Acrylics?!?

and i don't mean acrylic nails.... happy thursday friends!!

i was kinda crazy when i signed up for TGF's He-ART Journaling class, seeing how i have a huge pile on my plate as is... i was very much ready to step out of my comfort zone and try this new thing that is a rave all over the world.... so i signed up... for personal and crafting reasons... i do believe this will open up the world of mixed media to me and may or may not help me grow in the different aspects of crafting, i won't know unless i try... it is definitely worth a try... it's a 23 week course of basically journaling in the form of art, hope i can keep up... i had SO much fun with the 1st week's assignment... SPREAD YOUR WINGS! in the sense that you reflect on something with wings... ie, fairies, angels, butterflies, birds, etc on your journal pages.... i chose to do butterflies...
here is my 2 page creation... butterflies was the first thing that came to mind after reading the assignment... to me, the butterfly is very symbolic in the sense of metamorphosis, and i put that on my life in general and then my crafting life... we all hit transitions in our lifetime and what better comparison than the butterfly to relate to.... (yes, the very hungry caterpillar is one of my FAVE books)... i've added 3 butterflies on to these pages that represent my 3 children... why?!? because for me, each one of them have transitioned me into becoming a better person in their own unique ways and because it represents their changing lives (transitions)... i see butterflies as being so pure and innocent... just like my kiddies.... i love butterflies, always have, but it wasn't until i was much older that i truly looked into the symbolic reference of butterflies and compared it to life.... welcome to the beginning...

the next thing to go along with the whole meaning of butterflies was that i wanted to try a different medium, which would represent my crafting... so i stocked up on some acrylic paints... a decent priced set of colors since i'm not sure if acrylic painting is for me i just wanted to try a few first.... yes this is my first time using them and OH I LOVE IT!! i love the textures it leaves on the paper.. my basic background here is all acrylic painting... the blue sky, the grass, clouds, and flower stems.... oh but i admit one thing about the painting.... took my 3 tries to do one and i made a big mess.... but oh it was super fun!

mixed media?! well if you can consider adding embellishments to the paint, i used a pack of prima flowers to add to the stems and some feathered butterflies....
here's a pix just showing the 3D effect to the pages... i opted to not scribble on my pages just yet... it's too nice to mess up with my ugly hand writing.... but i eventually will... i decided to dedicate the complete journal to my kiddies so they can reflect on me when they want to and see what was going through my mind through the course of this class... i won't work on the dedication page until i complete the whole journal first and i have yet to figure out how i want to decorate the cover... i have it covered with some yuzen paper and have a quote in mind that will tie in with the dedication page but not sure about the "other" elements... so you'll just have to stay tuned for that... =D

overall the first week went great! ventured to a different type of crafting which is way past the comfort zone... paper crafting will always be my first love, although i'm really loving this new art journaling.... so each week (if i can keep up) you'll see journal pages for sharing...

phew! have you stuck on to read this whole post?! if you did, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! If not, hey atleast you stopped by! Thanks for coming by and sharing a brief moment with me! join me tomorrow for something down to earth... =D