Saturday 31 January 2015

Inspire Your Heart with Art Day!

Welcome to Magpieheaven. When Danielle May of Unruly Paper Arts invited me to join in an Inspire Your Heart with Art link up, I was really excited! January 31st is the celebration of inspiring our hearts with art - as well as being my wedding anniversary! All we have to do is share a piece of work that gives us pleasure - no rules, no restrictions - today it's creativity for its own sake and it's all about having fun and creating from the heart! Once we've linked up, we can visit at least three other participants and enjoy what they have been creating and leave them a heartfelt comment. I do hope you will join in too, link up a project that has given you pleasure, or take a look at what the other 'Unrulies' have been up to here.

Recently I was invited to take part in a Facebook Artist Chain and in looking back over past work, I realized how much I used to enjoy art journaling. It is ages since I took down a journal from my shelf so I decided to remedy that! My dear crafting friend Lucy had created a beautiful journal for me as a gift.



I took the cover as my inspiration and decided to step away from the cold winter into a flourishing Secret Garden of my own!


I was really indulgent, using layers of my favourite paint colours: PaperArtsy Frescos in Hey Pesto and Beach Hut, Cherry Red and Yellow Submarine and my favourite stamps and stencils!

A while ago I created a journal page with scenes from Pre-Raphelite paintings behind little doors. I really wanted to re-visit this, but this time I used a shuttered window stamp by Crafty Individuals, stamped onto masterboard. You can probably see that I had lots of fun stencilling and stamping onto the card, using PaperArtsy Mini and Darcy leaf stamps. Who is that peeping between the shutters? The poppy is cut from the top layer of a paper napkin and fixed with PaperArtsy Satin Glaze.


On this window, napkin ivy swirls around the window. I had so much fun with all these layers of stamping, painting and stencils. I can see a Tim Holtz diamond stamp there; some Gothic script from a PaperArtsy Mini and the hint of a butterfly from a wood mounted stamp my son bought me when I first started to craft!



Because this project is just for me, I used a little face I'd created the other evening and scanned into my computer to print out for projects. Here she is an image transfer over book text.

Inside the shutters there's a sentiment from a Darcy Wilkinson stamp plate...


'Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.'


Here is the face peeping through the other window.


My favourite childhood book was 'The Secret Garden', which I read again and again. I so enjoyed watching Mary Lennox change from a sour and unhappy orphan, lost and alone in the cold and uninviting Misselthwaite Manor to a happy child with glowing cheeks able to love and be loved by those around her. It's a little bit old-fashioned now, but this story still presents us with a believable heroine and shows how contact with the Natural World can transform us.


 Mary's self-taught gardening skills give her a purpose and open up a magical world of friendship and hope. I was quite a lonely little girl myself so bad-tempered Mary; Dickon always surrounded by wild creatures; Colin the querulous invalid who, like Mary learns to love and hope and Martha the little housemaid - even the grumpy old gardener Ben Witherspoon who mellows as the story progresses - became my friends. I dreamed of finding that tiny brass key, half hidden by leaves and opening a creaking wooden door to enchantment. Thank you so much for stopping by Magpieheaven today. I'm really looking forward to seeing what others have created for this Inspire Your Heart with Art Day.



31 comments:

  1. Absolutely stunning Julie Ann xxx

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  2. Happy Anniversary, hope you are enjoying the day - thanks for sharing your secret garden journal, to brighten up what is now a very dull day weatherwise! At least it's stopped snowing...

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  3. I often think of The Secret Garden Julie Ann, as it had an impact upon me too! We create nooks and crannies in our garden for Rose and George to explre and hide objects for them to find. The layers of love on your page are stunning and the napkin ivy leaves add something special too. Another beautiful project that stirs the senses! Xx

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  4. Crikey, explore, not expire. Blooming predictive strikes again!

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  5. So enjoy your blog posts, Julie! And this piece is absolutely beautiful!

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  6. This is fabulously wonderful and wonderfully fabulous! I love it all. There's nothing like a blank journal; the pages wait anxiously for someone to fill them. You've certainly filled yours with beautiful work!

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  7. I cannot tell you how much this touched my heart. The Secret Garden was always one of my favorites, book and movie. I even bought the movie for my GDs to watch.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  8. This is gorgeous, julie Ann. I love the faces behind the French shuttered windows, and the vibrant colours. I hope you and terry are having a lovely day,

    Lucy x

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  9. Unique and very clever Art Journal pages♥

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  10. Way-hey!! I love this fabulous celebration page! The colours, the images, the secret doors - brilliant! Chrisxx

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  11. Gorgeous piece of Art Julie!! So much detail work and I loved to read the whole process. I am sure you enjoyed creating this...yes I too realized these days, I love to play in my journal!!
    Your posts are always inspiring, thanks for sharing with us :)

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  12. That is so beautiful. The Secret Garden was always one of my favourite stories too.

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  13. Stunning work Julie Ann! I love how this has come together with your face peeping out. My fav stories as a child were the little princess and Heidi. Inspired now :) xxx

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  14. Hope you had a wonderful day yesterday and had a fantastic anniversary celebration! I have never read the Secret Garden as i loved to read fantasy and sc-fi books to escape from the world and now don't read much as my concentration isn't what it used to be.

    Another wonderful heartfelt creation full of your wonderful mind and genius creative skills, such inspiration as always Julie Ann :-) xxx

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  15. I'm sitting here with my mouth open in delight, drinking in all the beautiful details, Julie Ann. The page you've created inside Lucy's lovely album is simply wonderful. The colours are drop dead gorgeous, and those little windows, opening to reveal your charming faces - it's all just so love-love-lovely.
    Alison xx

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  16. First of all Happy Anniversary to you and your Mr Magpie!
    It is no surprise that your beautiful secret garden is full of color and depth and so much more dear Julie Ann! Your sweet faces peeking out of the windows along with the keep your face to sun quote are so precious.
    How lovely it must be to turn the pages of your beautiful journal!
    oxo

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  17. So beautiful, love your colour palette and all your beautiful imagery. Belated happy anniversary!

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  18. Oh I adore this!Just love windows that open.I like to include them in my work too!

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  19. Happy Anniversary !!!! Ok... where do I start..... I'm so glad you decided to dust off that art journal and inspire my heart with this piece.... Beautiful colors... your page made me smile real BIG... I love how you took the stamped images and created opened windows... so creative... Thank you for joining us at Unruly for this special art day

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  20. Oh my goodness, this is gorgeous!!! I love that there are so many things going on, and the windows are really cool and adorable! Beautiful colors and lots of stamping - just my cuppa tea :-)
    xox

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  21. This is the first time I've ever commented on someone's blog. I had to...this is an absolutely beautiful page!

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    1. I know you probably will never see this Cindy, but I had no way of replying to you that I could discover and I just wanted to thank you for your kindness in commenting. xx

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  22. Julie Ann- Happy Anniversary- belated! I hope it was a wonderfully special day for you and your husband!

    Your pages here are so enchanting- brings back to feeling like a young girl- discovering her own secret garden! Very inspiring my friend~ xo

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  23. oh my gosh this is so wonderful! and the face is the best ever. beautiful heart inspired art! xo

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  24. Beautiful bright colours! A magical spread! xxx

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  25. Absolutely wonderful piece of journal art Julie Ann! Love your gorgeous faces talented lady!

    Hugs
    Lesley Xx

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  26. This has been so wonderfully inspired by this book of your childhood... I adore these pages with the door by Crafty Individuals (love this door stamp too) and your opening inside on the lovely face... Wow! Hugs, Coco Xx

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  27. This has been so wonderfully inspired by this book of your childhood... I adore these pages with the door by Crafty Individuals (love this door stamp too) and your opening inside on the lovely face... Wow! Hugs, Coco Xx

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