Playing with Inspired Color Palettes

I don't know about you, but I am usually drawn to the same color palette. I can pretty much guarantee that my art work, journal pages, crafty projects, or scrapbook layouts will probably have a collection of colors like - aqua, yellow, gray and some pink. There is usually some shades of orange too. Not bright crazy colors...more pastel in flavor. That's it. That is my usual color combination.

So, the other day (while I was feeling adventurous) I was painting with my son and I decided to use the colors he chose for my art journal page. I didn't steer him toward the aquas (which I wanted to do, Ha!) and just let him pick away. His favorite color is red, so I knew there would be some unfamiliar painting colors for me. :)

It was such a wonderful creative release to just paint with whatever I had in front of me. The happy discovery of this little color adventure was that I realized that I really like adding dark navy blue to my pages! I hardly EVER grab for that color. It seems so dark. But I LOVED using it!  

I was thinking about some other fun ways to change up my usual color combos. Here is a small list of what I came up with....

• Blindly reach into your paint bin & pull out 5 colors
• Search for color palettes on Pinterest & work from the colors in one
• Visit one of your favorite home decor blogs or magazines and pull a color combination from a favorite room
• Try using a monochromatic selection with your favorite color
• Find a fabulous scrapbook page and use the colors as inspiration for a painting
• Ask each person in your family (or a group of friends) to give you one color. Put them together as one palette.
• When you are at the grocery store, snap a pic of a bouquet of flowers & use it to inspire you
• Do you have a favorite football or basketball team? Or maybe old school  colors? Use these colors to spark your color adventure! :)
• Come join the Summer of Color 4 at Twinkle Twinkle - It starts June 2nd! It is a free 6 week blog party full of color prompts. SO fun!

Another page started in an altered book with the colors from my sons palette.
White added by me. :)



GO ahead...go change up your color choices. You never know what you may discover. 
Happy Creating!!

Mixed Media Flowers in the Studio

 

I don't know about you, but I think I am ready for spring. I am in the mood for cheerful colored nail polish, birds, nests, sweet little happy projects added to my house, flowers in bloom, and sandals. In southern California winter does not last that long, so it is already feeling like spring. Today it is 75 degrees with some clouds. :) I do LOVE the crisp, cold weather of winter...but, after Valentine's Day passes I am ready for the hearts, pinecones & winter décor to come down. I am ready for the flowers to start popping out everywhere! What about you?

 

Flowers are dominating my creative creations right now too...big, playful, sketchy flowers.

I love them.

 

 

My favorite background collage material lately = my daughter's school papers. Such fun use for them. It beats the recycle bin. When her papers come home, I sort them into 4 places - recycling, special papers to save, a bin for our Project Life albums (scrapbook layouts/mini books too)  and the rest go into a drawer in my art studio for projects. I LOVE seeing her writing pop through on my canvases or journal pages. There is something so sweet and refreshing about kiddie writing!

 

 

I hope you are having a beautiful weekend! I am sure I will find time to spend at my studio table where undoubtedly more happy flowers will appear. :) What are you looking forward to right now?

 

 

Gratitude Journal - 14 Days of an Art Journal

Happy almost middle of November! Can you believe that!? I know I can't. There is so much to do...so many lists of things to cross off. But, lately with so many crazy things going on around me, I have an urge to get quiet, simplify, cherish moments, cling to the true blessings, and hunt down every bit of gratitude in me.

 With 14 days counting down until Thanksgiving, I thought I would challenge myself to reflect on these with a journal spread each day. A creative gratitude journal is exactly what I need right now. I don't want to burden myself with expectations or have a certain way it needs to look. One day I may paint...the next write & doodle...and the next scrapbook. I am going to go with whatever I am feeling that day. Yes! I like the way that sounds. Do you keep a gratitude journal or something like it?

I am going to kick off my little challenge with sharing a few journal pages that I have been working on. I am still trying to finish up my current art journal so I can begin another! Geesh, it is taking a long time, lol.

 

This page came together SO quickly. I had a bunch of paint already spread randomly around the page. (Probably a page used to wipe excess paint off from other pieces. Many of my pages start like that.) Then as I passed the page sitting on my table one day, I just grabbed a brush with some black acrylic paint and made simple flowers. After several layers of more paint, washi tape, white pen, and Faber-Castell PITT pens, I really wanted some words. These words from a me & my BIG ideas 3x4 Specialty Cards were perfect. I just cut them up, glued them down, and wrote my own words to finish it off. It says, "Dance like no one is watching, Love fiercely, Sing loud, and pray always.

Here is another page I am working on. It started much the same as the other. It is a work in progress, but I love how it has begun.

 Feeling blessed...beyond measure... :)

I'll be back to share more pages of gratitude. Let me know if you are sharing somewhere too, so I can come by for a visit. I love visiting new blogs or Instagram feeds. Come follow me on instagram too @sadieinspired.

May your week be filled with color, blessings, and tons of creative mojo!

Happy Flowers & The Color of Summer 3

Whoa! I can't believe how long I have been away from my little creative home here at Sadie Inspired. I just couldn't get my blog writing mojo going. :) Creativity has been flowing...a few canvases, art journal pages, home projects, and working on this year's (and last year's) Project Life album. I just needed a bloggy break.

I worked on this little happy flower canvas this last week as we celebrated our final week of school. Summer is officially here in our house, and I am beyond happy about that! Do you have any big summer plans? We have a very mellow summer planned with lots of trips to the pool, visits to the beach, lazy mornings, baseball games, flip flops, and watermelon. Hopefully lots of painting and crafting too!

Another fabulous addition to my summer will be The Color of Summer 3 - Artist's Choice, hosted by Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle. It is a free bloggy event that is super inspiring and loads of fun. If you paint, craft, scrapbook, art journal, sew, take pictures, or anything creative... you should come over and join in. This will be my third year participating and I am looking forward to it. Summer of Color has just started and you can read about it RIGHT HERE. Oh, wait...did I mention there are prizes involved too? As if a big color celebration isn't enough...prizes are involved! :) So, if you haven't popped over to 

Twinkle Twinkle already - GO!

 Besides enjoying the days of summer with my family, joining in the artsy fun at SOC 3, preparing new pieces for my shop, and tackling some crafty projects around my house (which I will be sure to share here)...I also will be revamping the blog a bit. It's time. I want my blog to fit where I am creatively. It is an ever changing process and journey, right? There are so many things I am interested in artistically and I want this space to reflect that! So be on the look out for that. Yay! :)

Last order of business - my Reader. I read all your fabulous blogs in my Google Reader. I had heard that as of July 1 Google was going to be taking that feature away (Boo). I was preparing for that, but my Reader has already disappeared. Poof! Gone. Did that happen to anyone else? Needless to say I am going to be making a transition over to Bloglovin' unless I find something else. What do you use to read your blogs? Any suggestions?

Don't forget that you can always find me on Instagram @sadieinspired.

I hope you are having a beautiful weekend!

Scrap Wood Mini Canvas - Bloom

Look at this cute little bloom doodle on wood! So cute, right? And...just perfect for spring. I have been working on a commissioned collection of three larger floral panels painted in this style. But, this little cutie came from the "trash stash" that I keep handy in my garage. Between my hubby and I, there is always bound to be some kind of project going on. So, I like to keep a plastic bin ready in the garage to collect any extra wood pieces. Initially, I was using this small piece of wood to test stain color. It measures smaller than 4 x 6. Super adorable! I needed to add some bits of sunshiny spring in my house and thought this would be perfect. I doodled this bloom using acrylic paint and my Uni-ball pen. It stands on this DIY (thanks very handy Hubby!) picture ledge (post coming soon!) in our front room.

Want to make one of your own? All you need is a scrap piece of wood (any size will do), acrylic craft paint (my faves - Americana & Martha Stewart), a white uni-ball pen, and some MinWax wood stain. That's it!! The wood stain comes in several different colors and I picked mine up at Lowe's. After you stain your wood canvas, follow the manufacturers suggestion for drying time - then get doodling! Don't bother drawing out a sketch with a pencil. Just go for it! I start with the white acrylic. Sometimes I will need to go back over it a couple of times to clean up my lines. BUT, I am totally OK with things not being perfect. :)

Once I am happy with the white, I add more happy colors. Typically on these pieces I have been using aquas, yellows, pinks, and corals. I like to add varying sizes of dots too. I just dip the end of my paintbrush into the paint to create the circles. I press my tip onto the wood using varying pressure to get different sizes. Q-tips, pencil erasers, and golf tees work well too. I make tiny dots and the really thin lines with the white pen as well. I love the look of the pen and there are so many things you can do with it to add visual interest!

These are supper fun to make and would make a sweet gift for someone special too. So, go grab some scrap wood and get busy! :)

I am going to make a bunch more to stick in my shop too.

 It needs some springy joy!

AND be sure to enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Happy Creating!

Why Not!? Wednesday - Using Modeling Paste

 If you have read my blog before you know I LOVE using modeling paste. I love the way it looks. Don't you? The instant texture not only looks fabulous, but adds tons of visual interest. It is so easy to use too. Plus there are so many things to do with it. Soooo, why not use modeling paste with shapes. What I mean by that is...instead of applying it randomly (which is also fabulous I might add) across your surface...be very specific about where you place it.

For example, use modeling paste within angel wings. I think the dimension it adds to this piece is lovely. On this piece, not only is the modeling paste emphasizing her wings, but also a pretty shimmer paint too. I just dragged my palette knife (or popsicle stick) across the space of the wing in the same direction. If I went out of the lines of the wing, I simply wiped it away with a damp cloth or baby wipe. Easy!

 More angels with textured wings...

 What about flowers? Spring is almost here, and beautiful blooms are everywhere. Why not use modeling paste?? Below is a canvas I painted for my master bedroom in light blues, creams and grays. On the large flower petals, to add that visual interest again, I "painted" with the modeling paste. I used the same technique as the wings. After the paste is completely dry, I used watercolor and acrylic paint on top. I love how the raised parts of the petals collected the color. Oh, and remember that you can add paint color directly into the modeling paste before you use it too!

There are many different shapes try - hair, animals, grass, ocean, mermaid's tail, clouds. Those are just a few that come to my mind. What can you think of? Why not go give it try!! :)

Happy Creating!

Aqua & Orange

with a bit of yellow and pink is my new color combo obsession.

It is so bright and cheery. It just makes me smile.

I painted these two the other day, while cleaning out my studio. Holy Cow! This was MUCH needed!. I was sorting, moving things around, separating, organizing, painting (preparing for the re-opening!), washing, tossing, running to the table for more painting, discovering forgotten items , dancing (sometimes I can't help myself), hanging things, and getting things done! 

It felt so good to get the studio clean.

This one was painted on a 6 x 6 cradled wood panel. I adore painting on wood. Plus, I love painting things that are ready to hang. So these are perfect! BTW, where do you get your panels if you paint on wood? I had the background painted a while back and it had just been sitting there waiting for me to finish it. It is all paint. I didn't use any paper except for the words. I used a Gelly Roll, black Pentel pen and some Faber-Castell pens for the details. Now she is ready for some varnish and a photo shoot. She (total female this one - see those colors! Ha!) will be headed to the shop very soon.

Loving happy colors!

This little scrumptious cutie is a 4x4 canvas panel. The flower on the right side is from the collage sheets I made the other day. So fun! I also really like using motivational quotes, words, or saying in the pieces I create. Just positive reminders that we all need. I know I do! She will be making her debut in the shop on the 22nd. :)))

What colors are making you happy?

Oh, and don't forget...

Inspired Collage

Hand painted collage sheet

 One of my favorite teachers in the art community is Mystele. She has a wonderful Ning group called Community Thrive. This last month the very talented Roben-Marie Smith (LOVE) was a featured artist and provided us with tons of inspiration. Each month Myste's community hosts different art challenges. Of course I had to join in on this one because I don't have anything else to do. Total sarcasm right there. Lol. I am so glad I did though. It was super fun, and I really like how my painting turned out.

In her video, Roben-Marie encouraged us to use our own artwork as collage pieces for our pages. I love that idea! Right? The only problem - I can scan my work into my computer...but, my printer is not very good. So getting a nice copy of one of my paintings wasn't going to work. I know that I could have it printed somewhere else, but who wants to spend extra money. My solution - beg my hubby for new printer grab a couple of the 500 notebook sheets of paper thrown across my bedroom floor and paint some collage sheets. (Yes, thank you my sweet 3 and half year old who found joy ripping a notebook apart and redecorating my room. Don't leave them alone for a minute I tell yah!)

The notebook paper worked out really well. I chose a color palette and started painting. It is no surprise that flowers popped up.  They are showing up everywhere! I am definitely going to continue painting more sheets to then cut up and use in other pieces. I mean, I still have 498 sheets left from my little paper monster. ;)

 
I added pen, water soluble crayons, used stencils, and doodled with some Faber Castell artist pens. Once this page dried I started cutting it up to use on my journal spread. OK, now don't be too shocked again. What do you think I ended up painting in my journal?? You guessed it - flowers.  I think it is pretty funny that I painted flowers to then cut them up and make more flowers. I get obsessed. :)

This technique is really fun and it is a great way to get more out of your artwork especially if you can print something that you have already created. If you haven't tried it - you should!! Now I am off to work on...well, probably more flowers. :)

Yes it is!

Stained Wood Canvas

Yay! It's almost Friday! Thank goodness. I don't know about you, but I need the weekend. :) I wanted to thank you for the visits, new followers, and comments from my last post about the up-cycled puzzle box canvas I made. Thank you! Thank you! I am looking forward to popping around and visiting you all today on your blogs. Yipppee!

Today I wanted to share a painting I made on a left over piece of wood I stained. My Hubby did a fantastic job building a small table using plans from Ana White and first spotted on Shanty 2 Chic. While I was staining the table, I decided to stain some extra small pieces of wood I had laying around. At the time I had no idea what I would do with them, but I know I could figure something out. If not - Hello Pinterest. Right?

The original plan whirling around my head was dark brown stained wood with white paint. I pictured very simple. The usual ...funky flowers...some circles & doodles...and words. I didn't want the whole thing covered with paint. I thought lots of brown left in the background would look cool. 

So, I just grabbed the wood and started painting. No sketching. Just painty (I don't think that's a word, but I like it.), messy fun to be had. :) I didn't just stick to white, though. I had to add some blue and tiny bits of yellow. My white Gelly Roll worked well on the surface too. 

All I have to do is add a sawtooth hanger to the back and it's good to go. I'm not sure what I think about it truly. It is just really fun to try something new. For whatever reason, I sometimes really hesitate to try new things. Anybody else raising hands? Of course, it is the whole fear, self doubt creeping in. So no matter what the outcome (perhaps the trash bin) trying new things always helps us grow.

Try something new today. You never know what you may discover!

If you would like some wonderful inspiration, check out Paint Party Friday!

Black and White Journal Page

 Hi everybody! I hope your week is going well. I have been meaning to post this for a couple of days. I apparently have an issue with time management. :) But, I have been doing a lot of painting, journaling, playing, and brainstorming - which is all fabulous! Soooo....

Last week for Art Journaling with Aaron & Jenny (Everyday is a Holiday), the challenge was to use mainly black and white on a journal spread. I immediately thought of a simple black sharpie pen on white. Simple. But, ohhhh so fun! There is something so relaxing about doodling. Don't you think?? Maybe it's because it takes me back to 8th grade and drawing on my peachie folder (some of you may remember those). I had recently scooped up a few rolls of washi tape at Michaels. I wanted to use them too. I love washi tape! LOVE. I know it's early to start thinking Christmas - but, they do make the perfect stocking stuffer. Hint. Hint. :)

I decided to doodle some whimsical flowers. The great thing about Sharpies is the commitment you have to have to put lines down. I can't erase something like I can with my pencil. So I just have to go for it when I use pen. 

Then I wanted to add another color. Not a whole rainbow of color...

just a little blue wash.

I used metallic blue Gelly Roll pen to add little blue details. The metallic pens work so well. I love how easily the ink flows and writes. I also added the washi tape and made some scribbles with a white pen. Here it is all finished.

Today is a new day.

Yes! Thank you! I am SO glad that we can greet each day 

with newness and potential. 

Even if nothing gets done or I was able to cross only one thing off my To Do list or yesterday wasn't so great...I know today is a new "clean slate."

It is waiting for me to make the most of it! :)

Have a Beautiful Day!

Come visit Everyday is a Holiday right here!

Doodles, Flowers, and Painting

I have been wanting to doodle.

Just simple black pen on paper then watercolor or acrylic.

There is something very liberating about not using a pencil, right?  
(Thank you Elisa Choi for some pen only inspiration!)

Just picking up a pen and going for it.

So the other night I did just that...doodled.

Just a pen and so much fun.

Going crazy with the pen...

I loved doodling so much that I went from my journal 
to a small canvas (6x8) and added acrylic.

So, I have also gone from Christmas trees to bright, doodled flowers. :)
We'll see what inspiration pops up next.

(Blogger has given me SO much trouble tonight uploading these pictures! Arghhhh! 

I want to rip my hair out. Anyone else have Blogger problems?)

I am joining the arty parties at Paint Party Friday & Studio JRU.
Hope you have a wonderful LAST weekend before Christmas!!
(Holy Cow where did that time go?)