Let It Loose Gesso Lesson...

It's been a busy week, but I finally finished the gesso page for my Let it Loose class! I ended up taking black and white sharpies to the swirls around the edge of my page - they were just begging to be outlined...
I also used some fabric, a magazine image and a chipboard phrase. I'm still two lessons behind, but I may be able to catch up tomorrow!

The new sketch is up for Project 12. It looks like another fun one. Check it out here.

Also, the slideshow for Better Way is up at Scrapping The Music. Head on over if you want to see some beautiful work!

Don't forget that a new challenge goes up at the Fave Things blog today too!

Have an awesome Sunday my friends, and thanks so much for visiting!

Friday Update...

Hey there my friends - how's your week been going? I can't believe it's Friday already! I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging in quite awhile! I've been out of town for a couple of days on business so I've got some catching up to do on my projects.

I'm so excited to finally show you the SWEET valentine happy mail I got from my awesome friend Amy! What a day-brightener it was to get these goodies in the mail...
I just LOVE all of it! That cute vintage valentine, and the felt rose, and especially this little handmade "scrapping buddy!" How cute is she?!!!
I just love her Amy!!! She's got a special place in my scraproom where I see her everyday! I thank you sooooo much for thinking of me!


I don't have any finished projects to share (I'm so far behind - aargh!), but I do want to share my latest Let It Loose assignment that is still in progress. This was truly an experiment and I am loving how it's turning out...
The assignment was to work with gesso, and I really wanted to try something new, so I splotched the gesso really thick on my page and swirled it around with the paintbrush. Then while it was wet I sprayed a ton of spray ink on it and just let it sit there in the wet gesso. Then, just for fun, I swirled the edges with a little foam brush to see what would happen. The result is what you see here (click the photo to see it bigger). Now it's all dry and I'm working on making it into something (ha). I will be excited to share it with you when it's all done!

That's all for today, but I will be back tomorrow with another update! I should have lots to share over the weekend! Have a fantastic Friday everyone!

January Calendar Page...

I finished my calendar page for January - yeayyy!!! These pages are so much fun to do! Here's how it turned out...
I made it to go with my Project 12 sketch page for January. The patterned papers are mainly from Webster's Pages, and the calendar page itself is from Studio Calico. I think what I love about making calendar pages is that it's like a puzzle that you put together with photos and papers!

I'm so far behind on my projects, I better get back to it! Next on my list is another Let it Loose journal page. I will be back tomorrow with another update! Thanks for stopping by!

Ben Harper at Scrapping The Music...

The new song is up at Scrapping The Music, and it's a fave of mine - Better Way by Ben Harper!
Here's what I came up with...

The photos are taken from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary's magazine. As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Best Friends, and I am so in awe of what they are doing for 22 of the dogs that were taken from Michael Vick's dogfighting operation. It's amazing to follow the story and see how these dogs have responded to being treated with love, kindness and patience. I truly believe the people that work there are angels. Scrapping a layout for "Better Way" gave me the opportunity to pay a little tribute. If you want to read more about the story of the "Vicktory dogs" click here.

Head on over to Scrapping The Music to hear the song and see what the rest of the design team created! We hope you will want to play along with us!!!

Have a wonderful Sunday my friends! I am hoping to get my Project 12 January calendar page done tonight. If so, I will be back tomorrow to share!!!

More Letting it Loose...

The fifth lesson in Marit's "Let It Loose" class was all about handwriting. I decided to just experiment and play - I filled the entire page with lyrics that I love. It's messy and imperfect, and things don't all fit exactly right, but I love how it turned out! It's totally me, and that's what art journaling is supposed to be about, right? Anyhoo, here it is...

I'm sure I could fill volumes of books with page like these - I have soooooo many lyrics I love. But I think it's kind of an interesting experiment to see which ones came to me off the top of my head on this exact day. Hmmm... It might be fun to do a page like this every so often and see how the lyrics choices change.

I'm so glad it's Friday! I want to do nothing all weekend but scrap, journal and organize. I am hoping for lots of inspiration and energy!!!

How about you? Will you be doing any creating this weekend? I'd love to hear about what projects you are working on!

Have a great Friday my friends, and I will be back tomorrow with another update!!! Thanks for visiting!!!

Tapes and Layouts...

If you like patterned packing tape, check out what you can get at Michael's right now for only $1.00 a roll...How awesome is that? FYI it's actually clear tape, not white. I think it will be great for putting in my journals!

The new challenge at the Fave Things blog is to scrap your favorite memory! The possibilities for this one are endless! I got to thinking about all the different awesome memories I have, and decided that what makes me happiest to think about right now is the everyday life ones, you know? So, here's what I came up with...
I used the new "Bakers Dozen" kit from Studio Calico for this one. To check out the challenge, head on over to the Fave Things blog! There are TWO prizes up for grabs this time!!!

Last night I finished my second layout for "The Street Where You Live." This one is about our entryway...
I just used miscellaneous goodies from my stash for this one. The new lesson for this class will be up on the 25th. If you want to check it out click here or on the widget in the sidebar. It's completely free and it goes all year - what could be a better deal than that???!!!

Oh, and also - the new prompt is up at the Artful Amblings Blog! Check it out here or by clicking the red "Year in The Life" widget in the sidebar.

I think that's it for today! Have a great Tuesday and I will be back tomorrow with another update. Thanks for visiting!!!

Updates All Around...

The second Artful Amblings prompt was hosted by the wonderful Glenda Tkalac, and the word she chose was "Hope." The technique she taught us was how to make your own stencils. Here's what I came up with...The sun stamp was a gift from my friend Linda Phinney and I just love it! I stamped it on the background with stazon ink, and then covered it up with a second stamped and cut image so I could mist the background and leave the sun part white. It's sort of a backwards stencil. The bird was an image I downloaded from karenswhimsy.com, and then made my own stencil with cardboard. I then traced the bird onto some fabric and cut him out. This whole process was a lot of fun!!! Thanks so much for the inspiration Glenda!!! If you want to get in on the Artful Amblings group (aka A Year In The Life of an Art Journal) - it's not too late! Click here to go to the blog and check it out! You can also click on the Red Widget in the sidebar to take you to the forums.

The new song at Scrapping The Music this week is "I Could Not Ask For More," by Sara Evans. It's a perfect song for Valentine's Day! Here's how my layout turned out...
I used my Studio Calico "Yearbook" kit, plus some acrylic paint for the title. The photo was taken on our wedding day, when we were all gathering at my condo before the ceremony. Come on over and play along! The prize is a gift certificate to scrapbook.com this week!

My scraproom organization project is moving forward in tiny increments - LOL. I bought some huge canning jars at the hardware store, which will be perfect for storing stuff in my cubes, but I haven't figured out what to put in them yet. It only took Johnny about 30 seconds to figure out that he fit perfectly in the box...
I know one of these days the mess is just going to drive me crazy and I'm going to have to tear into it and get it done. I will let you know when that happens. HA.

Oh, did you notice I updated my sidebar? I added my Fave Things Design Team Pals, some new inspiration blogs, and turned everything into the kind of list where you can tell when someone updates. I find that so helpful, don't you?

That's it for today - I'll be back tomorrow with another update - thanks so much for visiting!!!

A Valentine's Day Hello...

Hey everyone - Happy Valentines Day! It's a wonderful day to spread the LOVE!!! Not just in a romantic way but to EVERYONE!!!!!!

So, last night Michael came home from work with the mail, and I got the SWEETEST valentines surprise from my Fave Things Design Team friend Amy! I took a picture, but I can't share it yet, cuz I know she sent surprises to the other gals on the team too, and I don't want to ruin any surprises! But I do want to say THANK YOU AMY!!!! You are SO SWEET!!!!! As soon as I know everyone else got their surprises I will be sure to share my pic!

Speaking of Fave Things, today is the last day to get your layout in for the Fave Outfit challenge, and tomorrow is the new challenge! And also, there's a SPECIAL VALENTINE'S DAY POST RIGHT NOW WITH FIVE GIVEAWAYS!!!! Check it out here!

Last night we stayed up til 4:00 am, me working on my Let it Loose assignment, and Michael working on his computer project. Finally, Michael calls down to me in the scraproom - suggesting that perhaps it was time we go to bed. So I agree and proceed to close up the scraproom, come upstairs, make sure the cats have their dinner (they eat late just like us - ha), and head into the bathroom to get ready for bed. I flick on the bathroom light and almost fell over backwards! This was waiting for me...
Aren't they just the most beautiful flowers ever????? plus a beautiful card, chocolate bar, and this...
I was so SURPRISED and touched!!! I just have the BEST husband ever!!!! THANK YOU DARLIN - I LOVE YOU!!!

The cats are thanking him too, because they LOVE flowers and balloons!!! LOL!!! They (especially Johnny) love to sniff the flowers! He will lay under them for hours, just gazing up lovingly at them - it's so cute! I will try to get a picture if I can! And the balloon! Oh how I wish I had my camera when they first saw it! They were fascinated to say the least!!!

So anyhoo, here's my Let it Loose assignment I was working on last night...

The idea was to paint a photograph with each color's complement to change up the feeling of the photo. I used a photo I'd taken in rural Minnesota on one of my recent work trips...



and turned it into this...

What fun it was to play with the colors! My favorite part was adding the details and journaling. Oh, and the white horse makes me feel like it's an image from a dream. The next assignment is tomorrow and I can hardly wait!!!

The slideshow for All Star is up at Scrapping The Music! Head on over and check out the fun layouts! Everyone had a really good time with this week's song!!! And be sure to come back tonight around 8 pm for the new song! It's a special one for valentines day............

Now I'm off to finish up my Artful Amblings journal page. It's on the theme of "Hope." I'm looking forward to a day of playing!

Thank you soooo much for visiting my blog!!! Happy Valentines day my friends!

The above video warmed my heart so I wanted to share...

Check out this heart warming video - It really made my day.

Best Friends Helps The Animals in Haiti

Renee and I visited Best Friends Animal Sanctuary a few years back and let me tell you it's an amazing place. For more info about Best Friends, click here.

Life is Beautiful...

I must say I am having so much fun with Marit's Art Journaling class!!! I finished my third assignment! Here's how it turned out...
I used tons of gel medium on this one! The background is sheet music. Then I took a bunch of white tissue paper pieces and sprayed them each with all the different colors of red, pink and orange that I have! The little girl is from a vintage children's book, the leaves are cut from scraps of all different kinds of paper, the title letters are rubons, and the white dots are made with a sharpie. It took awhile to finish this one because each layer of gel medium had to dry before putting more on.

I am getting REALLY antsy to get my scraproom organized! I'm tired of working in a mess! I think I am going to spend some time tonight working on it. We shall see how far I get!

Now the only question is.... Do I take a nap before I start????? HA.

Come on back tomorrow for another update! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Second Let It Loose Assignment...

It was really nice to read all the kind comments about the journaling video by Mr. Skousen. I'm so glad you liked it too. I know I am going to be re-watching that one every so often when I want to feel a boost of inspiration.

I finished my second assignment for Marit's "Let It Loose" art journaling class. It was a lot of fun! I am learning more and more all the time to trust my instincts and just play. Here's what I came up with (click on the image to see it larger)...

I used Maya Mist in Lime, Hydrangea and Turquoise; and Glimmer Mist in Jazz Blue and Sea Glass for the background. The hand sillhouette was one of the images given to us by Marit. The rest is various bits of patterned paper and ephemera, and sharpies.

Now it's on to Lesson Three which came out today, er, I guess now I have to say yesterday since it's past midnite - it still feels like Monday to me tho, since I haven't been to bed yet! Anyhoo, I think Lesson Three is going to be even more fun!

Ooh speaking of today - that reminds me... My Studio Calico kit arrives today (Tuesday) - YEAYYY!!! I can't wait to see it! And p.s. I am going to keep the box to make my new Mist Catcher! Thanks to those of you who left that advice in the comments - I'm excited to try it out!

Alrighty then, that's it for today. I will be back tomorrow when I can hopefully share my third Let It Loose Assignment.

How is your week going? Are you feeling creative? What have you been working on? I'd love to hear!

I love this video...

I want to share this video with you that I found through Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog. I think it's so inspiring. I hope you like it too...



Thanks for sharing Julie!

We are starting a new "movie song" theme for the first Sunday of every month over at Scrapping The Music! This week we are featuring a song from Shrek!!! It's "All Star" by Smashmouth!!! Come on over and check it out - we'd love to have you play along!

I will be back tomorrow with another update. I hope you have a fantastic Monday my friends! Thanks for visiting!!!

Project 12 January...

I think Project 12 might be one of my favorite scrapping projects ever! Using the sketches and calendar pages makes it so easy, and I get to focus on the colors and embellies and photos! I completed my sketch page for January at yesterday's crop. Here's the sketch I used, and here's how it turned out...

I had a vision in my mind of how I wanted it to look, so I went to my LSS and made up my own little kit with part of my credit from the garage sale! It was so much fun to shop for free! Some of the things you see here are: Papers from Websters Pages and Making Memories, Flower by Prima, Bird Card by Melody Ross, and glittery frame and alphas by Making Memories.

Here's a closer view of each side of the layout...


I started the calendar page for January too, but I didn't get very far. I will have to finish that up sometime soon! The deadline is February 20th, so there's still time if you want to get in on the fun. Click on the widget in the sidebar to go to the main Project 12 page for guidelines and dates.

Things to do today include...

1/2 hour of organizing the scraproom
Complete my 2nd "Let It Loose" assignment
Update my project list for the week

and then who knows???

I hope your Sunday is going great! Thanks for stopping by and I will see you tomorrow!

Is it already Sunday???

I took a break from my monthly crop today to have a fun lunch with family and celebrate my sister-in-law Julie's birthday! Here's the card I made for her...

I used the Studio Calico "Cotillion" kit, plus an extra piece of BG Junebug paper, and some doodlebug alphas. It made me happy that she liked it! :0)

I love it when I find art in unexpected places! This was part of a mural painted in the restaurant bathroom. Isn't it pretty?


I completed my Project 12 sketch layout for Janury. I will take a pic and post it tomorrow. I would post it tonite, but I am falling asleep at my computer, so I think I better opt for some sleep instead.

The slideshow is up for the Disneyland Challenge over at Scrapping The Music! There are alot of super fun layouts this week! Come on over and take a peek...

Alrighty then - that's all for tonight. I will be back after a good night's sleep with more news. Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome Sunday!

The Street Where I Live...

I am having so much fun with the "Street Where You Live" class! I finished the first assignment! Here's how it turned out (click on the image to see the details)...
I used the Studio Calico "Whodunit" kit, along with woodgrain contact paper, a bit of fabric and some acrylic paint for the title. It's not too late to get in on this FREE class! Click here for more info.

That's about it for me for today. How is your week going? I will be back tomorrow with another update! Thanks so much for visiting!!! I really appreciate it!

Numerous Art Journals At Once...

I realized today that I have six art journals going at one time right now. Each for a different class or purpose. I'm likin it. It's fun to go back and forth, and to have options depending on what mood I'm in. Here are my latest two entries...

The first one is my January 31st entry in my Prompt-A-Day journal. The quote is from the TV show "Heroes," which I've been watching lately on Netflix. I thought it was profound...

This one is my first assignment in Marit's "Let It Loose" Art Journaling class. In this class we are making a special book, which we will be binding at the end. I made my pages out of Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor Paper and sized them at 9.5" x 7.5"...
Ohhhh the fun I'm having ALREADY in Marit's class!!!! I can hardly wait for Thursday when we get the next assignment!

Tonight I'm working on my first assignment for "The Street Where You Live." It's fun, fun, fun!

I hope you are having a wonderful week my friends! See you tomorrow with another update!

I Have a New Hero and Lots of Other News...

Guess what we went to see yesterday???? I will give you a hint - here's my new hero....
yes - you guessed it!!! The movie was AVATAR and we saw it in 3-D!!! WOW - What an experience!!! It was so much more than I expected. It's a love story, has a great message, and it's totally AMAZING artistically!!! WOO HOO!!! If you have a choice to see it in 3-D I would highly recommend PAYING THE EXTRA MONEY TO DO IT!!!! We were so glad we did!!!

The new challenges are up at Scrapping The Music AND the Fave Things blog! I've been waiting to share these two layouts with you and I finally can - yeayyy!!!

The featured song at Scrapping The Music is "Disneyland" by Five For Fighting. My friend Lynn suggested this song and it really rocks as inspiration for scrapping! Like I said on the STM blog - it has very magical quality to it, and the lyrics are sooo scrappable even if you've never been to Disneyland! Here's what I came up with...
I downloaded the image of Mickey Mouse from the web, and the patterned paper is designed by Stephanie Wheeler. I don't know if it's available any more, but I sure love it! The title lettering is hand-drawn with a black sharpie and outlined with a white one. This challenges goes until Saturday night, so come on over and join in!!!

At the Fave Things blog, the challenge is to scrap your favorite outfit. This was a difficult task for me. I took a look at my closet and thought. Hmmmm.... Favorite outfit? I guess I need more clothes - there's nothing good in here. HA. So, I took a little creative license and did the layout on something I do enjoy wearing. Here's how it turned out...
I used the Orchestra kit from Studio Calico, plus some miscellaneous doo-dads from my stash. The peace sign came from my good friend Julie - thank you Julie!!! You know me well!!! The background is kraft cardstock and pan pastels. You've got til Feb 14th to play along, so come on over and join in!


Alrighty then - it's time for another scraproom update! I'm organizing things one at a time, and first on my list was my fabric. I had all this groovy fabric and NEVER used it because it was sooo unorganized! I had some jammed in a box that was hard to get at, and a whole bunch more stuffed in a big garbage bag, but NO MORE!!! Here's what I did...

The big pieces got folded up and placed in a cube...

The mid-sized and oddball shaped pieces got organized by color and put into a box that is easily accessible on the bottom shelf of my cubes...

and the small pieces got folded neatly and put into a vintage tray. I put these in plain sight so I will know what I've got and thus remember to use them!

Here's how it looks on my shelf. The pink box is where my bags of scraps are...
It took me an entire evening to organize it, but it was sooo worth it!

Today is the first day of the Let It Loose Art Journaling class, and I'm so excited! I've read through the assignment, and I'm going to start in on it as soon as I'm done with this post. It's really a fun group of women - lots of familiar names!

I wish you a week full of fun and inspiration!!! Thanks for stopping by!!!