String painting

String painting!

  This is just what it is called string painting.

 Go to your kitchen drawer and pull out that big ball of string  ... admit it you have one of those ball of strings in there.

 You could string up a 100 turkeys and still have half of that ball of string left so today we are going to use it in our crafts!

This is what I did:

1.  cut off a length of string.

2.  press the string into any craft paint you have in your craft area.

3.  place the painted string in what I like to call waves or half circles down your paper ... or in my case my journal page.

4.  close the journal ... hold it closed fairly tightly then ... PULL the string straight out of the closed journal.

5.  open the journal and see the fun "trumpet" like shape flowers that form.  each time you do this technique the design will look a little different.

dylusions fun with friends

Yesterday went to a friend's house to play with dylusions sprays,
paints and stencils.  There were four of us playing and we had fun getting inky.  we started out in morning spraying lots of journal pages, tags and full sheet of cardstock.  wish I had taken more pictures of all the work/art my

friends created.  Leslie was working on her small dylusions journal
for her upcoming trip....her pages our done in colors for Africa.  Brenda was just having fun spraying all the bright colors and Roberta did a lot of blue/greens that will make some great water scenes which she likes to do.

 Mine are just all over the map because I didn't have a plan.  We
took a break for lunch to have a delicious salad Leslie made for us to enjoy and along with that Brenda brought some orange watermelon for us to try...everything was yummy.
After lunch we got busy again with all our sprays, paints and
stencils.  Now before I said I didn't have a plan but in the long run I
kinda did......I wanted to use stencils and stamps I didn't own for more variety in both my large and small journals.  click on pics to enlarge and find out who did what.  enjoy!

Diamonds!

This month dylusions challenge facebook page is to use the colors yellow and purple plus diamonds.  I looked for diamond shapes in my stencils and found the one from dylusions plus the diamond stencil/mask so used them.  couldn't find any diamond images in all my stamps so I just cut some out of this glitter paper I had bought.  Looking through my stamps I saw the Tim Holtz crazy birds stamp set and she looked like a sideways diamond shape so add her to the mix on my two journal pages in my small paint journal by Dyan Reaveley .

I am a limited edition

This is a limited edition!  don't think I could draw her again as good as it came out.  I can't believe how my faces are evolving as I do a new one.....each one is my favorite at the time I draw her and this one is no exception.  I sketched her then colored her with pastel pencils....gotta love pastel pencils they are so forgiving.  since this is in my art journal.....the background is dylusions ink sprays and if you look close you can see the stencils I used on this page.  I do like the way the figure stencil is just a shadow in the background.....worked out better then I expected.

Legs, legs, legs!

Just a fun journal page with Dyan's  dylusions inks, stencils and those leg stamps!  the saying is an old stamp I've had for years by PostModernDesign...not sure if they are even still in business.  anyway I stamped it on white cardstock then drew lines around sections of the saying and cut them out.

my first face

I drew my first face!  not too bad for my first attempt.  I watched a video by Dina Wakley who made it look easy so I decided to try it.  not too shabby.  I like it which surprises me.  Dina shows and gives a few easy suggestions to draw a face and that is what I did.  I drew this face in my large dylusions journal over a page that I had done with Dyan's sprays and stencils.  keep in mind this is just a pencil sketched drawing.  I think I will be doing this again.

my carved bird

The other night I was sitting in front of the T.V., as usual and decided to do something so I got out my carving supplies so I could re-do a carving I started a year ago.  Last June I carved three birds but never stamped them on anything because I really didn't like the way the came out so I got them out and re-carved them.  This time I carved out the inside of the birds so when it is stamped I could color them and now I like them better.  I did a two pages in my large dylusions journal...I like the way they came out.  If you know me you know I like green and these pages prove that!  Used Dyan Reaveley's dylusion sprays, paint, stencils and stamps except for my carved bird all other stamps are hers'.  Colored my bird by using Ranger blending tools and distress inks.  I like they way it came out.

Journal covers

Been working on the covers of my small and large journals.  take a look.  on
the left is my small journal where I first did the block painted shapes, added some stencil designs, did some doodling then stamped the little houses......could be done but who knows.  Now for my large journal I did the blacked out masking---just love that technique!  inside the diamond shapes is the brayer techniqe, stamped images---did the circle stencil with dylusion white paint...gotta love those paints!  still not done with the front cover because I want to put a title on it like my art journal or something.  I like the back of my large journal better than the front right now....I think because I really like the spade shape and the small squares stencil and you just have to love those crazy legs!

dylusion paints

I discovered that doing Dyan Reaveley's paint brayer technique can be very therapeutic! and right now I need that!   basically what you do is roll the brayer in the paint then slap it to the paper over and over and over.  Felt good to do that on several pages yesterday and I like the end results.  Oh, yes ..... and to add her quirky images....like it!  how about you?

Fun with my friend and Dyan Reaveley

Had fun getting inky ...... no painty with my friend on Sunday when we took an all day class with Dyan Reaveley.  We did different paint techniques in a small journal all day!  I really like Dyan's paints!  they dry fast!  they are semi-opaque and they layer on top of each other without getting muddy no matter what colors you use!  Look to the left and you can see the cover (stretched out for photo) of my small journal.  I did the color block technique and a little doodling but it's not done.  All the pages are a work in process because basically we just did a bunch of the background pages in the journal all day in class.  Look to the right and see my first attempt at the baby wipe technique.  With all the layering you wouldn't even know if I messed up or not.  Still haven't found a really good white gel pen but have picked up a couple of different white paint pens I want to try out in my journal.  I'll let you know how they work for me after I play with them some more.  I never thought I would get lost in doodling in a journal but I did!  yesterday I had to bring my hubby to dr's so I stayed out in the car with my journal and a paint pen and before I knew it an hour had past!!!  guess I'm really starting to like this journaling at least Dyan's way.....no writing mussy thoughts just playing.  will be back with more soon.

travel or not to travel

Here's some  pages from my travel journal I started last year on my birthday when we were visiting my dad in Buffalo, NY.  The only reason I started it was because there was a mixed media pad in the clearance rack at the craft store that I just couldn't pass up buying so the journal was started.  Now just to let you know we don't travel much so it will probably take years to fill this journal since mostly we visit family a couple of times a year. You can look back here to see where it all began and it continues here. So on with this journal I took classes at a local (about an hour away) stamp store with a friend.  We did two days of classes so we decided to stay overnight which was fun not having to wake up and drive that hour each day.  Did I tell you what the class were?  Dylusion with Dyan Reaveley!  two days filled with inky goodness.

playing with dylusions

It's a cold day here in New England so I decided to finish up my
boxes that will be valentine favors for friends at a luncheon in a couple of weeks.  won't show the box until after I give them out to my friends but can show you the fun and bright pages I did in my Dyan Reaveley journal plus a single page I created.  The reason for the yellow color scheme .... yes, there is a rhyme to my reason or is it reason to my rhyme.....anyway......did yellows because over on the dylusion challenge page on facebook the challenge was to use yellow, wings and flowers.  I got this done just in time because the challenge is up tonight.  no prizes just to show off what we do with all the dylusion products.  It's supposed to snow tomorrow night and Monday so guess I will have more time to play and create!

More with dylusions

Look at Dyan go with her stencils and sprays!  her classes are very

fast pace...no time to think just place down a stencil, spray then turn it over and place back on page to remove the rest of the ink.  I had fun in all the classes I took from her in October 2014.  These photos show the stained glass look stencil and the different ways to use it.  Then man and woman stained glass stencil in green is mine and the pink was done by Dyan.  My pages are all a work in progress right now so more to come later.

more in my journal

A couple of weeks ago we went to Strasburg, PA. We went for two reasons ..... first because my S-I-L wanted to go and second it was a good halfway point between our homes.  What's in Strasburg, PA you ask well I'll tell you first lots and lots of corn fields as far as the eye can see then a giant flea market on 30 acres....called the Green Dragon and believe me when I tell you there is everything there from bear traps to vegetables!!! Look at that top photo...that's my hubby's back walking in front of me and if you click on journal pages you will see my brother and his family.  One other important fact is this flea market is only open on FRIDAYS so if you come on a Saturday, Sunday or any other day of the week you are out of luck.  We stayed about half an hour away from the flea market which is in Epharta, PA.  Oh yes, another thing you see are horse drawn carriages on the road right there with you and your horseless drawn carriages!  that always amazes me that there are still communities that don't bother with all the machines that I'm sure I couldn't live without.  If you like flea markets then I would say take a ride and go...it's an experience you will not forget.

entering in challenge:
1.  Simon Says Monday Challenge - family

more journal fun

I finally decorated the front of my vacation journal I started back in June.  well, we are going on a weekend trip this weekend .....actually will be away when this is posted...isn't technology something!  we are at a BIG flea market that is on 30 acres.  from the website there is a lot outside and some inside so it should be fun.  will tell more when we get home and show the pages I do while away.

Journal #4 hot tub fun

Normally we are a simple couple with simple ways but this night we pampered ourselves a little.  this hotel room had a hot tub!  what fun and a little decadent to relax in a hot tub in the afternoon.  a first for us!  we just happened to stop at this Sleep Inn hotel on the final way home from our trip visiting my dad and the hotel was booked...full!  but the young woman at the desk said we have one room left but you wouldn't want it so we asked why not?  first she said it has a king bed....no problem there....then she said it has a jacuzzi....what's the problem there?  I thought to myself it's broken that's why we wouldn't want it.....she still was playing this room down so we both said almost at the same time what's wrong?  she sheepishly said it's a smoking room.............NO problem there my husband smokes a pipe so we took it and enjoyed it.  too bad we were only staying one night.

Journal day three - Hollo's and more!

O.K. we've left N. Tonawanda and we are now in Ohio!  yes, you read right .... Ohio....why you ask because I wanted to go to Hollo's and if you are a
cardmaker this is the place to go to get cardstock!!!! they sell for $1.50 a pound and you can get a lot in a pound of cardstock.  you can also get envelopes for three cents each.  Needless to say I had my husband make a 4 hr. detour to Hollo's after visiting my dad.  I was in cardstock heaven!  After I was done there we went to W. Lake, OH to visit Ginny at her store called Small Studio.  This is not your ordinary store it is full of all kinds of things.  All in all a fun day...for me anyway.  my husband does like to walk around Hollo's ....he helps me pick out colors of cardstock.  While I was visiting with Ginny he went next door to get an ice-cream and sat in the car reading which is one of his favorite things to do.  If you get the chance you should consider visiting one or both of these stores.

Journal day two with the mummies

This day the 5th day of June (my birthday) we were still visiting my father in N. Tonawanda.  We went over to the Buffalo museum (it was a dreary day-weather-wise) to see the Mummies exhibit.  If you have a chance and this exhibit is near you ..... go see it.  It's very interesting and informative besides you will see all types of mummies other than Egyptian.  Even skeletons of pets and shrunken heads!  For this journal page I just took those mini distress ink pads and pressed them to the page then used my water brush to move some of the color around.  Simple because remember I was only using what I had purchased while there.

N. Tonawanda....where?

Yes, we went to N. Tonawanda, NY which is only about 30 minutes away from Niagara Falls and the Canada border!!!!!  why would anyone go there....well, for me it's to visit my father.  Besides visiting with my dad I go to Buffalo Stamp Store in Amherst, NY...it's a very nice store.  I have so many stamps at home there weren't any stamps that said take me home but I did purchase a few supplies like the stencil you see used on this journal page.....yes, I started a journal....me...the die heart stamper.  Everything used on this page was something I purchased while visiting my dad including my first set of mini distress pads and this mixed media pad.  I worked on this page while sitting on the bed in the hotel room.  first I used TH Cargo stencil....tapped the mini distress ink pads on the back of the stencil then put water in my hand and dropped it on the stencil to move the color around.  Didn't have a water mister...that would have been a lot easier but was working with what I had on hand.  Also used the TH Speckles stencil but with this stencil just used it the regular way.  Had a sponge so sponged color around the page then taped the hotel business card on the page.  The next few days I'll show the other pages I did while we were away.