nature is full of things to discover and enjoy on a daily basis…
I had more fun with bits of napkin… plastered book text…
bird and flower catalog images along with a few more Tim Holtz rubons and some doodling…
joining Gill’s NATURE’S WONDERS theme for Art Journal Journey this month…
“There is enchantment right in front of you, waiting for you to notice.” –Janet Luhrs
Posted in Art Journal Journey Challenge Blog, Butterfly, Doodle, Nature, Postage Stamps, Rubons
Tagged Art Journal, Collage, Quotes
my art journal pages were inspired by a couple of images from a wonderful card and special paper swap from the lovely and talented Madeleine Schineis in The Netherlands
(with special thanks to LaWendula for the many swaps she continues to organize … I believe there is still time to sign up for the December “Yummy Papers” swap here)…
the girl with her long tresses caught in the train door really spoke to me as I have had long hair for much of my life…
the delicate bird image on the right hand page was just perfect too…
(here is some of what went into my pages: a chocolate paper, black and white rub ons, cotton gauze, music fabric tape, metal button, acrylic paint, white Signo gel pen, black marker and black Stabilo Woody)
Posted in Altered Book, Birds, Collage, Doodle, Fabric/Ribbon/Fiber/Lace, Hair, Journal, Paint, Paper
hardly anything in life is ever just black or white…
perhaps that is the challenge and attraction for me when doodling to not use any color…
I glued a few encyclopedia pages together using UHU glue stick and painted them with black gesso…
the photo above was taken about midway in creating my pages…
I was very pleased with how well my white Uniball Signo Gel pen worked along with the two different sized Sharpie water based poster paint markers (Extra Bold Point and Fine Point) on the black gesso with no resistance or hesitation…
I realized after completing these black and white pages that I had done a similar colorized version a couple of years ago here…
it felt good to escape into doodle land for a bit…
my art journal pages were inspired by this Swedish Proverb…
“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more, Love more, and all good things will be yours.”
some old encyclopedias are ideal for altering
I especially like the pages of The Illustrated Science and Invention “how it works” Encyclopedia that I rescued (Volume 13)…
instead of gluing pages together like I most often do….
I punched holes in the corners of some of the pages…
for now they are held loosely together with wire ties…
when I am ready to finish the book I will add ribbons or something more permanent…
the scraped paint pages that I worked on yesterday had been waiting a long time for attention and barely fit on my art table…
looking back it would have been nice if I’d taken a photo of the “before” stage but you know how it is when you finally get busy creating…
I stamped the words “Live in the moment” a few weeks ago and the book sat again…
yesterday I went upstairs and noticed the perfect arch photo that I had printed off from our trip to Puerto Rico…
I used a hand carved bird stamp of mine from years ago to stamp on map paper for the right side…
the doodled bit came about from a pattern that was showing through the scraped paint so I added to it and used that to embellish the page a bit…
six spreads completed with more pages to go…
Posted in Altered Book, Doodle, Journal, Mixed Media, Paint, Photography, Puerto Rico, Rubber Stamping, Travel
first I want to thank the always generous and kind Estivalia for coming to my rescue yet again…
she made it possible for my word of the year “Balance” to be on my sidebar AND she also got the Tea on Tuesday widget working for me…
thank you thank you sweet Estivalia!!!
lots is going on here in our Magpie’s Nest…
we are in the midst of clearing out …
always it seems…
but now more earnestly than ever…
we are also in the process of replacing some carpet that has long outlived its usefulness…
as you may know all of that is hard work so in the evenings I have been relaxing by doing a bit of doodling…
nice mindless escape…
I am a bit of a lazy doodler using my favorite ‘easy’ marks…
clearing out is a process much like doodling taking one step at a time…
“It is not how much you do, but how much (L)ove you put into the doing that matters.” ~Mother Teresa OXO
have you noticed how it is even more fun to play when you really should be doing something else…
could that be our inner teenager trying to come through…
pack or play…
OK pause for tea…
I certainly did not want to miss wishing you a happy T Tuesday
the theme at Wednesday Stamper for the next two weeks is “Gone Fishing”
I decided to doodle an ATC starting with a fish stamp
have a visit here and here for some wonderful doodling inspiration
Also … our local stamp store has a neat “blow fish” stamp that they have used in a nice card here
our local altered arts group is having an “Elephant” Artist Trading Card swap … I decided to doodle mine since Zentangling and doodling have been on my mind lately as evidenced here and here
if you click for the close up … please ignore the goober on my scanner lid … it showed up not so nicely in the background
did I make you look *ggg* … I was too lazy to run upstairs for a piece of black card stock and start all over again lining everything up on the scanner
my ATC began with an unmounted elephant rubber stamp … as you can see … I filled in the rest of the card with doodles
it was VERY tempting to add a touch of color … in the end I decided to stick to black and white
Belinda’s theme for Wednesday Stamper this week is “doodling” … something I have been having fun with lately
here are four Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) I created
and the supplies I used
* * * * *
Kath Kristinnson and I recently swapped Zentangle cards
here are the goodies she sent me … Love her idea of using an inchie clear set stamp for the center
“The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed” ~Mary Engelbreit
Zentangling and the Olympics make nice partners … I have been doodling away the last couple of evenings and have created more than two dozen artist trading cards (ATCs)
here is a sampling
I like starting out by stamping an image with permanent ink … I am using Bristol board which is nice and smooth along with Copic Pigment Ink pens … adding words is something new for me this time around … I was hooked for awhile last February (see below) 🙂
these were all photographed within minutes of one another and in the same location … interesting that the middle batch has a blue hue to it?
Sherry Goodloe got me going again with her wonderful Zentangle cards recently … you can visit her here and here for examples of her inspired doodling
it was last year around this time that I tried my first Zentangles … if you’d like to see some of those … type the word “zentangle” into the “search” spot on my sidebar which is located just above the
Have a Heart for Haiti Blog Event button
a warning should come with this activity … I dare you to make just one 😉
With the wonder of digital shopping I was able to receive a sheet of German Doll Faces from Kristin Hubick at Retro Cafe Art the other evening, almost instantly; couldn’t be easier.
I had a few matryoshka bodies cut out from when I got excited about them earlier this year (thanks again Rosie Radcliffe for the inspiration) and knew that these doll faces would be the perfect way to finish these ATCs. I zentangled the background on the center ATC.
*click for larger view*
Be sure and pop over to The Artist Trading Club…Swap ’til You Drop blog to see more inspiring matryoshka ATCs! Isn’t it always fun how ideas spread and inspire, sometimes we do not even know where they began!
***Many thanks to Chriss from The Paper Girls for presenting me with the Kreativ Blogger Award, it is always nice to be thought of. I appreciate it very much***
Any time now I hope to get in the Christmas spirit and card making….these things seem to take time sometimes!
“Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.” ~Henry Ford, 1863 – 1947
Posted in Altered Art, Art doll, Artist Trading Card (ATC 2.5 x 3.5"), Blogging, Collage, Doodle, Paper, Quote, Zentangle
My good friend and new art buddy, Pat, swapped her first Zentangles with me.
Oh My, aren’t they all just wonderful!!!
A bookmark and such a clever and original inchie burst.
I hope you can see her ‘shading’ on the bookmark and first ATC = good stuff.
What a fantastic swap, Pat, thank you for parting with some of your creations!
I have this feeling you’re not finished with Zentangles quite yet!
Pat is a lady of many talents, you will enjoy reading about her new life ‘on the farm‘, so do pop on over and visit.
I’ll be posting about our lovely visit to Oatlands for tea in the old carriage house soon.
Posted in Altered Art, Art, Doodle, Inchie (1 x 1 inch), Tea, Zentangle
The Think Monday Think ATC challenge is one I just love, Zentangling/Doodling. It is something I find I really enjoy coming back to again and again.
I missed a wonderful theme last week of ‘Middle Ages’ but for good reason. My husband and I were on an adventure visiting our son, the mountains, Frida Kahlo and the amazing Philadelphia Magic Garden to name just a few highlights of our getaway.
Somewhere on our travels I lost my voice…actually it just went out yesterday evening…time to turn myself in for a nagging cough as well.
To enjoy lots of fun Zentangle creations be sure to click on TMTA.
I try to give credit where credit is due. Please do not use any images or text from my Magpie's Nest Blog without my permission.
I do not mind being pinned on Pinterest if you link back to the item on my blog. Thank you
~*~ Patty
you can contact me at:
PatriziaSzymkowicz (at) gmail.com
Magpie's Nest ~*~ Patty Szymkowicz 