"Direction" and "Breathe" Art Journal Pages

Well, May didn't seem like it was flying by when I was still pregnant and wondering when I was going to have that baby, but looking at my art journal, my last page was done on May 1st and I still haven't blogged about it. "Direction" was my word from the Art Journal Challenge Flickr Group. This page didn't turn out quite like I wanted because the paint pen wouldn't work. But I do like the legs without bodies walking down the golden path.

This is my "Breathe" page for the Art Journal Challenge Flickr Group . It's mostly done with Sharpies with a photo of the baby, a piece of torn scrapbook paper, and the word "breathe" rubber stamped to finish it off. It's my first art journal page that I didn't paint. And everything except the Sharpie coloring was done standing up since I don't have a place at my table right now to do anything. Believe it or not, I'm actually almost done organizing my stuff...but the table is still covered. I don't get it.

"Begin" and "Alive" Art Journal Pages

Here are this week's art journal pages. They are both for the Flickr art journal challenge group. I'm trying to catch up on the previous words as well as creating for the new word. The first one is "begin..." and I've included the things I need to do like, "to dream," "to try again," "to change," and "to be happy." I used pink as a background because it seemed like a bright color, a color for a beginning. The letters are fabric stickers that I got for free when some scrapbook store around the corner from my school was closing and gave a bunch of their inventory to the school. It was like Christmas!
The second page is "Alive ABCs." This one includes the first transparency I made on my printer (I found a box of ink jet transparencies at the DI for $1.00. After pricing them at Office Max for $30, I decided I couldn't pass up on this brand new box.), butterfly stickers and black Sharpie(from the dollar store), cheepo acrylic paint (I never use the artist's acrylic paint; I just use the cheepo craft paint because I love the colors and the price), letter brads, glitter gel pens, and vintage text from an old elementary school vocabulary book that cost all of 50 cents.
The words for the ABCs are ache, breathe, cheer, dancing, earn, and fear. Here's what I've journaled along with the words: "To be truly alive...We must ache, so we know who to comfort others. We must breathe, so we can find our place of peace and calm. We must cheer our family and friends...and ourselves. We must dance, even if it is just a happy jig in our hearts. We must earn the peace and happiness we desire, so that we do not take them for granted. We must fear, and then we must conquer that fear."

I think the "Alive" page is going to be another one of those pages that I keep looking back on when I need a lift.

"Life is" Art Journal Page

This week's word for the Art Journal Challenge Flickr Group was "Life." I was thinking about that word as I was going through a magazine that I really needed to get rid of (I have to purge the stuff I've been saving before this baby comes or else he'll be sleeping in a box of magazines and craft supplies) when I saw the picture of a woman in a green dress. And I thought she was full of life and happiness. So, she was my inspiration for these pages. I then started thinking about all of the things that are my life, the things that make me happy to be alive and I wrote those things down as I thought of them.
I think this is my most positive art journal page yet. Everything else I've done has focused on being tired, and pregnant, and in pain, and tired. This, however, is going to be one of those pages that I'll keep turning to because it just makes me happy to see and read it!