Izabella's Blue

journaling to find serenity

 

 

(journal page by Teesha Moore)

Art journaling is a creative way to help heal your soul, reach goals, deal with difficult situations, improve self esteem, and become a happier person.

I also believe that art journaling can be a wonderful tool to help you find that inner peace & serenity. It doesn't nessarily mean it will solve your problems but can help you find your direction, the hidden path that is hiding within.

I have a little vintage suitcase that has all of my journaling supplies, so they are close at hand when I have the urge to create in my journal. Do you have a box filled with your supplies? In my suitcase I have my art journal and...

~scissors

~small stapler

~different types of tape

~prismacolors

~markers

~rubber stamps

~vintage images

~my lovely pentel pens

~stencils

~crayons

Start with painting a page, add an image, write your favorite quote, or your favorite song lyrics, add layers, color with crayons or markers, paint, write more inspirational words, turn on your favorite music, light some candles, add a lock of hair to your page, add ribbons and fibers, add a hint of your favorite perfume, laugh, cry, sing, rant, rave, hum, cut, paste, fall into that place in your mind that only you & your muse can go~ but don't stay away too long ;)

Did you know...that journaling has a positive impact on your well being? Researchers have also said that regular journaling strengthens immune cells and other positive effects on your mind & body. Journaling can also help clarify your thoughts & feelings, also help solve problems more effectively. It can also help you begin to know yourself better. Art journaling also provides a safe way to express negative feelings. It can also get your creative juices flowing, especially when you have "art block"

I am definately not an expert at journaling and I do need more practice. I have found that it has brought about hidden emotions, good & bad, it also has brought about amazing inspirations.  It's definately a journey into the unknown but anxious to see where it shall take me. I wish for you, to find serenity in your art journaling~

"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." ~Vincent van Gogh

 

 

 

Great resources for art journaling ...

Teesha Moore http://www.teeshamoore.com

Suzi Blu http://www.youtube.com/user/suziblutube

 

Be inspired!! xo ~Izabella

love letters collage sheet

A challenge for you.... the first person to come up with the correct answer....no cheating!! no Googling!!  Who wrote this famous love letter!?  The first person to answer correctly wins a free digital collage sheet  xo!!

Paris, December 1795

I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart! Are you angry? Do I see you looking sad? Are you worried?... My soul aches with sorrow, and there can be no rest for you lover; but is there still more in store for me when, yielding to the profound feelings which overwhelm me, I draw from your lips, from your heart a love which consumes me with fire? Ah! it was last night that I fully realized how false an image of you your portrait gives!

You are leaving at noon; I shall see you in three hours.

Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.

new collage sheet in my etsy shoppe http://izabellah.etsy.com

how to create fiber beads

 

 

 

 

 

 

~How to create fiber beads~

 

This is a tutorial that was shared with me, by Mary Jo of Artistic Avenues http://www.theartisticavenues.com/about.htm

 

These are fiber beads that I created, oh what joyous fun they are to create!!! Thank you Mary for sharing~

 

First gather your materials...

* drinking straw

* white glue

* scissors

* muslin, tapestry, nearly any cotton blend material

* acrylic paints

* 22 guage wires ~gold copper silver

* needle nose pliers

* wire cutters

* beads, charms & glitter!!

 

Tear/cut your muslin or cotton material 1/2 to 1 1/2 inch strips, this will be the width of your beads. You will want different sizes of beads~ Cut your strips to about 6 to 12 inches long(experimentation is best)

 

Proceed to wrap the material around the end of the straw, adding the white glue onto the material as you wrap it around the straw. Make sure it is glued securely & then cut the straw leaving some still within the middle of the wrap. You can usually get 3 beads per straw depending on length of the beads you create.

 

Now let the fun begin!!

 

Paint metallic paints on the material & ends. Wrap fibers or yarn around the bead. Wrap wire pieces 5 to 6 inches long, around the fibers or yarn to hold it in place. You can also add beads & charms to the wire, then add glitter or try dipping the beads in embossing powders!!

 

Have fun creating!!!

 

~Izabella

 

 

this weeks featured artist Kecia Deveney

 

 

Lemoncholy's Studio aka kecia deveney

 

I have a lot of energy. I like to be busy and am rarely ever idle! I also tend to get bored quite easily, so one day I might make jewelry, the next day do a mosaic piece, then onto a painting or an assemblage. I grew up in the military and we moved every 2 years, so I've traveled a lot, have seen much culture ,diversity and experienced things that others will never see. I think that lifestyle plays into who I am creatively and how I see myself. I see myself as a free-spirited, gypsy type of soul. In my mid twenties, I suffered a horrible, life altering experience, when my older son,  Tucker (then age 16 months old), suffered a traumatic brain injury due to medical malpractice. Now age 18, he is 100% dependent on care from my husband and I. My despair, anguish and grief over this traumatic event is what propelled me into the art world. I'll start with the cliche that I am self taught. I began making things as gifts and home decor  and then onto art shows. It was at an art show that a woman put a name to my work, "altered art". I'd never heard the word before, nor realized that other people like to alter things. This was exciting! From there I found art retreats and dreamed about attending them, but didn't.  Then one day I mentioned one of them to my husband, who surprised me by saying, "you should go". So I did - and that was it - I was hooked! I began making online friends who were so similar to me. It really opened a whole new world to me. Slowly I have progressed from classes, to blogging, to etsy, many yahoo groups and currently in the works, a website and now teaching. I'm in my studio every day and I consider this my full time job. Creating is a drug to me. It keeps me sane. I'm passionate about what I do. Through my blog, I've met many women who tell me I inspire them. This fills my soul with joy, that me, this grief stricken girl, can refocus that sadness into inspiration and help other women. It brings me vitality, so I've come full circle.

 

blog: www.lemoncholys.blogspot.com

website: www.lemoncholys.com

etsy: www.keeshagirl.etsy.com

flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lemoncholys

 

 

 

to a soldier

The day you march away let the sun shine, 
Let everything be blue and gold and fair, 
Triumph of trumpets calling through bright air, 
Flags slanting, flowers flaunting not a sign 
That the unbearable is now to bear, 
The day you march away. 

The day you march away this I have sworn, 
No matter what comes after, that shall be 
Hid secretly between my soul and me 
As women hide the unborn 
You shall see brows like banners, lips that frame 
Smiles, for the pride those lips have in your name. 
You shall see soldiers in my eyes that day 
That day, O soldier, when you march away. 

The day you march away cannot I guess? 
There will be ranks and ranks, all leading on 
To one white face, and then the white face gone, 
And nothing left but a gray emptiness 
Blurred moving masses, faceless, featureless 
The day you march away.

Grace Ellery Channing

New blog for Outsider Artists!!!

The ladies of Outsider-Artists are exceptionally
pleased to announce that we have a new blog!!

As of July we are ending our website endeavor,
it just didn't seem personable, it didn't feel
alive like a blog does & it was a nightmare
to maneuver around in the inner workings of that
website, so we are all very excited about this
new venture!

Every week one artist will post something new!!

(Thanks sweet Lynne for allowing me to borrow some
or your words;).....

We are a collaberative of 9 artists who have been
cyberfriends for quite a while.

In that time, although we have never met
face to face, we have become like sisters.
We are the very best of friends and seem
to bring out the best in each other.

Many of you have visited our parent site
http://www.outsider-artists.net
and this blog is an extention of that site.

We will have art and collage sheets
for sale, musings, inspiration and more
interactions with our online friends!! 

our new blog home Outsider Artists

Amy is the first to post & she is having an art giveaway!!

Call for art journal submissions

I wanted to share this with all my wonderful art friends, received this note today from someguy 1001 journals.....

Call for submissions: Share your journals, share your stories

We're putting together a 1001 Journals book proposal to shop around to publishers, and need your input. To get the publishers excited, we'd like to share some remarkable journal entries, and stories that go along with them. If you'd like us to consider including your journal / entries / story in the proposal, please email us the following:

• Your Username
• The journal number
• Your city, state, and country
• A brief description of the entries, and why they're amazing (make sure they've been added to the 1001J site, where we can review them)
• If there's a story, please include it with as much detail as you can

The deadline is June 9th.
Email submissions to someguy@1001journals.com

Don't have anything to submit? You've got time, create something unique and interesting. This is your chance to get published. Not on 1001journals.com? Sign up and start sharing journals.

Journal Contributions could range from amazing art or writing to controversial entries, humor, raw emotion, confessions, interaction between contributors, conflicts, rants, oddities, and so on.

Journal Stories might be something interesting that happened with the journal, or in your life involving the journal. Was the journal left in a library? Taken on spring break? Was it used as a marriage proposal? Perhaps you discovered it for sale in a thrift store, or shared it with reformed convicts. Let us know.

Thanks, and keep on journaling,

someguy
www.1001journals.com

new collage sheets

 

new collage sheets in my Etsy Shoppe~ http://izabellah.etsy.com

With Grateful Hearts - Gift Giveaway

I wanted to share,  JoAnnA Pierotti is having a giveway for those who chipped in money for their fundraiser, these are JoAnnA's lovely words......

This is the first piece I've created since finding out Ron has a brain tumor again.  I just have not felt creative at all, until today. 

I don't know how to write this, and I get very uncomfortable talking of this, but some of you know that my dear friend started a Chip-In for us which we have now ended.  So many of you have chipped in not just through that, but to us directly.  Oh my gosh, our hearts are overwhelmed.  Thank you so very very much.  I really don't know how we would be surviving right now had this not happened, but God has always been faithful to us in time of need, that is for sure.  And in these tough times for so many due to our economy, this all means that much more.

I've read all your messages too and they touch my heart!

A small way to say Thank YOU!



I wish I could make each and everyone of you something, and thank you all personally, but that is impossible.  I offer this  8" x 8" deep edge canvas fabric collage as a small way to say thank you.  If you have contributed and this piece is something you might like to have, please just leave me a comment below.  If you feel uncomfortable doing that, please just email me privately to enter.  After Ron's surgery I will randomly pick someone to send it to.  I hope I will be able to do some more to give away while he is recovering in between the two surgeries.

Ron would like you all to know that you have helped ease our burden.  In a time like this, not to have to worry about the finances, getting to the city, staying there, food, bills, etc., oh my.  Because of Ron's medical aide, we are only allowed to live on a very small amount of money so we will spread this over several months.  Most likely it will take him a good year to recover.  That is how long it took last time.  I do plan to continue to do my online workshops, add more and make art this next year. 

Please feel free to use these pictures and my words on your blogs to get the word out of our thanks and appreciation and this giveaway.

JoAnnA's blog ~ http://mosshill.blogs.com/joannas_journal/2009/05/with-grateful-hearts-gift-giveaway.html#comments

 

a mothers kiss

 

My mother's kiss, my mother's kiss,
I feel its impress now;
As in the bright and happy days
She pressed it on my brow.

You say it is a fancied thing
Within my memory fraught;
To me it has a sacred place--
The treasure house of thought.

Again, I feel her fingers glide
Amid my clustering hair;
I see the love-light in her eyes,
When all my life was fair.

Again, I hear her gentle voice
In warning or in love.
How precious was the faith that taught
My soul of things above.

The music of her voice is stilled,
Her lips are paled in death.
As precious pearls I'll clasp her words
Until my latest breath.

The world has scattered round my path
Honor and wealth and fame;
But naught so precious as the thoughts
That gather round her name.

And friends have placed upon my brow
The laurels of renown;
But she first taught me how to wear
My manhood as a crown.

My hair is silvered o'er with age,
I'm longing to depart;
To clasp again my mother's hand,
And be a child at heart.

To roam with her the glory-land
Where saints and angels greet;
To cast our crowns with songs of love
At our Redeemer's feet.

~Frances E. W. Harper

vintage nudy girl

 

divas and lovers

 

 

A must have book~  I finally received my anticipated copy from Amazon~  My book pic of the week ;)

The Erotic Art Of Studio Manasse Divas and Lovers

This seductive volume features a recently rediscovered cache of captivating portraits from another time and place: a golden age of cinema and cabaret in Vienna of the 1920s and 1930s. The Manasses, a husband-and-wife team from the Vienesse beau monde, used retouching techniques to create surreal and noir images that seethe with an erotic symbolism barely concealed beneath a mask of glorious styling, elegant poses, and extravagant costumes. Photographic historian Monika Faber examines this work as part of the world of a cinema-enthralled Vienna, while an accompanying D.H. Lawrence story enhances the erotic climate of the images.

Do not mistake kindness for weakness

 

This piece is dedicated to my friend Andy Emmitt~ 

Good friends are like stars.  You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.
                                                                                

"Do not mistake kindness for weakness"

 

A strong man loves,
A weak man hates.
A strong man needs only one woman,
A weak man needs many.
A strong man is respected,
A weak man needs to be feared.
A strong man can be himself,
A weak man has many faces.
A strong man can judge himself and
A weak man only judges others.
A strong man earns his freinds,
A weak man buys them.
A strong man can face his fears and his conflicts,
A weak man runs from them.
A strong man can stand aside while his woman shines and,
A weak man stands in front, for he must shine.
A strong man can forgive,
A weak man cannot.
A strong man is what a woman needs

~Victoria Sikorsky

theatre of tragedy ~ A love triangle

He is stark mad, whoever says,
That he hath been in love an hour,
Yet not that love so soon decays,
But that it can ten in less space devour;
Who will believe me, if I swear
That I have had the plague a year?
Who would not laugh at me, if I should say
I saw a flash of powder burn a day?

Ah, what a trifle is a heart,
If once into love's hands it come!
All other griefs allow a part
To other griefs, and ask themselves but some;
They come to us, but us love draws;
He swallows us and never chaws;
By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks do die;
He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry.

If 'twere not so, what did become
Of my heart when I first saw thee?
I brought a heart into the room,
But from the room I carried none with me.
If it had gone to thee, I know
Mine would have taught thine heart to show
More pity unto me ; but Love, alas!
At one first blow did shiver it as glass.

Yet nothing can to nothing fall,
Nor any place be empty quite;
Therefore I think my breast hath all
Those pieces still, though they be not unite;
And now, as broken glasses show
A hundred lesser faces, so
My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore,
But after one such love, can love no more.

~J. Donne

ZNE Art, Paperie & Pleasantries

This weekend!! Art, Paperie & Pleasantries is being held at the Alameda County Fair Building in Pleasanton, CA. There will be lots of vendors, live music, book signings, make & take classes, coloring table for the kiddies and lots of pretties to buy! All the sparkly goodness happens Saturday May 2 & Sunday May 3, 2009 Noon - 5:00 p.m. both days, $3 admission, but get the dollar off coupon on the website. You can find more details here http://www.artandpaperie.com/index.html