Art Journal

So I'm thinking of starting an art journal and doing 1 or 2 pages a day. I've already got a few books to choose from and a title...SEASHELLS. I think I might start with the Life Mantra challenge. And my first real entry will be something about Summer Reading. I want to make a pocket page and put some Summer Reading ATCs in it. I was thinking of getting the kids at the library into making ATCs but I don't know if they would go for it.

I haven't been here in a while, been busy volunteering at the library and reading books and thinking about this new art journal. I just bounce around from on project to the next never really finishing anything. Well at at least finished the mini envelope journal for my mother in law, and I got the 7 6x6 pages done. Now I want to start and art journal. I'm going to do the first 12 entries the Life Mantras challenge. Then work a page or so a day from their. Here's what I have so far.

Front Cover

Not much to look at right now.

Inside Front Cover

What are these things doing here?

This is a 6x6 page all about me. The top of the page says 'This Book Belongs To...Michelle.'

I live in the desert so there is a cactus and a sun. My favorite color is yellow so there is a big sunflower in the middle. My Eastern Zodiac is Capricorn, the goat so there is a goat on the left. My Chinese Zodiac is the tiger so there is the tiger. And my name is Michelle or Shellers for short so there is a shell. 

Bookmark

.hack//G.U.

Here we have Ryou, he plays an online game called The World. He's level 133, it took him a year to get there. One of his friends who used to play the game, her character in the game was killed. When her character got killed she went into a coma and Ryou has been trying to find out why. One day Ryou meets the character in the game that killed his friends character. He kills Ryou's character in the game and Ryou goes unconscious in the real world. He wakes up though, unlike his friend and finds out his character has been knocked back all the way to level 1. That whole years work, gone in just 1 hit from this mysterious player. Now what is he going to do?

In the game the players can join guilds, groups of other players. Some groups are good and play by the rules, they are against PKing. Player Killing, when one player kills another player's character. Stronger higher leveled players picking on the week newbie players that are just starting out in the game. When Ryou fist started the game his character was killed this way. The player acted all nice at first but as soon as they got a chance they killed his character.

Ryou has met the leader of one of the more shady guilds in the game, they don't seem to play by the rules. Their is something strange about their guild house. Cameras all over the place, how is it they can see into the real world? They show Ryou a live stream of his friend in the hospital. This is some kind of hacking he's never seen before. It make him mad because they also show him where his friends dead character is still lingering in the game. They even know all about Ryou, his real name, where he lives, everything. 

Now Ryou has to decide is it worth joining this guild and cheating to get his character back to level 133. He still  has that vow he made to his friend in the hospital to think about. How is he going to find out what happened to her and help her if he's at level 1? It took him a year to get to level 133, his friend may not have much time left so he needs to hurry.      

.hack//G.U. is one in an long line of manga/graphic novels by Tatsuya Hamazaki. I'm not sure where it all starts.   

Late Again!

I've just been reminded that the end of the month is near and Monday is a holiday and I've still got 6x6 pages to make. At least 2 more. I can do this. I got side tracked with the mini envelope journal and then yesterday as soon as I walked into the library they put me right to work handing out Summer Reading stuff. I'm not complaining I just didn't think I'd be put to work as soon as I walked in. Its what I signed up for to do this Summer. So 2 hours of my day was spent their (my home away from home). Then when I got home I took a nap. And then today I spent it playing games on the computer with the husband. Its what we do every Saturday. Then we adopted a new cat that's been hanging around outside the house for a while. We've just decided to give it a trial run seeing as we already have one indoor cat. This new one will be an indoor/outdoor cat IF they can get along together.

And I'll stop rambling now and go look up some ideas for those last 2 6x6 pages of all one color and work on those tomorrow to get them in the mail. Yeah I know they will be sitting their tomorrow and then Monday to but at least they will go out first thing Tuesday morning.

Life Mantras! (Complete Book)

LIFE MANTRAS!

FRONT COVER

INSIDE FRONT COVER

PAGE 1

A Mother's Love

Your arms are always open

when I need a hug. Your 

heart understands when I

need a friend. Your gentle 

eyes are stern when I

need a lesson. Your strength

and love guide me

and give me wings to fly.

PAGE 2

PAGE 3

LIVE SIMPLY!

PAGE 4

PAGE 5

FOLLOW YOUR HEART!

PAGE 6

PAGE 7

LIVE FOR THE MOMENT 

PAGE 8

PAGE 9

CHOOSE LOVE!

PAGE 10

PAGE 11

GIVE MORE!

This page has a pocket with a coupon in it. I cut the side of the envelope open.

PAGE 12

PAGE 13

DO THE RIGHT THING!

PAGE 14

PAGE 15

GIVE THANKS!

PAGE 16

PAGE 17

BE TRUTHFUL!

PAGE 18

PAGE 19

FORGIVE!

PAGE 20

PAGE 21

BE KIND ALWAYS

PAGE 22

PAGE 23

BE A BLESSING!

By far the most colorful of all the pages. One of my favorites.

PAGE 24

INSIDE BACK COVER

LAUGH EVERYDAY!

BACK COVER

Summer Reading

Summer Reading starts tomorrow, so excited!

I can't count Into The Beautiful North as a Summer Reading book on account of I finished reading it last night. No cheating! BUT now I can go back to reading Beautiful Creatures, the book about the witch...Caster and her friend who are trying to keep her from turning dark on her 16th Birthday. Its not a choice she has to make, its just going to happen, she'll either go light and be good for the rest of her life (white magic) or get picked to go dark and be evil for the rest of her life (black magic). But she and her normal boyfriend are trying find a way for her to be chosen for the light side, she's scared of it being chosen for her that she'll go dark like her mother was.

In the world of crafting though. I've almost finished the mini envelope book for my mother in law for a late (very late) Mother's Day gift. I'm still working on the 6x6 pages for the SWAPS. Got a red one done the other day. I'm thinking of makeing an orange one though I hate the color orange. 

So this week and until the end of Summer Reading I'll be busy. I hope I can keep crafting while getting some reading in and on top of that volunteering at the library. Speaking of which I should go their today and see if the volunteering schedule has been posted. Its also make a duct tape wallet day at the library. I'll admit I hate this craft, mine never comes out right. I don't know if I'll make one. 

AND I'm still thinking about the altered dictionary Animal Crackers. Just been so busy with other things that I've set it aside for now. Same with my Beach Life altered book but I'll get back to them soon, I hope. I still want to make a pirate treasure map for Beach Life as one of the 8 6x6 pages I'm trying to get done. 

Anyway pictures coming soon.

Happy crafting!

    

Into The Beautiful North

I had to put down Beautiful Creatures for now because I want to read the last book club book for the summer, Into The Beautiful North. This will be my 2nd Summer Reading book and Summer Reading hasn't even started yet.

Into The Beautiful North (and mind you I haven't finished it yet) is about a small Mexican village/town. For some reason all the men in the town have left to do other things and have left the woman and children behind. One of the teenage girls realizes this can't be good. When was the last time anyone was pregnant? No men, no babies, no boyfriends and her dad was one of the men who left. He was a cop and needs to come back. Bandidos (bandits) have come to town! Now its up to her and her three friends to make a journey north to find the men, cops and soldiers, and bring them back to the town, her father included. So the three girls and their gay friend set out an adventure. Crossing the border into Northern Mexico is just the start of their troubles when a couple gets takin' off the bus they are traveling on at gun point. And things just get worse from their as they try to make their way to America.

I'm not sure how this is going to end but its a good read and I can't put it down. It reminds me of my journey from GA to AZ riding on the ole Grey Hound bus, once with my husband and once alone. And I remember when I was alone on the 2nd trip getting stopped at the border and the guards tacking us all off the bus and lining us up outside in the cold. (it was December) I was scared but after a quick search of the bus they let us all back on and let us pass. I'd never been through anything like that before. And once they did take a guy off the bus for having drugs, right then and their. He was takin' into the guard post at the border and we just left him. Needless to say I don't want to take that trip again anytime soon even though I miss my family in GA.  

And the book has some Spanish in it so I'm sure I'll be searching the net for translations soon. Though sometimes they explain what some of the words mean in the sentence. So its not like its a hard read for those of us (like me) that never took Spanish in school to understand.

Mini Envelope Journal

Me and my husband always go over to his mothers house on Sunday's for dinner, but last Sunday (Mother's Day) she cancelled dinner so she could get her sweater finished for her sewing class. And this Sunday (tomorrow) she will be out of town. I feel bad cause we missed spending Mother's Day with her. I wanted to take her out somewhere and do something together, but I let it slip. So I've been trying to think of something to give her, something better than a poem, like she gets every year from her son.

Last night I was blog hopping and came across a blog with a great challenge on it. (Thanks Pattie, love your bird cards!)

http://papertraders-art.blogspot.com/search/label/Home

They are doing a year long challenge called Life Mantras. Each month they pick a mantra and give you a required technique to use for that page. I'm not going to use their techniques. I love the theme though, Life Mantras. They've listed all 12.

1.Live Simply : Must include some stamping.

2.Follow Your Heart: Easy-peasy, include some hearts. 

3. Live in the Moment : Include some symbols of time. 

4.Choose Love: Use patterned tissue or paper napkins in the design. 

5.Give More : Graffiti style lettering 

6.Do the Right Thing: Use a tag or tags in the design 

7. Be Thankful: Use only 3 colors of your choice 

8.Be Truthful: Make a pocket as part of your design. 

9.Forgive : Include flower images.

10.Be Kind Always : Use paint in your design. 

11.Be a Blessing: Incorporate an image from a magazine 

12.Laugh Everyday : include images of children 

So then I went looking for a tutorial on how to make a journal and I found a video on YouTube showing how to make one with envelopes. (Sorry if she goes a little fast, I had to watch it a few times to get it.) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipsshQpj0IY

Just need envelopes, assuming any size will work because mine weren't the same she uses in the video and it still came out the same. Glue or tape and paper. I can't wait to get started decorating mine. I put the little book together last night just to see how it would look. Thanks to my husband for taking me to Wal-Mart for more supplies.  

I'm using the mantras from the challenge and Winnie the Pooh coloring pages, I'll post pictures soon as I get them done.  

6x6 Redo

I couldn't decide if the 6x6 page I made with the fish on it titled 'The Tank' fit in with this months challenge or not, of being all 1 color, so I redid it. I kept the same fish though.

The Tank
Before

The Tank
After

Books

Its odd how books can find you.

I just finished reading Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil and was going to read Savannah Blues next, both murder mysteries that happen in Savannah GA. And then I was like getting bored with the murder mystery thing (and Savannah Blues) and was thinking why all the books written about Savannah are murder mysteries?

I wanted a book about Savannah that wasn't a murder mystery and then I found Beautiful Creatures. Its about a girl that can make things happen, (like shattering windows with her mind) she calls herself a Caster. She lives withe her shut in of an uncle in a creepy old mansion. Everybody in town is afraid of him and no one ever goes to his place outside of town. But now his niece has come to live with him and hes protecting her from something (not sure what yet) that's going to happen on her 16th birthday. Then she and this boy from Gatlin find a locket in the dirt and every time they touch it they both keep having the same flash backs from the Civil War, of a house being burned down, (and people getting killed). Another mansion that used to be next to her uncles place. On top of that, before they found the locket, or even meet in person, they were already sharing the same scary dream of falling. Every time they touch they feel something like an electrical shock and can even use telepathy on each other.  

I'm only a few chapters in and its getting really good. Although its not placed in Savannah its actually in Gatlin, South Carolina but they keep mentioning Savannah and I hope they go their as the books go on. There are four books, Beautiful Creatures is the first by Kami Garcia and Marcaret Stohl. This will be my first book for Summer Reading. Its early (Summer Reading starts May 24) but I figure since its a thick book I'll still be reading it on the 24th. I like to take my time with a book. Unless it gets really good then I can't seem to put it down. Its also been made into a movie that I put on my list to get from the library.

At the start of the book the boy, Ehtan hears a song on his I-Pod that he didn't put there. This is just the start of him finding out that he and Lena are connected in some way. Here is the song, warning  its kind of creepy.

Sixteen Moons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=980FKzpuTFY

My next book is Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea, not sure what its about yet but its the last book for the book club I'm in until the summer is over, we always take a reading break in the summer then get back together.

Speaking of the library I should brave a walk in the hot desert sun and go there to pick up a movie I've been waiting a long time for. Breaking Dawn Part 2! Also a good read, if you like vampires. Start with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight first though. Its been made into a movie as well. And some say (and I can see why) that Beautiful Creatures is not unlike Twilight, just without the vampires and the werewolves. Both Twilight and Beautiful Creatures are considered Teen books but I don't care. I read anything, even kids books like Harry Potter.

 


 

SWAPS for May!

Wow! *blink, blink* We have to make 8 (or 7) 6x6 all one color pages. I've got plenty to keep me busy this week.

I'll post the pictures here.

Purple Diva 

1 of 8

Purple Diva

Close up

The Tank

2 of 8

(It looks light blue but my camera hates certain colors, teal being one of them.)

My favorite site for doing origami like the fish above.

http://en.origami-club.com/

The Hand
3 of 8

Its blue on light blue with grey for shading, but my camera makes it look purple.

For a tutorial on how to do this go to the link below. 

http://roshanda-thecreativespirit.blogspot.ca/2012/01/op-art-hands-that-pop.html

Still Life

4 of 8

This one was screaming for color so here is a color version of it.

Red

5 of 8

I Wanna Be King

6 of 8

I Wanna be King

Close up

Looks like someone's been into the Cheetos. LOL

Trick Turtles

7 of 8

The Zoo!

My husband took me to the zoo today, hes been home all weekend so I really haven't done much crafting. Much of my crafting is done on the week days while hes at school. Plus I ran out of glue and need to go get more. But today was just to pretty to stay indoors and waste. So I got him to take me to the zoo. Usually its hard to get good pictures of the animals but today I got a great one of a peacock with its feathers open wide.

And although its not art, well I guess photography is a form of art. I'm thinking about painting a peacock. I have some canvas and paint, a wedding gift from my aunt, the artist that I haven't even touched yet. But we'll see how that goes. 

I did do a couple of pages for the Beach Life altered book though. All I need is some glue and I can get back to really working on it again.

Page 9

Page 10

And now I'm also all excited that Summer Reading will be starting soon. In about an hour I'll be going to the library for an orientation meeting. So this will then become my Art/Summer Reading blog. Volunteering last year was so much fun I can't wait to do it again. I have to come up with a harder goal though. Last year it was 100 books and I blazed through that in the first week or so of the program. Maybe 200 books?

And here it is the official Pima County Summer Reading Program website, here in AZ.

http://www.library.pima.gov/srp/2013/

The Recycled 6x6 Pages

Here are the two 6x6 pages I made for last months SWAP.

Blue Flower

Pink Flower

I had to make envelopes for them but they got sent so I'll be able to do more. And no I didn't eat every piece of candy the wrappers came from. Gotta do something with all that left over Halloween candy.