Weighing in on bargain art stuff!

Happy Wednesday from snow-on-the-ground North Carolina! Well about an inch or so on the lawn only, but in NC that pretty much constitutes a blizzard! It is pretty darn cold, though! 

The other day my sister-in-law and I had another "girls day out" and went, among other places, to Archiver's, which is a scrapbook shop that is closing all of its locations. Pity for me, as though I'm not a scrapper, I did love the papers and ribbons that they sold. In any case, they were up to 40% off on all items. Lucky for me that scrappers apparently don't use as much ribbons and trims as I do, since they had an amazing amount left, so need I say more! I actually went back the next day to buy more of the stock, since they had choices that you don't see in places like Michael's.

Ribbons and trims in a rainbow of colors...

Some other pretty trims in black, grey, turquoise and brown...

...and some gorgeous fabric flowers.

Though a little more in the grunge style,

I couldn't resist these Tim Holtz 

stencil clips. 

I think that they would be wonderful

in some kind of book art...

And so what inspired me to invest in so many colorful ribbons and flowers while living in my "neutral world"? Well, spring, of course. And the art journal that I am working on, which is from the tutorial that I purchased recently and encouraging me to "step outside my box"...

Here is a glimpse of the journal.

I can't claim it as my own art, 

but things have been standing in the way of my own

creativity lately, and I thought working on this might give 

me the jump start that I need.

More later after I obtain the materials that I need to complete

the job.

I will also share the source of this great tutorial!

Have you stepped outside your artistic comfort zone lately!