What a nice surprise!

 

This morning I received a nice surprise when Lynn Holland, the creator of Sketchbook Friends e-mailed me that my blog and photos were being feature on her new blog!

Just click on "Sketchbook Friends" above and check out this great new blog designed to encourage creativity and journaling!  Lynn is busy working on her Sketchbook Project book which I think needs to be completed and in the mail by the end of January.

Read more about The Sketchbook Project HERE!  And you can visit Lynn's inspiring blog at One I Made Earlier Today, you will love the photo on her header!

So, thanks Lynn and I hope a few fellow journal artists will join me in following one or all three of these blogs.....'cause they are COOL!

lafalot2009's photostream

lafalot2009's photostream on Flickr.

Posted several photos to flickr tonight if you'd like to take a peek.

Learning some new stitches......

 

Friday, Diana Trout released her on-line, longstitch bookbinding class!  Most interesting.  Like many things, I know just enough to be dangerous and bookbinding is no exception.  So, I am looking forward to getting past the pamphlet stitch and on to something a little fancier.

So far, I have made the cloth/paper for the cover and cut a big piece of paper in to little pieces of paper and gathered them to make signatures.  Now, I've got some holes to punch and some thread to use!

I hope to get back to this project this evening after dinner.

Earlier this week I came up with a journal page I like.......using gesso, watercolor, pen and pencil.

Journaling can be a great way to vent your frustration.....we took the dog to groomer on Monday and on Tuesday he went out and rolled in the smelliest, nastiest "stuff" he could find.  Oh, yes, I was very happy!  NOT.  So, I wrote about it here.

 

 

I like the look of watercolor over gesso that was spayed with a bit of water and dabbed with a paper towel.  

 

 

 

Then I started another page......a this point, I'm liking this background but I have no idea where it goes from here!

 

I hope things are improving for the folks on the east coast and that your week will see less frustration and more optimism........and an end to political advertising!  

Whoa! November First?

 

My how time flies, as they say!  Here it is the first of November and time to share our monthly calendars with the other "calendar girls" at Kathryn Wheel's HERE!

These are my finished October pages.  Note I did try to conform, a little, I made circles to represent the days for the first part of the month.

But, for the last half of the month.....I was back to writing in lines!  Sigh!

I've been helping to teach a class, sold some things at our show at the bakery, accomplished a lot of yard work early in the month and made some time for art!  It was a good month.

On to November.........with turkey day and Christmas just around the corner, and I've signed up for Diana Trout's bookmaking class that starts this Friday....I have a lot to look forward to.

In my hast to write this blog before the ghost and goblins start arriving at my door, I notice that I have not identified these pages as November....but that's what they will be.

I'll do it tomorrow, I promise!

These are a couple of my favorite pages in my journal.  On this page, I think I see some more circles in my future.

Thanks for stopping by and for sharing you calendar, if you did.

....and I quote!

 

I love quotes, don't you?  I am always amazed at how much can be said with just a few words.  H-m-m-m, not by me, but some folks have that skill.

BTW are you aware of a app, now available, for iPhones and iPads that was designed by Hope Wallace of Besottment by Paper Relics (to learn more check out her blog).  For a mere 99 cents you will receive and endless supply of quotes, I downloaded it yesterday and I love it!

So, these are just some ideas I played around with in my sketchbook using a few of her quotes.

 

 

 

Just  brainstorming some ideas for simple Christmas gifts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can add some color or some zentangles or maybe not.  Just ideas!

 

 

 

 

 

More ideas and more quotes.  This could be fun!

Black gesso........

 

I've wanted some black gesso for a long time!

For those who don't know what gesso is, it is a substance similar to thick paint that is use to coat a canvas before you start painting.  It helps the artist's acrylic or oil paint adhere to the canvas by adding a slightly gritty surface.   White is the most often used gesso color but it, also, comes in black.  I've wanted back for sometime!  Then it becomes that "want" vs "need" thing, 'cause I sure didn't think I NEEDED it......!  However, now, I'm not so sure.

I painted these pages with several coats of black gesso, to get the density I was looking for, and then painted over the gesso with a liquid blue acrylic paint before I embellished.

Yep!  I NEEDED it.

To my east coast friends, I'll be thinking and praying for you to stay high and dry over the next few days.  Stay safe.

Fall leaves.....

 

I know, everyone is doing leaves right now, there's a reason for that....they are beautiful and inspiring!  There is a saying that goes something like this: fall leaves are spring flowers, so true, beautiful color every where you turn.

Sooooooo, I had my go at leaves and a poem I really like.

This page was done using real leaves to mask the page then I sprayed the page with ink and stamped with hand carved stamps using acrylic paint.

........and just a few of the things I am thankful for!