When my daughters were young girls, we lived in a house that had a pool in the back yard. During this time, I taught both of them to swim, and “playing mermaid” was a regular game.
Now that they are grown with daughters of their own, there is still a love of mermaids for all of us because they bring back the happy memories of that time.
Here, I’ve used a combination of papers, patterns and designs in colors that evoke water and the sea to share our love with you!
This is the start of a new year. It’s time to take ownership of our own mental health and healing. One of the first steps is learning to accept and love ourselves.
I made this set with that concept in mind. I could be given as a Valentine’s Day gift, or a self-gift. Either way, it’s ready to be filled with your daily journal, art, stamps and special quotes!
I loved the strips of patterns on this cover and the metallic touches from the moment I saw it. It reminds me of those bowls of pillow mints that I used to see at bridal showers when I was a young woman.
I created this nano Traveler’s Notebook with those mints mind. Here, you can see the outside of the refillable cover, and the four pocket folders. The little book inserts, which are 3" x 2" (when closed), are covered in coordinating paper.
Over the Christmas holidays, one of my younger granddaughters said she would like to have a Nano Traveler’s of her own. She likes bright colors, so I was thinking this set might be perfect for her. It reminds me of hippies, Happy Days and preteen tastes.
I felt like these papers would really appeal to her. Here, you can see the outside of the refillable cover, and the four pocket folders.
My oldest grandaughter is planning a trip to Japan after High School graduation. She loves everything Japanese and is very interested in experiencing the culture live and in person.
I created this nano Traveler’s Notebook with her in mind. I knew, as soon as I saw the papers that it would be perfect. Here, you can see the outside of the refillable cover, and the four pocket folders. The little book inserts are covered in coordinating paper.
When you are working on a small scale, you have to figure out different ways to do things to reduce bulk. Even though you don’t see it when you just look at these nano Traveler’s Notebook covers, the knots of these are sealed with glue.
Here, you see the clips I use to hold the elastic while the glue dries over night. As a bonus, you can see a bit of the inside of each cover, too.
I saw some really cute, woodland pins in Hobby Lobby the other day. I decided to get them because they were on sale. My thinking was that I could use them as “journal jewelry”.
To attach it to the cover, I punched a tiny hole with a 3/16ths punch in the lower corner of my nano Traveler’s notebook. Then I inserted the post of the pin and pushed on the backing.
A new year means new art journals! I am making some more nano Traveler’s Notebooks, designed to fit in a pocket, to be used for art, journaling or both!
In the picture, you can see some hints: Covers for summer with beach themes, some contemporary designs, a couple of unique grungy in bright colors, even some for Valentine’s Day.
If you’re interested in obtaining one of these for yourself or as a gift, just PM me on Facebook to work out the details!
I woke up in the middle of the night with “faucet nose”, and as the day progressed, it became obvious that I have a cold! So I wasn’t feeling super ambitions about the art for the pages. I wanted something that was fun with pretty colors.
The prompt for this day was “icicles”. I did want to try it because they’re something I’ve never drawn or painted before. But I really didn’t know how to fill a page with them.
The prompt for this day was “animal in a Santa hat.” I decided to double down, and I have two of them here! The hat and the scarf for the reindeer were actually done on another piece of paper, cut out, and glued to the image.
I love the idea of the deer having his own friend, the little winter finch!
On the left side is a color mixing exercise.
When I first started this image in my book, it was the shortest day of the year.
Yes, I am journaling on “the” day, but the artwork is not necessarily finished on the day it was started. That’s because sometimes life happens.
At any rate, I finally finished this, so… ta da… Here is my Solstice art!
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It’s ugly sweater day! Well, maybe not officially, but that’s the theme for this spread.
I did the right side in a pastel palette and the left in a more traditional color choice.
Both are over a sparkling background and incorporate metallic and other gel pens.
So what does YOUR “ugly sweater” look like?
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Left side: I wanted to play with words and a blue/pink/purple color combination. I also used iridescent watercolor, but it doesn’t show up in the photo.
Right side: The prompt for December 9th was Cocoa! Since I think gingerbread cookies are designed to go with hot chocolate, my page is all about these delicious treats!
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My Christmas Art Journal is continuing! Today I’m showing you the page spread for December 8.
The prompt for this day was “sleigh”. So I chose to do Santa’s Sleigh all packed up ready for deliveries!
A young reindeer stands by ready to learn from his parents all about the job he’ll be doing in the future.
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At the beginning of November, I took part in a mini book exchange in the Micro Art Journal group on Facebook.
I made two mini books and sent them both off to my exchange partner.
Although it wasn’t required, my partner, Misty Palek, filled one of the books I sent her with passport/mail art and sent it back! She also included this wonderful antique card that you see above.
I decided to add this to the inside of the back cover. That area wasn’t reserved for any particular day.
I was digging through some previously stamped pieces that were in a drawer in the studio and I found both the cutout, embossed moon and a piece that had been embossed with stars. I’ve had them for about 20 years ago, when I used to do a lot of stamping.
Left side: Christmas is the time of music and singing. Kokopelli represents music. He is often found in petroglyphs holding a flute. I was a bit tired of red and green and just wanted to play with painting some other colors. The background just called for this musical trio!
Right side: Mamacita, ¿Dónde está Santa Claus? Where in the world is Santa Clause? It’s pretty obvious that he’s hiding out someplace nice and warm!
I love the way gingerbread smells as it’s baking. It fills the house with warmth, happiness and excited anticipation.
That said, I’ve never made gingerbread cookies or a gingerbread house. I think it would be really fun to make them and decorate them. Not sure if I would want to eat them, though! LOL!
So instead, I’ve created a dream of a gingerbread village with houses, people and even a bush!
The prompt for this day was “Christmas lights”. All I could think of is how everyone decorates their yards this time of year. It’s one of my favorite things about the season. I could ride around and look at them all night long.
On the other hand, I find most of the blow-up-style yard decorations bizarre. I’ve seen yards full of them. One of the new-ish ones around here is Santa’s Food Truck.
The prompt for this day was “candles”. Because my book is nano-sized, I thought that just one candle would suffice. I wasn’t sure how I would handle having a white candle, but I think this worked to give that impression!
In addition to watercolor, I used gel pens on this for the lettering and the metallic touches.
It’s sometimes hard to get a lot of detail on something small. Having the fine point Uniball Signo DX helps a lot because the 0.