Listen to Your Heart art journal page

A few groups of my friends and I have some ongoing art challenges.
Some are new to it and some have been doing it longer than I have.
My friend Sharon came up with this challenge, the theme of this challenge was "Love" and to use "strips"

Can I say how much I love how this page turned out!!
When I look at this page, I see me!
I have always said I really don't have a specific style as I love all types of styles.
But this page has inking, and stamping, a heart, burgundy and contrast...so much of what I love!!!
I do have to point out that this page was inspired by an art canvas I had seen on Pinterest "here"

Let us start with the process.
I inked the whole page with distress ink and then stamped it with a script text in the same colour ink.
I love the subtle look to this background.

Then I did what I love to do and that is to ink the edges.
I used 3 different colours of ink to give it a old aged look.
Inking does take a lot of time to do, but it is soooo worth it.
I then added some stamping here and there.

I love how this colour pops off of the page.
This heart started out as a white piece of cardstock and I coloured it with spritzes and inks.
I also did some stamping on it with the same script stamp as well as stamping with some flowers and other odd and end stamps, and of course I inked the edges.

Here is another look at the inked edges as well as the ripped part of the page.
I added some of the same spritzed paper behind the rip for some more pop to this page.

Wondering where the strips came into this page?
I used long stamps as my strips as well as a strip of key washi tape on the top left and bottom right of the page.

I also inked where I was going to place the heart for more depth.

Here is the completed page!

Here are all of the art journal pages with this theme "Love" & "Strips"

I love how they are all so different, but using the same themes! 

And look...I did a process video!!!

If you would rather watch the video on my YouTube channel...just click on the link "HERE".


Thank you so much for visiting me on my blog today :)
I hope you all have a very Creative Day.

Tracy 💗💗💗

Time to Play

Look what turned up on my doorstep today :)

I have been curious about these markers since I had first heard about them last year or so.
You all know I LOVE my Copic markers, and they will always be my first choice in colouring.
But with only 20 markers, as opposed to my 300+ Copics, I thought these would be easier for me to cart back and forth to camp, or for just a quick colouring.

And lookie what I found at Dollarama :)
These Smash books were only $3.00 each and the inside pages are really pretty.
I picked up this fun notebook and mini calendar….mostly for the 2016 calendar…isn't it just too cute :)

Last and definitely not least, washi tape…or decorative tape for those technical crafters, lol.
Getting excited to decorate my Faubonichi journal for the month of October :)

I hope you all had a very creative day today.
Me….I just played around a bit with my new markers.
I didn't colour an image yet though.

Tracy :)

Another Washi Use

Call me crazy or even paranoid, but I had seen a show where laptops have been hacked into and the hacker can watch you through your camera on your laptop.
Is this true, I have no idea.
But I don't need someone snooping on me…even though they would get bored very quickly.

After I saw this program I stuck a post it note on the camera on my laptop.

Isn't that pretty, lol.
When Heather saw this the other day, she was confused on why I had the crumpled up post it note on there.
After I told her why…she chuckled and said to me….well at least you could have put some of your Washi tape on there instead…….such a smart girl, lol.

So I took her advice and added one of my favourite wash's to the camera ;)

















Actually I added a few layers ;)
So much prettier ;)

Here are a few other uses I have for my washi tape :)
Just click on my link if you want to see them :)  "Yup, another washi post"

I think I may need to go back into hibernation….second day of snow here :(
And its chilly as well.
But Spring is coming :)

I hope you all had a very Creative, snowless day :)

Tracy :)

Mini "Love" card

I went down into my craft room to make a few Valentines cards for my family.
But after looking in my card stash…I see I have more than enough for this year.
And with my goal to send the cards that I already have, I didn't need to make any.

When I make my cards, I usually make them 5.5x5.5, which leaves me with a 3x11 piece of card stock left over from my base, perfect for a 3x3 card.
I made this card awhile ago but it needed a little something.
So I used my new Teresa Collin's "Love" punch, to spruce my card up a bit.
I punched "Love" 3 times and layered them for a thick-chipboard look to it and then adhered it on my card.
These small 3x3 cards are so fun to make….and a perfect way to use up some of those tiny scraps :)
My oldest daughter Ashley has a love with journals, notebooks and her new love of planners, just like me :)
She sent me a link to a mint coloured KikiK with gold details.
Ashley was trying to figure out a way to justify purchasing this planner ;)
I had asked her at Christmas if she would use a planner, and she didn't think she would.
She really likes how I decorate my planner pages and my fauxbonichi, but she said her note book for work is functional, but boring.
I told her we couldn't have that, and to bring it over next time she comes over.
Which was tonight ;)

She writes a lot in her book for work, so I needed to keep the writing area clear.
So I used washi tape to decorate the top of each page.

Isn't this such pretty washi :)

I also did a bit of stamping.
Because the ink shadowed through to the next page, I would add washi on the next 2 pages.
I hope this makes her smile when she opens this book in the morning at work.

Our cat Luna loves to be around us, especially when we are in the kitchen.
When we are in the kitchen, she is either at her food dish, on a chair pawing at us as we walk by, or on the top of the cupboards watching us eat our dinner.
But tonight, she enjoyed watching Heather wash the dishes, teehee, she is so cute.

I hope you all had a very Creative Monday.

Tracy :)

New Washi Tape Storage :)

I will let you have a break from my journals and go onto my other obsession…Washi Tape!!

If you have been following my blog for any amount of time, then you know I really like Washi Tape or decorative tape.
I like it so much, that my collection keeps growing.
Growing so much so, that I have gone through 5 different container to accommodate them.
I have a few blog posts and a video that shares my growth.
Here is my first post with a video :) "Washi Storage with Video"
And another one "Yup, Another Washi post" I share a few uses, besides crafting, on this one.
Oh and I will throw in my video on how I make my washi tape thinner "Washi on a Diet"

Now onto todays post :)
This is my latest storage for my washi tape.
It is a  H=10 3/4xW=13.5xD=13  Sterilite 3 drawer container.
It is a bit bulky to carry around, but I am working on a solution for that ;)
I use to foam core board to separate the rows. The problem with that is that they would fall over when I moved it around.
Aslo when opening the drawers, I couldn't reach the back washi as the drawers don't come out without force.

I was thinking of using empty kitchen wrap containers to put the rows of washi in…but how long would that take to collect enough for my needs.
And here I thought I was a patient person, lol.
Well, look at what I found at the dollar store…they are perfect…well pretty much perfect ;)

I can fit 4 of these trays in one drawer.
Where I could fit 5 rows with the foam core board.
But with the foam core board I still couldn't reach the back washi tapes and they still got mixed up.
I picked up 3 of these trays yesterday to see if they would work.
Then picked up 9 more when I drove Kristy to work.
When I got home I got straight to work.
But then realized that I had more washi tape than trays…so I braved the -40c weather and picked up 4 more.

Here it is all nice and organized.
Oh about reaching the back trays…..I will just have to pull out the front tray and pull the others forward to reach the back one :)
I bet you noticed the trays of washi tape on the top of the drawer container….This container sits upon another drawer container just like this one, so I will just move these 4 into the top drawer of that container.
It is so much smoother to open the drawers now as tape doesn't get stick, and so much easier to see what I have :)
Ohhh this makes me so Happy :)

I think I should have been dusting instead of organizing my washi tape, as this is Luna playing with the dust particles in the sun beams, lol.
But this put a smile on mine and Heather's faces and organizing my washi tape was so much more fun than dusting :)

I hope you all had a very Creative Monday :)

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 :)

Scrappy Adventure....Day 3

Today was another fun crafty shopping day.

First stop…back to Pine City Scrapbooking :)

Look they have their own pattern paper with their store name on it..sooooo cool!!

These were my purchases from the first day we went to Pine City Scrapbooking on Monday.

I found a few fun Prima stamps and those stamps at the bottom "Great Impressions" so so cute :)

Now onto Todays goodies :)

I came across this fun Tim Holtz file book. They had one already put together in a Autumn theme, so cute. Plus it was under $5.00..bonus.

I just had to grab a couple of these fun Pine City Scrapbooking papers, I have many happy memories there and equally as many photos.

Nabbed this cute Pima Christmas stamp set. 

You all know I couldn't pass up these zombie papers….how Awesome!!!!

I made a mini album of Ashley's "Night of the Living Dead" photo shoot, but haven't done any 12x12 pages…this paper is Perfect for that.

Here is the mini album I did, if you would like to check it out "Night of the Living Dead" mini album.

I just fell in love with this pretty paper by Bo Bunny called Primrose.

I had to get double sheets as both sides were equally beautiful.

I also picked up the sticker sheet and cutouts.

I figured out I might as well pick out some matching card stock and make a kit out of it all.

We then stopped off at the Walmart here.

Oh look, I found some more paper and washi tape ;)

Remember this is a non-judging blog ;)

Everyone kept telling us that we needed to get a cinnamon bun from Tobies.

I can not tell you how delicious these were.

I think I may pick up a few to share with the family when I get home ;)

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to head to the breakfast room/lobby and do some colouring.

The lighting in our room is terrible, as you can tell by my haul photos.

Everyone who walked by us, stopped to see what we were doing and ask questions :)

Sharon had always told me she would never colour as she doesn't enjoy it.

Well guess what….she is colouring now, teehee.

I have been telling her about coloured pencils and using Gamsol (orderless mineral spirits) to blend…..yes I am such a enabler, teehee.

Sharon picked up some inexpensive artist grade coloured pencils and a smaller container of OMS.

We couldn't find a cheap glass container for the OMS, so we went the dollar store and picked up a sponge. The only container that had a tight lid was a jar of artichokes, lol.

So Sharon put the artichokes in a foam coffee cup with a lid, washed out the glass jar and added the OMS :)

See we are creative all around, teehee.

Thought I would share a couple of images that I had coloured up today.

I was showing Sharon how to blend with the OMS with her coloured pencils. This is the image I coloured up…isn't this just so cute?!

I brought my Copics, so figured I had better use them, teehee.

I have never used this colour combination on jeans before, but I really like it.

I tried to make the balloon transparent….I think it worked.

I am now watching Survivor as Sharon is out at the Casino trying to win back some crafty shopping money, teehee.

I hope you all had a Creative Wednesday :)

Tracy :)

Altered Memo Board

I went down in my craft room today to clean up and organize.
My room is such a disaster, that I need to clean in order to move around to organize.

But instead of doing that, I decided to finally alter our Family memo board.
Yes it is was more enjoyable ;)

This memo board is a dry/erase board and it is attached to our fridge and it is gets a lot of use.
This is the Before photo
I had been meaning to alter this for a long time…like a year or so…yup full fledged procrastinator here.

First I used my label maker to re-do the headings on here.
I had used a sharpie marker, but even that faded over time.

I also used a Sharpie marker to draw in my lines, but those eventually got erased.
So I picked out a few pretty Washi tapes to take the place of the Sharpie lines.
I have had the "abs" photo on this memo board, my old memo board and even my fridge at one time.
I had to keep it ;)
I like that it just happen to fall under a need ;)

I really love the pop of colour that this rose washi tape gives.
I think this is one of my favourite washi tapes that I own, and believe me I have more than a few rolls, lol.
My daughter made this "I love my mom" sticker when I got my label maker many years ago.
It has been adhered to many surfaces in our kitchen along with the "abs" photo. So I had to keep it ;)

Here is the Memo board in its rightful place on our fridge.
It looks so much nicer now with a bit more order and colour to it.
I even picked up a few new markers to go along with it.

I also did a quick video on this.
If you would rather watch it on my YouTube channel just click the link "Tracy's Treasures24"
I hope you all had a Creative Thursday :)

Tracy :)

Working with my New Planner Pages

I am still getting the feel for my new planner pages.
One thing I do like about these pages are that the spaces for each day on either side of the washi tape seem to be wider.
I add washi tape to where the time schedule is. I don't use this, so it is a great place to add washi to, to decorate it up :)
On these new pages the time schedule is almost in the middle of that page, last years pager were closer to one side or the other.
So I seem to be able to write more in these spaces.
I added this quote from a 4x6 Sn@p Card that I cut down, backed with card stock and then used washi tape.
I covered up the December days that carried over to this week.

One thing I don't like about these pages is that instead of all the English written first, they broke it up to English, French, English, French.
So when I add my Washi tape to separate the days, I have to cover up the numbers and parts of the English dates :(
So I guess I have to hand write my day numbers again this year.

Another reason I do like these pages is because it has a "Notes and Memos" for the month that ended and also "A Diary Record" on one page and the next is "To Be Done in..." for that month.
I really like these features. As you know I love to write, and here I have a lot of room to both make plans and to write.

I hope you all had a very creative Saturday :)

Tracy :)