Using stencils

I'm taking a weeklong classes from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer on using her great stencils that she has designed. Today I learned about using products with too much liquid and those that provide crisp edges. I was so enthusiastic that I just had to try it out. I used a 12 X 12 Dalia stencil in my weekly art journal. I used Pumice Stone Distress ink for the stencil and then used Jenni Bowlin's Chicken Feed ink with a blending tool over the rest of the page. I then dropped some ink blots of Maya Mists Earl gray and Sunflower Yellow over the page. I LOVE how it turned out.

Teacher of Piano

Some time in the past couple of months, while trying to 'declutter' my scrap space, I found a business card that was my mother's. When I looked at it, I knew I wanted to tell her story of being a teacher of piano. Recently, I found these two photos when going through another stack of 'stuff' in my scrap space. So, this layout was born. The most recent number stencil that was an add-on for my monthly Cocoa Daisy kit provided the perfect background. As any musician knows, numbers are an important part of being able to play music.

The journaling recounts her college education in the heart of the depression and how her dream of being a concert pianist, or a school music teacher had to be put on hold. She taught piano many years to help support herself until she married. Several years later, she again took piano students into our home to add to our income, never forgetting her dream. She again returned to college to get her teaching certificate, but my father's move for a new job ended that just when she was to start her student teaching. She didn't have the energy to start all over in a new state, so continued to teach piano students until her 70's. Her dream was totally broken.

Looking back, I'm so sad for her that circumstances stopped her from realizing her goal. And I'm sad my father was so selfish that his job could not have been put on hold for my mother's dream.