Dylusions December Facebook Challenge

I DID IT,  I DID IT !!! One of my goals for 2015 was to start work in my  Dylusions Journal.
I've been participating in other Challenges, doing blog hops , making cards, trying new projects, doing my 12 Tags of 2015 and caring for sick family members; doing a wedding, but I could never seem to get around to my Art Journal . Well December was here... Christmas gone ... it's do or die time... LOL !

I love Dyan  Reaverley's work and her stamps and have planned for a couple of years to "try" my hand at it. I've got quite a stash of inks and stamps... working on adding to the collection ... but I had a "light bulb" moment... you gotta use what you bought!!! So here I am ... December Challenge; use blue with snow flakes... I can handle that especially since I won the cute little Holiday Stamp and Stencil set from Ranger ! Woo Hoo
Do you ever get petrified just before starting something new ? I do ... it was like I never handle inks before ...hahaha (I'm A Tim-A-holic) ... anyway the start was very slow...

My background was done with  London Blue,  Vibrant Turquoise and After Midnight ink sprays. I was so giddy when I saw how it came out ... yay background done now what ... hehehe ... I knew I wanted to use Pondering Petunia and I knew I had snowflake stencils  from Stocking Fillers Stamp set my pages sat for almost three days. NOTHING was coming to mind except me pondering... I stamped the snowflakes ... I gotta tell you I was NOT impressed... oh man how difficult can snowflakes be... they were ugly ... smudgy, lacked definition... what did I do wrong... I turned the stencil over and did another set ... well better. Sooooo I left it alone for two more days, then I decided to use the stencil with texture paste ... yay cool snowflakes; decided to use (from my prize package) Stickles I used Wonderland and Frozen ... well I liked them at first ... then NO !! Okay so those other ugly snowflakes needed help, I used my Martha Steward stylus set  and created designs on some of the "mushy "  snow flakes that bought some life to them ... oh well clock is ticking I need to wrap this snowflake mess up (NOTE to self :Look up instructions for this stencil ... AFTER New Year ) hahaha!! What came to mind as I was doing this was "You gotta believe you can do this, believe in yourself ... this was applying to my project at hand and to my real life situation with my brothers illness " ... So I added BELIEVE to my page ( from Word Love Stamp Set) ... hahaha another story in itself! I added evergreen branches ( from  Christmas Accessories) that I stamped with black archival ink and then decided to stamp over them with  Mowed Lawn Distressing ink as that was the color I used for Petunia's dress and leggings.... I'm liking the look I added Christmas balls from the Christmas Asscessories Set also. I was beginning to like the look. Okay ...  snowflakes NEED some snow ... using my Picket Fence Distress Paint and that cool splatter brush  (Tim Holtz) I created snow ... oops ... I got too excited I got a little flurry towards the bottom ... hum not to worry it fit right in. My thought at this point was  WALK AWAY FROM THE PAGE NOW... DO NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE... there you have it my first Dylusions page ever !

As I worked on this page I reflected on the "season" my family and I are in with my brother's illness (stage 4 cancer). More so than ever before I'm wanting to make the most of every opportunity that I have; it means pressing beyond my limits, exploring.  There's times of knowing what to do, not knowing what to do; wondering if you did the right thing, or enough ... you are angry, frustrated, sad... you have silly moments, lonely moments. I think my page encompasses ALL of that . I'm believing my faith will carry me through whatever lies ahead and that I have a faithful ever loving God (represented by the evergreen) who will be by my side every step of the way;  through the ugly, the indifferent and the beautiful !  I'm ready for 2016 ... How about you ?? Happy New Year !