I think it is safe to say that most art journal-ers make pages/journals around the theme of their lives at some point.  An art journal page can be a sort of commentary, illustration or commemoration of an event, or just  “A Day in the life of____”. We not only record memories, but thoughts, impressions, rants and raves. Sometimes we just cover a page to allow some breathing space in our souls!

So many styles of pages can be included in this type of journal!  Several  artists have shared their pages with us this week:

Our lives offer many opportunities for different styles of pages from

Really serious and dark:

-Night Season by Amanda

-Temptation by Susan, and Broken by Susan

Memorable and sentimental:

Moving Again, Not  & Things I Love by Susan:

-Be a Doll by Christina

-Missing Big Brother by Christina

 & Whimsical and Zany:

The Time is Now by Christina

I Wonder by Jayne:

See more from our guest artists on their blogs  and galleries:

Susan ‘s blog      & Susan’s gallery

Christina‘s Blog   & Christina’s Gallery

Jayne‘s Blog   &  Jayne’s gallery

(page credits in galleries)

Would you like to see your Name/Face/Pages featured here?

Email me (Amanda) at OutsideTheBoxDesignStudio   (at) gmail  (dot)com  subject: Journal Journeys

Merrrrrrrry Christmas!

Hop on board and follow the tracks to pick up a ton of beautiful digital Christmas goodies. When the Christmas dust settles, I would love to see the layout you make with the train goodies!

Never done a train before? Be sure to click on the Freebie image to download my portion of the freebie. Then, visit the next blog on the train and pick up their Christmas goodie. And so on, until you come all the way around back to me!

Happy Holidays everyone!

If you find the train a little confusing, I have included below a list of the participants. Oh,  we absolutely love to hear your comments so we know that everyone is enjoying the ride!

1. Flergs http://www.flergalicious.com/blog/
2. Tangie http://tangiebaxter.com/news/latest-news/
3. sussieM http://sussiem.blogspot.com/
4. Baers Garten Designs http://www.baersgarten.com/blog
5. Manu http://manudesigns.com/blog
6. Charlize http://beautyframe.blogspot.com/
7. Dawn http://www.dawninskip.typepad.com/
8. Vendula http://natalidesign.blogspot.com/
9. Berna http://www.bernadatema.nl/
10. Jen http://jendaveydesigns.blogspot.com/
11. Wendy http://www.wendyzinescraps.com/blog/
12. Fhung http://ztampf.com/blog
13. Lor http://roseyposeystudio.com/studio
14. Małgosia http://www.emka-scrap.blogspot.com/
15. Emilie http://missviviscrap.over-blog.com/
16. Sherrie http://www.sherriejd.com/
17. Lorie http://loriedavison.blogspot.com
18. Thaty http://thatyborges.com.br/blog/
19. Julia http://juliamdesigns.blogspot.com/

Sooo, where have you been lately? I mean, what fabulous or interesting place have you visited?

Was it a long distance trip, day trip or  a journey of the mind??? Or maybe even a journey of your heart?? Traveling is so much fun, so  much that we see and experience lends itself to artful expression! 

What’s a travel journal you may ask?

From Wikipedia:  A travel journal, also called road journal or travelogue, is a record made by a voyager. Generally in diary form, a travel journal contains descriptions of the traveler’s experiences, is normally written during the course of the journey, intended on updating friends or family on the journey.

Do you have a travel journal? Why have a travel journal??

I just started one from two road trips taken this past month- one from the Carolinas to Indiana and then on to Missouri. We traveled through 4 mountain ranges! I love the mountains, at least until you get to the top of them- those tiny windy roads give me the jitters; but the views are breathtaking.I love the people that I meet while traveling too!

This month’s Journal Journey is a seasoned art journal-er, Phizzychick (or Georgina Ferrans) , who is sharing some of her pages from “Gastonbury“- – her travel journal about that fun festival.

I love her style and that she shared how she paints the background of her journal in advance, and then adds images and details onsite. I love too that she uses old books to make her journals… more on that topic coming up in future Journal Journeys!

Let’s meet her and take a look at her pages!

“So, the book I used for this project was an old Ladybird book. I like working in these because there aren’t too many pages, the paper is great to hold watercolours and they generally have nice illustrations that add to the background layering. All of the backgrounds are watercolour, although I do sometimes use acrylic to whitewash a page if the text and picture would interfere with my plans for the page, as in page 4 with the clouds.

I like to prepare my pages before I go anywhere so I can travel lighter and just work on the fun stuff!

Lots of the bits and pieces used in this book were collected at Glastonbury Festival. The little page on photo 5 for example was a little info booklet that I glued in at the end of the day.

On page 8, all the collaged elements were cut and torn from a magazine and flyer for that particular area of the festival.

Sometimes I think the pages work almost as prompts for the mind. I can look at pages like this and just reading the words “cow pinata” take me back to that one moment at the festival and I can picture all the crazy sights and sounds. Sometimes you don’t need to record all the days events on a page. Just the odd comment or sketched picture can be enough.”

And a few more pages:

PhizzyChick’s Blog

Thank you,  Georgina for sharing with us! I am really inspired to get away from the computer and do more hands on art!

Here is a final page that is my personal favorite from her book:

I hope you enjoyed seeing some Travel Journals, and that if you make one of your own, you will share it with us here at Altered Hearts! You may leave your info in the cooments, or email ME (Amanda)  at outsidetheboxdesignstudio   at gmail  dot com. I’d LOVE to  publish  your pages here!!

Thanks and credits to Sherrie JD for the use of her kits Tangled for the borders and Altered States for my page!

Cover created by Water Rabbit

• Are We THERE Yet?-- Travel Journals
• Incorporating Your Original Art into a Digital Collage

Hi, I’m Sherry LP, a new guest contributor to Altered Hearts. 

Like many of you,  I love to sit at my computer for hours creating digital art– moving elements here and there, transforming images, tweaking colors,  experimenting with filters and layers and brushes.   But I still have a special place in my creative heart for hands-on art. I’m an art journaling devotée;  and also dabble in mixed media collage, fun lettering, rubber stamping, sketching and portrait drawing, Zentangle-style art, and more.

Fortunately, I’ve discovered many ways to incorporate my original art into my digital creations, whether I’m creating a digital scrapbook page, greeting card, or collage for an online art challenge.  In this tutorial, I’m going to show you several methods of incorporating a basic black and white sketch into your digital work, with an emphasis on adding color and pattern.

Right now I’m still using Photoshop Elements (5.0), but I’ll be upgrading soon. Most of you probably have newer versions of PSE, or other Photoshop software. For this tutorial, I’ll explain what I do in PSE 5.0.  Similar instructions may apply for later PSE versions. You can also check the “Help” section of your photo-editing program for similar techniques; and search Google or YouTube for one of the many free tutorials for PSE and other programs.

Step 1: Prepare and scan your sketch.

1.  Your goal is to get a sharp image that will scan well. First, create a sketch using black pen or marker on white paper.  For my example below, I stamped an image of a woman’s face (Hampton Art Stamps) in black StaZon ink, and used a black Micron pen for the Zentangle-style embellishments.

2.  In your sketch, try to make sure that there are no “white” gaps in your black lines. These gaps can be a bit difficult to detect, since a line that may look solid to you may actually have tiny gaps where the ink doesn’t cover the paper. Filling these gaps  will make it easier for you to fill the white areas with a color or pattern later on if you choose to. Don’t worry too much about this, though, since you can digitally correct this problem later as well, and there are other ways to get pattern into your sketch (as I’ll show you later).

3.  Scan the sketch at high resolution (I use 300 ppi).

4.  Save the scanned image as a .jpg file with a quality of at least 10.

Step 2: Edit sketch as needed.

1. Open the scanned image in your photo-editing program.  Depending on the size of the scanned image, you may want to create a new blank file (e.g., 5 in. x 5 in.) at 300 ppi resolution and place the image into this new file. To create a new blank file in PSE, go to File/New/Blank File.

2. Adjust the image to your satisfaction (contrast/brightness/sharpness/etc.).  I’ve found that applying the Posterize filter can help darken the appearance of black lines and fill small gaps, if necessary .

3. Crop the image as needed.

4. Digitally erase or cover up stray marks on your image. If you’ve signed the piece, you can remove or cover your signature at this point if you’d like.

5. Give the edited file a name and save it.

Step 3: Start your digital collage.

1. Open a new blank file in your photo-editing program. I use a 300 ppi resolution and an image size of 8 in. x 8 in., or  8 in. x 10 in.). I use a transparent background and RGB image mode. Be sure to save it under a different name to preserve the file containing your original drawing.

2.  Bring the image containing your sketch into your new blank file. 

Here’s how my sketch looks in the new PSE file, ready to work on:

Using Your Sketch in a Digital Piece

Option 1: Using the Sketch in Black and White as a Digital Collage Layer

You can keep the image in black and white and use it with other PSE layers that contain color. Here are three alternative techniques you can use to accomplish this.

Technique 1: Superimpose black and white sketch on other layers

For the circus-themed piece below, all of the additional papers/images I used are from Beth Rimmer’s digital kit, “L’Esprit du Cirque.”  You can see that I’ve added more PSE layers under the sketch layer, and on top of the sketch layer. I used the following layers, in order from bottom to top:

1. Two background papers, with blending modes applied.

2. My edited black and white sketch, with the “multiply” blending mode applied to make the image a bit darker in tone.

3. The Harlequin frame image, converted into black and white and resized to frame the central image.

4. The two circus performer images in layers on top of the frame.

I also edited the appearance of the rubber stamped face a bit, to blend in better with the whole piece, by using a soft round PSE brush to lighten and recolor some areas. To finish the piece, I added a 40mm stroke border of red. 

As always, save your completed piece often while working on it, and when you’re finished.

Technique 2: Blend sketch layer with a background layer (to add color to sketch)

1. Open a new blank PSE file (I use 8 in. x 8 in. or 8 in. by 10 in.).

2.  For your background layer, bring in a patterned background image of your choice. In the example below, I used an ocean-themed image I had created for an art journaling page and scanned into Photoshop Elements.

3. In the next layer (on top of the background) place your black andwhite sketch image and resize the sketch to suit your preferences.

4. Now, you can play with blending modes on the layer containing the sketch, using the controls in the layers palette.  In the example below, I’ve used the “luminosity” blending mode to allow some of the pattern to show through the lines and spaces of the sketch.

5. Finish and crop your collage as desired (add more layers or elements; apply texture or filters). Be sure to rename and save any version you want to keep.   In my example below, I cropped the collage; lowered the opacity level of the sketch layer to 80% (using the layer palette) to allow more of the background color to show through; and added a border.

Technique 3: Invert sketch into negative image  

Another way to use a black and white sketch–for a very dramatic effect– is to create a negative version of the image.  In PSE, you can either apply  Special Effects/Layer Styles/Photographic Effects/Negative; or use the Filter/Adjustments/Invert feature to do this.  Here’s how the negative version of my original black and white sketch looks:

 Below is a completed digital collage using this image as a layer, on top of two background images. The circus poster is from Divas D’Este; the clown is from Dover Designs; and the curtain background is from Beth Rimmer.

Option 2: Adding Color to the Black and White Sketch with “Fills” or Patterns

In PSE  there are two types of “fills” that allow you to fill an area of an image with color and/or pattern with a click of the mouse on the paint bucket tool.  They are “color fill” and “pattern fill.”

In  PSE 5.0, at the top left of the screen, there’s a “fill” box that is usually set to “Foreground.” This means that when you select the paint bucket tool and choose the foreground color you want, you can click on an area of your image and the color fills it entirely. By changing the fill option to “Pattern,” you can fill an area of your image with a preset pattern or one that you create. You can also change the blending and opacity modes for your fill options.

Caution: When using the fill options, It’s a good idea to first duplicate the layer containing your image and use your “fill” technique on the duplicate layer, which you can later delete if you don’t like the effect.  

 As I mentioned earlier, you may find that your “fill” covers more area than you had intended. This is usually because there’s a tiny break somewhere in your black line. You can zoom in on your sketch image in PSE and add a tiny black dot with a PSE brush to close any gaps that you find. You can also try applying filter than darkens lines, such as the Posterize  filter, to see if that helps fill in some of the gaps.

Technique 1: Solid Color Fill

Here’s an example of how I began to fill areas of my original sketch with a solid color, red.

Technique 2: Pattern Fill

Once you change the “fill” option to “Pattern,” a pattern fill works just like a solid color fill.  Instead of filling a space in your sketch with one color, this feature will fill the space with a pattern that you select. PSE contains some preset patterns, and you can find more online; or, you can create your own pattern from another image or from your own artwork.   After selecting the “Pattern” option, click on one of the patterns shown, or create and save a new one of your choice (as explained below).  Pattern fill can give a quite dramatic, colorful, and textured effect to your piece. 

Creating Custom Patterns

1. Open the image you want to make into a pattern.

2.  In PSE, click on “Edit” and “Define Pattern.” Once the pattern has loaded,  save it. You can now use that pattern to fill in areas of your digital piece.

Here are three of my own designs that I made into custom patterns for the digital design shown below.

 Once you’ve reached this point, you can further manipulate the image by changing the overall color scheme or some of the individual colors (Enhance/Adjust colors); or by applying filters, layer styles and other special effects.  You can also add layers above or below the filled sketch layer.

Here’s a finished digital collage using my pattern-filled image. I’ve placed the filled sketch image on a background of my own design, and added two borders. The heart charm image is from MissMint.

Technique 3: Pattern Stamp

The pattern stamp tool (a variation of the clone stamp tool) allows you to control and vary the shape and size of your pattern effect by using a digital brush of your choice.  After you select the tool, choose a pattern, brush shape, opacity, and blending mode, and “stamp” the pattern wherever you want on your sketch. You can achieve a wide variety of effects this way.  For ease of editing, you can create a new layer(s) for the pattern stamped shapes. For my example below, I chose a soft brush to stamp the round shapes on the left, and a faux finish sponge brush for the areas on the right. When using this technique, you won’t have to worry about gaps in the black lines of your sketch, and you’ll get a softer, more “painterly” result.

Conclusion: Ways to Use Your Original/Digital Hybrid Creations

Once you’ve created a digital piece using your own artwork, you can use it as a basis for other digital and hybrid creations. For example, by incorporating a photo of a friend or family member, you can create a digital scrapbook layout for a special occasion. You can add text, word art and other digital elements. You can also print out your creation in the desired size and adhere it to a blank greeting card.   Here are two sample creations:

Scrapbook Layout:  

 Birthday Card:

Now that you know more about using your original art in a digital collage, you may want to scan any “hands-on” art that you create, into your computer . You never know when you’ll be able to use it in a digital environment as a background or other layer, a  pattern fill, or a design element!

I hope you’ve learned something new here, or refreshed your memory about a technique you may not have used in a while. I wish you many happy hours of color-and-pattern-filled digital creating! 

Note: All text and images shown in this article (unless otherwise credited) are the creation and property of Sherry Pollack and are not to be used without specific permission of the author.

Hi Everyone!

Has anyone noticed that it’s getting a lot cooler outside? For us here in most of the United States at least. Crisp cool mornings, frost on the lawns, trees in all shades of warm colors. With Halloween behind us, I get the itch to start working on my Christmas designs. (All of my previous Christmas kits have been added to my SBG store and they are 30% off.)

2011 Countdown 2 Christmas Workshop

For the last three weeks I have been immersed in preparing, filming, editing, and BLOGGING my 2nd Annual Countdown 2 Christmas Workshop (and Digi Kit). Last year we had so much fun painting, photographing, and journaling our way through the months of November and December and I couldn’t wait to get started this year. I am super excited about how the workshop format has changed a little.

For newcomers to my blog, Countdown to Christmas is in it’s second year of “production”. Because I wanted to create my own holiday journal with a vintage feel from mid-century graphics and hand-painted papers, I decided to offer a class using myself as the guinea pig. From start to finish, I share the process of painting background pages, to cutting and pasting of images, to bookbinding, and finally, daily journaling. My workshop is split into two halves. The first half is all video, broken into easy-to-follow steps, that covers the creation of the bound journal. This portion can be done in a leisurely pace through the month of November. The second half is all about the journaling and memory keeping on a daily basis. Each day in December, from the 1st to the 25th, I share with you my journal process. Here’s a little more detail:

• * The C2C Workshop is available November 1st and all the videos are up and running on the Countdown2Christmas blog.
• * All content has been set up on a permanent blog where it will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, with NO expiration date! 
• * After the purchase of the workshop, blog logon information is provided to you in a downloadable file from SBG.
• * Images used in my journal are provided as 25 downloadable collage sheets in .jpg format sized for  8.5″ x 11″.
• * 25 Art Starts (quick pages for Art Journalers and exclusive to the workshop) scanned from my own journal. This year I wanted to make a “skinny” book, so the Art Starts are created as printable 6″ x 11″ pages, which can easily be layered onto traditional 12″ x 12″ layouts as well. So much fun to work in a unique size!
• * December 1st thru December 25, I blog daily which includes my Holiday Journaling, a downloadable piece of coordinating word art (exclusive to the workshop), journaling prompts, photographic prompts, and the occasional video if I do anything “unique” to my journal during the process. (For example, last year I shared how to “tip-in” a handmade acetate envelope.)
• * Then we’ll wrap up the workshop the week after Christmas with a video tutorial on how to create a custom felt book cover as well as adding 3-dimensional items to our holiday memories.

If you can’t tell, I absolutely LOVE creating this workshop and sharing the process with fellow holiday enthusiasts each day of December.

To purchase the workshop, be sure and click on the pic below.

2011 Countdown 2 Christmas Digital Kit

As part of the C2C process, I start by collecting together a group of mid-century holiday graphics. (All images are determined to be copyright free.) Then with my graphics in mind, I paint all my background papers to coordinate. Finally, the Countdown 2 Christmas Digital Kit is assembled from the collection of graphics and the hand-painted backgrounds. This option is great if there is a desire to have only the Holiday graphics without the physical mess of paint and glue. Included in the kit this year:

• * 25 unique .png holiday graphics that can be used for traditional scrapbook layouts and holiday journals alike.  Many of the holiday elements come with a Greetings version, a “blank” version and a reverse print version to allow for placement anywhere on your layout. Images are sized to fit nicely on a 12″ x 12″ or smaller layout.
• * 35 hand-painted and stenciled background papers
• * bonus set of numbers 1 through 31 for documenting each day in December
• * bonus pack of 11 decorative Christmas 12″ x 12″ Backgrounds.

The bonus sets are exclusive to the digital kit. 

2011 Countdown 2 Christmas Journal Spots

I’m excited to introduce a new C2C product this year, Journal Spots. While creating the daily Word-Art for C2C this year, I designed 25 unique graphics for creating titles or writing memories. They were so cute, I decided to scan them in and make the blank 2011 Countdown 2 Christmas Journal Spots element pack available for everyone. 

2011 Countdown 2 Christmas “Whole Enchilada”

For those that prefer the “Whole Enchilada”, I offer the Countdown 2 Christmas Workshop AND the Countdown 2 Christmas Digital Kit AND the Countdown 2 Christmas Journal Spots in a bundle, which saves you a little moolah. This is a great option for those that like to go between digital and physical, depending on the mood at the time. I bounce back and forth between digi and physical all the time.

A little birdie told me that ScrapbookGraphics is having a holiday challenge this week. Be sure and check out the blog to see some incredible eye candy and find the details on a chance to win free a C2C class from me. C2C is an incredible holiday journey through memories past and present. I adore my journal from 2010 and I am already anticipating the process and completion of 2011. Come join me!

Everyone have a great week!
 

Let’s look at some purposes of a Sketch journal:

Sometimes it is easier to express an idea or feeling with a quick sketch.

If you have a sudden idea, or see something that you really want to remember, such as an amazing collage, a really interesting house with incredible architectural details, or the smile of a child, you may want to carry a sketch book with you.  Including the location and motivation details is important to retain the moment’s inspiration for later use.

A sleeping child can be “caught” in a sketch journal just for your pleasure.

**Travels offer a great reason to have a sketch journal. Details of a visited city or the colors of a sunset can be recorded in your journal.

I had my journal with me when my father was having  triple bypass surgery. I am glad that I did, as I was able to record the first response he gave our family as he came out of the effects of anaesthetics.  It was a wonderful  “Thumbs Up” !

I used  a water soluable sketch pencil , watercolor pencils and my black Copic marker for this page.  A cup of water was right at hand in that waiting room!

If you like to add color to your sketches, Winsor & Newton has a neat little  Paint Box:

or a less costly alternative would be Watercolor Pencils–found at any arts/crafts store. That option allows you the color and quantity choices. Also, watercolor pencils give a bit more flexibility as more color may be added at a later date– before water is introduced to the sketch.

So what do you need to have a sketch journal?

The size and quality of the sketchbook is up to you. Strathmore is a very popular and widely used brand, and depending upon the “weight” of the paper, not overly priced.

  These may be found at Art/Craft stores, and online at a great resource for Art materials is DickBlick.com. I also have some sketchbooks I picked up atWalMart, so it really is your choosing.

They come in many sizes. I have a small one that travels well, and large ones that give me great freedom of expression.

Pencils, brushes, markers…

My watercolor pencils are different brands, Staedtler   and  Derwent, and I don’t find much difference between them; you may feel differently if you have used them and prefer one brand over the other.

You don’t have to go to a great expense to acquire these materials. I have a habit of perusing the children’s sections in my local art stores. I LOVE the “Crazy Pencils” as I call them. They were only a few dollars for the whole set of five!  They make an interesting background or filler. Plus they are just plain fun!  The different colors can really express a mood.  I also like the  brush markers– same aisle, same low price!  These lower cost items can add just the right effect to your page.

Just a tip on mixing colors, if you wish to go that direction, some typical mixes :

• French Ultramarine+Burnt Sienna: blueish and brownish greys, and a soft black
• French Ultramarine+Permanent Alizerin Crimson: variety of lavenders (smidge of Burnt Sienna to mute)
• Cobalt Blue: water or sky
• Permanent Alizerin Crimson+Burnt Sienna: Brick-like hues
• Single pigments: Flowers, clothing, other manmade objects
• Raw Sienna, touch of Permanent Rose, sometimes smidge of Cobalt Blue or Burnt Sienna: Skin tones
• Raw Sienna: Sunlight on things
• any blue+any yellow: natural greens

Markers:

One last item that I use in my sketch journaling, and in almost all my other journals is my black Copic marker.

The Copic markers come in over 50 colors! They have two tips, broad and narrow. They are professional grade, and a bit pricey to gather a collection at one time. But a few choice colors will fill the bill.

I also use Sharpies, but am careful not to let them bleed or run on wet papers.

You can always “upgrade” to artist quality of the markers and pencils, if you find that you are really enjoying the applications.

This is a great introduction and help for those wanting to explore sketch journaling.

A North Light review states:

“Based on her own 40 years’ experience in keeping an artist’s journal, Cathy Johnson knows that an artist’s creative life can benefit from written and visual explanations and experiments. Over the course of this book, you will benefit from the tips, techniques and exercises that will make your artist’s journals your own. You will also discover how to use your journal to celebrate any occasion or milestone, work through a problem or creative block, plan future works, sketch from life and experiment with new materials or techniques.”

Experimentation is the key with these materials and with journaling as a whole! Have fun! Try new things! Record your thoughts, impressions and what you see, or what you wish to see.  A sketch journal could become a good friend.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE YOUR PAGES? PLEASE DO USING THE MR.LINKY WE HAVE PROVIDED.   I would also love to have you submit pages for future articles. Please email me (Amanda)  at Outsidetheboxdesignstudio ( at ) gmail   (dot) com, Subject: Journal Journeys.

What do you get when you combine All Soul’s and All Saint’s Day practices with Prehispanic beliefs and the custom of maintaining ties with the dead? The Day of the Dead celebration.  It is based on the idea that the spirits of the dead come to visit their families one day each year. Angelitos, or spirits of babies and children who have died, come to their family homes on October 31^st at midnight to stay for the next 24 hours. Adult spirits visit for 24 hours beginning midnight on November 1.

Image via Wikipedia

I was under the impression that death was a morbid idea in most cultures. After speaking informally with several hispanic women I know about the view of death in their culture, it seems there are multiple perspectives on the dead. There is a side that considers the fate of the soul. Then there is the celebration of the lost relatives life. This is what Dia de los Muertos is all about.

Many families create altars in their homes as homage to the relative who has passed over.

Image via Wikipedia

Decorated with seasonal flowers and gourds as well as favorite foods, drinks and candies of that relative, an alter is the center of celebration in the home.  An effigy of sorts is often fashioned to represent the dead. This is where the skull or full skeleton is seen, sometimes wearing clothing and hats the relative might have worn. All of this is done out of respect for that relative as her ghost makes her annual visit.

Large, colorful parades are held in Mexico and other Central American countries. Portable altars are carried through the streets among a sea of candles. Hours are put into creating the decorations and foods offered up to the dead.

Image via Wikipedia

Cemeteries even get decorated in celebration. The graves of relatives are lavishly decorated with flowers, candles, and offerings as song and dance are performed. I am simply amazed at the life put into these celebrations, pardon the pun.

Working on this article I’ve become obsessed with the sugar skull. Hundreds and even thousands of these are created each year for Dia de los Muertos. If you check YouTube you will easily find tutorials for creating the sugar skull look with make-up.

Image via Wikipedia

This year I plan to seek out some of these celebrations where I live in Southern New Mexico. I’ll update my post with any photos I’m able to get. This tradition is a really neat contrast to the typical western view of memorial services.

P.S. From sherrie: Thanks so much to this week’s sponsor! Kim Jensen is a “new-to-me” designer and I took a peek in her store. What fun, quirky, and eclectic elements and kits! I absolutely adore her store. Be sure and check her out by clicking on her banner up at the top of the post.

My husband and children are ALWAYS bringing me little oddities they find when they are out and about. Since I needed to write a tutorial for the Muse this month about assemblage, I decided to gather up all my little critters and assemble them in this box I picked up from Michael’s. Since my article was pulled from the Muse, I thought sharing it here in Altered Hearts was a great idea.

The following are the steps I took to get to the final showcase.

1. paste old newspaper or telephone book pages randomly all over wood box. Use a bone folder or awl to get the pages down into the cracks. Let dry.

2. Using watered-down off-white paint, cover box with a light coat of paint. Let dry. Repeat until desireddoneness.

3. Cover glass with scrap paper and spritz the outside with Walnut Ink. Before Walnut Ink dries, spritz again with water. Use paper towel to blot, smudge, and smear ink until outside looks old and worn. Repeat process inside.

4. Plan out where each element will go. Once everything has a place, use a camera phone to document where everthing is so it will be easy to re-assemble. When working with fragile pieces, the less handling the better.

5. Begin glueing items in place. While I recommend E6000 glue for assemblage, I didn’t have any on hand. So I went ahead and used my PVA glue. PVA is more liquid and the drying time will be greatly increased. It will ultimately hold as well as the E6000, but more patience is required.

 6. To gain depth, I used a vintage newspaper and created padding for some of the elements. The butterfly seen on this page actually has a bit of rolled-up newspaper underneath to provide support.

7. Once I finished glueing everything in place, I pulled out my old scrapbook supplies. Assuming rub-ons would work on the surface of the glass without a problem, I was surpised at how difficult it was to get them to adhere.Using quite a bit of pressure, I used a pencil to rub the letters on and it eventually worked. Lift the edge of the rub-on to make sure it is sticking and then keep rubbing and lifting until the entire letter is attached. If there is a problem, just scrape it off with a fingernail or paint scraper and try again.With patience it will work.

8. Using a Sharpie Water Based Poster Paint Pen, I wrote ”collector” directly on the glass. Once it is completely dry, I will place it in my bookcase as a reminder of how much my family thinks of me when they see a dead bug.

I would love to say thank you to our weekly sponsor, a couple of ladies that make really INCREDIBLE artsy kits, Vivienne and Vanessa, known as VivaArtistry. Absolutely beautiful! Be sure to click on their banner up at the top and check out their store. We love to support our digi artists.

Looking for artists at with a “dark side”, I discovered some of my favorite artists along with some new faces and very little of it is very dark. More of a colorful expression than I thought I would find. Here a just a few of my favorites.

First I would like to start with some adorable paintings by Lulu of MyPinkTurtle Studio. I really wish I had been on the ball and scooped up her original Halloween Mermaid before it sold!

Following along in the same cheerful, oh-so-cute direction, I absolutely adore the work of Danita.

(As I analyze my love for both Lulu and Danita’s art, I know that the colorful palette draws me in, but it is the innocence of childhood that makes me want to stay.)

While I adore the sweetness of the above artists, I am equally pulled towards the opposite direction by the more neutral color palette of David Lozeau in his limited edition Day of the Dead poster. I think David’s use of typography and color is superb in taking a traditional black and white drawing to the next level. Be sure and check out David’s more traditional style of DOD artwork.

A “new to me” artist discovered during today’s flickr journey, Heather Hansma totally rawked this poster.

Once I found Heather, it led me to a group called “Escape from Illustrated Island“, which led me to illustrator Suzanne Carpenter. Totally fell in massive love with Suzanne’s brightly colored artwork. I can’t say how much I love her use of color.

Ok, one last picture for tonight. Here is a fun take on Halloween traditions by noodle and lou

So whether or not you celebrate the spooky season, I hope today’s visual feast will provide some inspiration.

Happy Haunting y’all!

And I just want to say thank you so much to Janet Lawrence for being this week’s sponsor. Please be sure and stop by her store and take a peak. Altered Hearts is all about supporting our fellow artists.