18/52 Journal Project Weeks 1-5

Hi, everyone! Just a quick blog post of my layouts for the fun 18/52 Journal project, Haven't heard of it? Check it out HERE!

These are the eighteen items I have chosen, and the challenge is to use only these supplies for 3 months, creating one piece a week. Miranda at Clare Plantation has prompts you can follow along with, or you can make your own. For some of mine, I have not used a prompt at all. See a previous blog post of mine to see my list and why I chose what I did HERE.

So, here's Week One: 

I chose to go with two paint colors: Deep Violet by Liquitex Basics and a Martha Stewart craft paint called Party Streamers, plus black and white gesso for my kit, so these are the colors you will see for the next three months. I adore this color scheme, so I hope not to get tired of it! :)

Miranda's first prompt was "wood", so I stamped some background areas with a wood stamp, handcarved by the lovely Miranda, which I purchased from her Etsy store. She has adorable stamps you can buy! 

I was deep into making these flowers, taught by the lovely Cindy Gilstrap in her Artsy Dori class, so I started with that. 

I added other fun paint marks and doodles, finishing with a rotating stamp with various numbers and symbols on it. I thought that might lend some interest to this eclectic look. :)

Week Two:

Second prompt was "meadow", so I attempted a very simple one, using only gesso, my pink paint, and the white Signo gel pen. Simplistic, but I got it done!

Week Three:

For Week three, the prompt was "geometric", and I thought, awesome! One of the stencils I chose is very geometric, so that is the star of this page. It's a great stencil that came in Stencil Girl's December Stencil Club by Mary Beth Shaw. See it HERE! 

I added varying shades of pink and purple using a sponge, and completed it all by doodle-ing (sp??) with white gel pen. I could have definitely spent more time blending and shading - creating more dimension, but I was impatient to go on to my next gazillionth project. Teehee!

Week Four:

This one I had great fun with. I decided to ditch the prompt (it was "queen") but nothing was coming up, I was getting behind, so I decided to just do my own thing. This is completely intuitive, with no plans on how it should look. I just fiddled with paints on my fingers, a bit of stencilling (using the December Stencil Club stencil that looks like abstract roses), and that's it. I love it, actually! So free. :)

Week Five: Blooms at Midnight

My favorite so far. The prompt was "gem", and I LOVE FLOWERS, they are the gem of my heart, so I decided to paint them. 

I had no plans really on how it all should look, but I started by covering up the two pages with black paint, adding in the deep violet to attempt that aubergine color I love so much. You can see the deep eggplant color on the right hand side, in the middle. 

I then painted with my fingers, a light shade of pink, painted in five random areas, then built up layer after layer, adding pink and purple, sometimes dark, sometimes bright, sometimes even white, mixing all together, eventually adding more detail. 

Next, I added some stencilling with that abstract rose stencil again, then some white dots, shaded the edges with bursts of color, and called it done. 

I will try more of this style!

To see how I added these pages to my unPlanner, go to this post. :)

There! My first month of the18/52 Journal project. I'm pleased. I am not tired of my supplies yet. Looking forward to using the Gelli plate in my stash, more of the stencils I chose, and the stamps. Yippeee! Thanks, Miranda, for thinking up this great project!! Love ya!

Have a blessed day!

♥♥♥ Anna ♥♥♥

A Little Something From My Garden

I felt the need to beautify my blog with my favorite flower photos of this summer. Here goes. :)

My peony plant looked absolutely spectacular in the evening light. Can't get over it. So many varying shapes and colors! Granted, I did add a slight Instagram filter to it, but it looks almost exactly as my eye perceived it. Honest. :P

Sigh. And this one. I am looking-looking-looking for the specific variety of this beauty, but have had no luck so far. I bought the plants (three of them) off my nephew's girlfriend this spring. So happy I did! Each bloom is not more than than two and a half inches across. They're almost like the wild Alberta Rose, but with an extra set of petals, and white and palest pink from inside. The bud is a bright pink, but when they open, they've got this delicacy to them. :) 

Anyway, gotta run and read to my youngest. He and I are home ALONE! What to do without all that extra noise and curfuffle in our home? Loving the silence after a busy tiring day. :)

Blessings to each of my peeps. Thank you for stopping by!

Anna

Art on the wall

My living room wall above the sofa is getting a make-over. 

I put six empty canvases up, waiting to be decorated.

The first piece of art is a mixed media piece, using gesso, modelling paste, acrylics, glaze 

and 

smashed glass. :) 

Not happy about the whole thing, might change some areas...

like that little globby area upper left...

don't like the white flower kinda in the middle there...

Started by covering the whole canvas with gesso, then adding a light color wash for the background.

Next, added texture to the background using different textured stuff like sponges and bubble wrap.

Smooshed and pushed and shaped some (lots!) modelling paste into cabbage roses.

(Really had no idea what we were doing-my Sis and I.)

Then we added color!

It was hard getting the color right. 

We wanted a bright pink without it looking neonish or coral. 

Finally, after giving up on our fancy, expensive Golden acrylics, we turned to my scrapbook paints that

I have had for years. 

And met with success! 

Happy happy colors!

Lastly, we added glass flakes that a scrapbook friend of mine gave me for free. :) 

And here it is!

And here's my sis's. Isn't it fabulous?!?

 Thanks for stopping by. :) 

Go make someone smile.:)