Marcia Beckett

Journaling from 21 Secrets

2013-05-21T20:44:00.001-05:00

Here is another page from Cathy Bluteau's workshop from 21 Secrets.

And... I have the 5 people who will receive sticker packets for the Sticky Journals summer challenge. Stay tuned.. in a few weeks we will start the sticky fun!!

Art Journal Every Day | Paint Party Friday | Sunday Sketches | Artists in Blogland | Image Map

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
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Funky Fabulous Etsy Shop: Jeni and Pats Beadhive

2013-05-21T09:39:00.000-05:00

The fourth fabulous Etsy shop to share with you for the May Etsy Promotion!

Jeni and Pats Beadhive

Pat and Jeni are a mother and daughter team from Brisbane Australia. They create affordable, gorgeous bead art from inexpensive semiprecious gemstones, and beads. Check out these beautiful accessories.

Coming this Summer: Sticky Journals.. YOUR help needed!

2013-05-17T22:43:00.000-05:00

Do you use stickers in your art journal?

I love stickers.
Fun labels make me happy.
I love patterned, colorful tape.
Do you?

I have noticed that almost every art journal page I've made lately has included stickers, tape or labels in some way.

Coming this summer.... Sticky Journals art challenge!
Throughout the summer months, I will share with you each week journal pages that have sticky materials in them. I will show you some homemade stickers, how to use stickers in artistic ways, doodling on top of stickers and more. (this is totally free, not a paid class.. simply a casual blog series)

Materials for the Sticky Challenge:

colorful tape
labels
stickers
sticky borders
your journal

There will be weekly link-ups for you to add your sticky art journal pages!

I figured a blog series challenge would keep me focused and might create some excitement for the summer months! Plus, stickers are so much fun. When I was a kid, I even started a club called "Sticker Maniacs". That didn't last very long, because the other members weren't as enthusiastic as I was.

Here is where I need your help:
I would like to include guest journalers in this series. If you keep an art journal (or want to start) and you like stickers, then YOU are the person I'm looking for.

What I will do: I will send you a small packet of random stickers (free of charge). I have border stickers, labels, cute stickers, letter stickers, more cute stickers... All you have to do is use a few of these stickers in an art journal page (or ATC.. or whatever) in a creative way. Then, you will send me a photo (or write a blog post) and a few sentences about this artwork. I will include your photo and description in a blog post for this Sticky Journals series (plus a shout out to your blog, of course). The rest of the stickers are yours to keep. Would you like to do this? If so, send your email address and blog address to marciadotcom@yahoo.com. I will send out 5 packets of fun stickers.

Childish? A little.
Fun? Absolutely!

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Glue It Tuesday

2013-05-14T20:29:00.003-05:00

Just a quick picture for Glue It Tuesday!
Sharing with Art Journal Every Day

Thanks for reading! Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest

Funky Fabulous Etsy Shop: Candykins

2013-05-11T15:37:00.001-05:00

Candykins is a funky, fabulous Etsy shop run by Candice Barnes in Australia. Her items are cute and quirky hand embroidered delights. She also has a blog where you can follow her.

Aren't these just the cutest?

Dress Up Doll Felt Broach

Rain Cloud Brooch

We Go Together Wall Art

Recent Journal Pages

2013-05-10T21:48:00.003-05:00

I just finished Daring Greatly, by Brene Brown. A lot of people have been recommending it. I enjoyed it, but for me, it did not speak to me as much as other people had been raving about it.

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. I recently read Keeping Faith for a book club. We had a different approach to last month's club. Each person read any book by Jodi Picoult and then they shared their book with the group. Keeping Faith was fantastic, as were all the other books I have read by her. It is about a girl named Faith who (after her parents separate) she begins talking to God, healing people and developing stigmata.

Using the Crayon Transfer Technique in an Art Journal Page

2013-05-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

Here is how I finished off this page after using the crayon transfer technique described here.
Here was the BEFORE image:

Then, of course, I went crazy and stuffed the page full of color and images.

Here is the two-page spread:

Art Journal Every Day | Paint Party Friday | Sunday Sketches | Artists in Blogland | Image Map

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
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Funky Fabulous Etsy Shop: CacyCat Designs

2013-05-09T19:50:00.000-05:00

The second Etsy shop I have to share with you through Denthe's Etsy promotion is CacyCat Designs.

She creates unique accessories inspired by Legos! How fun!

Lego Hair Clips

Lego Cufflinks

Monopoly Hotel Earrings!

A Journal Page about Scribbling

2013-05-07T20:16:00.000-05:00

"An incurable itch for scribbling takes possession of many and grows inveterate in their insane hearts." Juvenal

I submitted this art journal page along with another one for publication in a book for quotes. I was excited when I found out that one of my artworks will be in the book. The journal page above did not get selected, but I really like the mark making, scribbling, layering of colors and the quote.

Sharing it with Glue it Tuesday!

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest

Color this Quote: May Art Journal Page

2013-05-04T22:50:00.000-05:00

This art journal page was made for the Artists in Blogland Color this Quote challenge.

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
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Anatomy of an Art Journal Page #4

2013-05-02T06:30:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fun to "dissect" another art journal page. Looking at such busy and full pages can leave you wondering what exactly was used to make the page.

Here is a diagram of parts of the journal page:

If you liked this post, check out:

Anatomy of Art Journal Page #1

Anatomy of Art Journal Page #2

Anatomy of Art Journal Page #3

Some of the supplies used in the page:

Amazon.com Widgets

Funky Fabulous Etsy Shop

2013-05-01T20:13:00.002-05:00

Thanks to the lovely Denthe and her idea to have an Etsy shop promotion, I have 5 Fabulous Etsy Shops to share with you. I will post one per week in the month of May.

The 1st is Twisted Knits by Suze
Her shop has lovely scarves, hair accessories, hats and yarn jewelry!

Right now, she is having a special: SPECIAL - 25% off all purchases RIGHT NOW - just enter coupon code 25TWISTED at checkout for your discount! PLUS - Any purchase made entitles you to 20% discount off your next purchase within 6 months!

Here are a few of my favorites from her store:

Love this one!

Dangly PomPom Scarf

Chunky Chain Scarf

and check out this beautiful black hat with a striking red flower

Thanks Suze and Denthe!

Happy Mail Swap over at Artists in Blogland

2013-04-28T14:43:00.000-05:00

Hello there.

Just a quick note to tell you that I posted about a Happy Mail Swap over at Artists in Blogland. Join us in this fun exchange.

21 Secrets Journal Page and Link Love

2013-04-26T21:52:00.000-05:00

My LINK LOVE is at the bottom of this post!

I am taking the 21 Secrets online workshop. Since it started a few years ago, I've heard lots of people talking about it on their blogs. Obviously, with a limited amount of free time along with a limited amount of disposable income, I have always been choosy about the classes I can sign up for. I want to make sure I have the time to devote to the courses I purchase.

If you haven't heard of 21 Secrets, it is an online art journaling playground with 21 instructors giving 21 different video workshops. If you don't keep an art journal, there are still loads of techniques that can transfer over into other art areas. It is well worth the price. I have only watched Cathy Bluteau's workshop so far and it was fantastic! I love her artwork, and have always wanted to see her process. The art journal page shown above was one that I made this week using the same process she does. 21 Secrets will be open until the end of the calendar year, so you have plenty of time if you want to sign up.

I was debating whether or not to take an in-person painting class this summer, but it gets tricky with childcare. I stay home with Daria all summer and do take her to daycare once per week for "me time", but the painting classes I really wanted to take did not work out with the times I had available. So, I decided that I would sign up for 21 Secrets and then work through the video workshops on the days that Daria is at daycare this summer. (I didn't get compensated to talk about 21 Secrets, but if you sign up through your favorite instructors' blog, they will get "credit" for your purchase.)

Share the Link Love

Daisy Yellow has set out a mission to share the link love. List your favorite recent blog links and then join in the group at her blog.

1. First, I'm really enjoying the Coffeeshop Blog. She shares free downloadable Photoshop actions to transform your photos. Awesome! I'm surprised it took me so long to discover Photoshop actions.

2. One of the language arts/social studies teachers at my school has started her own photography blog. She is very talented! One of blog posts is about found poetry photography.

This is also like Marit's found book Haiku poetry! Marit is also the founder of Featuring magazine. Our 4th issue is wrapping up shortly and should be finished in the next few weeks.

3. I subscribe to a lot of blogs about.. what else, but... BLOGGING! You can get a lot of good ideas from those pro-bloggers. This article, 5 Keys to Writing Excellent Blog Posts, was useful.

My next few links will be to elementary art teacher's blogs. I subscribe to a ton of these and if you have children or ever play with children, these might be interesting to you.

4. I really like the Lenkerville Art Room blog. I recently discovered this one and I enjoy her "Friday Photos" posts... just snippets from the art room. I might start that up on my own art teaching blog.

5. Aren't these the cutest paper mache pets? From Artolazzi.

6. Colorful paper sculptures from MVM Art room. I will definitely be doing this with my little students to use up our huge box of paper scraps!

Sharing with Art Journal Every Day, Glue It Tuesday and

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest

Color this Quote: Art Journal Page

2013-04-22T18:10:00.003-05:00

The top page was made for the Artists in Blogland Color this Quote challenge. You can see at the bottom of my tutorial post how this background looked before I added all the extras.

Here is another completed art journal page BEFORE and AFTER.
The BEFORE was shown in my crayon transfer tutorial.

And here is the AFTER. I added some collage, more paint and some pen work.

Sharing with Glue It Tuesday.

More good than bad in the world.

2013-04-18T09:30:00.001-05:00

I shared this on my elementary art teaching blog, but I thought this was a good one. With so many bad things happening in the world, I thought this was a good reminder.

Peter Reynolds, author of the book The Dot, posted this on his Facebook page.

Art by Peter Reynolds

Art Journaling Exposed 2

2013-04-16T19:51:00.001-05:00

I am very honored to share with you that I have an article in the Art Journaling Exposed 2 downloadable E-magazine from Cloth Paper Scissors. I browsed through the issue last night and it has a lot of interesting articles and videos. My article is titled "13 Great Layers for Art Journal Pages"

These are some of the pages in the article.

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Cutting, Pasting, Painting and Doodling

2013-04-15T17:43:00.000-05:00

"Art bring a little magic to an ordinary day." The background was colored with bleeding tissue paper and some paint.

This is a painting of my daughter stuffed unicorn.. painted with watercolors and acrylic paints.

A random art journal page with drawings, collage elements, watercolor paint and tissue paper image.

Currently, I am reading: an awesome book by Jodi Picoult, called Keeping Faith. It's about a girl named Faith who (after her parents split up) she starts talking to God and develops stigmata. It is so engrossing. Every book by Jodi Picoult that I have read has been amazing!

Links to Visit:

I love these amazing pictures by Thomas Lamadieu! From Doodlers Anonymous: " Thomas Lamadieu has been drawing in the space between buildings for his new series, SkyArt, and he's making us all look up again. Open spaces of blue sky replaced with drawn characters stuffed amongst the architecture. What's not to love?"
Glue It Tuesday! I love these link parties and challenges. I always want to participate and I know that when summer comes and I have time off of work, I will be participating more frequently.

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest

Polar Bear and Elephant Sketches

2013-04-12T20:40:00.000-05:00

Oops! Some black ink spilled on the polar bear's face.

Here are some recent journal pages. I am soooo sick of the weather lately. The snow seemed to last forever and now it has been rainy every day! This journal page I made two weeks ago when it was still snowy out. ick!

Manon is having a new blog feature called Paper Saturdays. If you have not seen her cute drawings you definitely should check out her blog!

Detail of a cat sketch

Art Journal Every Day | Paint Party Friday | Sunday Sketches | Artists in Blogland | Image Map

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest

Crayon Transfer Technique at Artists in Blogland

2013-04-09T20:03:00.000-05:00

Hello. I wrote a tutorial over at Artists in Blogland that is featured today. I'm reposting here on my blog in case you missed it. You should check out the group. There is a lot going on over there: Technique on Tuesday, Color the Quote challenges and Show & Tell Saturdays.

And look! My "Heart Speaks in Whispers" postcard is featured in the "I Have a Secret" Etsy Treasury. Isn't that a fun treasury?

Crayon Transfer Technique

Today I am going to show you a very fun technique for unleashing your inner child in your art journal. When I was little, I would use this crayon transfer technique all the time. It was so magical to me. I had forgotten all about it until I saw a blog post on a crafty momma blog. Visit the Chocolate Muffin Tree to see what she did with her kids.

First, start by coloring a loose piece of paper in patches. Color really hard.. use those muscles! Regular crayons work just fine, but you could also use gelatos or oil pastels.

My daughter helping to color a sheet.


Page covered in crayon and oil pastels

Place your colored page face down on top of a page in your art journal.

Write, draw and doodle with a ball point pen on top of the paper. Apply lots of pressure with the pen. While you are writing, the crayon will transfer over to the journal page.

Writing on top of the paper.

When you lift the paper, your drawings and words will transfer.

I don't want to confuse you, but another way to transfer is to place the colored sheet face up in between two pages. Draw on the back of one of the pages, and the crayons will also transfer (in reverse).

Here is what I mean:

Colored paper underneath. Draw on top with pen.

Here are a few more examples of in progress journal pages with crayon transfers on them.

What to do with the leftover crayon-colored sheets? You can tear them up to create backgrounds!

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest

Spinning Journal Page and Sharing the Link Love

2013-04-04T21:00:00.002-05:00

My favorite places to link up artwork and share are Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day.

Hi all! Here is a journal page that made using watercolor paints, an Easter doily, black pens, photocopies, ephemera and lots of white paint. White paint on top of watercolor paints gives it that ethereal, hazy look. The words were "found poetry".. snippets of text from the same children's book where I got those images of the children.

Spinning.. that about sums up the month of April. I'm working on a lot of really "meaty" projects (can't think of a better word). Projects that I am enjoying, but also there are so many parts to pull together for each of them. The big project is completing our school yearbook. The deadline is coming up at the end of April so I am trying to get all the loose ends tied up. Then, we are also making artwork for the school auction at the end of the year... group pieces that will be framed. They are turning out awesome! I will post pics when those are all done. We're also finishing up Student Council things and one of those big events is the end-of-the-year school dance. Did you think it would be very difficult for a group of 12 middle school kids to decide on a theme that half of them don't hate? We had a very long and humorous discussion about the theme. I thought the neon colors theme would be fantastic but some of the kids vehemently opposed it.

Tammy, at Daisy Yellow, is having a Share the Link Love feature on her blog.

I do enjoy linking up to other blogs and articles I am loving. Sporadically I will post 5 Fabulous Things I am Loving Right Now. I include products, articles, books and artwork I enjoy. For this post of 5 Fabulous Things I will include only blog articles to share with you. Here is my entry for her challenge:

1. To Parents of Small Children: Let Me Be the One Who Says it Out Loud: Yes yes yes! I really needed to hear this!

2. How To DIY Your Own Photoshop Brush: This tutorial by Linda is very clear and seems easy to do. I have not tried it yet, but this is on my to-do list for fun things to try this summer.

3. You've seen the Cain's Arcade video right? Well, a whole school decided to make their own cardboard arcade and here are the results. Pretty fun!

4. Tim Jarosz's beautiful city landscape altered and colored photos

5. Blacksburg Belle's secret photo editing tool.
I went ahead and bought some of the photoshop actions after seeing her blog post. They make some really nice effects. I'm still trying to figure out what looks best.

Happy Easter!

2013-03-29T09:02:00.003-05:00

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
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Ponies on my Artwork!

2013-03-28T22:29:00.000-05:00

As I was trying to take picture of my artwork, Daria jumped in with her ponies and wanted pictures of them instead.

Soul-affirming is my "word/phrase of the year"... trying to think about what is soul-affirming and try to do those things. Also I'm trying to stop myself if I am doing something that is not helping in that regards.

Sharing with Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day.

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest

Art Journaling Pages with Paint

2013-03-28T15:12:00.000-05:00

I'm not so sure about these colors, but I had fun playing with acrylic paints, scrapbook embellishments, white paint pens and other gel pens.

Art Journal Every Day | Paint Party Friday | Sunday Sketches | Artists in Blogland | Image Map

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest

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Easter Bonnet Craft

2013-03-27T13:08:00.000-05:00

Every year my sister-in-law hosts an Easter bonnet party. All of the guest come with Easter bonnets that were homemade and there is a contest for the wildest or most artistic hat. The crazier, the better! This would be fun to do for other holidays. Maybe you could create a 4th of July hat or a Christmas hat!

Start with a base hat. The pink hat we bought from Target and my hat we bought from Michael's craft store.

Tie ribbon and tulle around the hat. Use hot glue to adhere in places.

We tied on the Care Bear with floral wire. It was tied loosely, so Daria can take out the Care Bear and exchange it with another stuffed animal if she wants.

Tuck flowers into the hat or poke through the tulle to secure. Hot glue can be used to secure things. We bought flowers, sparkly eggs, ribbons and the purple stuffed bunny from the dollar store.

My crazy wild Easter bonnet.

Daria with the Easter bonnets.

Have you made artistic hats like this before? I'd love to see them!

Thanks for reading! Best wishes, Marcia
Art is Basic website
My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest