inktober #24

inktober day twenty-four,  prompt:  "one dozen"

i must admit that when i first saw today's prompt,  i thought, "really?!".

but once i started thinking about it,

 everything kind of fell into place, one heart at a time.

because these hearts appear in my artwork today 

for some very special reasons:

first.....unfortunately, this will be my last inktober post this month,

but you know it would take a really good reason for me to bow out 

of the challenge early, and i've got the best reason in the world....

our daughter is marrying the love of her life on saturday,

and it's go-time!  i've got to get ready for this celebration of big love!

second.....while this artwork contains twelve hearts,

it was created to hold the power of a lot more than that,

and it was created with all of you in mind.

each one of these hearts holds about a gazillion

little hearts, and each one of those gazillion hearts holds 

my gratitude and appreciation for all your visits to my 

blog, instagram, and Facebook, as well as

 your sweet, supportive, and encouraging comments.

thank you from the top, middle and bottom of each one

of my heart of hearts!!!

third.....you know i love any reason to draw a little heart 

here and there.  add some chocolate, and things really start 

getting crazy..... :))

thanks again for coming on this inktober ride with me....

i'll be back in cyberspace very soon!  

xoxox

click here for more info about inktober!

{supplies:  canson moulin du roy w/c paper,  micron pens

pentel color brush pens, white gelly roll pen,  copic marker}

inktober #4

here's my page for inktober day four,  prompt: "hungry".

{supplies:  pentel pocket brush, ranger distress markers, 

micron pens, white sakura gelly roll pen}

for more info about inktober, click here!

banner perspectives

i'm celebrating today!

i've been invited by the Art to the 5th gals to be Featured Artist 

over at Documented Life Project unPlanner!  woo hoo!

 { ♥ sending big thanks and big love to you sweet DLP ladies! ♥ }

our monthly theme is

"a look through my eyes, gaining new perspective"

and this week's challenge for our Personal Art Card (PAC)

is to use a rubber stamp.

so i decided to use a combination of hand-carved banner stamps…..

along with a few little acrylic stamps….

and "gained a whole new perspective" on how to use them!

 here's a video showing my inspiration {thank you, sweet sandi keene!},

as well as my entire process from start-to-finish!

{you can watch this video in large format here!}

where the heart is

whether you fly from north to south…..

or go from east to west…..

home is always where the heart is.   

xox

{supplies:  strathmore 140 lb. CP paper, watercolor, .3 mechanical pencil}

happy hearts

happy valentine's day!

i'm wishing you all the happiness 

your heart can hold!!

xox

{this was created in my moleskine watercolor journal

using winsor newton watercolor, micron pens, 

white gelly roll pen, 8B pencil}

the gift of today

there's a good chance that something about his day will

speak to your heart…..

or maybe something will even tickle your fancy….

but, one thing's for sure…..
this day has the makings to be the best day of the entire year!
{p.s.  and the same goes for tomorrow and all the days after that, too!}

this page was created for the DLP week 38 challenge to

add a feather to your page.

{supplies:  moleskine planner, fabriano artistico 140 lb. HP paper, pitt pens, 

winsor-newton watercolor,  sakura white gelly roll pen, 

3B & 6B pencil, washi tape}

be you-nique

today might seem like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill day…..

but it's actually a great day to be…..

the absolutely best thing YOU know how to be!

you  beautiful,  fabulous,  awesome,  artistic,  extraordinary,

incomparable,  one-of-a-kind,  amazing,  creative,  incredible,  super cool,

YOU-NIQUE  YOU!!

xox

this art journal page was created for the DLP week 36 "black & white" challenge.

{supplies:  moleskine planner, fabriano artistico 140 lb. HP paper,

bombay india ink,  white Sakura gelly roll pen, white chalk, 

pink derwent inktense pencil, micron pen, washi tape}

hat of paper

this week, the Documented Life Project challenged us to use numbers,

and it reminded me of a fun song my little dutch sweetie 

used to sing to our kids when they were younger.

it's a very popular counting song about a sweet little paper hat.

the song doesn't include a bear or a heart-balloon….

but, when you're dealing with kids and paper hats,

a bear and a heart-balloon really are must-haves, don't you think?  

 :))

here's the rough translation:

one, two, three, four, 

hat of, hat of,

one, two, three, four,

hat of paper.

it's a really cute little song and it sounds so much better in Dutch.

especially if it's being sung by someone with a sweet little Dutch accent. xox

you can listen to it here!

{supplies for the week thirty-four DLP challenge:

moleskine planner, fabriano artistico 140 lb. HP paper, pitt pens,

watercolor, washi tape, 5B graphite pencil, scrapbook paper}

heART pocket

this week's DLP challenge is to add a pocket to your page

and fill it with treasures.

so i decided to turn to what i know best…..

and to what i hold near and dear.

because hands-down, the best place to find inspiration

is usually right there next to your heart!

{supplies for this week's DLP challenge:

moleskine planner, kraft card stock, "doodle deux" paper by prima, 

pitt pens, ink pads, 6B graphite pencil, washi tape}

kindness, hearts, and sunshine

it's week 28 already, and the DLP challenge is to 

add a tiny photo to your page. 

so i decided to pull out one of my favorite pictures…..

and add one of my favorite quotes.

and the result is a page filled with hearts and sunshine….

something this journal girl could never have enough of!

bring on the happy!

{you can read more about the DLP challenge here.

supplies:  moleskine planner, fabriano 140 lb. HP paper, 

derwent inktense pencils, pitt pens, PanPastel, 6B graphite pencil,

uniball signo broad white pen, washi tape} 

heart shower

the DLP prompt this week is to fill your page with hearts….

and that makes this journal girl pretty happy….

because what could be more cheerful than a 

red-orange-and-pink-heart shower!

:))

{supplies:  moleskine planner, fabriano artistico 140 lb. HP paper, 

pitt pens, PanPastel, derwent inktense pencils, 

uniball signo broad white pen, 6B graphite pencil, washi tape}

breathings of your heart

one of the best things about doing a weekly journal challenge is
many times it takes you out of your creative comfort zone and
puts you through a brand new learning process.

this can also be one of the most uncomfortable things.

this week, our DLP challenge is to add book text to our page,
and for whatever reason, this was difficult for me.
maybe it's because it feels a little like collage, and well,
the simple in my brain really doesn't like to go down the collage trail!
so all of my ideas kept getting edited, and by the time i was finished,
i ended up adding only this tiny piece of book text.

but oddly enough, it has turned out to be
one of my favorite pages!

challenging yourself, listening to your gut, and
filling your page with what feels right to you,
even if it's only one tiny piece of book text at a time,
is a really good lesson in trusting your creative heart.

and your creative heart will never let you down!



{supplies for this week's DLP page:
moleskine planner, fabriano artistico 140 lb. HP paper, pitt pens,
PanPastel, derwent inktense pencils, 6B graphite pencil, washi tape.
…..and book text!}

so very grateful

this week, the documented life project challenge is to
practice gratitude…..

so i thought about the things that are always on my heart….

but i quickly discovered there wasn't
 nearly enough space to journal on the page,
because i have SO much to be grateful for…..

and that definitely includes YOU!

your sweet blog visits, comments, and e-mails continue to
touch my heart, and i truly appreciate each and
every one of you so, so much!

 thank you, precious bloggy friends!   xox


{supplies:  moleskine planner, fabriano artistico 140 lb. HP paper,
derwent inktense pencils, pitt pens, PanPastel, 6B graphite pencil,
washi tape}

*******

i'm a firm believer that "practice makes perfect", 
so, i'm going to spend some time this summer practicing 
what i love to do most…..lettering.
and since i'll also be doing some travel, i've decided to give my 
"inspiration monday" series a bit of a break for a while,
but i'll be continuing on with the weekly DLP challenges.
 see you next week with a new journal page!
happy weekend to you!

inspiration monday

i'm a firm believer that inspiration can be found anywhere.

all you have to do is think about what makes you really happy…..

and most of all,
follow your heart.

and before you know it,  the doors of inspiration will open to you
where you didn't even know they existed!


{supplies:  walls notebook, pan pastel, sakura gelly roll pens, pitt pens,
derwent inktense pencils,  8B graphite pencils, white pilot choose pen}

valentine's heart

happy hearts day, dear sweet bloggy valentine!
xox


{supplies:  moleskine journal, koi watercolor, derwent inktense pencils,
pitt pens, 6B graphite pencil}

inspiration monday

there's something about playing with rubber stamps that always inspires me.
but this time instead of using them to create a card, i thought i'd use them in my small moleskine journal , and i started the fun by stamping this large stamp.

then i decided to stamp some of the smaller hearts and paint in those blank spaces.

once they were painted, they still looked a little bare, so i jazzed them up a bit with some doodles.

but when you're having fun with hearts, it's hard to stop at painting just one…..

so now i have a journal page filled with some doodly-heart-goodness,
all inspired by some rubber stamps…..and my little dutch sweetie!


{supplies:  moleskine journal, Technique Tuesday rubber stamps, watercolor pencils,
pitt artist pens, 2B and 6B graphite pencils}