Being Gigi

Saturday morning I left for the three-hour drive to my son's home in South Carolina.

Raise your hand if you can identify these large yellow objects seen frequently along the highway!

Yes, quilters, this is the source of your favorite fabric and batting...good old King Cotton, baled up in the fields and covered with what looks like thick protective plastic.

It was a beautiful ride in the full sun.  The farther south I went, the more colorful leaves were still on the trees.

Saturday I took my grandchildren to Kalmia Gardens, a lovely nature preserve on the site of a former plantation.  It is also the site of my son's first wedding.  Here is Lily in the very spot where her parents got married.

 

There were many great photo ops at this lovely spot.

 

 

 

 

We took one of the many paths that descends sixty feet below the house and yard to a cypress swamp below.  Along the way are many types of plants such as mountain laurel normally found in the mountains, certainly not in the flatlands of South Carolina.

 

 

 

The Black Creek runs through the base of the property.  It was reflecting beautifully in the afternoon sun.

 

 

The creek and the pond at the bottom are surrounded by cypress trees.  These trees have the curious growth habit of developing cypress "knees,"  or woody structures that develop from the root system and stick up above the water.

 

 

There were lots of wooden boardwalks to help us keep our feet dry along the way.

 

 

The kids had fun climbing on tree trunks and playing along the trails.

 

 

The next day we got out the art supplies.  Next door-neighbor Sky came over, too. 

 

 

Sky taught us how she draws and colors roses.

 

 

I was pleased to see that Lily and Sky have been using the Doodlicious Daybook journal that I made.  Here is a lady that Lily drew on one of the pages.  I think it might be Popeye's girlfriend, Olive Oyl .

 

 

 

It was a nice weekend, and Bryson and Melissa had a much-deserved weekend away in Charlotte to watch the Panthers-Broncos football game.  Guess who was rooting for whom?

 

 

Since I stayed until Monday, my husband did not accompany me.  He went on to our mountain place for a weekend of hunting (unsuccessful.)  I am looking forward to a reunion with him for two more days until he goes back up for full-fledged deer camp through Thanksgiving.

 

I will be heading down to Florida on Sunday with my sister and our dad to stay with our brother Jeff and his family for almost a week.  I am so excited about this trip.  The weather is turning cold again this week after the mild weekend.  I am ready to pack my shorts and bathing suit and head for the Gulf of Mexico!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not What I Should Have Been Doing Today

My little granddaughter, Lily, is learning to write, and loves to draw.  I always take a little notebook when we go out to eat for the kids to draw in.  I got each of them their own little spiral notebook, but wanted to make a journal for Lily.  Then I remembered the Doodlicious Daybook that she helped me make last year.  I decided to revise it to make it Five-Year-Old Friendly.

First I swapped out the chrome-colored metal binder rings for pretty colored ones, and added some fiber and ribbon wraps.  The front cover is a transparency printed on the computer with my doodles.

The whole journal was inspired by the online 21 Secrets journaling class with Tracie Hanson.  We created the painted pages by taking big sheets of brown craft paper and white drawing paper and painting with acrylic paints.  Then we cut those up into journal-size pages, often sewing them back to back with other papers.  In the photo below, the left side page is one of the painted brown papers outlined with marker.  The other side is cardstock painted and stamped.  I started a few doodled faces.

Here is a pocket page containing some raw materials to cut up and glue.

I like pocket pages and included several.

I made the pocket from a page with Zentangle doodles.

This page has a mini-book attached, as well as a quilted fabric bookmark.  The bird is a glitter transfer.  I have given her a few journal start ideas.

On the right is another painted paper from last fall.  On the left is a calendar page decorated with a duct tape flower.  Don't you love those printed duct tapes?

I never throw anything out, it seems.  When I have extra paint left on my palette, I often just spread it around on card stock.  I made a tag out of the blue painted flower.  There is a message on the back.

Here's another glitter bird transfer perched on the L from Lily's name.

The back cover is watercolor paper with a design stencilled on.

I hope Lily will have fun making art in this journal...and I hope she invites Gigi to do some pages along with her!

Happy Halloween!

Last year I participated in the 21 Secrets online journaling class.  One of the workshops was Doodlicious Daybook, with Tracie Hanson.  We made funky journals out of painted brown paper, old calendar pages, duct tape, zig zag stitching, and other fun stuff.  On one of my painted pages, I took the paint blobs and made them into ghosties and goblins.

Then I got this card from my dad a couple of days ago.  He likes to make color photocopies of his artwork and make note cards.  This painting from Sunset Beach came with his version of ghosties and ghoulies!

Great minds think alike.

We have not had a trick-or-treater at our house in about six years, probably because of our long driveway.  But I hope that you have a safe and happy Halloween!  It is a very cold one here in central North Carolina.  My grandkids live in South Carolina, where you can usually count on it being in the 80's on Halloween.  Avery and Lily did not look too pleased to be wearing their fur monkey suits on this Halloween a few years ago, but they would be perfect for tonight!

Art Journals

That gray, cold wet weather of the past couple of days inspired me to get out my art journals and play with some pretty color.  I finished a page that I had previously painted a hot pink with acrylics.  I drew a lady's face in pencil.  To help get the proportions correct, I cut out a face from a cosmetics advertisement and put it on the facing page while I was drawing.

The butterfly is from a copyright-free Dover image.  I cut up scrapbook paper for some of the collage elements.  The little butterfly was originally a doodle on a Post-It note.  The page also includes black ink from a Pitt pen, and silver markings from a paint marker.

When I was scanning this and the image started to appear from the top of the page, her eyes looked wild and red.  Maybe I should give her some white paint as artistic Visine!

Some of my journal pages were mentioned on Tracie Hanson's blog today.  She is the online instructor for the Doodlicious Daybook class at 21 Secrets.  I need to get that journal back out and doodle some more.  Maybe next time Lily comes to visit. 

Doodlicious Daybook- 21 Secrets Journaling Class

What a beautiful day!  I treated myself to an hour-and-a-half walk on the greenway near my house.  Since it was such a gorgeous autumn weekend and we were not in the mountains to enjoy it, this walk along the creeks, woods, and wetlands was a great substitute.

After that, I took a set of watercolor paints outside and used a fall palette to paint some background papers.  Then I stitched some of these to other painted and assorted papers, from calendars, magazines, and scrapbook papers.  I assembled these with loose-leaf notebook rings into a "Doodlicious Daybook" or journal.  It is fat and funky!

When we had the grandkids in the mountains last weekend, Lily and I did some painting outside on brown Kraft paper and card stock.  She produced the pink page by smearing her hands all over a glob of paint.

I used a technique from the online workshop 21 Secrets, which is a series of videos and instructional pages by some of the top names in journaling and mixed media.  This one was called The Doodlicious Daybook with Tracie Hanson.  You are supposed to paint really large doodles on mural-size paper.  I just used the brown paper left over from wrapping paper rolls.  Then you cut up the big sheets to create journal pages.

On this page, a part of a big doodle is on the left, and a failed painting on the right.  This is a great way to use paintings that you don't like, but wouldn't mind journaling or collaging on top of.

I didn't realize I had so many paintings I could use for this purpose! 

One of today's painted backgrounds is on the left, and a NC Wildlife magazine cover is on the right, with the delightful zebra duct tape.

Painted doodle on the left, watercolor on the right. I used those cheap acrylic paints like Folk Art from Michael's for the doodles.  I buy them when they are on sale for like 69 cents apiece. 

This is one I did today...can you tell how happy this beautiful fall weather has made me?

India ink doodle on watercolor on left, big doodle on right

Doodle on left, pocket made from scrapbook paper on right to hold bookmark

Well, you get the idea.  This is going to be so much fun to fill with journaling.

I hope your weekend was fun!