WOIW: Prudence

I've combined two challenges in the Kraafters Kommunity this week in this one project. One is the regular weekly Word of Inspiration Wednesday challenge (WOIW) and the other is the monthly Kraaft Shaak challenge. The inspirational word this week is 'prudence' and the monthly challenge is to use orange and blue together in one project.

I had to look up the exact meaning of  'prudence' in the dictionary. While I understood the general meaning, I wasn't quite sure whether it had a positive or rather negative connotation. This is what I've found in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

"careful good judgement that allows someone to avoid danger or risks"

This made me think. While it is generally a good idea to avoid danger and risks, too much caution could be an obstacle to development and progress. In fact, I've found quotes like "Prudence makes life safe but does not often make it happy". Anybody who knows me will tell you that I'm a careful person. Probably a bit too careful, in fact. I seldom take risks and I avoid dangerous situations at all cost. I didn't like the sound of that quote, perhaps because there's some truth in it. However, I've found another quote, supposedly by William Shakespeare, which resonates with me:

"Prudence is the best trait of courage"

This, to me, means that we should be brave and courageous, but also wise enough to exercise caution and common sense when making important decisions and taking risks. With this in mind I've created this journal layout using orange and blue as per the Kraaft Shaak monthly challenge.

I used acrylic paints for the background and home made texture paste for stenciling the butterflies. For the texture paste I mixed extra fine polyfilla, acrylic paint and a bit of talcum powder to make it thicker.  The other three butterflies were cut from napkins. I used a matching blue gelato to outline some of the page elements. I think I like how this page turned out, although up until the end I wasn't so sure!

WOYWW #292: Bits and Pieces

Hello and welcome to my very first WOYWW post of 2015! I first joined in this blog hop last autumn and I don't think I've missed a single week since then! I've met so many lovely creative people in just the past few months and really enjoyed getting to know you all. I've decided to take part this year too and perhaps make it to 52 weeks of desk sharing this year!  If anybody would like to join, just head over to the Stamping Ground where you can find all the details.

This week I'm sharing some bits and pieces lying around my desk. My main projects for week one of LifeBook and the Documented Life Project were completed last week. You can find them under the relevant tabs in my menu bar if you are interested. Now, let's take a look at my current affairs.

1. I created this tag as part of Week Two for LifeBook. The idea was to print an image of one of your own existing pieces of art and use it on the tag featuring your word for the year. Instead of printing something off the computer, I decided to use one of my gelli prints, which also had my symbol, the chevron sign on it. The instructions called for an inked background and stitching. I used faux stitching as I haven't got a sewing machine.
2. I've just received this 2" Speedball brayer in the post. It came all the way from the US. It is quite a bit softer than the unbranded 4" one I use on the gelli plate. I really like it and it will be great for keeping it handy on my desk whenever I need it.
3. I've just completed this tag for a swap in the Google Community Creating and Sharing Mixed Media Art. I'll unveil it after my swap partner has received it.
4. No, I haven't been stuffing my face with cheese crackers while crafting! I'm going to turn this empty container into a "Celebration Jar". I couldn't find an actual jar for this purpose, but this will do. This is one of the LifeBook projects for week two. I'm going to write down all the positive things that happen in 2015 on small bits of paper and collect them in this container throughout the year. I plan to fill it to the brim with positive occurrences and start a new one if I run out of space! First, however, I will decorate it!

Here are some closer shots of my tag, and the first stages of altering the container. Thanks for visiting my desk today!

Work in progress

LifeBook Week01: Beacon of Light

This is my take on the Beacon of Light project taught by Tamara Laporte of Willowing Arts as part of LifeBook 2015, a year long mixed media and art journalling course.

I pretty much followed Tam's instructions on this, only changing a few small details. My goal is to get better at shading faces. I was a bit bolder this time and used soft pastels as a final layer to deepen and even out the shading as much as possible. I can see that it's still not perfect (a bit blotchy) but good enough for now! I first saw this technique in this video by +Cristina Parus. She uses KOH-I-NOOR TOISON D'OR soft pastels.

Even though I shamelessly copied this design of Tam's, it's still quite meaningful to me. The three symbols I used represent home/family/security (house), spirituality/creativity/individuality (star) and unconditional love (padlock heart). I even managed to smuggle in my symbol of the year (chevron) in her sleeves and the borders! The sentiment I chose ties in with my word for this year, which is 'progress'. I wanted to remind myself that I need to learn to enjoy the here and now while moving forward at the same time.

DLP Week01: Be Your Own Goalkeeper

I decided to give the Documented Life Project a go this year. It's a year-long art journalling challenge, where you get prompts for each week along with some inspiration. You can then share your projects with their Facebook community here.

I decided to work in a small spiral bound Strathmore Mixed Media Journal - partly because I already have one, so it makes sense to start using it and also because I won't have time for anything bigger due to my commitments and classes elsewhere. I want to use this journal to do quick 10-15 minute projects just to have fun without agonizing over the outcome too much.

The first challenge is to use book paper and the theme is 'be your own goalkeeper'. This puzzled me at first, but now I understand what it means! To me, this means that we are responsible for the attainment of our own goals. Dreams will always remain just dreams, until we turn them into goals and DO something about them. Just sitting and waiting for something to happen will not make our dreams come true.

Once I understood this, I found a great quote to compliment this thought:

Dare to live your dreams

I actually had the page layout done by the time I decided to use this quote, so it was just pure luck that it happened to have five words, which I was able to fit into my gelli circles! I started out with book paper, though there's not much of it remaining visible. I also used some washi tape with circles and I managed to include my symbol for this year as well (the chevron sign >>> to represent direction and purpose).

I hereby challenge you to turn your dreams into goals and start living them!

WOIW: New beginnings

This is just a quick 15-minute page I threw together for Word of Inspiration Wednesday in the Kraafter's Kommunity on Google+.  Sometimes it is very exhilarating to work quickly and without much thought. I don't think I even sat down while doing this! I was on a roll!

The inspirational word (actually phrase) this week is New Beginnings. I thought about how we always use January 1st as a starting point for our resolutions. But you don't have to wait until this one special day of the year comes along. Every day is  a new beginning and we get 365 chances a year to make a difference and start afresh with renewed energy and inspiration.

This page started out with some book papers. I added some green pigments to these with watersoluable crayons and brayered some light blue and white acrylics over it.  I added some stamp marks with archival ink. I accented some of these with a white pen. The leaves were cut from gelli prints and outlined with a Stabilo All pencil. The number is a raffle ticket and it represent the number of days in the year.

I hope you feel inspired by this sentiment and regard every day as a new chance to get closer to your dreams and goals.

Sunday Sentiments #7: Quirky Birds II

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year if this is your first visit to my blog this year. It's only the fourth day of 2015 and there's already soooo much going on that I'm struggling to keep up. But that's good! Much better than my usual January lethargy!

I'll keep this sweet and short, promise! My sentiment for this month is a little playful message to remind you to let your hair down, have fun and be whimsical and quirky! It's taken from the lyrics of a song by a band called They Might Be Giants. If you listen to this song, you'll realize that these lyrics are open to all sorts of interpretations!

"Make a little birdhouse in your soul"

This project is the flip side of my accordion book I created following a mini class by Tamara Laporte of Willowing Arts. The other side can be found here. Special thanks to Cindy Wirl, who inspired me with her comments to give these guys somewhere to live!

(Disclaimer: some of these birdies were inspired by similar images found on the internet.)

If you would like to link up to Sunday Sentiments, you can find the guidelines here and the link at the bottom of this post. Happy Sunday!

An InLinkz Link-up

LifeBook Week01: choosing a word and symbol for 2015

This is the first assignment I completed for LifeBook 2015, a year long mixed media/art journalling class organized by Willowing Arts.

This page represents a key word, which I'm going to focus on this year. The word I chose is PROGRESS, which is particularly relevant to me this year, as my life seems to be in a limbo and I don't seem to be moving anywhere. This is not necessarily bad, but I find the uncertainty more than a little frustrating. I have been in this temporary state for a couple of years now and I'm yearning for a positive change that would take me and my family in the right direction, so we can have a better quality of life. This word is also meaningful to me in terms of my art. I would like to progress as an artist and I'm hoping LifeBook will help me achieve this intention.

My symbol is closely related to my word. I chose the chevron sign >>>>> to help me along the way this year. I've always been drawn to this shape because it symbolizes purpose, direction and guidance.

Here's the page I created, along with some close-up photos to show the different layers and textures. I used dictionary paper and gelli prints as the initial layer and Caran Dache Neocolor II crayons to add some colour. The little envelope contains my goals and intentions for the year.

(Clicking on the first page will launch the photo gallery)

The gelli prints have some golden tones along with purple/violet

I chose an  analogous colour scheme

I added some number stamps and washi tapes

I tore the word 'progress' from the dictionary

The word has been stamped and outlined

This envelope contains my intentions this year to help achieve progress

You can see the gelli prints peek through the layers

I used some white acrylics paint to distress the page