One Word Wednesday: confine

Hello my lovely blog readers! Sorry I am making this post so late in the day.. my sister had her high school orientation today and I was at the school for a little while.

This weeks word is confine



I began this page by just playing around and seeing where it would take me. I started by covering the background with old book pages and then put some acrylic paint down - finger painting is the best!



I just smeared it any which way and chose random colors. I really enjoy the yellow and purple that I ended up using. I then found a sticker of a butterfly that I feel like is a symbol of freedom - butterflies are free to fly wherever they chose.



I based my page around the idea of not being confined to any place and being able to grow and go your own way. I had some vintage images that I used on the page.. one of a man and woman. This made me think of not having to be confined to one certain relationship, if that makes sense. I glued a tea bag wrapper to the page and placed the image inside. The flowers could also be a symbol of growth.



Just like the previous word, I found that "confine" relates to my life as well. I am hoping to move to a different state in the near future and start down a new path.. to me, this page is a reminder that I am not confined to where I live now and that things can always change and be different.


Leave a comment with a suggestion for next week's word! xo

Some journal love

These are a few pages I have done lately in my big spiral journal and found papers journal that I made.









Think less, create more!

Sometimes I tend to look at other's art and put off doing my own... so I'm going to try to always keep this little phrase in mind from now on. It's not about HOW you fill your journal.. the important thing is that you fill it up, with anything your heart thinks of at the moment and wants to put on the page. Remember this always. Just go for it!

Sketchbook Project - Post #1

I thought I would put one word Wednesday on hold for a week and share what I've been doing for the sketchbook project since I've been meaning to post about it for a little while now.

My theme is "If you lived here..." and I'm combining art with real photos that I took around my city and home. I'm also going to do some sketching here and there and whatever else I come up with! :)



What I plan to do to the above page is attach a flap made of cardstock (a door) that will go right over the picture.. it will be like the entrance to my life and the place where I live. I wanted to try to make the journal a little interactive and interesting since a lot of people (I hope!) will be looking at it. Plus I love little flaps and hidden things in journals. :)





I know we aren't really supposed to use embellishments but I couldn't help it, I love buttons and ribbon way too much! I probably won't use anymore, but had to stick them in there somewhere..



These pages aren't finished - there will be lots of writing on them. I'm going to be telling stories about some of the pictures and things that I'm familiar with. I think I'm going to save the writing for a little later on, but it will be a main part of the book.

In other news... I am planning on opening an etsy shop soon! I have been working on a painting for awhile now that is almost finished and have been working on a few other things for my shop as well.. I'll be sharing these with you soon! xo

Flea market finds

Hey everyone! I wanted to share with you some great things I found at a flea market. Yesterday was my birthday and I was supposed to go to Boston to the Blick art store, but there was a change of plans and I ended up spending the day at a flea market instead. At first I was disappointed that I wasn't going to the art store in Boston, but let me tell you... once I got to that flea market (it was huge!) I was in pure heaven. It's like a mecca for mixed media artists!! It is in Londonderry, NH (click here for the website) every weekend and very close to where I live. I can't believe I hadn't gone before!


The first table I visited at the market was a lady who was selling a TON of ribbon and trim...I think I said to my mom, "This is like my dream!" The lady probably thought I was a nut. This is what I ended up getting...I probably would have bought it all if my family didn't have to pull me away from the table. ^_^


I found some old books and paper doilies that will be great to use for collage.. and inside the books were some old ephemera from the 1950s! There were two train and postal tickets and an old greeting card. I love things like this. I think it's so neat how you can have a glimpse into the past and hold something that once belonged to someone decades ago. I doubt I will use them for art because I wouldn't want to ruin them, but maybe sometime.



I got these four colorful rolls of tape for $1... there was a giant box of them ! I also got a bunch of markers and some elementary teaching books that will be very useful in the future!

I didn't get a chance to go to every table because the market was so big.. I hope I didn't miss any other good artsy stuff, but I'll definitely be going back sometime soon. I think it runs through October. Anyone who lives in the southern NH area should check it out.. it takes a little while to look around but you will find some great things to use in your art for sure.

I will be back soon with a post about the sketchbook project tomorrow or Tuesday! Have a creative day. :)

one word wednesday: overtime

In my last post I was in kind of a journal slump but I'm feeling much better now. I started working in a new journal and I'm not thinking so much about it.. more creating and less thinking!

Thanks to Julie (TopazPearleGirl) for suggesting this week's word: overtime.

It was beautiful out yesterday and I decided to sit outside with my journal and tackle this word challenge. It was so great. Just sitting quietly with my journal and music is probably my favorite way to spend my time. A basket of art supplies, my ipod, and a lemonade... bliss! :)







Here is the finished page:



This word challenge was stumping me a bit just like last week's... but it all came together in the end. Don't you love that? I love not knowing where a journal page will take me.. it's like it takes on a life of it's own. I thought I had an idea how to express the word in my journal, when I realized I wanted to go in a different direction.

The page ended up being about how my mind and heart, my emotions, have been working overtime the past few days.. and today I was able to experience a weight lifted from my shoulders and there was peace. The word ended up being perfect for this week. I think it's so neat how you can paste a phrase, quote, or image on a page just because you like it, and then it turns into a story about your life. It's like you are creating something meaningful without even knowing it- I like letting the journal page tell a story.

More from the day:





How do you interpret "overtime"? Up for the challenge? E-mail me your journal page (creativetempo AT gmail DOT com) and I will post the pages I receive in next Wednesday's post.

Leave a comment with a suggestion for next weeks word! :)

Art journal ramblings

I feel like I'm having a journal mid-life crisis... minus the mid-life! I don't know.. it seems I'm still searching for what feels "right." I see so many different journals online that I'm inspired by, so many different prompts, things to include in a journal, my head spins thinking about it all. It's like I want to do it all and I don't know what to do first! I think that a journal "style" is a reflection of what you are inspired by at the time and it is ok to change it up and also try new things in your journal too. I feel like I want to go in a bit of a different direction with my journaling and see where it takes me. I know for sure that I want to include much more handwriting on my pages. I have recently just become so interested in my own handwriting and the way it looks, simple but truly me, telling events that have happened or ideas in my head. I think that is what I want more of.

Now, I have developed a journal style that I do love and feel is very me.. lots of collage and very raw and random. But sometimes it feels like I'm struggling and I am not really into it. I like to be spontaneous, but when I want to include some writing, many times I will pick up the pen and not know what to say. I think I need to have something to focus on. What I really want to do is more of a daily journal, I think. Journals where I can document and record: write the days events, include tidbits to collage , doodle and whatnot. I have always been a writer at heart and lost some of that when I started to art journal, I think subconsciously I've told myself that I don't need to write or shouldn't really write because it's a visual journal, which of course isn't true at all but I can be hard on myself. I think daily visual journaling will help me feel more comfortable with writing and give me a little structure which I feel like I need right now. This is not to say I will stop the types of pages I normally do, but I'm going to try this out too.

Also - the moleskine sketchbook is killing me. Not the sketchbook project, but the regular moleskine book that I have. We all know the paper is amazing- but for some reason it's intimidating me like crazy. Some little voice in my head keeps telling me the pages I've done aren't good enough because they are in THAT book. It's hard to shut up that little voice! I really do love the moleskine for making nice paper that us artists love..but I don't think I'm a moleskine girl anymore.. I want a 99 cent journal that I can let loose in that won't scare me to death. Just how I'm feeling right now! The sketchbook project is not even as intimidating (I know, weird)... that thin little cahier notebook has got nothing on me... its that big bad black sketchbook! haha.

Well.. there wasn't a real point to this post, just to let my feelings out and ramble. I hope this wasn't too negative, I just needed to get my thoughts down. Maybe you can relate? :)

One Word Wednesday!

What is one word Wednesday, you ask? Well the past week I have been trying to come up with an idea for a theme that I could do here each week, and I've decided that every Wednesday for awhile I will post a journal page I have made that is based on one word. I got the word randomly from this website, but from now on I'd like you guys, my lovely readers, to comment and suggest a word! They will all go into a jar and I will randomly pick one that will be featured next week. Leave your comments on this post with words for next Wednesday!

Also (and this is the best part).. I want you to join me! I'll be lonely just making these one word pages all by myself, so I welcome you to create your own journal page based on the Wednesday word. You can interpret and use the word however you want, it doesn't even need to be written on your journal page. I think it will be fun to see what people do. All you need to do is email me your page at creativetempo AT gmail DOT com and every week I will show pages people have made from the previous week! If you want, you can also write a few sentences about how you created your page, what inspired you, etc and I will put that here along with your page. :)

Today's word is... angle

At first I was like, wha..? Angle?? I wasn't sure what to do at first, but then I started going through some magazines and tore out random pictures of anything that looked like it was at an angle. I also took some scrapbook papers and cut out triangles and rectangles. Some of it is covered up so you can't really see the shapes here. It was actually really fun looking at the page after I had finished and realizing all the ways I had used the word!

Are you up for the challenge? The angle of your body, an angle in your geometry book, the angles of a building... How many ways can it be used? Send me your pages and leave a word in the comments!

Fabulous find!

I want to share with you this FABULOUS find that I picked up a few days ago at the mall. I actually saw these sandals on a mannequin a little while ago while shopping at Macy's but couldn't find them in the store. The other night I was looking for some sunglasses there and spotted them on sale for $20. I fell in love with them because of the color - I absolutely love teal/turquoise! Just ask anyone who knows me.. I'm a little obsessed. I probably own a billion things in that color. Maybe someday if I am bored I will photograph them all for you, ha ha. Back to the sandals.. the picture makes them look more blue than they really are. But not only are they really gorgeous, they are very comfortable too. So go get these babies at Macy's if you are looking for some nice sandals. They come in three or four other colors as well. I wish I had found these earlier in the summer. I've been wearing these even when I'm just hanging around the house - makes me feel pretty! Who needs a special occasion for that! I challenge you to wear a pretty dress, special makeup, or fancy shoes just for the heck of it and because you deserve it- life is too short to save extravagance for only once in a while. :)



Thank you so much for the all the nice comments on my recent posts.. I love to read them. I wanted to mention that I will always reply to them in the comments section of each post. I appreciate them all very much.. look for my replies there!

Today was nice - although a bit cloudy outside, the air was cool and it was not ninety degrees like it has been for the past month! My mom, sister, and I went downtown to take some photos - I took a bunch for the sketchbook project (I'm hoping it will come in the mail tomorrow!) and she took some of me modeling her jewelry.

Here are a few photos I took for the project:


Beautiful graffiti on the side of Quiznos subs.. who knew?



I decided that for this project I am going to focus on places that I know well. I used to work downtown right near the B&B grill and I am really familiar with the area.. so I'm going to create art based around photos of places that are special to me. I will also include some sketches and writing.. I want to tell stories about these places. I love that all of us artists can support and encourage each other during this project. It is comforting to know that other artists like me are working in their sketchbooks too.. I know I am a part of something really special. We're in this together people!



Jessie getting some sunshine near my window today. :)





Happy August! Have a wonderful, creative week!