MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Crazy Brave

Somewhere along the line, when I put the book together, I got calendar pages out of sinc. This was supposed to be February's prompt. Given the subject though, I think the challenge fits any month of the year.

New Years resolutions are great when we make them. Goals are even better. The plan is to make this year the one where I am UNSTOPPABLE. Even though I may drift from my goals, I don't have to abandoned them all together - I pick myself up and get back to work. Falling off the wagon doesn't have to be permanent - unless I CHOOSE it to be so.

Well, I DO NOT choose that path. I'm stubborn that way. What I want to achieve may take a little longer but I believe in accomplishing what I start out to do... no matter how long.

Not the best picture. I just could not seem to get things in a flow yesterday. May have something to do with my first Monday with Bob back home. I did find my larger doll stamp and used her this time on a 2-page spread. My husband was quick to point out that my shoes are going the wrong direction... well, they weren't for the stamp! LOL Maybe I'm going to make this journey backwards. 

The shoes mark the path along the calendar year. You'll see that I have a GOALS image along the way - reminding me that if I'm not where I thought I'd be, I can readjust and KEEP GOING! There are several signs along the way reminding me DON'T Stop. This is part of My Story at the end of the year. The SUCCESSES, Stumbling Blocks and Drop-Off's along the way all make up MY STORY. 

You'll see a rainbow in the top left of the My Story image, then there's a smaller sticker. This is left over from my UndercoverWear days... a motivational sticker by The Booster.  The sticker says:

LIVE YOUR DREAMS

After I had all of the elements in place, I just played with my Recollections Watercolors. 

This isn't one of my best spreads but the message is there in spite of having an off day. 

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Crazy Brave!

I sat down to work on this post yesterday (Sunday) and for the life of me I could not find that girl stamp I used last month.. you know, the one I wanted to use in every spread. I saw it yesterday morning as I was setting stuff up for a massive card making expedition. Do you think I could find the stamp last night as I began assembling materials? I get really frustrated when I KNOW I just saw something then said item seems to have vanished when I need it.

So, this morning I chose to do the layout anyway.. with a different stamp. I picked these adorable SANTORO stamps up in a scrapbook store in Branson a couple of years ago. I bought several plus gifted the PBR girls each with one.

Since this week is about the journey as well as the twists and turns along the way, I chose this stamp:

Aside from having limited selection this week I chose The White Rabbit because I seem to always be at the tail-end of whatever's current. All the way back to grade school. Dad always conceded to letting me where the latest clothing style as it was fading. Leaving me embarrassed rather than enjoying being part of my peers. 

As I embark on the mixed media, art journal, planner craze I can't help but feel I'm lagging behind the pack and by the time I'm full in - something new will be the craze. 

But the cool thing about art - Art never goes out of style. Mediums change, but the concept of CREATING something from nothing, EXPRESSING our intentions, BARING our souls on paper in some form will always be a part of our journey.

My journal page for this month:

I've used Recollections watercolor-filled brushes, The Paper Studio Bubblebilities stickers and perma markers to create the journey as well as the fork in the road. Every day I have to choose to do the 'real life' stuff or play in my studio. And... there I am at the fork in the road, debating if I can find time for both.

My life is CRAZY but I am BRAVE and STRONG!

Creative Blessings!

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Crazy Brave!

I'm doing my best to stay on track. Aside from my day planner to keep me focused on the various challenges and art projects I want to participate in, I have an art planner where I list just challenges. To make sure I don't miss anything I have a monthly write-on/ wipe-off board so I always have things in view when I walk into my studio.

This week, we step into the Crazy Brave & Wicked Strong calendar. I'm not going to worry about whether or not I'm in the current month. Rather, I just want to enjoy playing.

This January spread talked about our Journey or Course and how we navigate the road blocks and turns helps form the outcome. I thought the quote I chose worked perfectly, as well as representing the twists and turns in the flourishes

This Prima doll stamp will be a constant in the layouts as I go. I used Stampin' Up! Stampin' Blends as well as the Watercolor Pencils to color her as well as the leaves. The flourishes is from Stampendous - Flourises v2. The flowers are from a retired SU stamp set 'Morning Meadow. I drew in the leaves with an Old Olive watercolor pencil.  The quote isn't really visible and I'm not sure where the stamp set is from - after a google search I see that some, but not all of the stamps are from Tim Holtz.

The quote says... 

THE 

JOURNEY

IS NEVER

TRULY

OVER IT

JUST

CHANGED 

COURSE

 Last year, I came across a calendar by Suzy Toronto. Check out her website - lots of FUN stuff and great gifts!

The monthly pages were just as colorful as the front cover and each month contained a full calendar page as well as an 'empowerment' type of thing. Well, the 2017 calendar is still on my shelf. I didn't use it last year because I'd lost track of it... finding the item about August as I was doing the deep clean. Then I found a 2018 and decided THIS was the year I would play.

Here's a sample of one of the inside pages?

I wanted to combine this fun calendar with thought provoking messages with the lovely set of 36 Gel Pens Bob got me for Christmas. You can order them through the link but Bob found mine at Walmart.

I've already ordered a pen case from Scrapbook.com  I have one of these cases for my planner pens. The case holds 48 so I'll have room to add my white signo as well as a couple of black art pens, a graphite pencil, sharpener and eraser. 

I wanted to turn this calendar into a workable art journal with 2-page spreads. The only paper I had was a 9x12 Watercolor pad. I cut the pages down to 6x12", cut the calendar pages in half and coil bound everything. I bound each 2-page spread with a paperie tape from ms sparkle and co. I'm not happy with the tape but we'll see how it holds up.

Here's a blank spread:

In the finished journal:

I just got this idea last night so I don't have a spread done for this post but I'll double up somewhere throughout the year.

Since Mondays are primarily Mixed Media, I'll be showing the current month spread on the last Monday of each month. That gives me the entire month to work on each layout a little at a time