Tagged: Shannon Green

Mixed Media Odds and Ends

Just a quickie post today as I don’t have too much to share.

I have been very busy lately with Mossy Cottage but I did manage to finish (I think) one page from my first attempt at Journaling by 5s by Shannon Green.

 

"Dance". First finished page from journaling by 5s.

“Dance”. First finished page from journaling by 5s.

And here is an ATC (Artist Trading Card)  I made for a challenge.

ATC card I made for a challenge. Inspired by Gina b. Ahrens first  UStream video.

ATC card I made for a challenge. Inspired by Gina b. Ahrens first UStream video.

Well that’s all for this post. Hopefully I’ll have some time now to work on some more of my art journal pages. I’ll post them as I finish them. And if you haven’t tried journaling by 5s yet, what are you waiting for???

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Journaling by 5s, Part 5 (This Is Just The Beginning)

I am now on the last “mandated” part of Journaling by 5s by Shannon Green.  As you can recall the first 15  minute session was paint/ink for color, the second was collage/recycled stuff for texture, the third stamps/stencils for pattern, the fourth words/images for focal point and lastly pen/pencil for finishing details. 

Why is it that 15 minutes is so long when we are waiting at the Doctor’s office or for a table at our favorite restaurant and so short when we are on Pinterest trying to be creative? One would think it easy to doodle some words and scribbles on 20 pages in 15 minutes, right? Wrong! Once again the timer kicked my butt and although I worked on all 20 pages, I am nowhere near finished.  Mostly what I did during this time is to outline pictures and words with my Pitt Pens and then smudged the lines to give a blended effect. You have to look really hard to see it in these pictures, but trust me I did it.

Here are some pictures of pages I have been working on. I won’t bore you all to death with all twenty pages.

Shannon says in her video that after you finish the 5 sessions you have “free time” to work on the pages as you wish. These pages are really just in their beginning stages and will take a lot more work. I am looking forward to working on them and will post some pictures here and there as I get the pages done. The thing with mixed media is that I “have to be in the mood” in order to do it well. 

Now, drum roll please! Here is the status of the heinous page so far……

Beginning to look not so heinous after all!

Beginning to look not so heinous after all!

 

Journaling By 5s, Part 4 (The Session I Feared The Most)

Alright so I am moving right along with my Journaling by 5s sessions which was created by Shannon Green. This is the fourth 15-minute session and I had to add my focal graphics and words. To me this was the step I really dreaded the most because this is the area I tend to over-think. 

I already have files of collage graphics and a box of words and sentences, however, I did cut some more out of some old magazines just in case.

So I got my glue stick, images, words, journal and timer ready.

Graphics on the left side, words and text on the right side all ready to go!

Graphics on the left side, words and text on the right side all ready to go!

I just had one preconceived idea which was to put light graphics on dark pages and dark graphics on light pages. The words and text would be whatever I grabbed. With only 15 minutes and twenty pages there really isn’t any time to think.

Nope! You're going to have to wait until the next step to see the pictures with text!

Nope! You’re going to have to wait until the next step to see the pictures with text!

This step was actually the easiest for me and I did finish in the time allowed. I’m okay with the results so far even if a lot of it doesn’t make sense yet. I still have a doodling session and some “free play” time to tie everything together. Stay tuned, I may even show you how the heinous page is coming along!

Journaling by 5s, Part 3 (How hard can it be to stamp and stencil?)

The tragedy project continues. Today I completed step three of Journaling by 5s by Shannon Green. This session focused on adding pattern to the journal pages using stamps and/or stencils. Pffffft. How hard could that be? Well, actually it’s wasn’t that easy.

First I had to decide which stamps and stencils to use which in itself was a 15 minute exercise. Next was choosing the colors. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to pull out almost every ink pad I had thinking I’d do some colorful stamping. Yeah, right. I did have a sane moment, though,  and limited my paints for stenciling to black and pearlized white. 

It wasn’t long after I started the timer that I realized there was a lot of cross-contamination of colors going on and letting my Staz-On Ink pad sit open for 15 minutes was almost making me hyperventilate. I couldn’t use a stencil with an ink pad once it was covered with paint and I didn’t have time to clean off the stamps in between every color. 

So, as sadly this stage turned into black stencils and patterns made by a piece of bubble wrap which is usually one of my favorites. So much for colorful stamping and stenciling. Here is the result of today’s “play time”.

Starting point when I still had high hopes for this session.

Starting point when I still had high hopes for this session.

I did like the use of the background script writing stamp and used it on several pages.

I did like the use of the background script writing stamp and used it on several pages. Too bad it’s upside down!

Black ink bubble stamp.

Black ink bubble stamp.

I tried to use an ink pad with a stencil which didn't work so well.

I tried to use an ink pad with a stencil which didn’t work so well.

Yup! Black paint on bubble wrap. You've got to love it!

Yup! Black paint on bubble wrap. You’ve got to love it!

Even though Jounaling by 5s can be a little stressful, it is a lot of fun and I have  been learning a lot, both about mixed media and about my own art style. Stayed tuned for tomorrow’s session when I add focal images and words!

Time's up and I'm left with a really big mess to clean up!

Time’s up and I’m left with a really big mess to clean up!

Journaling By 5s, Part 2 (My Love Hate Relationship With Mod Podge)

Today is day two of my posts about the art journal technique called Journaling by 5s by Shannon Green. As a quick recap,  yesterday I had 15 minutes to put paint and/or ink on 20 pages of my art journal.

Today I had just 15 minutes to collage and use recycled papers to add texture to the pages. Here are some pictures of this disaster session.

Pile of paper scraps to add for background texture.

Pile of paper scraps to add for background texture.

ModPodge, timer and journal at the ready.

Mod Podge, timer and journal at the ready.

Old receipt paper and some kind of black plastic mesh.

Old receipt paper and some kind of black plastic mesh.

Paper doilies, one of which was mutilated when I tried to separate the stuck together pages.

Paper doilies, one of which was mutilated when I tried to separate the stuck together pages.

Paper napkin pieces which almost made me use sentence enhancers as I was trying to glue them down!

Paper napkin pieces which almost made me use sentence enhancers as I was trying to glue them down!

I have to confess that I was not able to complete this session in 15 minutes. It actually took me 30 minutes because everything was sticking to everything. Even though I put wax paper between each page as I went, the wax paper stuck too.  It just took me 15 extra minutes to peel the wax paper off the pages. I did not move anything though, so it stayed the way it was originally slapped down.

If I do this again, I need to reconsider my adhesive choice! Because of the sticky mess I must say this was a rather stressful session. Stay tuned for tomorrows session and another picture of the heinous page!

The heinous page looking even more heinous than yesterday!

The heinous page looking even more heinous than yesterday!

Journaling By 5s, Part 1 (Or How I Got My Mojo Back)

I don’t know whether it’s because we’ve had a terribly cold and long winter or what, but I seemed to have lost my creative mojo. I have been making crafts since before Christmas but have not done any mixed-media or art journaling. 

Well I found a new way to get my creative inspiration back. It’s  a process called Journaling by 5s and was created by Shannon Green. I have been a subscriber to her YouTube videos for quite some time, but this one really blew me away. Journaling by 5s seems to have taken the mixed-media world by storm. There are lots of people on YouTube showing their processes and finished journals.

Seeing how I am not on YouTube (yet!) I will tell you about the process and show you my results on this blog for the next five days.

In a nut shell there are a few rules you have to follow for Journaling by 5s, but thank goodness there are no rights and wrongs in what you come up with. Here are the rules:

1. You finish your journal in 5 sessions

2. There are ten media you can use in total, but only 2 per session

3. You only have 15 minutes each session

4. You have 20 pages you must work on each session.

Here is the link to Shannon’s video where she explains it better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ohBQFKqus

So in essence you are finishing a 20 page art journal in 1 hour and 15 minutes! Why would anyone want to do that? Because it frees you up from over-thinking your art and trusting yourself to create something wonderful.

So here are some pictures from my first session. In this 15 minutes I had to use paint and/or ink to put color on all 20 pages.

Journal open. Paints and inks at the ready, timer set!

Journal open. Paints and inks at the ready, timer set!

Time up! Pages have color on them as do my hands!

Time up! Pages have color on them as do my hands!

Letting the pages dry. Look at the colorful mess on my drop paper!

Letting the pages dry. Look at the colorful mess on my drop paper!

Not bad. I like this color combination.

Not bad. I like this color combination.

 

Heinous disaster page. I hate the colors and the India ink stuck like cement to the opposite page.

Heinous disaster page. I hate the colors and the India ink stuck like cement to the opposite page.

 Tomorrow I will show you  the results of putting background and recycled papers on each page. Can I redeem the heinous disaster page? Stay tuned to find out!