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Loving this art journal thing!
Teaching classes at the CoBACH center in Brighton came to an abrupt halt back in October when the center was closed for building maintenance. With no word on when it might reopen I decided to try the classes in my home. I won’t lie, it’s been cozy but it’s also been fun and rewarding. My most popular has been my Art Journal sessions. I never thought I could enjoy something as much as this form of free-form crafting. It’s a way to incorporate products you most likely already have and chances are haven’t used much. My Art Journal classes are offered in four-week sessions. Each week I teach a different…
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Playing with paint & paper
Boy, today is a good day to sit indoors and play. I’ve really taken a liking to art journals over the past couple years. I’ve been teaching art journal classes as well. I think what I enjoy most about the craft is the freedom to play. There is no right or wrong, no special tools required, and there are no steps to follow to get it right. I tend to play with the myriad of products already in my stash. Those can include scrapbook paper, old book pages, acrylic paints, Distress Inks, Alcohol Inks, etc. Lately it’s been the Americana acrylic paints from DecoArt. They’re relatively inexpensive and they’re readily…
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Creating is good for the soul
I never claimed to be an artist. I couldn’t tell you which colors will play off each other nicely, how to draw a face, the fundamental concepts of composition and design (heck, I don’t even know what that means!). What I do know is how to sit and create (play with my stuff). I also know that when I take the time to sit, create, and play, I can lose myself for hours and totally forget about the world around me and just totally relax and let go. It’s something I feel a lot of us feel guilty about the taking the time for. We need play time, whether that…
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Remembering Grandpa
Dennis and I were talking this morning in his room about junk that needs to be sorted and gotten rid of. As I was looking around he mentioned the stack of his mom’s pictures. They were sitting under a shelf in a storage cabinet, just out in the open. Under the pile of photos was a little brag book of photos called ‘Grandma’s Show-and-Tell. We opened it as we turned the pages we could see our two youngest kids grow up right before our eyes. Those photos brought back a flood of happy memories as both of our parents are gone now. We were fortunate our kids were able to…
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Breaking routine
I spent the weekend with inky fingers, creating art with my peers at Artiscape in Dublin, Ohio. I had so been looking forward to the annual weekend-long event. My friend Cathy and I travel together – she’s the driver. We left Friday morning and took nearly the whole day to get there, stopping at any antique store along our path. We even ventured into one estate sale where we scored some interesting objects! We took a little side trip to Wapakoneta to visit Gild the Lily, a lovely little antique shop we visited about three years ago. We were so glad we made to effort to get there because Glenna,…
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Making messy fun
In the Studio we’ve been offering Art Journal classes for well over a year. In January of this year we started a new version of the class titled ‘Art Journal Adventure.’ We’re working in a smaller format. I think the pad is about 5 inches by 9 inches. I’m really liking the smaller format and we’re able to keep the classes to its two-hour time limit. As much as I enjoy the creative process, at times I tend to lose sight of that when I’m teaching. It’s my students who often remind me why I started teaching in the first place. My goal in class is never to aim for…
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Building friendships with ATCs
You know what I really enjoy about our ATC workshop/class? The students enjoy the class just as much as I do. When we began this class a little over a year ago, I struggled with it. Going from working on a 12-inch by 12-inch scrapbook page to a tiny piece of paper that measures 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches was a real challenge for me but I stuck with it – and the students stuck right there with me. Next to our Art Journal class the ATC class has become one of my favorites. In our class I teach a technique each month. Other than using that technique…
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This mini makes me happy
I’m often asked which Xyron machine is my favorite and for this assignment that’s exactly what the Xyron people wanted to know. Such a difficult question to answer – especially for me. I own, love and use them all and have for all my crafting years. My Xyron 1.5″ Sticker Maker was purchased on my very first night of scrapbooking at a crop. I had no idea what I was doing back then but realized quickly this was one little special tool! It didn’t take me long to purchase the 5″ Creative Station then before I knew it I just had to have the 9″ Creative Station because I make…
