Saturday, December 2, 2017

Saturday Joy

Hi everyone. I am very happy it is Saturday, and I got a much needed sleep in. :) Today's plan is a much needed house cleaning (or at least starting it) and some art all afternoon.  I will even get the house to myself for a few hours which sounds heavenly to me.
Before Thanksgiving I started a holiday journal. It's in a big old book  snagged from the discard pile at my school library.
At about 1500 pages it leaves me lots of room to pull out pages and still have lots of pages to alter, and the best part is I can use it again next year (and probably for a few years) because I will never manage to alter all the remaining pages in one season.
I was excited to see Sheila's latest challenge over at Art Journal Journey. The theme is Let's Celebrate,  which means my holiday journal pages link up with AJJ. Great choice of a theme Sheila.
My first one is called the dancer. I didn't really have any plans for this theme when I started.

I started this page using the top layer of a red city napkin-which you can see on the left.  But I noticed the second napkin layer still had a light imprint of the upper part on it and that was way too good to waste, so I added to to the right. Then I painted the dark night sky and added the little metal stars to fill in the space between the top of the page and the napkin.
OK, now what? So I went through my box of Christmas paper and stickers and found these sticker sheets  I bought last year after the holiday. They are actually tags and other images from the Nutcracker which are meant to decorate gifts. I got 2 packages for like 99 cents and to me why waste them on gifts? So I added the mouse, the dancer and the 2 big stars. They seem to fit in the city theme.
The quote is my own and it's pretty silly.


The lighting is terrible because the hubby snagged one of my best work lights for one of his plumbing projects, but I should get it back today. :) He's an excellent plumber and as I write he is getting my bathroom back in shape. (More happy Saturday news)
And since this is a Colorful piece, I am also linking up to Try It On Tuesday.
And before I forget (because I did at first), it is December second, which means it is time to join in over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog with a repost. I am going back to December of 2015.
Here's a link to post: Winter.
And here's the journal page that I showed you that day.
Since I was a little rate remembering it was the second and came back to add this in, I will get by everyone's posts later since it is after 11 AM and I have chores to accomplish.
And the moonrise last night was pretty spectacular.
 I snapped these on my phone. why is why there is no close up shots. But I think the bare tree branches looks pretty cool.
Time to get some projects done  instead of sitting here on the couch. Have a great weekend!

16 comments:

Eileen The Artful Crafter said...

I saw this on TioT, Erika. Lovely! I'm a sucker for anything about dance. Love the mouse ballet master ;-)

froebelsternchen said...

Have a great weekend as well dear Erika! I like your new header and I like those pages in your holiday journal! I hope Austria in this book will get special art pages and that you are thinking of me when you alter the Austria pages ! Sounds like you have a very clever hubby to get the job done so fast! Thank you very much for this fantastic entry for Art Journal Journey and Try It On Tuesday!♥♥♥
I had a house cleaning today in the morning as well and a nice birthday party at my neighbour and girlfriend's house in the afternoon. My horoscope promised I am going to have a harmonious weekend and yes it started nice so far! Wish the same for you!
oxo Susi

froebelsternchen said...

Happy Second on the 2nd! Your tree page is/were great - Love how loose you drew and painted the tree! Super artsy!

Valerie-Jael said...

Love your re-posted page, and the colourful New journal spread, some great ideas there. Thanks, too, for joining us at TIOT. Enjoy your weekend, especially the me-time!
Hugs, Valerie

craftytrog said...

I love your colourful art Erika!
Happy weekend!
Alison

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

What an absolutely fabulous post for Sheila's theme at AJJ. So glad you could join us, because this is a lovely journal entry of the Dancer. Great use of the napkin, too.

That book you pulled FREE from the discard pile will be perfect. It also has seen many hands, so you won't have to worry that it might fall apart after you've worked on it for awhile. Super choice.

Thanks for sharing your second look today. I still remember that post and the fabulous tree you created as well as your incredible tree in your living room. It is STILL the most beautiful tree I've seen so far.

Thanks for joining us at AJJ and for your second look on the 2nd.

sheila 77 said...

I love it, Erika. I carefully read how you made it. Using the second layer for the right hand side - how clever is that. Painting the night-time sky made a great collage, but then adding the tags made it just super. I laughed at you saying that the tags were too good to use on gifts. Yes, much better to use them on an AJJ piece, I agree. Thanks for liking my theme.
I also very much like your December patchworky header, so complex and Christmassy.

kathyinozarks said...

Great post!
I love your newest journal page-and a great find with the book of lots of pages-I made one once and really enjoyed it-should do that again
Enjoyed your repost-and love those moon shots-great photos
Have an awesome saturday hugs Kathy

Divers and Sundry said...

It captures the Christmas spirit perfectly without being red-and-green Christmas-y. Striking!

Meggymay said...

Fantastic, joyful journal pages Erika.
I love the bright colours and the cute little dancer. Thank you for joining the fun at TioT's and for all your support for the themes.
The photos of the night sky look awesome, I would be sitting looking at that scene as well.
Yvonne xx

CJ Kennedy said...

Great book find and I love the altered page. The line about the tags and why waste them on gifts cracked me up. I never get good shots of the moon/night sky with my phone camera. Great job!

kathyinozarks said...

commenting on your comment--I have made the chocolate popcorn many times-and is always a winner-enjoy I am waiting on some ink pads that should arrive in the mail tomorrow-will be working on my postcards next week-have a good week

pearshapedcrafting said...

Fabulous page Erika! What a find and the napkin background is perfect!Thanks for joining us at Try It On Tuesday! I love the bird in the tree for your second look post! Seeing your moon photos reminds me that I forgot about the super moon again!!! Chrisx

Jeanie said...

Now THAT is a serious book! You are going to be rocking it, filling all those pages (well, the ones you don't tear out!) And I do love this!

Mrs.B said...

A fabulous page Erika, love the little dancer,
Thanks for sharing with us at TioT
Avril xx

Let's Art Journal said...

That's one huge holiday journal and I bet you'll have so much fun creating the pages! I love the idea of adding more pages each year and I can't wait to see what you create 😁. Your pages are wonderful, those nutcracker gift tags are adorable and you created the perfect settings for them! Happy Holidays! J 😊