The Odd Whimsy

If you're looking at the title you're probably thinking to yourself "How is that even a thing?!" Well it is. I fell head over heels in love with Sennelier oil pastels last winter. So much so that I made a very large investment in buying the entire set of pastels. It came in this big, beautiful wooden box that held all 120 colors. It came and I would stare at the colors, and I would watch these videos of people making beautiful works of art with them.  I poked around with them a bit, but eventually they wound up sitting in their pretty box on a shelf. And that is where they have been since I bought them. Sitting on my shelf, collecting dust. Why you ask? Fear. Fear that my art wouldn't hold up to what I had seen created with them, fear that I wouldn't be able to handle the learning curve of oil pastels, fear that I wasn't good enough. What it boils down to is fear of myself and fear of failure more so then the art supply itself. Basically what I’...

Hello all!! I realized today that I have been very MIA from the world of blogging. Since I last posted I have shifted my gears a bit in terms of what I have been working on.  While I am still very much doing altered art, I have been focusing on my drawing and painting skills. Learning new mediums, and reconnecting with old ones has also been something I have been working towards.  My goal this year is to keep a more active blog, as well as to begin filming more YouTube videos.  In the mean time if you wish to keep up with more of what I have been up to, please visit me on Instagram at Amrtlj or use the hashtag #theoddwhimsy to find me.  Thanks for stopping by! -Altina 

Hello all! I am so beyond excited to be auditioning for the Graphic 45 team this year!! I was very proud to have made the top 30 two years ago, and am hopeful to make the team this year. For my audition I decided to do one of my favorite things, scrapbooking. I began scrapbooking at age 16 and over the years it’s developed into card making, and eventually to mixed media. Taking the time to learn mixed media has really helped me to grow as an artist, and I am now taking back what I have learned to my scrapbooking. For my page I decided to use the Raining Cats and Dogs collection to showcase a photo of my little black pug, Maddie. Maddie is always at my side wanting to know what I am up to, and am I going to share my food. I am all about dimension and texture on my pages. For this page I decided to try sewing around the edges. I am very happy with the way this turned out and felt it just gave an added detail to my page. I fussy cut several images from the paper...

Hello all!! Sorry to have been a bit MIA the last little bit. Work has kept me pretty busy, and on top of that I was switching my studio from one area to another so that I had more space.  Stay tuned for new projects and tutorials soon, and as always be sure to follow me on Instagram @Amrtlj to see what I’m doing or working on between blog posts.  Thanks for stopping by! AR

Happy New Year Everyone!! It is currently a lovely 25 degrees outside in Southwest Missouri. With a nice layer of snow on the ground, it’s the perfect time to be inside doing some crafting.  Between work and the holidays I haven’t had much time for anything more than sketching, so I was very excited yesterday to sit down at my art desk and do some scrapbooking.  My adorable niece, who has been featured in several of my layouts, turned a year old at the beginning of December. I went to see her for New Year’s and she had a unicorn themed first birthday party while I was there.  I knew immediately that I wanted to scrap my favorite photo from the party using Graphic 45 Faerie Dust. This is easily my new favorite collection. I love the colors and all the tiny details in the papers.  I started laying out for my page. For my Layout I also used some Milled lavender distress ink, Tim Holtz rub ons, Ivory Tags from Graphic 45, flowers from Prima, and some dried leaves I had f...

Hello everyone!!!! Today I’m sharing a steampunk inspired mixed media canvas. I started out with a 6x6 canvas that I covered in tissue paper and then painted with black gesso.  I then added several layers of Art Alchemy Wax. Added my found things and covered them in black gesso.  After the gesso dried I starting painting the items with different paints from the metallique line.  After I painted my found things I actually changed the color of the background from purple and pink to kind of a copper and gold. Once everything was dry I added some butterflies cut from Graphic 45’s Steampunk Debutante line.  For a final Touch I splattered black paint and added glitter to the butterflies.  Thanks for stopping by! -AR

Happy Saturday!!! October was an incredibly busy month for me, which resulted in very little time to craft. I was about to go a bit stir crazy!!! Today I am sharing a custom order canvas, using the Precious Memories paper from Graphic 45. This paper is some of my favorite, and I have used before for one of my personal canvases.  I absolutely adore the way this one turned out!! Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check out my Instagram, Amrtlj, to see behind the scenes photos and more of my art.  -AR

Happy Friday!! I have some really exciting news today. You can now find my artwork in the relics antique mall in Springfield Missouri! I’m splitting the booth with an incredibly talented friend of mine and I’m so excited for everybody to go and see mine and her artwork. We are booth NN35.  If you’re looking for one of my pieces in particular, all the tags have my initials for my art pieces. Please be sure to check out my friends art as well, it is beautiful and so stunning. You find in the booth some of the pieces that you may have seen here on my blog or on my Instagram. So maybe a piece that you really loved is up for sale! Relics is located off of West Battlefield and Kansas Expressway, behind Grizzly in Springfield, MO.  Hours are 10-6, Monday-Saturday.  Thanks for stopping by!! -AR

Happy Friday!! Today I’m sharing an 8x8 Canvas I have done using some of the lovely Dylusions Sprays and Art Alchemy paints and waxes.  I knew I wanted to use a photo I had taken on my last visit with my best friend and beyond adorable niece (not at all biased right?) I chose to do the photo in black and white as I wanted to use warm tones for the canvas, and the colors in the photo would have clashed.  I started out with an 8x8 Canvas I got from Michaels. I went with one with the deep sides so I would have more room to play, and I love the depth it helps give to my art.  I then began using random items from my stash.  I built the piece up until I was happy with it.  Not gonna lie, it was quite hard to cover this up!! I may have to recreate it and leave it be next time.  Then I covered the piece in about three layers of white gesso.  Once the gesso was dry I began to spray it with Dylusions Spray inks in Cherry Pi...

Hello all!! Today I am featuring a mixed media box that I have been working on for a few days now.  I had this beautiful little Grpahic 45 book box sitting on my shelf for awhile. I finally decided to take it down and do something with it. I love mixed media and decided to use this box as my jumping point.  I started out with covering the sides of the box with Finnabair Art Basics modeling paste thru a Tim holtz Stencil. While that was drying I started throwing on all sorts of found things from my collection. What’s so great about mixed media is you can really use anything! After that was dry, I covered the whole box in black gesso from Art Basics. I followed that with dry brushing some Finnabair Metallique paint in Silver Spoon. I purposely left some black showing thru in places. This gave it an aged look.  After all that was dry I went to town with more of the Metallique paints, and some of the amazing waxes from Finnabair. Here is the finished r...

Good evening everyone!!! I am sharing a video tutorial for a scrapbook layout/canvas I did for a friend that is getting married. I use Graphic 45's Nature Sketchbook for this layout. It went with the picture I was using perfectly! The actual time spent on this was about two and a half hours, and I managed to cram it all into a 25 minute video. If you liked this tutorial please give my video a thumbs up! Thanks for stopping by! -AR

Hi everyone!!  I have been on a scrapbook layout kick the last few weeks, and been working pretty much none stop on them. Only taking a breathe to art journal really.  So my lastest one was made with Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante paper. I LOVE this paper, and it was the paper that introduced me to Graphic 45. I have a pad of the original printing, as well as three of the collectors release.  I went with this paper for this layout because I got the Prima Art Basics Rust and Patina Paste sets. Let me tell you, I had WAY to much fun with those!! Everything will quickly be covered in them.  I had to pull back on things on this one because I wanted to rust and patina all my little odds and ends.  Hope you have enjoyed my work. Thanks for stopping by! -AR

Hi everyone!! Today I am sharing another scrapbook canvas.  The collection I have featured is the beautiful Botanical Tea paper by Graphic 45. I decided the soft colors would work perfect for one of my favorite photos of myself and my seven month old niece.  As you can probably see, I love using lots and lots of layers. I seek out paper that has lots of things I can fussy cut from the collection. This saves me space on storage, and money from spending on all kinds of extra embellishments. Plus I know it all coordinates!! Thanks for stopping by! -AR

Hi everyone!! Today I am sharing a card I made using a Penny Black Poppy Stamp. I adore poppies and when I saw this stamp I had to have it.  I recently took a class at Scrapbook N Memories in Harrisonville, MO (this is an AMAZING store) with my mom. We learned how to do watercolor with stamps, and the class featured the Penny Black Floral stamps.  In the class we used Tombow markers, of which I don't own any. So I decided to try the same techniques I learned, but using the Tim Holtz Distress Stains with the dauber tops. I recently acquired a whole bunch of these (thank you Tuesday Morning!) so I have been looking for ways to use them.    I used my Mini Misti for this technique, which came in handy!! I originally had not intended to offset the outline once I was done, but silly me picked up the stamp. Oops. But I was still very happy with how it turned out!! Here is the finished card!! For this I used the following: Bristol Smooth Cardstock Penny Black Poppy Stamp Tim...

Happy 4th of July all!!! I have spent my day off at my desk, working on another scrapbook canvas. I love to take my scrapbook pages and adhere them to canvas. This way I can see them everyday. Today I have made one using Graphic 45's Olde Curiosity Shoppe. I used an old photo of my Grandfather from when he was about 12 years old. I fussy cut several images from the collection along with the chipboard for almost all of the decorations. I also used some of the Tim Holtz Keys, Keyholes, and gears to give it more depth. I also had a silver distressed butterfly left over from another project that I added to this. Hope you have all enjoyed your Holiday!! Thanks for stopping By! -AR