Dinner With Lynn

Last Evening while Becky was at a prior engagement I had dinner with Lynn. She and I met while Paul was a pastor in a Madison church back in 2008. She is an artist I admire who has taught me a lot!

Lynn and I have stayed in touch over the years and it fun when I get to connect with her while I'm in Madison. I also made her an altered art journal...and I got to see the finished product last evening. 

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2025/05/depth-and-beauty.html

Several pieces of Lynn's art are hanging all over my condo. I especially love her zentangle work on watercolor. 

Seeing Becky and Lynn's altered art journal has been a real treat for me.

I layered the two pieces of hers on the right....cutting out the leaves so they would layer on the next page. Lynn added the painting on the left making for a beautiful spread. There is so much more....but you get the idea. 

Colors and Textures

I've known Becky since we were 5 years old. 

We both grew up on farms in Edgerton, Wisconsin...and we've seen each other through the best and worst of times. No matter how much time has passed we always pick up right where we left off.

This is actually from a year or two ago...we'll take a new one at some point during this trip.

We had a delightful day together and here are some of the colors and textures from her gardens and yard. 

Then AND now!

Last year I made Becky a an altered art journal where I ripped down pages in a commercial art journal and stitched in some of her own art and snippets. I wrote about it here: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2025/03/altered-art-journal.html

I was able to hand deliver it when I visited last April: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2025/04/hand-delivery.html

And just today I got to see how she has been making it her own. She's having fun with it! 

On the right is a calendar page I stitched in that she gave me. And I love how she took the colors and textures from the landscape to create the squares on the left! Well done Becky! 

I had stitched in a piece of one of her coloring pages....and now she's starting to doodle.

Microburst of Joy

I have been working in little microbursts on Roseanne's altered art journal....the final burst just today. It's all done...and I'm quite pleased with it. 

These journals are fun because they're so unique and personal. The papers are almost all from Roseanne...so it will be personal to her. And it's unique because there's not another one like this anywhere! 

Our friendship means a lot to me...and that I was able to do this for her makes it personal to me. 

Almost all of the pages are edged...giving some color inspiration 

for each spread. And it looks really cool from the side.

Almost every time I've assemble one....I think of something new. While I was making Becky's I thought to fold lighter weight papers over the edge of the journal page so they would be more stable. I used to always rip the pages down and stitch on the extension. I still rip pages...but I do a whole lot or wrapping....and every page is stitched.

Just today...as I was running low on Roseanne's papers and going through the leftovers and scraps and I had another idea.

Here I glued two scraps together...folded it over the edge and stitched it down.

I love this new technique...and used it in several places. 

This is what a microburst of joy looks like!

Process and Potential

Subtitle: Do What You Love!

January 1st seemed like a good day to start some new...but also something familiar and comfortable. I've had a pile of art papers from Roseanne and a blank art journal to alter since mid November. Today was the right day to get started. 

I love the process and the potential the journal holds for the recipient for more art and play.

I love that the papers are all Roseanne's...although I may tuck a few of mine here and there. 

I love tearing the pages...then stitching in something new.

I love curating the papers to create interest and flow.

I love the side view.

I love watching the journal evolve and get chunky.

I love finding something I could cut out and stitch in.

Then I loved finding the right contrasting paper for underneath....

...that coordinated beautifully with the paper on the opposite page 

leaving the middle for anything Roseanne wants to add.

And I love little colorful moments that make me smile.

Here's to starting a process I love on this first day of the new year! 

Bring on 2026! There's nothing but potential! 

Balance and Flow

Here's to seeking out joy in the waiting, beauty in the ordinary, and hope in unexpected places. Morgan Harger Nichols

Most of my art projects will wait until after the holidays....but I'm finding a few minutes here and there so work in my Playful Pages art journal. As you may remember....I assembled the bones of the journal with some of my painted papers.....the colors inspired by this vintage paper on the inside cover. 

This was my starting place. The plan from here...with Rebecca's class guidance...is to add to and layer the pages so the spreads have balance and flow from one to the next. 

Here's where I'm at now.

I am trying to balance colors and repeat patterns to create flow. I'm extending the wire vine onto other pages and will try and connect them to something wherever they land. When I tuck something on a page that is peeking through...that gives me a start for that page spread when the time comes. 

The process is playful and engaging. 

Here was the first step with just a few papers 

and the original wire vine tissue overlay.

I'm finding hope in unexpected places.

That Moment

Subtitle: It Feels Like Magic

Sometimes joy looks like that moment when you notice your wire vine has leaves that are like tiny saucers. 

I took my wire vine to the sink to water....and I also gave it a little shower. I was absolutely smitten with the way the water pooled up on the concave leaves. 

And joy sometimes feels like that moment when watering my plant led to an idea that will end up becoming one of the repeated themes in my Playful Pages art journal.

I love Rebecca Chapman's use of black and white transparent tissue photos in her work....but I was struggling with the prints I made from my photos. 

I love the simple lines and round leaves of the a wire vine...so why not copy them like I did the ferns a few days ago! I already had some pressed....so off to the printer I went.

I placed some of the pressed vines on the printer bed....fed my taped tissue through the paper feed...and printed in black and white.

I love the result...other than the positioning over the tape. 

I found more vines I had hiding in books and made 3 or 4 prints to cut up and use throughout the journal. I started by adding to the cover. It was either going to work...or not. 

I added swatches of the tissue prints using matt medium. I put down a thin layer of medium and placed the tissue with the printed side DOWN so the ink would run. I carefully smoothed it out and topped it off with another layer of medium. The medium makes the edges of the tissue nearly disappear. I cut the pieces smaller than the cover on purpose.....then using a black pen I extended the lines of the vines so they would go of the edges of the covers. I also added a few more leaves here and there. The vines were just the focal point! It worked! 

I'm going to enjoy all the moments I incorporate the

wire vine prints into my little Playful Pages journal. 

It feels like magic!

It Can Wait!

Melissa Kirsch's newsletter in the New York Times yesterday was was called Pushing Off...and headlined three words that were reassuring to hear. It Can Wait!

Where has the time gone....I can't believe Thanksgiving is just a few days away. The holiday season has its own engine...Melissa writes...one that's been gaining momentum since Halloween and will shift into even higher gears as we hit the straightaway that leads to the year's end. There's an urgency that can feel both exciting and overwhelming.

My latest finished puzzle.
I LOVED IT!!!

While we prepare for and savor the holiday season there is no way we can do it all. Whether it's art projects or the chores still on the do list...you can't do it all. Some of it can wait. Some of it has to.

I finally feel like I have a bit of creative momentum...and I hope to find a little time each day to keep the spark alive. But some of it is just going to have to wait until after the holidays. It's time to get the guest room ready for our lone Thanksgiving house guest and do a deep clean of the condo. There's still some shopping to do and preparations for Thanksgiving...Paul's birthday and all the family gatherings that will happen in the next week. Then there's Christmas decorating....and I really want to savor all that holiday joyful puttering.

But....I did want to share a little peak at the inside Playful Pages of my newest handmade art journal. I DO hope this is one project that doesn't have to wait until January.

These are just the bones....the background pages that are already layered....overlapping in interesting ways. But they are just the beginning of the journey I am taking with Rebecca Chapman's Playful Pages class.  

I had an incredibly productive day getting all kinds of things checked off my list...including another step in the journal that I can't wait and share tomorrow.

Just look at these puzzle colors!

The colors and the vintage vibe coordinates with my journal!

Maybe IT....will become part of my inspiration!

"Playful Pages" Cover

I counted at least 80 ducks on the pond today! What fun it was to hear all the honking and watch them playing round. They're all on their way somewhere...but I'm so glad they stopped by for a visit!  

I used a heavy calendar page as the base for the cover of my Playful Pages art journal. I cut swatches of the painted papers and randomly patched together them like a crazy quilt attaching them to the calendar with a glue stick. I folded the edges over to the back and covered the inside cover with vintage floral paper. This is just a base layer.....I will likely add more as I go along with the class.

This two sided vintage looking paper was the inspiration color scheme for the papers and the book. It reminds me of the wall paper at my grandmother's house...maybe that's why I was drawn to it. I used a little on the cover and will incorporate it here and there inside too. I'll share the inside pages tomorrow.

I was also compelled to do a few more prints using brighter colors as the underpainting.  And they coordinate with the vintage inspiration paper too!

"Joy on the Loose!"

I'm adopted this joy on the loose phrase from Dotty straight from on her latest blog post. I couldn't love the vibe of it more. 

Dotty unleashed her joy in an art challenge called Random Acts of Art! Her mission was to create small works of art to leave in public spaces and places for others to find and...maybe even take home.

This was her first little piece. How fun is this. I love this challenge!

Latching onto this fabulous phrase...along with my visit with Ida yesterday...has helped my creative joy start to get a little loosened up. 

I spent this morning outside doing a few more put the  gardens to bed chores. It was a day after a full inch + of rain...so it felt good to be out celebrating the dampness. Then I headed to the studio.

After just enough surface clean-up yesterday...there was enough space to tend to some unfinished business. I had just a handful of pages to finish in Tracie's altered journal....and it was the perfect project for me.

I used some of my baby powder prints for the last pages...and smiled when I remembered that this was the post I made up a word inspired by a comment from Dotty. Refojo: refocusing my joy!

That's seems to be just what Dotty is helping me do again today!

I think the powder pages layer up nicely and will give Tracie some starting places for more art and collage.

I still am going to make a junk journal for Tracie with some papers she sent me...but I think I'm going to get this journal in the mail. The junk journal will have a whole different feel...and include some her grandson's art.

My hope was to give these to her in person back in September...but unfortunately she and Loon had to postpone their trip to Portland.

So a little joyful puttering is coming your way Tracie! It's joy on the loose.

This view makes me so happy! I have another journal to alter waiting in the wings....I'm going to do the same thing for Roseanne with her own papers! It's kind of becoming a thing that I do.