The Conclusion to the Top 2000 Challenge...

It's the last day of Marit's "Top 2000" challenge! The song I chose to scrap for today is one of the all-time greatest songs ever (in my opinion) - "Imagine" by John Lennon, which comes in at #41...

For this layout I painted a watercolor rainbow background onto white cardstock; and then whitewashed over the top with gesso to soften the colors and add texture. The dove was drawn onto white cardstock and then layered for dimension. I happened to have some sparkly copper colored vines, so I cut off a little piece for the dove to carry. The lyrics are written with a fine point journaling pen.

The message seems the perfect way to start a new year. Enjoy the video...




Thanks so much to my friend Marit for hosting this week-long musical party! It's been so much fun!

I've learned some things during this challenge that will carry over to Scrapping The Music. In the past, I've always picked which songs I will scrap for our challenge blog, based on if I can envision the lyrics applying to my life - thus giving me a page to scrap about. Now I'm thinking I can scrap any song I love! I can scrap about the song itself! Yeayyyy! I love those little a-ha moments!

Speaking of Scrapping The Music, you've still got a few more days to play along with our Christmas Vacation challenge! We need more players and we'd love to have you join us!

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve my friends! Be safe and I will see you in 2010!

Two More Days of the Top 2000 Countdown...

It's the second to the last day of the Top 2000 Countdown challenge on Marit's blog! My contribution for December 30th is 1971's "Vincent" by Don McLean. It comes in at #395...

I painted a gold border on the backside of a hambly overlay and placed that on top of some patterned paper. Then continued the overlay design with a white sharpie on top of the Van Gogh self-portrait. I also used some happy tape at the bottom of the self-portrait, and popped out the photo of singer Don McLean with pop-dots for some extra dimension. The lyrics are done with Sharpie Poster Paint Pens.

I've loved this song since it first came out when I was a kid. The beautiful and sad poetry of the lyrics are what first got me interested in the life and art of Van Gogh. Altho I knew the song was written about Vincent Van Gogh; I did not know the back story of how McLean came to write it; so I did some checking, and found out at McLean's website.

Here's a video of the song "Vincent" which showcases some of Van Gogh's paintings. Aren't they beautiful?!!!




Don't forget to check Marit's blog for the other participants layouts! They are all so beautiful!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I will be back tomorrow with my last layout of the challenge!

And The Top 2000 Countdown Continues with Counting Crows...

I am so glad that my friend Marit thought up this challenge!

My pick from today's songs is "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows. It comes in at #662...

There are so many things I love about this song - the energy, the urban feel, and the lyrics - oh the lyrics... I tried to reflect those things in my layout. The silhouette is actually a photo of frontman Adam Duritz which I cut out and used as a mask for misting.

Here's the meaning behind the song, in Adam's own words, during VH1 Storytellers. (Taken from this link)...

“It’s really a song about my friend Marty and I. We went out one night to watch his dad play, his dad was a flamenco guitar player who lived in Spain, and he was in San Francisco in the mission playing with his old flamenco troupe. And after the gig we all went to this bar called the New Amsterdam in San Francisco on Columbus and we got completely drunk. And Marty and I sat at the bar staring at these two girls, wishing there was *some* way we could go talk to them, but we were, we were too shy. And we thought, we kept joking with each other, that if we were big rock stars instead of such loser, low-budget musicians, we’d be able to, this would be easy. And I went home that night and I wrote a song about it.

And I joke about what’s it about, that story. But it’s really a song about all the dreams and all the things that make you want to go in to , you know, doing whatever it is that like seizes your heart, whether it’s being a rock star or being a doctor or whatever it is, you know. And I mean, those things run from like ‘all this stuff I have pent up inside of me’ to , ‘I want to meet girls’ you know, because I’m tired of not being able to. And it is a lot of those things, it’s about all those dreams. But it’s also kind of cautionary because it’s about how misguided you may be about some of those things and how hollow they may be too. Like the character in the song keeps saying, ‘When everybody loves me I will never be lonely.’ And you’re supposed to know that that’s not the way it’s gonna be, probably. I knew that even then.

And this is a song about my dreams”

Here's the official video- LOVE LOVE LOVE IT...

I'll be back tomorrow with my contribution to the second to last day of Marit's challenge. Don't forget to go to Marit's blog to see all of the layouts for today's songs - they are all so awesome!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

More Fun with the Top 2000 Countdown - Drops of Jupiter...

The Countdown continues in the Netherlands of the Top 2000 songs of all time. My pick out of today's songs is "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. (click to see the details) It comes in at #1067...
The image of the prince was taken from the album cover. I love how he is holding a dove.

I totally thought this song was about a woman who left a relationship to find herself, but I was wrong. I found out that it was inspired by a dream Pat Monahan had after the death of his mother. Here's a video where he explains it...



Knowing that made this video I found all the more special...



I wish you a fantastic Monday my friends! I will be back tomorrow with yet another Top 2000 layout! Thanks so much for visiting and for your comments! They really mean a lot to me!

Continuing the Top 2000 Countdown with James Morrison...

I had so much fun making this layout - I'm a huge James Morrison fan so it was awesome to see "Wonderful World" on the Top 2000 Countdown list. It comes in at #1234. This layout is my contribution to the December 27th edition of the Netherlands Top 2000 songs of all time countdown...

For the background I used Peerless Watercolors on Watercolor paper, and then added salt to give it a spotty effect. The photo came from a free desktop wallpaper I found on the internet.

It's been really fun looking a little deeper into the songs for this week's challenge. I was researching the meaning behind Wonderful World, and I found it in this video. Turns out it's an empathic song he wrote for a deaf man he met on a bus. Check out the video below, where he explains it and then performs an awesome version of the song...




Thank you to Marit again for hosting this week-long inspirational challenge! Don't forget to check out all the layouts for today at Marit's blog - click here!

I will be back tomorrow with my contribution for December 28th. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

Top 2000 Layout for December 26...

The song I picked for today is "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's. It's #1680 on the Netherlands Top 2000 countdown...
This is such a wonderfully romantic lyric and sweet melody - I just love it. I've read that there is a real Delilah, and that the T's frontman - Tom Higginson wrote "Hey There Delilah" in an attempt to woo her. Sadly, it didn't work and they never got together. I don't know how she could resist being charmed by it! Click here for the story.

Here's the official video. Just beautiful...




Don't forget to go to Marit's blog to see the other layouts for today!

I will be back tomorrow with the song for December 27! Take care everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Counting Down The Top 2000 With the Netherlands...

I've always said that music is a universal connection, and today I really feel it. It gave me shivers to go to Marit's blog today and see all the beautiful artwork from people all over the world - all connected by music.

My contribution for today is #1939 on the top 2000 list. It's "Suddenly I See" by K.T. Tunstall...

I picked this song because - well first of all I love it, but I also love that it makes me think of all the women that have inspired me, and I love that. From what I've read, K.T. wrote this song about Punk Rocker Patti Smith. How cool is that?

Here's an amazing unplugged version of the song I found on youtube...



Enjoy! And don't forget to head on over to Marit's blog to see everyone's work!

Merry Christmas everyone! I will be back tomorrow to share the next song! Thanks for stopping by!

It's Christmas Eve...

Betcha Can't Guess What My First Two Songs Are...

I finished my first two layouts for Marit's Top 2000 game, and it was super fun!!!!! They will be revealed on December 25th and 26th, respectively, but here are some sneak peeks...

December 25...


December 26...

Any ideas which songs they are???

Now I'm off to get ready for Christmas. Shopping, Cleaning and Wrapping! I will see you tomorrow with another update! Have an awesome Wednesday my friends!

We're Having Some Fun Now!

It's time for Marit's Top 2000 Game to begin! Yeayyy! I'm so excited! I went to the site that lists all 2000 songs, and spent HOURS perusing all the choices. It was so difficult to choose just one song for each day of broadcast! I tried to pick songs that speak to me, or have some meaning for me, or that I just really love, as opposed to thinking about how I would scrap them. Know what I mean?

I'm sitting here with this list of seven songs in front of me. All fun, inspiring songs. Now to get busy. I want to do 12 x 12 layouts. I think I want to do something different tho. Not necessarily layouts with pics about my life. I'm thinking more collagey, painty-type layouts that focus on the content of the song. Hmmm. We shall see what happens once I get going. I'm not sure what I will end up with, but that's part of the fun, right?

For those of you that are also playing along - are you doing layouts? Art journal pages? ATCs? What's your plan? I'd love to hear it!

The one thing I know is that if I want to actually complete these layouts I'm going to have to not overthink them. It's a super busy time and I will just have to fly with whatever comes out of my head. Yeayyyy! That means no pressure!

I hope you are having a wonderful week! I will be back tomorrow with another update!

Christmas Comes to Scrapping The Music!

The featured song for the next two weeks at Scrapping The Music is the theme from the movie "Christmas Vacation!" It's a super fun, festive song and I hope you will want to play along! I know the holidays are busy, so we are giving it an extra week to make it easier for folks to participate. Here's the layout I made:

I used the December "Orchestra" kit from Studio Calico for this layout. The white alphas are from Doodlebug, and the word magic is hand-drawn and cut. The stars are drawn with a sharpie. Oh and the black and white border at the top is happy tape!

Speaking of Scrapping The Music, I am excited to say that I will be coordinating the blog starting with the new year! It's only temporary, as our founder Mary, needs to take a break for awhile; but I am really excited to learn from her. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that she does, and she has kept it running like a well-oiled machine. Everyone on the design team is so supportive of Mary and of the site, that I know together we can keep it going until Mary is ready to return!

I'm sooo looking forward to Marit's "Top 2000 Songs of 2009" challenge which will start on December 25! I plan to post a layout here each day from December 25th thru December 31 that will correspond to one of the songs on the Top 2000 list that is published in the Netherlands each year. Marit will also be posting my layout along with hers and anyone else who participates! I know my friend Jeanet is going to play too - can't wait to see what you create Jeanet!

So now the rush for Christmas starts! We still have to pick up a few gifts, plan what to serve on Christmas Day, wrap gifts and clean the house! Yikes! I am going to try to keep a little time for creativity each day, but we shall see if that actually happens or not. LOL.

I wish you a Marvelous Monday my friends! Thanks for stopping by!

U is for Underneath, and Project 52 November...

One of the many fun things about this time of year, is seeing all your year-long projects start coming to completion! Yeayyyy! Of course, I am behind on most of them, but that's beside the point - LOL. Anyhoo - I'm catching up with my "Year In The Life of An Art Journal" project, and I'm up to the Letter "U."




and speaking of catching up - I finished my Project 52 ATCs for November too...
These are just made with dictionary paper, spray ink and magazine images...
I picked the subject of backyard birds and squirrels because November is the month of Thanksgiving, and I am SO thankful for the beautiful creatures that visit our feeders everyday...
I was going to use my own photos, but they are all taken thru our window, so they're not that clear, and these were too beautiful to resist...

I'm getting SO EXCITED for Project 12 2010 to start! The launch is on December 26th!

Take care and I will be back tomorrow with another update! Thanks for visiting!

Much fun on a Saturday Afternoon...

One of the many things I am loving about Kelly's Art Journaling class, is that it has given me reason to record some things about my life that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. Case in point is my page from December 15th about my first sleepover...
I've got to make time to collage some more pages - I'm almost out!

I used the current Studio Calico kit called "Orchestra" for this Fave Things layout. The challenge (obviousy) was to scrap your favorite car...
The photo of me in the car was something I made for the Project Catwalk contest back in 2008. It was part of a greeting card. It seemed a perfect fit to print another photo of it for this layout! The flowers are a new addition, and are made with papers from the "Orchestra" kit.


Can you tell that Johnny helped???
The cats always seem to have tell-tale signs of the scraproom on their fur - LOL.

The next thing on my list is to do some catching up with the "A Year In The Life of an Art Journal" project. But first, a napinski...

I will be back later with more news! I hope you are having a fantastic weekend!

I'm Dipping My Toes Into The Gutter...

I'm SO EXCITED and HONORED!!! I was asked to be an "Honorary Gutter Girl" at the Gutter Girlz Challenge blog in March! This is going to be super fun!
You've probably heard of the Gutter Girlz, but just in case you haven't - it's a challenge blog with an "edge." They "take you places scrapbooking normally doesn't" with their challenges, and I am so excited to be going along with them on a paper adventure! I will keep you posted about the exact date in March - I hope you want to play along! And a huge THANK YOU to my awesomely talented friend Glenda Tkalac for inviting me!

The next thing I want to share with you is my layout for the December sketch at the TATS blog. TATS is currently on hiatus, so the December sketch wasn't posted, but I want to share my layout with you anyways! I had so much fun with it...
I used Ashley Wren's "Rainbow Sushi" papers for the first time, and the layout practically made itself! I love the uniqueness of her paper line! Along with that I used lots of orange buttons from my stash I got from my sweet friend Penny, and some dictionary paper!

Hopefully, TATS will be back soon.

Last, but not least, I am still playing catch up with my art journal pages from Kelly's class!

December 13...

and December 14. Sometimes I have a hard time letting go of my job at the end of the work day, so I skipped the prompt for this day, and made this for therapeutic reasons...

I hope your Friday has been fabulous! I will be back tomorrow with another update - thanks for stopping by!

Exciting News!!!

Guess what??? I'm so excited because.............

I am going to be joining the design team for the "These Are A Few of My Favorite Things" challenge blog!!! Yeayyyyyy!!!!! I am so happy to be joining this group of sincerely wonderful and talented women. PLUS, it's my favorite challenge to participate in!!!! And Julie, the founder - what can I say about my dear friend Julie?!!! She is one of the most supportive and fun people in the scrapbooking world for sure! I am really looking forward to this new adventure! I will be starting with the first new challenge of 2010 - I hope you will come and play along!

I'm also excited because our Christmas preparations are coming along quite nicely. Our tree is up and decorated...

The stockings are hung...
I've done my online ordering for out of town loved ones, and we have made an action plan to get everything else accomplished. Yeayyy!

I'm still trying to play catch up with my art journal pages and other projects. I should have known this time of year would be so busy! I did finish the December 12th page...
Materials used: acrylic paint, oil crayon, pan pastels, paper doily, collage image from Kelly Kilmer, plaid happy tape, woodgrain contact paper, red cardstock and pink white and black sharpies.

I hope you are having a wonderful week! I will be back tomorrow with another update!

Journal Page Catch-Up...

I'm playing catch-up with my journal pages - I'm a few days behind, but here's what I've got so far...

December 10:

December 11:

More to share tomorrow. May your Wednesday be wonderful my friends!

I'm Looking Forward to my Favorite Holiday!!!

I finally finished my "Fave Holiday" layout for the Fave Things blog! This is my way of visually expressing how I feel about the New Year's Eve/Day holiday...New Year's Eve is wonderful because it gives me cause to look back and be grateful for everything that's happened in the past year. New Year's Day is FABULOUS because I feel like a new, fresh adventure is starting! What could be better than a new adventure?!!!

Anyhoo, I used the Studio Calico "Over The Rainbow" kit for the layout; plus some turquoise and pink cardstock and some happy tape along the bottom.

So, do you have creative goals for the upcoming year? I'm still trying to decide what I want my creative goals to be. I LOVE the process of figuring it out almost as much as actually doing it!

I'm behind on my art journal prompt pages, I'm off to get busy catching up...

Have a TERRIFIC TUESDAY and thanks so much for stopping by!

Embroidery Hoop Album...

Good morning - er afternoon! It's a beautiful, quiet day at the Rydell household. The cats are in the scraproom window, and we are all watching the birds. We've already seen a female cardinal, a blue jay and a chickadee!

I have finished my embroidery hoop album - yeayyy! It was a project from my Super Fun Autumn Love class with Elsie Flannigan and Rachel Denbow! I ended up using WAY more pages than the project called for, but I am happy with the result! Figuring out how to bind it was the biggest challenge, but in the end I just used a simple ribbon, which as you will see was glued to both the front and back hoops, and then fed through each page; and it works pretty well. The subject is our family trip up to the North Shore this past fall.


The cover was the idea from the class. The inside pages are my own design. I have been saving this bright orange thrift-store doily forever, and I finally found a use for it - yeayyy!
I used my Studio Calico "Marketplace" kit for this album, which was so much fun!











I made a little pocket for memorabilia by stitching some fabric to the chipboard which I covered with patterned paper and glued into the inside back cover. As you can see I'm no seamstress, but I kinda like the imperfect look...

Working on this project made me start thinking about all the things that could be made into mini-albums! Just about anything - hmmm...

My friend Marit has decided to embark on a fun project and I've decided to play along! From December 25 - 31st, I will be making a layout based on a song from the Netherlands Radio "Top 2000," and posting each one here on my blog. Marit will also be posting them on her blog. For more on this fun project check out Marit's blogpost here. She's looking for more people to play along too!

Oh, and speaking of music, don't forget that you have an extra week to play along with the current challenge at Scrapping The Music! Check it out here!

Alrighty then, I guess that's it for today! I will be back tomorrow with my "Fave Holiday" layout as well as some Art Journal Pages. Have a fantabulous Sunday my friends and thanks SO much for visiting and for your comments! They really make me happy!

Fun Was Had At The 16-Hour Crop!

I'm sooooo tired, but I had a FABULOUS time at the crop! Here's a pic of my awesome friends - Christina, Anne and Lynn...

We scrapped like crazy and I actually finished my embroidery hoop album!!! I'm so excited to share it with you! I must hit the hay tho, as I can hardly keep my eyes open. I will be back as soon as I wake up, and will post pics of my project.

I hope your Saturday was fabulous!

Gypsy Girl Journal Beginnings...

I just love starting a new journal! It feels like a new adventure is just beginning! This is a journal I altered awhile ago for a Next Step Challenge, (I posted it then too) but I haven't done anything with it until now. It will be my December Art Journal. Here's the cover...


and here's my Prompt-A-Day entry for December 9:
For the inside pages, I glued about five pages together at a time (with glue stick) to make them about the thickness of cardstock. I removed pages randomly throughout, to adjust for the thickness of the finished entries. It's hard to see here, but the painted backgrounds are transparent enough to still see the print coming through, and I love that!

I discovered a new challenge blog tonight called Scrap A Tale, and the amazingly talented Kimberly Garafalo is the guest designer this month. She's got a really fun challenge posted, with a prize full of Sassafras goodness! Check it out here!

That's it for today, but I will be back tomorrow for another update. Thanks so much for visiting!

A Complete Journal and a Christmas Tree - Yeayyyy!

Today's Prompt-A-Day journal entry was the very last one in my current journal! I LOVE completing a journal! It's such a feeling of accomplishment! So, here's my last entry...

December 8...
The image is from an old children's magazine. I also used a gift bag and some woodgrain contact paper for the collage elements.

And here's how the journal looks all full...


The other thing that is fun about finishing a journal, is that you get to start a new one! Tomorrow I will post a pic of the journal I'm going to start next.


Tonight we had a lot of fun putting up our christmas tree and hanging the stockings! Johnny enjoyed pouncing on the ribbons and watching from his latest box fort...

We watched The Station Agent the other nite, and we give it two thumbs up. It's one of those movies that has you laughing at how odd it is, but at the same time, the characters each touch your soul in their own way. Cool. Have any of you seen it? What did you think?

Alrighty then, off I go. I have an idea for my "Fave Holiday" layout for the Fave Things blog, and I only have a few more days to get it done. I better get on it.

I wish you a wonderful Wednesday!!! Thanks for stopping by!