Whatnots & Such

Well, I finally finished the cover of my latest art journal/smash book style journal - I showed you the in progress pic here - so I thought I'd come back and share the result! Click on the pic to take a closer look :)

I've used a ton of different supplies here, some of which are: Sassafras papers, Amy Tangerine diecut shapes, Pink Paislee diecuts, washi tape, vintage flash cards, Kaisercraft alpha stickers, Amy Tangerine woodgrain thickers, Crafters Workshop bricj stencil, Vintage photo distress ink, handmade crochet trim flower, aswell as a vintage tape measure and pom pom trim.

I've still no clue exactly what this book will be used for, but I sure had fun making it! When I do actually start using it, I'll be sure to share the progress lol

For now, I'm off to spend some quality time with my paints.

Happy arting!

Lita xo

Art in progress

I've had these three canvases in my studio for awhile. I bought them with the intention of creating something to hang in our living room, for the big empty wall behind our tv. After thinking and pondering for awhile, I finally decided to just bite the bullet and get started. Can I just say, three blank 12x24 canvases can be very daunting indeed?

*Click the pic for a closer look*

Nowhere near done, and I'm not all that happy with it, but it's progress. I'm not loving the colours I chose - thinking about adding some green- and I definitely need to add texture. At the moment I'm not loving it, but I'm a big believer that you have to go through the ugly stage, to get to that layered, texture covered happy place that is a finished piece.

I'm excited to see how it all comes together, and I'll share a pic when it's done. If you've been flinging paint around lately, I'd love to see!

Happy arting,

Lita xo

A new journal

Yes, that's right. I'm working on yet another new journal. I'm currently working in around a dozen different journals, but hey, you can never have too many, right?
This one is made from a composition notebook, and is still in the early stages. I've glued in some scrapbook papers, crumpled and inked up the others and am still working on the cover.
It's the cover I've got a little peek of for you all today. It's a work in progress at the moment as I still want to embellish it a bit more and add a title when I figure out what on earth I'll be using the journal for lol At this point I'm thinking it will be a smash book/junque journal kinda thing lol
Anyway, enough jabbering. Here's the pic, and now I'm off to play around with it a little more.

Happy arting,
Lita xo

Deepest Yearning

YES!

I stumbled across this via Pinterest, and could not find the original source for the image. If anyone knows, please let me know!


Lita xo

At First Glance

I stumbled across this gem by ExLibris, via Pinterest. Gorgeous! Be sure to check out her store, it's full of little treasures like this.

Happy arting!

Lita xo

Art Squared - are you playing along?

We're onto our third prompt over at Art Squared and I'm really enjoying it. Jaimie has such a fantastic style and I love seeing her take on the prompts... and stealing her ideas to replicate with painty goodness in my own journals :D

Here's a looky at my spread for the current prompt - you can find supply details, and of course Jaimie's page, over on the Art2 blog.

Click th epic for a closer look!

Have you checked us out yet? We'd love to have you play along and share your creations. Be sure to pop on over and see if there's some inspiration just waiting for you to grab it!

Happy arting!

Lita xo

Collage Monday: Breathe

Yep, collage Monday on Tuesday lol Better late than never...right? This week I've got a simple yet fun spread to share with you.

I prepped my page by collaging vintage dictionary pages (Italian, no less!) and then a scraping of gesso. I then added some Windsor & Newton watercolours, punchinella'd paint and acrylic ink and voila - happy place!

Til next time, happy arting!

Lita xo

Mixed Media: She had colourful dreams

A She Art girl I did a little while back and never got around to sharing lol

Happy arting!

Lita xo

Travel Art Kit

For awhile now, I've been wanting to put together an art journal kit that I can take out and about with me. Sounds easy right? Just throw in some paints and pens and you're good to go, right? Um, wrong. For me anyway lol
I wanted my kit to have a bit of everything - colour, texture, collagey stuff etc. And of course I wanted a cute bag to keep it all in lol It took me awhile to narrow down exactly what I wanted and what was essential, but I'm happy to say I finally have it sorted and ready to go! Wanna take a look? Be warned, this is a verrry long and image heavy post lol

** Click on the pics for a closer look **

I picked up this make-up bag from my local thrift store for a teensy $1.99 - bargain right? It's the perfect size, can easily be wiped down when it gets a little messy and I quite like the pattern too. It has three zippered compartments, and is roomy enough that I can pop a couple of journals inside aswell.

Now, lets take a closer look at the goodies inside!

The pic below shows the contents of the smaller outer pocket. These are what I consider the essentials, so having them in the front pocket means I can access them super fast.

Glue - I use a small glue stick by Bostik, called BluStik. It's small, cheap, and works great for my needs.
India Ink Pen - this is a Big Brush pen from Faber Castell. It's actually india ink, which means it's permanent when dry, but blends well when still wet. Great for titles, borders etc, and also for stamping.
Pencil - just an average mechanical pencil, my preference because I hate dealing with pencil sharpening mess lol
Scissors - No clue on the brand of these. I picked them up at my local craft store for around $7 and I love that they have a safety cover (I'm a total klutz so safety is a good thing!)
Pilot Permaball - this is my go to pen for all mixed media. It's permanent, fade resistant and writes on just about every surface. The only time I have issues is if I try to write over oil pastel, or watercolour crayons that haven't been blended with water.
Washi tape -my current obsession (though I tend to collect more than I use ... hmm...) I bought the masking tape set in the tin, and also added some of my favourites by wrapping them around shipping tags and popping them into the tin. Much easier than carrying all those full rolls!
I also carry a basic eraser (for obvious reasons) along with a note book. I use my notebook to jot down ideas and also often rip pages out to use as super simple journal cards.

These goodies below all fit into one of the inside pockets.

Gesso - Just some of my regular gesso (Art Spectrum brand) in a little container.
Paintbrushes - pretty self explanatory lol I also threw in a waterbrush to use with my Neocolours
Watercolour crayons - Caran Dache Neocolour II crayons. Blend them with water for easy, no fuss colour.
Ink - A few basic colours of Versa Colour inks. I prefer to use Stazon or Archival, but these are small and were already in my stash lol
Rewards card - this is my favourite tool. I use it like a pallette knife to scrape on gesso and colour. Compact, lightweight and it was free! lol
Paper towel - For clean ups
Baking paper - to protect the surface I'm working on, and as a great disposable pallette
Punchinella - cheap and easy stencils!
I also have a date stamp, foam stamps, stapler, a spray bottle of water adn a couple of tiny rubber stamps. All pretty self explanatory really.

And now for the other pocket - colour! This pocket will change often, depending on what my go to colours are at the time.

Paint dabbers - these are perfect for art on the go! They are acrylic paints with a sponge dabber tip so there is no need for paintbrushes at all! These ones are from Ranger.
Acrylic paints - these are little tubes of acrylic by Eraldo dePaolo. Great travel size, affordable and available in a huge range of colours.
Distress stain - Love this! Made by Ranger, this is a liquid form of Tim Holtz's distress inks, with a sponge tip so you can easily apply a wash of colour over your page. These aren't permanent, so you need to keep that in mind when layering - anything wet will activate again.
Pens - just some cheapie fine tip pens form my local discount store.

In the main part of the bag, I have popped in two journals, a baggie of stamps and a small folio filled with goodies. These last few pics give you a look at those. No description for these pics though, as I think it's pretty self explanatory lol

So, there it is. My travel art kit...and a very long winded description of it lol Pretty sure I covered everything, but if you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask! If you have a travel kit or similar, I would love a peek - be sure to link me up in the comments!

Til next time, happy arting,

Lita xo

Art from the couch

You might not know this, but I have an art studio (I commandeered the garage, jazzed it up, filled it with supplies and voila!) And while i love having this dedicated space, it’s not always easy to get out there considering I’m a SAHM of two, and of course the fact that it’s winter and ridiculously cold out there doesn’t really help lol

So I’ve taken to arting from the couch…or my bed…or the lounge room floor lol I put together a great little art journal travel kit recently and am loving how easy it is for me to find a few minutes each day to work in my journals. I really must show you all the kit – stay tuned and I’ll have a post on it in a couple of days!
Anyway, enough jabbering, time for a quick look at some of this couch art lol Both of these were created entirely from goodies in my travel kit, and the book itself is a Donna Downey art journal.

Samie Kira aka Journalgirl recently shared a mini class that struck a chord with me – an art journal daily diary. As Samie said, it can be used to record weight loss, baby’s first months, illness etc and I immediately knew I wanted to use this idea to record my struggle with mental illness. And like Samie, I knew i wanted it to be bright, cheerful and EASY. If it’s too difficult, too much ‘work’, I know it just won’t work. So I’m keeping it simple, with swipes of paint, simple stamping etc. I have a spot to write a quick note on how the day went, and a simple rating system so that I can easily record what my mood level was for the day, with 1 being pretty damn scary, and 9 being one of those rare ‘life is frickin awesome’ kinda days lol

As you can see, it’s pretty basic – easy to prettify, easy to fill in. I don’t need the pressure of having to write for hours about how I coped, the ups and downs of the day. Just a few short notes, a quick rating and I’m done. I’m planning on taking this along when I speak to my doctor from now on too – often I find it overwhelming trying to explain what’s going on, and I hope this will help me keep my doctor better informed.

If any of you are working on a similar concept I’d love to hear about it, or better yet, see it! Please feel free to link me up in the comments!

Til next time, happy arting,

Lita xo

Collage Monday: Play

So, clearly I forgot to post this yesterday, but better late than never, right?

I had a lot if fun with this spread using crumpled brown paper, tags, book text and a paper doily. I topped it all off with some washi tape and a bit of vintage photo distress ink and this is definitely a happy place! Just need to add some journaling to the tag and it's done!

Have you created anything lately? I'd love to see!

Happy arting,
Lita xo