Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Taking Some Art Therapy time with Romance Novel Chapter 2

Hello All!

Keri Sallee here....how are your holidays going? Are you feeling stressed?

I recently was readying an article on Art Therapy and it said doing some type of creative outlet can help relieve stress in 3 main ways:

(1) Distraction: Even if it's for a few minutes and is something small like journaling or a quick sketch, taking a creative break and allowing your brain to be "distracted" from it current (stressful!) task can allow you to go back to that task later with a clearer head.

(2) Flow: Flow is the ability to hone in on a task into an almost meditative state. Some of us may call it mojo or your creative "juices" are flowing or being inspired. Whatever you call it, the process of relieves stress, much like meditation. 

(3) Self-Care: Sounds like a weird word combo, but it is so important to take time to recharge your batteries...whatever it is that does that. With the hustle and bustle of the crazy holidays, it can be easy to set "me" time aside. Don't do it! You deserve some special time and you will be less stressed when you are done. Bonus? You will have created something you are proud of, which will boost your ego...and can't we all use that? :)

Today, I decided to step outside my comfort zone when it comes to my scrapbooking style and spend a little "self-care" time trying out some new skills.

My focus has been on canvas and other "bulky" projects lately, that I haven't spent any time doing just a scrapbook layout. But...me...being me...I don't do anything simple. I wanted to take it up a notch and try something very mixed-media and messy.

Here's what I came up with:


That little nugget in the picture is my son at about 3 months old. I know flowers and pink and all that isn't suppose to be "boy", but I figured I could get away with it because it's a baby picture. Plus, since it was black and white I wanted to give it a lot of color to POP off of.

I started with Romance Novel Chapter 2 paper "Forever." To keep it from buckling as much, I glued it to a light piece of chipboard and covered it with a thin later of clear gesso.

I then layered some vintage sheet music, chevron's from the Romance Novel CH 2 Paper "Telegram" and a little white acrylic paint.

To add my colors, I brought out my COLOR LAB by Marion. I felt like a really fancy scientist mixing up my first color! 



For this project, I first made the recipe for "Cupcake" and added a bit of Pink sparkle pigment. How pretty is that PINK!!??



I also added Faber-Castell Gelatoes in Aqua Dolce, Guava and Snow Cone by scrubbing them directly on my project and smearing with my finger and a little water. I topped it off with a splatter of COLOR LAB in Cola and some a few randoms stamps of Marion's "Texture" Stamp, using Heidi Swapp's Ink in Navy.



Next, it was time to build some layers!


I cut piece from the RNC2 paper "Sweet Something" and and "My Type" to tuck around my Junque & Gem Flowers (plus a few other flowers!), J&G metal bird nest, gems & camera and Aqua MSD Stems.

I also used my water-soluble Scribe-All pencil in black to go around my edges. When you hit it with a little water, it acts similar to watercolors and you can manipulate it around the page. 

Lastly, no layout is complete without a little journaling. I used my Faber-Castell Pitt Pens in Black to write on top of my colors.



And...just for fun...here is what this little nugget looks like now...11 years later. :)


I hope you enjoyed my project today and it inspires you to take some time from your busy schedule and try something new!

XOXO,
Keri 



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