Hi everyone! Happy New Year! Well, we made it! This is Week 52 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure, the last one of the series and the last one of this Adventure. I am stepping down from running it and Barb has decided not to continue for another year. It has been quite a run, and I have met some fabulous people who I now call friends. Thank you all! The prompt for Week 52 is Goodbye 2019 which as you may remember is the Year of the Pig. I began this year with a page featuring a watercolour image of the front view of this fabulous pig, a download from Lola Graphic Images. It seemed fitting to say goodbye to 2019 using an image from the same Etsy shop except this time with a back view.


The background began with spritzing the 6x8 mixed media paper with Lindy's Creme Brulee Cream and Opal Sea Oats Starburst Sprays. Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink was mixed with water and flicked over the Lindy's once it dried to create even more splatter dots. The same Oxide Ink was used to apply the patterns from Carabelle Studio Des Carrés avec des Ronds stencil. Coffee Archival Ink was used to apply Ellen Hutson Bokeh Dots stamp as well as Crafty Individuals text stamp in a few places. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through AALL & Create Lotza Dotz stencil. Because the Texture Paste picks up the colour from the Lindy's beneath it, I added white Posca paint pen over the stencilling to brighten it up.


A simple border was doodled around the page to frame it and Coffee Archival Ink was applied to the edges. Two strips of washi tape adhered to white cardstock and then matted with black were added to the bottom of the page to ground Mr. Pig who was popped up on foam tape. The wording was printed on white cardstock, matted with black, and also popped up with foam tape. To finish the page, black Big Brush Pen was applied to the edges of the background before it was adhered to the black cardstock which is the background for all the pages in this set of journals. Just for fun, here's a photo of what 52 weeks of art journals look like:


Thank you so much for popping by this week. Thanks to Barb for allowing me the privilege of running this challenge and Facebook group. A very special thanks to all who participated in the weekly prompts and those who followed our adventures. You made it all worthwhile! I will miss you!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! It's Week 50 of the 2019 Joggles Art Journal Adventure and the prompt for this week is Relax, Refresh, Re-connect. What do you do during super hectic and busy times to wind down or reward yourself with a break? One of my favourite ways to unwind is to relax in a nice hot bubble bath, often with a book and hot beverage, and almost always with one of my cats sitting on the edge of the tub playing with the bubbles :) I found this sweet image by Oddball Art Co. called Lazy Louise and a great quote by Brené Brown to illustrate this practice.


Louise was coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was applied to the back to lift the image off the page and create a natural shadow.


The floor of the background was a strip of woodgrain patterned paper which was set on top of a piece of blue textured patterned paper. I rarely work with these two colours for a background so it was fun to experiment. The blue section (walls) was patterned with Carabelle Studio Toujours des Ronds stencil using Cornflower Blue Archival Ink to create a bubble effect. Jet Black Archival Ink was used to apply rings using Ellen Hutson Bokeh stamp. By overlapping both the floor and the walls with thise stamp, it unified the two. A length of skinny washi tape was placed under the tub legs to ground it and hint at a shadow. A cup shaped brad with cheesecloth steam was added on top of the washi.


The quote from Brené Brown was printed onto white cardstock, cut with a die, and matted with black to give it more visual weight. Cornflower Blue Archival Ink was used to edge the page and a simple border was doodled with black pen. As usual, the background was adhered to the black page to frame and finish it.

Thanks for stopping by today. Louise and I appreciate that and hope that you remember to take the time to Relax, Refresh, and Re-connect during this busy season. Self-care is so important!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! It's Week 48 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and our prompt for this week is cozy. Cozy can look different ways for different people, can take different forms, and have different components but I think the feeling it brings is similar across the board. I decided to construct a scene that had many of the components that evoke that cozy feeling in me. It's a place I'd like to hang out, especially as the weather gets colder and nastier outside.


The first thing I wanted was a sunny room with wide white baseboards and wood floors. I used watercolour and Neocolor II crayons to create the floor, and lined it with a black pen to create the boards. The walls were coloured by smushing Antique Linen Distress Oxide on my craft sheet, spritzing with water, and dipping the top of the page into the puddles. Painters' tape protected either the floor or the walls when I was working on the opposite area. The walls were shaded with Inktense pencils activated with water.


Next I needed a comfy chair for Parker, my gray cat, and me to curl up in. I placed it next to a bookshelf filled with lovely hardcover books. I placed a window ( a die cut) above the bookcase so I could get lots of light and see the big fat flakes outside.


Beside the chair. I have a stack of books, my reading glasses, and a steamy cup of coffee in my favourite mug. On the back of the chair is a knitted throw to keep Parker and me warm, should we need it. Behind the chair is one of my art journal pages framed and displayed to make me smile.


On the other side of the chair is a cozy knitted basket for Molly, my black and white cat, to curl up in. All of the collaged elements except the picture hanging on the wall were elements from several digital collage packs from ATArtDigital, an Etsy seller. All were fussy cut and the gray cat, throw, book stack, and basket were popped up on foam tape to add dimension to the piece. The wording came from Idea-ology Small Chat Stickers.

Thanks for joining Parker, Molly, and me in our cozy space. I can't wait to be invited into yours if you take up the Week 48 Cozy challenge.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! It's Week 47 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and the prompt this week is Rectangles and/or Squares. We are challenged to create a project which features those shapes. I thought about creating a page in the Piet Mondrian style of art but decided I wanted more of a random collage effect.


I pulled a bunch of scraps from my stash which I thought would play well together and then prepared the 6x8 inch background by spraying it with Lindy's Creme Brule Cream Starburst Spray. Once it was dry, Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide was added lightly through Carabelle Studio Cosmic Cubes stencil.


The scraps were cut into rectangles or squares and auditioned on the background, placing the long vertical pieces first to anchor the rest. The rectangles and squares which were more on the plain side were embossed with folders to add texture and interest. All of the shapes are connected through overlapping and layering to create unity. They were all edged with Coffee Archival Ink and were outlined with brown Sharpie. Hand stitching was added in three places with black crewel thread, creating a visual triangle. Three pieces of the same spritzed text paper as well as black cardstock emphasized this triangle, keeping the eye moving around the collages pieces.


To complete the page, the edges of the background were edged with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink as well as Coffee Archival ink. The wording came from Tim Holtz Big Chat Stickers. Black pen was used to create a simple border close to the edges before it was adhered to the black background.

Thanks for visiting today. I appreciate that. If you get a chance, pop by the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group to see what the others in our creative group do with this prompt. We only have 5 more weeks to finish the year!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! It's Week 46 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure. We are quickly approaching the end of the 52 week project. Our prompt for this week is Oh, you beautiful doll. That can include art dolls, raggedy dolls, mannequins, or people who are all dolled up...whatever inspires you. I decided to create my own art doll using bits and pieces from a gel print, magazine images, a digital download, and a few embellies to "doll" her up :)


Miss Kitty started with the cat head from a JLeeLoo download. Her dress was cut from a gel print and Texture Paste through a stencil gave it some pattern and interest. Her collar was cut from a scrap of white cardstock with a little faux stitching around the edges and some enamel dots for buttons. The belt was created from a scrap of black and the belt from gold washi tape. Miss Kitty's arms and hands were cut from a fashion image and her legs from a magazine image of a hand with fancy nail polish. Miss Kitty needed glasses which were from a pack of wooden ones and the insides were filled with Glossy Accents to create the shiny lenses. She also wanted to wear a crown so one was cut from some mop-up paper. A little doodling and some silver star sequins added the necessary bling and detail. A heart and a saying from Art by Marlene die cut blocks were adhered to her hands.


The 6x8 inch background began with a page from a vintage children's book which was adhered to light chipboard. White gesso was applied randomly to knock the text back. Once the gesso was dry, Lucky Clover and Salty Ocean Distress Oxides were applied leaving some white space for contrast. Light Blue Permanent and then Cerulean Blue Hue Liquitex acrylics were applied to the background using bubble wrap. Black gesso was added using the inside plastic roll from Scotch tape. To add texture, drywall mesh was adhered in several places using Matte medium.


To give Miss Kitty a place to stand, black and white washi tape was glued along the bottom edge. A simple border was doodled around the edges and a part of a ticket to add a little more orange and a piece of the same washi tape were added to the left side. The background was then adhered to the black background creating a frame for the page.

Thanks for joining Miss Kitty and me today. We love it when you do that! When you get a chance, pop by the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group to see how others in our group respond to this prompt. It's always so inspiring and fun!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! The prompt for Week 45 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure was an easy choice since today is November 11. In Canada, we call it Remembrance Day. In the US, it's called Veterans' Day but either way, it's an opportunity to remember those in the military who have served our countries and preserved our way of life. It's an opportunity to remember and to say thank you. The prompt is Remembrance Day/Veterans' Day or poppies. My dad was a WWII vet who flew a spitfire for the RAF so when I think of this day, that's who comes to mind, along with my mom's brother and several of my dad's brothers, as well.


I decided to feature a copy of a photo with my very young dad in his Air Force uniform. Just look at those dimples :) I cropped the photo and rounded the top corners before adhering it to a piece of designer paper printed with a world map design and done in sepia tones. I wanted a botanical image of a poppy which just happens to be one of my favourite flowers, to fill the right side of the page and overlap the photo slightly. This one, which I fussy cut leaving a narrow cream border, came from ArtsCult on Etsy. I loved that it looks vintage and slightly faded or muted since that suited my design.


I inked around the edges of a TH Adage ticket as well as a scrap of very old dictionary paper and added them to the top right corner of the page. I topped that with a one inch wooden maple leaf (Canadian, eh!) which I coloured with about 8 different Big Brush Pens. I know...so many colours on such a tiny leaf! The wording, which really struck a chord with me, was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. Foam tape was used to pop the wording up, adding dimension. To balance the design, a fishtail flag was cut from kraft cardstock, decorated with star rub-ons and faux stitching, and added between the photo and the top part of the wording.


The page was finished with a simple doodled black border, Coffee Archival inking around the edges, and the black matting provided by the journal page background.

Thanks for joining my dad and me today. I just know he's seeing this and smiling...probably my mom is, too. Thanks to all those who have served their countries, for the sacrifices they and their families have made, and the courage they have shown. I feel pretty lucky and I know I'm not alone <3

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! It's Monday and that means it's time for another Joggles Art Journal Adventure prompt. The prompt for Week 44 is to illustrate a cliche. Yesterday was National Cliche Day so it seemed appropriate to celebrate that this week. I saw a funny saying to go with this theme: Avoid cliches like the plague...LOL. My mom was a great one for spouting cliches and they always made me smile.


I chose to illustrate the cliche, bats in his belfry. The 6x8 inch mixed media background was spritzed with Lindy's Shabby Turbine Teal and Tibetan Poppy Teal Starburst Sprays with a little water added to get things moving and blending. Once dry, music paper scraps knocked back with gesso were added in three places. Jet Black Archival Ink was used to add AALL & Create  Frayed Threads and Hearts and Lines stamps to the background. A little white gesso was added to knock parts back and to other spots as well before Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Tiny Dots stencil.


I used an old image from Hidden Vintage Studio Love Bandits and added a pointy hat from the same set to create his belfry. The image was altered with doodled, paint pens, and coloured pencil. His hat was given a black heart over the pink one to create the opening where I added a bell shaded with pencils. Once the hat was glued to Bob's head, he was adhered to black cardstock and a narrow border was cut to frame him.


The bats were drawn from an example on the Internet, coloured with black marker, and fussy cut before being adhered to the background. The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. To finish the page, a simple black border was doodled around the page and it was edged with black Big Brush Pen. The background was then adhered to the black page from the ring bound journal.

Thanks for joining Bob and me today. We appreciate that! If you get a chance, be sure to pop by the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group to see the wonderful responses to this Cliche prompt by others in our wonderful and talented group. I love seeing what everyone creates!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! We are in the final ten weeks of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure 2019...hard as it is to believe! This is Week 43 and the prompt this week is Masks since Halloween is only a few days away. I decided to go more with masquerade masks as I am not a fan of spooky and I didn't know where to go with a carved mask, both of which were options.


I searched in magazines to find a face which would fit my 6x8 inch journal page and which was a full frontal view and came up with this one of Helen Mirren which suited my purposes perfectly. I fussy cut her head and neck and then used black pen to doodle some hair and facial lines. I added Posca Paint pen to her eyes, changing the colour and opening them slightly more. Her cheeks were Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide ink layered onto white paper and circle punched. Her mouth was a heart punched from Posca painted paper and shaded with coloured pencil. I used flesh coloured acrylic paint to tone down her lipstick so that the heart became a Red Queen mouth.


Once she was sufficiently altered, I started on the mask. I cut a mask shape from mixed media cardstock and dipped it into Abandoned Coral and Scattered Straw Distress Oxide inks watered down on my craft sheet. I dipped and dried these two colours several times until I got the patterning and coverage I liked. The v/triangle marking on the forehead was from a Karen Burch stamp and Deep Purple Archival Ink. The strips above the eye openings are patterned paper dotted with white Nuvo Drops. The markings along the bottom edge of the mask and below the eyes are purple and white Posca Paint Pens and the ones across the forehead were created with a Pentel Milky Pop pen. A silver star sequin was added between the eyes and a puple rhinestone was added to the bottom of the V stamp. Two shimmery flowers were given purple rhinestone centers and added to each upper  corner. The mask was popped up on foam tape and thin black satin ribbons were added to each side before the mask was adhered to Helen's altered face.


The background was created using the same dip and dunk (wrinkle-free) technique as the mask with the same two colours of Distress Oxide. Once the multiple layers were dried, a harlequin design was stencilled on with Deep Purple Archival ink. The same ink was used to ink the edges of the page before black Big Brush Pen was added. The wording was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black, and popped up with foam tape. A simple doodled black border finished the background which was then adhered to the black cardstock matting.

Thanks for joining altered Helen and me today. We're excited to see what the others in the Joggles AJA Facebook group do with the Masks prompt. It's going to be fun!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! It's Week 42 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and, in honour of my b-day yesterday and everyone else who has or will have a birthday this year, the prompt is Celebrate. The prompt is not limited to birthdays but anything that can be celebrated like reaching a milestone or goal or even the everyday. I have birthdays on my mind so that's where I went with this prompt using a Mo Manning (Mo's Digital Pencil) image called Whoopee to star on this art journal page. She cracks me up, looking as thrilled as she does...LOL.


I coloured her using Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, adding gesso dots to her hat and flat back pearls for her shirt buttons. She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matting with black, and fussy cutting a second time leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was added to the back to add dimension when she was adhered to the background.


The 6x8 inch mixed media paper background was spritzed with Lindy's Yellow Rose of Texas and California Poppy Gold Starburst Sprays were added to the background, allowing lots of splattery dots to dry as well. To make the background look like confetti was being thrown, several other colours of Lindy's were added by flicking the pick up tube over the page. The colours used were Hottie Pattotie Hot Pink, Bachelor Button Blue, Freaky Frankenlime, and Witch's Potion Purple. Large shiny metallic stars and tiny silver stars were added to the mix to make it look more festive and create some shine.


The wording at the bottom comes from a Create With TLC download which was matted with sparkly pink paper. A smaller pink metallic star was added to tie it to the background.

Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I hope you are having an awesome weekend. Today marks Week 41 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and the prompt this week is to include a tag (or more than one) to your project. The other day. I was sorting through my big stack of gel prints and other backgrounds and discovered a small stack of tags which had backgrounds started. I found two which had colour palettes which would work together and also were two different sizes. That inspired today's art journal page.


I knew that the larger tag was used to mop up Lindy's Starburst sprays and that the other one was colourized with either Distress Inks or Distress Oxides, although I suspect the former. I flipped through my Distress Oxide Swatches and matched the colours, then used those same colours to ink the 6x8 inch mixed media paper background which would be my substrate. Just for fun, I flicked the page with water and patted with a dry paper towel to create splotches. The edges of the background and the two tags were inked with Coffee Archival Ink.


Then I started layering and auditioning to come up with a layout which made me happy. I knew that I wanted a die cut silhouette of a flower (TH Sizzix) cut from black cardstock to be the focal on the smaller tag which was going to be staggered over the larger tag. To join the two tags, a scrap of old book paper stamped with script, and over that I layered a coffee dyed tag decorated with rub-on letters. Three different washi tapes were used to decorate the lower part of the flower stem and add a little more black to the page.



A scrap of  sheet music, and some vintage book paper were tucked behind the tags but they needed more. Torn black cardstock was layered under the music paper and next to the larger tag and a strip of yellow dotty paper was layered under that, after being inked with Coffee Archival. The other little piece of washi which I had torn to decorate the stem was adhered in such a way that it united the large tag, the black, and the dotty layers. I find this is a great way to add unity to the piece and to push the layers into the background.


To continue the layering and add more texture to the background, a clear sticker  with script was added to the bottom right corner, tucking it behind the other papers.


Rub-ons were added to the top right and bottom left corners and a simple border was doodled coming from those sketchy dots. Number rub-ons were also added to the larger tag to repeat the pattern on the tiny tag. An extra scrap of the dotty paper and the black was tucked into the space next to where the two tags meet to bring over the pattern from the other side of the tags. Another rub-on was used to fill in the top right corner as well as linking to the silhouette which could be a figure from a botanical book :)


The wording is an Idea-ology Small Talk sticker. The final addition before inking the edge with black Big Brush Pen was to add the other part of that book text scrap with the red border to the bottom right corner, again to unite the two corners and help the eye move across the page. The page was adhered to the black background common to all of the pages in this journal.

Thanks for popping by to check out my response to the Tag prompt. To see what the other fabulous participants in the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group create with this prompt, be sure to pop by the group from time to time this week. It'll be worth the click!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! The prompt for Week 40 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure is to create something inspired by a movie.  I spent a  while considering which movie I would choose because there are so many that would be fun to use as a springboard for a journal page...so many that I have watched over and over again. In the end, I decided to go with a classic which is on my all time favourite list but which many people have never seen. The movie is a classic called Harvey, released in December of 1950...even before my time....LOL. It stars Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd whose sister is trying to have him committed because he hangs out with a 6 foot 3.5 inch invisible rabbit named Harvey. Harvey is a Pooka, a Celtic fairy spirit. Not only is the movie funny but it also tugs at my heartstrings and I love the message.


I decided to recreate an art journal page similar to one of the original movie posters. An image of Jimmy Stewart sittin on the curb chatting with Harvey was printed and fussy cut. I just love the look on his face. Elwood P. Dowd is such a gentle soul who loves his friend...and people in general...so much. I have used kraft and black washi tape cut into a flag shape to serve as my curb. Two rabbit footprints were drawn onto gray paper and fussy cut so they could be adhered to the flag end of the washi.


The background used was a 6x8 inch rectangle of kraft cardstock because I wanted a vintage feel to the page and a subtle backdrop. Harvey's outline was sketched in with pencil and then shaded inside with Inktense pencil activated with a waterbrush to create a shadow (since he's invisible). Elwood was given a shadow by first tracing around the top and left of the fussy cut image which had been shifted up and to the left slightly. This was shaded the same way as Harvey's shadow and then Elwood was glued in place overlapping the shadow. Text was stamped onto the bare areas with Coffee Archival and tiny x markings were added with black Pitt Pen.


The wording is a quote from the movie which was printed onto white cardstock. matted with black, and then matted a second time with washi tape adhered to white cardstock. There are some fabulous lines in the movie and I wanted to feature one of my favourites. The other wording was created in the same way, omitting the washi tape border. All were adhered using foam tape to add dimension and natural shadow. To finish the page, a simple border was doodled with black pen and the edges of the page were inked with Coffee Archival. A wooden clock was added to the top right corner as a reference to Harvey's ability to alter time, an example of which you see at the end of the movie.

Thanks for joining Elwood, Harvey and me today. We are so glad you did. Be sure to check out what the other members of our Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group create in response to this Movie prompt. I can hardly wait! They are such a creative and talented bunch!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hi everyone! The other day I came across a fun saying that sparked the prompt for Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 39. The saying was " A line is a dot on a stroll" and it conjured up a mental image of dots strolling around the page leaving trails behind them. I love adding both lines and dots to my art journal pages and anything polka dotty makes me smile. Thus, this page and the prompt, Dots and Lines, were born.


I had no idea where it was going but I knew that I wanted to use the yellow polka dot paper as the base and I wanted geometric shapes to be the stars. I actually wanted to use scraps of papers I had used for other projects or to clean up gel plates and collect over spray. I cut the yellow paper to the 6x8 inch size I favour and used a strip of black cardstock to run from top to bottom and cover up some inky bits staining the paper. Layered over that, I placed a strip of Lindy's spritzed paper with similar yellow tones. Over that, I layered a Dylusions Creative Dyary sticker adhered to a white strip of cardstock so that the background didn't show through.


I hand cut triangles from a gel printed black and white background which didn't work as a whole piece but was cool when cut into these small triangles. The edges of the triangles were inked with black Big Brush Pen and then outlined again with a smaller Pitt pen once adhered to the yellow base.


The black square was cut from another gel plate print where white paint had been pulled onto black cardstock. The circle below it was an alcohol ink on Yupo paper ATC die cut as a circle and edged with black. A circle stamp from VLV was applied to white cardstock with Jet Black Archival Ink and then fussy cut to layer over the colourful one.


The small inchies above the black square were cut from Asian paper which was gifted to me in a recent swap. I matted the squares with black cardstock because the cream paper got lost on the bright yellow background. A simple border was lined in using a ruler and a black pen and a dot and dash border was added to the yellow spritzed strip. Three small strips of  black were added horizontally on the edge of that same layer. Black circles from a hole puncher were adhered in opposite corners of the page and between the triangles to add another dotty detail and finish the design before it was adhered to the black background page.

I was happy with the way this turned out although it is different in many ways to what I usually create. I like pushing out those boundaries of what is comfortable. It keeps things fresh and helps me learn both from what works and what doesn't. Thanks for popping by. If you get a chance, be sure to check out our Joggles Art Journal Facebook group to see where others go with this Dots and Lines prompt.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie