GETTING BACK TO BASICS

There are times when I feel the need to get back to basics and for me that means pencil drawing.  Start at the beginning...grab paper and pencils and draw from real life or photographs.  Make it as realistic as possible…not abstract but an honest to goodness likeness of what I see or how I interpret what I see.  For me, this is the platform or jumping off point of where all my art comes from.  Getting back to basics teaches me to be observant of the details and these details can then be interpreted in various ways to draw or paint the abstract, whimsey, fantasy, etc. 

My inspiration photo was found on Pinterest.  It is a picture of a little girl with blonde hair cut in a "Buster Brown" cut.  I was attracted to this picture because it reminded me of ME at that age.  I always had a "Buster Brown" haircut thanks to my mother's haircutting skills.  Do you see the resemblance?  

I made the sketch into cards by scanning, printing, embossing, coloring with neon markers and adding the faux rhinestone.  There you have it…..instant "Thank You" notecards!  PS…I tell everyone it is a drawing of ME!!!  lol

Until next time!

Hugs,
Ginny

ANOTHER "BABY GOT BACK TO BACK" JOURNAL

I have made several of these journals…four to be exact and gave them all away as gifts.  I love the fact that they have a handle for carrying or hanging on a door knob when not in use and the fact that they can have a duel use depending on the type of paper used for the signatures…and the fact that the tools: pens, brushes, pencils, erasers, etc. are on board.  Great for those who like to journal in Coffee Shops or the like!

I learned how to make this journal in Roben-Marie Smith's 21 Secrets, on-line class.  In case you didn't see my previous post on the first journal that I made, this is a double-sided journal made from a gift bag that has a raffia handle.  It got it's name "Baby Got Back To Back" because the journal actually has pages on one side and then flips open to the other side where there is a second journal.  I love the versatility of these journals and I keep saying that the next one is MINE!  lol…we know how that goes!

For this journal, I used some stamps that I made with craft foam and carpet tape.  

The cover art was made by using stencils and spray inks, adding a few doodles, stamping with the craft foam stamps, and then adding collage elements from Teesha Moore collage sheets.

I used the top half of a Container Store bag for the front cover, bordered it with B&W scrapbook paper, glued it to corrugated cardboard...then stitched the edge with my sewing machine.  This adds strength as well as visual interest.

Before sewing the corrugated cardboard to the bag, I dressed it up by adding more printed paper and tearing off areas of the cardboard. Next, I stitched elastic to hold the tools and made a lace pocket on the back cover to hold more tools.

The signatures for the front part of the book were made with watercolor paper and the signatures for the back part of the book were a combination of Bristol paper and a really cool bag from Trader Joe's that has Steampunk style graphics. When I first saw this bag….I knew that it would somehow find its way into my journals!  lol

Lastly, I glued it all together using "Yes Glue", sewed in the signatures and added a ribbon tie closure.

Whooohooo….DONE!…and, mail to the Birthday gal before I thought to take a picture of the completed journal!  Aaarrrgh!  Anyway, it looks very similar to the one pictured.

Until next time!

Hugs,
Ginny