art journal – mamasbrush

Tweet Hearts | Art Journal Prompts from February

I never did finish my February Art Journal Prompts from February. I joined in with Awesome Alice during the month and had a lot of fun. But, as is the case most years, things get busy around here from the last week of February through the third week of March with several family birthdays. I decided to finish them up though, so here they are .

I have to admit, they aren’t my favorite work. A couple are cute, but I think my first few weeks turned out better. Still, I’m not here to make myself look like a great artist, but to share what I do as I grow. 🙂 I hope you will give it a try knowing perfection is not the goal.

The Tweet Hearts (promot: “sweet hearts”) were my favorite this time around.

Followed by the “XOXO” prompt…

And then the “chocolate” prompt”.

I think I’ll do another month sometime. For April, if I have time, I think I’ll just pick a few of my favorite ideas to do. Thanks Awesome Alice for making those lists!

Gathering here.

Art Journal vs. Bullet Journal

What is the difference between an art journal and a bullet journal? Which one is right for me?

These are great questions! And to be honest, a year ago, I don’t think I could have answered you. As it turns out, they can be as different or as similar as you want them to be. Anything with the word “journal” in it can be tweaked to fit you. There are no hard fast rules. Truly, if there were, who would be coming to make sure you are following them? Your journals, you make the rules!

But, still, what’s the difference?

Art Journal vs. Bullet Journal: What is the difference?

For me, the difference is found in the purpose.

Bullet Journals
The purpose of my bullet journal is organization, record keeping, and memories. I write what I’m reading in the Bible, what I am thankful for and the things and people I am praying for. I make a list of the seeds I’m planting and how many eggs the kids bring in each day from the chicken yard. Using a bullet journal helps me not to have loose papers all over the house.

Art Journals
The purpose of my art journal is to practice my painting and to make a memory. I follow prompts that help push me out of my comfort zone some days and other days I paint something special from that day. For me, there are no rules in my art journal and it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s just for me.

When they cross over
Sometimes bullet journals and art journals cross over, and that’s okay too. Remember, your journals are whatever you want them to be. Some people only put words in their Bullet Journals, others make them fancy with stickers and washi tape, while others cover them with original drawings or even tape paintings inside. I love seeing form and function married into a beautiful Bullet Journal, but that isn’t for everyone.

In the end, I do a little bit of both. When life is crazy, I do less decorating in my bullet journal and leave my art journal behind altogether. When I’m feeling creative but don’t have an outlet for it, I bring one or the other out and go crazy. 🙂

Bullet journal for kids: Homeschool Assignments Pages

One more idea
We homeschool and I’ve started organizing my older children’s schoolwork bullet journal style. Until recently, I just made columns and filled them in, but in the last week or so, I’ve been trying to make them a little more fun. This week I asked my daughter what she wanted her theme to be and she picked cupcakes. She thinks it’s fun and I got to merge my form and function. 🙂 (Note: I used kid’s markers for these pages and for some of my others. I just tape together two pages so the bleed through doesn’t show.)

Do you have a bullet and or art journal? How do you use them?

Gathering here.

February Art Journal Prompts – Week 3

I had a lot of fun with week three of the February Prompts from Awesome Alice. Let’s get to them…

Chocolate Chip Cookie in Watercolor — Prompt: Cookie

Watercolor Flowers - Journal Prompt — Prompt: Flowers

I did these flowers without a sketch. I just jumped in with the watercolors and added the lines later. I don’t do a lot of these, so they were outside my comfort zone a little. I could have done a simple flower (what I would normally do), but I wanted to use this opportunity to push myself. That is what this exercise is all about for me after all. 🙂

Forever and Ever - Hand lettered — Prompt: Forever and Ever

Oh My Darlin' Clemintine Hand lettered - Prompt: Darling — Prompt: Darling

My children keep asking if this is a peach. I’ll admit, it does have a bit of a peach look to it, but it’s totally a clementine. 🙂 The clementines we buy each winter are “Oh my Darlin'” Clementines, so I had to try this. Plus, it pushed me again. 🙂

Art Journal Prompt: Sweet Hearts — Prompt: Sweet hearts

Art Journal Prompt: you make me happy (hand lettered) — Prompt: You make me happy

Art Journal Prompt: My heart is yours — Prompt: My heart is yours

I actually really love this one, but I don’t love the way it turned out. I did some more working with it on paper after this was done and have come up with something I’m excited to debut in next Valentine’s printables., so if you like my stuff, you may want to subscribe so you don’t miss it. 🙂 (shameless plug)

Have you seen week one and week two?

Gathering here.

Why February 15th Roses are Better

This year Valentine’s Day just happened to fall on our weekly dinner and grocery shopping night. My mom stays with the kids and my husband and I go out. Sometimes it’s a slice of pizza at the store and other times it’s one of the many restaurants we love.

After dinner, we went shopping. Wegman’s is our store of choice. We actually find that it’s “Family Pack” options are less expensive than BJs and Walmart. At any rate, as we entered the store, we walked right into a huge display of roses. Of course they were beautiful! But I wasn’t even interested!

“Those will be cheaper tomorrow!” I said as I skirted around them.

Fast forward to Friday, February 15th. Dinner was running late, so my sweet husband picked up the few things we still needed from Walmart on his way home. When he finally got home, he had these beautiful yellow roses. They are so pretty! And the best part… they were 50% off!

Yes, it’s true, February 15th roses are better than roses on Valentine’s Day… at least for this practical mama!

And that pretty pitcher? We bought it from Bed, Bath and Beyond during our Thursday night shopping trip with a coupon. It matches my new (Black Friday 2018) “fancy” dishes and was only $11.99. (Not an affiliate link) I think we’ll be adding the other serving pieces over the next few months as we have coupons. They will look pretty in my new display cabinet (I’ll have to share pictures of that someday soon) and on my table.

The painting, I decided to do late last night. My father-in-law had arrived late and we were all just talking in the kitchen. The flowers were so pretty just sitting there on my table in my new pitcher and I gave in to the impulse to try to paint them without doing a sketch first. So there I was, standing at the kitchen counter painting while my husband and his dad were sitting on the stools and we all talking.

I started with the yellow, then added the greenery. Last I added just the shading for the white pitcher. (Painting white things is tricky!) I waited til morning to add the pen.

I took a before and after pic for you so you can see the difference between pen and no pen. I’m often afraid to add the pen because I’m happy with how a painting looks so far and I know that I can completely ruin it if I do the pen wrong. But more often than not, I love the end result with pen so much more. It just makes it pop! Not to mention defining lines and clarifying the object being painted.

So which do you like better? Flowers on February 14th or 15th?

Gathering here.

100 Posts and What to do when you Mess up

I haven’t been watching for this, but the other day I stumbled on the fact that I had posted 99 posts so far. That makes this one #100. I thought maybe I’d do something special to celebrate (because I’m all about celebrating small things to keep life interesting), but, like Valentine’s this year (Happy Valentine’s Day by the way!), sometimes life dictates that we keep things simple. Instead of some big plan, this year we are putting heart sprinkles on cinnamon rolls out of a tube and eating heart shaped bacon for breakfast… done. Valentine’s Day celebrated.

Likewise, keeping “100 posts” simple… Thanks for joining me for 100 posts!! There. We celebrated! (I don’t know how to find my top posts anyway.)

On an artsy note, I wanted to share this weeks February prompts. I’m still using the February Prompts from Awesome Alice. I’ll admit, this week was harder for me. And I wasn’t as happy with them as last week. Some more than others. But God rarely uses the perfect things in this world.

February Art Journal Week 2 - I am the Lord — Prompt: One of a Kind

Love Letters - February Art Journal Week 2 — Prompt: Love letters

February Art Journal Week 2 - Conversation Hearts — Prompt: Candy

This is a great example of things not going according to plan. I had already filled in several of the hearts when I got pulled away. When I returned and started back at the lettering, I had the black pen in my hand instead of the red. Oops. I had a few choices… tear out the page and start over, give up the whole thing, or leave it as a demonstration that I’m not perfect and that we can press on even when things don’t go our way.

I picked that one. 🙂 I’m not perfect, but Jesus redeemed me. Hopefully He will still use my artwork… even when it’s not perfect (because it rarely is.)

You and Me - February Art Journal Week 2 — Prompt: You and Me

Hopelessly in Love - February Art Journal Week 2 — Prompt: Hopelessly in Love

Hugs and Kisses - February Art Journal Week 2 — Prompt: Hugs and Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day - February Art Journal Week 2 — Prompt: Happy Valentine’s Day

Like I said, these aren’t perfect. I was tempted to get frustrated and embarrassed, and even to keep them to myself. But in the end, I knew I wanted to share them with you. Because God loves to use the imperfect to bring Himself glory. And I hope He is glorified in these!

It’s true for you too, you can be used by God, no matter how flawed you are, if you surrender yourself to Him! 🙂

Gathering here.

My February Art Journal Prompts

This month, I decided to join in with Awesome Alice and her February Hand Lettering Prompts. That said, I’m doing it my way. 🙂 (I almost never follow a recipe exactly.)

What are my tweaks? First, I’m doing a combination of hand lettering and illustration, depending on my inspiration. Second, I’m not necessarily doing one each day (obviously, since I have the first 7 done already.) But for me, it’s more something to push me out of my comfort zone. I joke with people that if I just painted what I was comfortable all the time, I’d only ever paint pumpkins. But there is some truth to it. 🙂 But I do intend to do all 28… whether I want to or not.

Below, I’m including the original prompt with the pic.

Rose - hand lettered February prompt — 1. “Red Roses”

A love note from God - hand lettered February prompt — 2. “Be Mine”

This is one of my favorites. Isaiah 43:1 says, “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (emphasis mine.

Jesus, You are enough - hand lettered February prompt — 3. “You are enough”

Hearts - hand lettered February prompt — 4. “Heart”

Romantic Bunnies - hand lettered February prompt — 5. “Romance”

This is my first attempt at bunnies. I never would have tried them without the prompt.

I love you - hand lettered February prompt — 6. “I love you”

Cupid's Bow - hand lettered February prompt — 7. “Cupid”

Okay, so it’s cupid’s bow. I decided it was close enough.

It has been a super fun challenge for me so far, but I am pretty sure it’s just going to get harder. 🙂

Gathering here.

Asparagus in my Watercolor Journal

Our asparagus bed is four years old. Last year was the first year we were able to harvest in plenty. It was pretty exciting! This year is even more exciting. And I find that it can be tough to keep up with the production!

You should see how much asparagus there is in my fridge all the time! I try to serve and eat it as much as possible, but I’m admittedly a couple days behind. And I sent at least a pound home with my sister! If only the kids loved it. That would help!

As I was washing newly harvested asparagus the other night, I found myself wanting to paint them (you’d think I’d be tired of them by now, but I’m not). I started with the paint, not sketches. It was a fun challenge.

And with 3-4 weeks left of harvest season, I found that this was truly the asparagus challenge for 2018… just try to keep up!

Gathering here!

I Snow Love You – Hand Lettered Valentine’s Doodle

I Snow Love You!

For the last couple weeks I’ve had these cute wood blocks (in varying greens) that spell “snow” sitting in the window above my stove. My son made it for me a couple Christmases ago while we were prepping for the Christmas Market we participate in at our church. The “O” is just a white block with eyes and an orange triangle nose. And I’ve told you, I have “Valentine’s” on the brain.

Well, that inspiration, plus my Valentine mindset became this cute little painting. “With all my heart, I snow love you!”

I Snow Love You!

Adding shadow to my illustrating and painting is something that is still new for me. And you can read that to say that it’s hard, or that I’m not very good at it, or better yet, that I’m afraid to do it because I don’t want to ruin the rest of it. I could have left these little guys flat, but I decided to push outside my comfort zone and try to add some dimension to them. I’m sure someone with more experience could have done this even better, but I like the way it turned out.

I Snow Love You!

Linked up here.