Category Archives: #Art

Trust Your Heart

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A Thrust Your Heart EditedCreating this page was more about having confidence in my art journey. To trust my process and growth in creating from the heart. Trusting myself to be authentic, and to reach further in my exploration of art.

I thought adding the image of the people Kayaking was perfect because that is one of my favorite water activities, which I rarely get to do anymore and its fitting to the background image.  -Stephanie Hopkins

 

“Artists are people who make art. Art is not a gene or a specific talent … Art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches another … Art is who we are and what we do and what we need. Art isn’t a result; it’s a journey. The challenge of our time is to find a journey worthy of your heart and your soul. “ -Author Unknown

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

Curtain Call

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A Curtain call EditedI really enjoyed creating this art journal page with just using paper from a book, stencils and inks for the background. It gave me the perfect medium to journal my thoughts for the day to the upper and lower corners of the page using a Tombow Black Marker. The image in the middle is an ephemera tag I made a few weeks ago and I thought it perfect for this piece. the “Curtain Call” wording seemed fitting for my thoughts that day. Below is a quote I found online with the phrase. -Stephanie Hopkins

“Hurried and worried until we’re buried, and there’s no curtain call, Lifes a very funny proposition after all.” -George M Cohan

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

Happy Mail Haul

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A Master PictureLast week I received another package in the mail from Lisl and I would like to share with you all what she sent me.  Most of these items-if not all-are thrifted. I think her state has better donated items to use for mixed media projects than my state does! I am so thankful and over- whelmed with gratitude. A big thank you and virtual hug to Lisl. I can’t wait to see what mixed media projects I create using these cherished items. The book, “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books,” is to read and I started it already and really enjoying the story thus far.

Even though Lisl thrifted these items well before the virus outbreak in the states, when the package came, I left it outside-hidden-in the direct sun for a couple of hours. Then I sprayed the outer box before opening it up to take the contents out. I put them in a bag and brought it on the house. Doing all this I wore gloves. Then I took pictures of the items and put them back in the bag and didn’t get them out for a couple days. After putting everything back in the bag, I sprayed the area of the floor I used to display the items. During these times we are asked to take theses precautions during the quarantined.

 

I pray that everyone is being safe. My heart and prayers go out to the people we have lost and to the families of the victims of this awful virus. -Stephanie Hopkins

Happy Easter: He is Risen

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A He is Risen 4-11-2020Millions of Christians worldwide celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that is what Easter Sunday means to us. It represents Jesus Christ’s triumph over death and eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him.

Today I’m sharing a page from my personal journal marking this special day. I thought about creating a page with an image of the stone rolled from Jesus’s tomb but decided to use the image of the cross as a reminder of His love for us and the price He paid for us sinners.  -Stephanie Hopkins

Matthew 28: 1-6

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.

John 3:16 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

 

Mixed Media Art Tags

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Normally I don’t blog twice in one day but I wanted to share these creations with you. One of my favorite mediums to create are my own backgrounds and pattern paper. Last night I made new Mixed Media Tags using my watercolor pattern paper for the background, Tombow Markers, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, rubber stamps, clear stamps and watercolor paper. I created the back ground a while back and use it for various projects. You can use these tags for jouranling, add to gift bags, cards and mixed media art projects. The colors look more vibrant in person. The camera on my phone is not very good. I need to start using a camera, me thinks. These tags are going to a friend who commissioned me to make tags using my papers. She did want a washed out look to them so I had to change things up a bit. A challenge I enjoyed doing. -Stephanie Hopkins

Artsits Tags with watercolors

“I do tend to use watercolors – I love the splatter sort of thing you can do with watercolors.” -Mini Grey

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(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

Cover Crush: A Saint from Texas by Edmund White

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Cover: I like the simplicity of this book cover and the sketch-like drawing of the image. Cover layouts doesn’t always have be heavy-if you will- or bright with contrast to make a statement.

Premise: Two sisters from humble beginnings and decades of life changing experiences and what they make of it sounds intriguing.

Stephanie Hopkins

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A Saint from TexasA Saint from Texas

by Edmund White

Bloomsbury Publishing

Pub Date 04 Aug 2020

Description

From Edmund White, a bold and sweeping new novel that traces the extraordinary fates of twin sisters, one destined for Parisian nobility and the other for Catholic sainthood.

Yvette and Yvonne Crawford are twin sisters, born on a humble patch of East Texas prairie but bound for far more dramatic and tragic fates. Just as an untold fortune of oil lies beneath their daddy’s land, both girls harbor their own secrets and dreams-ones that will carry them far from Texas and from each other. As the decades unfold, Yvonne will ascend the highest ranks of Parisian society as Yvette gives herself to a lifetime of worship and service in the streets of Jericó, Colombia. And yet, even as they remake themselves in their radically different lives, the twins find that the bonds of family and the past are unbreakable.

Spanning the 1950s to the recent past, Edmund White’s marvelous novel serves up an immensely pleasurable epic of two Texas women as their lives traverse varied worlds: the swaggering opulence of the Dallas nouveau riche, the airless pretension of the Paris gratin, and the strict piety of a Colombian convent. For nearly half a century, Edmund White’s work has revitalized American literature, blithely breaking down boundaries of class and sexuality, and A Saint From Texas is one of his most joyous, gorgeously written, and piercing works to date.

Cover Crush banner

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

 

 

Be Brave, Believe in Yourself

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A You Be Brave Mixed Media Page IIYou Be Brave

“I am my own biggest critic. Before anyone else has criticized me, I have already criticized myself. But for the rest of my life, I am going to be with me and I don’t want to spend my life with someone who is always critical. So I am going to stop being my own critic. It’s high time that I accept all the great things about me.”
― C. JoyBell C.

This page I created is to remind myself to continue to be brave. Never give up. Have courage. Be strong always. Believe in yourself because you are loved. -Stephanie Hopkins

 

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

Cherish the Moments

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A cherish the moments pageThis is an art page from my art journal that I created this past Saturday. I was in a mood for cool colors and a simple layout. Yet it expresses cherishing moments in our everyday lives and brought me to mind of a quote by John Adams.

“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”

This quote is so fitting to the moment of creating this piece and for my love of reading and journaling.

Also, I took the time to look out the window and enjoyed the beauty of the day that the season of spring brings us. It is a symbol of new beginnings and reflection, in my view. We are seeing trouble times in our world at present and I hope with the social distancing we are experiencing gives us time to take a step back and think on what is important to us and if there is a change we need to make in our lives that going forward will bring that change.

I’m praying for us all and praying for the families and friends of the people we have lost due to the virus. My heart and thoughts go out to you all. Please be safe and God be with you all. -Stephanie Hopkins

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(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

 

Discovery and Expression

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A Mixed MEdia Circus Image PageOver the weekend I created several pages in my Mixed Media Journal and I discovered a couple things about myself in the journey. For this page I used a magazine clipping that my dear friend Lisl sent me and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

This week I will be sharing three of the pages I made and a couple bookish things.

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I highly recommend expressing your feelings through art journaling or just writing your thoughts down. Sometimes I have a lot to write about and other times I just create a page to just be in the moment and not think too much about things going on in life. The medium is truly therapeutic and so calming. You don’t need a lot of materials and toy can use what you have on hand.  -Stephanie Hopkins

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

Ephemera & Mixed Media

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I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The past two days, I created a few art pieces, made two journal pages and chilled out with shows on the tube. I may have enough ephemera and embellishments to last me several journals at this point but I can’t stop making them!

I used watercolors and watercolor paper for these backgrounds. After the paint dried, I used Tim Holtz Inks to create my image with Clear Stamps. The stamps are from various craft supply companies. There are a few here that I will need to fussy cut but it shouldn’t be a problem. I’m really pleased with how they came out. Do you prepare your Ephemera ahead of time? What are some of the techniques you use? There are so many different ways in creating them.

These two pieces come from a larger Master Board I painted on Saturday using a watercolor paper and acrylic paint I’m keeping the remaining pieces for future projects.

This piece came from a master board I created last week. Some of you might remember that project.

3292020H

Additional pieces I made.

Here are two books that I recently acquired that I’m hoping to get to soon. Can’t wait!

Be sure to check out my friend and fellow blogger’s post about Journaling Life: Anatomy of a Journal Entry!  -Stephanie Hopkins

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)