Slightly Creative

I have been putzing around for the last few days - packaging and scanning things for my Etsy store, starting a new weight loss blog here and taking care of my sick baby. Yesterday I went for a walk and took these photos...

I walked to the bluff and looked out at the Puget Sound.

Working on creating a healthier body and self image.

Look at all those lovely boats waiting for sailing season to get here.

This was a really cool bunch of trees I saw on the way.

The kids will both be gone this weekend, so I plan on hiding out and making some serious art. No cooking or cleaning - just some dedicated ME time - can't wait :-))

All for tonight my lovelies,

kso

xoxoxoxo

Weekend Art

I have a thing for elephants and I saved this illustration from the book jacket for an old copy of The Jungle Book - so I saved it and this weekend I finally used it. When I looked at this art -later in the day -I thought that the spine from the book jacket on the right, with the leaves stamped on it kind of looked like a tree. I still need to write something on the pages, but I'm not sure what that will be right now - later it will come to me...

I found - in my stash - a little hand drawn Pokemon card that my son made years ago. I like to use these little art snippets from my children in my journal art. I can still remember him asking to use my special scissors to cut the edges of all his cards. He was so pleased with his little designs. I can't believe I still had this!! I know that when I look back at this journal art I will instantly recall my little boy and this moment.

The little "happy meal" tag will also remind me of my son - when he was six he told me when he grew up he would be a much better parent... because he would take his son to McDonald's everyday if he wanted. He was very mad at me because I wouldn't take him for another happy meal.

The little doll tag in the lower left corner is from my daughter - she loved her Barbie's and all that damn paraphernalia - always so many little tiny shoes. Worse than the Legos :-)

All for tonight my lovelies,

kso xoxoxoxo

New projects

I have an uexpected day off so I thought I would post a couple of photos from my little journals I am working on. The first a vintage Spanish book repurposed into a small pocket size journal - it measures 4.75 inches by 6/75 inches. A thin little treasure called "Taboada's Cuentos Alegres". Perfect for carrying in your purse to jot down all your journaling observations. I linded the inside covers with pretty paper to match the really long ribbon that wraps around and around to close it. I love how it turned out :-) The original owner has written his name on the front cover - C. D. Samson - gives it that extra special patina that an old book deserves.

The second one is an old children's book from the 1950's. It's a lovely size - 6 inches by 8 inches - perfect for journaling or art journaling. It has a really nice color graphic on the cover. This one has 3 signatures or 96 pages - Strathmore drawing paper. Will make a wonderful sketchbook or just a plain old journal for writing. I really like the way this one turned out too!!

All for today - off to put some new things in the store :-)

See you later my lovelies,

kso

xoxoxoxo

Synchronicity at Work

It's funny what you notice when you become an art journalist who likes to collage. My birthday was back in October and right about that time I was on my way to the post office. When I am walking in the city, I find myself looking at the ground - a lot!!


I find the most interesting things and they usually end up on a page. I picked up this interesting little beat up King's Hardware matchbook cover - it's a local bar. It just caught my eye and I thought it looked so cool and distressed. Later that same week I ended up in King's Hardware for a spontaneous birthday celebration planned by my group of girlfriends. This art entry will be about my birthday and finding that matchbook cover - synchronicity at work!!

On another front, I began collecting vintage books a few months ago - the ones with the really cool graphics on the covers. I have been gutting them and saving them for a later project - planning on turning them into journals. This evening I began making the new interiors. I am making signatures of Strathmore drawing paper - they can then be used as sketch books, art journals or just plain writing journals. I am kind of excited about these babies!!

Oh, I also forgot to mention that my kids really went all out this year for my Christmas gift - they filled my stocking with goodies for the first time and they topped it off with a new camera!! Fabulouso... now I can take lovely photos of all my blog stuff :-))

All for tonight my lovelies
kso
xoxoxoxo

Productivity...

is very satisfying!!! I spent the day organizing buttons, ribbons and just getting my creative house in order. The kids will both be gone next weekend and I want to be prepared for some marathon art making - yeah :-) I know it's only the second day of the new year, but I already feel a difference. Is it just me and my attitude or is it getting things in order? Maybe it's having a new blog home and being able to express my thoughts more freely... whatever it is I am liking it!

Here is my art for the day...

I can still remember how this dress felt - sheer tulle with little soft white polka dots. It had a full slip under it, since the fabric was so see-thru. I felt so pretty - and that flexible pink creature. I could wrap her around my wrist like a braclet or around my neck, but here it was a pair of winter ear muffs. This was Christmas 1967 and I was a princess! I'll journal about this sometime this week - when I can sit and quietly call up those funny childhood memories.

Not sure what I will do with this one, but I kind of like it. A wine label up in the left hand corner, a label from some bath product in the lower right hand corner and the text is from an old reference book I picked up called "Pain". I like the juxtoposition of bright colors and the words - pain and pleasure.

All for today my lovelies, pleasant dreams

kso xoxoxoxo

Day One of 2011

Well, a new year has begun... and it was a very productive day! The tree is down, the cards are filed, the decorations are packed away and the house looks clean and uncluttered. It feels nice, although normally I am a bit sad to see the end of the season. This year I am pleased to be moving on to a new and fresh year.

In my journaling group each year some of the members choose a word of intention for the year. I have been waffling about what word to pick... love, prosperity, reach or freedom. I think I am going to select REACH - it will cover so many things. I'll reach for more love, more prosperity, more freedom. I'd also like to reach for more things outside my comfort zone - in life and artwork. I want this year to be more productive, which will require reaching into my energy reserves.

So, for today I will be reaching out in my blog to make more frequent entries and more art postings. This journal entry is about my daughter and her poetry. Picasso's art is on loan to exhibit here at the Seattle Art Museum. The youngest went ,with her English class, in October to view all the art and the class brief was to write a poem about the art they viewed.

She was selected by WITS (along with 14 other high school students from the district) to read her Picasso inspired poem at SAM 's Teen Night out in December. Each student took to the stage and read to a really nice sized audience. Her poem was inspired by Picasso's "Man with Violin" I got to tour the exhibit for free as her guest. His artwork was so diverse and quite stunning - so inspiring!!

I've also put some new things in my store yesterday... go check it out -

Vintage Daisies

Vintage Trim - 1 yard packages

Lots of fun things for making Mary Ann Moss inspired ROD journal's or just plain art journaling.

All for today my lovelies,

kso

xoxoxoxo

Happy New Year!!

After much thought I decided to start the new year off by making a change. Change is good right? We resist it so much of the time, afraid of what the unknown will look like. My first change is this blog. It's a new beginning and feels so good!! I can once again express myself without editing my thoughts and feelings.

If you followed me here from the other blog you will know that my entries were sporadic over the course of the last few months. For personal reasons (which I won't go into) I didn't feel as if I could post often or say what I really wanted to. This will be the place that I hope to change that. I will be posting more frequently, sharing more of my thoughts and my posting my art. My goal will be to post almost daily and to upload artwork weekly - although I have to admit that I do like to post art with every writing post. We'll see how that goes :-))

For today I will show you two art journaling entries that I played with on Boxing Day. My kids were with their Dad, so I spent the whole day just playing in my journal. Which after a long, stale dry period felt very good. These do not have any actual journaling on them yet, just the art.

This one has a label I removed from a bottle of wine - thought it was kind of cool. The brown stripes in the middle come from a bag from a store in the UK - I think it was a book store. The fabric tag was from a shirt - it got frayed after the vacuum cleaner got ahold of it, also kind of cool! I stamped the squares and diamond with an oversized stamp I picked up at a thrift store, just added outlines to them. I will journal on these pages later when the mood strikes me, or not :-))

The two elements in this one were the illustration of the girl and the seagull - gleaned from an old 1940's children's book I've had for years. I always loved her hairstyle and saved her for just the right moment. When I found a book in the thrift store (that I am repurposing into a journal) I ripped the spine from the book jacket and put it on the page partnered with the girl. I imagined her saying "I'm a stranger here myself". Added layers of patterned paper, gesso, paint and bit of stamping and finally made the lines for journaling later. I made the lines using a bamboo skewer dipped in black paint, gently touched to the page to make the lines.

All for tonight my lovelies... off to the festivies :-) kim xoxoxoxo