Arty Auntie: Artful Journeys Week #5

Can you believe it is February already? Why is it that when you are a kid, time just drags along and you think tomorrow will never arrive? And now that I am O.L.D. time just whizzes by like a bullet train.

When I think of February, my heart always gets excited. February not only is the month of love, the month we honor the American Heart Association by wearing RED, but in north Texas, it also heralds early signs of spring. Our days are getting warmer (although sporadically), and as we typically enjoy mild winters, this has been one of the mildest I can remember in recent history. We were in the mid to upper 70s all week this week. The hubs got out and tilled the garden again for the umpteenth time and got our onion sets all planted. We have to plant early because it gets really HOT here in the summertime. We can regale you with those stories later!

Almost always, I get a box of one of my favorite chocolates from Russell Stover -- the Raspberry Parfaits or Adelaides. I don't need any heart-shaped boxes of candy. I like what I like. ha. Heaven knows I don't need either. I am fluffy enough already. It is always nice to have a special day where your loved one shows you some attention and reminds you how much you are loved. Those special times are to be hung onto and treasured, no matter what day of the year that love comes spewing forth. And, my Mother's birthday is at the end of the month. She would be 90 this year. Is that right? Wow. When I stop and think about that, it blows me away. 90. Such a big number. She has been gone from us since 2008, and not a day goes by that I don't miss her. The love has never waned and never will. If your Mother is still around, give her an extra big hug and kiss and think of me. Tell her how much you love her, appreciate her and thank her for being a great mom. I would if mine were still here.

But I digress. You're here to see our prompt this week. And what fun it was.

Our prompt was to create a February calendar using red, pink and white (and any other colors that suit your fancy).

SUPPLY LIST:

Gesso
Liquitex Basics Acrylic - Napthol Crimson
Liquitex Basics Acrylic - Medium Magenta
Liquitex Basics Acrylic - Brilliant Purple
Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic - Alizarin Crimson
Daler-Rowney Simply Acrylic - White
Daler-Rowney Simply Acrylic - Brilliant Red
Aquatec Acrylic Polymer - Cadmium Red Light
Apple Barrel Craft Acrylic - Pink Parfait
Apple Barrel Craft Acrylic - Bright Magenta
Stampin' Up Hearts & Swirls background stamp
Blue jar opener gripper thingy for texture
Fiskars Heart Punch (small)
Punch cut scrapbook paper letters
Bone folder
Cosmetic sponge
DIY "Mod Podge"; Elmer's Glue; UHU Glue Stick
Assorted glitter stickers
Assorted small rubber stamps
Staz-On Stamp Pad - black
Bold Uniball Signo Pen - white
Bold Uniball Signo Pen - black
Sakura Gelly Pen - black

I had fun making this calendar this month. I love to save cardboard. Always sturdy. Always fun to alter. I opened up a saved frozen pizza box and started slapping down some paint with my 6" hard rubber brayer. Bray this way, then that way. Add some more paint layers. Do it again. Let it dry while you go get a fresh cup of coffee. Come back. Add some more. There.

Now--that was looking pretty good. So I grabbed up my swirly heart background stamp and applied Pink Parfait to the stamp with a cosmetic sponge and stamped and repeated a few times. I love this method of stamping because I am stamping acrylic on acrylic and get a much better and smoother stamping as opposed to using just stamp pad ink with these large background stamps.

For more textural effect, I grabbed this rubber jar opener thingy and spread some remaining Pink Parfait craft paint on it, and slapped it down on the page here and there, "re-inking" with the paint on my brayer a few times.

Then I thought I had better turn my attention to how I wanted the "month" to appear. I have all manner and sort of stickers and letters and letter punches. I tried all various colors laying against the background and decided to go with some black and ivory mixed scrapbooking papers to make the month title pop on the page. I laid them out, glued them on with some DIY "Mod Podge" (saving my expensive gel medium). I embellished a few of the letters with my Signo Uniball pens, and outlined the whole thing.

Next, I turned my attention to laying out the calender. I knew I wanted to leave some journaling space and some "planner" space on the calendar. Measure the cardboard I just painted against my Canson Mixed Media journal I planned to put it in. Size was nearly perfect. I trimmed it to the size I wanted and then spread DIY Podge all over the journal pages and the back of the cardboard and set about affixing it to the journal. This part took some time and some weighty books since this cardboard wants to curl when it is wet. More coffee. A few pinches here and there. Zap it with the heat gun. All good.

First a quick peek at a printed February calendar. Great 4 even weeks. Then I gridded out the squares and used my Bold White Uniball Signo pen and outlined the whole thing. While the squares are not evenly gridded, they are fine. I usually don't put much on my calendars on Saturday and Sundays anyway. And we're not making museum art, right?

I also gridded out the "planner" part of my calendar page on the blank space I had on the left side of the page. A few fun stamps were added for color and whimsey. I used 2 different alpha stamp sets for the days of the week and a black Staz-On stamp pad.

Using my small heart punch and some pink cardstock, I punch cut 28 little hearts to use for the days and numbered each of them with a black Sakura Gelly pen and affixed with a small swipe of UHU glue stick.

More. I am working hard to "just add more" to my work. Out comes the button box. There are some cool ones in there, so I added a few of those. And a nifty little felt heart added to the Valentine's Day square.

Then some glitter stickers with the words "Love" and "Hearts", outlined with the Signo Uniball pen.

A few more doodly things here and there. Added Mother's birthday, not that I needed reminding -- just because.

And here is the finished spread. I left plenty of room for me to journal at the bottom as the month wears on and stuff starts to happen.

We have a lot going on in Artful Journeys this month, and I am anxious to see what beautiful creations you come up with for your February calender.

Leave me some blog love if you like. It always warms my heart to know you are actually reading these posts.

Staying artful!
~~Betty aka Arty Auntie