Happy Easter!

Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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Ponies on my Artwork!

As I was trying to take picture of my artwork, Daria jumped in with her ponies and wanted pictures of them instead.

Soul-affirming is my "word/phrase of the year"... trying to think about what is soul-affirming and try to do those things.  Also I'm trying to stop myself if I am doing something that is not helping in that regards.

Sharing with Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day.

Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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Art Journaling Pages with Paint

I'm not so sure about these colors, but I had fun playing with acrylic paints, scrapbook embellishments, white paint pens and other gel pens.

Art Journal Every Day | Paint Party Friday | Sunday Sketches | Artists in Blogland | Image Map

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Easter Bonnet Craft

Every year my sister-in-law hosts an Easter bonnet party.  All of the guest come with Easter bonnets that were homemade and there is a contest for the wildest or most artistic hat.  The crazier, the better! This would be fun to do for other holidays.  Maybe you could create a 4th of July hat or a Christmas hat!

Start with a base hat.  The pink hat we bought from Target and my hat we bought from Michael's craft store.

 

Tie ribbon and tulle around the hat.  Use hot glue to adhere in places.

We tied on the Care Bear with floral wire.  It was tied loosely, so Daria can take out the Care Bear and exchange it with another stuffed animal if she wants.

Tuck flowers into the hat or poke through the tulle to secure.  Hot glue can be used to secure things.  We bought flowers, sparkly eggs, ribbons and the purple stuffed bunny from the dollar store.

My crazy wild Easter bonnet.

Daria with the Easter bonnets.

Have you made artistic hats like this before?  I'd love to see them!

Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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Purse Raid Bridal Shower Game

This is a departure from my usual art-related blog posts, but I thought this would be useful for someone who might be looking for a bridal shower game in the future.

I am planning games for a cousin's shower and I always like the purse raid games.  Remember the Let's Make a Deal TV game show?  At the end, the host would give away $100 to whoever could find a random item in their purse.  That was my favorite part of the show! 

I was searching online for a printable version of this game and was coming up with lots of paid versions. I mean, really?  $7 for a print-out of this game?  No way!

I put together my own sheet for this game by compiling items from many of the lists I found.

The game is played by dividing the shower guests into groups of 3-4.  The teams have 5 minutes to search through their purses for the listed items.  Items can only count one time, even if all of the team has the same item.  The team with the most points, wins!  Feel free to print out and use.

Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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You Shine Brighter than the Brightest Star Art Journal Page

 

I really like how this page turned out.  Very busy and colorful, imperfect and expressive.  I am really enjoying this new pen, the Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen.   (Picture and affiliate link on left.) 

I also bought another art journaling book.. I really don't need more, do I? Art Journal Freedom: How to Journal Creatively With Color & Composition 

What happened was that I was trying to find those plastic potty training pants that you put over underwear (for my 3 year old daughter) because we are not having the best luck with potty training.  Spring Break is next week for me, so we are going to just put her in underwear all day and see what happens.  You would think that these would still be available in stores, but the stores (even Target and Babies R Us) only carry the pull-up diapers (which are basically the same as diapers).  She didn't feel "wet" in them and doesn't really care if she goes to the bathroom in them.  So, anyways.... I looked online and they had them on Amazon.  But, the ones we wanted were "add-on" items which means you *had* to spend a certain amount.  So, I was basically forced into buying something for myself, right?  Lol.  Wish me luck on the potty training thing. 

I haven't read too much of the book yet, but I like the information on composition and focal points and so forth.  Those ideas are all good for any type of art in general.  I like books where the concepts can cross over into other areas. 

I am so proud of my 5th and 6th grade students who each carved one or two beautiful rubber stamps.  We printed them all on one very large poster board, which is going to be framed and donated to our school auction fundraiser. 

I am linking this to Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day and Show and Tell Saturday.

Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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Just a Quick Art Journal Page

5 Fabulous Things I am Loving Right Now

1.  On Writing Craft Tutorials and Creating "Original DIYs".

2.  Creative Lettering book.. I just ordered this and it is chock-full of fun lettering ideas.  I recommend this one if you like hand lettering.

3.  These gorgeous artworks by Andrea Juan.

4.   I'm continually amazed by Marie Gosselin's drawings.

5.  52 Things to Post About When You Don't Know What to Post About

Art Journaling Quote

This journal page was inspired by our Color this Quote Challenge at Artists in Blogland.  If you have not checked out my art group, you really should do so!  Each month we will give you another quote to inspire your artwork.  Play along with us!

I've been inspired by FACES and cute illustrations.

Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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Project Life Update

Scrapbooking is one of those hobbies I have that goes in spurts.  I really enjoy having finished scrapbooks but sometimes it feels tedious to put all the pieces together.  I want it to be a low-stress hobby.  I don't want to feel like I *have* to keep up with it and I only want to work on it if I feel like it.  How about you?  Do you feel kind of overwhelmed if you get behind on scrapbooking and you have tons of pictures?  Do you try to catch up or do you just throw the pictures in photo albums?

I had all of these little square photos printed from Printstagram.com.  They were pretty fast and the quality is scrumptious.  I highly recommend them if you want to print off your photos from your Instagram app.

I found this really lovely printed tape with roses on it from Michael's craft store which I used in most of these cards.  I was going to link up some of the products I used, but then I realized that with most of them, I take them out of the package, throw away the labels and I don't know what brand they are anyway.

I really really love this sock monkey sticker!!  The Life card will be on the front page of this new 2013 book.

All of these cards I made in one sitting and I think that the colors work with each other.  Repeating the rose colored tape helps to tie them together.  All of these cards will go into my Project Life binder with divided sleeves. The cards photograph better outside of the sleeves. 

Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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Art Journaling Pages-- Show and Tell

I have been working quite a bit in my art journal.  The pages are in various stages of completion.  The first two I am done with.  By done with, I mean that while I could add more, I just don't feel like looking at them anymore.  

I do grab 10 minutes of time here and there to get color or images down in my art journal.  I enjoyed reading Kelly Kilmer's post about her 10 Minute Art Challenge.   What can you accomplish in 10 minutes?   I am going to play along and document what I can do in 10 minutes.  These pages below took longer than 10 minutes, but I worked on them over the course of many days in pockets of time. 

This one below will have additional words or drawings added to it.

The Art of Motherhood:  I am so glad that Dion Dior wrote about the Featuring magazine article on her blog.  She has taken gorgeous photos of the magazine, so you should check it out!

I will be sharing this with Inspiration Avenue.


Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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New Art in Shop

I just put some new originals and prints in my shop!  I hope you like them.

Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
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Daria's in my art journal!

This is what happens every time I try to take out my art journal when Daria is awake!  LOL.
She never wants to color in her own sketchbook, just mine!

We are both LOVING these new RoseArt Neon Gel Crayons, 6-Count, Assorted Colors that I ordered from Amazon.  Cheap, and perfect for both adults and kids.  They are like very smooth oil pastels.  I like the brightness of the colors.  There is neon orange, yellow, green, pink and purple.. There is a neon blue too, but the color really doesn't show up neon.  It is more of a pastel blue.  Still love them!



Thanks for reading!  Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
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