ARTFUL JOURNEYS - Week 31 - Go Organic

Hey, y'all, Melody here again with another prompt for you!

This week we're going "organic".  So stuff your feet in your shoes, put on your sunblock (or your scarf, if it's cold where you live) and take a walk!  Find elements for your spread outside, and see where it takes you.  Everything is inspiration and it's all fair game in your journal this week.  Let's see what the girls pulled off this week.

First up is Miss Betty, who took to her yard and grabbed some pretty awesome inspiration for her spread...combined with uber bright colors, she took it out of the park!  See her process here!

Next up is Shana, who found her inspiration while visiting family out of state...read all about it here!!!

Then we have my (Melody) take on this week's prompt.  Read all about it here!

And, finally, we have Lynn's awesome spread!  Here's what she had to say about this week's prompt and her take on it!

"Summertime and the living is easy!  It's all about going outdoors and grabbing something from nature to put on your page.  For my spread I chose ivy.

"I started by painting the page with Folk Art's Lime Green, because I wanted to be sure that my leaves would show up, so I didn't want a green that was too dark.  The "summertime" sign is just a piece of scrap paper I cut out for the title of the prompt.  I had an ivy rub on that I added to the page after the title, and made it work it's way across the page.  It really does look kinda like real ivy.  On the actual ivy, I simply added it with a stapler because I didn't think it would hold well with glue.  I really love how it stands up, giving the page a 3-D effect, but will lie flat when my journal is closed.

"I purposely kept this spread simple because it's just how I like my pages - simple but nice.  I hope you enjoy what all the other girls have to offer this week and you give it a try!!!  Thanks for looking!!!!"

And there you have it, folks!  Different ideas and thoughts on this week's prompt.  Be sure to visit everyone's blog and leave some love, and share what YOU create this week over at ARTFUL JOURNEYS.

Make it a great week, and as always -- keep it artful!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

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!

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

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!

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!!!

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!

Artful Journeys - Week 26: Celebrate!

Hey, y'all!!!  It's Melody here, bringing you this week's prompt - Patriotic/4th of July/Red-White-Blue.

239 years ago, on July 4, 1776, the Thirteen United States declared their independence from England, creating a new nation.  A nation which has been a melting pot for peoples from ALL OVER the world.  So, as July 4th grows near, we decided to honor ours, and all other countries - if you don't have a day of independence, then go patriotic with your spread, using your country's colors for your spread.

This week, tho she forgot what day of the week this was, Lynn threw together a cute little page for our prompt:

She said: "I started off painting half the page Robin Blue and the other half an off red, then added some Barn Red as well.  I stenciled the anchor and month in white, then added some larger circles, but I didn't like them, so I went back thru with smaller circles, which I liked a lot better, and really liked some of the blue peeking out.  I completely lost track of which day of the week it was, so this was just a super quick page, but it was fun, and I hope you like it.  Thanks for looking!"

Next up is my (MELODY) spread - I have had a really tough time creating lately, but I did have some great fun creating this spread.  You can see it HERE:

Next up is TAMIE'S spread, and I absolutely LOVE what she pulled off in her journal this week! Go read all about her process HERE:

BETTY is totally patriotic this week with her spread.  Check it out HERE

SHANA is traveling over the course of the next couple of weeks but will return with a vengeance after her travels.

We hope that you all find some inspiration in the work we have prepared and that you get in the patriotic spirit of our theme this week. Be sure and show us your creations over at Artful Journeys.

Have a wonderful week, and Happy Independence Day!

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

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - POP UP ART CHALLENGE #17

Hi everyone!  Betty here for your pop-up art challenge!
July is almost upon us, summer seems to be in full swing all across the country and the heat has set in for most of us.

POP UP CHALLENGE:  Create a July calendar in your journal using a patriotic theme.

I figured you expected this was coming. I love calendars in my journal. Helps me keep track of what I have created there, and when -- especially since I don't usually date work in my journals.


TAMIE created this fun calendar for her journal, even though she hates calendars as she has told us many times.  She used watercolor, a black Bic pen, a pre-printed calendar page and stamping.

BETTY - My calendar page was created independently on watercolor paper and then tipped into my 9x12 Canson wirebound mixed media journal.  Shaving foam background using craft acrylic paints. I had some really cool red & white music printed scrapbooking paper that I used to cut out some hand drawn letters for the "July" part, and punched out some flowers that I thought looked sort of like a fireworks burst.  I used a red Sharpie marker to add the dates and applied a couple of patriotic stickers and called it good.  I actually glued this in on top of a page I made a few nights ago that I hated so now I don't have to look at that horrible fail.  In hindsight, I should have masked off the two color sections  for this piece, but as usual, I was in a hurry.  Maybe next time I will plug my brain in before I haul off and mix two dark colors together all at one time!  LOL.

LYNN made this super awesome calendar for your viewing pleasure!  Great job Lynny!

MELODY says that her Muse has taken a hike, but she did manage to get this beauty together. Look at that interesting background!  

SHANA has been preparing for a long trip back to the land of cheese heads to spend some time with her family, but she will be back soon!

So there you have it.  Hopefully you can draw some inspiration from something we created.  Be sure and show us your July calendar at Artful Journeys when you finish!  We want to see!!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

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

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #25 Fun with Beauty Aids!

Howdy, y'all!  Betty here this week!  Did we get your attention with that catchy title?

This week we have a fun adventure for you to help bring out your sense of fun and adventure!  Our prompt for you is to use shaving foam and any coloring agent to create at least one background for your art journal or other art projects you might have planned.  Of course you can go wild with this prompt if you like.  You aren't just limited to the "backgrounds" and if you want to paint with the shaving foam, go for it!  We're all about creating, experimenting and having F.U.N.!!

WARNING!!!  This activity is highly addictive and may cause total and complete excitement, amazement, joy and creativity!!  You have been warned!

I fretted all week about this prompt.  First, the hubs does not shave with shaving foam, so this is not anything I had at home.  I have never ever used this technique so I called upon our creative friend, Mr. Pinterest, and watched a bunch of videos, looked at several photo tutorials and knew this was going to be a blast.  Who doesn't like playing with gooey, messy stuff??

Please come have a look at all the great fun I had.  I had to stop after 10 pieces.  I could have kept on and on and on.  It was a blast!  You will definitely be seeing my efforts on future journal pages, even perhaps in a swap or two.  Come visit me here

MELODY couldn't stop either and made some outstanding backgrounds that you are just going to LOVE! Check it out here

SHANA has blown the doors off this prompt and will wow! you with her spectacular creation!  Check it out here

 

LYNN created these awesome pages, and here's what she had to say:

Ok girls--this was so much fun to do with the inks and the shaving cream. The two top ones I just used one color of the Niji Splash Ink in Magenta.

The bottom picture I use Dylusions ink spray on top of the splash ink in crushed grape. I only had a little bit of the shaving cream but a little seem to go a long way.

I put the cream in a pan and added the inks and cut my paper down to 4x4 and just put it on top and pressed down and then picked it up and took a credit card and scrap away the excess until it was smooth. I plan on doing more of this prompt and making backgrounds and tags with it.

Give it a try. This was the most fun I have had with a prompt since we started. P.S. It is a little messy but well worth the end results. Thanks for looking.

We hope that you get inspired and have as much fun and all of us did creating something for you this week.

Artfully yours,
ARTFUL CHICKS

~~Betty, Melody, Tamie, Lynn & Shana

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - Week #24

Hey, y'all!  Melody here again this week and let me tell you what, it's gotten hot down here in the Lone Star State, and with lakes, creeks and rivers still flooded, it feels even hotter...so this week's prompt is one that makes a perfect play into the start of summer!  Let's get to it, shall we?

First off, this week I had a really tough time with this one, as I just could NOT figure out what I was going to do, even contemplating just painting the page and writing down the lyrics to a song, lol.  But my muse stepped in at the last minute and saved me from embarrassing myself.  You can find my spread and read all about my process, HERE.

Next, we have Shana's take on this week's prompt, HERE, and it's pretty darn cool, let me tell you!  Hop on over a take a look!

Next up is Lynn's page for this week, and she didn't disappoint!  Here page makes me wish I had a sailboat!  Here's her page, and what she had to say about her take on our prompt!

"Sail away with me"
This week I had no clue what to do for this prompt and it took until the deadline to come up with something but in the end I came to really like it.

Painted the bottom with my new inks Niji splash ink in blue and the top I did the same ink in yellow. A little bit of this ink goes a long way. For the letters I used stickers and had a sailboat stencil lucky for me because there was no way I was drawing them. Can't hardly do stick people. Lol

So stenciled the boats in boat and white but now wish I had done 3 different colors but this will work good too. Added glimmer washi tape to kinda make it look like glimmering water and that is pretty much it.

Much easier then I thought it would be and happy with the end product. Thanks for going to the blogs and please leave some love for the girls they do a great job. Lynn ☺

BETTY  has made a fun and whimsical page.  So hop on over to her blog and check it out HERE 

We hope you all have a fantastic week and are starting to enjoy your summer.  We will look forward to seeing your creations at ARTFUL JOURNEYS.  Go out and make it an artful week!

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

ARTFUL JOURNEYS Week 23 - Song Lyrics!!!

Hey, y'all, it's Melody here for this week's blog post!

Interesting thing about music.  It can evoke many, many moods.  Pick you up, calm you down, help you focus, take your mind back in time...either way, it's a VERY powerful thing!

The team and I have put our collective heads together and had some great fun with this prompt, so let's just jump right in!

First up this week is Shana, and she really had some fun with this week's prompt....you can see her full spread and her process here.

Next is Lynn's prompt...and here's what she had to say:

This is my first song prompt and it was fun. I don't listen to music but I did have a songbook and picked a song called "Some Other Time". I tore it and glued it to the page and added a few bling pieces to it. Always have to use the bling.

Painted it a canary yellow with my favorite color pink and stenciled dots and flowers all over it so there was no white because Ms. Betty doesn't like white. LOL

And I even did a little sewing to give it more interest. At the bottom of the song it says a person name and then Sept. 14, 1978. That was very cool so I made sure it shown though. Had fun with this one and thanks for looking.

Next up is Miss Betty's super awesome spread for this week's prompt, and it's just as bright and sunny as she is!  You can see her entire spread and her process on her blog, here.

Tamie just took it to the next level this week with her spread...see it and her process here!

And then there's my take on this week's prompt, which you can see here

Be sure to hop on over to all the blogs and read all about the girls' prompts and see what they've been up to...be sure to give them some love when you stop by!

Keep it artful!

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

POP-UP CHALLENGE #16 June Calendar

It's pop-up time!  Can you believe June is here already?  Most kids around here are already out of school, graduations start next week, and the heat is just around the corner.

For your Pop-Up Challenge, we want you to create your June Calendar and incorporate the color Yellow into your page / calendar.  Doesn't yellow just scream summer?

Here's what we've come up with for your inspiration for this month:

BETTY - I love the color yellow, although I can't wear yellow at all.  This bright, happy color makes me happy. Sunflowers make me very happy and they are my favorite flower of all time, followed closely by the lovely yellow rose.  Being the rule breaker that I am from time-to-time, I decided to make an unconventional calendar for this month. Each petal is a separate day of the month.  Created in my 9x12" Canson mixed media journal. Flower sketched with a bold Signo Uniball and then colored with Prismacolor pencils.  Start to finish: 40 minutes while watching TV with the hubs.  Quote by Charles Bowden -- "Summertime is always the best of what might be."

TAMIE --  Tamie tells us every month that she doesn't like calendars, but she always manages to create something fun and interesting for hers.

I used the new Dylusions acrylic paints. I did the dots for flowers using a plastic bag then a tiny brush to draw with paints the flowers. glued on a poem and mini June calendar.

SHANA - We learned this week that Shana doesn't like calendars either.  Oh boy, two of them!

I hate making calendars, maybe its the the structure of it, I feel completely constrained having to keep within the guideline. so with my 1st calendar due as part of the creative team I groaned... loudly and whined to anyone who would listen, I started with the layers of yellow and made the circles for the days, wrote the month on the top and I was stuck, it sat that way for hours... But the chicks rescued me! I asked what to do and they told me to find words about the month of June and add flowery vines. I did exactly as they suggested and I finally have a calendar I made that I don't hate, all with the help of these awesome ladies!

LYNN - I started with paint of course yellow and a mint green and they mixed pretty well together. Have a 3 inch die cut that I did the circles with and added June on top and a sun second and the year third.

The "grow something " I cut off a calendar I have and added some bling to the sun. The butterflies are the kind you iron on clothes that I picked up at a garage sale and just stamped some flowers to fill the page. Border I did with flower washi tape and she's done and I love it! Thank you for looking.

MELODY - When I first started my June calendar, I sprayed my spread with Lemon Zest Dylusions spray, and I really just didn't like it, so I got out my cadmium yellow light, titanium white and turquoise, then punched out 30 little tags using my Recollections punch, using some Gelli prints I didn't really like and edged them all with a black gelato...the quote is from a country song by George Strait, "I ain't here for a long time, I'm here for a good time."

We hope that between the five of us, we have inspired you in some way. Be sure and show us your calendar, whether you like doing them or not.  It's a great way to document in your journal and get some words in there!

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