Caribbean Themed Art Journal

I haven't had much time to do any art journaling lately, but I can show you some themed books I've done in the past. This one was inspired by a few trips my husband and I have taken to the Caribbean. Now that the weather has turned chilly I'm once again dreaming of sunny beaches to warm my cold toes!

I used a paper sample book and decorated the pages and the covers. I took an old paint sample strip and glued it down to use as a pocket for my three little bird tags.

Hubby and I posing on a rock with the cruise ship behind us.

A scrap of batik fabric and a polymer clay tile I made.

A tribute to some of the people I've had the honor of calling friend
who have since gone on

It was nice to relive moments spent in the Caribbean on this nippy autumn day. Unfortunately my feet are still cold. Time to get out the heating pad!

Some Time to Myself

It's hard when you're a mom to get some quiet time to yourself. Don't get me wrong--I love every minute of being a mom. It goes by so quickly, if you blink you miss it. But I think it's important to have a little time to oneself, just to recharge and have a fresh appreciation for your kids.

Early morning fog over the lake--so peaceful!

My little guy loves to hang out with me in the studio which is great, except when I'm trying to measure and calculate. I can't tell you how many book covers I've cut too short because I was being yakked to death.

Another difficult thing to do is get in "the zone" while making art when you are bombarded with questions and random thoughts. "Guess what Momma? John Lennon is taller than Paul McCartney. I can't tell about Ringo because he's always sitting down. What happens if the school bus forgets to drop a kid off? Why is it nighttime in Australia?" and so on.

Looking up at the sky at the park, pretending I am out for a tranquil walk!

I used to get a little time to myself while my son napped during the afternoon. When he got older and stopped napping I made a desperate attempt to encourage him to have quiet time. I set the timer for 30 minutes and told him when the timer dings quiet time will be over.

After about 15 minutes I heard a ding. I looked at the clock, wondering how 30 minutes went by so fast.

"MOMMA! Quiet time is over! Timer went ding!" The little bugger forced the timer to zero! Tricky tricky!

Sadly, that was the end of quiet time.

For those of you that are parents, how do you get a little quiet time for yourself?

Art Journal Spooks

So I'm a few weeks late getting this Halloween book posted, but better late than never, eh? ;)

Here is a Halloween-Gothic-Spooky art journal I made from a paper sample book.

I love working in these books because of the different textures, sizes, and weights of the papers inside.

Unfortunately, these little sample books are hard to come by if you don't know someone in the printing business. I'm working on making some myself and will put them in my shop as soon as I get around to it (and you know how THAT goes!!).

I burned the edges of the "bewitching picture" with a lighter to get a ragged, darkened look. Take care when doing this technique that you don't burn the house down! I keep a fire extinguisher in my studio just in case.

I used a lot of hand carved stamps to decorate this book. The flies, bats, and thorny briers in the photos above are all stamps I carved myself.

I'm not sure what happened to the black cat paper...it bunched up there. It looked fine when I glued it down but it must have shifted when I closed the book. The glue must have still been slightly damp.

Another reason I like these little books is that they're great for themed journals because they're just the right size. If they had too many pages I'd run out of ideas for the theme before I got to the end of the book!

I hope you enjoyed viewing my Spooky Art Journal! It was a lot of fun to make and I can hardly wait to get started on another themed book! I'll let you know when I get some blank paper sample books of my own design listed in my shop.