Winter is coming...

As much as I hate to admit it, winter is not only coming, but actually here.  :S  I used to love this time of the year, with all of it's snow and gift giving and outpouring of general love and awesomeness, something happened at some point in my life that has turned me against it. 

I'm not even sure why, but now I have such a hard time with the winter months.  My body doesn't seem to like it anymore either.  My hands get very dry and achey, I'm always tired and I pretty much as frozen solid the entire time.

But I keep trying to remember that this is a good time of the year and that I have lots and lots of stuff to be thankful for.  I'm trying to stay inspired and it seems so far that lots of color and painting anything I can get my hands on helps.  ;)  Here's a page from my art journal and a little daily post it doodle to try to stay creative so far. 

And a little digital something since it's been a month that I've shared anything digitally related. :O  Hope you enjoy! :D

Playing catch up

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog for the last few weeks.  I have an easier time sharing things to facebook and instagram because I can just snap a picture on my phone and upload them right away.  I've seen bad reviews for the blogger app but I haven't tried it out yet to easily share stuff here.  However, if anyone knows how well it actually works, I'd love to hear their thoughts.  

Anywho, here's a few things I've been working on.  I finally finished the Jack the Kitten is Very Sleepy pages and sent them off so they can be printed, so that's one project off my list, but I can't really share all those pages with you (I may share some later after I find out which ones are okay to share), and I've been working on another project that I can't share the pictures of for some time, so I have been very busy, just not with anything much I can show you all yet, thus resulting in my long overdue neglect here.  :/

I have been having a lot of fun with my mixed media pages.  I normally jump into them on the weekends, since they end up making a pretty big mess, so I don't often have much to share on those either, but here's a few I've been working on that I really like.   

 

  I also tried my hand at painting another Iphone case.  I don't see that I shared the first one I made here, but you can find it on my DeviantArt page.  The first one was a bit...busy and overpowering.  I like the background but don't care for the lettering I added.  This time I decided to make it a bit more simple and I think it came out much better.  I actually really love it, even though there's a couple of things I don't like about it.  The first is the sealant I used on it is not that great, not for this type of project at least, as it still has a bit of a sticky feel to it?  Just a slight one.  I've used it for a bit though and it's held up nicely regardless, even with the hand made heart sticker I added as well.  The second problem I've had is from the case itself simply being too hard to get off of my phone when I want to switch it out.  I bought it at the dollar tree, so it was well worth it really for that price, but I would still like to find a way to fix both of those issues with it.  Regardless, I really like how it turned out and will definitely keep switching out with it when I feel the need to carry something a bit more colorful.  

     Lastly, I know I'm a bit late in posting this, but here it is nonetheless.   A little Halloween doodle for your viewing pleasure.  ;) 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed the view.  ;)

Some mixed media and shopping.

 

 

 

Took the weekend off to have some fun and ended up creating a ton of mixed media / random stuff.  Better yet, I got to use up some of the supplies I've been hanging on to for ages, unsure of what to do with it.

Additionally, I also got to go out on one of those rare day trips to some of my favorite stores (Michaels, TJMaxx) and found some of the cutest stuff! 

 Like this cute little birthday mustache card accent from Recollections. (At Michaels)

 

 Then I got to have brunch at CrackerBarrel, where I found all these cute little plushies as well as some fun Halloween and Christmas decorations on display. 

 

 I may have to go back for that spider and octopus, but for the time being I ended up splurging on just a few small things at Michaels and TJ Maxx, particularly these awesome Heidi Swapp Color Shine sprays.

Daily Post it Note Doodles Project

  I've been meaning to share this for some time.  But I keep putting it off.  It's a bit of a personal project, but it's one I think might be able to help other people like me, who feel uncreative or simply struggle with the stress and guilt of being unable to be creative every day. 

  On March 31st of this year, I decided to start doing a daily project.  I've been seeing all sorts of people creating something everday, whether it's a photograph or some elaborate drawing, or simply a different type of monster.  People all over have been doing something every day to stay creative and I finally decided it was time for me to try it out for myself.  But the question was, what's the best way for me to be continuously creative every day?  If you know me, you know I'm a bit of a gypsy when it comes to my creativity.  I move from one thing to another, usually day by day or week by week, occasionally month by month.  I have a hard time sticking to one thing and one thing only, and when I do, I get burnt out very quickly.  So I knew that whatever I was going to do every day, it needed to somehow be consistant, but offer me a way to be creative through multiple mediums/themes/etc. 

  One of my very favorite things are post it notes.  I love them, in all their shapes and colors and varieties (in which there are many).  I use them every day, many many times a day.  So, I decided that they would be my means of creativity.  They're the perfect solution to serve as my canvas so that I could create different things on them, depending on my mood. 

  I have also been striving (struggling) to keep a physical planner every day so that I can try to be better organized.  Since my schedule is usually the same with very few actual appointments to keep up with, I have very little reason to keep up with a planner, honestly.  But I really love having it, so I'm still working on how to fit it better into my life to keep certain aspects more organized.  Regardless of that, it has served as a great reminder to keep up with my daily doodle.  I started adding a small note with a little box at the top of each day that I will check once I have done my daily doodle.  In the beginning, this was a great help to remind me to keep up with it, but now I've made it into a pretty good habit and usually remember to do one everyday on my own.  However I do also keep post it notes in my planner on days that I may accidentally forget. 

   You can see below that most of my doodles so far have been on traditional sized, 3x3 post it notes in various colors.  I have better daily access to those and they're the perfect size for whatever it is I want to do for that day.  And they're usually pretty inexpensive, which is always a plus when it comes to knowing you're going to need about 365 of them. 

  My ideas and inspiration usually vary and are a great reflection of what I'm currently working on in my spare time, which has been doodled lettering for awhile.   Some have more abstract doodles or designs, and yet I've found that more often then not, my doodles contain mere sentences, much like a diary or a journal.  (Which I have not shared here because they are usually pretty personal, obviously.)

   Overall it has been a great daily project that's easiest enough for me to keep up with and yet fulfilling enough for me to feel a little creative (or thoughtful) every day.  I keep them in a graph composition book, just because I had an extra one on hand.  I can usually fit six 3x3 post it notes on each page so that each layout is about two weeks worth of post its.  

 

  If you're thinking about taking on a daily project and some are just too daunting, even though you love them (such as the documented life project), then it might be a good idea to do something small like post it notes instead.  Or the daily paper / index card project that I just learned about.  (I prefer post it notes because I can stick them anywhere I want and the pages don't get too bulky.)  Unlike some projects online, I usually just go with whatever ideas are in my head or whatever things I feel inclined to do rather then following a list set up to use.  I'm hoping this will help spark my own imagination as I keep going as I tend to struggle with coming up with ideas on my own at times. 

  The best thing I've found about doing this though isn't that I've gotten any great ideas (so far) or that it's improved my skills, it's the fact that I feel better about myself.  Even if what I make is terrible, I have a tangible creation that I can look back on when I'm feeling uncreative and uninspired.  I know that I can make something, even if it's ugly.  Even if it's terrible.  No one has to see it.  No one even has to know I made it or what any of it means.  It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to look pretty, it doesn't have to do anything.  And it's one of the perfect ways I've found to stay creative and to just be more free with my art. 

   I know there are tons of other daily post it note projects and that my idea to use them isn't the first, nor will it be the last, but it has been a perfect solution for me so far.  Also, you'll probably notice some dates jump around and seem to be missing.  I have decided I only want to do this during the week, Monday through Friday, so weekends are for me to actually be more hands on with my creativity.  If you decide to take on a project like this, remember to make it work best for you.  Don't let yourself feel guilty for making the project your own. 

  Feel free to post your links and ideas in the comment section below on how you stay creative, everyday or just in general.  I'd love to hear them!

(Disclaimer: This project was not sponsored by any post it note companies.  I used several types, both name brands and generic.)

It's international Talk Like a Pirate day!

Ahoy buckos! It's International Talk like a pirate day! Be aye t' share t' good news and have fun talkin' like a pirate today! And if donuts tickle your fancy, Krispy Kreme be offerin' free donuts t' celebrate today as well! (One if you talk like a pirate, a dozen if you're actually dressed like a pirate.)

A house, some sketches and other doodles

 The title really says it all.  Some practice in my latest style of a cute little house, some sketches of random things to try to get all this rustiness out, and some random doodles for more practice. 

I've had a hard time with this style, trying to recreate the look I want, but the more I play with it, the easier it has seemed to get.

 

New painting style practice

My finished WIP piece as well as some other practice pieces in this style.  I've had a hard time trying to recreate the style of the snowmen piece. :p

WIP

Just a little WIP of something I started in another different style. Guess we'll see how it turns out.

Mixed media + hearts = love

Hearts seem to be popping up in some of my mixed media lately. 

Luella Purse Makeover

I have had this old Luella Graffiti purse for some time.  Over the years it's gotten very dingy and dirty and stained and has been in need of a bit of a face lift.  So I decided I would spruce it up with a little bit of paint.  However I don't keep fabric paint around much and I didn't want to tackle it with fabric paint pens (it's a pretty big purse after all), so I dug through my supplies and found that I have some Delta Creamcoat Textile Medium.  I've never used it before, but apparently it takes regular acrylic paint and turns it into fabric paint.  I don't have any other Delta Creamcoat paints on hand, as I usually just buy the Apple Barrel brand.  I mixed them up according to the instructions on the bottle anyway, and tried them out.  The worse that would happen I figured would that I ruined an old purse and wasted a little bit of paint. 

The results turned out a bit better then I expected.  The medium seemed to work fine with the paint and while the fabric soaked most of it up pretty quickly, it still spread and covered well.  I even added some embellishments with regular fabric pens (sorry, I don't know the names of them right off).  The instructions say to heat set the paint which I haven't had time to do yet, and to let it dry for 7 days so it's not quite finished, but here's what it looks like so far.  I decided to use the same style I've been doing for my mixed media work lately, as I really like the look it gives.  I only used three colors of paint so that it wouldn't overpower the purse and so the white would still shine through as well as the original graffiti design.  I really am pleased with how it turned out and can't wait to finish it so that I can start using it again!  

(Sorry the pictures aren't very good, especially of the before.  I forgot to take them before I started painting!)

From around the studio

 

These are just some random photos and items from around my studio.  Some I've shared in various places already so you may have already seen them, but thought I would round them up and share them here as well.

Inspiration vs. Productivity

   I don't do a lot of written posts these days, just because I don't have time and most people would probably rather not read what I have to say (I am VERY boring and can be incredibly long winded, as you'll no doubt read below).  However, a written post every now and then can be a good thing...  Right?

   This one is about something I seem to struggle with constantly in various ways.  My inspiration (what inspires / motivates me) vs. my productivity (what I actually create/how I share what I create).  

   I really really struggle with this a lot.  I see ideas, various types of ideas, everywhere, especially online.  If you browse the internet even a little, you probably see them as well.  People all over are expressing themselves in their own unique way and I seem to love quite a lot of those expressions.  (Almost all of them usually.  You don't even want to know how long my bookmark link list is.)  

Whether it's some cute, frilly, pastel colored girly decor.

Scathingly Brilliant

  Or the messy, random, painted, mixed media art that probably makes little sense to anyone who isn't an artist. 

Robin Marie Smith

  Each one speaks to me in a different way, inspiring me to want to pull out my art supplies and just start making something immediately.  Which is hard when you don't always have time to sit down and create something.  But staying inspired keeps my love for art growing and I really need that inspiration and motivation to keep me desperate to try new things and explore new ideas. 

    I imagine quite a few people out there are like me and have fallen into the world of Pinterest.  I absolutely love the idea and abilities of Pinterest; being able to share art, decor, recipes, whatever it is you want across multiple places to people who may have never found it otherwise is simply amazing.   It keeps me inspired and allows me to keep things organized by categories I choose which is extremely handy.  It also has let me see what sorts of things inspire me the most, such as color.  My color dedicated pinterest board is full of it. 

  As well as some of my other boards...

  But sometimes Pinterest can be a bit overwhelming.  There's just so much to look at.  I've wasted hours upon hours browsing it's pages without anything to show for it in the end.  But it makes me happy which is good.  I've yet to figure out how to balance it perfectly without being overwhelmed.  So far simply browsing it quickly and forcing myself to stop and then not browsing again for a day or so has been working, but it takes diligence.  Having very poor internet seems to help though.  And another issue with Pinterest is that you're seeing so many voices and expressions at once.  How are you able to share and find your own voice and style when you're being bombarded with so many others? 

  Sadly, I don't have the answer.  My productivity comes in various shapes, sizes, and mediums and I share the best parts with you as they come and go, regardless of how they all fit together.  It drives me crazy that I have such a mismatched style, but perhaps that IS my style?  I've dubbed myself a gypsy artist for years and it seems to suit me perfectly.  Maybe with time I'll learn to figure out how to be more harmonious in my style.  Or perhaps find a way to make my 'everything goes' style work to my advantage.  In the meantime, let me share some of my favorite artists with you, whether you're having the same issues I am or just need some fresh new inspiration in general.  These talented ladies all seem to have figured out how to pull off sharing multiple mediums, colors and items in a perfectly harmonious way. 




  One of my favorite and most inspirational artists to keep up with is Alisa Burke.  Her blog is so full of ideas and creativity that I find myself checking it several times a day just to see what awesome new idea or art work she has to share.  She's done a brilliant job of combining her personal world with her artistic world and sharing it all together.  Not only that but she offers amazing and insightful advice and tips as well as tutorials and online classes.  Her journey as an artist has been awesome and I highly recommend it for anyone on the creative path in life, regardless of what it is you create. 

    Another favorite artist of mine who shares a variety of items in a combination of various mediums is Lori Vliegen, a.k.a Elvie Stiudio.  She mostly works with ink pens /microns, etc. and watercolor but she will often mix it up and create something a bit off the wall that fits her style and offers some great inspiration.  I've especially enjoyed her Documented Life Project pages. 

  Speaking of Documented Life, those ladies pages are great places to find inspiration and tutorials.  If you haven't checked out their official page, you should.  The group consists of five ladies that started the project.  The idea is to recreate a moleskin journal and incorporate an extra page each week to document your life.  Right now the idea requires a little too much commitment and time from me to try it, but I love seeing everyone's pages and watching their processes.  It's a great way to stay creative every day.  (On a side note, I'm hoping to share my own take on a daily art project soon so stay tuned to check out my own sort of variation for this idea!) 

  Right now these are the absolute first pages I tend to visit when looking for inspiration, particularly when it comes to mixed media.  My digital inspiration varies, but these are always first regardless of what I'm in the mood to create.  I'll try to share a better categorized list of other inspirational artists in the future.  I have so many, it's really hard to put them all into one post.   In the meantime, you can find a small few of my favorite places here.   As the page says, it's still under construction but there's a few in there to hopefully give you some good inspiration.  :) 

  If you've made it this far in my post, thank you!  Like I said above, I can be very boring and long winded.  I feel like I'm a bit all over the place, so if anything doesn't make sense, please let me know.