Roben-Marie Smith

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Roben-Marie Smith

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Entries in challenge (5)

Saturday
Feb082014

the documented life project: weekly challenge 7

Welcome to Week 7 of The Documented Life Project!

February 8 - Draw one Shape. Repeat. Add Color. 

I knew I would love this week's challenge! Any project that is repetitive in nature calms me. I can draw the same thing over and over again and feel myself de-stress. It is silly, but true. 

Circles are my favorite. To create my shape I took one of my homemade palettes, a paper plate, and cut several different sizes of my shape out. I stitched them to a piece of patterned cardstock that had white circles printed on it and filled them in with two bold colors.

I chose to make my tip in much smaller for this week. I wanted my circle shapes to hang off of the edges so I could see more of my planner page peeking from behind. I love the way that this challenge turned out. It is bright and colorful and the paper plate circles have a lot of yummy texture. The mix of paint, gesso, ink and thread all create a painterly look- just what I wanted!

Want to stitch something to your page? You can see a quick little video here----->  STITCHING ON PAPER.

 

I am looking forward to seeing your interpretations of this week's challenge and I can't wait to meet you back here next week!

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            Rae

            Lorraine

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            Roben-Marie


Tuesday
Jan212014

15 minutes of mixed media

This week's 15 minutes of mixed media challenge turned out even better than I had hoped. I love the colors.

This week I started with a ghost print of a gelli print. This was a print that was already in my art journal. It gave me a slight edge, as starting with a back ground will do. I like it. Sometimes it is a great springboard for color and definition on a page.

Having backgrounds at the ready in your journal is a simple way to add layers to your 15 minute challenge as well as perserve supplies. I never wipe my gelli plate to clean it. I always keep printing until all the paint is depleted. This makes beautiful ghost (or light) prints. I also like to take extra paint off of the palette and swipe it on the page, smearing it out from the center as I go. To do this I like to use an old credit card or a scraper.

Here is the short list of supplies that I had on hand before I started the timer. Remember, having just a few supplies at the ready saves valuable time when the clock is ticking! *5 paint colors (just run of the mill cheap craft paints. I would list the colors, but most of them are so old the labels are worn off) *sticky note tabs *permanent marker *black and white paint pens *glue stick *scraps of painted deli paper *stamp *stamp pad *embosser (to speed up the drying process in between layers) *dylusions blue spray ink

Setting the timer is certainly a challenge on most days, but it gets my creative mind racing. I usually begin a bit harried, but by the time the buzzer rings I am in a flow. Remember- if you are joining in on this challenge and setting the timer- THIS IS YOUR ART JOURNAL. Depending on your schedule and what goals you have set for yourself, YOU DON'T HAVE TO STOP THERE. Keep creating. If nothing else, you will have spent 15 minutes setting up a base for your layout. I choose to stick to the 15 minutes so that I can post honest to goodness 15 MINUTES OF MIXED MEDIA ART JOURNAL PAGES.

If you have started playing along I would love to hear about it. Love how your art is turning out when you set the timer? Send me a few photos via the contact page- I would love to see them! Enjoy!

Sunday
Jan052014

the documented life project- weekly challenge 2

Welcome to Week 2 of The Documented Life Project!

January 5 Challenge - Say Cheese! This week's challenge is to incorporate a selfie into your planner.

This can be done as simply as snapping a photo with your phone, printing it out and adding it to your planner. Dont' want to add your sweet face to your planner? No worries! Consider using words to describe yourself and add those to your planner instead. Not into the selfie scene? Remember! This challenge is totally optional! Feel free to skip right over it and wait for next week's challenge! In addition, if you are participating in One Little Word and would like to share that in your selfie or on your page, then add that in as well.

I am in full "use what I have mode" this year- especially since I am in the middle of big move. I am purging big time and finding that while I don't really WANT to use up this old stuff, it always turns out ok in the end.

Having made up my mind to be faithful to this "green goal" I set for myself, I grabbed some old patterned paper and my sewing machine. I stitched some of that paper to a gelli print that used as a tip-in in my planner.

I listed some of the things I AM on some vintage ledger paper and tacked that to the bottom of my photo. A reminder to myself that I wear a lot of hats and that is a tough job in itself. I need to be kind to myself when I feel I am losing ground. I just layered up from there, adding a painted deli paper monogram and some painted greens from the woods behind my house. And I added my One Little Word for the year. LOVE. My word could have been a million things this year. I wanted to use LET GO. But I chose LOVE instead. I want to LOVE where I am have been. LOVE where I am going and most importantly, I want to LET GO WITH LOVE.

I can choose to be happy. I can choose to embrace the future. I can choose to LOVE what is in front of me. I welcome 2014 with LOVE. Looking forward to your interpretations of this week's challenge and can't wait to meet you back here next week! 

You can find us:
*Our Blogs

 

Post your challenge response to your favorite social media and upload it to our Flickr group or Facebook group to share in the community of Life Documentors!

Wednesday
Jan012014

The Documented Life Project- Weekly Challenge 1

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU FELLOW DOCUMENTERS!

You can read more about THE DOCUMENTED LIFE PROJECT on the ART TO THE 5TH BLOG!

WEEK ONE CHALLENGE - PHOTOGRAPH, SKETCH, PAINT OR INCORPORATE YOUR FRONT DOOR

The time has finally arrived and we can begin our challenges for the year. I am so excited to create, journal, and document alongside all of you! January starts with a bang! It starts with one door closing and a new one opening! For this first challenge we asked that you incorporate your FRONT DOOR into your weekly documentation, using any medium of your choice.

I am a loner by nature. I like to be able to look out, but am not always keen on people looking in. My door was a perfect representation of that part of me. From the road you couldn't see much through the glass- just a faint flicker of light now and then. But I could see it all. I loved that feeling of being a part of the world, but the world not being able to get at me too easily. I am fortunate in that my view has afforded me a peaceful view of the world, something that I will cherish always- will miss when I walk out of this door in the next few weeks...

My front door is a touchy subject right now. After ten years in our home, we are faced with the sad task of moving, something that has me grieving after so much time here. I wanted the the new year to surprise me, gift me with the chance to stay here, but it was not her gift to give. Instead, I find myself facing the reality of closing this door for the last time.

It is scary to start the new year with such a loud and final bang. I am afraid and sad, but I know that a home is not just a house. It is not a address or a number. A house is is just that-  a house- until you choose to make it a HOME.

I know, that with time, I will learn to love the view out of my new front door. I know that it will become a part of who I am and that I will create new memories worth saving in this new place. I get to take all the people who have my heart with me. That should be enough. I am learning as I go. Learning to let go, learning to let others in, and learning that a house really is not a home, because......a HOME IS WHERE YOUR HEART IS!

For my collage I used a photo of my front door, old ledger paper, painted deli paper, acrylic paint, dylusions inks, a permanent marker, paint pens, and humber stamps.I can't wait to see all of the beautiful interpretations of this week's challenge and I look forward to sharing with you each week!

You can find us:
*Our Blogs

 

Post your challenge response to your favorite social media and upload it to our Flickr group or Facebook group to share in the community of Life Documentors!

Thursday
Sep272012

currently: i am...

 

I am participating in Ali Edward's blog challenge.

Currently, I am:

Missing meal time. I never thought I would say this, but I am missing the fuss of family dinner. When I was cooking a big meal every night, around 7 different people’s schedules, I think I might have complained a time or two… (No more than that, I’m sure!) …but now that there is just the three of us at the table each night I am feeling a little sad… missing the banter, daily dramas and silly jokes that took place around that eight foot dinner table.

Purging  like crazy. I mean like crazy nuts. Rifling through closets, drawers, cupboards and pantries – chucking stuff left and right, getting ready for a big community wide garage sale. Last year it was a bust – only the Church Thrift Store, where I dropped twelve boxes of stuff off, made out like a bandit…BUT….I thought I would give it a whirl again this year. Besides, my local thrift store is looking forward to seeing me again!

Wondering “where the hek did the time go?” I see my “baby” climbing into the car after school and can’t believe it is the same little peanut that was just 4 pounds when I brought her home. She is still a peanut, but has entered middle school this year and has asked me EVERY SINGLE NIGHT SINCE SCHOOL STARTED to teach her to shave her legs! I tell her she can’t – she’s just the baby. She rolls her eyes and walks away…which leaves me right back where I started at 3:30 pm when she climbed into the car – WONDERING?!

Sketching a coffee table – a coffee table that I have been wanting for over a year now. Does it exist? Apparently, only in my mind, so I have been trying to make a rough (very rough) drawing of what I want it to look like so my husband can help me build it. I keep dreaming it will appear at IKEA, but so far it is just a dream.

Offering up my worries. It is tough to offer up your worries, to trust God whole heartedly, to let go, move on. I am actively offering up my worries each morning before I rise. I know that God can be and will be the only one to move me through what appears to be a tough situation. Reminding myself it is in His hands is a safe and sane start to each day.

Searching for a lost earring, STILL. I lost it two months ago. I won’t give up. It is my most favorite little earring. I don’t even know if I am searching in the right places, but just thinking I might find it makes the search worthwhile. P.S. Why are the $2.00 earrings always are favorites and the only ones we lose?

Listening to the sweet, sweet sound of my child learning to play the violin. It is fascinating to listen to her play as she seems to have a sound all her own. I want to close my eyes when I listen, that is how good it makes me feel.

Focusing on relaxing. Trying not to count while I do anything -  ok everything. Focusing on letting go and knowing I do not always have to be multi tasking. Focusing on slowing down and rewarding myself.

Photographing anything I see. I had missed this the last few months as I became busier and busier. Now I make time to do nothing but take pictures.

Learning all about Instagram and Facebook. I am terrified of social media and it has been a huge deal for me to learn it and live it as I try to grow my business. Some of this is hard folks – I actually had to take notes! I am not sure I can learn to love it.

Sewing up a storm. Lots of cool new things using reclaimed vintage quilts, funky new fabrics and even burlap. That machine definitely is getting a workout - plus the monotony of sewing calms me. The up and down of the needle, the hum of the machine, the trimming of threads, over and over again.

Loving  that my son love’s life. He is always LIVING – whittling his own bow and arrow for instance. Who does that now-a-days? He was on a mission to collect and prepare geese feathers for his flights. I drove him to a small local poultry farm and there he hunted and gathered only the most pristine feathers. I asked him why he wanted to make a bow and arrow in the first place. He said, “Because it is cool. I want to do lots of cool things in life Mom. Making my own bow and arrow is just one of them.”