Mountains in art journal

Art journal pages don't require the kind of discipline that must be present when I work on cards or an item that will potentially be used by someone else. Things don't have to be nice and even, I can use ANY words I want, and even if I feel like I've messed up, the project won't be thrown away. Lessons will be learned, and the page will find its place on the giant binder rings.

The page below has two sort-of mistakes: one is the size - all other pages are 8.5x5.5, and when I started this one, for some reason I didn't realize that I had grabbed a larger base. Too late now - the page stick out. Maybe I should make a few more pages in random sizes and pretend it's all been done on purpose.

The second unsatisfactory item is that misty object on the left - not sure if it belongs, but oh-well, I can't scrape it off.



The project was inspired by a page from a calendar. It featured the famous reflected view of Grand Teton, so it first brought back the memories from our trip to Yellowstone, which also included a drive through the awesome Tetons.

The top quotes the first two verses of Psalm 121:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

The blue words next to the buttons list three important Biblical mountains - Hermon, Carmel and Olives.

I find it a very pleasant way to memorize some new Hebrew vocabulary and practice my handwriting, which to a real Hebrew speaker would probably look crooked and childish. As long as it's readable, I'm happy :)

change the color of your thoughts...

The last few weeks were full of ups and downs, sadly with the latter being predominant. Life is much brighter now, and I just happened to find a fitting thought on pinterest, which made it into my art journal:

On a totally different subject - The Cat alerted us a few days ago that something was going on on the balcony, and it turned out that hornets had started some illegal homesteading activities!

The miniature nest is gone, and I'm hoping they won't return...

one-two-three, or Saturday craft table

One - a card featuring acrylic stamps with three words, purchased months ago (gotta love those dollar bins at Joann's...) It's a mix of some seriousness plus the playful part - cupcakes, always helpful in achieving goals (maybe with the exception of the weight-losing goal.)

Two - turns out that the bunting stamp I made the day before was too large, so I cut another one, and here is the next step of this experiment:

Three - art journal spread with some scraps that I didn't feel like throwing away, plus notes on recent experiments - those successful and those that did not quite work out:

back in blues and purples

We have returned from the travels - from a trip that was probably the most meaningful one ever. Many pages in the Collectionary have been filled with notes and scraps, thousands of pictures have been taken, and memories have been created.

Since our return, I have been busy creating several "families" of cards; today we'll have a looks at blues and purples.

Here is a birthday card for a girl who is very un-pink, so I decided to make it as sweet as possible:

Tiles, tiles, tiles... a sunshiny stamp pattern heat-embossed in white, combined with a watercolor-y patterned paper all the way from Poland:

More tiles...

...and an art-journal page illustrating one of the outcomes of the recent trip, namely an attempt to learn Hebrew. What a challenge for a mind to start from scratch, with a totally new alphabet and some concepts I haven't seen in any of the languages I've scratched so far, like niqqud - writing the vowel information in little diacritics under and above the characters.

The text in Hebrew is the first verse of the Bible - "In the beginning..." since it goes together nicely with my Hebrew beginnings, which do sometimes feel "void and without shape", just like the earliest of creation wass described :)

This page is based on a sketch created from a beautiful photo of Chicago skyline, and also on similar colors:

More to come... I did use other colors as well, not just the pink-blue-purple spectrum :)

a new collectionary for the new year

After a flurry of Sunday School crafts that stormed through my craft table, the time has come to focus on some other items. I've started with the first pages of the new collectionary which will travel with us to Israel. I always write a few intro pages after the dates have been settled, tickets purchased etc.

I had to do it by the end of December so that I could use the expression "L'shanah haba'ah birushalaim" - Next year in Jerusalem :)

The pages include a bunch of pictures from travel magazines, a teabag wrapper (since the Mount of Olives theme matches perfectly), a credit card flier (that;s the hat image), miscellaneous scraps and a printout of the itinerary. Can't wait to go - but then there is so much to do before it happens!

another tag-a-day spread

Wonder of wonders - the second tag spread in my art journal is finished! Where did all these days go? I was doing so well, but now, after a super-busy weekend, I'm three and a half tags behind.

8 - prototype of the bauble card series
9 - first snow
10 - helping with a mailing at the press
11- a wonderful Christmas concert
12 - prototype of the lacy card series
13 - setting up branches in a clay pot, a.k.a. the floral foam fiasco
14 - Egg Harbor Cafe breakfast at work
15 - product day at work

in white and gold

Here is a card created this morning - very simple in the color combination, but akhem somewhat baroque-ish with all the dots and cut-outs. It's Christmas, though - much sparkliness is allowed!

I have also surprised myself with a tag-a-day project; the idea came from Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, but mine are, of course, waaaaay simpler than his. (His usually require between 30 and 50 steps, plus a mountain of fancy supplies.) I'm really liking this sort of diary, commemorating various experiments (I use tags to create prototypes of cards), and what happened on a given day. Here are the first eight, as pasted into my art journal:

almost December...

...and my art journal is still golden, presenting a fall photo with a little poem:

Here is a close-up of the little tiles - I wrapped cardboard with green tissue paper, then drew borders with 3d fabric paint, and when they dried, I filled in the squares with glossy accents.

Another page - still summery, mostly about reading and learning new words.

I'm working on Christmas cards as well - the first series was ordered by Tomek for his part of the family:

So much more to do before the Holidays...

Art journal page

Some art journal pages... ok, MANY art journal pages are born because I come across a photo I really, really hate to throw away; it transports me to some magically beautiful place, or brings back memories, or invokes a thought.

Last Sunday I was trying to call my family in Poland, but the calling card refused to cooperate. I was sitting in my car, dialing the digits over and over again, browsing a travel magazine in between the attempts. A few images reminded me about a conversation from last summer - how the speedy pace of everyday life prevents us from pondering higher, more spiritual matters, from looking deeper, under the surface of the obvious and tangible.

"walk on the surface but look deep inside"

A new page in the art journal

After a while I have returned to my art journal - sometimes images or words go through my hands, and it's just nearly impossible to throw them away. So they end up in the journal, which is bursting in seams; looks like it's time to start Volume II!

The theme is my new fascination with cooking and baking, doing it "from the bottom of my heart" and not to just avoid starvation :)

And here is a work-in-progress photo if some post-it-not purses for Saturday: