Catch the Star Train - Found Poetry 'n Art Journal Page

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Hey Everyone!!!

Here's a quick drive by of a post 'cause I wanted to share a very down and dirty art journal page I did this week.  I'm calling this Catch the Star Train.  Hope you like it!

Catch the Star Train

the door to a reliquary

     defined their lives

I almost feel our strange voices

Sound carries on the hills

     an ancient order of things

Train of scattered stars

     go silent all at once

The night is big and quiet

     except the shooting stars.

Ingredients:

gesso

lamp black craft paint

Tim Holtz Star Tag stencil

book text

star punchinella

star glitter

titanium white acrylic paint

big brush pen in black

big brush pen in white

Copic Pen .05

iridescent medium

ice blue DecoArt craft paint.

So long art fans, sees you later in the week.  Also, you can follow me on Facebook and Etsy, the links are located in the side bar!!!

"It's So Fluffy!!!" Sharing the Unicorn Love

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I don't know about you guys, but when Anges screams at the unicorn in Despicable Me I was done... Done... Done... Done... Head over heals in love with Agnes, the movie and of course the Unicorn with its cute little swirly nose.  Love It! When I was a little girl I was totally obsessed with Unicorns, Pegasi, and Pegicorns.  I had them everywhere: on my walls, clothes, and books.  You name it I probablly had a unicorn on it.  I even had still have a Unicorn sticker collection.  

When I was a tween ages and ages ago... I wanted a Purple Unicorn with a golden mane and golden hooves.  I looked everywhere for a purple unicorn... I see them everywhere now, but not then.  My family parted ways when I was very young and there was one special visit with my dad that he bought me a unicorn stamp.  I have treasured this stamp ever since, 'cause it connected me to him and because I had a purple ink pad, so I was making purple unicorns by the millions... I maybe exagerating, but not by much...  I believe that this stamp was the first of my obsession with stamps even now.

Even still my favorite Christmas present this year was a pair of knee high purple unicorn socks!  Some things never change, right!?!!

Have you ever wanted something so bad that once you got it you didn't quite know what to do with it?

Its a weird place to be in... 

I grew up an only child... 

I wanted a sister so bad... to do things with, share things, to be connected you know?  What I didn't know then, but I do know now is that I do have a sister and loads of brothers too that grew up many many miles away; separated by states and unresolved familial issues.  

I have a Sister and that is so exciting, but we're both adults now and its weird trying to find that common ground.  I have found that we share a love for Unicorns and maybe even purple ones.  I believe that is an awesome beginning to our future as sisters.  

This is for you, sis...

Vintage - An Art Journal Page - Traveling Journal

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When I get old I will NOT be Old.  I will be VINTAGE!
Vintage: quality, prime, select, choice, best, and superior.

This particular page was started in the fall of 2012 when I first ventured to Whispering Winds Scrapbook Retreat with my scrapping friends.  Just a quick word about Whispering Winds... Its awesome!!! The house is amazing. My friends and I had such a fabulous time that we went back spring 2013.  I'm hoping that we can plan another sojourn sometime this fall.  I'm thinking I may just need to do a blog post on just Whispering Winds to give you the full effect.

This journal is a mixed media strathmore visual journal 5.5 x 8, 90lb. I like the heavy paper as it stand up to whatever wet media I throw at it.   This spread was EX-tremely purple and unfinished at the end of our stay at Whispering Winds. This journal has been picked up and moved so many times in the studio that 99% of the pages are screaming white.  One of my goals for 2014 is to finish projects and as I always seem to be scrambling to get my supplies packed for a day out with my girls I have made this small journal my traveling one.  It stays in my art bags during the week until I head out again.  I added a couple of new spreads to it, which I showed in my post Journaling Withdrawals.  Every time I open the journal I come to that PURPLE first page so at my last day out with my chicks I decided to finish and fix it.  Here is the final result...

Supplies List

Matte Medium

The lady, labels, and domino came from a ephemera sheet that I found on Pinterest.

Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen big brush in May Green

Scrap paper

Liquid Paper correction pen

Prima Washi tape stamps

Copic Marker in 4 Neutral Grey

7 Gypsies Vintage Stamp

ChicTags Journal Tags in Birthday Cake Artisans

Faber-Castell Pitt art pen Fine


there you have it art fans whereever you are... and if you're out there looking for more pics check out my Traveling Art Journal Album on Facebook and give me a thumbs up for updates!!!

When a Pear Dreams - Art Journal Page

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I've been wanting Tim Holtz's Stamper's Anonymous Classics #1 stamp set ever since my Pen Pal sent me the dragonfly on a collaborative journal page end of 2012.  It's now mine! mawaawahahahaha... Everyone that sees the set goes gaga over the pear stamp and I gotta tell ya I'm not a fan of Pears in general; something about the funky texture when you eat them.  Since everyone seems to enjoy that stamp; I decided to break it out and use it on the Super Simple Background from Tuesday's blog post.

Since I don't really have much to say about pears; I went surfing the interwebs to find something and found this poem...

While I slept you stood in the 

colorful night market

with pyramids of bright

fruit piled high.

Where those who loved you, 

rushing back to their intimate stalls, 

held but pears that had been

dreamed for you

And would the dream 

pear not come gladly

Once it know this was you

wanting to take it in?

The dream pear chose 

reality, wanting your mouth as I did - 

Honestly, it was happy

to be bitten.

by Brenda Hillman

there you have art fans where ever you may be... until next time...

Super Simple Art Journal Background

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Here's a super simple way to get a background started for an Art Journal page.  You can get some amazing results this way.

Winter Recovery 16 X 20 Canvas - FOR SALE!!!

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Recovery!  My most recent canvas it is for SALE!!!  comment, email, or message me via my facebook page for more info.

A Day in My Weekend Life!

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Its funny when I look back say two years, 5, or even 8 years ago I would definately stick to my guns and declare myself a non morning person.  I was absolutly 100% not a morning person.  Now... I'm up shortly after my Up Band vibrates with my 4 in the morning alarm.  I know its OMG o'clock; can't live without the Y in the mornings!  Saturday found me wide awake right before 5am and listening to the furry minions yammer and make nuisances of themselves so I got up.  My most productive time starts about an hour after I get up, that hour I'm normally hitting the gym.  Just because I'm awake doesn't mean that the Bink is awake, so I have to find things to do that won't disturb his beauty sleep. 

 I found the cutest thing tho when I walked into the studio.  My Bink had made me a piece of Sweethearts Valentine Candy!!!  So adorable.  

I sipped my coffee, cleaned the studio, straightened the living room, pinterested, youtubed, doodled and sketched a little. By 8 I was HUNGRY and figured the smell of bacon would roust my sleeping husband. I mostly eat very clean: protein & fruits/veggies without refined sugars, beans, and gluten.  It makes for some compromises in the kitchen as The Bink doesn't follow my clean eatting regime.  It was the cats waking him up that finally got him out of bed, not the smell of bacon.... bacon...

He hasn't found a bread he doesn't like and there are several fruits he refuses to eat. I had purchased a bag of over ripe banana's last week.  It was so full that we couldn't eat them fast enough so by the end of the week I was thinking BANANA BREAD! I spent a good hour scouring the interwebs for a grain free recipe, which I've found several.  Unfortunately, my supply of almond flour was barely a tablespoon, when I needed 2 cups.  So, now its on, baby!!! I will so make gluten free Banana Bread! To satisfy my Bink I proceeded to make it the old fashioned way, 'cause I know it will be eatten for the most part by Bink.  Several years ago, I made a couple of loaves of Banana Bread and an hour later there was not sign... nor a crumb left...  I had planned on freezing a loaf... Needless to say I found the mini loaf pan pictured below and it turned out to be the perfect solution other than Bink walking away with two mini loaves, one in each hand.  Any time I plan on making Banana Bread; the mini loaf pan comes out.

Bink says, "...don't know what happened to that one, it was a total loss!"

When I got the last of the bread in the oven,  I prepped dinner, Beef Strogonoff Soup.  Had leftovers for lunch and spent the rest of the day in the studio working on a canvas( which I can't wait to share with you guys!!!) and doing laundry...

There you have it a day in the life...

Stay tune art fans where ever you are!!!

Delicious Spirit! - where cooking and stamp carving collide...

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Even though I fix dinner most every night for Mr. Bink and I. I've fallen off the weekly meal prep/make ahead that I would do on the Weekends.  You know, prep veggies, pre-cook meat, bag or box up meal ingredients so that meal prep during the week is practically eliminated.  Since  I was awake at 4am Saturday morning I pulled out my handy meal planner and set to work.  I find it a little funny that in Project Life my week is Monday thru Sunday, but for meal planning I go Saturday thru Friday.  Now that I'm thinking about it... It's probably due to how I buy groceries and knowing that I will potentially have 1 to 2 guests for Sunday dinner.  Just a side note... And Then...  I go find what I have on hand so that I don't over purchase.  My Planner goes on the Fridge for me to reference during the week and then unload the sacks after I return from the store. 

     I found a whole chicken for like $5 in the quick sale bin.  So that's the first thing I break out and rinse... and maybe it did a little dance on its way to the pot with the onions, celery, garlic... for stock and easy shredded chicken, which will make my Chicken Divan super easy. Stock takes a while on low temp; so I moved on to Saturday's dinner,  Kickin' Crockpot Chili... nomnomnom... I've made this several times and it is so good.  I have a tendency to change receipes to suit Mr. Bink and I and this receipe the only change I've ever made was to add mushrooms.  This chili is so awesome: low carb and gluten free. Follow the link, its worth it.  

     So, while the house was filling up with delious aromas I headed to the studio to piddle around a bit. I get so focused on whatever I'm doing that I tune out the rest of the house most of the time and since I needed to be aware of the awesomness going on in the kitchen I needed something I could walk away from frequently.  I've had this stamp idea for a while now after seeing Frozen wilth Mr. Bink. So I broke out the carving block, carving tools, scratch paper, tracing paper and a pencil.  I so wish I had a video camera so that I could really show you this process. Right... if wishes were kittens I'd have a house full...right... Step 1.   I drew the designs I was thinking about until I was happy with them  Step 2. used the tracing paper to trace them. Step 3. I flipped the tracing paper over and laid it on top of my speedy carve block.  Then traced again... see picture 2... Step 4. started carving away the areas that I didn't want. When I thought it was how I wanted it I would stamp it off... see pictures 4 & 5. The raised areas I didn't want I carved away and I would repeat step 4 until I was satisfied.  It is not as hard as you might think, if you love stamps as much as I do give it and yourself a shot at it.                            I watched a Kiala Givehand video (you can find her on YouTube) earlier in the week where she makes books and she showed a hand carved stamp of her own of one little word and carving these out brought it back to me and I thought,"I should do that for my one little word."  The more I carved these little guys the more my one little word eluded me.  It just so happened that I sat back in my chair and looked at my inspiration board that hangs above my art table and there was my one little word only it was two little words!  I had written it down ages ago, don't remember where it came from, but I want to say that its from song lyrics; not sure...  Delicious Spirit... Yup, that was it.  Delicious Spirit.  I wrote it out several times and when I liked a version I did the same thing as I did with the other stamps, but with handwriting the carving can get a little persnickety and fussy.  But I love it...   Also, the meal planner I use I believe I found on Pinterest, It is not of my own creation or design.  I'm not sure who the author is, would love to give credit where credit is due.   Decided that if I found it once I could find it again.  So without further ado, Life in Yellow has the free download for the meal planner template I use. 

thanks art fans wherever you are and don't forget to check out my Facebook Page: Redbird Muse or follow me on Pinterest: Redbird Muse

New Old Obsession! Coloring Books/Posters

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I have always loved to color, both inside and outside the lines.  With the uber cold weather and snow this month has brought us here in Upper East Tennessee it's brought back memories of snowdays and long hours spent with a box of Crayolas by my elbow and that particular scent of crayons tickling my nose.

Super Tubes from 1990's 

My senior year in high school we had a blizzard that resulted in a week long hiatus from school where I filled the hours coloring on a Giant Coloring Poster (22 x 34) that came in a Super Tube by Creative Coloring. The tubes were color coded based on difficulty: Red - Ultimate Challenge, Yellow - Skilled, and intermediate and novice, but I don't remember the color of their tubes. The Super Tubes had a variety of designs and patterns you could choose from and they came with a pack of 10 markers. The markers were not very good, because you'd get a corner of the poster done and you were suddenly out of ink and you couldn't match the color with any other marker brand.  The only long lasting rich color marker is the crayola.  I finished my first super tube poster with crayola markers.  I went looking for it, but its buried with my husband's poster collection and I would need his help to pull it out.  I think the picture to the right gives you a good idea of the size, scope, and detail these things had.  My first super tube was of a giant celtic knot.  So gorgeous.  My second is the Fantasy Kingdom, pictured here. Unfortunately, it met with a tragic end when I spilled my soda over the bottom portion. The other poster, Scope, was doused with water. These posters have been in their tubes for years, forgotten.  I pulled them out this past fall to show Neverness's girlfriend, Ms.K . She likes to color too.  She has several of the Dover coloring books that she colors with Gel Pens while we are gaming or what have you.  They really intrigued me, but as my me-time calendar was so full last fall that I didn't persue the thought. I was telling her that after several years these coloring posters just disappeared and you couldn't find them any more.

Rose Art Super Tube
 Window Ultimate Challenge

She found them at Ben Franklin Crafts. The Super Tubes were produced by Rose Art and I got one for my Birthday!  This is almost the exact duplicate of my first poster.  The catch to working on something this size is to have a space to spread it out to work on.  Right now I don't have a place big enough. I'm tempted to get a big board and get down in the floor with it, but then I would have to contend with furry four footed helpers.

For Christmas I got Ms. K a new coloring book that the more I look at it the more I like it, but haven't been able to find it at the local book stores or Micheals.  The Bink and I went to see Disney's Frozen and as I have a Disney coloring book collection to go along with my Crayola collection I went into a little bit of a mad dash trying to find a Frozen Coloring book.  I'm sad to say that every Frozen, water color, coloring book is a disappointment.  The detail in every one is so small that even the finest tip would result in disaster.  I gave up the chase on that.

We eventually found ourselves with a hour to kill while waiting for a table at Chili's with Neverness, Ms. K, the Blonde Wolf,  and Da Masta Cheef. After storming Barnes and Noble for suitable coloring endeavors. I called it quits as I had plenty to keep me occupied in the studio, when Ms. K presented me with a copy of Coloring Book for Grown-Ups.

I pulled out my trusty crayola markers that I've had for so long that 2 out of the 50 are dead.  Since I'm actually watching TV this year due to some fantastic shows like:  Almost Human, Blacklist, FaceOff, and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. I pull out my book and markers while watching my shows.  This allows me to be creative and meditative without dragging the studio into the living room.

Coloring Book for Grown-Ups
Pages 1-5

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Fixing a Newbie Mistake - Starstuff

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Have you ever had that moment where you've been working on a project or art journal page where you had to walk away, but when you come back you realize you forgot to do something and you ended up with a "oh crap" moment thinking what am I going to do now?

I sure did that with this journal page. I had cut my papers and glued them down and went to make dinner, closing my moleskin journal and putting it away.  When I came back to work on it I had the worst time opening my journal with a sinking feeling in my gut. After prying it apart and cleaning up the mess I had large portions missing from my design.

the solution to this issue was to have placed waxed paper or tissue between the pages.

I knew to do this but forgot. Didn't even think about it.

Lesson Learned. maybe...

After some gesso and some liberal use of gelatos the distressed areas look like I made them on purpose.
Maybe I meant for that to happen...
My inspiration for this particular spread came from Vicky Papaioannou over at Clips-n-cuts.  When I saw how she had cut her scraps into the base design I knew I had to try it out for myself.
the quote is from Carl Sagan, "We are made of Star Stuff."