End of the Year

Closing up the journals for the year.  One of them is my art journal, the other is my writing one.  That's it.  Time to start new ones tomorrow.  Hope you have everything wonderful that the coming new year can bring you.                    Diane

Another Christmasy Page

All this month my pages have been very much full of Christmas - except one which was a very bad day.  I've always longed to be able to print beautifully and worked at it much of my life but never got where I want to be with lettering.  I just keep trying and practicing.  I love both of these little children and use them a lot in my Christmas art.  

Have a very, very Merry Christmas!!            Diane

The Ritual

This is where I really enjoy working on my journals every day.  First thing in the morning my husband has the tv on watching the news politics.  I have almost everything in the world I need, coffee, pens, markers, images, scissors, old magazines and catalogs,  tape, and sometimes my little dog near me on the recliner. While my husband cusses the world affairs I'm happily lost in my papers.  What a lovely mess huh??    Diane

Next Page

This is the page that lays behind the journal page on the previous post.  Many of my images come from catalogs and magazines as well as Graphic Fairy.  The right scissors makes such a difference.  Isn't this green paper pretty?  Diane

On To Other Things

On to other things.  The 12 Tags of Christmas proved to be too expensive for my blood.  I couldn't stay interested in the project - there were just too many supplies that were suggested for the tags that I didn't have nor could I buy here.     

This is a journal page I created.  I loved the skater on a Victorian Trading Company catalog so she sailed right into my journal.  The two pages behind it show through where I cut it off creating a different creation. 

This I love to do, this I have the supplies for, this is my style.    Blessings, Diane

Day 8 - 12 Tags of Christmas

I totally veered off and did my own thing for today.  Tim Holtz did Steampunk for his and I had not of those supplies.  This is on paper from Tim Holtz seasonal papers and the little girl is from Oxford Impressions.  The lace is from my daughter, Cathy, who salvaged it for me and I'm careful to use every snippet of it.  Merry Christmas from Tag #8.  Diane

Day 7 - 12 Tags of Christmas

I used tiny chenille balls for the holly berries and improvised with .......well all of it.  I hope you're enjoying the twelve tags, it is a lot of fun to see how I can learn some new techniques.  Diane

Day 5 - 12 Tags of Christmas

Here's my tag for today.  I wrote out the letters instead of stamping and it was a pretty easy one to do.  Blessings, Diane

Day 4 - 12 Tags of Christmas

Some of these I had on hand, the snowman stamp which I stamped on heavier paper and cut out, and the numbers which I cut out of old music and used Diamond Glaze on them.  I had one snowflake left which I used  and had been hoarding some of the old fashioned tiny tinsel which I used a snippet of for the tie.  Diane

Day 3 - Twelve Tags of Christmas

My interpretation of day 3 tag.  It was entirely improvisation, at first I didn't think I was ever going to like it but it kind of grew on me. 

Day 2 - Twelve Tags of Christmas

Finding myself hopelessly lacking in the supplies that were suggested for the tag today I followed the example very loosely and just wandered off on my own.  This is what I came up with.  I made two to see how they would come out.

I had splurged and bought the seasonal distress ink three pack - the festive berries and evergreen bough are pretty but the iced spruce seems a LOT darker than on the video.  Anyway this is my tag for day 2.   

Day 1 - Twelve Tags of Christmas

Here's my first tag. This is the second year I've participated in this and it does give me a chance to try different colors that I might not think of.  With this tag I had to completely improvise everything.  I didn't want to run out to the store if I could help it because it ends up costing a lot that way.  The paper leaves were one of the things that I had to make and I could have at least had some silver glitter on hand.      Diane

12 Tags of Christmas

Tim Holtz will be doing the 12 Tags of Christmas again this year.  Last year was the first time I took part and it was SO MUCH FUN.  If you're interested in joining along, check out his link.  It starts December 1st.  Be prepared to have fun and do a lot of improvising!    Diane

The Results

Here's what I created from the master board.  The first is an envelope which could be placed on top of a gift with a handmade card, maybe a picture of the gift receiver or you and her together.  Any small items that reminds you of her would be nice to include in it.  The second one is a cute way to give someone a recipe, I thought it might even be nice to put a magnet on the back which they could use for notes or other recipes. 

And these are some tags from what was leftover.  All they need is a ribbon or piece of yarn through the hole and you're ready to go.

The next time I make a master board I want to do it with laces, birds, and pretty things that would be a wee bit more feminine.                                 Diane

Master Board

This is my first attempt at a master board.  After I mount it on a heavier sheet of cardstock I can cut it up, add things to it, make cards, tags.  I'll show you some examples when I get them done.  Just something different to try.  Now I have some ideas, too, for some other ones.                   Diane

Captured

Being a paper artist has it's drawbacks, the biggest one of them is bits of paper everywhere.  Small price to pay though for the joy of creating.  This page was loosely designed around the idea of images captured in time.  I love the little girl with the huge muff (from Graphics Fairy). 

The Raven

This journal page was dedicated to the masterpiece poem The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.  I loved working with the black and white and it's just perfect for this time of the year.  "Nevermore" - well maybe I will again.  Diane

Tatum's Book

Shhh! Don't tell anybody.  This is my a book I made for my little great grandson, Tatum, who's going on 3.  It will be his Christmas gift.   A few posts back I did some tags and ATCs out of this circus paper and I finished using it in his book.  It's made from a board book from Salvation Army and there are about 6 pages in it.  I recovered all the pages and painted the cover with acrylic paints and acrylic spray.  Some of the images I cut out of Victoria Trading Company catalogs - the seals and pony shown here.  Do you think he'll like it?  I know I sure had fun making it for him.    Diane

One Form of Prayer

 When my mind is racing 100 miles per hour and I can't seem to focus on anything my fingers take over.  With glue, sticky tape, pens, scissors and papers they create something good, a gift maybe.  This is a book I created for probably my little great grandson as I prayed for my daughter, Catherine.  I have quiet time with the Lord but I also have this manic time. 

This is one of the inside pages.   My fingers continue to create madly as I pray.      Diane

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.........!!!

These are from the  graphic 45 Le Cirque paper. I'm still into tags, I don't think I'll ever quit.  These are larger sized tags...I love this clown

 ...........I think this is the ringmaster.  I'm not sure, he's quite a character, isn't he?

And these are a few ATCs.
When I was 6 years old I was taken to Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, The Greatest Show on Earth.  This takes me back to that time. 
I love the beautiful papers and colors but I have trouble with the animals (sorry).  It's important to me that I follow my heart and I abhor animal misuse, I know, I know - that's the circus.  Anyway.  I think I'm going to use the rest of the paper and make some children's books, maybe for the hospital.  Diane

Focus

As you can see I've been going through some of my sketches and drawings.  This one I sketched about 18 years ago when we were on our way somewhere.  Muffie sat in the middle on the console and took her job of being the co-pilot very seriously. 

And this one is from 26 years ago when my name was different.

Back then I thought that art was drawing and painting and sculptures.  Now I

know there are so many different ways to do art that it's hard to focus on one or two. 

Focus is the word.                    Diane

Would You Like A Cup of Tea?

As you know, in art sometimes you go many different ways with creating.  It's almost a restless spirit.  First you try one thing, then you move on to something else.  This was a little pair of mice I created back in 1995.  I was thinking maybe of illustrating a children's book and I always love little mice (not especially the real ones).  They've sat in a folder for years and tonight they came out to see you.              Diane

Color

This was fun.  I usually work within a 8" x 10 1/2" page but it's fun to make them different shapes within that size.  When the pages are all together the different sized pages make it interesting and fun to look through.  The paper was torn around the edges and then I worked a loose border with different pieces of ephemera and water colors.  Then I wrote on the inside. Hope you are all having fun creating.  Thanks for reading my blog.                    Blessings,  Diane

Lull

Lately it seems that except for my journal pages I'm just not getting much created.  Maybe it's the heat. 
But even though I don't get much creating done I am just enjoying my studio, cleaning, rearranging, going through things, finding things I didn't know I had.  I guess we have to take time for our creative spirits to rest and regroup once in a while.                            Blessings, Diane

Glitter

This is the first cabinet card that I've altered.  It's taken me years.  It was hard to alter an old photo but once I started it was fun.  I loved giving these sober girls some brightness and glitz.  Diane

True North

I don't know whether you can read this but it's basically a quote by Georgia O'Keefe.  She said that she came to the conclusion in 1923 "I found myself saying to myself...I can't live where I want to.......I can't go where I want to........I can't do what I want to....I can't even say what I want to.  I decided that I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to do.....that seemed to be the only thing I could do that didn't concern anybody but myself."   I guess that was what it took for her to create the beautiful flowers and bone paintings that she did.  I would just like to have more time to create what I want to!!  Diane
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A Couple Pages

I work on my journal pages every day.  I don't always finish one a day, but I work on it until it's the way I want it. 

There are some (not many) unfinished pages in my journals.  They usually represent me just looking at the page and not being able to come up with much.  In that case I just move on.  Sometimes I go back and work on it, sometimes not.  I don't want it to hang me up.  I want to create and if it means abandoning a page for greener pastures that's O.K.  These are a couple pages from June. 

I want to thank you for you for your comments, it's so encouraging.  One of my posts recently had several posts and I had missed it for a while but I'm still so tickled that you took the time to write.  Blessings, Diane

Steampunk

Although I haven't grasped the idea of this type of art I figured out that my husband is steam punk.  Looking at some of Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machines and fabulous designs and listening to my husband for these many years I think he thinks that way, too.  As you may know he suffers from lupus as well as several other related aggravations.  He spends a lot of time trying to figure out what's going on with his body.  He's also has a mechanical mind and has spent his life working  along those lines.  So he sees his body as a machine, with levers, valves, pulleys...........if this happens it will cause something else to do something else, kind of like a Rube Goldberg contraption.  Bless his heart, he has managed to keep going for many years thinking like this so maybe there's something to it!        Diane

Today

If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself, admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the Creator there is no poor, indifferent place.
                               -Rainer Maria Rilke

Inspiration

It isn't inspiration I need right now, I need focus.  Yard work (I have to have beautiful flowers, don't I?)  things need to be done in the house, there are some painting projects that I'm anxious to get started on, and then there's art!  I just want to sit down in the middle of everything and play with my art.  Do you have the same problem?  If you do, how do you handle it?  Any brilliant ideas to make everything work?  Diane

A Journal Page

Although I've been creating a lot of things some were gifts so I couldn't post on here and others....hmm, not so happy with.  This journal page contains elements from the Graphics Fairy, Alpha Stamps, and Tuscan Rose.  The page is scalloped and the ones behind it show along the edges.  I really like that effect.  It seems to lead you on into the journal. The little stamp at the bottom I got from Alpha Stamps, I need to mount it but I think it's so cute.  Keep creating!   Diane

Time Flies

This is a melancholy story. 
I used elements from Joanne Moss, Graphics Fairy and Tim Holtz.         
I love this little girl studying the beautiful butterfly, the colors are so soft and sweet.       Diane

New Baby

The baby isn't here yet but I'm trying to stay ahead of the game.  Our next door neighbors are expecting their first baby in 3 weeks.  They say it's a he and he'll join them and their two dogs and one cat.  I created this large sized tag for them.  It's about 4 x 6 so it's big enough to pass for a card.  I love the graphic which came from Graphics Fairy .                                  Diane

In Progress

 This is one page that I'm near to finishing, it's about the years when my girls were young and we loved roaming around in the mountains. 

 When I was a little girl and we lived in a lumber camp where my dad worked, a mile from Powder River Pass (elev. 9,666 ft).  This page is practically complete.  
   I'm bouncing all over the place with this as I find and add pictures and thoughts.  It's something near to my heart and an artful expression of my love for the Bighorns.

French

These tags just keep coming.  One gets finished and another story needs to be told.  And that's the best thing about tags, you can tell your story in a short time even when you're talking on the phone.  The little stories - that's what they're about to me.                         Diane

More Easter Tags

Today  got some German scrap in the mail so I could finish off some of these tags.  You can see some of it in the very last card to the right.  Easter images are so pretty, I don't know when to stop.     Diane

Cutouts

How do you store your cutout graphics?  I'm always experimenting.  This little box started it's life as a little box at SA yesterday.  I decorated it thinking that it might work - it might.  But I'm really interested in how you do it, I need some ideas.

Hope and Woodland Wanderer

I finished these two tags in one evening.  I like the neutral tones.  Diane

Neutrals

So many of the images and papers I run across are in neutral tones. I've been collecting some 
things to use and decided to do something I've been thinking
about for a long time.  My journal is going to be in neutral tones.  It's going to be
fun to see how it comes out.  I know I'll love it - my house is that way
a lot anyway (except for the kitchen).  I'll show you some along
the way.     Diane