Inspiration Wednesday - Week 5

Photo transfers. That was this week's assignment. Not good, photo transfers never work for me. I've tried this many times using different techniques and have never had success.  Leave it Donna to push us that one step further from our comfort zone.

After thinking about it, forming a plan B and scouring the internet for pictures it was time to give it a try.

Woo Hoo! It worked! I couldn't believe it. I love how these pages turned out. Thank you Donna. I will be using this technique again in my work.

Inspiration Wednesday - Weeks 3 & 4

I've really busy lately and haven't had a spare moment to post, so today is catchup day.

Week 3
This week our pages were supposed to look 'painterly' meaning that brush strokes and the red under coat are supposed to be showing. I wasn't crazy about this technique but the idea behind Inspiration Wednesday is to get out of your comfort zone so I jumped right in.

Donna's pages were of three lemons. I just couldn't do three lemons so I added my own inspiration, tequila and salt.

Week 4

As you can see we're still painting lemons, this week with another twist.  The lemon and the shadow on the first page was made with washi tape then painted. the lemon on the second page was brown craft paper then painted.

So now I'm officially caught up on my Inspiration Wednesday posts I can move onto my Wanderlust pages.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 2

When Donna said we were going to paint a mug I laughed.  SHE was going to paint a mug. I would be lucky if mine resembled a mug.

Much to my surprise painting the mug was much easier than adding the light and shadows. After walking away from the finished pages and coming back later I've decided that I like my pages. I'm happy that I tried and did better than I thought I would.

On to week 3 and lemons....

Inspiration Wednesday - Good News Bad News

Happy New Year!!

The good news is I'm starting a new year of Inspiration Wednesday's with Donna Downey.

The bad news is this will be the last year Donna will be teaching this class.

The good news is Donna has promised to make this a challenging year.  We will be spending a lot of time out of our comfort zones.

This week we used stencils, modeling paste, and glazing.  I did get to use my new stencil from Donna's Artistry Series, and I can't wait to use it again.  I think on canvas next time.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 25

This is it. The last Inspiration Wednesday of 2016.  It's been another fun year with Donna, and I cannot wait to see what's in store for 2017.

Donna kept it simple this week. Thank God, because I've been so busy something more involved would have pushed me to the edge. I got to go through my collage box for this one, and was determined to use only stuff from the box.  So here it is. I hope you enjoy.  By the way, look at all the beautiful chunkiness of my completed journal.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 24

Wow! I can't believe there's only one more Inspiration Wednesday left in the year.

For these pages I used Pan Pastels. Considering that I have a limited number of colors, and it's the first time using them it turned out better than expected.

Bye for now!

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 23

Donna took a poll asking what media we would like to see her manipulate for this week's pages.  aluminum foil got the most votes.

We used both the positive and negative pieces of a chipboard design, covered the pages in foil and painted them.  After drying the pages I sanded them so that the foil showed through in areas.  When I started these pages I wasn't sure about the technique but as it turns out I'm really happy with the finished pages.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 22

This is week three of using what we hoard, and I must say that these pages are some of my favorites. This weeks item was used baby wipes. Unlike Donna I don't keep my baby wipes after removing the glaze from my projects, so I started by picking through the trash can in my craft room. Luckily I hadn't emptied it, and I hit the jackpot.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 21

It's week 2 of the 'Use Your Stuff' series.  I found a bag of chipboard tags from Maya Road.  I think I got them in one of their sale boxes, but I have no clue when. I added the words using word stamps that I've had for years and just recently started using. What I did find out was that I could fill a whole journal with the hoarding items.

I love the way these pages turned out. The layers, textures and the colors are what I love most about Mixed Media. You make a mistake. If you don't like how something looks just add another layer, you end up with something like this...

I hope you enjoy these pages as much as I do.  I'm off to see what I've been hoarding for Week 3 of the 'Use Your Stuff' series.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 20

For the next three weeks we're going to be creating with "Stuff" that we've been hoarding. Yes, it's true crafters hoard everything because we might be able to use for a project. This week we're going though those stickers we have.  You know, the ones that are half used, and probably don't stick anymore because they're so old.  I found a drawer full of letter stickers, some of them were unopened and a lot of them were no longer sticky. Exactly what I was looking for.

I had fun adding the layers to these pages and love the way they turned out. I hope you enjoy them too.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 19

Flowers. That's what this week was about. Loose flowers, first we penciled them onto the pages, then we painted and not necessarily in the lines. When the pages dried I went over my original lines with a marker.  Oh, did I mention we had a 20 minute time limit.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 18

Woo Hoo! A collage week.

When I started these classes with Donna I never thought I'd be saying that.  But, I do love pages with texture and these have lots.  This time I used super heavy gesso.  I also got to go through my junk box for trinkets to smash into the gesso.

After slathering the super heavy gesso on the pages I finally got to use that chipboard I've been saving for I don't know how long.  After the pages dried, which took about 24 hours I made a Burnt Umber glaze and painted both pages.  After about a minute  I wiped the glaze off. I love the way the glaze stuck in the nooks and crannies on the pages.  These pages are one of my favorites so far this year.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 17

I'm still catching up on my blog posts for August. For this project our mission was to create a picture using pieces of washi tape.  It was like Donna knew we all had a box of the stuff that wasn't getting used.

I got my inspiration from some of the flowers I created in Donna's Abstract Flowers class.  The pages were way more fun to complete than I thought they would be.  Once I got started I couldn't wait to get it done.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 16

I'm playing catch up this weekend with my blog posts and my art.  Finally got to do lesson 16 from Donna.  I wasn't so sure about these pages when I started since I totally skipped trying the bubble technique. I loved using both the positive and negative of my stencils, and just kept adding layers until they became something I liked. The negative flower is my favorite.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 15

I love my Verday paints.  They make it so easy to achieve a patina finish on any material.  I've used mine on paper and metal and they both turned out better than I hoped. The hardest part about using these paints is waiting overnight for the reaction. You find yourself literally watching paint dry. These colors, by far, are my favorites.  I hope you enjoy them too.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 14

One of the things I'm loving about this years pages is that I've been getting to use all the "stuff" that I kept because someday I could use it.  I got to go though my ribbon stash for these pages, and I found ribbon I forgot I had.

I had a great time going through the box that holds my ribbon looking for the perfect ones to use, and even though my hands were covered in gel medium when I was done I was happy with how the pages turned out.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 13

This week we got to attach 'Stuff' to our pages.  This is one of my favorite things to do because it adds texture and dimension to your project, and I get to go through my junk box to find the perfect pieces.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 12

WOW! We're half way through another year of Inspiration Wednesdays, and I'm having just as much fun as last year.

This week Donna had us making stencils using a glue gun. I was a little hesitant as I started my stencil but I was determined to do this even it turned out to be a total disaster. To keep it simple I just made connected circles. I made two stencils so I could put one on each page. Instead of using watercolor paint I wanted to see how it would look if I used spray ink.  I used Dylusions spray inks by Ranger.  I love these colors because they are so bright.

As it turns out I really love the way my pages look.  It's really cool that in some places there are white circles and in others even though the color got under the stencil you can still see the circle.

I don't know that I will ever use technique again but I loved the fact that I tried something totally different.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 11

For 100 days I'm part of a team, at work, participating in a challenge called 'Get the World Moving'.  We are competing against teams from around the world and so far are placed in the middle of the pack. The idea is to walk at least 10,000 steps a day along with making other changes for a healthy lifestyle. Sounds pretty simple right? Wrong! 10,000 steps is about 5 miles and that is not an easy task when you have a desk job. As it turns out what they say about exercise giving you more energy is true. I know this because at nine o'clock last night I finished riding 3.50 miles on my stationary bike, and at midnight I was starting this weeks pages. The news is I was able to make good use of my extended day.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 10

We've been doing a lot of collaging in our journals, and guess what. I'm starting to love it. I'm just covering those layers without thinking about the fact that I just put that layer down.

This week totally justified making purchases because the item is on sale. Our mission was using two papers that did not match.  The best part was that I got to go through my paper stash for the project.  It was like shopping all over again. I found paper I didn't know existed and I used two of them for these pages. These pages were fairly simple but it was fun finding the materials, and really love how they turned out.