Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A Beautiful Life Art Journal ~ Done!


I am so excited to do this post. It's taken, well, let's see, Heather, Pretty Petals, posted the workshop in September of last year? (gasp!) As they say, better late, than never. And, OH AM I GLAD I FINISHED THIS! This "labor of love" was frustrating, at times, but taught me so much about collaging, and layering, and stretching your mind/imagination. I highly recommend it to those of you who were a bit intimidated. It also taught me to part with "my pretties" for a bigger purpose! You know, they are not all piled up or stored away in boxes. We all have a bit of the "hoarding instinct" when it comes to pretties. :) :) :)  The very best part for those of you who missed it back in September, Heather has decided to offer this on-line class, once again.  So all you, who missed it, come join the fun.
I messed up my page order, from the beginning :) :), but, alas, it is MY journal, so I guess that is just fine. Freedom of expression, as they say. The picture above is the cover, and I used all of my best laces for this, girls, as well as gorgeous millinery flowers. I wanted something to treasure, and using really "good stuff" makes your heart pitter-patter!
Below is a picture of the thickness of the book, after binding! Scrumptious, isn't it? For those of you who have completed the class, you know what I'm talking about! (~sigh~)
Now here is where "I messed up". For some crazy reason, I put one of the "Beautiful Ladies" on the back cover, which left the first page open. I decided to do somewhat of an index page. It lists the categories found in the journal, topped off with ribbon roses. A vintage lace sleeve is stretched over the vintage wallpaper to create a pocket. Inside the pocket, I have a copy of my favorite postcard,"Love's Messenger", and a little author paper (Me!). This pocket will allow me to store future "treasures", as I find them. Of course, old millinery glittered up with old German glass glitter tops off the page.

Now here is the first of the "Beautiful Ladies". She is the "Corset Girl", and I had fun glittering her up! I used a bit of ribbon I purchased from Andrea at Everyday Beauty and old millinery. In the bottom right corner, I added two little cherubs and corsets that were copied from an old advertising card. I thought it was just the right "surprise" for this page. (Please excuse the shadows, I tried to photograph on a sunny day.)  Underlying papers are vintage wallpaper and pages from an old victorian magazine.



Here is the second "Beautiful Lady". She has the most beautiful smile, and her face just glows with excitement! It gives you such a warm feeling to look at her.  She's topped off with (what else?) more millinery.  Layers of pages, journal, wallpaper, etc., lie underneath.  Gorgeous old lace edges the page.


The next 2 pages are "Oh How I Love".  These are the pages you put "your pretties" on.  It was hard deciding, not only what to put on them, but placement of the items.  This is where the task of collaging comes in.  How do you place them and make it all look like it works together?  I started with vintage wallpaper.  The silhouettes I received from Lili at LiliM in a swap.  Heather made me the "You are Treasured" that I used on the corner of the picture, quite awhile ago.  Old buttons,  jewelry, and velvet strawberries add to the page.  One of my Inspiration pins (in green) happily joins the grouping.

Page 2 is the other side of the page above that had the victorian lace sleeve stretched over it.  This, once again, allowed me to use it as "a pocket".  I have a letter that Heather wrote me as a little girl, in the pocket.  I also added to the pocket a page from "The Secret Garden" (one of my very favorite children's stories).  I received this in a swap from my dear friend, Madai of Wren Cottage. 

The next 2 pages are "Sweet Friendshp".  Heather gave us all of the images and copies of sheet music and wallpaper.  Everything you need to finish this beautiful journal.  I adore this sheet music used here.  Layered, once again, wallpaper, sheet music, and a title page from "Let Us Be Friends".  How appropriate is that? 


I didn't stray very far from her instructions on these pages.  Adding just the right amount of ribbon, millinery, and lace does the trick.  The image of these 2 girls is just beautiful and says it all.  Friendship is such a valuable commodity in today's world.  I treasure all of you, my dear friends.  It's been wonderful getting to  know you in the last few years.  What commonalities we have, in spite of our backgrounds, distance, careers, families.  I treasure you all.



"Blessed Family".  Two small words with such a big big meaning.  A page from an old Victorian magazine entitled "The Happy Home" starts it off right, don't you think?  The beautiful poem about standing together.  Yes, that is how I feel about my dear family.


And antoher gorgeous image of a mother pushing a baby carriage, with her two little ones playing happily.  I glittered up the page a bit and added a few millinery flowers.  Added the sweet calling card that Heather supplied in her images.   Wa-la!  A gorgeous page.  Simplicity at its best.

So, now, here was the test.  A page of my very own.  No instructions, no images to use.  Just my own mind and creativity.  Birds are one of God's creatures that I am in total amazement of.  These sweet little bundles bring such joy by not only their song, but just of their sweet appearance.  You'll remember this postcard from my first page.  It is entitled "Love's Messenger".  The background page is an image from Karen at The Graphics Fairy.  I immediately loved it when I saw it and knew I would be using it for something very soon.  It is actually an album cover. A few feathers, a jewelry dangle with a heart, and some nice old buttons.  That did the trick for me.


So, that is the end of the journal post.  I still have the "Keepsake Box" to make to store it in.  That is a post for another day, as I have yet to begin making it! LOL! 

I derived much satisfaction from making this journal.  So you ladies that are holding back, go for it.  You'll be so happy you created your very own "A Beautiful Life" Art Journal....

Blessings,
Kitty

12 comments:

  1. Oh Kitty, I am (almost) speechless! You made an amazing piece of art! I can imagine that this took a lot of time and effort and that shows! This is to keep forever and ever, so it all was more than worthwhile. I am happy to see that you could use some of my supplies too!
    Hope all is well with you and that you keep smiling in the snow. Here we have a long and cold winter too. Today snow also but less than one inch which is more than enough if you'd ask me. Warm wishes, LiLi

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  2. Hello Kitty, oh my gosh that is beautiful! I sooo wish I had signed up for Heather's class... I love each and every one of your pages but I am such a Nature lover, I do believe the page with birds is my favorite! xoxo Julie Marie

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  3. Kitty, wow Wow WOW!!! your journal is amazingly gorgeous...i can tell that you pulled out all of your best goodies to use on your pages...wasn't this the most fun and satisfying thing to work on...i was so sad when the class was over...i pull mine out all the time to look at, i love it so much...Heather helped all of us to create our own little treasure...

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  4. Kitty, this is just so amazingly beautiful! My very fav page is the one that features the silhouettes, but they are all so soft and feminine and GORGEOUS!!

    Big TX Hugs,
    Stephanie
    Angelic Accents

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  5. Oh Kitty, your journal is gorgeous. I think I would like to make one. I'm so glad that Heather has decided to keep offering the tutorial. WhenI finish the on-line course I'm working on now, I think I will sign up for the journal.

    Hugs Karen

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  6. Mom... WOW WOW WOW!!!! Now I know it took you quite a few months to complete this journal but you can SO tell that you took your time and enjoyed every step. It is just breathtaking! I love all of the little extra details you put into it to make it yours. The cherubs on the corset page are just TOO cute. I also love the family poem and it does just sum up what it means to love each other... and make it through the storms of life. Your sampler pages turned out SO SO beautiful! I love how you put the letter in there from me when I was small. ;)

    I LOVE the little bird page! It almost seems as if they are playing in the jewelry and flowers... hehe.

    SO glad you loved the class! It means the most coming from you! Love you, heather

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  7. Hi Kitty,
    Your are so creative. Your art is beautiful! I love your blog site, your photos are so beautiful. Thank you so much for adding me to your blog list, I am so honored!
    Take Care.
    Sincerely,
    Melinda

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  8. Aren't they lovely? I've enjoyed seeing them around blogworld. You must be proud of your little girl!

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  9. So beautiful! Your "oh how I love" pages are just gorgeous - isn't it nice to have used all of our favorite 'good stuff' in a place where we can savor it often? I especially loved the last page where the bird seems to be holding the jewelry dangling from his little feet - so sweet! I enjoyed Heather's class so much and am continually amazed as I see other journals from the class...she so perfectly set the stage that brought out the best in all of us I think - each one being so uniquely beautiful and reflecting its owner so well. I would never have attempted it without her guidance but am so glad I did now and hope she does another someday :D. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Laura
    p.s. don't tell but I haven't done the box yet either lol

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  10. Wow Kitty! I stopped by to see if you'd posted anything new since I last visited and found this older post. How did I miss it?!?! I LOVE this journal - it is beautiful!!!! And no big deal that it took some time to complete - the end result should make it all worth while!!! And yes, the cat's name is Snoopy....

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  11. Oh DEAR me!!!! Kitty it turned out G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!!!!! I hope to one day be able to work on mine, I was so excited to see your sweetie put it up in her shop again for really slow pokes like me... but alas I don't see time in sight... I have hope that one day I can make one too :) but yours is just amazing!! thank you for sharing the pics, now I have to go back and look at them again!! :)
    Sending lots of love your way ~*~*~*~* think of you all the time while in the garden, I can't wait to start sowing the seeds you sent me :)
    XOXXOXOXO

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment. I love reading each and every one.... Blessings to you...