Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year

2014!

Acrylic, watercolor,

Sharpie pen, washi tape,

gold Sakura pen on

watercolor paper in

my Documented Life journal.

◙  ◙  ◙

Tangled- on T Tuesday

Couldn't sleep last night.

The "Tangle," above, resulted.

Sharpie extra-fine point marker

 in my 9x12 art journal.

I am itching to add watercolors.

What do you think?

There are videos on YouTube

showing how to draw Celtic knots

and intertwining designs.  A fun

challenge! The 'snakes' above 

came out of one of those videos...

Linking up with Bluebeard & Elizabeth

for T Tuesday...

It has been a Hot Chocolate Kind of week

here in Ohio...freezing cold! So I need

something to warm me up...

like warm colors, for instance.

Red, yellow and orange are warm

colors.  Page in my Documented Life

day planner/art journal.

Bleak Winter Trees

Holy Arctic Vortex Batman!

How much longer

until Spring?!

Tab Tutorial on T Tuesday

I decided to make some tabs for pages

in a journal that I am working in.  It's a

calendar and art journal in one book, called

The Documented Life Project.  Above, the

watercolor pages that I used to cut the tabs from.

The page with the light wash was used to

 write labels for the months of the year.  The page

with the doodles is what I cut the tabs from.

I painted the doodles on 90 lb. watercolor paper,

and added details with the Sharpie pen.

In order for you be able to see the shapes, 
I traced around the template on the back of the paper,
and then cut them out with scissors.
You can either trace the shape with the tops together
(as on the left) and then fold and glue, or
 trace two separate tabs and glue to the page
right sides facing out.

The cut tab shapes, above.  The months of the year
were written on the plain paper to be more legible,
trimmed closely to the text, and glued to the tab.

I like the abstract feeling of the doodle background.

Another idea is to just use a circle punch to cut out
circles, and use them for tabs.

I reinforced the page by gluing scraps of 
decorative paper to the edge before
gluing the tab down. I used Tacky glue.

Example of the round tab, above.

Showing the first three tabs applied to the pages.

A watercolor of my back door.  Yes,
I have ice skates as a door decoration
instead of a wreath.  Maybe if I remove
them it would warm up outside?  The arctic
blast is back today...

Linking up with Bluebeard and Elizabeth
for T Tuesday...
I hope you'll visit her blog at 
Altered Book Lover to see more
T Tuesday posts.

To find out more about 
The Documented Life Project
click on Art to the 5th
in my side bar.

Enjoy a hot cup of tea or coffee today,

and to those in the way of the winter storm ~

stay warm!

♥

T Tuesday -- Art Journal Pages

I received a Mini Smash Book

for Christmas! The pages measure

5" x 7" and have fun background

designs on each page, as in the 

regular Smash Books. It can be used

for scrapbooking, but I choose to 

use it as an art journal. Above

represents the date I received it-

12/27/13.  Collage includes scrapbook

paper, my watercolor illustrations,

fabric, and pen & ink doodles.

I doodled on the inside cover too...

I often repeat motifs that appear 

elsewhere on the pages.

Above, a delightful letter style

spotted on Pinterest, pinned from

Flickr.  The letters are as wide as

they are tall, with curlicue accents.

Not difficult to draw, and a way to

change up art journal pages.

Sometimes the days after Christmas and New Year

leave me feeling sad.  The festivities are over,

the company has gone home, and it's time to take

down the decorations.  The cold weather and

lack of sunshine further deplete my energy.

So, a page full of color and positive thoughts

is something that helps me feel better.  Above,

scrapbook paper, images from a collage sheet,

and images on the Smash Book backgground

with some doodles added.

Revisiting a collage from the Scrappy Green Journal

for my beverage reference today.  

Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover 

gifted me with a gorgeous

scrappy journal, (several years ago)

and I got to fill the pages with art.

She included the Ice Cafe packaging

 on the page background. I am not sure

if she knew at that point how fond I am

of coffee and chocolate together, but it

was a fun embellishment for the page,

and very appropriate for me!

♥ ♥ ♥

 Linking up with Elizabeth

for T Tuesday today.  Please visit her!

Mail Art

Chinese New Year

is celebrated in late January or early February,

based on a lunar calendar. I confess, I don't

comprehend the calculations, and I found

conflicting information on the internet as to

what date this year's celebration begins.

According to Wikipedia, it is January 31 this year.

2014 is the Year of the Horse.

Above, a post card created for mail art.

Gesso over scrap cardboard- 4" x 6".

  I drew on the dry gesso, then 

inked with Sharpie marker. Watercolor was

applied, then highlighter in pink and orange

(in the flower petals) along with colored pencil

and gold marker.  Red and gold are the colors

considered to be good luck...