ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #39 "TEA TIME"

Hi, Betty back this week to bring you our prompt for the coming week. 

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head?  Well, ever since we decided to do this particular prompt, each time I would start thinking about it, I got that "Tea for Two, and Two for Tea" song stuck.   Over and over and over.  And it's still playing.  Please...... someone make a catchy little tune about COFFEE...just for me, puh-leez!!!!!

We were all enthused about this prompt.  It can go so many different ways, and as usual, we all took different approaches this week.

SHANA apparently was feeling a little spunky this week with her journal spread. Here's what she had to say...

I was feeling sassy and wanted to play with watercolors with this weeks post, I did a google search for inspiration using the words "tea time" and saw a card with the phrase on my page. It made me giggle so I started playing and with it working on one of my many nemesis, hands! I decided to go against sketching and just laid down the color in the general shape of the hand, I was pleasantly surprised by how it turned out! I continued by adding the sassy pants girls face with more watercolor and wrote the phrase. The tea cup is cut from an envelope I received from a Artful Mail groupies swap! I hope you enjoy my sassy pants journal entry and it gave you a giggle! ~~Big hugs and mushy stuff! - Shana

MELODY is full of bright colors again this week and put her creative talents to making me WANT to try some tea......  Better go check it out, and be sure and leave her some blog love while you're there.... HERE







 

 
LYNN has hit yet another home run this week!  Here's what she had to say about it!  "I really enjoyed doing this prompt. I mixed painting with stencils and die cuts. The base of the spread is used with my new paper soft paint that I won in a contest in soft orange. And ladies, I have to say if you don't know this paint you have to try it. Made by Viva. Then I cut out the tea cups from the Tim Holtz line and with my Cricut, cut out my "time for tea" letters. The lady having the tea is from a old calendar. Finally, I used a circle stencil and added them all over the page. I hope you enjoy this spread and make sure you go look what the other girls did this week. Thanks for looking."

BETTY - Okay, so I am a coffee-aholic, and tea really isn't my "thang" -- but I did manage to try a new technique I had been wanting to experiment with, and had a lot of fun doing it.  You can see the full spread HERE

 


We hope that in some small way that we have inspired you to create something fun in your journal, experiment and think outside the box or just get down and dirty with it and create with wild abandon. No matter how you proceed, you're keeping it artful...just how we like!

Have a fantastic week!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn and Shana

Artful Journeys Week 38: Leaves!!!

Hey, y'all!!!  Melody here bringing you the prompt for this week over at Artful Journeys!  Man, let me tell you, I got up one morning last week, and actually had to grab a sweatshirt!  No lie!  It was 64!!!  In North Texas!!  In September!!!!!  If you know anything about North Texas, you know we don't usually hit the 60's till late October!  It was a wonderful and welcome change, that's for sure! 

And of course, with the changing of the weather, there are other changes.  One of those changes is the leaves.  Everywhere you look, the leaves are changing colors already, especially in the northern states, but even here they're changing.  So our prompt for this week is none other than "Leaves".  Use them any way you see fit.  Big leaves.  Little leaves.  Green leaves.  Make a wreath.  Make a pile.  Make a tree.  But use them.  Lots of them.  Let's see what the girls created for your viewing pleasure and inspiration.

First up is LYNN, and HOLY FREAKIN' COW!!!!!!  Lynn really knocked it out of the park this week with her spread.  Here's what she had to say about her spread and process:  "Welcome to this week's prompt!  This was a fun and fairly easy prompt to do.  I started off by painting the entire page with Adirondack acrylic paint in Hazelnut.  Over that I stenciled using my favorite color, Indian Turquoise by American Crafts.

I  used a new stamp I got yesterday, and stamped 3 leaves, fussy cut them and painted them Grass Green, before gluing them down and stamping extra leaves in black all around the page.  I added a few stickers and called it done.  It was fun and easy, and I was very pleased with how it turned out!

Make sure you go visit the girls' blogs and see what they came up with for this week.  They always do a wonderful job!  Thanks for reading!" -Lynn

Next up we have SHANA's spread, and I have to tell you - it's SUPER cute!  Be sure to go see the WHOLE picture on her blog, HERE!!!

Next up we have Melody's take on the prompt, and it's definitely fun and "her", lol.  Hop on over to her blog, HERE, and see what she came up with!

And last, but not least, we have Betty's spread.  As always, she's supplied us with quite a treat!  Hurry on over to her blog, HERE, to see what she created! 

That's it for this week.  Be sure to leave everyone some blog-love so they know you stopped by, and don't forget to share your amazing creations with us on our Facebook page in ARTFUL JOURNEYS.

Happy arting, y'all!!!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

Pop Up Art Challenge #22

Pop-Up time!!!  Betty here this week, bringing you another little art challenge to keep you stimulated and using your art supplies in new and creative ways!  We never want you to run out of mojo or ideas, and having a pop-up challenge keeps you involved with your journal AND your art supplies.  We all have those supplies that we just HAD to have, and often they just sit there, looking all pretty and tantalizing, but they aren't getting used.  I definitely have this problem with some of my supplies, reaching always for the tried and true, go-to supplies.  I don't challenge myself as much as I should, and want to.  So this week, put on your thinking cap!


CHALLENGE:  Use washi or decorative tape prominently in a creative spread in your journal. 

Washi and decorative tape have a myriad of uses.  If you've ever spent any time at all on Pinterest, you know it can be used for many, many things...  Mosaics, covering everything from clothespins to tin cans, as labels, as creative art.  So that's where we are today:  making creative art.


For my spread, I used a background page created in my Canson mixed media journal with some new acrylic paints I picked up at Target a couple weeks ago, making different paint combinations with the same 4 pots of colors. This time I used the Azalea Pink and Lime.  It is really bright!

The background was applied with a credit card, with several different layers of each color.  The finish is satin smooth, and I love, love how it feels.  I began by layering 5-6 rows of different patterns of washi tape onto some stiff card stock.  I then individually cut out the pieces, and affixed with Alene's Tacky Glue (it was handy).  After it was fully dry, each pinwheel flower was outlined with black china marker and smudged. I wanted to give that "blowing in the wind" effect with the lettering, so I used the china marker again and smudged it all.  I rather like how it turned out, but I did have to go over some of the letters several times because the background is so slick-smooth, I would rub off the marker.  I added some additional embellishment to the center of the flowers and the leaves with a bold Signo Uniball pen.   Anyway, this is what I came up with......and that song is still stuck in my head!  It was fun playing with my big hoard of washi tape and deciding which ones to use.

MELODY made this beautiful spread in her usual bright style, but straying from her usual bright pinks.  She still managed to get that favorite turquoise on the page, and brightened it all up some more with some lovely washi embellishments.  Using some plain white cardstock, she drew hearts on one side of the page, then laid out her washi tape on the opposite side, making it super easy to cut those hearts out.   Don't you just love the shadowed stenciling?  Remember that Melody actually "journals" in her journal, so she always leaves plenty of room for her writing.  Another fabulous and beautiful spread, Mel!

And here's a couple of close up views of those lovely corner hearts!

What kind of fun can you create?  Think outside the box, think inside the box, use that washi and decorative tape and wow us!

As always, we're keeping it artful!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #37 - Let's Go to the Fair

Since September is the beginning of regional and state fair season, let's take a trip to the fair!  Perhaps you want to go down memory lane to a time of innocence and fascination.  Maybe there's one thing about attending a fair that really stands out in your memory.

Are you a fair-food junkie?  Must see the baby animals?  Are the thrill rides something you're always drawn to or do you have to go see all the new exhibits and special attractions?  Whatever it is, let's go there!

This week Betty is on a nostalgic trip to the Texas State Fair.  She used some vintage photographs, some new ones and made some magic.  You can see her full spread HERE

Shana got out her  e-paintbrushes and created some delightful fair magic for us this week. Check out her spread HERE and don't forget to leave her some blog love!

Melody had a little creative fun this week as well.  Check out her work HERE!  Be sure and leave her a little blog love while you're there!

Lynn wasn't able to play in her journal this week with us, but I'm sure we'll see some more of her creative work in the weeks to come.

Enjoy your week, and remember to always keep your life artful!

ARFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #36 "Dream Destination"

Where are you really Jones'n to go?  A tropical paradise?  The painted desert?  A trip back to ancient times in Egypt?  Paris?  Rome?  China?  Another specific place hiding out there on your bucket list?

WEEK #36 PROMPT:
This week at Artful Journeys we want you to create a TRAVEL AD for your DREAM DESTINATION in your journal or for your journal.

We all have at least one place we really want to go before we pass from this life.  Some of us have lots of places on that travel agenda.  Your dream destination can be anywhere, or perhaps you want to think outside the box and create a travel ad to an imaginary destination, filled with all manner and sort of dreams, inspirations and creativity.  Let that imagination soar and create something wonderful!

MELODY is going green this week, so hop on over to her blog and check out her beautiful spread, HERE ... and don't forget to leave her some blog love while you're there!

BETTY has a magical destination in mind that she missed in her European travels.  Check it out HERE

LYNN - I have lived in many different states so not like I haven't traveled but one place I haven't been is almost in my backyard Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. I will be making this trip next year plus Wall Drug which is near by.

I cut up a state map for the base and of course have many postcards of Rushmore so glued that down and just happened to find travel stickers that I didn't even remember I had and I thought it went great with the spead.

Maybe not a dream destination but I can't wait to see it. That's it for this week. Please check the other girls blogs and see where their destination is. Thanks for looking.

SHANA is dreaming of exotic and tropical places and is again impressing us with her creative artwork!  Check out here blog, HERE

Dream your dream and show us your dream destination this week.  If nothing else, we'll all be taking some stay-cations enjoying each other's dreams.

Have an artful and expressive week!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #35

Betty here, bringing you our post this week.  Oh boy!  Sunday is here and it is time for our weekly prompt!  I always look forward to creating for you and getting a few minutes to sit down and talk to you, too!

OUR PROMPT THIS WEEK:  "SUNSETS & FIREFLIES"

We are all really exited about this week's prompt.  Who doesn't love a beautiful sunset and there's always something magical about fireflies.  So we put them together!


LYNN made this beautiful pastoral spread, and here's what she had to say about it:

Hello everyone.  I don't have the names of the colors I used on this spread as they were just little pots of paint but the colors are a sheer yellow and a reddish color. Stenciled a couple of boats and outlined them in black with a scarlet lime pen.

Added the fireflies with stickers I had and my saying came from a calendar. Have a circle stencil that I added just a hint for added interest. Thank you for looking and make sure you check out what Melody and Shana and Ms. Betty did this week. It's fabulous!

SHANA has created another beautiful spread, showcasing her abundant talents. Pop on over to her blog to see the full spread HERE

MELODY is using powerful colors again this week and made an awesome spread. You're going to love it!  Run over to her blog and check out the full spread HERE

And my (BETTY) contribution for this week didn't get inspired until Friday evening.  I hope you like where I went with this.  You can see the full spread and read about my inspiration HERE

There you have it.  We've all done something very different and we all certainly made great use of our art supply stashes.  Make magic in your own journal, then share it with us!  Tell us about your favorite "firefly" or "sunset" memory!

Keep it artful, and have a fantastic week!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn and Shana

Pop-Up Challenge #21 "Back to School"

September is here and all across the country, moms are jumping for joy (although I hear tell some of you may be sad) that the children are back in school and your days can be your own once again.

OUR PROMPT FOR THIS WEEK:   Create your September Calendar with a Back to School theme.

Make it funny and quirky.  Remember your own school days.  Take an eclectic approach.  However you choose to do it. think about going back to school for this pop up!  Scroll down and have a look at our interpretations on this challenge and let's see if we can inspire you!


BETTY created this fun page from the perspective of a bored  student, doodling on her calendar and in her notebook.  She used craft and heavy body acrylics, a tape resist for the margins, a scalloped edge punch to cut the days from black "writing paper"; a yellow "Painter's" pen, stickers, frilly yarn and assorted collage elements from the newspaper, magazines and assorted ephemera from October Afternoon.

MELODY created this fun calendar in a  whole different way, using acrylics on her background and her "students" are cut from assorted paint chips.  I love how she used those dark red paint chips to form her "school house" and the bell tower.  Plenty of room to write events happening this month on her spread!

LYNN knocked hers out of the park and made this gorgeous calendar.  Don't you just love those little school houses?  And all this coming from a lady who thinks she can't make journal pages... LOL

SHANA has been busy this week working on some commissioned art work.  Since she promised her hubby to make money with her art, we want her to do so to stay out of the dog house.  She'll be back this week, though with something gorgeous to share with us.

So there you have it.  What interesting calendar are you going to create for the coming month?  Don't forget to share it at Artful Journeys!  Sharing is caring!  Have an artful weekend!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #34 "ARE YOU LOOKING IN, OR OUT?"

Hi everyone!  Betty here bringing you our weekly prompt, and we hope that it is something fun that will inspire and challenge you this week!

OUR PROMPT THIS WEEK:  WINDOWS

When you see a window, what does it make you think of?  Looking in?  Looking out?  Something deeper, more introspective?  That's it, that's why many of us journal.  To look inward, to be a little more introspective, to find a deeper understand of ourselves; to make sense out of chaos; to live our lives more fully and in a freer, more uninhibited way.

So what will you choose this week?  Go literal with drawing or rendering of a window or windows? Create many windows that you can look into?  Use a glassine window and let us peep into your world a little bit?  This prompt has so many opportunities for experimentation and exploration, the possibilities really start to become overwhelming.

I got overwhelmed at first, and slowed down and had a re-think and a do-over to come up with my final spread.  What will you do?

MELODY was very brave this week and used one of her least favorite colors to make an eye-catching spread.  Jump on over to her blog, and read all about it and see her full spread HERE

LYNN got all arty on us this week after having some time off.  Here's what she had to say:
Hello everyone!  I started with painting the page with Martha Stewart high gloss multi surface acrylic paint in indigo. After that I sprayed with a circle stencil with dylusions ink spray in cut grass.

My window was cut with the Cricut machine and I used alphabet stamps to write the words in the windows. Two glimmer stones on the top and bottom and a dot stamp all the way around with days of the week washi tape.

I photographed it but just couldn't get a very clear picture so it will be one that looks better in person then pictures. Check out what our other girls came up with. We all do such different work. Thanks for looking.

SHANA will wow you again this week with her wonderful and creative addition.  You can see the whole spread and read all about it on her blog, HERE

And lastly, I add in my two cents' worth and my take on this week's prompt.  You can see the full spread and my process HERE

We hope that you will visit all our blogs and find your own inspiration from what we offer up, or something that is already percolating in the back of your mind.  Have fun with it!

As always, share your journal page with us at ARTFUL JOURNEYS.  We wish you an artful and productive week!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

POP-UP ART CHALLENGE # 20

We want you to stay engaged with your journal on a routine basis, so it's that time again!

Limited color palette #2 - ORANGE

The premise of this prompt is that your page should be predominantly orange, use orange things, things with orange AND try and set it up using "book page" margins, where the top, sides and middle have margins similar to that in a book.

By doing a prompt in this way, it forces you to think about the layout of your overall design, drawing the eye to both sides of the page and your central focus.

BETTY created this fun spread using Dylusions spray inks, fluid craft acrylics, heavy body acrylics, stenciling with spackle, stamped bubbles, printed images and lettering, a paper doily that was gifted in happy mail, Inktense blocks, orange gel pens, pieces of a napkin, paper flowers, a piece of chipboard, die cuts, silk flowers/leaves, brads, china marker, flat backed gems, buttons, reclaimed tape from happy mail, fabric tape and printed embellishments.  Since she claims not to have that much actual orange ephemera, she went with things that was orange in assorted hues and shades or contained orange.  It turned out beautifully, although the photography really does not show the vibrant and intense color of the original.

SHANA created this stunner.  It is so powerful in its simplicity... and that orange, my friends, makes you just want to take a bite, doesn't it?  She says she loved doing it so much with acrylics, she is going to make one in watercolor for her kitchen.  And since Shana (rhymes with Banana), it couldn't be more appropriate!  We can't wait to see it!

MELODY said this is her very first "bumpy" spread in her journal, and wow! what a fantastic job she did, too!  She pulled everything out of her stash that was orange, contained orange and went to town with that "JAM" theory (just add more) and it so works in such a wonderful, clean and positive way, don't you think?  And still fitting her requirements to have room for journaling!

LYNN has been traveling and has just returned home and isn't back in the groove yet, but look for her beautiful work very soon!

We have been having fun with this limited color palette thing..... aren't you?  By limiting yourself, you really are doing some linear thinking, but in a creative, out-of-the-box way.  Three of us showing you this prompt, three different approaches.  All of them fun.

Show us how you work with a limited color palette, and rock it!  We can't wait to see!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

ARTFUL JOURNEYS - Week #33

"BASICS WILL GET YOU FROM A-Z, IMAGINATION WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE."  

~~Albert Einstein

Happy weekend everyone!  Betty here this week bringing you our weekly prompt!

This week at Artful Journeys, our prompt for you is to create a spread using "Bad Poetry".

The concept of this prompt is to generally select a central image and then find random words or phrases (or let the image dictate your selection of words) in magazines, cut them out and include them on your spread.  You can go wild with this. It isn't supposed to make a whole lot of sense, but you would be amazed at how your mind works and puts words and phrases together that make sense on your spread.

MELODY rocks yet another spread with her colorful imagination. Her sneak peek is enticing, isn't it? Visit her blog to see the full spread HERE

BETTY (me) had fun this week just letting loose.  Is my sneak peek enough to interest you? See my full spread and how I did it on my blog HERE

LYNN is still on vacation with her family and we anxious await her return.  We know she is having a good time, and she deserves this time away!

SHANA had surprise guests but promises she will be sharing her beautiful work with us later directly in Artful Journeys.

We hope we have inspired you in some way and will anxiously await seeing what kind of fun you have with your journal spread this week.  Be sure and share it with us at Artful Journeys when you finish!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn & Shana

POP UP Challenge #19 - Limited Color Palette

It's time for a fun Pop-Up Art Challenge for our journal, and you should have a lot of fun with this one.

Your challenge is to create a journal page using only black and white (or varient shades of these colors).

You can collage it, paint it, add lots of ephemera and bits to it, as long as you are working with black and white. Perhaps you want to create an intricate black and white mandala, or smash everything on your worktable within this limited color palette on the page.  The possibilities are endless.

Here are three examples to give you some inspiration for this challenge.

MELODY created another stunning background page for this challenge.  She actually journals in her journals and is an expert at making these gorgeous background pages for her future journaling.  She said that it took her longer to affix the image and under papers she used onto the page than it did to paint and stencil it.  Didn't it turn out fantastic?  I love how the numbers appear to reflect in the sunglasses!

SHANA sat down to watch a movie with her black pen and created this totally awesome page in her journal.  Was she having a glass of wine with her movie?  I think she was.  She said it was an "undisclosed beverage" but we know what kind of magic can happen with a glass of wine! Shana clearly made some magic with this page!

BETTY  made a double page spread in her Dylusions journal using a Julie Nutting stamp, a script background stamp and lots of black & white acrylic paint and a Sakura Gelly pen.  This world is too "black and white" sometimes. Just a tiny bit of cameo pink for some skin and some dark gray for definition on the skirt and boots is all the "color" used.

While none of us went with the big collage, we've created 3 different takes for you, and hopefully will inspire you to have some fun working with a limited color palette.

Lynn is on vacation this week with her grandson and daughter and hopefully will be joining back in the fun upon her return home.  We wish her safe travels and tons of fun while she is away!

We will look forward to seeing your journal pages over at Artful Journeys!

As always, we're keeping it artful!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Shana & Lynn