Egyptian ATC Swap

A recent swap we did in Art Exchange, Happy Mail was the Egyptian ATC swap!  This one was so fun!

Here's the ATC I sent to my partner, Veronica

And here is the ATC she sent me in return!

I thought it was hilarious we both did the Eye of Ra! I like hers much better :)

Daily Drawing

I've gotten inspired to go back to basic drawing as of late. It started with my mom finding a beautiful picture I drew in high school. She's cleaning out her house because she just moved, and she wanted to know if i wanted it. Of course I did, it is a beautiful large picture that took my 4 months to do. Here it is if you're curious:

So I posted this on my Facebook, just because I am proud of it and I'd completely forgotten about it! And a bunch of my friends really encouraged me to pick up a pencil and start drawing again!

At the same time, the admin in my Art Exchange group started doing daily sketches and uploading them to our group for opinions. I thought this was a great idea--if you want to improve something, you need to practice! So I decided I would try to draw something every day.

I am through my first week, and I did draw every day but Friday. So not bad! With the exception of Lorraine, these drawing were all done on regular copy paper, with  No. 2 pencil and regular eraser. I added colored pencils to Lorraine's drawing. Proving that art can be really simple!

"Celeste"
7/21/14

"Lorraine"--Vintage Fashions
7/22/14

"Lorraine in Winter Wonderland"

7/23/14

"Rose"

7/24/14

"Keys"
7/26/14

"Polar Bear"
7/27/14

I'm not sure what my favorite is...I really do love Celeste, but the Rose turned out great too! On Tuesday I drew Lorraine, but decided there was too much white space, so I drew her a background on Wednesday.  The Polar Bear was my least favorite, I was having issues with him. I actually spent Sunday night working on him for 2 hours, before I gave up..I finished him on Monday morning and eventually, just had to call it good. Maybe I'll go back later and try to fix him up a bit, but for now I just had to leave it!

I'm really enjoying the practice, and plan on trying to continue this sketchbook for awhile!

Bird Postcard Swap

A fun swap that my art group, Art Exchange Happy Mail did in May was a bird postcard swap! This one was so fun and easy!

I made 3 different postcards--one for my partner, Keigh Juarez, and the other 2 I sent randomly.

This one was just different papers I had collaged...then I had a really cool card with feathers on it that I cut out and added. The birds nest and eggs are 3D miniatures I bought and glued those on. Then I added a few stickers.

 This one was also some decorative paper I had, and I just added a gelli print to it and a stamped image I received in happy mail. The Peacock feathers I cut off of a wedding invite sample I had, and then I added a craft feather. The orange dots--I dipped the end of a colored pencil into some orange paint and stamped on dots. 

This was also some decorate papers, plus a light piece of vellum in hot pink. The mandala I received in happy mail. Then I just added on a feather and a couple of charms.

And this was the postcard I received from Keigh!

I love this beautiful hummingbird postcard! I've already placed it in one of my journals!

Fairy ATCs

One of my favorite things I've made over the last few months have been fairy ATCs.  They are so gosh darn CUTE!

I started by making some for a swap: then I had so much fun, I made extra. I made some more even more recently!

They are pretty simple...first I make some colorful gelli prints, and cut fairy wings out of those. Then I take a black silhouette image of a girl, shrink it down on my PC, then print it. I use this to do an image transfer right onto the ATC. Then I go back with my black paint pen and fix anything that needs fixing. They come out kind of imperfect, but I like that. Then I paint the background with watercolors, add some glitter. After they are dry, comes the really fun part--naming them! They each have a unique name. I write that on the bottom of the card, then edge each card with distress paint--and Voila!--Cute little fairy ATCs!

My favorites are Celeste, Fawn, Adalynn, and Lola. I have a dear friend named Lola who lives in The Netherlands, and I sent her my Lola fairy, which thrilled her!

Anyways, very fun fun project, and I can't wait to make some more!

Journal 52--My Showcase

At the beginning of the year, I discovered this awesome Facebook group! Its actually a blog run by Chelle Stein. Its basically a free online workshop that lasts all year long!   There is a new prompt every week to help you get inspired for your art.

Some information on the group:

Website:  http://journal52.com/blog/

Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/738984112797994/

Teacher: Chelle Stein

Goals: Journal52 is a FREE art journal workshop that will keep you motivated, inspired, and creating all year long. By the end of the 52 weeks, you will have a book that tells your story of 2014 in a creative way.

Why Participate in Journal52?

• Simplifies the art journal process – no more staring at blank pages!

• No expensive supplies are necessary– all you need is a 3 ring binder and your choice of papers to get started…and whatever else you already have to create with!

• Keep record of your life in a creative way– we’ll be collecting all sorts of treasures from everyday life to include in your journal

• Learn New Techniques--We will be sharing all of our favorite art journal techniques, including collage, drawing, mixed media painting and more!

• Personal Development- Whether you’re looking to achieve your goals and dreams or go on a journey of self discovery, this workshop will help you with many aspects of personal development as well.

I have had so much fun with this so far this year! I am very behind, but as Chelle, says there's no such thing as "behind" in this group! Its supposed to be fun and inspiring.  Just do what you can when you can!

Alrighty, let's showcase some art!

Week 1: Up, Up and Away

I actually did 2 spreads for this week, because I was feeling super inspired! These were mostly collage efforts with distress paints and fancy clip images and papers. 

Week 2: Somewhere, A Simple Place

The background for this one was painted with acrylics. I added in some background papers, and a simple photo and words I got from a magazine ad.

Week 3: You Always Make Me Smile

The background I painted with oil paint. To get the texture, I crinkled up a sheet of aluminum foil then pressed it into the paint. The rest was collaging images I found in travel ads, some maps, and a few stickers.

To be continued...(I'll showcase more in future posts)

Alice In Wonderland Swap

Another recent swap in my favorite art group (Art Exchange, Happy Mail) was a Alice in Wonderland art swap. We could make anything we wanted using anything from Alice in Wonderland. Great theme for an artist!

For my swap partner, Trish Camier, I made this really fun collage

I started with a gelli print on the top, that is mostly white with a bit of red. Then at the bottom I applied gesso as texture through my clocks stencil. I colored over with some Tim Holtz distress paints in Forest Moss, Seedless Preserves, and Silver. Also added a few abstract stamps in red. Then I had fun collaging items! Alice I drew on another sheet of paper with charcoal, and colored her in with pastels. I love the way this came out!  I sent a bunch of other fun goodies with this too.

And this is what I received in return from Trish!

She made me little Alice in Wonderland journal! She left half of it empty for me to fill in later! She also sent with it lots of cute papers and tags! I ADORE it!

This swap was so much fun and so successful, that we are going to be doing another one soon. This one will focus on the Mad Hatter Tea Party. Can't wait!

The Cupcake ATC Swap

My favorite art group I'm a part of is called Art Exchange, Happy Mail Group.  Basically its all about art swaps and happy mail swaps, and it is SO FUN!!! 

A recent swap we did was the "Cupcake ATC" swap. We usually have a weekly ATC swap of some kind. I don't do them all, but I had to do the cupcake one!

This is what I made for my partner, Bridgitte Gaudin

This was a simple free clip art that I downloaded and then printed off.  I embellished it with glitter and paint pens, and added lace around the border.  Simple, but really cute and fun!  I also send her a bunch of goodies with it, here's a sneak peek pic of them:

I don't think she's received it yet, but hopefully soon!

I did receive Bridgitte's though! 

Isn't it sooo cute?? She also sent me some fun ribbon as well! 

This was a fun swap, and made me hungry for cupcakes!

Hi and Welcome!

Welcome to my new art blog! I've been blogging for quite awhile on other subjects, but decided I wanted a place to showcase all my stuff.  And maybe hopefully inspire you all as well! 

This blog will mostly be a showcase, but I might also include some how-to's or tips occasionally as well.  I'm going to try to post at least once a week for now, but we'll see. 

A little bit about me: Hi, my name is Jenny, or you can call me my moniker, Juliababyjen, or just Jen, or Julia...heck you can even call me Baby if you want to!  I'm a 37 year old married mother of 4.  My current gig is a part time chef for a senior assisted living facility, which I love!  I'm also really big in the book world, am on 2 different author street teams, have a blog, I Booktube (bookish videos on YouTube) and I volunteer a lot. 

In my spare time, somewhere in there, I like to make art.  I've been making and creating things forever, since I was an itty bitty little preschooler.  My mom really encouraged our creativity, and gave us projects as "homework" daily. When I was in high school, I took several art classes and loved it--but eventually, I had to drop them to keep up with my college prep courses. Which actually did me no good in the long run anyways, so yeah. Bummer.

When I was a young mother I started journaling.  Now we have an actual term for it: Artistic journaling. My journals were a mash up of doodles, drawings, poems, lists, musing, thoughts..whatever was in my brain at the time I guess!  I kept up with those in my free time, but about 10 years I ago I stopped doing almost anything creative.  I went through a rather rough time for awhile, which I'm not going to get into, but it was a bunch of crap all happening at one basically!

Our family and I came out of it okay, and we moved and started over about a year ago in a little town. And then, this last January, I was on YouTube and learned about "Mail Art," "Mixed Media," "Art Journaling," "Altered Art"....and I thought, I really need to try this stuff!

So here I am now, 6 months later having the time of my life with all this art "stuff!" I've tried loads of different techniques, learned about new mediums, and made a ton of fun new art friends! I'm constantly learning something new, and a lot of that is due to this great art community I'm in. Friends make anything so much better!

So let's get this party started!