Who Inspires Me?

In my creative journey, which has been newly re-discovered, a few artists out there have really inspired my new love of art journaling.

I have been expanding my scrapbooking from simple to more artistic pages. Then a friend convinced me that I should take the Soul Restoration online workshop by Melody Ross from Brave Girls Club. I learned so much about myself and what I want to do with my life. I also learned how to art journal. My tries at written journaling never went anywhere and became crazy rants. I didn't like that so much. But when I write and use art to express what a wrote, something magical happens. In Soul Restoration 1, Melody created a curriculum with pages of journal prompts and little sayings, phrases, words and pictures to help you express what your feelings creatively. If you are at a crossroads in your life or just want to figure out what your next step in life should be, I highly recommend her Soul Restoration classes. These classes are online and she allows you plenty of time to complete the course and the best part, there are no right or wrong answers. :)

http://bravegirlsclub.com/soul-restoration-1-and-2

Another person who inspires me is Donna Downey. I had the chance to meet her and take classes with her recently and she is such an encouraging and fun person. On her Simply Me blog (http://donnadowney.typepad.com/) she regularly posts columns called Collage Monday and Inspiration Wednesday. My friend and I have fun re-interpreting these with our own supplies. This weeks Collage Monday from Donna featured strips on the left with birdie cutouts and a large flower on the right with some memorabilia from her current trip to Belgium and Germany. This is my interpretation using materials I have. Her use of various materials and mediums will challenge you to try new things in the your creative process.

Materials used: Martha Stewart butterflys, acrylic paints, paper accents from Soul Restoration Curriculum, tapes from 7 Gypsies, fabric tape by 2 Daily, white acrylic ink, stamps Donna Downey Embrace You by Unity and Inkadoo, Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

Trying something new

So I am trying something new. I've been a stay at home mom for 14 years and it's time to start thinking of what I will do when my nest is empty. This is a first step. After losing my love for art for many years, I found it again when a neighbor persisted with me to try scrapbooking. I had portraits of my daughter from since she was born, so why not put them in a scrapbook. I finally tried and fell in love with the artistic process again.

Fast forward and I have recently rediscovered how much I like playing with paint, color and even crochet. I am in not an original, I reinterpret works and ideas from various blogs I read for inspiration. So what do I love to do? Scrapbook, art journal, collage and crochet. I play around in various journals with ideas I come up with. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. All I do know is that learning to express myself with art has been very good for me and keeps me positive while I figure out what I will do when my little bird flies from the nest.

Here I played with texture and the color blue. I don't remember what all I used. I will try to give credit as much as possible. I believe the rub-on are from Hambly, the stamps are Technique Tuesday and Hero Arts, and the tissue paper is from a purchase from Brighton Collectables. I used bubble wrap to make the polka dots.

Just play, save things you find interesting and things with texture that you can paint and stamp for an interesting element. Don't be afaid - just do it.