we r smashin' - art journal!

hi all!

oh thank GOD school is back in session today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can i get a hallelujah!

pezza talks non-stop.  now one of the boys made noise non-stop and that could be annoying but pez TALKS and wants a RESPONSE non....stop....so we put on the movie wall-e thinking that might stop it for a brief time.  nope.  she would either repeat every happening right after it happened or ask constant questions so she missed what was going on and had to ask more questions.  KEEP IN MIND the child has seen this movie DOZENS of times...  GGAAHHHH!

i finished taking all the xmas stuff down and putting it away this morning with the exception of some stuff i need a new bin for because i added some decor.  so now my house can get back to normal.  BAH HAHHAHHHA - there is no normal here.

i am SO excited to show you today's project!  i made it for the new smash book challenge over on color me creative - mine will be mostly an art journal with practice pieces as well as maybe some of my house ideas i hope to do someday.  our first challenge is up:

  January Challenge Area:

Our first challenge for January is all about The New!

So we want to see you creating pages with the below theme(S):

* New Beginnings

*2012 Bucket List or To Accomplish List

*New Year's Resolutions

**OR**

*12 Month Challenge (at least 1 page for each month of the year) to document the going's ons that month

I think its fun to create a list of things you WANT or would LIKE to do for 2012 and then at the end of year see how many you did.  I will be doing a page like this AND I will be doing a separate Smash/Scrapbook based on 12 months (at least 1 page documenting each month)!

So incorporate the themes into your books as you'd like--be creative & make the ideas work for YOU & YOUR BOOKS!

**********

You can enter up to 3 entries into each challenge!

Entries for challenge need to be linked by Jan. 31st!

Winner will get a $25 G. Certificate to spend online!

 fun right???  AND a PRIZE too!  now onto my page.  i think i mentioned i am not usually one for new year's resolutions but this year i have been thinking alot about some things in my life i want to focus on/improve so that is what my page is about - again with some technique experimentation thrown in too!  and i am LOVING this one:

i started with a piece of paper from a mixed media pad i have from Michaels.  i tore some patterned paper and put one piece across the middle of the page and another piece down in the corner.  then i crumbled some tissue paper, opened it up and laid that down over my page after i put a layer of mod podge down.  you WANT the wrinkles for texture.  i think i first did something like this via technique junkies but i got the idea for the paper underneath from an article on Cloth Paper Scissors.  next i put another layer of mod podge on top and i let it all dry overnight.

next i dry brushed over it with several coordinating colors of acrylic paint - all my paints dried out so i have had to start over and my color pallette is extremely limited - i hope to be able to change that soon.  next i typed out my goals using a font called hand stamped and i cut them into strips.  once i had the placement of those i dug around in my embellie stash and came up with these flowers - pipe cleaners, pom poms, felt and fabric.  i used emerald green viva decor paint to free hand draw the stems and leaves.  SO. MUCH. FUN!  i can't wait to get back into more mixed media stuff!

i also hope y'all join us for the smash book challenges - your book can be about anything!

finally here is a pic of Bubba kitten with his daddy:

he is the greatest kitten EVER!