Knitting video, journal spread, and online class

I've posted another video- a beginner's video for nifty knitting. This is a part of a series of videos to show how to make a hat on the nifty knitter and how to change yarn colors/make stripes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP9E_hw7zNg

I've not only been knitting and making videos, but also playing around in my journal. This page was a midnight blue acrylic layered with dark metallic inks and then border with lighter metallics.

The quote is from Lady Gaga's song "Monster" I seem to be obsessed with song lyrics in my spreads these days.



The photograph is actually from a collection of photos we found in my grandfather's house. We are most likely related to them somehow. This is a photocopy and I scribbled out the guy's face because I'm feeling whiny lately about boys =) The "jerk" tag is from my label maker I got on clearance from Michael's. (The only true love of my life!)


A final note: I just signed up for Kira Harding's first online class showing us how to make our own journals from scratch. I'm going to give it a go over the spring break in March and I'll give you guys a review about it when I'm done. It looks great, here's the link:

http://www.journalgirl.com/wish-journal-workshop

*Also- it's her birthday! Happy birthday Kira and congrats on the first class!

New Video

I finally posted a new video showing some different texture techniques including: embossed paper towel prints, gesso applied roughly with a plastic palette knife, and bubble print wraps. Please ignore the ducky pj pants!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZZ-tTyBuhw


*Please tell me what you think- is it annoying to have it move so quickly? And do you like to hear music while watching videos?

Vegetarian Spread

Acrylic background and stamped border, the letters on the fold-out sheet are rub-ons from JoAnns.

I was vegetarian for over 2 years and stopped because I planned on doing some charity work. It sounds weird, right? I was going to go to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and in the Sioux culture it is extremely rude to turn down food when it's offered to you. I have been told stories by native friends about people getting chewed out for politely turning away coffee so I wasn't going to take any chances. Now a days most of my volunteer work is done from home: knitting hats, making blankets, the Christmas gift drive, etc.

I'm starting to go back to being vegetarian and I've been trying out new brands and products and decided to make a list and scoring system for all the new stuff. A warning: Tom's Baking Soda toothpaste tastes god awful. It's icky.

Stuck in a Rut

The background was painted quickly with acrylic then dabbed with crumpled plastic wrap lightly dipped in more acrylic. Once dry a white stamp pad was used to stencil the alphabet letters. Finally, I wrote out my frustration in sharpie.

Worm Angst

Angsty page, feel free to not read the text on the spread.


For this spread I glued down this image of some kind of sea worm (maybe?) from National Geographic and the scrubbed acrylic paint over the page, wiping some of the paint from the image so it melded with the page. I outlined it in a Sakura gelly roll pen and then stamped over it.

Childhood Neighborhood Map

I believe I got the idea for this from an example in Authentic Art Journaling. The background is gesso spread with a plastic paint spatula to give it an uneven, raw texture. The houses that didn't hold special meaning to me are painted gray since they're "fuzzy" in my mind. I know for sure some houses are missing or added, but oh well! I'm very happy with this spread.

Thekathrynwheel and my 2 cents

I have a confession to make: I have a love affair with Somerset magazines. Among their multitude of inspiring publications, the newcomer- Art Journaling magazine holds a special place in my heart. I was browsing through flickr to find some cool spreads to share with you guys when I stumbled across thekathrynwheel's flickr account- and it turns out she was just published in the latest edition of Art Journaling.

You can find her photostream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thekathrynwheel/
She is primarily a paper artist- art journals, inchies and atcs abound, but every so often the fiber arts sneak in there with banners, stuffed creatures or cushion covers.

One of my favorite techniques that she uses is her calendars-


It appears that each day is an inch square, she's essentially making an inchie to represent each day. How cool is that! You could either write a tiny entry like she did or create an inchie to represent a highlight of your day.

She also often includes descriptions of the materials used in case you what to snag them for yourself


Kathryn's blog: http://www.thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com

***

One of the things I love most about the crafting community is how small it really is- there are people you'll interact with on your favorite craft site and then one day they tell you they're first book is being published (Like Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching) or you'll follow someones blog and then recognize them in a book you just bought (I found ihanna in 1000 Journal Pages) or you've read someones book and find out you are in a swap with them (Diana Trout, who wrote Journal Spilling is in ihanna postcard swap!).

The craft world seems wide and vast since we're connected through the internet but when you look around you begin to see that it can be intimate if you make it that way. We get to know one another's styles and quirks- often recognizing who made what just by looking at the elements and colors they used. If anyone is on the fence about starting up an account on the website they've lurked on for months or joining a swap because they are confident in their art- go for it.We all have our shining successes we treasure and flops we'd prefer to forget, but you can only grow as a creative individual if you try. Just go do it and have fun for crying out loud!

Crafty Chica Love Shrine Challenge

*The* Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo is hosting a love shrine contest! This woman is responsible for my ability to let go of my OCD nature when it comes to crafting. Her approach to creating is to play around and love what you create, flaws and all- you should always be having fun and not sweating the small stuff.

The entries are due by 11:59pm PST on March 11th, 2010.

Winners will be announced on March 17th.

The grand prize winner will receive a Crafty Chica gift basket, a copy of her novel Waking Up In The Land of Glitter, *and* a $50 gift card to The Maker Shed

3 Runner ups will receive a Crafty Chica gift basket and a Crafty Chica bobble head.


You enter by posting photos of your shrine on the Crafty Chica Challenge: Love Shrine Flickr group here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/ccc_loveshrine/ and "include a description of your project, inspiration, and materials were used in the process. (250 words or less please)"


**I'm sorry but our international friends unable to participate- it's only for residents of the US.
=(

- I got all my info from the Crafty Chica's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/kathycanomurillo?ref=ts




I have a god awful tiny cabinet I bought as a part of an overpriced gift set (and I bought it just to get the cabinet!) I am going to prime it tonight with some gesso and I am going to dedicate to Ceilidh and Sage, David's kids because I love them as if they were my own. Who says the love shrine needs to be about a man?

Doodle + Collage spread

I can't draw people to save my life. So when I wanted to represent myself laying in bed I tried doodling in the scene- my head is supposed to look like it's under the pillow and my arm is outside the blanket but maybe there's just a severed arm in my bed? (Note the professional way I used red squiggles to highlight soreness!) I kinda like it. I tried paying attention to the light source (upper right side of the page where my bedroom windows should be). At the end of the day it's just a journal and I'm not perfect, but it's mine.

Watercolors and using your Acrylic Stamp Sheets

I bought a set of Artist's Loft watercolors (extremely cheap) and wanted to play around with layers. Turns out they're really nice! They're very vibrant but require a lot of water to release the pigment. I love them anyway:


This is a really old photo of me from high school- my best friends and I used to get together to take crazy pictures and this is one of them. I scratched the photo with a fine grit sandpaper and then stamped over it with the swirl design.


This page was made in response to the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas. The two brushstrokes are supposed to represent the World Trade Towers. I know you're supposed to keep the plastic sheets for your acrylic stamps but I take the sides with the designs on them and use them in my spreads =)

"Crystal Ball" lyrics page

A phone call from my would-have-been step kids the other day got me thinking about my relationship with their father and how's it's changed since we split up. Songs that are close to my heart are popping up more frequently in my journaling. This spread is Pink's "Crystal Ball" off of her Fun House album.


The "highlighted" words in white are: "Sometimes you think everything is wrapped inside a diamond ring."

"Crystal Ball"

Drinking wine and thinking bliss, is on the other side of this
I just need a compass and a willing accomplice
All my doubts that fill my head are skidding up and down again
Up and down and round again, down and up and round again.
Oh, I've had my chances and I've taken them all.
Just to end up right back here on the floor.
To end up right back here in on the floor.

Pennies in a well, a million dollars in the fountain of a hotel.
Fortune teller that says maybe you will go to hell.
But I'm not scared at all...hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
Of the cracks in the crystal, the cracks in the crystal ball.

Sometimes you think everything is wrapped inside a diamond ring
Love just needs a witness and a little forgiveness
And a halo of patience and a less sporadic pace and
I'm learning to be brave in my beautiful mistakes.
Oh I've felt that fire and I've been burned
But I wouldn't trade the pain for what I've learned
I wouldn't trade the pain for what I've learned.

Pennies in a well, a million dollars in the fountain of a hotel.
Fortune teller that says maybe you will go to hell.
But I'm not scared at all...hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
Of the cracks in the crystal, the cracks in the crystal ball.

Irony, irony, this hate and love, hate and love
What it does to me, what it's done to me.
What is done...done

Pennies in a well, a million dollars in the fountain of a hotel.
Broken mirrors and a black cats cold stare,
Walk under ladders on my way to hell, I'll meet you there.
But I'm not scared at all, hmm...
I'm not scared at all.

Of the cracks in the crystal, the cracks in the crystal ball

Snow Day

Due to the snow over the weekend my campus and work are both closed and I'm stuck in this house for another day. But I'm making the most of it, I slept in and went straight to crafting for my Art Journal Page swap. I've already finished my three pages (they were only 3.25" by 2.5") and I'm about to go look for extra goodies to tuck into the package.


Snow is pretty to look at but a real pain to drive in.

New blog crush: I found A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk on ihanna's links and her journals are amazing! She does all kinds of crafts so the eye candy is an assortment of amazing projects.

Link*: http://www.littleblackkitty.typepad.com/

*The html is failing me today, sorry! But I'm learning

Back to school

Yep it snowed 2 feet and I am stranded with a computer that is too old to upload videos to youtube. I miss wireless access. Anyway, this is a more cheery spread celebrating my last day of freedom before returning to college for the spring semester. The photo is from Christina Aguilera's latest CD pamphlet- I'm starting to use a lot of scraps I've been hoarding so I can start making more room for new stuff. I've also gotten sucked into having stuff stick off the page- there really isn't any reason for it other than it looks cool when you close it =) I think it also helps me break away from my OCD nature.

I'm in love with alphabet stickers right now, like the numbers above. I just can't get enough of them- brownie points if they're glittery too!

NSFW Cursing spread and new journal cover

I give up doing the outdoor shots for a while, a blizzard is supposed to roll in within the next few hours and they're calling for 3 feet! This is part 2 of my winter art journal since I chose smaller books for this season. The cover is actually painted metallic gold but the light didn't really catch the shimmer.

The dangling charm was on clearance from JoAnn's- it's Ganesha! (The Hindu god of obstacles)

I wrote this before I found out the boy I was seeing was going to dump me over text message. Hrmuph. You live and you learn.

Scrap paper nail art

WeisserRegenbogen from Craftster.org has posted the coolest nail art ever:

You can check out her post and instructions here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=335974.0

This would be perfect for any bookworm or English major (such as myself!) or even a little pampering session for your book club =) I can see the Twilight fans now, look out used bookstores- here they come!

In other news, when it hasn't been foggy and overcast it's been snowing. I've scraped off the porch so I'm going to try taking some more photos. Additionally I've gotten my camera and tripod set up so I'm off to make some Knifty Knitter videos for the youtube account. See ya!

Missing You!

I feel terrible about not updating more often (and even updating now without photos- I forgot to bring my camera!). But I do have exciting news- I figured out how to use my big sony camera *and* I got a flexible tripod so I can start making more videos! I am especially excited to do the art journal montages all the cool crafters are doing, which I fondly refer to as "craft porn." You know the videos- the fastforwarded clips of people creating an entire art journal page. I love seeing how everything comes together and the layers that build up.

I also plan to make some videos teaching the basics of Knifty Knitting, because the printed directions are difficult to interpret and it's sooo much easier to just watch someone (at least for me, anyway.)

Otherwise, I've been churning out postcards for ihanna's swap and taking on members for the craftster art journal page swap. I thought it was going to be harder- the only real problems I've run into are the system entered some people's swap start dates as 1969. No idea where that came from, but it's been remedied.

Photos to come very soon! I promise!