Elfsisters' Art Adventure - One Elfsister has been MIA

Before I say anything else I have to apologize for not blogging for...a month! oopsie... I made a decision that I needed to step back from things for awhile and life confirmed it :P I'll be blogging more about that in the next day or two (hopefully) but for now...let's get on with the fun!

I know that says June - but we are keeping the Lord of the Rings challenge for July because neither Meri nor myself really had a chance to work on it last month! So if you like to draw, paint, or do any sort of craft and would like to join in, our challenge this month is to make things that are Lord of the Rings related! So far I've drawn a total of one scary picture of Gollum (copied off a stock photo):

Creepy no? But I think pretty good considering I've never drawn anything like this before!

We've kind of been in limbo on this one because Meri and I are mailing our books back and forth right now. So no assignments this week! Hopefully she'll have her book back by next week and we can move forward on that :) I'll show pictures of what she did to my book (although its on her blog already :P) and what I did to HER book (ok, what I'm going to do) next week :) For this week - the "make a cup from this page!" 

I decorated the page with crayon, although in retrospect marker would have been more fun because then it would have run when wet. Oh well... I made pretty blue water lines (hehehe) and colored the instructions in my favorite color (purple!) and Meri's (green!). 

Then, I made it into a funnel! The hand towel in the background is what I had out to let it dry on afterwards :) 

Going in for a drink...

And drinking!

Mo kept teasing me that I'm going to get crayon poisoning, but I did that yesterday (yes, I'm behind) and I feel fine so no harm no foul!

See you next week :) Don't forget to check out Meri's blog: http://merigreenleaf.blogspot.com/

Elfsisters' Art Adventure - A Big Sticky Mess - Week 6

Yup - I had way to much fun this week! I think that this whole thing is just fabulous and the more we get into the more fun I'm having. Now, since I had so much fun there are a lot of pictures - so brace yourself!

This weeks assignment was to drip something on the page,

close it, and come up with a print! 

Let's just say I really got into it :)

Layer 1

Gatoraid and Blood

Yes I said blood! I started with the bottom of my red gatoraid...

And then decided blood was a liquid and added a heart! 

Layer 2

Diet Coke

The Diet Coke didn't add much color,

but it smudged things some! 

Layer 3

Coffee

I was surprised that the coffee didn't make it darker!

I think that's when I really started having fun, 

seeing how things really interact with paper :)

Layer 4

Strawberry-banana Juice

This one was another big surprise because the juice is THICK,

but it only added a little bit more pink to the page.

So I got crazy...

Layer 5

Syrup!

Yes syrup. It dried amazingly well! But it took a full day...

I'm not done though...

Layer 6

Chocolate!

I wanted some COLOR but I was determined to stay with foods.

So I added chocolate - and its STILL not dry!

I'll be sticking a piece of wax paper in there :P

Ok I wanted to get more drawing done this week, but I didn't.

BUT this is my "secret" piece I was designing and it technically works

for both last month and this month! I have a triskele, and the writing is in Elvish!

What do you think?

Now make sure you go check out Meri's Blog to see what she did and get the assignment for this upcoming week in the Wreck This Journal! I'm reading the Hobbit and I'm hoping to get to draw some things inspired by that for our June LOTR challenge :)

Elfsisters' Art Adventure - Time for June's Adventure! - Week 5

This week has been chaotic, nothing you guys want to hear about, but I do have to apologize because I haven't had the time to post or do any drawing this week! Grrr.... I still have one more thing that I really want to draw for May's challenge so if I ever get it done I'll include it in one of my posts. 

This week was FUN! I think I'm going to enjoy all the pages that involve destruction :D This week we were supposed to get our hands dirty and make hand or finger prints. My friend Gypsy helped me with this weeks assignment, and we recruited my brother to be photographer. First she had to play in the mud puddles:

Then we found a good patch of mud...

I think the rest is self explanatory! 

I'm happy with it! 

Next Week's Wreck this Journal assignment is: Drip Something Here: (Ink, paint, tea) Close this book to make a print. Have fun! I'm tempted to use my coffee, but since there's a page relating to that one I'll pick something else...

It's June and that means a new Art Challenge! Meri, my dear elf-sister who I co-host this with picked the theme this month, but really, we both are huge Lord of the Rings fans :D She more so than I but...I'm becoming more so day by day :D I'm going to see how quickly I can get through the books, who thinks I can read all for (starting with the Hobbit) in a month? 

Check out Meri's post for this week! 

If you joined in the fun this last week please leave your post about it in the comments below. I'm exhausted and I'm not going to make a linky thing :p 

Elfsisters' Art Adventure - Knots and Knumbers - Week 4

Yes, yes, yes, I know "numbers" does not have a "k" on the front but you know what? I've never understood why "knot" has a silent k so I just had to play with the words in the title today! Now to get started ...

I had a lot of fun with this assignment! I don't quite have all the numbers done, but I had a lot of fun with what I did do! As you may notice it says "Starting Here" and I didn't exactly start with the number 1. No, of course not, I started with 42! As any good Hitch Hiker knows, the number 42 is the answer to "the Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything." Now we're not sure what the question actually is, so the answer doesn't help us much, but that still means it's a very cool number!

Since I didn't start with number 1 I didn't go in order for the rest of them. In fact I would just jump around and fill in numbers as I went :D I always thought it would be fun to have a book where none of the numbers were right, now I do.

See my pretty scribble? Sometimes I messed things up. When I messed up the first one I felt a bit depressed. My pretty book was messed up! Then I realized the ridiculousness of that thought. The whole point IS to wreck this journal after all! I tend to be very down on myself about my artistic attempts because I see everything I do wrong - which is a lot. Sometimes its because I don't know what I'm doing yet, and sometimes its just because hey, I make mistakes! This reminded me, vividly, that it's ok that I make those mistakes. It's not the end of the world, and I WILL get better.

One last thing, in case your confused, those are Elvish characters :) Meri and I have been learning to write in Tolkien's Elvish so I put that in as well as English!

I have another project in progress, but this I finished! I used the design I showed in my last post and it took a lot of erasing, but I eventually got something! The ink smeared, the lines aren't flowing the way I'd like, but a month ago I wouldn't have been able to do even this much, so I'm very happy! I may try to do another rendition, a better one, if I have the time this week. However, my other project, my secret one, comes first!

To find out this week's assignments and drop off your link make sure you go visit Meri's blog. 

Of Giveaway Plans and Wolves

I'm going to take a few weeks off from the giveaways. I know - it's sad! But I've just had a lot going on in my life and I want to make sure I'm giving the artists the attention they deserve, and I just don't have that attention right now. Hopefully it'll only be two or three weeks and then I'll be diving back in! If your interested in being featured when I start up again just let me know in the comments :)

Celtic Wolf Knot Wood Carving

I went to Artfire to find a random item to feature today - found this - and fell in love! It's so perfect for the other things that are going on in my life right now! I searched for "wolf" because I have a story world forming in my head that involves wolves, and we are doing the Celtic Art focus this month in our Elf Sisters' Art Adventures , so it combines both! I'm going to have to see if I can draw it, I'm guessing the answer to that is a resounding no but I figure it doesn't hurt to try! That's what the art adventure is all about right? 

Speaking of which - I do have a celtic art pattern in process for bead weaving but I just haven't had the brains to finish it :P Hopefully I'll do that soon and you'll get to see it.... next month? 

Giveaway Winner, Treasury, and More!

Its time to announce the current winner! And it is....

Peripatetic33!

Congrats :)

Make sure you check back for next weeks giveaway :)

I also wanted to share a treasury I'm in :)

Everything is Blue

And last but not least - this bracelet is featured over at Great Finds! 

Go vote for my bracelet or your favorite!

Some Special Wreck This Journal Pages

I mentioned in Wednesday's post that there are several pages in the Wreck This Journal that we are going to handle differently than the rest. I planed on posting about it yesterday, but I had a busy day, including some wonderful time with friends, and forgot! Oops. Sorry 'bout that :)

Before I get started - not doing the WTJ with us? Don't worry! You can join in anywhere you'd like, just read the posts and do the weekly assignments :)

There are a few pages that we're just going to leave open for you to do when you feel like it! The one above is one of them, as you can see I've already started using it! I had a bag of pens I hadn't used in awhile and needed to see if they worked, so I cracked the book and used 'em :) Here's the full list:

1. Collect Fruit Stickers - personally I'm going to collect fruit and any other stickers I find on things I eat, but this one should take awhile to fill! 
2. Use this as a Test Page - see above!
3. Collect the Stamps off of All your Mail - Unless you get more mail than I do its going to take awhile :)
4. Document a Boring Event in Detail - if I assign this one I just KNOW you'll have a fascinating week! So, keep it in mind, and when you have a boring event, share it! 
5. Fill in this page when you are really angry - I'm also not going to dictate when your angry :P 

Fill these pages at your discretion - and then share about them! I will remind you guys towards the end about the Fruit Stickers and the rest :) There are a few others that you may notice take awhile, but we will assign those for certain months - so don't fret!

Elfsisters' Art Adventure - Circles and Spirals - Week 3

Hey everyone! How are you? Are you having fun? I know I'm having lots of fun! This is week three and we are slowly building momentum :) So here's what I did with my projects this last week!

This week's Journal Assignment was the "Write/Scribble on the edges" page:

I only did two sides of the journal this week. I started by putting my real name on the top - Ruthie. I used a purple marker for the words, the pink is also marker, and I used crayon to do the background green. You can also see that on the corners I took the orange marker and marked them. The long side says "Marrikala" and has some spirals :) Marrikala is my Jedi name, that's a long story, but that (or Marri which is shorter), has been my user name for a long time! I don't use it for jewelry stuff, but I use it for a lot of other things! Like games :) The third side is going to be my Elvish name - but we're working on figuring out the proper script, so I'll be adding that in later! 

This was the assignment page, and I couldn't leave it blank! So I colored in the edges of the book picture with purple crayon, did spirals down the side of the page in pencil, the op is some more spiral type things in purple pen, and I did some more crayon and marker on the remaining two sides of the right page. The left side has a bit of a zentangle in the middle and then kinda scribbly stuff around it. And look! You can see my orange page edges :)

This Week: At the front of the book you'll find the assignment "Add Your Own Page Numbers," so go for it! Have fun! Think out side the box, I know what I'm going to do! There are also some pages in this book that really aren't assignable to just one week. I'll do a post about that tomorrow and add a link here.

I was a good girl and actually did some knots this week!

The one on the top left was inspired by one that my elfsister Meri did last week, and the bottom right is a very traditional triskele. The coloring was random, just pulled things out of bags and went for it :P I'm very proud of them :) I was scared! It took a few tries, and you can see one of the first mess ups in the top corner peeking out, but I did it! 

I took the elements in one of the knots I did above, and played with it, to make this one. I don't think it's very true to Celtic Art, more modern, but I used the techniques, and I it's the first thing I did knot wise where I wasn't copying it all, I added my own touch :) I also have another work in progress, but it needs a lot of work before I show it off! 

What are you going to do with your Celtic Art Adventure next week?

The link program isn't working properly, I'll try to add it to the post later tonight :)

Tears of Joy

There are multiple meanings to today's blog title. The first one is very literal! I got a text message from my brother yesterday after he went to the doctor, and I did literally start crying and jumping up and down! And dancing of course. Why? Gordon is in remission! No more cancer! It's all gone! 

Definitely worth dancing about don't you think? 

The other reason I titled this post Tears of Joy is that yesterday was also a sad day. My hubby's Aunt Janet passed away about two weeks ago, and yesterday was the memorial. We spent the afternoon at my Mother in Law's house with just the family, and then we headed over to the Portland Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate her life with all her friends! 

Aunt Janet helped start the Tears of Joy Theatre with her husband many years ago, and not only created a successful company that has touched the hearts of thousands with their puppets, but she has been a major part of the arts community in Oregon and the Northwest. I didn't have a chance to get to know her that well between when I married into the family and when we lost her suddenly, but she was a wonderful person, and was incredible to see how loved she was an by so many people! It was a wonderful celebration that included everything from people sharing stories, to poetry, to puppets, to opera! Aunt Janet, you'll be missed.

Aunt Janet

Go check out the Tears of Joy Theatre company.

Another Quick Update!

I have a memorial to go to today, so no "real" post :P Just a reminder that last weeks giveaway was extended through this week :) so go check it out! 

Quick Update

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been around. Because of that I'm going to run this week's giveaway for an extra week! Yay! It'll be up until the 21st - so if you haven't already - go enter! 

I also haven't had a chance to share about the Etsy Beadweavers contest! There's another day left to enter so go check it out!  My entry is number 16, but don't feel like you have to vote for me, vote for your favorite!

Elfisisters' Art Adventure Wk2 - I Revisit my Childhood!

Before I get started with showing off all of my fun stuff for this week, I just want to remind you that we have a group on Flickr! So make sure you go join, upload your pics, and join in the discussion!

I have more that I want to do to these two pages, but it's a secret! Muwhahaha. You'll see soon :) For now I just took my trusty purple pen, filled in the letters with zig-zag lines, added some flowers, blurred the word "destroy," boxed in the authors name, circled the "A perigree book" and added "Woot!" cuz I am excited! Aren't you?

I didn't do much to this page, I wasn't feeling inspired. I did fill in the "warning" so that it's a solid purple. But this page wasn't assigned so I guess that doesn't matter :P I may come back and scribble on it at some point...

Sometimes I don't follow instructions very well. So when it said "write your name in white" I wasn't satisfied with it! So I colored over the white crayon with pencil so you could see it :P I filled in my address, but I scribbled over it in purple cuz I don't want to share it with every random person on the internet! Oh, and when I was done following the instructions I covered the page with a light rubbing from a purple pencil :D Didn't do anything to the face page, hmmm, I should go back and do that at some point...

I think this was my favorite! I filled in "instructions" with some purple zig-zag lines, then I started coloring. I don't remember the last time I pulled crayons out! There's something soothing about it though isn't there? I have a bag of crayons so I just randomly pulled them out one by one until the bag was empty, refilled it, and started all over! I "messed up" at the top and colored the end of "Carry" and the beginning of "this" with the same color, so I made that my thing for this page. I used the same crayon to end one word and start the next :)

Yay! The spine is cracked! I have to admit I did this one I was little sometimes to books that were too stiff while I was reading them. I never cracked books this bad, but I still did it, which makes me a bad girl :P

I lost a few days to migraines this last week, so instead of trying to learn some thing with Celtic Art I decided that I would color! And I'm so glad I did! I love how this turned out :D I used purples to represent me and greens for Meri :) I promise I'll be a good girl this week and actually do some drawing myself.

What did you do this week? Head over to Meri's Blog to drop off your links and join the party!