A Year in the Life of an Art Journal

Whatever and Whatnot Feb 15th

2012-02-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness for my guest hosts!! I have not had time to get this prompt done. I will! Just haven't been able to yet. I'll probably have to add it to the post later. In the mean time, I can't wait to see what you all create!
THE PROMPT: My Favorite Things
ie: a few of the things you LOVE about someone you love. Can be alive or dead.
THE STUFF: Lists and ephemera
ie: have a few tokens from that someone? Maybe the cover of the CD with "your song" or a napkin from the restaurant you both love to eat at...
THE TECHNIQUE: Pockets
ie: Use pockets to store those "things" on your page.

GLENDA
I have so many scrapbooking supplies that I "just had to have" when the craze was on so I used a bunch of them in place of ephemera. I did a page on what I love about my husband and loved the eclectic mix of goodies on this page. It's times like these that I'm glad I hoarded so many scrap supplies because it truly does come in handy when art journaling, so dig into those scrapbooking supplies people!!
Don't be afraid to mix it up!

SUSAN
Call me a crazy cat lady but I love my kitties. I'd just taken some cute pics of Hambly (yes he's named after my FAV scrap company) so I decided to do my page abt him. I used a tag to do my journaling on & the heart is bits of crumpled silver tissue paper.

The rules:

Use all three or just one or two parts of the prompts.
MAKE THEM YOURS. These prompts are IDEAS. They are not set in stone. I do encourage you to stretch yourself. If you find a prompt doesn't speak to you, think on it. Find a way to MAKE it speak to you, and go with that.
There is NO right or wrong.
Share your feedback positively. ABSOLUTELY no judging of what others share. (If I find that people aren't following this rule, I will remove links left by that person.)
This is a place for you to explore! It doesn't matter if you've just gotten here in the middle of the year, or if you've gotten "behind" and don't create every day. It doesn't matter if you don't create at ALL... (although we'd love it if you do)

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Whatever and Whatnot Jan 30th

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

The prompt today is from guest host SUSAN!
THE PROMPT: Imagine
ie: what's in your imagination or where do you imagine yourself
THE STUFF: Pictures or words from magazines/newspapers etc
ie: Words, letters or images that develop your idea
THE TEChNIQUE: mask/stencils
ie: can be anything from flowers, letters, rubberbands or professional mask or stencils
Here's what all of us created using this prompt.
LIZZIE
At one time in my life I was on the path of a rock star. It would have been epic! At this time I was at a crossroads in my life... becoming a mother on one hand, and joining a band on another. I became a mom and I truly love it!! But I can still sit around and imagine what it would be like to be a rock star!

NIKKI
Our trip that we can win for work is in the Dominican Republic next year. So I choose to "imagine myself in the Dominican Republic". I used a mask of a woman and wrote my journaling inside, I had limited options for magazine words or pictures since I'm back on the road in my hotel and don't bring magazines with me, but I managed to get a few!

GLENDA
I imagine how lovely the world would be without drugs. The pain and suffering they cause people and their families is immense and it seems to be an epidemic. I used some pictures and a sentence from a magazine but couldn't fit any masking in! haha

SUSAN
I love the word Imagine. I also love the song Imagine by the Beatles. And I love my crazy imagination. It's where hopes & dreams are created. But sometimes my imagination takes me to a dark place too, because I imagine the worst & a small seed of doubt can turn into a giant ordeal all in my head in a matter of minutes. I used a mask with modeling paste for dimension on my page over the glitter paint & then glimmer mist on top of the modeling paste. I like the dimension it gave me. I cut out letters from various magazine adds for my word title. Can't wait to see what you all create!

RACHEL
I have dreams of what my little spot in the farm world can be... Currently, I have dwarf dairy goats, chickens and rabbits, but I have dreams of so much more... so I did a page using images out of my Hoegger catalog and used scrapbooking alpha stickers to create my mask for the work IMAGINE. I also used some of my billionty scrap stickers and phrase stickers to "be" my journaling for the page.

DANI
This is a bit of a somber page, even though the word is really such an uplifting word! I found this photo in my photo stack first though, and kept placing the word with it, so I just needed to go ahead and create this! I tend to do that though, once a seed gets planted in my brain, it's hard not to make exactly what's growing. The photo is from the weekend I miscarried twins in 2010. I liked the idea that we imagine, still, once in awhile about those babies. For my magazine images, I cut the words "everyday" from an ad I found in my magazine stash... and while, I certainly don't think this is something we dwell on everyday, I liked the words giving the impression that this is still on our minds. I *did* use some masking, when I created my background, but it was really distracting (it was turquoise and this page is quite neutral.) on the page so I painted over it, but lets my pretend my stenciled circles were really masked on, ok? :)

So what do YOU imagine? Let's see your projects!! Link us up here in the post!!
The rules:

Use all three or just one or two parts of the prompts.
MAKE THEM YOURS. These prompts are IDEAS. They are not set in stone. I do encourage you to stretch yourself. If you find a prompt doesn't speak to you, think on it. Find a way to MAKE it speak to you, and go with that.
There is NO right or wrong.
Share your feedback positively. ABSOLUTELY no judging of what others share. (If I find that people aren't following this rule, I will remove links left by that person.)
This is a place for you to explore! It doesn't matter if you've just gotten here in the middle of the year, or if you've gotten "behind" and don't create every day. It doesn't matter if you don't create at ALL... (although we'd love it if you do)

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Hurry Hurry!!

2012-01-28T14:07:00.000-08:00

So I have an idea for a future prompt, and it requires you to change a photo into a pencil sketch. I used www.Picnik.com to make mine, but Picnik will be moving to Google+ in April. I don't know whether the pencil sketch feature will be there once they move.
SO.
Hurry over!! Use the Pencil Sketch edit to change a photo of yours into a drawing. Save it to your computer! We'll be using it in a prompt this year. :)

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Journal Inspiration

2012-01-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

Got sidetracked on Pinterest today... thanks to my friend Shanna... :)
Makes my head swim with ideas for the coming year...
Click on any image to view it on Pinterest. Enjoy!!

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Whatever and Whatnot Jan 15th

2012-01-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's TIME!! The first prompt is HERE!! So before we start, a couple things.
Why journal prompts?
Because prompts can be a great motivator and stretcher of your creativity.
Why share your projects?
Because being part of a creative community is also a great motivator, and sharing experiences with others can be a catalyst in showing others they are not alone, and in making lasting connections with people.
The rules:

Use all three or just one or two parts of the prompts.
MAKE THEM YOURS. These prompts are IDEAS. They are not set in stone. I do encourage you to stretch yourself. If you find a prompt doesn't speak to you, think on it. Find a way to MAKE it speak to you, and go with that.
There is NO right or wrong.
Share your feedback positively. ABSOLUTELY no judging of what others share. (If I find that people aren't following this rule, I will remove links left by that person.)
This is a place for you to explore! It doesn't matter if you've just gotten here in the middle of the year, or if you've gotten "behind" and don't create every day. It doesn't matter if you don't create at ALL... (although we'd love it if you do)

Are you ready!?
THE PROMPT: Word
ie: along the lines of One Little Word, choose one word that embodies the way you want your year to be LIVED.
THE STUFF: Imagery
ie: Use images, clippings... all to create the FEELING of the word you choose.
THE TECHNIQUE: PAINT/DOODLE
ie: paint and doodle on your images to further create the emotion of your word.

Here's what the hosts and I created!
RACHEL
I blogged about my word HERE. This is my year to Nurture.
I hope to live this new year nurturing myself. Nurturing my and other's creativity. Nurturing friendships that nurture ME, Nurturing THIS BLOG!! (I can't believe I only posted here 37 times in 2011.) Nurturing my family, my garden... my heart.
For my page, I decided to paint using my liquid watercolors and my watercolor pastels... in real life, my sun doesn't look so much like a lemon... lol

LIZZIE

SUSAN

My word for this year is Create. I thought I'd actually used this word before but when I went back & checked I found out I hadn't. I also discovered that even though I hadn't always had my word in the forefront of my mind that the word did reflect how my life had progressed during that year. I choose Create be mainly because I want to be more creative this year. I hope to create my own online recovery art business, create a place of serenity in my living quarters, spend more time with my creator, create passion in my life, create adventure, etc. My page comes from the prompts and also a class I'm taking FREE from Traci Bautista over at Strathmore. There are 3 free classes this year from various artist so check them out. So happy to be back & looking forward to all the future prompts!
GLENDA
I really liked this idea of picking a word for the first prompt. My word is "serenity" because it's something I so desperately need right now. I love this image because it is just so peaceful, so tranquil, something that this past year hasn't been for me. I'm hoping that 2012 will bring me serenity!!

HOLY COW!! What a great response we've already had on our "sign up" page!! (encouraged, but not required: sign up HERE)
We're trying a new format for links... It's just below in the post here, and you can leave a link to your project. Blogger doesn't automatically make URL's into links in it's comments, and so using this widget to add your link will make it so your projects are just a click away! I encourage you to leave a link, and come back to visit the links of others taking part in this year's prompts! Looking forward to seeing everyone's projects!!

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Sign up for 2012

2012-01-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

I'm testing a new link back system for the blog, and I thought that using the system as a sign up would be a good idea! Come on over and let us know if you're planning to participate this year!

EDITED TO ADD: If you do not have a blog or website to link to, you're still welcome to join! Thank you to everyone that has been emailing me and letting me know they are taking part even without a site to share with everyone!!
Also, if you've signed up for an email subscription, those won't change. This is just a nice way for all of us with sites to share links with each other, and have a list of us all in one place!

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

2012 Whatever and Whatnot

2012-01-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for the new year, and a new set of prompts!?
OH
EM
GEE.
I'm really REALLY excited about this year. Not only OUR prompts, but some others that are out there!! (I'm getting ahead of myself.) I'm super excited about the focus of our prompts this year as well!!
Perhaps you've been hearing of the "newly" popular SMASHBOOKS ?
Funny how they have been around for EVER. We've just all known them under different names, and without branding. Maybe you remember them?
My personal favorite is the TRAVEL JOURNAL.
I've read that some people call them JUNK JOURNALS.
No matter what you CALL them, we're USING them. lol
There are some PEOPLE out there, that like to draw lines in the sand. They like to make rules out of nothing... maybe you're one of them. Maybe you didn't even REALIZE you were following rules set out by other people. This year, we're going to be all about undoing the "rules" the rules that draw a line between scrapbooking and art journaling. I'd really like to challenge the idea that scrapbooking and art journaling have to be separate things. We're going to use "Smashbooks". We're going to use "Travel Journals" and "Junk Journals"... we're going to collect memories and tidbits, and we're going to cram them into an arty page and splash paint or some other thing over them. We're going to use whatever we want to. Acid free or not. We're going to take a journey. A journey of Whatever and Whatnot.

Our prompts this year will look something like THIS:
THE PROMPT: A word of phrase prompt. Daily routines. Lists about the little things that make you happy. Maybe one about your pet peeves.
We're taking on a positive journaling twist as often as possible this year, but we're reserving the right to create something with a little angst as well. :)
Let's say this year's focus is on documenting things. Good, Bad, Everyday, Extraordinary...
THE STUFF: We'll prompt you with some THINGS to add to your page. receipts, photos, tokens, tickets... the bits and pieces that "create" the scrapbook part of the page. Think about using your "scrapping" items on pages... alphabet stickers, patterned paper, etc.
THE TECHNIQUE: Lastly, we'll challenge you to an "art journaling" technique!

As usual, you are welcome to pick all or just one or two of the prompts. The point will be that you take the prompts and make them YOURS. That means giving you some elbow room. You know, Whatever...
Here's some past Travel Journals for your inspiration
My trip to Disney

A memory book my mom made about a summer visit with one of my boys:

And this year, I've made three journals! One for me, two for YOU!!
Here's mine, and the all have the guts as listed on the right of the photos. :)

Along with the journals, I have a packet of Whatnots in addition to the journals! I made enough of those to sell a couple separate from the journals.
JOURNALS AND KITS ARE FOR SALE IN MY SHOP!!

Guest Host Lizzie just recently created a blog post about how she made her own version of a Smashbook! CHECK IT OUT
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Dec 30th

2011-12-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

Here we are at the END OF THE YEAR!! Got photos to share? Did you get all your prompts into a really cool journal? SHARE SHARE SHARE!!
I am dying to see what all of you did!!
This coming year, I have some guest hosts returning with me, and we'll be hosting a new set of prompts every 15th and 30th. I look forward to this new set of prompts, and I hope you are too! 2012 prompts are going to be fun! We're going to take a different approach, and explore some new ideas. I can't wait to share with you.
In the coming weeks, we'll start leaking new information and have you ready to journal with our FIRST prompt on the 15th!! Apologies in advance for the avalanche of emails that come with setting up the new year's posts and links. :)
Are you ready for the last prompt this year? It's brought to you by Christi! She's without a computer or the internet at the moment, so thanks to the guest hosts that jumped in with their own projects to share with us. :)
THE PROMPT: Reflections
THE SONG: Live Like There's No Tomorrow by Selena Gomez and The Scene
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Stencils

MARIT
How appropriate at the end of the year: 'reflections'. I found a page in a stroybook with the title 'on the last day'. You can see it shimmer through the gesso at the top. I transfered a photo of my eyes on the page and used India Ink to paint part of the lyrics (which I 'rewrote' a bit to fit myself) It's kind of a simple page, but I didn't want to add anything more. I like it this way!

This is my last page as a guest host for AYITLOAAJ. I won't extend my designer/host-spot next year, but I might play along when I have the time. I want to thanks my fellow designers for the fun prompts they came up with - some prompts really had me stretching and step out of the box! Rachel: thanks so much for hosting & have fun with AYITLOAAJ next year!
I wish you all a very happy and creative 2012!!

GLENDA
yay! I'm on time AND I actually used all 3 of the prompts!! I used a number stencil, a couple pictures where I was reflected by a window and change room mirrors and some lyrics to the song!! It's just a simple page but I wanted the message to stand out because it's important to remember and sometimes I seem to forget:

I am looking forward to being back playing along in the new year and wish all of you a very happy New Year's!!
RACHEL
I created two lists this year at Winter Solstice, and burned them in our solstice bon fire. My "reflections" are based on that... and since I've been so BUSY getting things ready for the new year here on the blog, and for my Silent Messages class, I created my page digitally. :)

Rachel here:
I just want to take a moment and thank all the guest hosts that came along this journey with me this year! It was a huge help to have you guys here, sharing your projects, and being a support not only to me, but to those who have shared links and played along with us. I appreciate you all more than I can say. Thank you Becky, Margrethe, Nikki, Lara, Glenda, Marit, Susan and Christi for all that you did this year!! Special thanks to Becky, Lara, Marit and Christi!! I'm going to miss your prompts next year, and I hope to see you around... you inspire me daily. Margrethe, Nikki, Susan and Glenda, I look forward to a new direction and a new year with you all!!
Thank you also, to those of you that take the time out of YOUR lives to create and share links with us here. It's YOUR involvement that takes this whole thing to a new level and creates the sense of community that makes this place so special.
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Dec 15th

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

THE PROMPT: Lighten Up
THE SONG: Raise Your Glass by Pink
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Confetti

MARIT:
December is 'party month' to me - in particular the last week of the year when the top 2000 is on the radio. A few years back, I grabbed this annual musical 'festival' and turned it into a 'creative music party' on my blog. My 'blog event' will be held for the third time this year, with participants playing along from all over the world... I might not dress up like this lady (although my legs look similar - unfortunately I don't have a webcam to prove it) but I sure feel this way! Working on this prompt was like a taste to 'what's to come' and I had major fun making this page! Turn on the radio and paa-haa-rtyyy!!!

RACHEL
Silly me, made up this prompt, and didn't have CONFETTI!! lol So I used glitter. I love this song, because I've never been one to "fit it" very well, and the moment I heard it, I knew I had to use it for a prompt. I used some of the lyrics to take the place of my journaling. Basically, I'm happy to be me, and it's SO ON right now. lol The photo I used is one I took a long time ago to express my love of SLURPEES.

GLENDA
This was a great song and I used part of the lyrics in my page. This is my new 12 x 12 art journal and I'm loving the big new size!!

Let's see what you create!! Celebrate your freak, and lighten up!!
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Nov 30th

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

Looks like this month has been busy for everyone!! Thank you, to Marit for hosting (and DOING) the prompt for the end of this month!!
THE PROMPT: Open up
THE SONG: Roll away your stone - Mumford & Sons
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: texture photo/image
MARIT
Most of you know this: I'm a child of the sixties! However, for this prompt I choose a 'modern' band - although the music still has that sixties feel - ha, I'm an old hippie all the way ;) Luckily I have a son of 19, who brings home awesome music that I like too, so I don't seem that old when I say I like Mumford & Sons!

GLENDA
For some reason I had thought I had done my journal page but the month must have gotten away with me so I'm a little late. But better late than never right? I took some lyrics from the song to make my page and I think that the paint circles resemble stones, at least that's what I'm going with! haha

Can't wait to see what you all create!
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Nov 15th

2011-11-15T07:00:00.001-08:00

HOLY COW. I posted a prompt ON TIME!! lol AND I CREATED something for it!!
THE PROMPT: Pretty
THE SONG: Fuckin' Perfect by Pink
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Pink Paint Dripped like Blood
Here are some of the takes from us! Remember, take all or parts of the prompt, and MAKE THEM YOURS!! Then come back here, and share a link to where you've posted your page on line! (I've changed our commenting system back to being open to everyone, hoping that will make it easier for people without accounts to comment!) You don't have to use the swear words, or you can use them all you want. That's what makes this prompt into YOUR art! Can't wait to see what you create...
GLENDA
I love this song!!! I took inspiration from the lyrics in the opposite way of I'm not fuckin perfect - and that's totally ok with me. There are things I don't like about myself but all in all I'm very lucky!

MARIT
I started this page with a lot of enthusiasm. Painted the background green and transfered a funny photo of myself. I also dripped some pink page from top to bottom.
Next day I looked and... bleeehh... didn't like it at all!
I threw in some pink spray ink - which turned out to be more of a purple color.
I stamped with pink paint and a toilet roll.
I put washi tape at the borders.
It became one, chaotic page!
I got mad.
I wrote the text.
I didn't like that either.
I got more mad.
I colored the circles (pink water soluble crayons)
I outlined the text.
This page was full. I didn't like it but there's nothing more to add...
there's no room left.
I thought about painting it over with gesso and start over.
And you know what?
Then I thought:
This is the perfect page for this fuckin' prompt!
It's fuckin' perfect - and I'm not ;)

RACHEL
I created this page for my son and his girlfriend... they just became very young parents. They are doing an AMAZING job at being the best they can be for each other and their little girl... I want them to know that I love them, and not to listen to the nay sayers... because they are prefect. They are amazing. I hope they never lose sight of what makes them that way...

In honor of the "pretty" prompt, I used the pretty page from the dictionary, and printed a photo I took of them. I highlighted the 'pretty' part by stamping pink paint circles, and then highlighted the words pretty pretty please from the song inside... I took lyrics from the song, and changed them to flow in journaling form on the page.
SUSAN
Another great song with equally awesome lyrics! I found this 'demon' drawing in a book I bought at some book fair. I used colored pencils on the drawing. Then I did a black & white print of a pic of me & added some colored pencils to it as well. I've seen Dina Wakely do this on her blog & it was a fun technique to try. The background is made using some templates by Crafter's Workshop. I used colored pencils & a paint pen for the words & boxes. Used some of my fav parts of the lyrics for inside the boxes.

Don't forget to share what you create!!
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Oct. 30th

2011-10-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

This prompt is from BECKY!!
THE PROMPT: Peace

THE SONG: I Believe in Music - Mac Davis

Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Leather
GLENDA
I loved making this page and used some tissue paper that had music notes on it and glued it to my page and then layered it with other tapes and goodies. I listen to music everyday while driving and it's funny how songs can take you right back to a certain moment in time and how we have songs we love to listen to when we are happy and songs we love to listen to when we aren't so happy. I put some of the lyrics of the song on my little chipboard guitar.

MARIT
Peace and leather led to the big peace sign!

I had a lot of small pieces of leather in a box, and I stitched some of them together.
Just fooling around with the title and leather - here's a close-up:

There's a Dutch poem about peace and I used a line from that (well, that's not completely true: the swearing is even harder in the poem) because I found it fitting with all the 'cuteness' that's going on on this page...
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Oct 15th

2011-10-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

The PROMPT: Scars
THE SONG: Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: rips and tearing
Headache is gone, and my grand daughter arrived safe and sound. :) Thanks so much for waiting for the prompt!! Here's a little reward:

MARIT
On August 26th my man and son went to a blues concert. On their way home my beloved stumbled and fell in an unfortunate way... with his head right on the edge of the sidewalk (the English dictionary calls it ‘curb’… I never heard of this word but I presume you know it?!)
When my son saw all the blood coming from his head, he called the ambulance right away, and phoned me right after that. I took a cab to the hospital and my son and I sat there waiting until 2 am... In that time, they scanned my beloved's brain to see how bad the damage was (nothing wrong with that, pfew!) and stitched him up with approximately 20 stitches…
In the days that followed, his face and eyes turned from blue to purple to black to green to yellow and I made photo's of the process. It was weeks ago, and the only thing left is a big scar! When I saw this prompt, I just HAD to use one of the photos!

The background is made from old book pages. I transferred the photo with gel medium. A bit of spray inked and painted text finished the page.
GLENDA
I usually always use pictures in my journal pages so this was a refreshing change for me! I went with the lyrics and put the lyrics inside the heart.

RACHEL
Dedicated to a friendship that I have recently stepped away from for the sake of my own heart... One of these days I'll have the time and clean space in my studio to create a REAL page... but this one was pretty cathartic to create digitally!!

We're nearing the end of our year!! I'm thinking about what next year might hold for our group, and thinking of what directions I might take with our prompts next year... and I'm looking forward to seeing the directions you all take these prompts to make them YOURS!
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Sept. 30th

2011-09-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

The prompt this time is from MARIT!! I loved the ideas and the "obscure" song she chose to stretch us with!!
THE PROMPT: Eye opener
THE SONG: Why are we sleeping - Soft Machine/Kevin Ayers(They don't have the song/video on Project Playlist - it's/I'm obscure like that - but there are two video's on youtube.)
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Eyes (photo's, stamps, drawing... whatever)

MARIT
My beloved is a great fan of Soft Machine. I am not so much - not of the actual music anyway - but this band have great song lyrics and when I had to make up a prompt I thought of this song right away. The lyrics from this song can lead to a fun art journal page but can also take you into deeper thoughts about life and the world we live in. The prompt 'eye opener' and the technique gives you enough freedom to play with it any way you like. I choose to make a 'fun page' but I might as well do a 'raw journaling' page later on. There are so many dimensions and directions to take this prompt... show us where it leads YOU!!

RACHEL

Sometimes... I feel like the public face is a mask I am stuck behind...
GLENDA
I went with some of the lyrics in this song and substituted wine for beer! haha I had fun with this page.

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

21 Secrets DEAL

2011-09-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

Have you been thinking about signing up for 21 Secrets? Registration is about to close!!
21 Secrets has been such a success, with over 600 participants and so much art journal love over on the playground! Registration is closing on October 1st!!
BUT
You still have time to sign up and plenty of time to work through the classes!! They will continue to be on line until JANUARY 2012!!
AND
We're offering you a SALE price from now, until Sept. 30th at 11:59pm EST!!
21 SECRETS Regular Price $59
BIG BIG Discount Price $49.99
Now's your chance to grab 21 SECRETS at the lowest price ever--and don't forget--21 SECRETS is really 22 SECRETS now, because we got Miss Andrea Schroeder of ABC creativity there sharing her magic as well!
Come join us over at the playground! Whether you are new to art journaling, or have been playing with journals for years, this workshop is for you. Workshops focus on process with techniques added in, so no matter where you're at in journaling, there's something there for you.
Click below to sign up, and visit THIS POST to view more details about the class!

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Sept 15th

2011-09-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

HOLY CRAP. It's September already!! This year is FLYING by!! I can't believe how fast it's going... and funny, considering that I plan the prompts out a whole YEAR in advance, that this is our prompt for this month. It's pretty perfect timing for me.
THE PROMPT: Memory Lane
THE SONG: You're Gonna Miss This by Trace Adkins
Written lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: photo of a road

GLENDA
This is such a touching song and it really made me think about my own daughter and how at 17 she is in such a hurry to grow up and move out. It breaks my heart how much fun we used to have together and now everything has changed. I had a picture of her on one of our summer vacations together and used the white space of the road to journal on. Not only is she going to miss this later on in life but I already do.

MARIT
This is a big picture of the road in the village I grew up. Our house was on this road. My dad took this pic when I was a teenager, it's almost the view I had from my teenage room. (I guess he stood a little higher, on the roof maybe?) My parents still live in the same house, but the view has changed a lot (the field across the street is full with houses for example...) I journaled about the changes and about all the (childhood)memories I have when I see this photo.

RACHEL
I'm having the same emotions right now as Glenda... only my 17 year old will be having a baby girl in the next month... and it's a bitter sweet time for me... to see him embracing his responsibility, and at the same time, to know that this part of our life together is coming to an end... so much more quickly that I imagined... I used a photo I took last year of he and his girlfriend (now fiance) and added some thought about letting go of my little boy.

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Aug 30th

2011-08-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

This prompt was brought to you by NIKKI!! Thanks to Glenda for the question via email about whether I had forgotten to put the post up!! (I totally did.)
THE PROMPT: Dive In
THE SONG: Edge of Glory by Lady GaGa
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: shape layering

I am not a huge fan of Lady Gaga, but I do love this song! I could have done a million different pages using this song as inspiration and as a matter of fact, this is not the direction I was going at all. However, I was looking through photos for inspiration and found this sunset that I took a pic of when we were in Costa Rica this past March. To me it looked like the sun was right on the "edge" and about to fall into the ocean and it hit me that this would be perfect for this prompt. My husband and I had such a wonderful trip and being with him and seeing the sunsets such as this I wouldn't trade him and us being together for anything. For the technique I want to see layering of shapes. I took a chipboard heart, misted around it, then used some oil pastels and did some colored layering around that. I placed my picture and then put the heart I used for the misting right over the edge of the photo and the original heart that I misted around. Have fun with this one...I can't wait to see what you do!
MARIT
Marilyn Monroe on a diving board got me all philosophic!
I journaled about how it feels when you are young ánd how it changes when you grow older.

"It's obviously quite a good feeling, to be young and beautiful. You can sit high on a diving board, strike a graceful pose. You get all the attention without doing more then just that. No one can see your uncertainty - you are too high for that. But the moment passes. You get older you know. One day, you will have to jump. Into life. Into the deep. And yes, your hair gets wet then. And everyone can see your protruding ears, but OH, does it feel good!"
GLENDA
I didn't think I was going to have time to do this prompt because of the craziness in my life the last month or so. We just moved and I had to find my art journal and then pull some supplies out of boxes to do this page! I was inspired by the lyrics "on the edge" because that is totally how I've been feeling lately. Between this hectic move and kid troubles I literally feel "on the edge".

Man it felt good to make this.
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings Aug 15th

2011-08-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

THE PROMPT: Promises
THE SONG: Run Devil Run by Kesha
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: The poison symbol
As always, the prompts are designed for you to take all of parts of the three part prompt and use the idea as a jumping off point for YOUR art!! Use the songs as inspiration, create your piece as the prompt applies to you and use our off the wall product/techniques to stretch yourself a bit!
Be sure to leave a comment here on the blog with a link to your project. This is the place the guest hosts and I visit and comment from. :) Here's what some of the guest hosts created!! Can't wait to see YOUR takes on this!
GLENDA
I was inspired by a few things for this prompt, particularly some of the lyrics as well as the poison symbol. This page was very therapeutic for me!
MARIT
There's something strange going on with me... since I made a square book to make these prompts in, the pages all turn out a bit like 'album covers'. They don't look like my 'normal' art journal pages at all... but it isn't the traditional 'scrapbooking' either... well, never mind what it is, here's my contribution for this prompt.

I had the image of the cartoon (I think she's called 'Electra'?) and I found it very fitting and complementary for the songlyrics. The background is painted black, white watersoluble crayons for the 'light' behind the figure, the title is written with sharpie markers and the border is made with puffy paint.

RACHEL

I decided to use skulls but not the exact poison symbol... kinda like the way this digital piece came out. Some good passive aggressive therapy for me as well... lol
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings July 30th

2011-07-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

This prompt was brought to you by SUSAN!!
The Prompt: Control
The Song: Only Girl (in the world) by Rhianna
Written Lyrics HERE
Product/Technique: lipstick
SUSAN
I just LOVE this Rhianna song! I want to feel like I'm the most beautiful girl in the world to someone. I want to feel like I was the one chosen because of our connection. That obviously hasn't happened for me yet, but I have faith that it will, someday. I used a stencil with some glimmer mist on some old dictionary & book pages (pages from a Twilight book that the dog chewed up. Thought it was fitting to Edward & Bella). I cut those out & glued them down & used them to journal the words of the song that I thought appropriate. Paper is from an old K&Co pack along with some Hambly rubons & Making Memories letter stickers.

GLENDA
I used a portion of the lyrics "take me for a ride" as I had this fun picture that I had taken while I was driving (I know, I know!)and just had some fun with it. I drive this route every day to get to work and loved the perspective of the photo.

MARIT
I always seem to find my inspiration in the lyrics, not the 'prompt title' or the techniques... Again, this page arose from a sentence... I cut the image out of an old 'National Geographic' magazine (I have a huge stack of those. Every time I flip though the pages, I see other images that I can use.) I'm not really sure if this lady is really sitting on the back of her husband or that she's standing on higher ground behind him, but I find the image fitting with the text.
To create the background I used gesso, paint, spray ink, watersoluble crayons and stamping ink (the vague text stamp is visible in the yellow background behind the woman). The circles are cut out images. Black and white sharpies for the spirals and journaling.

Show us what you got!! Don't forget, you can take any part of all of the prompt! The point is to use these prompts as inspiration and create something that's all YOU!!
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings July 15th

2011-07-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hello, and welcome to another PROMPT!! This song is near and dear to my heart... I've always loved it.
THE PROMPT: Broken
THE SONG: Mama's Arms by Joshua Kadison
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Kisses
I wasn't able to find the song on Project Playlist, so I've added the You Tube video I found of it here for you to listen to.

GLENDA
For this journal page I did a lot of stamping and I used lyrics from the song.

SUSAN

I loved this prompt & wish I had time to make another page because the words of the song really spoke to me too. But I've been dying to use up this old broken mirror I'd kept around and this seemed like the perfect page to use it for. You can't really tell here but when I look at the page I see two separate images of myself in the broken pieces. I wrote on it with a paint pen and the background is made with torn bits of paper and watercolors. I journaled on how I feel broken & defective sometimes but how God is healing all of that for me.
MARIT
Marit created her page a little later... she posted about it HERE and HERE on her blog. This is her page. :) I really hope you go and visit her posts about this prompt, because I want all of you to realize that the prompts really ARE about you and your process... and that sometimes, you have to allow them to sit. Sometimes, you have to do something to make them YOURS. If that means waiting to finish them... or keeping out a part of the prompt... or digging into a part of yourself you don't often visit... whatever. You MUST make them about something YOU are inspired to create.

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings June 30th

2011-06-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

This month's Guest Host Prompt is brought to you buy SUSAN!! Thank you, Susan!! I love what you guys created!! Can't wait to see what everyone ELSE creates as well!!
The Prompt: What's the deal?
The Song: Running Up That Hill by Placebo (or Kate Bush)
Written Lyrics HERE
Product/Technique: Playing Cards
I wish I had had time to create something... maybe I'll try to make it up!! lol
Here is what SUSAN created for her prompt.
I just LOVE this song!!! I loved the Kate Bush version & I love the new version as well. How many times have I wanted to make a deal with God!!! To many to count. My deal making days are over and it's about acceptance & willingness for me & all of that is what my journaling is about this week. I used cards as my background, paint, paint pens & some letter stickers. Looking forward to seeing what you guys do with the prompt.

GLENDA
I used some partial lyrics from the song about how I wish my path in life was free of worry and problems. I had this great picture that I had taken on one of my nature walks to symbolize my path in life and I just had to ask "what's the deal?".

MARIT
When I saw this prompt, and the lyrics, the sentence 'make a deal with God' catched my eye. I imagined shaking hands with it, and made this page in no-time.
'What deal would you make then?' asked my beloved...
I'll leave it up to each of you to give your own answer.
I used pages from an old book (it is an old history book about human rights, changing society, emancipation of woman etcetera - some texts shine through and I found it very appropriate) cut-out photo (hands) to use as a mask, spray ink, acrylic paint, circle template, stamps, stazon ink.

As always, if you're playing a long with us, you should post your project somewhere on line (your blog, our flickr group) and leave us a comment here, with a direct link to the place you've hosted your project on line so we can come see, and comment!! Take the whole prompt in all three parts, or pick the pieces you like, and use them. Use the music directly, or just take the feeling the music leaves you with, and incorporate that into your piece!! We can't wait to see what you make!
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings June 15th

2011-06-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's JUNE already!! It's a bit ironic how fitting this prompt is for me. So fitting I didn't get a chance to WORK on it!! lol
THE PROMPT: Vertigo
THE SONG: Right Round Ft. Kesha
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Circles
This prompt WOULD have been for me, an example of how I'm so busy busy busy that my head is spinning and making me dizzy!! I'm working hard to get this merry go round to stop spinning so I can relax a little bit. Nothing like having your summer vacation start off with TOO MUCH TO DO!!
Thanks to the guest hosts that helped me out with examples for this prompt! I love what they've created, and how each of them worked THEMSELVES into this prompt, even when they started out feeling stuck.
GLENDA
I love this song! Every time I hear it I want to get up and dance!! I used some lyrics from the song about how I know the storm is coming and how I have to be strong and survive it. I also used a lot of painty circles for this.

MARIT
My head is spinning lately, all kind of work and deadlines and ideas and 'have to's' and 'want to's'... this prompt really fitted my mood! I gave it a funny twist though and went physical vertigo! I would love to have time to play like a child on a swing again... The photo is cut out of a magazine and I stamped a lot of circles around it (I hand carved two stamps for this prompt, the circle and the spiral one) I colored with water soluble oil crayons. The text comes from the lyrics and says: 'Time is precious'.

SUSAN
I wasn't getting any ideas from the title so I decided to read thru the lyrics to the song. Since my 'popping bottles' days are over I was feeling a bit stumped but then came across this line of "building castles out of sand". I just went to the beach for the first time since I moved here & knew this was my page. I'm really into my watercolors right now & thought they added that beachy feel along with some Stickles & Glimmer Mist.

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Prompt Delay

2011-06-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't had the chance to post the prompt!! I had the chance to get some bees and then my oldest has had multiple driving test things to get done over the course of the last few days! I'll work on getting it all put together soon.
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

WINNER WINNER! Chicken Dinner!!

2011-06-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

I nearly forgot to share the winners for our BLOG HOP!! I NEED your mailing information ASAP!! Please send me an email. My email address is in the sidebar on the blog here. I don't write it out on line... helps keep the spam bots at bay. The image with my email is just under the player.
Using a random # generator, I have the following winners!! I have made sure that any winners picked that weren't listed in their profiles as living in the US were awarded a digital prize.

1) One Aves Power Pack (selection of their most popular formulas) from http://AvesStudio.com/

2) Fluid Chalks Online Workshop by Lesley Venable on her The Art Of Altering site which features many other awesome online workshops http://theartofaltering.ning.com/group/fluidchalksbackgroundsbeyond

3) Two Digital Collage Sheets by Alicia Caudle of Altered Bits.

4) Sample pack of Silputty 40 silicone putty mold mix from Silpak.

5) 1 OZ ICE Resin and a mixed metal bezel from ICE Resin

DJ, you are the only winner without email enabled on Blogger, so I could not email you directly and tell you that you've won!!
I'll wait until the 5th to hear from all of you, and then I'll choose new winners if I have not gotten mailing information from you!!
~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!

Musical Musings May 30th

2011-05-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to GLENDA for hosting this prompt!
The Prompt: Faith
The Song: Heaven help me by Gretchen Wilson
Product/Technique: Wings
Written Lyrics HERE
This song is not available on project playlist, so I've included a you tube video for you to listen.

GLENDA
This is such a powerful song that really resonates with me. I think sometimes we all feel like this at one time or another in our lives and I did a page that included some of the lyrics and used the title of the song as my page title as well. I realized after that this could have very well have been the Ozzy Osbourne song "Crazy Train" as well because I was inspired by the train on the paper, but I stuck with "Heaven Help" me and just used one of the lyrics of Crazy Train. That's the beauty of art journaling, there is just so much inspiration out there!!

MARIT
It feels a bit odd, to come with this 'simple page'... it's just the photo (sanded on the edges) and some words from the lyrics, but the image is so strong that the page is 'finished' this way!
(By the way: it's not an 'autobiographic' page or something, and the woman isn't me. My personal opinion - and way of life - is that you better face your 'demons' (we all have them you know) and then they become less frightened.)

CHRISTI
I just love how this page came out...I chose 3 different shades of yellow, then used my dotted roller-doodle to cover a white page. (Mainly because I couldn't find my sea sponge, but I liked the effect, so I went with it!) A little stamping with rust orange, some sanding, the tissue tape, and I was ready for my journaling. Here's where it got tricky...since I wanted to use a typewriter font, but couldn't very well run a painted page through my printer, I decided to use an old-school method. I printed my words out on a regular sheet of paper, then scribbled over the BACK side of the text with a pencil, cut out the words and placed them (penciled side down, text side up) on my page, traced OVER the words with a pencil, then removed the paper and had a ghost image of the lyrics right on my page! From there, I just used a black journaling pen over the faint penciled lines, and voilà! "Typed" words (with a handmade feel) right where I wanted them. And done.

RACHEL
I've been waiting to do this one... and time was getting away from me!! So I created a digital page. Just a reminder that sometimes it's in the CREATING of the page and expression of a thing that you REALLY get to the "art" of a thing... Don't think that just because you don't have time to make a mess, you don't have time to CREATE! I used a photo I recently took while at the Oregon Coast, and used some lines from the song... Dealing with a lot of things these days, and I definitely can't do it on my own.

~rachel
All images and content on this blog is copyright to Rachel Whetzel and Guest Hosts. Please give credit when sharing your art that is inspired here! Thank you so much!!