Just What I Needed

I'm still reeling a bit from the results of last week's election.  

It did not turn out the way I expected or hoped.

I'm very concerned about the license to hate that seems to have been granted

with the election of this man.

I was so upset, still am, to a certain extent.

But making stuff is what I needed to do...put this energy into creating.

It feeds my soul on a regular basis, so why not now in a time of crisis?

I made postcards; I made jewelry; I made dinner.

I took solace in the process, happiness from the fruits my labor, and spread love this way.

This time, I really did send my love out into the world with these cards.

Here's to another (timely!) iHanna DIY Postcard Swap!

Thank you for visiting!

I'm looking forward to getting some love in the mail myself!

XO,

Sarah

Intentional Lettering

Since starting a Bullet Journal (which I will write about and show you in a future blog post),

 I have been trying to improve and explore my lettering skills.  

Whether it's for headings and titles or just the plain old handwriting I'm using, 

I want it to be pretty and I want it to be an endeavor of creative intent.

I am thinking a lot lately about living with intent, versus being on autopilot.  

It's a mindfulness practice.  It is helping me slow down a little, stay in the moment, 

appreciate the process, as well as work toward the goal of improving a skill.

I started my Letter Love Inspiration Journal for this purpose, based on Joanne Sharpe's book,

The Art of Whimsical Lettering.  

I thought it would be fun to share, and maybe 

inspire someone else to start one, too.

It was fun altering the cover of this Decomposition Book.  Joanne gave me the idea to use some of my washi tape stash, finally! I used a few of my own handmade art papers, scrapbook papers, security envelope scraps, book text and random stuff from my collection of collage papers.  

Collage is another mindfulness practice that is calming and rewarding!

Inside front cover

Inside back cover

Back cover

Thank you for visiting!  

I hope you might be inspired to start the mindful practice of artful lettering, too!

XO

Sarah

iCandy Collage

I decided I might create more art if I enrolled in an online class.

And it worked!  I've been loving all the inspiration in 21 Secrets Fall 2015!

I am familiar with a few of the teachers from following them on Facebook or their blogs.

Of course, one of my favorites is Hanna Andersson, 

whose international DIY Postcard Swap I participate in twice a year.

I have never collaged an actual collage into any of my art journals, focusing more on creating pages or spreads that say something, or only include collage.

I probably put too much pressure on myself to create something meaningful.

It was truly freeing to just focus on creating a collage of "pretty papers" a la Hanna Andersson!

I started selecting my papers by picking out a couple papers I had just made.  

Some months back, had done some flower doodling on top of a gelli print I made on sheet music.  

And recently, I doodled little one-of-a-kind arrows all over a piece of writing paper.

I used the colors in these papers to influence my choice of all the other papers in the collage. 

It was quite meditative and fun to browse through all of the collage and art papers, magazine clippings and ephemera that I had been collecting for ages!  I even took the opportunity to organize some of them so that I could make another iHanna collage in my journal later!

Thank you 21 Secrets for a super fun class...and thank you Hanna for inspiring me, once again!

Thank you for visiting.  

I love reading your comments, so if you have the time, let me know you were here:)

XO,

Sarah

Color Me Swappy

Thanks again to iHanna, I'm making art and posting here today!  

I had so many watercolored papers, gel prints, and other art papers

accumulating in my stash, and thought I should use some of them

for my cards this time. But how to use them?

The papers were all so yummy that I thought it would be cool

to combine as a many of them as possible onto each card.

Weaving strips seemed to be the best way to do this.

It was a bit tedious, but it really had me looking closely at each

bit of paper, and it became a meditative process.  

Color is hugely inspiring to me, so the cards became little color studies.

I stood at my kitchen bar, as I have been sitting a lot lately...

and I don't need an Apple Watch to tell me I need to stand!

They look like little quilts in this photo, I think.  Maybe that's good for a Fall Swap!

A couple of my favorites from the stack.

A good "hand".

I am sending these today, but I think I will put them in envelopes this time. 

They need a little protection to arrive in good condition at their destinations!

Can't wait to start getting cards!

I hope all my swappers enjoy these.

Thank you for stopping by!

XO

Sarah

A Path with Heart

So, I had this paper, scrap paper.  And you know how that scrap where you clean off your brush or your brayer starts to look so amazing with layers and layers of randomness.  It was so..., well, ....rad that I just starting cutting hearts out of it...cute little hand-cut hearts.  I thought I'd make some Valentines, but of course they were not finished in time.  So I'll just use them for surprises over the next few months.  

It started with the hearts and an idea of having them float or flow over the card.  I had this book of Love Poems, and decided to use the text for a background collage.  Then I used some of my PanPastels to add color and interest to the torn pieces I glued to the card.  That needed a little toning down for the hearts to show up well, so I brayered on some Titanium White.  

Then I glued on the hearts.

I took photos along the way to share here:

Thanks for visiting!!!

XO

Sarah