I set my Inspire, Inspire Art-Journal aside for a couple of weeks while I played with other creative projects.  I’m finally back at it and wondered if you wanted to join me.  The journal prompt for this go around is “All About Me.”  Here’s a couple ways you could consider using the prompt to jump start your creativity:

Take a minute to think of a single word to describe you, right here and now.  Then flip through your patterns and see if one or several of them seem to “fit” the word you used to describe yourself.  Did you use the a word such as: strong, lazy, happy, or content?  What patterns seem to pop out at you as strong ones?  Which one’s seem to feel lazy or happy to you when you draw it?  Do you have a set of patterns you are content to draw anytime or all the time?

Do a self portrait that is totally like you or even one that just includes some of your features.  Like maybe the shape of your body, or the freckles on your face, the length of your hair?

Use self-descriptive words on your page and weave some patterns into the words.  Find just the right words by doing a fill in the blank sentence about yourself.  Something like: “Today I Feel… (fill in the blank).”  Would your statement be, “Today I feel Energized”, “Today I feel Hung-over”, “Today I feel – the need for a shopping trip”?  Take those words and use them to jump start your brain thinking about your journal page.  Then use those All About Me thoughts and create a page using repeat pattern art.

Have you designed a few patterns of your own?  Then maybe your Me-Page will simply feature only YOUR patterns for this go around.  If you’ve not come up with a design of your own, I bet you have a few patterns that are your favorites.  So maybe consider making your Me-Page one that features YOUR favorite patterns.

There are lot’s of ways to incorporate YOU into your art-journal.  I encourage you to take a bit of time and create a page that’s all about you.  Your positive qualities, your features, your interests, your favorites, your mood…… anything that strikes your fancy that is about you – it’s fair game on your next Inspire, Inspire, art-journal entry!

I hope you have fun with this prompt and share your journal page with me too.  I’d love to see, hear, and learn something about you!

~Cindy

NO!  I’m not pregnant.  LOL  Thought I better get that out of the way right up front in case someone thought otherwise.  Actually all our little birdies have long ago left the nest.  While there are a few moments here and there when I miss having the little ones in house – for the most part hubby and I are enjoying an empty nest.

Nevertheless, my gown-up little ones have been on my mind quite a bit lately.  I’m not sure if it’s the upcoming Mother’s Day celebration, a trip we are planning back to our hometown to visit family, or the change to a warmer season.  Maybe it’s just the Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap we have going on inside the Lineweaving Community that’s got me thinking of little birds.

I’ve got several cards in various stages right now.  None quite finished yet and I have to set everything aside for a bit.  Because I have to get my Mother’s Day card completed and mailed off.  Before I stopped the presses on these ATC’s, and cleared the table for my next project I took a few clicks with my camera to show where I am in the creative process.  Some pieces are already patterned out, colored, and cut.  Just waiting to be mounted on cardstock “frames.”

I did this eclectic series with checked back grounds.  Not all of them will end up being ATC’s.  I think the funky looking little owls in the bottom right corner will end up going on the front of a greeting card to a friend.

I’ve also worked up a small series of swirly looking bird-like critters on top of a sheet of color-pounced paper I’ve had sitting aside for quite sometime.  I knew that some day I’d find something to do with that page.   This seems to be as good as anything else to use it on.  I like the softness in the color blends contrasted by the black ink.

I still have a mess of them in the sketchpad not even colored nor ready for cutting out.  Good thing there’s a couple weeks to go before they are due.  LOL

Whenever I do an ATC swap I usually create a lot more than what’s needed for the swap.  Then I do one-on-one swaps with the left overs, or I use them on cards, or I simply RAK them out to someone.  So there’s really no telling which of these will get traded in the swap and which will wind up in a different project before everything is said and done.

Mom would love these little chickens on a card, but I’m not far enough along on this to use it for Mothers Day.  It would look cute with a country kitchen background sort of thing tho….. mmmm…. I wonder how this one will turn out in the end…..

Mom’s a gardener too who enjoys many bird varieties in her yard all year long.  I think she’d giggle over the knobby knees on this soloist and appreciate the curiosity of this little garden guest peering at the wild flowers.

She’s not really into owls so much so I’m not sure the stack of hooty friends would do much for her.  I’ll have to finish up this particular card for someone else I suppose.  What colors do you think these sleepyheads should be?

Decisions, decisions.  I think I’ll just walk away from the birds for a bit and work on a more feminine card for Mom’s special day.  So all these little birds will just have to wait while I take care of the more pressing project at hand.

Are you into birds, or feathers, or anything else from the chirpy world of flight and fancy?  If so – STOP EVERYTHING and  jump on over to http://lineweaving.com/forums and join our Birds of a Feather ATC swap.  It’s a simple/small 3-for-3 swap.  The sign-up date and the mail-in date are both 19-May and you’re sure to receive a terrific little piece of art from a fellow member of the site!  And if you’ve never swapped on our site before I’ll be sure to send you one of my creations when they are finished too.

Whether it’s birds, or mandala’s, or random string tangles – when you get a chance to stop for a minute, drop me a note and let me know what’s on your sketch pad these days.  I’d love to hear from you!

But for now…. I have to switch gears and get to fixin’ up that Mother’s Day card so the dog and I can walk it down to the mailbox.  It’s such a pretty day outside!    Now where did I put that stamp I wanted to use for the greeting?….

Happy Mother’s Day (week) to all my friends out there who have youngin’s under their wings now and to those who’s little birds have left the nest for new adventures as well!

Cheers!
~Cindy

May is here and so is my Circular Sunday Template for this month.  Let me know what you think and oh please do share your drawings with us too!

Peek at my Drawings

Click the photo below to download the pdf of this template.  Save it to your computer.  Print it out on your choice of papers and have a good time!

Enjoy!
~ Cindy

Noun::   The fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.  The state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming.

They say the first step to overcoming an addiction is to admit that you have it.  I have some addictions that I’ve decided to own up to.  Maybe if I admit these facts in my journal… maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to start curbing my need for such things.  Although I’m not so sure admitting an addiction is the same as saying I want to stop it.  I actually think that some of my addictions are good-health for me and I have no desire to end them.

For this Inspire, Inspire prompt I’m going to encourage you to take a close look at yourself and consider the addictions you may have.  Are they addictions you’d like to stop or at least minimize?  Are they addictions you simply want to address and accept?  Keeping in mind the prompt, “Facing the Addiction” use various repeat patterns to creatively express  your addictive habits and activities in your art-journal.  And then if you are comfortable with doing so – share your page with us in the gallery at LineWeaving.com.  Be assured there is absolutely NO need for explanations or confessions.

Hello.  My name is Cindy.  I’m addicted to art.  I’m addicted to being near my husband.  I’m addicted to dark chocolate.  I’m addicted to my laptop.  I’m addicted to patterns.  I have an addiction to decorative papers.  I do not want assistance with overcoming any of these addictions.  I’m still totally enjoying them.  Well…. except for maybe the chocolate.  That one is a challenge I’d like to learn how to resist.  The rest I am totally okay with!   Except… a… um…. maybe the paper thing would be good to curb too. 

So two out of six I’m willing to work on.  What’s the next step to overcoming these two addictions?  I’m on a diet and for the most part I’m sticking to it very well.  Lost seven pounds in a month so far (23 more to go).  Yet that single piece of dark chocolate in the afternoon draws me to it every darn day.  And no matter how many times I tell myself not to go down the pretty paper isle at the store I still find myself with a stack of it at the checkout.  Ugh!  Someone help me PLEASE!

~Cindy

A few weeks back I shared with you a SteamPunk journal page I had accomplished and in it was one of my patterns from 2010.  A friend from Flickr mentioned she liked it and I promised to share the how-to for it soon.  Well today I’m finally getting around to doing that.  The pattern is called Chlinks and lit looks like some weird shaped beads, or links with a pipe or tube running through the middle of it.

Here’s a second pattern share as well.  This one called, Da’Rough.  As in, “Diamonds in the Rough.”  It’s one of those that is ridiculously easy and has many different ways it can be used in a project.

Here I have used Da’Rough on a mandala I’m including in a paper quilt swap we have going on inside the LineWeaving.com forums right now.  I think it’s a pretty little pattern even in it’s simplicity.

And for those of you who enjoy a little how-to / show-n-tell…. well here’s the pattern video.

Enjoy!
~Cindy

P.S.  If you are interested in participating in a round of paper quilt swaps – be sure to log into http://lineweaving.com/forums today.  The last day for sign ups on this swap is Monday the 30th of April.