Friday, May 8, 2015

Such an oddball

I have been having a hard time dealing with Mother's Day this year.
I find myself crying at anything that has to do with mothers. Good or bad.
My Dad suggested I write my Mother a letter to tell her all of the things
that I wish I had, before she died. Looks like I'm going to be writing a letter
this Sunday....

To keep myself busy, and to keep my mind off of painful things,
I have been playing around with my new small format Dyan Reaveley  
art journal. I have the larger one, but find myself intimidated to work
in it as of yet. Maybe once I master some cool techniques I'll have the
courage to work bigger. 

I started off by coloring this adorable image from Oddball Art Stamps.
Her name is Sally Sadness. She reminds me of a character from The Oblongs
Man, I love that cartoon.

I colored her up with Copics, and did a bit of customizing on her appendages 
to go along with my sentiment. 
   
I used some swirly die cuts to give the appearance of tentacle-type arms.
Some may consider that a flaw, others may think it's pure awesomeness.
I fall into the category of the latter.   

The background was created with Dylusion spray inks, a hexagram stencil
with some crackle paste (which I sanded down afterwards to make it less
chunky and obvious), and a new TH crackle stencil with black soot distress ink.
I also worked in some skull and barbed wire die cuts, along with some
Firefly Stickles for that bling factor.

I added the other swirls in to make it cohesive with the other
page and Sally's tentacles.

And there it is. The first completed page in my new art journal.
I still have a ways to go before I feel really adept at this art journal thing,
but it's so fun to just play around and make fun art just for me.

I would like to enter this creation in the following challenges:


7 comments:

  1. Well Id say you're off to a terrific start on the *art journal thing* I LOVE this page!!! I love the sentiment and the colours and that barbed wire around the pages... So glad to see you join the art journal craze, I love it!
    Big hugs to you this Sunday my friend.
    <3
    Cheri

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  2. Fabulous spread, gorgeous background and the swirly appendages are a brilliant idea. Looks like you will love your AJ as much as I love mine xx

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  3. I wrote such a nice comment for you and now it's lost... Well, I hope you'll be fine again soon. I know how deep this pain is. Maybe the letter is a good idea. Just try it.
    Can I do something for you to make it better? Like tell you a bad joke or something?
    Your journaling page is awesome, I love the colours and the swirls!
    Hugs,
    Jessa

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  4. The swirly die cuts are a great touch! I love how that brain of yours ticks.
    Great great advice from your Dad. Make sure you do it. Hugs

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  5. Wonderful journal page! Love the coloring and great sentiment!

    So sorry to hear about the loss of your mom. I hope you wrote the letter and somehow you found peace.

    Thank you very much for joining us this week at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

    hugs...
    Melissa

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  6. And very sorry for your mom and how you were doing close to mother's day.... hope you did feel better after doing a letter!

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