Inspiration Elevator...Top Ten and Art Journaling Intentions

A few weeks ago, I posted my Top 12 layouts of 2012.  I love going through everything I have done over the year to see how I have changed and grown, and to reflect on all those special moments!

Today for Inspiration Elevator, we are also celebrating our favorites of 2012.  I have a lot more "favorites" other than layouts, so today I am going to focus on some of my favorite things I created that were NOT layouts!

You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group was to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow. 

So here are some of my favorite "other" projects over the past year, in no particular order:

Cards:

Mini Albums:

(Two albums that I want to share are going to be published in Create: Mini Albums in March 2013, so I can't share them at this time!)

(Two-Gether for Birds of a Feather Kit Club.  See HERE)

(December Daily Album 2012. Still have to post :) )

Art Journal Pages:

(" I Believe" for IE Prompt.  See HERE) 

("I Regret" for IE Prompt.  See HERE.)

 Other Projects:

(Paper Christmas tree for GCD Studios.  See HERE)

(Countdown Calendar for Basically Bare and Bella Blvd.  See HERE)

(Winter Houses for Basically Bare. See HERE)

I hope you will take the time to see what my Inspiration Elevator team mates chose as they reflected on this challenge. 

Sue Sykes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Ann Jobes

Cathy Harper

Now because we didn't have a specific "challenge" this month, I still wanted to keep on with my Art Journaling, and this post seems like an appropriate theme for my thoughts: My resolutions (Intentions) for 2013.

I wrote them down first in my notebook, and then got to work creating the spread.  I went with my favorite color: green, which also reminds me of energy, which I am going to need to do all these things on my intentions list!

I started by heat embossing an arrow pattern from a stencil, and then misted some green and yellow mists over the page and rubbed them in a bit.

Then I went over the the chunky chevron stencil and some "Evergreen" Sorbet (gel paint) from Art Anthology.

A few circle stamps, and some confetti of hearts and pink sequins for contrast.  And I dug out some OLD flowers from my stash, just because they happened to be near me and I am purging some stuff!

Thanks for stopping by for another month of IE!!!  Hope you have the happiest of times in 2013!!  

Inspiration Elevator: Regrets

You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group was to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow.  

Please join me in welcoming Katherine Sutton.  She is a very talented designer and we are excited to be working with her!  You can see more of her work on her blog, Fruits of my Scraps. 

This month, our challenger was the super talented Cathy Harper. Here is her challenge, in her words:  

"I have been thinking about my challenge for months now. This is such an amazing team, I am thrilled and humbled to be a part of IE...each of you are amazing designers. I often wonder what I am doing here amongst you. I scrapbook for the joy of it, the creativity part of it, the love of paper part of it....I hardly ever bare any of my feelings in any of my work! I often tell my kids that they can make up there own stories to their pages..I am that terrible about journaling. I guess it is a bit superficial or a whole lot superficial. So here is my challenge. I want you to create a page about REGRET. “No regrets”…they say we should live our lives without regrets… if it were only that easy, right? Most of us hold onto 1 or 2 (or a mountain full) of things we feel regretful for in our lifetimes. A lost love, those words you WISH you had said, the weight you wish you had lost….you know them, right? I encourage you to confront them….take those suckers on and scrap about them… or just one. This can be something superficial to something serious and painful… it’s up to you how far you want to dig. I DO encourage you to use this as an opportunity to really stretch yourself. Journaling is very powerful and you might be surprised by how you feel afterward. This is going to be super tough for me (I may already regret it, lol )...as I am one who lives with a mountain of regrets and know in my head that I should move on, let it go. I am hoping this challenge will help me actually "let go" of some of these things. Maybe by putting in down in 12x12 form, creating it, seeing it and feeling it, that I can put some of it to rest! It's worth a shot! Pictures, no pictures...that is all up to you!"


Last month I was inspired by the prompt "I Believe" to start an art journal, and I continued with that this month with the " I Regret".

Honestly, there isn't much I regret doing, or not doing in life.  I mean, there I some things I wish I didn't do, but all in all, those events helped make me who I am today and have helped shape my life.  BUT there is one thing I regret NOT doing....I never finished my Ph. D.  I was only a dissertation away...all my classes were done, I had credits galore, and was ready to go.  But we moved to Houston, and then life really changed when we had kids, and my life focus changed.  That being said, I am still pretty young and there may be a time in the future when I will get the urge and drive again to finally finish it and be called "Doctor"!

I started with the color orange because it reminded me of regret (I have no idea why) and I choose to put it with purple and pink.  The orange is mist that I painted on with some water added.  While browsing through my papers, I found this Hambly print with the butterflies, and I liked the idea of my regrets "floating" away!  The title I just cut out of black cardstock by hand.

I love have some shapes and textures below other layers, so I cut out these painted stars/flowers with my Cricut and layered them under papers, stamps, and some pen work.  Finally, I stamped with the "blah blah blah" stamp from Glitz.  I love that stamp!  :)

I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:

Cathy Harper

Sue Sykes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Ann Jobes

Katherine Sutton, Guest Designer

We would love to see what you are inspired to create.   Add a comment below and we will be sure to drop by and say hello!

Art Journal Beginning...I Believe....IE Prompt

You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group was to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow. We love to have new faces join us on our journey and this month we welcome a new guest designer to join us.  Please join me in welcoming Denise Morrison. Denise's blog is aptly name "Life is Yummy" and so is her art!

This month our challenger was the very talented Ann Jobes. Her challenge to us is as follows:

This month's challenge is a journalling prompt. I realize some of us do not journal much on our pages, and if we're truthful, we mostly scrapbook for ourselves - it gives us joy, a creative outlet, etc. But we do hope that someone is going to page through these albums sometime in the future, right? For this month's challenge, I'd like you to think about some of those values or beliefs that are important to you.

There is no "right way" to do this. Spend some time thinking about this. It's your chance to share with future generations something that is important to you and makes you who you are. Take some time to collect some verses, quotes or sayings that speak to your soul. Choose one that you think is a "life verse" - something that really communicates the essence of you.

Use whatever photo(s) you think will suit your message. Enjoy putting a meaningful page together using your favourite techniques, style, papers - whatever makes it "you".

I know this is going to be difficult. I'm asking you to reverse your process and put the message first when we so often put our message/journalling last, as an afterthought, if at all.

I am not a good journalist...I always save it to the last minute and sometimes have a hard time articulating the feelings or thoughts that I want to convey.

Now I have to tell you that my post today was not only inspired by this month's prompt, but some of the upcoming prompts as well (which I obviously can't share yet).  But that is what lead me to doing something different: Art Journaling.

I have been wanted to do this for a long time, and have dabbled here and there, but I have never really committed to it.  It seemed like this format would allow me to explore and play with design and techniques as well as provide a place for me to document personal thoughts or feelings. I see this journal as being more of a creative exploration rather than a personal one...but who knows...it might develop into something totally different, and that is OK.

So here is my first art journal page.  I really have no idea what I am doing here....just playing around:

I played with paint, mists, stencils, stamps, punches, and pens.  If the word "Believe" were a color, I imagined it would be a mix of greens and blues and a bit of yellow. And also have some metallic accents.

I obviously didn't fill both pages, and that is OK, because I am sure  that I will think of things that I believe in and go back and add in some journaling.  This journaling is not something that I would normally share, but I wanted to share the whole spread with you.

I thought I would use the journal as a space to write about "I" things.  Some of the prompts I plan on using are:

I believe
I want
I need
I remember
I wish
I regret
I hope
I fear
I love
I see
I pretend
I was
I imagine
...and many more.


 I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:

Ann Jobes

Cathy Harper

Sue Sykes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker 
 Audrey Yeager
 Lisa Moen
Laurel Seabrook
Guest Designer, Denise Morrison

We would love to see what you are inspired to create. Add your comment below with a link, I will be sure to drop by and say hello.