advice from a tree

Sweet friends,

I came across this beautiful poem, 'Advice From A Tree' by Ilan Shamir on Pinterest. You could read about how the poem came to Ilan here. I missed my nature walks. I wish for sunny afternoons very soon.

Here's a page I made to remind me of this gem;

I used up paper scraps and foam stickers in this spread. Masking tapes for background, smudged with green water-soluble crayon. I sketched the tree with a brown sharpie and then stamped on the foreground.

I feel like making a few of this poem in different mediums. We'll  see. Have a good one!. Hugs.

looking through the key hole

Sweet friends,

Another Alice in Wonderland themed pages from me today :). I decided to peek through the key hole and see what's beyond the gate :). Unlike Alice, I think about 6 'Possible' things before breakfast instead. 

I wrapped the entire pages with aluminium foil and lightly gessoed them. This was the second time I'm journaling on aluminium foil. You could peek at my first try, here.

I actually made a 'key hole' mask with a paper. Colored the foil with water-soluble crayons. When dried, stamped over it with my diamond hand-carved eraser stamp, brushed with PLAID ebony stains. [You could do away with black acrylic ink or black gesso too].

Both pages are meant to be one large playing card. So, I added some red & bronze metal heart snaps on three corners.

Added a key, black & blue 'talking flowers' for dimension.

I decoupaged climbing roses from tissue papers. 

Look great on the crumpled foil texture too.

Any metal foils are fun to work with. Gesso them first before doing any painting. Skip gesso if you're using alcohol inks. Have fun recycling those foils!.

Hugs.

golden wonderland

Hi there,

Remember my 'Curious Party' Alice In Wonderland explosion box?. It won the Altered Alice Chapter 20 Challenge! :). I'm still not done with Alice yet, she is so mysteriously growing on me!. So last night, I thought I prepped my journal pages with molding paste stencil for another Alice project.

Here is the completed pages;

Inspired with glitter & gold post, I painted Wonderland, gold!!. I can't help myself but to ink the 'gates' in gold. Love running my fingers on them :). I took a twist on Alice In Wonderland again, making it almost an eerie haunted Wonderland.

Although, I must have some red roses and hearts;

A close up of the gates;

To add some drama I stamped a skeleton key, daring Alice to enter Wonderland!. Add of course some gauze-web and spooky butterfly :). [Maybe I should carve myself a bat stamp?]. 

I hope you had fun :). Have a great weekend!.

Hugs.

I chose the former

Hello,

I'm making journal pages with lots of glitter & gold today. Take a peek on the glitter & gold inspiration posted last week :). When I saw that pumpkin, I knew I had to use my hand-carved leaf stamp & the champagne acrylic paint in my journal. Here's what I made;

I'm still thinking about the rainbow I saw last week. And I found just the perfect quote for it. However, no idea who wrote it. [Can  you help?, so I could give a proper credit]. I definitely chose the former. Enjoy the beauty. Don't think I'll be out shoveling anytime soon :).

I first glued down TYPO tissue papers on blank pages. Applied some champagne-colored acrylic paint with a rubber brayer. When dried, stamped with white acrylic ink and pearl gold poster color. Dripped some white ink and stamped circles with a bottle lid. Lastly, added a few washi tapes, DYMO words and foam dots.

Multi-layers of paint & ink. The white intricate patterns is from hand-carved stamp, dabbed with white acrylic ink. I wrote the quote with a small brush, dipped in black india ink.

With all the layering, my pages are still TOO shiny!. 

LOL. I'll do better next.

I like to extend love & caring thoughts to anyone affected by Sandy. May you stay in comfort and warmth. 

Hugs.

small wonder

Hi,

A little wonder I learned from Pinterest today :). 

To draw my own hand. LOL. You heard it. Simplest thing ever!. Meet my left hand :).

Place your hand on a piece of paper. Draw lines across your hand to fill up the paper. Move hand and start to connect these lines. The more curvy your connecting lines are, the more 3D your hand will be on the paper:). I used mainly sharpies & color markers for the lines. Then added tissue papers, masking tapes and stamping here and there.

The squiggly lines make my left hand looked weird.

Why haven't I knew this before??. Did I not learn this in kindy?. I remembered a friend said, all we need to know in life are learned in kindy!!. She is definitely right. For example, we need to amuse ourselves more often :).

Hope I made you smile today :). Take care.

Hugs.

the last Bohemian

Dear ones, 

I can't help myself. I do PROMISE this is the last boho page :). What I take away from this exercise is, that I must unleash my inner free spirit, let it unbound by the norms. Feel what is right and just go with it. AND, believe it will work :). Here is what I made;

Texture paste, blue acrylic paint and ink for the background. 

Journaling with white gel pen. 

Decoupaged tissue paper rose, photo frame, gold paper doily and red velvet ribbon seemed perfect for the theme :). I wrote 'Boho LOVE' in black india ink.

That's a rap up. Have a great Friday!.
Hugs.

never too busy

Sweet friends,

What defines Bohemian?. I thought I'd create a spread on the very definition of it :). Found them on Thesaurus. I also added a sweet quote from Djuna Barnes. I like to be in this dreamy, creative state of mind :).

For the background, I chose contrasting blue, pink and gold acrylic paint. Splashed and dripped some too.

I don't mind the busy-ness at all :). This is the only time I could use too many buttons, blinkies and tissue paper flowers. 

Ever long list, meaning of the word Bohemian. I'm certain we   all own at least one of them :). 

Bouquet of tissue paper flowers :).

That's it. One of many ways you could add bohemian feel to your journal pages. If you're feeling a little adventurous, you may add small mirrors or shiny gypsy things.

And speaking of mirrors, I'm inviting you to play along with us at LESSology's Mirror Mirror On The Wall Challenge and recycle/upcycle something :). Have a great day!.

P/S: I'm linking up this to Art Journal Everyday :).

just drop some paint

Hi there,

I saw Donna Downey happily dropping colorful paint in her journal at Collage Monday this week. That'd be fun. So I tried :). Only thing, I made my pages looked more bohemian. Ever so inspired by my post here. Especially that pretty cake!. Did I get it?. I sure hope so.

I wiped off most of the paint blops, worried my pages would looked too bright or too graffiti-ish. I did glue down old alpha thickers (which no longer sticking), just like Donna. 

And dabbed gold ink all over these alphas to make them shiny and 'boho' looking. Lots of gesso, strips of pages from old book, paper doilies, stamping and doodling for the background.

Doilies, peeking. They take paint well, especially ink :). LOVE.

It's cool to work on a favorite theme once in a while. I play hard in my journal. Happy times!. I'll share a couple more bohemian journal spreads soon. Hugs.

P/S: I'm linking this to Art Journal Everyday :)

Fresh Pair of Googly Eyes

I can't help myself to stick two pairs of googly eyes on my journal pages after seeing them so cute on Lisa Minkler's blog. Check out her owl cards here. Yesterday, I found just the perfect quote to go along with the googly eyes that says " Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes" by Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

And I've just got to have chubby birds on my journal too :). Here's how they look,

   

Background colors are from water-soluble crayons and glimmer mist over a stencil. Drew circles with black india ink and let some dripped to create chubby birds. I also collaged numbers from newspapers, cupcake wrappers, measuring tape and masking tapes.

Drew circles & dots with correction pen and calling it done :).

A quick & fun spread from me. Till next, happy journaling!.
Hugs.

Have You Seen Bubble Wrap Dandelions?

Dear friends,

In search of random items to play in my journal, I was nicely surprised to find bubble wraps hidden deep in my craft closet. What a benign neglect on my part!. I used to pop bubble wraps with my cats when they were young kittens, so much fun. And soon enough, they ended up as dandelions on my journal. LOL.

I started by sticking masking tapes randomly over the pages to create some sort of patchwork. Colored over it with blue soft pastel and smudged with wet finger. After that dried, I decoupaged some decorative tissue papers. Later adhered brown twines, gauze and bubble wrap (as dandelions). Smudged gesso on bubble wraps. Lastly, drew circles & dots around each circles and wrote 'Carry my dreams, dandelions' in black india ink.

Bubble wrap as dandelions. Gauze as clouds. And decoupaged rose garden!. Happiness.

Another fun use of bubble wraps. This month at LESSology, we are also playing with bubble wraps!. Take a peek at fabulous ideas using bubble wrap and come play along with our Challenge #16: Bubble Boy or Girl!.

I'm also linking up my journal pages today to Art Journal Cafe (Tissue Paper Challenge). Have a good Monday, everyone!. 

Hugs,
Shahrul

Like No Other

I saw on the newspaper yesterday, a very nice advertisement showing simple things I love, photographed in a montage-style. It came with a catchy line that said 'Like No Other'. Love the grungy look of it so much I created a journal spread for it. I collaged the images and even the title on my pages! :).

I colored the background with blue & red water-soluble crayons, smudged with wet finger. It turned out as grungy as I wanted. Almost like I hang frames of my favorite things on a beaten up wall. Using a correction tape, I outlined each of the image as if they were Polaroid photos. Lastly, doodled all over the pages with a correction pen. 

A few of my favorite things: Good canvas walking shoes, red hot scooters!, great life music, cool cameras, old automobiles (especially VW camper) and bicycles (the cuter, the better). BLISS. I saw a guy riding this hottie to Bangsar Shopping Center one day, and boy was I thrilled??. I walk almost everywhere, so having a good pair of shoes is a must. And back in college, I cycled to SAFEWAY to do groceries :). 

How about take a moment on long summer afternoons ... over a nice cool glass of lemonade, think about what makes you happy. Little things that make you chuckle, maybe. Put them on your journal pages :)). Will you join me?. 

Hugs,

Shahrul

Doodle like Alisa Burke?

Dear friends,

Been playing with doodle art lately. I think they make cool wearables. Do you know any great fabric paints or markers?. I feel like making a doodle t-shirt or a tote soon. But for now, I'm settled for doodled pages :).

I made these today;

I simply went crazy and a little 'greedy' with doodle. I was inspired by Alisa Burke's doodle flowers that I saw in her sketch book. So, armed with bright water color crayons and black + maroon sharpies, I was set to work. Sometimes, more is definitely MORE, LOL.

I'll say, being bold is rewarding :). Try it. And have a good weekend. 

Hugs,
Shahrul

Flightless Bird by Iron & Wine

Hello,

My friend Nida of Whimsical Ideas invited us on her blog that we try create journal pages based on songs. I was playing with my new carved stamps when inspiration struck. In my heart, I wanted to create a sunset scene for a Twilight page, where the setting sun shone through trees and leaves. And I would write on the page parts of a song from Twilight movie called 'Flightless Bird' by Iron & Wine. This song was on while Bella & Edward slow dancing out at the gazebo :). You can listen to it here.

The stamped background was inspired by Lorenzo Pentratoni's Swatch black & white latest collection;

My finished pages;

See, I CANNOT spell 'flightless'!. I cannot multi-task. I cannot spell and paint at the same time :). There is no way to correct the mistake or else ruining the whole thing. So I left it as it is :). Totally embarrassing.

I collaged tissue papers, painted the pages with crayons and soft pastels before stamping crazily with black gesso for texture. Wrote the lyrics in liquid correction pen & maroon sharpie. 

Okay, I'm off to go grab some (late) lunch. See you soon, Happy Monday!.

Hugs,

Shahrul

Crumpled Aluminium Foil

Hello,

Last month I saw Donna Downey used aluminium foils on her journal pages. How funky is that??. Check out her post & video here to see how she did it. So I tried it, crumpled and glued some aluminium foils on my pages just as I would with crumpled tissue papers. The TEXTURE is just crazy, my pages felt like the roughest sand papers!. 

First glued aluminium foils on journal pages with gel medium I applied gesso all over the aluminium foiled pages, so I could color on them. Over these, I colored with gelato sticks in pink/red/purple/fuschia and smudged with wet finger. Gelato colors are quite transparent, so I added some red & yellow water-soluble crayons over it.

Inspired by Marjie's funky art journal, I made a stencil out of a model's silhouette from a magazine clipping!. I need a contrasting background, so I stamped all over the stencil some black gesso. See the wrinkles?. Superb. Lastly, doodle with black india ink and added words from Collection Elements. I'm so happy to use my newly carved eraser stamp for the background. Lastly, added tiny beads on the floral stamp image for fun :).

I had so much fun with these pages. If you have any cool materials you think I should try use in my journal, just let me know. I'll be happy to play :).

Hugs,

Shahrul

Summer of Colors - Week 4

It's been four weeks, already??. Time flies when you are having fun :). This week, Kristin of Twinkle Twinkle teased us with another ice-cream color/flavor; Strawberry Lemonade Punch!.

I was inspired by these photos;

Art journal pages I made for this week's inspiration:

I played woith crumpled papers, water-soluble crayons, purple & yellow artist acrylic ink and stamps. I did some collage with fabric tapes & chipboard flourishes and doodling with black india ink. Sprinkled a few drops of purple artist acrylic ink on the yellow pages while spritzing with some water (my strawberry is a little bit purplish here). I let the wet ink dripped across the pages by turning the journal upside down and left to right to create the 'cable wires'. 

I spotted pigeons sitting on cable wire when I took a leisure walkabout downtown earlier this year (see the first photo). I had hoped to use images of birds in my journal one day. I was glad I did it.

So, look around. Spot the little things. They are gifts from nature. Till then, happy journaling!.

Hugs,

Shahrul