Day 7: The {21} Challenge (con-tain-it)

Woo Hoo! Day 7...I've completed the first week of the challenge and so happy with my progress. Today's challenge word was "Develop" which really sums up the entire week of developing my skills and a daily habit of getting off my ASS and into my studio...woo hoo...I'm kick-in' my butt!

Finding my inspiration for today's journal pages was not difficult because first thing in the morning I received an email with a video from Abraham-Hicks about their newest book and DVD release for "The Vortex". Well I already have the book and started reading it two weeks ago when we went away to Middleton Inn...of course I haven't read much of it since because I've been "kick-in' my butt"...

Well this video really hit home for me because Abraham basically said that "you know that you are in the Vortex (place of least resistance) when you FEEL it...and that you CAN NOT think or talk yourself into it". So my journaling was coming together...and I had remembered some photos that I had taken years back of my sister and myself out on my back deck one summer afternoon...and out of the blue...a beautiful butterfly landed right on my sisters sun-glasses...while they were on her face. We both kinda panicked at first cause it was big...but Debbie just relaxed and next thing you know this beautiful butterfly opened it's wings and just sat there...for a few minutes...heck I had time to go in the house and find my camera! At one point Debbie was making faces because its wings were tickling her nose and she felt like she was going to sneeze. This so totally represented what being in the VORTEX is all about.

So after finding these photos I went looking through my magazines for some inspiration for my art journal pages. The first thing I found was this article in Stampington's "Workshop" about using wire mesh with bronzing agents and natural stencils and silhouettes. Well I do have wire mesh...somewhere in my storage area...but after digging for photos I was improvising...with Cheese Cloth and Glimmer Mists...less mess and smell compared to the bronzing agents.

So I layed out some newspaper and the cheesecloth along with some stencils and masks and sprayed away...still very messy...and the cheesecloth is so thin it's hard to pick out the actual designs.

But things happen for a reason...especially when you are in a place of least resistance...and I was appreciating the "happy mistake" aka...bleed through that was going on underneath on the newspapers.

So next I decided to make my own "mask" with liquid masking fluid...I just wrote out the word "Vortex" and made a swirl effect...on top of which I sprayed Glimmer Mists. After blotting the excess...I used my chalk inks and blended it all together and deepened the resist over the word. Once everything was dry...I rubbed away the masking fluid with my fingers...easy peasy!

Found a better use for the cheese cloth...I layed it out and bunched it up on top of my journal pages and sprayed the glimmer mists randomly to create my backgrounds.

NOTE TO SELF: remove all items of value from spraying/misting areas...when will I learn...lol

Found more inspiration for laying out my journal pages inside this issue of Stampington's "Memories" magazine. First...I loved the butterfly on the page...second the color of the soft blue background...AND the best part...there was sewing on the page...my favorite thing lately...sewing on paper...it's been around for awhile...but I'm such a late bloomer...SORRY but you will not see me at the sewing machine...I have enough trouble holding the camera in one hand while spraying w'my non-dominant hand...lol I can not imagine trying to sew and take photos...ain't happening!

So...here's a photo of the two completed pages...I'll give more details on the individual close-ups.

On the left hand side...I took a piece of card-stock and glued the newspaper "mistake" along with the cheesecloth with somewhat of an image. On top of this I layed the photo of my sister where the butterfly was "tickling" her nose. Once the glue was dried...I went over to the sewing machine and stitched around my sister's photo and the edges of the cheesecloth to hold it in place. Then I tore away the edges of the card-stock and glued down the entire "assemblage" onto my journal page with gel medium. In the top left hand corner, I mounted a "clean" photo of myself onto a journaling card and adhered this on top of the cheese-cloth assemblage. With my label maker, I printed the quote from Abraham that inspired the entire spread. Here's a close-up for you:

For the right hand side of the page I glued the misted cheesecloth in a "spiral" shape over the top of the resist paper I had finished earlier. Then I placed the photo of my sister smiling with the butterfly still on her glasses on top of the cheesecloth. Again...once this was all dry, I added the top-stitching. Here I also tore away the excess card-stock and attached the entire assemblage to my journal page with gel medium. Then I completed my journaling on both of the pages and the orange journal card that I attached to the bottom right hand corner. Added the clear and black label accents, stamped the date and we were ready for pictures.

This was a fun project and even though it seemed like a lot of steps...it really came together very quickly. It is probably because I'm in the habit of working on a daily basis now so I'm in the "groove"...or out of my rut! Hope you all enjoy all the details and the journaling. Fondly, Roberta

Comments

Thanks Bonnie...I've had these photos for a long time...since 2004...and always want to do something with them...Now that I'm not into traditional scapbooking...the 12x12's, etc. that is... So lovin' art journals right now because you can tell any story you want and it's not dictated by events or the calendar. Have a great day, Roberta

Posted by: con-tain-it | September 17, 2009 at 10:13 AM