New Journals

 Sometimes it's nice to get out and join like minded friends in acts of creating. So that's what I did 2 weeks ago. I joined Jane Eileen and friends for her Canvas Journal workshop. We each received a piece of canvas to paint and print on. Mine is drying on the right.

 Once dried, I sent mine through the sewing machine a couple of times. Then we stitched the sides and slid them onto the binders. These books are so forgiving. The pages can be taken out, worked on and placed back in any order.

 My finished cover with "Wow" for the title. I'm thinking whatever I put in there is going to make me go "wow" when I look at it...

 The second new journal. I took a workshop with visiting artist, Kelly Kilmer, at one of my favorite spots, Frenzy Stamper. This book is a lot of fun with flaps and fold outs with every turn of the page.

My book cover was plain green when I brought it home but I spent some time with paints, stencils and stamps tonight. I re-bound the book as well, adding beads to the binding.

 I completed 4 collages during the class. We were encouraged to journal but I haven't yet.

 You're welcome to add your own imagined commentary.

 All the images were made using found papers and magazine images and textures.

Have a great weekend!

Marissa

Lazy Day

It's Saturday. There's nowhere we need to be. Nothing we have to do. It's a lazy day. My first week of school is over. The Chicklet finished her second.

There's always work to be done, at home, at work... The first week of work is always an energy sapper. Air conditioning makes desert living bearable. Unfortunately, at work, the unit that services my art room seems to suck in all the humidity from outside. I brought a fan from home which helped a lot. Then the fan broke :( I have another one in the garage that's going to work with me on Monday!

There was some Ex miscommunication and then some Chicklet happenings that had my after school work time cut short this week. The thing with the Ex was stupid and the happening with the Chicklet was a blessing. My kid is growing up. She's been picking on me this week by making the comment that she has to lean over to give me a hug. What a booger! She's only a inch taller than me, so far!I realized that I haven't taken one picture of one thing all week. I visited my photo library to find some from that last few weeks that I missed sharing.

We had some actual weather to report earlier in the month. Overcast skies, cool breezes coming in through my window. Rain! It doesn't linger but it makes for a refreshing change.There was a super cool rain shower. I mean shower! I had stopped by Frenzy Stamper to pick up some new mags. Get a load of this great shirt.Then it just came pouring down. The horses took a shower. Looks like they're running out of the rain... The big window of the store looks out over the horse fountain. It makes for some interesting people watching.OK. I need some color. Spica pens. Every color, if I'm not mistaken. I bought one of each a few months back. They have real glass in the ink that creates the sparkle. They're fun!Ms. Debbie carries Copic pens in the store. Now Ms. Debbie has a full tower with every color of Copic pen!!! For all you Copic pen aficionados, check them out. Check out the classes too!

More color... I was on my way somewhere but had to double back to take a pic.Palm trees were being trimmed, the branches were piled on the ground like a visual offering. I fell in love with the bright, bright greens and textures. By the time I came through again an hour later, the piles were gone. Seize the moment!

Trimming palm trees reminds me of getting ready for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. First comes the High Holidays. My new year comes this time of year. This always seems a good time for it. School starts, the season changes... In about another month for us in the Sonoran Desert. New beginnings. Wiping the slate clean. Something to look forward to.
Marissa

Oh, Goodies!

Some of my friends on Facebook might have read that I did a bit of a lightning visit to some of my favorite stores last Saturday. I was on the east side of the valley Saturday morning but I was taking a class on the west side in the afternoon. If I timed everything just right, I figured I could make all my stops.First stop Mystic Paper in Downtown Mesa. I'd received a call that the Tim Holtz Tissue tapes I'd ordered way back in February had arrived. Then Jennifer, the owner, posted these Pink Paisley brand tapes on the store blog. Tape! Tape! I couldn't wait!Here are the Tim Holtz tissue tapes. They come in packs of two, four different themes which I hope you can see on the packaging, "Marketplace," "Traveler, "Nostalgia," and "Symphony."

Speaking of packaging, I was happy to see that the recycling symbol was on the plastic as I took it off to photograph the tapes. I rarely find it as I remove it from mixed media/scrapbook supplies which create a lot of waste. On the other hand, the big pieces of plastic from these, didn't have the symbol, hmmm...Next stop: Frenzy Stamper in Downtown Scottsdale. Ms. Debbie blogged that the new Tim Holtz tapes and embossing folders had arrived. Although school is out and I have more time to stop by the store, I knew some of the designs would be sold out. I was right, but no worries, she'll re-order more.Again, these came in two-packs and pictured are the paper backing from the packaging. The embossing folders themselves didn't photograph well. There are eight sets, one was similar to some I already owned by another company so I passed.I wasn't looking for paper but Ms. Debbie showed me 3 new paper packs with rich, gorgeous colors. I'm not into the tea stained/sepia vintage look which the other two paper packs were rich with. Although he had a series of green papers in one of them that I still have in my head... As a pack, the baby pink/blue combo makes me a little nuts but on their own, these papers are beautiful. My photo doesn't come close to giving these papers justice.

With embossing folders and papers in hand, plus an m&m's or two under my belt, I was on my way to Creative Quest in old downtown Glendale for a Dina Wakley's "Graffiti of My life" workshop. They also had their shipment of Tim Holtz goodies and I was able to find the one set of his embossing folders that Frenzy was out of. Good timing.

It was a great workshop. Worked on some of the pages yesterday while at school and had the space to spread out. I'm taking another class with Dina this Friday night. It feels great to be creating again. Well, maybe I need to correct that. It feels great to be working with mixed media again. The gardening and clay work had taken over for awhile...
Marissa

Tape Addicts Unite!

Once upon a time, at a store called Frenzy Stamper, Kelly Kilmer came to visit. Word got around that she was bringing her bags full of treasures. Yesterday, the tape addicts and those not quite sure what they were getting into, gathered....

We've played with tape before. Here's what we made long ago...the Taped Journal:We painted, we used tape, we added collage.
I crinkled and painted on decorative tape. We stamped.
I taped and overlapped more tape.
Oh hey, look what happens when the taped underneath shows through. We started to make some discoveries.

Fast forward to yesterday. New exercises with tape. Wide tape, narrow tape. Clear tapes, masking tape. Duct tape, colored tape. Decorative tape and more tape. Yummy!First lay out of the day. I took my already worked on Taped Journal to work on. Many of the pages already had layers of painted color.Second layout. My focal image was a tad short to reach the bottom of the page. Tape to the rescue!Then the focal image looked more like the painted background that I had been trying to coordinate with. After hunting through the stash, out came the naked lady. Oh, excuse me, the nude lady. (Yes, there is a difference).

There's a few more women in the book so there's a theme developing. Hmmmm, interesting.
Ok, if I'm developing a theme, I took a left turn here. Another workshop mate, G, really liked my "teal and black" page. I really like her "orange and green" page. I was really working with greens and browns but this golden yellow transparency begged to go on this page. The birds did too.I realized I was working monochromatically. I could have changed my direction or gone with it. I went with it. I love color! I love layering and bringing out the subtlety within a color family.

I looked down and saw the cover with these purple flowers. Whoo hoo, I found my focal image. At the same time, Kelly was doing a demonstration that gave me the idea of how to attach this image. I sort of, fell for my collage, and didn't want to obliterate it.The flowers flip open to the right. Those colorful sheep are cute but I'll end up covering them with other paper to perhaps, journal on.

This was about time, I started to run out of steam. Or I sat down and then I started to feel tired. It was time to walk around the store and check out all the goodies. Oh, so many goodies.... There's a before picture of this page somewhere. It already had been layered with paint, tape and collage. Unsuccessfully, I might add. Yep, both G and I looked at it and agreed, "UGLY!" Actually, it wasn't so much ugly as it was too busy, even for me. That's saying something... First came the tissue paper and then came the tape. Or was it the other way around? There's a bit of the original collage still peaking through. The day pretty much came to an end here. My journal is getting heavy.

I'm weighing my options for tomorrow. I've been signed up for Kelly's Spirit Journal class for monthes. Turns out the Chicklet's Girl Scout event was rescheduled for tomorrow as well. I was really looking forward to participating. What to do? What to do?
Marissa

Mixed Media Backgrounds

I'll be teaching a workshop this weekend on making backgrounds at Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale. Here's an example of the techniques booklet everyone is going to make.
The techniques are simple and basic. The fun starts when layer upon layer is added over the other. In addition to the booklet, everyone will leave with some papers ready to use in their next projects.
We'll be using variety of materials-crayons, permanent markers, acrylic paint, watercolor, gesso, brown paper bags, tissue paper, transparencies, texture plates, found object stamps, stencils....and whatever else I can throw in the box and dig out during the class.

Come join us!
Marissa

No Hit...All Miss!

I've been wanting to post the last couple of days but my timing must be off. I can't get blogger to let me upload photos.....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

It wasn't exactly what I had planned...it's more like I didn't realize that I had such a busy weekend coming up. Three classes in 3 days. Yikes! The Chicklet is more than happy to give me up for a play date or an overnighter.

This weekend is Part 2 of "Pieces of Me," a class taught by Marta Gladden at Creative Quest. Marta comes up with the most beautiful books with rich and unique ideas for the contents. I must be a groupie because I've taken about 1/2 dozen classes with her.

Kelly is in Arizona!!!!!! Run, bike, drive, hitch hike to Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale and take a class with Kelly Kilmer. She's teaching 5 classes starting this morning and there's room for more. All of her classes are fun, full of laughter and the ideas flow. The results are always unique and amazing considering everyone has the same prompts. What I haven't learned from Kelly, I've learned from my classmates. Join us!

I'm sooooooo glad it's Friday. Only two more classes to go and I am going to play. I had a funny, (kinda silly), tree encounter this week that I've been trying to blog about. I hope to have enough energy after class tonight to share.
Marissa