Elena's Journal

Tracing paper, marker, color copy of photograph, colored pencils

 Colored pencils, pen, art tape and colored paper

 My first love was paper -Hand drawn paper roses, rice paper, vellum envelope, ribbon, color copies of rose petal

Colored pencil and color copy of photograph

        Elena is new to art journaling and asked us to share ideas and our favorite techniques.  I love working with paper and figuring out new ways to use traditional items like tracing paper.  The roses drawn on tracing paper applied with matte medium to paper and hand colored with marker.  The roses have a bumpy quality to them to add a bit of texture.  Most of the photographs I take are of flowers so I used a close up of a rose to drawn them on paper that has a tooth grain surface.  Color copies of rose petals and a hidden message can be read on the bag.  The last page is colored pencil with a color copy of my photograph take at one of the local flower fields. I use Derwent-coloursoft pencils that blend nicely when more than one color is used but I used an erase to blend on a slightly raised surface.

Fabric Journal- off to a new home

More fun on the road

 If you are lucky enough to get a seat by yourself on the plane than you can do lots of crafts without bothering your seat mate.  I made a new doll by the light placed conveniently overhead.I pre-cut the paper to size and pack kiddie scissors in my bag.

 Safely placed on my art bag with my favorite paper-doll Molly.  The new doll was wearing the clothes I wore on my trip to the east coast.

 I packed a yummy lunch for the plane ride.  I love Southwest but if I have to eat cheese flavored crackers I'll be ill.   Homemade chicken salad with toast, two nectarines and lots of pumpkin bread.  Plenty to cover the 6 hour plus trip.

It was raining on and off all week in Maryland and DC but it was pretty clear on the way to the airport.  I missed getting a shot of the trees by the side of the road.  In California you see concrete or grass as far as the next building so I was presently surprised to see tall trees that were thick and unfortunately still green.  I'm a sucker for changing leaves and barely one to be seen at the beginning of October.

Packing your bag

Before I take a trip I draw what I'm going to pack so I don't forget anything. I like to pick a color scheme (black, white, gray, blue) and mix thing up (textures and shapes) so it doesn't look like I'm wearing the same thing every day.  I went back east to help my mom unpack but we also went to a financial worship (I know all these secrets about your FICO score now) and had a meeting so I had to dress up a bit one day. 

 My datebook is thick but palm size (4x6ish) and has the cutest dog illustrations in it.   If I don't have anything written on the pages I use them for notes, doodles or mini collages.  The back of the book has 40 or so blank lined pages that I use for writing and I have ripped out quite a few to leave notes for people and plenty of the pages are left.  The girl with the red hair is one of my bookmarks.

The weather went from hot and raining to cool and sunny so I didn't end up wearing my skort or short skirt but they pack well so I didn't care.  I fold everything with a board to make them super flat and roll the skirts and workout pants.  I board fold my t-shirts at home because I have an old fashioned dresser with shallow drawers and you can get so many more stacks in t-shirts inside of it.  I have an actual folding board but you can easily use the cardboard that comes with 81/2 x 11 packs of paper.

I have all of my clothing memorized (makes shopping so much easier) so I make my list while I'm out then I just come back and make sure nothing is in the laundry.  When you stick to the same colors you can usually stick everything in the same load of laundry (the purple dress I use as a night shirt).  I always wear jeans more than once and pack extra underwear in case I workout that day and need a fresh change of clothes for the evening.  Wear your heaviest shoes on the plane and in my case those are clogs that give great foot support and easily pass for dressy.