Artistic Mother:background papers {Day 4}

Whew. We have been doing lots of creating haven't we? Please remember to not burn yourself out!! The goal of these 31 Days is to inject something creative and inspirational into our days everyday.
Remember Creativity is all around us. It's in everything.

I think this quote by John Updike says it best. Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.





A couple of months ago I bought the book "The Artistic Mother" by Shona Cole. I've shared it here before. I am also a part of an on-line group of women who are doing the 12 week course laid out in the book. Part of the inspiration for this 31 Days Challenge comes from Shona's book. Several of my readers are playing along there as well including Cindi. You should stop by her Blog today for a boost of creative energy!! I LOVE the page she created today!!!

In the book Shona encourages us to create our very own background papers to use in art journals, scrapbook pages and more. Here is what I've been up to! I love using foam brushes and acrylic paint and just kind of swirling and twirling it on the paper. These ribbons are so FUN!

See those pink polka dots? I used a Coke Zero bottle cap.

Here's a background paper I made using just pink paint and a foam brush. I ended up creating a layout with it and really love how it turned out.

One of my favorite backgrounds so far is this one...pink and brown are two of my fave color combinations.

After the paint the paint dried I outlined the letters with brown marker and wrote my art goals down.

Love the pinks!! There are those polka dots again:)

Yesterday I had a blast with the cool dollar products I purchased on Tuesday...remember? The sponge, the dish scraper and bubble wrap? Here is what happened...using the sponge...

This page was created with the wire pot scratcher. This was just fun to play with and I love the effect.

Another technique {learned from Shona's book} is this one...

Those black lines were made by dipping an old credit card in paint then dragging across the paper. Looks grungy. Very cool. Probably my very favorite look though is the bubble wrap. See those tiny dots below? Just put paint right on the wrap then lightly {or not depending how you want the dots to look} place on your paper. This was a fun collage to make last night. This background color was amazing, too.

Rmember that "L" I showed you yesterday. I finished it, too...

Okay, so the lighting is just terrible...sorry...here's a close-up of the sun I drew with cra-pas...

Now, girls please know that I don't even pretend to be an artist. I am stretching myself. I have never done this before. I was always a scrapbooker. This is all very new to me and I'm just taking baby steps. So if this all looks juvenile...it is:)

And remember our Challenge from Tuesday to pick 3 of your favorite words and begin creating art with them? Here is a sneak peak at what I'm doing...

A few more photos...snapped this one of Gizmo a few minutes ago. He is a little stinker:)

And finally this is me at the computer writing on my Blog. Jackson told me that you all need to see what I look like when I'm "talking" to you!!

That silly guy!!!

Before I go here is today's Challenge:

Day #4 Challenge: Today I want you to take a deep breathe and realize how AMAZING you are!! The fact that you are putting yourself out there and creating, and writing and sharing is enough. TRULY enough. Today, catch up on the past 3 days, write down any inspiring thoughts or ideas you have in your journals. Just take time to BE...

 

How are you doing girls? Please let me know. I LOVE your comments and I LOVE reading YOUR blogs!!!