Wonderful Wednesday - The Happy Mail Journal

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  I'm here to share my latest journal. It came about as a result of The 100 Day Project.  Another post with scheduling difficulties.  (It was THAT kind of week this week.)

Did YOU predict this might happen???

I've been wanting to make a Happy Mail Journal for quite some time and the mailers in yesterday's #100Days100ThingsDecluttered felt like just the right thing to use:

I put it together on Thursday afternoon and decorated the cover during my Weekly Evening Art Hangout on Friday night.  The thought dropping them in the recycling bin seemed like a cruel thing to do with the mailers shown below - the very same ones I shared with you in yesterday's 100 Day Challenge post:

Whether out with the recycling or upcycled into a new journal, this was a HUGE win for me!

Why is that, Joyful???

The reason is quite simple.  You see, I tend to be a bit sentimental about certain items.  I felt overly attached to these mailers because I had been saving them since the very beginning of the (Ravelry) UFO Club in 2010.  My fat quarter rewards for completed project arrived in them.  For a while, they held the FQs and accompanying notes of congratulations and thanks for organizing The Club.  Once I added the FQs into my stash, I saved the envelopes for reuse.  Obviously, I never did that (until now!)  It was definitely time to do something with them because they have been taking up valuable drawer space for far too long.

And that...

Is the rest of the story.  Of course, if you read to the bottom of Saturday's post, this wasn't much of a surprise.  I blame it on the pollen haze that we are currently living under.  I completely forgot that I shared it already.  End of story.  Really.

Until next time...

I'm practicing CREATIVE decluttering!!

Throwback Thursday - A Double Dose of Art Supplies

Welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday!!  I've been holding out on you.  There were art supplies to share, but posting didn't happen before now.  The timing was interesting.

Read on to find out more...

I told you about the day that Quilt Diva Julie's box of art supplies arrived, right?

The timing was interesting because...

On the day Julie's box arrived (scroll to Thursday's entry), I had made a stop in Durham, NC at The Scrap Exchange.  It's a wonderful resource for teachers and artists - a bit of a recycling center for all things craft related.  I was nearby for another errand and decided to indulge my inner artist.  It's been ages since my last visit!

I can't recall what I thought I might be interested in, but I came home with the following items:

Just to give you an idea of the savings on the "big ticket" items I purchased:

PRISMACOLOR 24-pencil set retails for $21.88

FISKARS Hexie Punch sells for $19.99

FISKARS Circle Punch retails for $14.00

Metal Desk Organizer - exact model no longer available $23.97

My price:

PRISMACOLOR 24-pencil set - NEVER USED - $4.00

FISKARS Hexie Punch - $3.00

FISKARS Circle Punch - $2.00

Metal Desk Organizer -exact model no longer available - $6.00

Obviously, I made out like a bandit.

Until next time...

I'll be playing with paint and paper!!!

Mail Call Monday - An Influx of Art Supplies

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, the Mondays have been rather sneaky and passed by like a flash.  I have FINALLY caught this one!

What's this about, Joyful???

It's about dear, sweet (and exceptionally generous) Quilt Diva Julie.

She emailed saying...

I have some Dylusions sprays and Daler Rowney acrylic inks that I am not going to use.  Would you like them?

And did you ever get your Stabilo Woodies?  I ended up with an extra set (gifted).

Happy to send them along if you can use/enjoy them!

Julie

To which I replied...

Absolutely! Thanks for thinking of me, Julie. What can I send you in return?

I did get a small set of Stabilo Woodies. Britt decided the marks were too bold for her tastes. That being said, I do know a budding young artist who would enjoy that set of Woodies, if you don't want to save them for future use.

Thank you, again!

Joy

About a week later...

This box of goodies arrived from Julie:

Upon further inspection, I realized the box was packed full of more than I anticipated:

I sent the following note...

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Julie!!! Your box arrived and it took my breath away. I'm amazed by your generosity and appreciate the fun you've afforded me with your gifted supplies!

The title of my email was Christmas On Steroids!!!  LOL!! That's what it felt like to me, as there is minimal gift-giving in our house during the holidays.  Thank you, again, Julie!

The timing was interesting because...

I had gone on a little ARTventure that day.  More on that later.

Until next time...

I'll be playing with paint and paper!!!

Mini Monday - Art Journaling Adventure

Welcome to another edition of  Mini Monday!! How long has it been since the last post in this series?  I can't recall (and don't have the energy to go check).  I'm here to share my latest journal finish. It's a SMALL journal, so I think it (loosely) fits into the series.  Thank you to Tiffany Goff-Smith of Southern Gals Design, Kristin Peterson of Altered States Studio and Dee Dee Catron of UmWowStudio for the reminder that UGLY art is still ART.

Enjoy the tour!!!

I made this one at an ARTventure Day with @britt_quilts:

Isn't it pretty?!

A magazine cover on the outside cover and a map from Britt 's stash inside the cover. 

Left: Map of special significance, Right: Stenciled information that I normally add to the cover.

Here's a look at each 2-day spread and how I chose to interpret each prompt...

Day 1 and 2:

 Left: Swatch, Right: Thick & Thin

Day 3 and 4:

Left: Galaxy, Right: Tangled

Day 5 and 6:

Left: Numeral, Right: Amber

Day 7 and 8:

Left: Photo, Right: Pasted

Day 9 and 10:

Left: Text, Right: Muted 

Day 11 and 12:

Left: Continuous Line, Right: Tick Marks

Day 13 and 14:

Left: Kraft, Right: All That Glitters

Day 15 and the inside back cover:

Left: Flora, Right: The Challenge emblem, saved for posterity.

Editors Note...

I finished up the final pages of my Spring 2023 5-Minute Art Challenge journal the Saturday before last.  I had skipped several prompts because I couldn't decide where to go with them.  Ultimately, with the help of my a few of my favorite Get Messy Art Hangouts, I managed to complete the journal.  Thank you to the facilitators of TGI(A)W, ELASM, and The Collage Club for providing the space and time needed to settle down and do some art!

Until next time...

We are ALL artists in our own way!!

Wonderful Wednesday - Another ARTventure - A Prompted Collaboration

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  Oh, did you come here for the quilting?  Sorry!  This is a special ARTventure post.

The prompt for Day 25 of Messy May was COLLABORATION.  Each prompt can be taken in any direction the maker chooses.  I took it quite literally.  You might have read most of the story in Week 21's Rainbow Scrap Challenge post.

My project???

I showed you the items I received and what I made with them, but here's better look...

Along with a close-up photo:

Those lines you see near the bottom of the collage were drawn by Britt.  She tentatively drew them in with pencil, but I wasn't letting her get away with that!  I quickly handed her a pen to ink them in.  The lovely collage paper was provided by Britt.  I used the paint she had selected for me with her current favorite stencil to provide the illusion of a night sky, but saved her inspiration photo for later use.

Here's the second half of the story...

I gathered these supplies:

Britt was tasked with including them in her work...

Once completed, she sent the following photo of her own collaboration page.  She used the collage paper I created and the inspiration photo that I provided for this arched doorway:

The reverse side of the door incorporated the paint I had supplied, as well as a small section of stenciling with my current favorite stencil:

What did she DO with the rest of the items??

Her beautiful collage was hidden behind that arched doorway:

Well done, B!!  She used another portion of my inspiration photo, a section of the dictionary page and a bit of the rub-on sticker from my stash of art supplies to create that lovely collaboration page.

My take away...

This was a TON of fun!  I would gladly do another collaboration.  Thank you, again, for going along with my crazy idea for that Messy May prompt, Britt.  It was an interesting way to stretch our creative muscles by stepping out of our comfort zone with materials not of our own choosing.

Until next time...

Happy ART-ing!!!

Tidy Up Tuesday - Bookbinding - Two Journals

Welcome to TidyUp Tuesday... the bookbinding edition!!  It's hard to believe that a month can go by so quickly.  I'm here with a quick post to document an ARTventure Day with B.

Life got in the way before I realized that I hadn't released this post, but here's what happened that late-April day...

Just as May was on the horizon, we met to make our journals for Messy May: 

While there, I spied the Matchbook Journal that I made in a class with Ali Manning.  Imagine my surprise and delight to find that Britt has actually been working on a number of tiny collages, as evidenced in the photo below:

I neglected to make my completed, yet to be decorated, journal smile for the camera before heading for home.  Here it is after trying out the stamp set that I had purchased for just such an occasion:

For the curious among you readers, I used a manila envelope with the ends cut off to make my journal cover.  LOVE the built-in pockets that created!!  :o))

Once that was done...

My TUAC 5-Minute Challenge journal was made and decorated with a pretty cover from a junk mail magazine:

The interior of the former tissue box turned traveler's journal sized book was covered with a map of Sweden (in honor of my two Swedish Pen Pals from junior high school) and filled with a few pages of copy paper and a couple of old gelli prints which paired well with the exterior:

This one took a backseat to the Messy May journal where filling was concerned.  I applied the day/prompt labels, but only managed a few pages before the Get Messy event was underway.

Stay tuned.  Another ARTventure is coming soon.  :o))

Until next time...

Book it!!

Wonderful Wednesday - Art Day

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  It's another busy week here at The Joyful Quilter.  Today, I'm here to share the other thing I did over the weekend.  An errand was squeezed into Saturday's schedule, but...

The main event was an Art Day with Needleb...

We worked on journals for the Fragments mixed media class with Francisca @ Heartmakes:

While Britt made hers according to the instructions, I made mine from a FedEx envelope and had fun filling my pages with bits and pieces from Britt's scrap paper stash:

Happy upcoming birthday, B!!  I hope you enjoy the Matchbook Journal that I made during a LIVE with Ali @ Vintage Paper Designs:

I'm looking forward to making an image transfer from the photo on the lower right of this magazine page.  Thanks for sharing with me:

I captured one more photo of the bookbinders before heading out the door:

Thanks for having me over, Britt!  It was such a fun day.  I enjoyed spending time with you (and rummaging through your paper scraps looking for treasures to add to my journal pages.)  Let's do this again next month!  :o))

Until next time...

Paper scraps for the WIN!!!

Wonderful Wednesday - Weekend Art Day

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  I'm here to share my weekend Art Day with @britt_quilts.

It wasn't my best ever "us-ie taking" day, but here we are, ready to make an attempt at catching up on the Junk Journal January prompts from Meg Journals:

I started by adding some details to the MAP prompt:

From there I added some embellishments to my HAND LETTERING page:

The cool folded paper bit was from at tutorial by Helen @ Journal With Purpose

My TEXTURE page was a bit of a challenge.  It might look like a bit of a hot mess, but I wanted to focus on textured images rather than creating background texture:

The BEST part of the day was when (finally) I added the cover art to my Board Book Journal begun in a FREE class with quilter/artist Drew Steinbrecher:

With that done, I moved on to interpreting the EXPERIMENTAL prompt...

I chose a stenciled page from Britt's scrap folder and built around it with other scraps and some custom papers she created for me:

It went through several iterations, including eliminating "floating" elements...

Cutting out a large portion of the straight lines...

Along with playing hide and seek with our prompted word...

Before arriving at the spread you see below:

It might not feel very much like "me" in color choices or page layout, but it was an enjoyable experiment.  Thanks for hosting the first Art Day of the new year, B!  I was pleased to have a dedicated time to catch up on the Junk Journal January prompts.

Until next time...

PLAY!!!

Wonderful Wednesday - Dream Deck - Art Day

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  A little over a week ago, I was at Britt's house for an Art Day.  We started off with a game of 52 Pick-up.  Well, that's not technically correct, but we took turns choosing cards from the colorful stacks you see on the table below:

We were working on #deckofdreams50 offered by @colorcrushcreative, each in our own way.  Britt went crazy with her gelli plate!  She created cards for herself and was having so much fun that she created a set for me, as well:

I was excited to start on my part of the project...

While Britt worked on finishing some of her cards:

Then..

I remembered my mission for the day was finding a way to complete the inside front cover of my Board Book Journal:

Fortunately, a piece of underpaper from Britt's gelli printing adventure was just right for the job:

I'm particularly excited by the fact that I can still (somewhat) read the title page of this special book, a favorite of the Junior Quilter when she was younger:

With that done, all that remained was cutting and taping (not shown) the spine and...

Doing the front and back covers.  I wasn't ready to commit to that task, but am auditioning my "Paint in the Dark" creation for that:

photo currently unavailable!!

Then, I moved on to accomplished the following:

Adding a layer or two on the following cards...

Stamps and stencils:

Paper and paint:

Sometimes just a dab or scrap:

Boy, was that fun, though!!

Thank you, again, for going crazy with your gel plate, Britt!  I was thrilled to be the recipient of your abundance and a few days later, I had some fun with my new Mini Corner Rounder.  Now all of the corners are nicely rounded and ready for further embellishment:

Next up...

I'll be adding another layer to each of the cards in the stack shown above, as time, energy, and creativity allow.  For me, it's all about experimenting with my supplies and working on a project until the enthusiasm wanes.  You know?  When the next interesting class comes along.  :o))

Until next time...

So ART-fully dreamy!!!