Princess Bubbles Creates

LeeAnna  asks us Morning Person or Night Owl? Honestly, I am neither.  I am a person that requires a lot of sleep.  I am not ashamed to say I want at least eight hours a night.  Our society seems to venerate those who run a few hours of sleep.  People wear it like a badge of honour, not me.  I go to bed early and love to sleep late if possible. My granddaughter pictured above is on my list of likes, always.  Here she is being her creative self.  Don't you just love the frufru skirt with the soccer T-shirt and hat?  Adorable!  She always makes me smile.  All the grandchildren do! Lately, I have been playing Spelling Bee by the NY Times.  I enjoy trying to get to the genius level.  It is hard!  Good for the brain for sure. On TV we have been watching Boston Legal.  An oldie but a goodie.  There are always a couple of giggles but also some thought-provoking ideas. I love that we are getting some warmer weather....

 Monet is one of my favourite artists.  I love the impressionistic style so I decided to play with that in my journal.  There are a lot of layers here.  I started by blocking in colour with my permanent markers and then adding a layer of thin white acrylic paint.  That didn't knock back the marker colour as much as I thought it would.  I added a layer of watercolour crayons.  The Neocolor 2 by Caran d'ache added good layer of colour.  On top of that, I added oil pastels.  The oil pastels gave me the look I was aiming to get.  Obviously, I am no Monet but I am happy with my attempt.  I may try something similar with fabric and then stitch into it.   I am linking to https://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.com/

 I haven't fully committed to this mandala as yet.  Nothing has been adhered in place.  The main issue is the different materials.  The base circle is vellum with alcohol ink.  The butterfly and dragonfly die cuts are a delicate paper.  The innermost circle is a manipulated photo printed on transparency.  I am wondering if spray glue would be the best way to go.  I am also not opposed to stitching these elements in place.  Thread could add an interesting texture.   Oh, I just looked at the die cuts more closely and they aren't the same ones.  Hmm, will that bother me or do I like it?  I am really glad I haven't attached them yet.  

  My scrappy little pieces are a pleasure to stitch.  I am a little concerned that I work with the same colour palette so OFTEN.  I just set these pieces on top of a journal page I had done.  They blend right into it.  I do try to throw in some colours that I don't typically use.  The piece on the right has a bit of olive green.  That is definitely a colour I don't use much.   There is still plenty of room for stitching on these pieces.  I haven't even started using beads yet.  I have learned from past experience it is best to leave the beads until the very end.  I will wait until have all the pieces sewn together into a scroll.  There will be no worries of catching beads in the seams that way. I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

LeeAnna  asks the group Amusement Park or Day at the Beach? Oh, a day at the beach for sure!  Even though my white skin will likely get pink, even with sunscreen!  The sound of the waves is so relaxing.  Mind you I don't like to swim.  Floating is more my speed.  I could float all day.  One of my favourite vacations was Hawaii.  This photo doesn't do it justice but that sea turtle was huge!  I can hardly believe I didn't get a photo when the second one came onto the beach.  There was a volunteer there to watch over the turtles.  They told us it is a rare occurrence for two turtles to be on the beach at the same time.  What a treat for us!  I am truly grateful for the wonderful trips we have been able to take. I am undecided about where our next trip will take us.  I would love to see a bioluminescent bay.  I will have to do some research as to where they are.  My son saw one when they were in Jamaica.  ...

 I have sewn together this group of floofy pages.  I had started a second set that would have easily mixed in with this set and I didn't want that to happen.  Much hand stitching is still required for this scroll.  I am not being drawn to work on it right now.  I started it about a year ago and it still isn't finished.  I have made way more progress on two others that I started a few months ago.  It is interesting how I can lose interest in a project.  I always come back to them.  Sometimes I just need a rest/break.

 I enjoy finding different ways to create mandalas.  Exploration is always fun for me.  Playing around, making mistakes, and discovering new things makes me really happy and gives me a lot of peace.  I just read an article that explained those things are activating the default mode network in the brain and it is great for the brain.  Yay!