekly Prompt Archives" or click to go directly to the archives.

Interested in what we are doing?  Join us by clicking for direct access!

ARTFUL MAIL GROUPIES (mail art swaps)
ARTFUL JOURNEYS (art journaling group)
ARTFUL EXCESS (buy/sell/trade art supplies & handmade items)

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #47 PROMPT

Five weeks left until the end of the year, Thanksgiving is being celebrated this week.  Where has the time gone?

We are getting our first light freeze Saturday night (tonight) here in north Texas, forecast to be just below freezing,  and it is coming early this year.  I know many of our friends up north are already battling winter head-on with lots of snow and bad weather.  All the more reason to live in the south and southwest!!  You Yanks have 9 months of winter, we have 9 months of summer.  I much prefer short pants and flip flops to heavy jeans, closed toe shoes and sweaters, although I like to laugh and say in the winter you can put on enough clothes to get warm, but you can't take off enough when it is 105 degrees in the shade down here in July.  We usually  have quite mild holiday weather and don't get much of the real wintry stuff until late January and February, when suddenly it will start to act like spring again. 

As we are all starting "the big cook" and preparing all our families' favorite dishes for Thanksgiving, being thankful for all we have, we want you to stop for a few minutes and be creative in your journal, and just have some old time fun!



YOUR PROMPT THIS WEEK - Make a turkey the old fashioned way -- USE YOUR HAND!

Yes, you heard right.  We're drawing on our childhood this week, but we know YOUR turkeys will be far from child-like, and you will put your own imaginative spins on this challenge.  Remember to add some special memories of Thanksgivings past to your journal.  Get some writing on those pages!

Here's what we offer up to you for inspiration!

I had a lot of fun with my spread for this prompt, enjoying the childhood memories of making turkeys this way in school.  I started with a gelli print background that I had previously made, then played with one of my new "mini" gelli plates by adding the additional features.  I traced my hand onto yet 2 other gelli prints and fussy cut them out. One tracing was wider, on purpose, and I cut apart the other and tucked them in behind, adding some colorful feathers for additional effect.  I added the stamped "Gobble Gobble" with Stampin' Up's Tidy Alphabet blocks, added some doodles, outlined the "finger feathers" with NeoColor II in black, drew in the eye, the beard, the google and beak, added smudged NeoColor II around a few of the blocks and called it good.  The whole thing came together quickly, and it was great fun trying to think outside the box but still in keeping with the prompt!   I like the non-traditional color palette as well!  Thanks for looking!

 SHANA made another artful spread in her journal and here's what she had to say about it: 
"For my Thankful Turkey, using a pencil, I 1st traced my hand with my thumb tucked in then moved my hand 2 more times just tracing the finger tips to add more feathers. I the traced around my thumb for the Turkeys head and neck, but I did end up slimming his neck down but it was a good reference nonetheless. I then sprayed my turkey using orange and red dylusions ink. I went in with gesso over the ink to make the turkey the focal point and creating some nice muted color from the ink. I outlined the turkey using my Faber-Castell Pitt pen then added detail using assorted  Acrylic paints. "

LYNN put together this colorful and happy spread, making good use of her Cricut.  Here's what she had to say:  "I totally forgot we were supposed to use our hand so here is my Tom.  On the background I used the Viva paper soft color in Sunny Yellow. I highly recommend this brand of paint by the way. It goes on smooth and dries quickly. Since I forgot this was a turkey using my hand I wondered all day what I was going to use for my turkey and finally found a cartridge that had Mr. Tom that I could cut. The turkey, the gobble, and the eat ham were cut using the machine.Even though I didn't follow the prompt exactly, and I don't suppose it really matters, I hope you enjoy it just the same. Make sure you check out what the other ladies did this week. 


MELODY is traveling with her family out of state and was unable to participate in this week's prompt.  She will be back next week in full form, I'm sure!

I hope you enjoyed looking at our takes on this week's prompt, and perhaps can draw some inspiration for your own.  Don't forget to add some words, writing or memories to your spread!

As always, have an artful week and a very happy Thanksgiving!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana


Interested in what we are doing? 
--Join us at ARTFUL JOURNEYS, our art journaling group! 
--How about swapping mail art?  You'll love ARTFUL MAIL GROUPIES!
--Need art supplies or have some excess to sell?  Check out ARTFUL EXCESS!

ARTFUL JOURNEYS POP-UP CHALLENGE #26

We have a quick little pop-up for you tonight ... GRUMPY CATS

While I am definitely a "dog" person, I have had several cats as pets in my lifetime.  Cats are so expressive, demanding, grumpy, playful, lazy, self-absorbed and oh, so loveable.  My very first cat was a yellow tabby named Buttercup (I was in pre-school).  And my last cat was a rescue in the late 1970's named "Nubbin".  Nubbin was a huge black and gray tabby, with just a 3" long tail. Someone had chopped off his tail and the name just fit him. He came to me in a time of my life that having a pet that was rather self-sufficient was important, and was perfect for apartment living.  He was a great cat, but knew I was "his person" rather than him being "my cat."

So to honor all the cats we have known and loved, show us a grumpy cat. Draw one, collage one, create a Teesha-style cat.  However you want to express it, we are happy to see it!

My spread was prepared using a Victorian Trading Company catalog cover.  Background was done with craft and artist acrylics in yellow ochre, black, khaki, moss green, and citrus green applied with a brush and with a cosmetic sponge to blend into the collaged image.  I typed up the saying on my manual Royal typewriter.  He looks miserable, doesn't he? 

 MELODY is out of state with her family doing an early Thanksgiving get-together, but left this digital collage for your enjoyment!

Lynn and Shana were unable to participate in this pop-up challenge, but they will return with more of their beautiful art soon!

Have fun with this, and as always, keep it artful!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn and Shana

Interested in what we are doing? 
--Join us at ARTFUL JOURNEYS, our art journaling group! 
--How about swapping mail art?  You'll love ARTFUL MAIL GROUPIES!
--Need art supplies or have some excess to sell?  Check out ARTFUL EXCESS!

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #46

Betty here this week bringing you our prompt for this week.  We want to push you a little bit this week, to think outside the box a little bit.  And there's a little play on words in motion here.

OUR PROMPT:  "EMPTY THE PANTRY."  Use a bag, box or label in a creative way in your journal.This week I really tried to push myself outside my own comfort zone and do something outside my "normal."  I think I managed to do that, but I'm still a little stressed over it.  Come see how and why HERE

LYNN made this bright and cheerful page, and here's what she had to say about it:

"I started by punching out hearts from a Cheerios box and the tag is cut from a apple cider box-- something I have been drinking lately--after coffee, of course. I covered my page with sunshine yellow paper and added black lace washi tape to the sides. Stamped my Tim Holtz bird and fussy  cut him out. Stamped the quote and topped it on the cider tag.Thanks for looking at this week's prompt and make sure you check out what the other  girls came up with. I got a sneak peek at Betty's and it is fabulous!!!"

MELODY created this lovely background  for her journal.  She says: " This week I made a background using an old cereal box and acrylic paints in varying shades of pink with stamps and stencils."  What a transformation!

Shana has been under the weather all week, but will be back with us next week with more of her beautiful artwork.

We hope that we have inspired you in some way or given you some ideas of reusing what might otherwise become trash.  Save the earth -- turn trash to treasure!


Have a fantastic week, and as always, get out there and keep it artful!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn and Shana

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #43

Howdy y'all...Betty here again to bring you our prompt for the week.  I have been extremely busy preparing for our art retreat, and quite frankly, working on prompts was not on any of the myriad of lists I have going at the moment.  But I managed...barely.


Since Halloween is just around the corner, our prompt this week is "Ghosts, Goblins & Other Spookies"
As most of you know, Halloween is not my favorite holiday, and it is hard to get in the spirit of it, when we never have trick or treaters way out here in the sticks where we live.   Of course, my neighbors are all decked out decorated and told me they were anticipating some children this year.  I told them not to hold their breath since in over 20 years we have lived out here, we had one trick or treater and that "child" is in her 20's will be getting married next weekend!  Now, of course they use that excuse to buy candy and feel good about it "just in case".  But since NO children live down here at the far end of a very dark rural road, the likelihood of seeing little ghosts and goblins is quite marginal for us. When we lived in the suburbs of Dallas, I loved all the little kids and had fun handing out candy to them, taking pictures and trying to get into the spirit of it all.  My fur babies weren't quite as receptive, but at least I did love those cute kids coming up on the porch!

EPIC FAIL

So I had some trouble with this. I have very little ephemera for Halloween, save for some cute things I got in happy mail this past week.  But none of that spoke to me.  So I did manage to draw this first thing, get it colored, and then hated the entire thing.  This was a dismal fail...but I'm going to show it to you anyway.....  it WILL get some gesso all over it very soon, I promise.  I find it to be hideous and like nothing about it whatsoever.  I used Copic and Aqua markers.There was bleeding from the adjacent page and streaks I could not obliterate without dragging out the paint too.

While talking with Melody on the phone, an idea hit me, so I whipped out my trusty pencil and grabbed black, red and white acrylic and managed to complete this new mess for you.  I'm so over Halloween. Thank goodness it will all be over next week.  The following one says it all...about my mood and inability to deal with Halloween right now.  Sorry folks. Hopefully next week my Muse will be re-enthused after spending four glorious days with the gals making art and having great fellowship with them.

LYNN made this super cute page and says: "I used scrapbook orange paper and the bats and ghosts are glimmer stickers. Washi tape at the bottom of the page. Hope you enjoy and see what the others came up with."

SHANA and her Muse were working overtime this week and came up with this really fabulous spread.  She says:  "Playing in my hot press watercolor handmade journal with aqua markers and watercolor pencils. I knew I wanted to make a goblin but I wanted him/her to be cute, and "pretty much everything is cute in a pink tutu!"  And how right she is.  This is super cute!

 

MELODY has a double entry for us tonight.  We saw her background earlier in the week and were stoked to see what she did with it.  But she says that her Muse must has flown off into the night with a vampire bat or Count Dracula, because this is how she feels......


And here's her spread.  She thinks that is her own blood on there after her Muse cut her throat. 

I think the general consensus is we're all happy Halloween is about over.  We have no more dark pages in us and the spooky ghosts and goblins have departed from our repertoires.  We are hopeful, though, that some fun and magic remain in YOUR imaginations, so be sure and show us your successes...and your failures.  We did.

Be safe, and have an artful week!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn and Shana

Artful Journeys - Week #42

Hi everyone!  Betty here this week bringing you our weekly art challenge.  Week 42 is here... only 10 more weeks until the year comes to an end.  Can you believe it?  Why, when we were kids did we wish so hard for time to go by faster.? Now, father Time seems to fly by and we blink twice and the holidays are upon us.  Whoosh!  And "they" told us to be careful what we wished for ... ha! But I digress...

This week at Artful Journeys we want you to STAMP A MANDALA in your journal.

A "mandala" is described on Wikipedia as " Mandala (Sanskrit Maṇḍala, 'circle') is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe.^[1] The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T.^[2][3] Mandalas often exhibit radial balance.<sup>[4]



There are many kinds of mandalas in the world of mixed media, and most would generally agree that a mandala forms a circle, in general.  A mandala can have radiating arms, be circular in nature within a square, but generally will conform to the overall shape of a circle.  There are 100's if not 1000's of examples of mandalas on the internet, in adult coloring books, etc.

But for our purposes, we want  you to make use of all those rubber stamps we know you have been collecting and have hiding out in your stash of beloved art supplies. Drag them out. Be creative. Use some you never use, but love. 

Here's what we came up with this week for you. 

First up is LYNN and she created this lovely example of some complicated mandalas for you.  Here's what she had to say: "Hi girls. I used lime green paint as the background and had this circle stencil that I just used a black ink pad to stamp around it and added circles here and there for more of a design. So only 3 items was used this week. Stencil, Ink pad, and Lime green paint.  Don't forget to check out what the other 3 girls did and thanks for looking."</sup>

Next up is MELODY has created another bright and eye-catching spread in her journal. She says, " For this week's prompt, I just started grabbing stamps! They're all by Heidi Swapp. I started with the butterfly, then tried going in a square around it, but that failed, and I just kept going until I ran out of room. The background was prepared with my favorite Quin Magenta & white acrylic, with some stenciling and the page edge finished out with some coordinating washi tape."

 

  

My spread (BETTY) began with my favorite color combination of yellows and orange acrylic, brushed on and then smoothed out a bit with a baby wipe.  Quite some time ago, I got this really great, but small stamps from Close to My Heart and used them to form the basis of my mandala.  I used a compass to make some guidelines, which were later erased with a Hi-Polymer white eraser by Pentel.  Seems like every time I rough in a mandala I want really circular without my trusty compass, it is a little wonky or I run out of room on one side, so using the compass and starting in the center of your page will help keep it even on the page.  I always look upon a mandala as more "the circle of life" as opposed to the more traditional "universe".  I love all kinds of mandalas, but one of my favorites are the really ancient ones drawn based on iconic religious symbols for various cultures and countries. Some of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen were from victorian age Russia and ancient Tibet.

SHANA got super creative with her spread this week, and here's what she had to say: "
I made my stamped mandala in my Dylusions journal using black StazOn ink pad. Creating the mandala was so zen-like. I made no real conscience decisions when I created it, I chose the stamps based on size and just repeated on the opposite side. I loved how the pattern turned out but felt it needed some color, that is where the Dylusions spray came in! I used multiple colors and 4 or 5 different stencils blotting the excess until I got the color burst and texture I was looking for! I can't wait to use this background in the future! big hugs and mushy stuff! "

So there you go.  Four different interpretations of a stamped mandala.  We are anxious to see your beautiful creation, so be sure and share with us at Artful Journeys.

Have a fantastic week, enjoy the fall weather, and as always, remember to keep it artful!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana