I recently created a handmade journal in an online workshop hosted by Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studios and Ali Manning of the Vintage Page Designs. Lately I’ve been immersing myself in creating botanical designs in the journal.
I’m trying out different things like using my brushes in new ways, mark making and just having plain old fashioned fun. What I love is that it keeps you in the creative zone even if you only have a small amount of time to spare.
It’s not about making an elaborate painting or drawing unless that’s what you’re aiming for. But instead I make my marks, don’t always like them and then use my creative imagination to save it 😂 But that’s where the fun is because you never know where it will end up 😊
Hope this inspires you to get out your supplies and starting playing! Thanks for stopping by!!
Share the Happy💖
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.” ~George Bernard Shaw
With Thanksgiving just a few days away, I thought I’d share these special journal pages with you. They were created by my family 😊
It was a fun time talking and laughing as we passed the journal around. The idea was that each person takes a turn drawing a line in the journal. You keep passing it around and adding more lines until it’s mostly filled up. It’s pretty funny to see the images that emerge from all the random lines. You can add some color if you like and you’ll end up with a fun family art journal that you can keep as a memento for your special day.
Hope this inspires you to create some fun memories this Thanksgiving. Thanks for stopping by!!!
Living in the South you don’t get to enjoy a lot of the autumn colors and scents so I’m always looking for ways to bring the warmth of the season into my home. One of my favorite ways is to use a diffuser and add drops of essential oils to make some of the most tantalizing autumn scents.
The fragrant oils can affect your mood and give you a sense of complete joy and harmony. They may even bring back some wonderful memories. There are a lot of premixed synthetic oils but most are full with harmful chemicals. Plus many people can’t tolerate them and that’s why essential oils are great because they’re natural.
These are a few fall diffuser blends I found online. If you don’t have a diffuser I would recommend buying one. You can check out the websites below for recommendations or Amazon has plenty to choose from with reviews to help you find the best one. But don’t go crazy buying lots of essential oils. Pick 1 or 2 blends from the choices below and start with that to see what you like. Let me know how it goes.
When I was a kid, candy corns were one of my favorite Halloween treats. They made awesome vampire fangs 😂 So it’s no wonder I used them to make a witch’s hat.
For this project I recommend getting clay candy corns. You can use real ones and coat them in Mod Podge, but they won’t last whereas the clay ones will. If you want to get even more creative you could make them yourself 😊
This is a fun and easy Halloween Decoration to make for your home and is great for kids too.
For this Project you will need:
Large Paper Mache Witch Hat (about 12 inches tall)
Acrylic Paints: Folk Art School Bus Yellow and Black
Clay Candy Corns
18″ white netting
Black Pom-poms: 1 large and 1 small
2 small wiggle eyes
2 Yellow/Orange Chenille Stems Pipe Cleaners
Letter Rubber Stamps
Staz On Stone Gray Ink
Small Orange Boa, 18-24 inches long depending on your hat
Sponge brushes (makes painting big sections faster)
Aleene’s Tacky Glue
Glue Gun
Scissors
Wire cutters
1/2″ flat brush
Clean water, paper towels, wax-coated paper plates for paint palette
Mod Podge: Matte for sealing (optional)
Instructions
Basecoat the top of your witch hat in black paint using the 1/2″ brush. Apply 2-3 coats and let dry in between coats.
Basecoat the bottom and inside of the hat with 1 coat of the black paint using the 1/2″ brush. Let dry.
Basecoat the rim of the hat, on top in yellow paint using the 1/2″ brush. Apply 2-3 coats and let dry in between coats.
Using the glue gun, randomly glue candy corns around the top of the hat.
Stamp you letters around onto the rim of the hat. If you’re not going to seal your hat with Mod Podge go to Step 8.
(Optional) Using your sponge brush apply a coat of Matte Mod Podge to the entire hat to seal it. Let dry. Once dry you can apply a second coat of Mod Podge if you so desire.
(Optional) Apply 1 coat of Mod Podge to the bottom and inside of the hat. Let dry
For the spider, glue the small pom-pom to the large pom-pom using tacky glue.
Using wire cutters, cut five 2″ pieces of the yellow/orange pipe stem. Bundle 4 of the pieces and twist the 5th piece around the center of the bundle to hold in place. Spread out the pieces and shape your spider legs. Cut off any excess.
Glue your spider body to the legs with tacky glue. Next glue the wiggle eyes to the front of the small pom-pom. Let dry.
Apply a generous amount of tacky glue to the inner seam of the hat where it meets the rim. Wrap your boa around the hat and cut off any excess. Let dry.
Cut a 12″ piece of netting and tie the center into a knot. Apply tacky glue to the tip of the hat and place the center of the knot over the hat. Let dry.
Gently insert the spider fee into the netting holes and you’re done!
Hope you enjoy making this fun Candy Corn Witch Hat🎃 Thanks for stopping by!!
I’m almost done packing up the studio and I had a lot more supplies than I thought. So in the midst of the chaos I thought it would be fun to share one of my older journaling pages with you.
I created this fun whimsical design using Derwent Inktense pencils. I love how bright and bold they are. I like that I can create and finish a journal page in a short period of time. It’s satisfying to complete a piece of art that makes you smile 😊
I’ll do my best to get back on track with my blogging now that the packing is basically done 😅 I’m very excited to get the new floor in!
Hope this inspires you in some way today.
Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!!!
I walk about 2.5 miles a day, 6 days a week. On some days I walk by the kids waiting for the school bus. It didn’t dawn at me at first but then I noticed something odd. It was super quiet and there were about dozen or so kids there.
When I used to wait for the bus there were about 8 of us at the bus stop. We were loud, laughing and carrying on. We told jokes or talked about the latest events going on at school. But all of these kids had their faces buried in their cell phones. They wouldn’t make eye contact with each other much less me as I walked by.
As human beings we crave interaction with others, yet here all they all were in absolute isolated silence. It makes me question if the use of cell phones especially at a young age is beneficial. As a parent I can say they do come in handy with changes in scheduling or for any emergencies. But we all got along great without them for years.
Texting on the phone, surfing the web or hanging out on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram is not the same as interacting with others. It’s kind of a form of isolation. Studies have shown that isolation can cause depression, anxiety and low self esteem.
From my daily observations, these kids didn’t appear happy. They were more numb and zombie like as they clicked away mindlessly at their phones. Would it be better to limit the use of the phones to certain times of the day or maybe just for emergencies? Or maybe go back to not having them at all but then kids want to be like everyone else and simply blend in.
It makes you question what will these kids be like when they’re grown. Will they be well rounded adults who talk to others and learn from life? I’m not sure but one thing’s certain, they’re our future. To really appreciate and live a happy life you need to be involved with your world using all of your senses. Trying to live life through your phone leaves you feeling rather empty and and unhappy.
Many times I’ve even seen families out to dinner and everyone is busy on their phone. There isn’t much interaction between them. This can’t lead to a balanced life filled with joy. Maybe, as adults we should lead by example and use the phone less and interact with our kids and surroundings more.
This was a fun and whimsical zentangle design I created with alcohol ink markers, Home is Where the Heart is. Sometimes it’s just so much fun to let go and draw whatever comes to your mind! This was created on 9×12″ mixed media paper and will be part of a handmade book that I plan on creating once I have enough pages.
This is another painting from Jodi Ohl’s Abstract Interactive online course. The color scheme and painting was supposed to represent a warm sunset but after I applied the first layers of paint, I kept laughing thinking it looked more like a quilt than an abstract sunset.
When I showed it to my daughter, she completely disagreed. She said it didn’t look like a quilt, but a Neal Sweater 😂😂 I couldn’t stop laughing so this painting is officially named “The Neal Sweater.”
Trivia question, in what movie is there a “Neal Sweater?” I’ll give you a hint it’s a Disney movie, any guesses?
I recently joined Jodi Ohl’s Abstract Interactive online course to further my knowledge of art. Painting abstracts takes me out of my comfort zone but Jodi is an excellent instructor and artist which makes it easier. This is a 10 week course with lots to learn so I’ll be posting a more paintings from the class.
I have to say I’ve been having a lot of fun playing with colors and learning to paint abstract art. The funny thing with abstract art is that everyone sees something completely different. These are my first three paintings I did on paper. What do you see?
For those of you celebrating Christmas, hopefully you’ve set up your tree by now. The tradition of Christmas trees began in Germany in the early 1600’s. When German and other European settlers immigrated to America in the early 19th century, they brought this beautiful tradition with them. Although Americans found this tradition a bit odd at first, it became popular.
The first trees were decorated with apples, candy canes, cookies and pastries in assorted shapes of flowers, hearts and stars. Dyed popcorn also became popular as pieces were strung together with nuts and berries into large strands and hung on the tree.
The trees were originally lighted with with candles but this presented problems like keeping the candles on the branches for starters, not to mention accidental fires. But in 1878, Frederick Artz invented a clip on candle holder. This worked well, but you still couldn’t leave the tree unattended or lit for a long time. Luckily with the introduction of electricity into homes, the candles were replaced with electric lights that could keep the trees glowing for days.
The first Christmas tree farm in America was opened in 1851 by a woodsman named Mark Carr. He cut down trees in the Catskill Mountains and sold them in New York City’s Washington Market.
This tradition of displaying and decorating a Christmas tree has grown in popularity over the years and has become a cherished tradition by many. I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of history. Wishing you all the best this holiday season!
Thanks for stopping by!!
Share the Happy 💖
“Christmas is doing a little something extra for everyone.” ~ Charles Schulz
Flowing Waters Art 
