Foam Stamps and Art Journaling

Once again life got in the way of my good intentions of really keeping up with my blog.  :-)  In spite of life and health issues there are some positive things and I want to focus on them.  We had a family reunion today!  A first one for the Lynn/Murphy etc family!  I was so happy to see so many I love!  I'm looking forward to next year already.  :-)
Second, not only has my family and faithful friends been there for me through this time but I even have a knew group of friends (I call them my art journal loopies on fb lol) that show so much care and it means a lot!  I love my art journaling!  I never would have imagined how much. And now my SS kids are loving it with me as we are making scripture/faith journals.
So......I thought I'd share a few pictures of some things I've tried and they were so easy I figured others might like to try it, too.  :-)
First of all I found some word foam stickers on "clearance" for .50.  There were 2 sets and the top ones were all girly (right up my daughter's alley lol) and the bottom set had great words for art journaling. Since I've been making a lot of foam stamps I decided it would be fun to try using these to stamp with.  The fonts were fun and it would make it easier than using my individual letter stamps.

Even though they had glitter on them they glued onto the plastic/acetate just fine.  I just put glue on the letters while they were still on the backing, waited a minute or so, and peeled them off. I used goo gone to get the "sticky" off of the back of the letters.









Here is what they look like stamped with Distress Ink. I even used the little butterflies that were with the set.

And now here is something I've been having so much fun with.  I wrote the word "art" and then made it thicker so I could cut it out and make a stamp out of my handwriting. I like how it turned out. On the page below I had stamped a stamp I made of a flower that I drew, trying it out, and did the same with the word art.  I decided to "fussy cut" them out of the paper and use them on my art journal page. Even though it isn't perfect or professional, I like that fact that it makes my pages even more "mine"! 

 Thanks to Tracy,( http://tracywburgos.typepad.com/treasure_the_momentlove_l/2012/06/june-creative-dare.html ) I'm learning to try a lot of new things and I find that I love it!  :-)

Art Journal Therapy? :-)

The last few years I have faced some tough times in my life. Some were downright scary!  In some of those darkest hours I believe God let me find Tracy Weinzapfel Burgos!  Art teacher extraordinaire!  Tracy Weinzapfel Studios  I not only found a great teacher but a friend and a whole new group of crafty friends. I learned to do an art that I love but it also helped and is still helping me work through some really tough times.  Tracy has challenged me to try new things and lo and behold, I found I could do them and even more. Each Monday night (I now look forward to Mondays) we meet here TW Studios Ustream and learn, create, chat, laugh, (sometimes histerically) and have a great time.  Art journaling has been such a help to me and after I saw an article about crafting being therapeutic so I thought I'd look up information about art journaling since it has helped me so much.  Sure enough! At this site --> Exploring Art Journaling I found the information below. So......if you're going through a hard time, or if you're not and just want to learn, have fun, and make awesome friends.....Check Tracy's ustream out on Mondays 9pm EST.

Life’s challenges and the stress they bring are an unavoidable part of living. And sometimes the weight of certain challenges seems almost unbearable. There are many ways to help keep our buckets full and filling even when we are dealing with substantial grief.  Friendship, activities, hobbies, non-perfectionism, acceptance for what and who you are, a place to vent, family connections and friendship connections are all helpful.

And at our fingertips, we have yet another tool to use. People have long used journals to record feelings and thoughts. We use scrapbooking and crafts as a tool to record memories. Putting the two together in art journaling is a therapeutic tool I use in my private practice with clients which is not only enlightening but also a vehicle for releasing stress and working through life’s inevitable struggles. It is one way to fill your bucket.

Using expressive journaling with creative art is a powerful way to allow for connection building and profound learning about you and your inner self. It allows for time to create and for time to process. It is very therapeutic.

So what is the difference between a journal and an art journal? Journals become art journals when you add depth, color, and creativity through illustrations (such as photographs and embellishments of any kind) to your journal. That sounds like scrapbooking, card making and crafting, doesn’t it? Art journaling is not about creative talent – it is about allowing self-communication through more than just words. Combining both expressive writing and creative art expression allows for taking an in-depth look into your own soul. You can see what you already know, and begin to learn and address what you still need to discover. This can be a very rewarding journey of self-discovery.

To derive the greatest benefit from your art journal experience, don’t hold back when expressing yourself. Don’t worry about your creative skills (or lack of them). Ignore the negative voices telling you that you’re not an artist. Give yourself permission to explore, to play, to create, and most of all, to listen. The creative process is a healing process. Words alone can be limiting, and thus using writing and art together provides a place for pent-up traumatic emotions such as anger, hurt and grief to be expressed when they are much too painful or buried too deeply to express verbally.

Allowing for self-discovery triggers emotional catharsis. Gaining a sense of empowerment and a bit more control as you heal is essential. Art journaling is a gentle, safe and private way to let it all out. Through this process you can vent spontaneously, creatively and lead yourself to some therapeutic relief.

Another Foam Stamp

Well, once I got interested in art journaling I just started checking all kinds of websites, video clips, etc to find what I could.  Cassy, my son's girlfriend, draws this really neat flower and I told her I wanted her to teach me how to draw it.  Then I decided to look on youtube.  So you guessed it.....I started drawing simple flowers and then just kept adding little things as I see ideas.  Ok, I'm starting to ramble here so long story short.....after I did the foam stamp video my mind got to running all over the place.  Why could I draw a flower, put it on the thin foam, indent the places on it to make detail, and make my own custom stamp?  As I have been doing quite often A.T.(After Tracy lol) I tried it!  I'm actually happy with it. Here are a couple pictures below.  The first one is the flower I drew using a graphite pencil. I then burnished it onto the craft foam, used a sharp pencil to press the details into the foam and cut it out.

 The yellow one is the stamp and the other flower is the stamped image.  I know I could improve on it but I'm actually pleased.  :-)

I love this "art journal" thing and I don't think Tracy has any idea of how much she is teaching but also helping others heal by journaling through art.
Tracy will be doing her own art show this weekend and I couldn't be happier for her.  Check out some of her work here.....http://www.tracyweinzapfelstudios.com/

Making Craft Foam Stamps

Once again I'm trying something new and though I made lots of mistakes.....I did it! :-)  I hope it explains well enough to those of you that wanted to know how I made the dragonfly stamp.  If you think this video is a hoot, you should see the one I didn't post!  haha  After many tries my daughter and I decided that this one would have to do for now.  I wanted to get it up tonight because we have a busy weekend coming up.  If you leave a comment and your favorite stamp I'll have my daughter pick 2 names at random and I'll send you the stamp you chose.

I just want to say "Thank You" to Tracy and all my "Art Journal Loopies"!  You all are great and I feel so blessed to have you in my life. You've inspired me and made me see beauty all around me instead of dwelling on the scary things in my life. I do have to say.....God has worked some miracles in the last week that have relieved so many of my worries.  I shouldn't have worried, huh?  It's not like it helped, I know!  :-)  I must say....Life is Good!

Why oh Why do I seem to procrastinate???

Well, once again I'm cramming to get something finished. A card swap that I had almost a year to get done. In my defense, I did start months ago but as we were doing something different and using sketches I got bogged down. When I finally figured out how to do the sketches.....It's going much better. But, of course, I just have til May 7, to finish the remaining 31 cards. :-) I do have them all cut and folded and part of the mats and such cut. Hopefully, at the crop I'm going to Friday I'll get them all completed and have some breathing space. I have a Close to my Heart party with my niece Thurs. night, the crop Fri. night, a Miche party at my friends on Sat. and church on Sun. I can see lots of resting on Mon. I do know better than to plan too many things in a row but......Hopefully, I'll feel ok and have a great time.

I am excited that I've used some of the things I'm learning from Tracy on some of my cards. I haven't uploaded pics of any except one so I'll share it.

http://www.tracywburgos.typepad.com/ Here is her blog to check out! She's great!!!!!! And such an inspiration to me.

I mod podged the tissue from an actual pattern on the background. The stamp set is from Close to my Heart and I LOVE their stamps. I think they are my new favorite! :-) As for inks (or should I say Inx) I really, really want all of Donna Salazar's Mixed Media Inx colors. They are awesome! Beautiful colors and so juicy that you can emboss with them. No dragging out the embossing pad and trying not to muddy it with your stamps. :-)

http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/ Here is her blog if you want to check it out. She's pretty great, too!

Sooooo, because of my said procrastination I haven't been able to do much journaling but I do have some that I haven't shared yet

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This is not one of my best pages but it is one of my favorites. It is totally me and how I feel. I had been playing the piano at momma's house and then sat down at the table and created it. So many times when I've sat at the piano I've sang a song as a prayer from my heart. I play when I'm happy, I play when I'm sad. I love my piano!

The above is one of my earlier pages and I was in a like/dislike relationship with India Ink but now I love it! :-) Something that might seem so silly to someone else is the India Ink around the edges with the little bows. The more uneven and wavy they are.....the more I like it! ;-) Even tho I can see so many mistakes on my earlier pages I still love them as I learned from them. Now I can't say I feel the same way about ALL of my mistakes in life but I can say, I think I've learned from them and hopefully they've made me a better person. :-)

1000+ free sewing and craft tutorials

http://everythingyourmamamade.com/its-all-about-the-free-tutorials/

I haven't gotten a chance to go through them but am looking forward to finding more projects I want to add to my looooonngg list! lol

Make your own Babylegs

How to make a crib / toddler bed sheet

How to make a Pack ‘N Play / playard sheet

Gathering with a serger or sewing machine too!

3-in-1 T-Shirt Dress / Tunic Top/ Skirt For toddlers to adults!

A Personalized Little Girls Apron!

No-Itch Twill Tape Tags & Clothing Labels

How To Use Bento Egg Molds

My Scarf Dress

Free NICU Smock Pattern

Bookmark clean-up! 1000+ free tutorials, patterns & websites FULL of patterns that I have had saved in my bookmarks . (These are not my own tutorials, but links to others I admired & would love to try in the future)

170+ Bags, Purses, Pouches & Backpack Tutorials

78+ Kids Gift Tutorials

80+ Girls Clothing Tutorials

20+ Boys Clothes Tutorials

43+ Maternity, Nursing, & Expecting/New Mom Tutorials

77+ Infant & Toddler Tutorials

36+ Tutorials for MEN & Women!

36+ Tutorials for Women!

47+ Womens & Juniors Clothing Tutorials

98+ Apron Tutorials

84+ Tutorials For The Home!

10+ Quilts & Quilting Tutorials

11+ Crochet Patterns

354+ Edible Gifts (Like jar mixes)

24+ Techniques, Modifications & Alterations!

12+ Sites for free patterns & tutorials

Items I have made from others free tutorials (with the tutorial link of course )

Nylon Chiffon Girls Pettiskirts

Womens Azalea Dress

Emma & Emmy (Or Eddie) The Earthworm

These are not my tutorials but have some links to other great free tutorials & patterns…

Burda Open Source Sewing

Lots of free great tutorials (good for beginners too)

You can also buy & instantly download great patterns from YouCanMakeThis.com. They even have smaller patterns that you can download for FREE as well!!!

Link for making gift bags from newspaper

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-make-gift-bags-from-newspaper.html
I haven't tried this since I just found it tonight but I think I'd like to! Maybe I will and put pics up. Don't hold your breath, just in case! :-)

Crafts, Thoughts, and whatever else I come up with

I found an idea for making a paper flower and can't remember where. When I find out, I'll try to give credit. Anyway, I took some pics with my cell phone to show it. You basically start out by cutting a circle and then cutting it into a spiral. You can zig zag your sisscors or just cut regular.

Then you get the outside end with tweezers and roll it up as follows........

This one is with two layers of paper. You know me, gotta try something different!

The finished product! The center round part winds up as the bottom and I used sticky dots

to adhere it together.

I've actually been working on momma's Israel scrapbook and I'm liking it! :-) It's not always easy to scrapbook something when I wasn't there. At least, for me! I'll try to take some pics of it and get them on here.

I have been Spring Cleaning!!!!!! For months! lol Momma and I have been trading off helping each other and it's so much easier to get things done! I still have a couple closets, totes, buffet, and china cabinet to go! We won't talk about the garage and attic! lol I'm getting there and getting rid of sooooo much junk! It's much easier to keep house this way! Momma had me help her clean her garage cabinets and I kid you not, her cabinets looked almost as good as my cabinets in the kitchen BEFORE we cleaned them! :-)

I've done some painting and decorating and now it's put me in the mood to do more but alas, work calls for the next few days so the fun will have to wait.

Ah, and now........Life! Change! I don't do well with change! My aunt is dying.........just waiting......she's off of life support and it's just the waiting game now. A dear friend is in the hospital and was improving so much and has now regressed so badly. People who aren't faithful to those that love them, those that drugs have gotten such a hold on! Sometimes, I almost wish I didn't care about people so much! Just almost, tho! My son's new job has him working nights and I tend to be a worry wart! And........I won't bore you with the rest!

One good change........Brooke is going to Salem Park Academy this year. Homeschool for 3 days and go to school 2 days a week. I'm excited about that.

Perhaps, since we won't be running as much when school starts I can actually have a real blog and not wait months in between!

Night, for now!

Updates and this and that

Jeremy is still doing well with his chemo and was able to eat just fine until today. He's at high risk for infection right now. They aren't sure his insurance will cover the treatment. They conveniently don't put cancer treatment under medicine coverage. That so aggravates me about insurances!!!!! He should be able to go home in a week or two but they still have to be very careful. He then has to come back two more times for the other rounds. Hopefully, this can be done as an outpatient.
A funny thing......Danny, a good friend, came to stay with Jeremy while his wife, Susan, went home to take care of some business. Danny stayed the nights with us. We gave him Brooke's room and I had put her satin sheets on the bed. He turned over in the night and forgot that he wasn't at home and threw his leg out and fell out of the bed. He said those satin sheets are slick and don't give you much to grab onto. Fortunately, he caught himself before he made a big thud in the floor. It cracked me up. He left cards for us and for Brooke. He thanked her for letting him use her bedroom and sleep on her satin sheets. He put $5 in it for her to buy her some candy. I thought it was sweet. She was so excited!

Brooke is going to be like me when it comes to crafting. She likes for me to go on the porch and craft/Scrapbook/paint or whatever with her. I worked on some pumpkins that I plan to send Mom Watson. Here are some pics......I plan to curl some wire to come out from the stem. I'm not sure if I should do anything else. I'll have to look at some prim fall stuff, I guess.

Here is what Brooke worked on. She painted and worked on the little wooden hearts and then drew and such on the paper. The "Hi" and flower were done with glue and then she sprinkled stuf on them that makes it feel like velvet.

Mom Watson is doing her house primitive and I love it. I wish I had taken pics when I was there. I'll try to remember next time. She and dad have a booth where they sell stuff and dad makes stuff from wood. They gave me this shelf and here is what I done with it.

Right now, I am sick, complements of my sweet husband! He gave it to me and I'm supposed to have a yard sale Thurs. and Fri. I was also supposed to start my fourth course of cake decorating classes today but the teacher told me to just stay home and take care of myself and we'd make it up. I crashed on the couch and poor Chris did a side job and still came home and fixed supper!

Now I am just rambling so will quit for now. :-)