Inspiration at CHA

Good day to you all!

As some of you may know The Craft and Hobby Association had their annual Mega Show this past weekend in Anaheim, CA. Hopefully, you saw Gia Lau's post about it yesterday as she had such great information to share. I was also able to attend and in my post today I am going to share with you an important lesson that I learned while there. 

First though, I will tell you that I could not have had more fun at CHA. There was inspiration everywhere; from the artists, designers and instructors that I met, the artwork displayed and all of the new products showcased. I was fortunate to meet so many great folks. I, along with Head Honcho of Altered Pages Jean Moore, made exciting new connections for Altered Pages as well. Make sure to check with Altered Pages here for some of the new products for 2014, that will be arriving soon. I was also very happy to FINALLY get to meet my fellow design team member, the amazing Gia Lau. Such great memories were made!

So, about that lesson learned. I attended a seminar by Joanne Sharpe titled, Art Where You Are: Journaling your Life. I learned that I literally could “make art” wherever I am, yes, WHEREVER I am. All I need are a few small and easy to transport supplies. Joanne called this having a Mary Poppins bag. I just loved that. I hope you give this a try. What you will need is a small journal, a water proof black pen such as Micron, a watercolor palette and a few water brushes (just make sure to fill your brushes as soon as you get them so they will be ready wherever & whenever art happens.) You can find all of these supplies and more at Altered Pages. Please see list below.   

Below is a journal page that I created using supplies from my craft stash as a still life. I started with what was initially a very, VERY quick sketch of my “tools” and then went back over it adding a bit of definition and framed it out. I then added the color using my traveling water colors! This literally took less than 5 minutes to sketch and a few minutes more to colorize. I loved the freedom this gave me. It allowed me to not be perfect - Hooray! 

I often recognize art in my daily life. Now, all I need is 5 minutes to soak that up, 

sketch it out and I add the color and journaling whenever I want. How fun is that? 

Thank you so much to Joanne Sharpe for the enlightening class. 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

Thank you also to Altered Pages for carrying all of the supplies I need.  

 I am happy to say I am now carrying my own Mary Poppins. 

In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, I highly recommend picking one up! 

Recommended supply list - 

Dylusions small journal 

Micron pen

Niji pearlescent watercolors

Waterbrushes

Free as a Bird

Welcome to the Hop everyone! 

I hope you are enjoying the offerings today by the fabulous Altered Pages Design Team. 

My piece is showcasing products and supplies from Altered Pages and stamps from Pink Persimmon Stamps.

I was given the task of created something using the Parcel Post vintage stamp set. I instantly felt like maybe I could send myself somewhere using this parcel post...okay...I will, mentally anyway. It was funny really, about five minutes after deciding on a travel theme I came across an old broken pair of aviator sunglasses of mine. "Have shades will travel" was my motto now. The theme kept building and building in the back of my mind and I felt that I could be as free as a bird today. Ahhhhhhhhhhh...now I have my title. All this accomplished and I have yet to put pen  paper to paper and ribbon to paper and ink to paper, well you get the idea. So, here I have for you Free as a Bird. I hope you enjoy it. Make sure to continue on the hop and check out all the other great works by my fellow design team members. 

This was mounted on an approximate 6 x 7 chunky piece of scrap wood. I love using what I have lying around and repurposing as most of us do. I adhered and layered papers from Altered Pages in the 8 x 8 Glitz Uncharted Waters collection as well as the 6 x 6 Happy Travels collection on to the scrap wood. I just the little vintage airplanes in the Happy Travels collection. 

You can see her the Pink Persimmon Parcel Post stamp where I am sending myself From: Here To: Anywhere I want to go. I mustn't forget to bring my shades. 

My little birdie images from Altered Pages collage sheets are perfectly perched above offering words of encouragement.  I attached the Welcome to Today phrase to a little scrap of canvas that I had. I first inked the canvas a bit with a coordinating turquoise ink and finished it off with fabric flowers and a bit 'o bling. Bling almost always adds that perfect finishing touch. Again, thank you for taking the time to check out our hop. 

~Steph

Hello, Stephanie here hoping you had a fabulous holiday! 

I know the fun part of the holiday season is over and now it is back to reality. 

Reality can still be exciting, though. 

Like, the great feeling you get when you stick with the 

resolution you have set for yourself. 

Mine is getting healthy and staying that way, as is the case with 

many resolutions made every year. 

The difference for me this time is I am excited to stick to it. 

I hope you feel the same about yours. 

My project for the blog ties into my resolution and how I plan to succeed. 

I know I will not be perfect, so I will not force myself to be. 

However, there are little hidden victories everywhere.  

I will just keep my eyes and probably more importantly my mind open to them. 

My piece is called Hidden Victories. 

All supplies for this project can be found right here at Altered Pages.

I hope you enjoy it. 

I started with my brand new Dylusions Large Journal. 

I have to thank my husband as this was top on my Santa wish list.  

This was the first page in a new art journal. 

Wait, FIRST PAGE! No pressure......yeeaaaah right!!! 

I knew this had to be good and not just good in a "wow, that's really pretty" 

kind of good, but I wanted it to mean something, to me anyway. 

So, that is where the resolution idea first popped into my mind.  

I started the page by distressing it a bit with my  Tiara Gold Paris Trunk ink pad

I then tore and layered antique text and patterned papers from the 

Bazzill 6x6 mini patterned paper prints. 

I adhered the torn paper and then used gesso over the entire page. 

I did this to tone done the print and to make sure no corners would be popping up over time. 

I was going for a background with a hint of pattern and torn texture.  

You can see in this picture below the torn bits all over the page. 

They are much lighter here than first out of the package due to the gesso. 

I started sketching out my veggies, some garlic here, carrots there

and a, as Bob Ross would say, a happy little artichoke there. 

I then went in with my Dylusions inks using them in my 

paint palette just like watercolor. 

I then added a bit more text pages to cover the artichoke just a bit. 

He represents the hidden gems for me to keep a look out for.

I loved the idea of adding the word "Resolution." 

But, wait a minute...right now I am just starting out as

most of us are with our resolutions. So, why complete the word. 

Those of us that made resolutions are just at the beginning. 

We are still working on completing that goal. 

So, here Resolution is open ended and ongoing. 

To finish it off I added a bit of fun to my veggies and lettering with my white chalk pen. 

So, I leave you on this Friday wishing you health, happiness and fun in 2014. 

May you have many little victories along the way. 

~Stephanie