Artist Reborne

More WTJ

You might be thinking to yourself, "Self, I don't think this Artist Reborne chick has been doing much this summer....all she ever talks about is this WTJ project!" and do you know what, you'd be right!  I am deep in a stint as Director of our VBS and haven't had a single minute to sit down and breathe, much less create real pieces of "art". I have, however, carved out just a minute or two here and there to wreck this journal because, to be quite frank, all this distruction has been my sanity saver.  Would you think less of me if I told you one of my dirty little secrets...I crave the occassional violence/destruction.  I love a good action flick.  I love wrecking this journal.  I love the primal release of pent up frustration and stress through destructive methods.  (of course, no humans or animals have been hurt or destroyed...so please, don't be calling the authorities on me *grin*).  My poor husband just had to roll his eyes at me the other night, when after a particularly grueling day of children and responsibilities, I took out the "scribble wildly" page and had at it.  Got so heavy handed I went through two or three layers.  Man, it felt good!

So all I have, yet again, for you this week is more distruction.  Although, some of it was really quite CONSTRUCTIVE.  Someone left a comment after the hole drilling incident about how it looked like a zombie and it got me to thinking.  So I drew some features on the cover and thought, "why stop here?" and then I went to the "sew this page" page and added a little tuft of hair and some legs.  Now I have my own little wrecker to keep me company.  I carry him around all over the place, waiting for my next opportunity to let 'er rip.  He seems patient enough...happy enough too.  I look forward to one day soon taking him for a walk.  I think he would enjoy a little cement tour of the neighborhood.  Oh, and did I mention, he took a shower with me this last week (I won't tell you what my husband had to say about that!)

   

 

When I had finished sewing my little wrecker together I noticed this cute little face had appeared on the inside...

 

A little monster with a beauty mark...LOL.  An alter ego maybe?

 

Another fellow wrecker had written something in a similar font style on their title page and I liked the idea, so I wrote my own pep talk.

 

I've "colored outside the lines"  and cut a hole out of the center...eventually I will find a picture to paste behind it.

 

Then the kids and I "cut through several layers" and I bent and folded and glued down the cut sections to form some sort of weird paper sculpture.

I don't know but this is the most fun I have had playing around in a long time.  This poor book has gone from being so crisp and new and pristine, to, well, lived in, loved on, played with and experimented on.  I have heard some grumblings about how we spent good money on a book that was just filled with simple instructions on how to destroy it, but honestly, this was money well spent.  Seriously.  And I would do it again in a heartbeat.  Cheap therapy, that's what I call it *grin*

WTJ--The wrecking REALLY begins

I think I have finally gotten into this project with all the gusto I believe it was meant to entail.  Let's just say, in regards to the book, it was a pretty violent week *grin*  Allow me to explain...

 

since obtaining this book, I have had an uncontrollable urge to drill holes in it.  So yesterday I grabbed a 1/2" countersink bit and had at it.  It took some doing, especially since I was trying NOT to drill through my hand as well (imagine the staining the blood would have left LOL), but eventually I got through all the layers and now the poor thing can no longer lay shut.

 

Another fantasy I have held on to is the desire to tie the journal to the back of my van and drive around with it.   So after the holes were in place, I tied a rope through it and to my trailer hitch (yeah, mini van with a trailor hitch, don't ask) and drove it around the block.  Granted, I was somewhat careful...I did want to still have the journal when I was done, so that I could continue with the wreckage fun.  But after a 25 mile an hour tour of my neighborhood, this is how she looks....

 

Even after I drove over the book several times, this is still the worst it got.  Tough little book!

 

I tore out the page and crumpled it...now it will be used to staple or glue back in where directed.

 

I burned it, trying not to burn my deck down at the same time as a small gust of wind blew up suddenly and I had a little more trouble than I should have blowing it out.  I like the way this one looks.

 

On the way to Cinncinatti the other day, I documented time passing...this was rather amusing, picking out ridiculous little tidbits to put in my chronology...like Johnny Cash sings a Boy Named Sue and someone's vanity plate.  Oh, and in the end, I tore out the paper airplane page and threw it into the back of the van.  I think it's still there. 

So there's my bit of destruction for the week.  And now I want to send out an offer to those of you also on the journey to Wreck this Journal...there is a page that instructs us to give away our favorite page.  I have three favorites.  If interested, be one of the first three people to respond (with an email address somehow attached to your comment) in the comments to this post, and I will trade you one of my favorite pages for one of yours.  Then we can staple or tape or glue the exchanged page into our own journals and continue the fun.  So, who wants to trade?  I will get back with the first three responders by email on Monday and we'll exchange details.  Oh, and just for fun, the first one to request a trade will also receive a free copy of Robin's lovely zine A Handmade Life, in which I was lucky enough to have a few pieces published.

Enjoy your weekend!

WTJ--Favorites Week

None of these pages are from my new go round with this journal, unless you count this first one, which is an on-going project.  But when I got to the page about marking my favorites, these are the ones that came to mind.

 

 

 

 

I find I am still hung up with finding the "perfect" page to work on whenever I open the journal.  I think next week the goal is going to be to just open the darn thing and do what is right in front of me, no sitting on the fence, just do it.

Begin again...to Wreck this Journal

 

I came across a new to me blog this past week...Jamie Ridler's "The Next Chapter".  It's a blog book club.  This is the perfect book to do something communal like this, so I decided I would jump on board. 

I bought Keri's book sometime last year, and in the hot rush that comes with starting something new, I did several pages.  And then the fire began to fade to embers and I put the book on the shelf and haven't been back to it since (except for the page with the fruit stickers.  More on that another time.).  There is no real reason for why I let the fire die; it really is a fun and freeing book to try.  At least once you get over the initial defacement.

 

[Words read:  Let go of TOXIC expectations...Partake daily of the Well of Inspiration...become an artist REBORNE.]

I remember being exhilerated and yet totally trepidatious about starting this journal.  I was still relatively new to art journaling and I think I still had some hang ups about the whole "perfection" thing (and maybe I still do...does that ever go away?).  And I hate to admit to it, but once I got the book home, I skimmed through all the pages looking for that "perfect" page on which to start.  I finally settled on writing along the outer edge of the pages (I don't even remember if that was one of the "guided instructions" or if I just randomly picked that one myself).  As a kid in school, I think I secretly envied those kids who walked the fringes and wrote in their textbooks.  I wouldn't have DARED!  But I remember always being drawn to the ones where people had written along the edges.  So that is one of the first things I gave myself permission to do with this book.  And you know what, it felt good.

I love what Jamie said in her video entry for week 1...by defacing this book, we are actually helping it to achieve its purpose.  Achieve its purpose.  Love that!  So no more feeling guilty or queasy or nervous about whatever comes next.  Just let go and do it.  Free yourself from those ridiculous self-imposed restraints.  Jump off the bloody bridge and see what kind of glorious ripples come from it.  At least, that is what I keep telling myself *grin*

So I guess for the next month or so I will keep this book handy and let 'er rip from time to time.  Feeling playful, wreck the journal.  Feeling frustrated, wreck the journal.  Bored out of my mind, wreck the journal!  If you are a fellow journal wrecker, please be sure to leave me a link to your latest page.  I am looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing with this experiment.

A New Art Journal

 

I recently got around to trying out picnik.com, a resource most bloggers have been playing with for awhile now.  What can I say, I am usually behind the technology curve.  Actually, I have become quite addicted to it...and to the polaroid frame option in particular.  I just love the square format and the way it crops photos so that something is always getting cut off, just like with the real thing.  My aunt had one when I was growing up, and I loved the magic performed each time a picture was taken.  Us kids would fight over who got to "shake" the photo and we all huddled close together as the not-so-true-to-life-colors started to appear.  It was magic, I tell you, magic.

 

So I decided to start an art journal where each layout would revolve around one of these faux polaroids.  A place where I can play (because I totally agree with you Robin!), and yet it can serve as another record of my little life.  I found this grid notebook at the local teacher store the other day and decided it was the perfect substrate for this journal.  I was up until the wee hours of the night putting together the cover and the title page, because once the mojo is flowing, you just don't stop for anything *grin*  It was fun getting to use up paper bits and scraps that have been laying around in my stash for far too long.  Nothing seems to make me happier than using up stuff right now.  All part of that simplification process and finding more joy, I guess.

I really want to play more in my art journals, but I just can't seem to find the time.  So many journalers talk about a quick little page done here or there, taking it with them and working in the carpool lane at school, etc.  But I just can't seem to get that to work for me.  When I get down to journal, I really want to paint and then there is the messy glues and before I know it, I am stretched to the limits of my craft table and it is two hours later.  No wonder I don't have any completed books yet.  I have tried that whole "paint your backgrounds first" thing, but inveritably, I end up wanting to use more paint to ground the image or final bits that I place on the page.  I don't know, anyone out there successfully working in a journal that wants to give me some advice?! *grin*

Maybe unplugging and getting back to the table would be a good idea, eh?

I want to thank all you great tutorial writers!

 

It is because of you that I have learned to sew dresses for my daughter, pants for my son and this cute little zipper pouch for myself.  I have an entire folder in my favorites file for sewing tutorials.  Most of them get printed out (after they have been tried and found successful) and placed in a 3-ring notebook on my little sewing station.  Sew just for kicks (sorry, couldn't help myself *grin*), here are a few I have found useful of late...keep in mind, I am a total novice.

zippered pouch shown above

pillowcase dress I keep making for my daughter

bandana pants I made for my kids and nieces and nephews last year

a little somethin' I ain't shown yet

covers for the kids' cans of markers and crayons and things--also last year's teacher gifts

the skirt I made my daughter last fall

Wow, I guess I hadn't realized just how much I had been sewing this last year!

And there are several things I am wanting to try, like this...

button down shirt dress

tiered skirt

reversable tote

bucket

Ok, guess that's enough of that for now.  I need to get back to work on my swap package for my blog friend Heather.  We have a little one-on-one summer swap going on right now which should be loads of fun.  Can't wait to see what comes out of it.

Have a great weekend!

This Looks Like FUN!

 

It was Christmas when I last took one of Shimelle's classes.  Then I got an email today about this new one she is doing in the month of June and I totally want to play along!  The older I get, the more I love color...does that sound strange?  I would think my childhood infatuation would have been the epitome, but alas, it's true, I love color more today than yesterday *grin*  And if I am not mistaken, the Halls' class at BPS this month is also about color...yippee, a double dose!

The first challenge from Shimelle is to celebrate our favorite color or colors.  Well, I only just learned about the challenge, so I don't have anything prepared yet, but I plan to and when I do, I will share it here with all of you.  My suggestion to you, go on over to Shimelle's place and read about this challenge, then do it for yourself.  If you do, let me know, I would love to come check out your ode to color!

More handmade living

 

Finished the pair of jammies I was working on for Meara.  They feature this gorgeous blue fabric she picked out with Tinker Bell and her fellow fairies on it.  In true cheater fashion, I simply traced a pattern from a store-bought pair of jammies she got recently. They are a little big... something she'll definitely be wearing into next year.  She appears to really like them, as after we came home from church today and Daddy had changed her diaper, she comes sneaking out to find me with this coy look on her face, wearing the new jammies.  When asked if she liked them, she silently shook her head up and down once quite emphatically.

 

 

[love those little baby toes...sigh~]

I have really enjoyed reading the comments about my last post.  Glad to know I am not the only one in the boat, and that there is hope of reaching the other side again *grin*  I have another post for early in the week,  mostly for my mom, that shows the domestic devestation wrought on my kitchen this last week as I made strawberry/rhubarb jam for the first time.  Anyone living under the delusions that I am this great creative domestic, you have to see this post!

Until then, have a great rest of the weekend.

My Handmade Life

 

Mal* over at turningturning had a great post today that got me, once again, thinking about this thing I call my life.  It was all about how one of her big priorities is to make things.  And how one goes about finding the time to do that, in our crazy, over-processed world.

Making it a priority

I guess I could honestly say that making things is also a big priority in my life.  And not just the art-for-art's-sake making, either.  It has slowly become a priority for me to make more things for my family...more of their clothes, their toys, their bread (and all other manners of sustanance).  Yes, in some ways I guess I do this to feel a deeper connection with the women in my family tree and return to those rural roots that have somehow  found themselves languishing in the smog and noise of city life.  But I also do it because I feel it is the loudest, most obvious way to tell my family how much they mean to me.  God knows, it would be so much easier, and quicker, to obtain all these things from a box store.  Walk in, plunk down a few of the hubby's hard earned dollars and walk out with product X.  But to do so does not speak to me of value and of love.  What does is walking into a fabric store and having my 2 year old pick out some pretty fairy fabric she loves, then taking it home and making her a little set of jammies/loungewear that she will very proudly walk around the house wearing.  Or taking my son to the farmer's market and having him help me buy zucchini so we can go home and stand together in our kitchen making a loaf of bread that we can't wait to melt some butter on and enjoy.

Make no mistake...a handmade life is not a cheaper life, not by a long-shot.  Sure, there are the occassions where another object can be repurposed and given new life for next to nothing, but on the whole, making our own clothing, toys, food...this costs far more in dollars and minutes than a trip to the box store.  But the cost to our human souls I think is far greater.  We are becoming so disconnected, so desensitized, so impersonal.  This handmade life...this is my way of taking my soul back and giving it to a far more worthy recipient, my family.  And in the end, are they going to remember me for all those wild trips to Wally World or Target?  Or will they instead smile over the recollected stories of jammies gone wrong, that super Yoda pillow case I once made, or the great homemade jam we had every summer (made from home grown berries)?  I hope it is the latter.

The list of things I want to make seems to grow ever larger, often taking on a life of its own.  That is where I need the help of prioritizing...how do I get the time in my day to do these things, when my world already seems to spin out of control?  Personally, I think my number one impediment to that happy, handmade life is convenience.  I find myself running to one or more stores every single day...why?  Because it is convenient, it's right there, it'll take 10 minutes.  So instead of having a list of things that I need the next time I happen to be in town, I just hop in the car to run that quick errand.  I have to break that cycle, have to stop making these trips every day.  Have to remind, nay, re-train myself to wait, put it off.  It really doesn't have to be done today, right now, this minute.  I think this shift alone would be enough to bring several hours if not an entire day back into my week.

So I think it is time to make a date with that notebook and pen.  Get it all down in a concrete form what exactly it is I want from this handmade life and just how it is I am going to be able to make it happen.  Summer is a great time for that...all those lazy days stretched out before us.  But if I don't take the steps now, that summer is going to be gone before I know it and I will be left to wonder, what the HECK did I do with it?!

A little old fashioned stitchery

 

I had the chance this weekend to finish up this kitchen towel and these crocheted washclothes I started recently.  Very happy with how both have turned out.  [translate---look, Mom, I finally got that double crochet to work out!!]  Discontent with my current grungy, store-bought towels drove me to the craft store for this beautiful cotton yarn and a set of reproduction kitchen towels (you know, the ones with the red stripe down each side, like Grandma always had?).  Many of you might recognize the barn...a regular in my symbology arsenal.  More and more I find my decorating style leaning toward that vintage farmhouse look.  I would really rather prefer to actually LIVE in a vintage farmhouse, but this will have to do for now *grin*

 

Lots of playing in the kitchen took place this weekend, too.  Lots of strawberries leaving juice stains everywhere.  [Sigh!  Love this time of year...so many yummy things to pick from the garden or at least the farmer's market.]  Bought some zucchini and made a new to me bread (zucchini parmesean bread, quite yummy).  Had some grilled lemon pepper talopia with home grown lemon thyme.  Making another of these cobblers.  Homemade potato chips with sea salt and cracked pepper.  Yeah, definitely having fun in the kitchen! 

Enjoying the last of my son's four day holiday weekend.  Can't believe school is almost over.  Bring on the summer!