Friday, February 19, 2010

It's Friday! Finally!

Let the weekend commence!

Have you seen the new Unity blog? Whoa! That's seriously beautiful, with such heartfelt contents. Love it! And I love that Angela is getting a chance to share her thoughts with us. Love reading her posts! You're here today to enjoy a little customer hop, and I'm delighted to join you!

I went a little different direction today. This week, we had some decisions to make. Some that weren't very hard, but required a lot of exploring. While I don't want to share the topic, I do want to share the process.

I have an art journal. I've been reading about Journal Spilling... it's a stream of consciousness thing. You write. Just pour thoughts onto paper. Feel it - write it. Honest thought, real feelings. You write on top of writing. Slide down that slope like an Olympic skier.

When it's all out...all there on paper...you cover it up. You bury the issue in beauty, and watch for it to emerge later from the cocoon you built, all pretty and grown up.

{click to enlarge}

I mixed gesso (a chalk/glue mixture used for surface prep), matte multi-medium (a gel that extends the drying time), and a drop of Ranger distress reinkers together, and painted general areas, using a color-blocking technique. I used Broken China, Peeled Paint, and Aged Mahogany reinkers for coloring.

After the gesso mix dried, I used Peeled Paint reinker mixed with multi-medium and a liner brush to paint the stems and leaves (across the bottom). I stamped bunches of grapes (Gina K stamp) with Memento over the color-blocked area to give the appearance of lilacs, and clear embossed them. Then I added rock candy stickles over the flowers to give the appearance of dew or frost. I also used Glimmer Mist (sunkissed peach, and turquoise blue by Tattered Angels) sprayed broadly over the page to give a nice shimmer.

{click to enlarge}

I cut a portion of bar coaster material and dipped it in melted Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel that had been color with regular embossing powder (a la Suze Weinberg). While it was still hot, I pressed the circular ornate plate stamp from the Unity January 2010 kit of the month to emboss the enamel, brushed the resulting negative image with perfect pearls (gold), and rubbed it with Patina stickles. Then I added a metal flower and leaf with a long fastener (Tim Holtz, idea-ology Foliage) and adhered it to the page. I stamped one of my favorite Proverbs passages from {ippity} Devoted on velum, heat embossed it and applied it to the page.

Whew! All that to say.... I put all my angst onto this page, and turned negative energy into something positively beautiful. Now I can look back on that day and think about how that difficult decision made me stronger, and by giving it over to the Lord to handle, I can wait for the beauty of His timing to bring the perfect answer.

Don't forget - tomorrow marks the debut of Oh Alice! A curious collection of unusual challenges that I know will have you jumping down the rabbit hole to enjoy!

Now, back to the hop! Don't forget to check out Unity's new blog, and the deal of the day! Happy hopping!

Cool runnings ~ Peace be the journey!  ~ky

16 comments:

  1. Ky... great idea.. love your journal.. u know me.. I love to write.. so I so believe in this.. good for you! Your work is always so inspiring!

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  2. Wow! Absolutely amazing and stunning work Ky! You are so creative! Beautiful!

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  3. I could never create something so beautiful out of my old chicken scratch writing!! Really cool idea... I hadn't heard about that type of journaling before!

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  4. That page is so awesome! I love it. It really pops! Looks almost 3D! Beautiful!

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  5. What a wonderful idea - and I love your beautiful creation!!!

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  6. Your journal turned out AMAZING! It is really beautiful! tfs

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  7. Your art journal is amazing. Luv the mixed media element.

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  8. your healing journal is beautiful-a work of art:)

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  9. What a beautiful work of ART!!! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  10. Wow--great page in your journal! I need to learn how to do this! Beautiful:) TFS:)

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  11. Beautiful journal! Love the variety of elements you added!

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  12. Oh WOW!!!! This is amazing! You are such an inspiration. My distress inks sit unused, but you're making me wanna play instead of packing. hehehe. LOVE the depth of the stamping & the rich shades. oulalaLA

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  13. Wow Ky! How beautiful! I am glad you have this tool to use to make yourself feel better. What a great idea!

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Welcome to the Bunny Nest! I host rescued animals in a small in-home setting. Currently, I host 3 bunnies and 2 kitties. These animals will be socialized and housed for the entirety of their lives in my home. They inspire my crafts, and I use any proceeds to pay for their needs. Thanks for visiting!