Free Collage Sheets

I have been taking Pam Carriker's wonderful Visual Journalism 101 class. I have to admit, I have never kept up with an art journal like I should. I have started and stopped I don't know how many times, but not ever consistently. After taking Pam's class, I am totally hooked! I work in my art journal a lot now - daily, sometimes even several times daily. I see now how important keeping an art journal is as an artist, and just for myself. I have always been an artist for as long as I can remember, and my background from college is "Professional Writing and Literature." As you can see with all of that put together, it's really ridiculous that I have not embraced this concept until now. I have already made several discoveries and future artistic plans in the few short weeks that I have been doing this.

Since this has all been going on, I have been creating lots of collage sheets for my journals and work instead of just printing things off as I need them. I thought I would share a couple of them with you today for everyone in the class as well as you wonderful readers of my blog. I will also be sharing these from time to time, so check back often, as I am sure I will do this quite a bit.

Gotta add my little "disclaimer" ~
All that I ask is that you use these for your personal artwork. Just please don't sell these in your own collage sheets or as single images.

Enjoy~If you create anything with any of these images, I would LOVE to see what you come up with!

I will be posting some of my pages this week. My camera is giving me problems right now, and even Photoshop can't fix it. I may have to revert to just scanning them in. I've about got my husband ready to buy me a new camera! WhooHoo!!

Happy Creating!
Stacy

Artwork for the Home

I recently decided that I wanted to redo our home in "Old World" kind of rustic/Tuscan/antique like if that's even a style. Basically, warm earth tone colors and pictures similar to the one above. I purchased some ironwork for the walls, and then after pricing some paintings for the walls, I decided they were just way to expensive right now, and why not try my hand at painting some. Besides, not only will they (hopefully) turn out the way I would like them to look, they would also have more sentimental meaning since I created them. I was pleasantly surprised with my first shot at it. I painted this 11x14 painting that I finished this week. It turned into a project that took way longer than I expected, but I am pleased with it.

I have had this picture up on Flicker for a week now, and have not had a chance to write about it on my blog. Week before last was teacher appreciation week. The students were sent home with a list of things their teacher likes, and one of the things Mrs. Payton said she collected was pins. So, Ashlyn and I decided to maker her one out of PMC Silver Clay. I had her draw a picture of herself, and we transferred (carved) it into the silver. I then took one of Ashlyn's hearts that she has drawn and cut out around it, textured the edges, and then attached a pin to the back after I fired and polished it. It turned out to be a really unique and well loved gift! I wrapped it all pretty, and ready to go, and 10 minutes before we needed to leave for school, I realized I had not taken a picture of it. So, I had to unwrap it and snap a couple of quick pictures. Hence, the reason for the poor quality of this photo. It really doesn't do it justice. At least I remembered before giving it to Mrs. Payton : )

I have been working on my blog lately trying to spruce it up a little. I am hoping to have my new additions ready to add within the next week or so. I decided it needed sprucing up as well along with my house!

I now have to go police my house that is full of 5 and 6 year old girls right now! Take care!

Two in One Day

O.K. I am actually creating two entries in one day - a lot can happen since 5:30 am when I first wrote my other post. Seems like my daughter is somehow miraculously better - no more red throat. I think it must just be allergies. I know mine and my husband's are bad right now. She still is very inquisitive in whether or not she will have to have a shot if she has to go to the doctor.
My husband came home early from work today and spent some good quality time with Megan and Memphis playing the Wii. I was actually able to paint a little bit while they did. It's just something I made rather quickly, so it's not that great because I was experimenting with the tree. I seem to be fascinated with painting (or wanting to) trees lately. Actually, trees have always been my favorite things to paint. There is such beauty that can be found in trees, and I can always find a way that they symbolize something in my life at any given point. This time, it symbolizes growth because I feel like I am at a point in my life that I am growing - I think we all are at all times in some way or another.
Anyways, here's the picture I have been working on and also a picture of my girls and Memphis.