Good morning!

I am very happy to announce that my Weekly Art Journal #11 video has posted out on YouTube!

The supplies I used on this week’s layout is as follows:

• #2 pencil
• A couple of different kinds of erasers
• Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Tissue Paper – Postale
• Uhu Glue Stick
• DecoArt Acrylic Craft Paint: Tropical Blue (DCA102)
• Premier Prismacolor Pencils: Sepia (948), Burnt Ochre (943), Dark Brown (946), Peach (939), Beige (997), Yellow Ochre (942), White (938), Greyed Lavender (1026), Blush Pink (928), Lavender (934), Process Red (994)
• Black Fude Ball 1.5
• Black Uniball Signo 207 pen
• Ranger Distress Stains: Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Black Soot
• A scrap of map paper
• Faber Castell Gelato: Dark Green
• Black Ranger Archival Ink Pad
• Recollections Chevron Wood Mounted Stamp
• Plastic doily stencil
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Palette Knife
• Sentiment printed out on regular printer paper
• Brown Stabilo All Pencil
• Water Brush

Unlike most of my weekly journal pages, I started out with an idea on how I wanted this week’s spread to appear. I knew that I wanted to draw one of my cute long neck girls, I wanted to use the Ranger Postale tissue paper, I wanted to use my favorite Tropical Blue craft paint, and I knew that I wanted to use my new Ranger texture paste!

So the hard part was just going to be drawing my long neck girl, in it’s entirety, in front of the camera, so I challenged myself to see if I could keep the camera going the entire time, and not cut away, like I had done the last time I drew one of my girls for Art Journal Thursday. And you know what??? I TOTALLY DID IT!!! WHOOT! WHOOT!!! 😉

I was extremely proud of myself that I didn’t chicken out and cutaway, but because I didn’t, it made for a very, very, VERY LOOONG video!! EEK!! So although I thought that the drawing of my long neck girl would be the hardest part, the hardest part actually turned out to be editing my video down to less than 15 minutes! WHEW!! 😉

That combined with doing the voiceover, which you may know I am extremely new to, this was probably my hardest video to date, but I must confess I really LOVE the way this spread turned out! 🙂

During filming, I did have some issues while drawing my long neck girl! Eyes are always rather tricky for me, and this week I see that her left eye is too far left for my liking, so I will have to keep working on that! I also had some trouble getting her lips to look just right! I have recently changed how I draw lips, and I think it is not working for me. I had better keep looking for a whimsical lip shape that makes me happy! 🙂

Practice! Practice! Practice!

As for the background, I really LOVE this one! 🙂 The tissue paper, the messy chevron stamping, and the texture paste used throughout the round doily stencil all came together better than I could have hoped for!!! I am just LOVING all of the yummy patterns and textures!! 🙂

I also love that I snuck the word “Courage” onto my long neck girl’s neck! Courage is something that I am consciously working on using more of, so this will be a gentle reminder to myself!! 😉

As for this week’s sentiment, as I have said in past posts, I usually have a tendency to do my art journal pages in silence so I can hear any messages my soul might be trying to tell me. This week was no different. I have some hard choices to make in the next few weeks as it pertains to work, and I realized, during this week’s art journal time, that I have a distinct vision in my head about what I want to see in my life. Where I am living, what I am doing for a vocation, etc, and I realize that I am the only one who can take the necessary steps to make that vision come to fruition!

Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself, and not only that, but it is up to me to get out there and start creating it!! No one is going to do it for me!! So this sentiment summed that up for me, perfectly!! 🙂

So, what do you think? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this week’s art journal!

Also, if you have any ideas, or techniques that you might like to see me try in one of my future layouts, please let me know in the comment section and I will see what I can do to be accommodating! Also, I really do LOVE answering any questions you may have about art journaling, mixed-media, or anything you might have seen me do here! Please feel free to ask questions in the comments, and I will try and get back to you in a timely manner!!

Until next time!

Here is to a BEAUTIFULLY CREATIVE week! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!