Grateful Art Journal pages

Here is my completed art journal page :)
If you remember Caroline and I came up with a challenge to each other to do an art journal page.
We were both intimidated by all the products and techniques out there, that we both were hesitant to start on our own…I had some of my art journal products for a couple of years.
As you can tell, I am not a jump right in there type of person, teehee.

Our theme was Grateful with Autumn colours.
I knew I was going to do my family, and I love rich, deep autumn colours…but how to go about putting them together.

I started by adding some tissue paper to the pages.
The tissue paper bubbled a bit as it was drying, so I added another coat of matt medium to the top of the tissue paper, hoping it would smooth out the tissue..it didn't.

I then added some acrylic paint.
The colour was a deep burgundy colour, but because of the matt medium I added to the page, the paint seemed to lighten in colour.
So instead of it being a deep burgundy, it seemed to take on a deep pinky colour.

I added some orange and browns to the pages, working out to the edges.
But I was mad at myself for forgetting to blend the paints with a baby wipe or wet cloth as I went :(
I did not like the look of the out come at all!!
I was going to just gesso over the whole page, but thought….just work with it.

So I took a baby wipe and rubbed the heck out of the page.
Of course I knew that the paint wouldn't blend as I had painted it days before, and it was totally dry.
But what it did do was take off some of the paint.
I kind of liked the out come :)
In some spots, I rubbed it to the tissue and no paint was visible.
So I added some tea dye distress stain to the whole page to blend throughout.
Background done…time to add my elements :)

I wanted to use a photo of my family.
See scrapbooker at heart, teehee.
I printed out my photo and adhered it to the corner of my page.
I also wanted to play with some molding paste. You can use dry wall compound for this as well.
At this point I don't know what I was thinking, because what I was planning to do would never work out with how I did it, lol.
I wanted my photo to blend in with the background, and have hearts around it.
I didn't work out as planned the first time around…but that is how it goes sometimes.

To get the photo to blend in more with the background, I just smeared the hearts that I made with the stencil.
I then added some spray mist with a make up sponge.
But I still wanted hearts around our photo.
Grabbed the stencil again after the molding paste was dry and added some spray.

I also drew around the hearts as when I sprayed them, they bled a bit on the paste.
It was at this point that I forgot to keep taking photos…but I will have a video to the process at the end of my post.

You all know I love to journal, so I had to add a bit of that to my page as well.
I printed the words up on my computer on regular copy paper.
Then I cut them into strips and added 3 different distress ink colours to the papers so they would blend nicely with the background.
I forgot the "the" on the last line, so I had to re-do the last strip when the page was all completed.

This is the second page.
When I first started these pages, this page was going to hold the journaling…but I wanted to add my leaves.
I didn't use my "real" leaves that I shared in a earlier post as they didn't want to stick to the page, but they stuck to my fingers, lol.
I like the colour of these leaves. I added some shading to them as well.

Wow, this was a long post.
I hope you stuck with me through it all, lol.

Oh look, I'm not done…
I have a video to share with you on how I put these pages together in more detail :)
If you would rather watch it on my YouTube channel just click on the link "Tracy's Treasures24"

I would like to say thank you to Caroline for joining me in this challenge into art journaling, and I am looking forward to our next challenge :)
If you would like to see Carolines take on our challenge, just click on the link "Grateful Challenge"

I hope you all had a very Creative Day
I am going to spend the rest of mine eating munchies and drinking a nice glass of ice-cold Coke…and most importantly, watching a marathon of the Walking Dead :)

Tracy :)

Journal Sneak Peek ;)

I finally finished my journal page…but this isn't the completed page.
I am uploading a video on it, that should take most of the night, but I wanted to share something tonight.

I wanted to blend the paints, but guess what….I totally forgot to do that as I was adding my paints.
I was going to scrap the page and just add gesso to the whole thing.
But then I thought what the heck….what do I have to lose.
So I took a very wet baby wipe and rubbed the heck out of the page.
I actually like the worn look to it.

Here is the page before I rubbed the heck out of it…see why I wanted to cover it up.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the big reveal, lol.
Now I need to go and tidy off my desk….I sure know how to make a big, big mess, teehee.

I hope you all had a very Creative Saturday :)

Tracy :)

Adventure comes to an end

We made it home safe and sound…we didn't even hit any snow.
During our travel to Winnipeg and back, I read this book.
It was really good. It took me a bit to get in to the book.
At first I thought it was because I was reading it in between doctor and dentist appointments, but then Becky told me she felt the same way….but it sure is worth getting over those first few chapters.

I love my sweets…but thats no surprise ;)
I usually pick these yummy cones of sugar in the States, but Wayne and I found some in Ignace.
I have to say these ones are so much better then the ones I get in the States…these ones are so soft and fresh….guess what I'm going to be doing after I post this, teehee

My daughters love Forever 21.
Heather spent about an hour and a half in that store.
I picked up this cute purse from there.
I don't like big purses…tiny person, tiny purse ;)
My girls bug me about my purses being so small. But the bigger the purse the more crap everyone tries to give me to carry in it.
I really like this purse, but I was so worried about my wallet fitting in it, that I didn't realize the long straps are sewed in.
I thought I could take them off.
I need a small strap..remember tiny person ;)
I thought I could use the strap (like a messenger bag) if we go somewhere like a movie or concert where I don't want to put my purse down.
But I am going to get out my seam ripper and pick the stitching apart to remove the long strap.
Then add a snap to attach and detach the straps.

I am so happy to be home.
I was actually a bit home sick while we were gone. That Never happens to me.

I hope you all had a Creative Friday :)

Tracy :)

Museum and concert adventures

Today was a busy, but very fun day.

Kristy and Heather wanted to go to the Museum of Man and Nature. We haven't been there in over 10 years.

We took many photos. 

Don't my girls look happy that I made them pose with the pirate, lol

But they had fun taking silly photos of themselves and sending them to Ashley, their big sister. They also had fun recreating photos I took of them when they were little, lol 

Then we went shopping at Polo Park. Thought of you Leslee, when we were there. 

Enjoyed dinner at Red Lobster, before heading to the concert. 

Yes, I had my regular ;) 

Look at all these crazy kids. 

Some of them were there since 8:00am 

Yes we were amungst them, but we were there only 2 hours before the concert. 

It was -24c   I have to say we couldn't feel our toes when the doors opened. So actually we were only out there for one hour. 

The reason we went so early is because Lights has a meet and greet with the first 50 who purchase her CD. 

Surprisingly we made it!!!

Heather is shy and didn't want to meet Lights. I asked Kristy if she wanted me to go with her. She said it didn't matter. 

So I left my spot for someone who would appreciate it more than me. 

I was so impressed with the opening band, Wildlife, that I bought their CD. Found out they are from Ontario. The lead singer signed my CD.

He also td me one of the band members are from my city. I thought that was pretty cool. 

I have to say Lights, was awesome. 

She has great vocals. 

I have been to concerts where the band doesn't sound as good live as the album, well Lights was just as good if not better. I was a great concert. 

It was a perfect trip. 

But I am feeling a bit home sick and looking forward to heading home tomorrow. 

Ready for some texting Becky, lol

I hope you all had a creative Thursday. 

Tracy :) 

Let the New Adventure Begin

Heather and Kristy wanted to see Light's in concert.
The concert being in Winnipeg, and the weather being what it is, Wayne took a few days off of work to come along and be our driver.
This I was happy about, as it is an 8 hour drive and it snowed for a few hours into the drive.
But in between naps, reading a novel and chatting with Becky (Fourth house on the Right) via texts…the drive didn't seem so long :)

The girls wanted to go shopping as soon as we got into Winnipeg, so we stopped at St. Vital, that was after we exchanged something for Ashley at Ikea's and Wayne did a bit of shopping at Cabela's.

But then I got to go to my store…The Scrapbook Cottage :)
I had contacted them last week, to see if they had a couple of items I was looking for and if they could put them away for me..they did :)
No surprise that they were art journaling supplies ;)
The first item was this smaller Dylusions art journal.
The second item was this product called Inka Gold.
I also picked up another one of these art journals that I have been using to practice in.
I love the paper in this Visual Journal!!!

Of course I found some other goodies while I was there.
It wasn't until I put all these goodies out to photograph that I realized 99% of the supplies were Christmas related….believe me when I say, I didn't need more Christmas goodies, teehee.

After our shopping was complete, we went to visit my dad and stepmom.
Doreen (my stepmom) cooked us a delicious dinner of ribs, rice and a few different desserts :)
She is an awesome cook.
For some crazy reason, I happen to get a migraine while we were there  :(  I am sure it will be gone with a good night sleep.

I hope you all had a very Creative Wednesday :)

Tracy

Come Learn with Me…Art Journaling…Glue

I wanted to find out what is the best glue to use in my Art Journal.

I had Matt Medium, Gloss medium/Varnish, glue with water (so it spreads more easily) and Mod Podge
First I used tissue paper to glue down, as it is light weight.
All of the glues, worked great for this.
When I used thick paper (it was water colour paper) all were okay, but when I started to pick at them, the best one was the glue with water. The rest of them peeled up, except the glue with water and the Gloss Medium/Varnish that I added a top coat to.
The reason I added colour to the paper, was to see if the colour would bleed. It did not bleed on any of the glues.

I have more detailed information in my video :)
If you would like to watch my video on my YouTube channel just click on the link "Tracy's Treasures24"
I hope you all had a Creative Tuesday :)

I am so close to completing my art journal page….so close ;)

Tracy :)

Altering Fall Leaves

I was working on my art journal today and thought of something fun to put in it.
I was planning on adding some paper die cut leaves that I was going to use some alcohol ink on.
But then I thought…why not use real leaves :)
Funny thing was, all the leaves were covered in ice and snow.
We had freezing rain last night and well..they were frozen to the ground, lol.

So after I pulled them from the ground, and thawed them out under warm water.
I patted them dry and covered them with matt Mod Podge, as I know that Mod Podge will keep them pliable.
When the Mod Podge dried I ran the leaves through my cuttle bug with a few different leaf dies.
I was pretty excited with the results.

When I told Kristy what I was doing, she responded with "You are making leaves out of leaves?"
I had a chuckle over her logic ;)

Look I made a video as well :)

If you would rather watch my video on my YouTube channel just click the link "Tracy's Treasures24"

I still have a long way to go with my art journal page.

I hope you all had a very Creative Monday :)

Tracy :)

Hide and Seek

Look at this little cutie :)

She thinks she is hiding, even though her bottom is sticking out as well as her tail, teehee.
I had a friend come to visit today, Caroline…my new blog friend.
I have to say, Luna couldn't get enough of her.

I was so excited to see Caroline again and share with her my messy craft space and some projects I have worked on.
It was like show and tell at Tracy's house and I was more than eager to share, lol.
Caroline and I had challenged each other to work on an art journal page last month.
She has completed hers, but wouldn't show me ;)
Maybe a sneak peek ';)
I, on the other hand am waiting till the last minute to complete mine….I would shock myself if I was ever to finish something early, lol.
I am not sure if I am liking my page.
Our theme was "Thankful with Fall colours". The burgundy I used is taking on a more of a dark pink colour…not the colour I was hoping for.
I will keep working with it, but if it still isn't working….I guess I will gesso the page over.

Walking Dead is on now, so off to watch some zombies ;)

I hope you all had a very Creative Sunday :)

Tracy :)

5th year of Fakesgiving

Today we celebrated Fakesgiving.

"Fakesgiving 2010"

"Fakesgiving 2011"

"Fakesgiving 2012"

"Fakesgiving 2013"

I know it was a bit early, but we are busy next weekend and everyone was able to make it today.

As I was making the finishing touches to dinner, the girls started to set the table.

They were such a great help today :)

Are my girls creative or what!
The used my planner post it notes as place cards, lol.
I think we could have came up with a more creative idea…but this was quick, teehee.

I didn't have much time for anything creative today.

But I did sneak downstairs to work in my art journal.

Onto My Day:

Wayne woke up early to get new winter tires for our jeep. We have all seasonal, and they are not the best in the winter..well for our winters that is.

He was there before the shop opened and was going to wait for them to put them on.

I guess he wasn't the first in line, as I got a call at 8:00am if I would pick him up as they wouldn't get to our jeep until this afternoon.

If you know me, you know that I am not a morning person…and I could hear in Wayne's voice that it pained him to ask me to do this.

We had an appointment at the bank and then ran to the grocery store to pick up some supplies for dinner tonight.

Came home and started the preparations for the big meal.

Ashley and Tyler came for supper as well as Kristy's boyfriend Blake.

I love when we are all together.

I am now bushed and hitting the hay soon…8:00 is too early for me, and I didn't even get a nap in ;)

I hope you all had a creative Saturday :)

Tracy :)

A Fun Manicure

As most of you know, I like to do my nails :)
The last time I did my nails…it didn't last very long.
And there is nothing that looks worse then chipped nail polish…okay thats not true, me in the early morning is worse ;)

So I decided to try my magnetic nail polish.
I thought this look was pretty appropriate for the snowy season, as they look like snowflakes to me.

 I have never used this one, even though I have had it for a year or longer…never open.
It has a magnet on the top of the bottle lid that makes a wave design, but I wanted to try a different design.
So I used this magnetic thingy that I picked up from Chatters a year or so ago.

I just have to say, this is not a quick manicure.
-First I apply my nail protector. It helps my nails not peel as well as helps them from discolouring from the nail polish.
-Then I added a base coat of the nail polish to each nail.
-As I add my second coat, I hold the magnet to the nail (with out touching the nail) for 20 seconds as it dries.
-I then do the same process to each nail, individually.
-After my polish is nice and dry (I usually tap my nails together), if they aren't tacky, then I add my top coat, which is also what I used as my nail protector.

As much as I enjoy doing my own nails, I still love when they last a grow out instead of getting chipped and haggard looking ;)

Onto My Day:
My friend Lynne and I had a plan.
We were going to check out Michaels (as they had some good coupons and sales going on)
Pick up our Scrap for Heart tickets for the crop that the Heart and Stroke foundation puts on every February.
We were going to pick up lunch.
Then head to my house to do some crafting.

This is how the day went.
We went to Michaels
Ran for a quick lunch at McDonalds
Came back to my house to craft.
Do you notice something missing…..yup, we forgot to pick up our tickets for the crop, lol.
Oh well, just another excuse to head out next week :)

I hope you all had a Creative Friday :)
I did, some of my friends came by for my Friday Night Scrapbooking night :)

Tracy :)

Frozen Yogurt Fail

Last night Kristy and I tried a little experiment.
Kristy saw it on Pinterest and wanted to give it a try.
We all like frozen yogurt, so Kristy wanted to try to make some ourselves.
We cut a slit on the lid of the yogurt container and slipped this popsicle holder into it, then popped it in the freezer over night.

We pulled it out it out tonight after supper.
I worked perfectly…but we didn't really care for the taste though.
I think we will stick to Menchies frozen yogurt ;)

I told Heather and Kristy that they were in charge of making dinner and I will clean up afterwards.
I would rather clean then cook ;)
They made a delicious dinner of garlic/brown sugar chicken and these Red Lobster buns.
Heather found a recipe for them, and I actually like them more than the ones from Red Lobster…they are sweeter :)

I was hoping to work on an art journal page, but only got a bit of it done, but I wasn't too disappointed as I ended up chatting with a friend for over 2 hours today :)
I do love to chat, teehee.

I hope you all had a Creative Thursday :)

Tracy :)

Come Learn with Me…Art Journaling…Gesso

When I first heard of gesso, I had no idea why we would even need it in our journals.
Then once I thought of it like primer when painting a wall…then it made perfect sense.

There are different types of gesso in the market.
There is a thick bodied gesso, clear gesso and even black gesso…but you can also colour your gesso yourself.
Gesso can also be used as a cover up.
If you don't like the page you are working on…just gesso over it.
If you want to tone down or cover up the papers you are using…just gesso it up.

I wanted to see the difference in having gesso on a page as opposed to not having gesso on the page.
The left hand side has gesso, the right hand side is plain art paper.
From the photo you may not notice the difference, but in the video it is more clear.
What I did notice is that with the gesso on the page, the mediums I used seemed to go on the pages more smoothly.

There is so much more information on my video.
If you would rather watch my video on my YouTube channel (as my blog doesn't show the full view), just click on the link "Tracy's Treasures"

Onto My Day:
Because me video was longer than 15 minutes, it didn't upload at night.
I had to verify my account, which was odd as I was posting it on my account.
So after I verified my account, I had to re-upload my video, which took another 5 hours..grrrr.
Because of this I ended up reading a novel most of the morning.
But later in the afternoon, I headed to Chapters Bookstore for another journal…yes you read that correctly, lol.

I hope you enjoy the video and hope you have a very Creative day :)

Tracy :)

What do you keep at hand?

Remember when I re-configured my desk?
Well, I haven't touched it since then.
I have no idea what I should put in these containers.
I do have some hidden chocolates in the top drawer, and my copic colouring paper in another.
But besides that, I am kind of stumped.
The reason I wanted to put these drawers here, was so I could have more of my supplies at hand.
I have put some containers inside some drawers to section off the large area.

So I am wondering, what would you keep in these drawers?
What are your "at hand" tools and supplies?

My post today was suppose to be about my "Come learn with me" series..this one on gesso.
But after editing it and the 4 hours it took to save it to my computer.
I knew it was going to take over 5 hours to upload it to my YouTube channel, it wouldn't make it to todays post.
So I will upload it late tonight, and it will be up for tomorrow post.

I hope you all had a very creative Tuesday :)

Tracy :)

Sharing some Washi Tape

I can't believe that I totally forgot to share this with you.
Whenever I go to a scrapbooking crop or put on a scrapbooking crop, I alway make gift/treat bags for my friends.
Well for my Halloween crop I put on, I did just that.
I wanted to share some of my washi tape with my friends, I thought I could spare a few wraps, teehee.
But how to share it, and share it creatively was something I had fun coming up with.

I had a lot of these embroidery floss holders as I use these containers for my embellishments and each container comes with these plastic tabs.
When I did do embroidery, they were made with thin chipboard, these plastic holders are so much more sturdy.

Now I wanted to decorate them a bit, as I like to do that kind of thing ;)
So I used StazOn ink to stamp these bats on both sides of the top and bottom of each holder.

The hardest part was finding a tiny Halloween type stamp :)

Now to pick out my washi tape.
Remember this was a Halloween crop…hence the theme of the tape ;)

Then I just wrapped the washi tape (about 10 wraps) around where the floss usually goes and voila…I got to share washi with my friends :)
I think I need to look for a tiny stamp for my winter/Christmas crop I am planning to put on next month:)

Onto My Day:
After driving Kristy to work, I picked up a hot chocolate for me and a tea for my friend Lynne, then headed to her house to help her clean and organize her craft room.
We worked on her room at the beginning of the year, but she felt overwhelmed and needed a touch up.
I know what you are thinking….I should be doing my room, lol.
We worked on her room, got her desk all cleared off and put away, and then her power went out.
So we took a break, but her power didn't come back on, so I headed home to "not" work on mine, lol.

Ashley came by tonight for dinner and to share a dress that she bought in hopes that the girls would like it for the bridesmaids dresses.
The price is great and the dress can be worn so many ways…it is really beautiful.
She will share it with her friends to see if they like it.
Hopefully everyone likes it and that is one less thing she has to worry about.

I hope you all had a very Creative Day :)

Tracy :)