Shine Away This Week at Scrapping The Music!

This week's song at Scrapping The Music is called "Shine" and it's by Anna Nalick. Here's my layout for the week. It's of my stepdaughter Becca (black dress) and her friend Nakole on Senior Prom Day. They looked so beautiful in their dresses!

For this layout I used acrylic paint and a silver sharpie pen on cardstock. Cut out the photos and added a few rhinestones.

Come on over to the Scrapping The Music Website and play along!

Art Journal Playshops With Suzi Blu: Moleskine Journals

I was working on a post about how to get started with an art journal, and then I realized that the best thing to do would be to introduce you to Suziblu - she says it better than I ever could! This is the video that inspired me to start my first art journal - I hope you enjoy it! Thank you Suziblu - you changed my life! Oh, and p.s. don't forget to scroll down to the bottom and pause the music before you play the video!

New Song Is Up at Scrapping The Music!

This week's song is "Little Waltz" by Basia Bulat. I love the song - check it out if you haven't already! Here's my layout for this week. The picture is my Uncle Bob and Aunt Jean. Uncle Bob died a couple of weeks ago now - he was 91. He and Aunt Jean have been on my mind. The thing I will always remember about Bob is the wonderful laugh he had, and his love for Aunt Jean. What I will always remember about Aunt Jean is her incredibly kind spirit - and her love for Uncle Bob.

I hope you will come on over to Scrapping The Music and play along with us!

A Delay at Scrapping The Music and A Discussion About Art Journaling

There's been a slight delay at the Scrapping The Music Challenge Blog - the winner and the new challenge will be posted in the morning, so I will post again tomorrow with my layout for this week's song.



In the meantime, let's talk about art journaling. Do you keep an art journal? I do and I absolutely love it. This is a picture of my journal. I have found that keeping an art journal has done amazing things for my creativity. It has given me a place to be free with my self-expression. In my art journal I keep my calendar, notes, to-do lists, and also experiment with paint and thoughts and techniques and whatever else comes to mind at any given moment. I staple stuff in there, I write messy, I try things that I wouldn't try on a layout in case it didn't turn out right. It's great fun and I've found that it has helped me be more free and experimental in my scrapbooks as well.

Lately, I've gotten a number of requests for advice and tips on art journaling. I'd love to address this topic here. So - I ask you - Do you art journal? Would you like to? What questions do you have? What would you like to see addressed here? I'm all ears! Leave me a comment - I think we could have some fun with this!

Video of the Week: David Jordan - "Sun Goes Down"

I discovered this video on Celine Navarro's Blog (thank you Celine!) and I can't watch it without wanting to dance! Love that! Just had to share! (P.S. Scroll down and pause the jukebox before listening).

What We Can Learn From Children

I participate in this game over at ScrapinStyleTV called "Sunday Grabs." It's a game where you share art supplies with other members of the online community. You give away things you may not be using anymore, and "grab" things from others. It's a great way of getting to know your "SiSters" , and getting some new supplies to try out at the same time. Anyway, this week I received a "grab" in the mail from Penny - one of my fellow SiStv members, and in it, among other things, was this beautiful little Artist Trading Card made by her 7-year old daughter Isabel.
It was her first ATC ever. Isn't it awesome? I especially love how she painted the back and signed her name really big and proud. When I thanked Penny for the goodies she told me that Isabel had insisted on including her card in the box. It made me think alot about the creative spirit of a child. I remember being a little kid and creating for the sake of creating! There was no thought about if it would be "good enough" or if I was really artistic or not. Like Isabel, I knew I was an artist! I believe we are all born artists, and it's the process of growing up that sometimes wages war with our creative spirit. Somewhere along the way, most of us have someone that tells us that trees should not be purple, or we need to stay in the lines, or if we did it this certain way our art would be "better," or EGADS the worst thing of all - that we are just not creative.

For years I struggled with perfectionism and didn't finish many projects at all. I would start something and then it would sit there until I could figure out how to make it perfect - which of course is an impossibility. What is perfect when it comes to art? The whole concept of perfect art doesn't even make sense. But there you have it. Somewhere in my head I had this impossible goal which took all the fun out of even working on my art projects.

Then this January - something happened that would change my life in such a big way I can't even tell you how wonderful it has been... I joined an online challenge at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The challenge was called L.O.A.D. (which stands for LayOut A Day), and it called for its participants to make one layout or other art project everyday for 31 days and post it to their gallery. The art was not judged. There was no fee. The goal was simply to get people creating - didn't matter what it looked like, just FINISH SOME ART! Believe it or not I made it through the challenge and have been creating an art project of some sort every day since. The joy of creating is back! I'm an artist again!!! YEAY!!!

How long has it been since you've created with the freedom of a child? Sometimes my old perfectionistic tendencies start to creep back in, but I try not to let them stay too long. I say hello how are ya and then send them on their way. This week I encourage you to create for the sake of creating. Don't worry who has been doing it longer, how it will be perceived by others or if it's any good. IF YOU MADE IT AND ENJOYED THE PROCESS YOU BET IT IS GOOD!!!

See you next week my fellow artists!

RAK WINNER!

I drew a random name from this week's comments for the music tags and the winner is: LISA!!! Please email your address to me and I will get those tags out to you! (Click on my profile to get to my email). I will be back later with a full post.

Have a great Sunday!

A RAK To Celebrate My Big News!!!

I am so excited --- I have been chosen to be part of the design team at the Scrapping The Music Challenge Blog!!! Music and Scrapbooking are two of my passions in life, and to be able to combine the two and be part of this fabulous team is really exciting! In case you're not familiar with it - Scrapping The Music is a website that posts a different song every Sunday and challenges you to create a layout or other art project using the song as inspiration. It's a lot of fun, and what I really love is the wide variety of music they post. No matter what kind of music you like, you are likely to find some inspiration at the Scrappin The Music site! There are usually weekly sponsors too, so you've got a chance of winning a fun scrappy prize! I hope you will stop by and play along with us! The song for this week is called "Turn it Up" by Aaron Lines. This is my layout that was inspired by the song.

So, in celebration of this exciting turning point in my life - I'd like to give away a little RAK - it's something that combines scrapbooking and music - these tags from the cool Etsy shop Shabby Chic Crafts.

So leave me a comment and I will enter your name in the drawing for these tags. I'd love to hear something about how music inspires you - in scrapbooking or another part of your life. Who's your favorite band? What's your favorite lyric? What music do you listen to when you're creating? You have until this coming Saturday at midnight (4/12). I will do a random drawing from the comments and post the winner on Sunday night.

Have a great week everyone!

A New Adventure!

"Just do the steps that you've been shown, by everyone you've ever known; until the dance becomes your very own..." ~Jackson Browne

Back in about 1990 I was at the Cabooze Bar in Minneapolis for the "Best Guitar Player in the Twin Cities" Contest. I had been watching some of the most well-known local musicians play, and each one, before playing their song, had named specific artists who had inspired them. I found myself listening for those influences, and thinking - yep I can hear that. Then this little hippie-type dude got up on the stage. Someone I had never seen before. He noted that he is inspired by "everything he sees and hears in this life and he hoped we all were too." Then he went on to play the most beautiful, original-sounding piece I had heard that night. It struck me as a very profound statement. If you really consciously take in all that life has to offer, you become this unique combination of all your experiences - truly original.

I see and hear inspiration everywhere! My hope in starting this blog is that I can share that with you, and maybe, if I'm really lucky, you will share it with me too!