Shiny Happy People and Art Journal Ponderings...

Happy Wednesday everyone! The new challenge at Scrapping The Music this week features the song "Shiny Happy People" by REM! What song could be more fun than that to scrap??? I had an awesome time making my layout for this one!!! Here's what I came up with...
the background paper is some old SEI that I had, and the rest of the layout is done with miscellaneous Studio Calico kit stuff. The title is painted with gesso.

Come on over and play along with us this week! We have a fabulous prize!!! It's free registration in Marit Barentsen's upcoming "Let it Loose" workshop!!! It's a fantastic workshop - I've taken it myself and it was one of my favorites EVER!!! So don't delay!!! Click here to go directly to the challenge!

On another note, I've been pondering the subject of art journaling lately. It's a subject I think about frequently. I think about all the different kinds of possible art journals, and how I want to organize mine. For example, I was recently inspired by this video on creating a "junque journal..."

So, I decided to start my own junque journal. It was super fun to make and I've been really enjoying using it! This however, led me to question the difference between my junque journal, and the other journal I had been working in, which also had bits of ephemera and memorabilia taped into it, and daily musings on life in general. Hmmm... Then I've also got my Artful Amblings (aka A Year In The Life of an Art Journal) art journal, AND my prompt-a-day art journal, and on and on... How many journals does one woman really need???

I decided to make a list of all the different types of art journaling I like to do. Here's what I came up with...


TYPES OF ART JOURNAL ENTRIES:

1. Daily facts. What happened, what the weather was like, etc.

2. Thoughts/reflections - stream-of-consciousness writing. How you are feeling, what you are thinking about, etc.

3. To do lists, notes, things to remember, etc.

4. Ephemera of daily life.

5. Journal prompts on collaged pages - artsy and experimental.

6. Specific Online Classes (like Let it Loose for example).

7. Online challenges that I complete in my art journal.

It was almost too much for my brain to handle! For some reason this stuff really gets me going - turning it over and over in my mind. Do you ever do this?

Anyhoo, I finally had a revelation!!! I think I am going to group my art journaling into two ongoing journals; organized like this...

1. Documenting daily life.
This one will combine daily facts, To Do Lists, notes, ephemera
sometimes thoughts and reflections and pics of things that inspire me. Basically, memories of what happens in life.

2. Self expression.
This one will combine journal prompts, collage, challenges, sometimes thoughts and reflections and all kinds of artistic experiments. Basically a place to express feelings visually and try things artistically.

I think I can handle two ongoing journals at once. In fact, it should be fun! If I take an online class I can choose to make an independent journal for that - kinda like a mini-book in scrapbooking.

So that is my plan - for now - LOL. Until I decide to reorganize again. How about you? If you art journal, how do you do it? Does everything go in one, or do you have a bunch of different ones for different things? How do you decide what to put where? I'd love to know!!!

The Party...

To follow-up my last post, I want to share with you a few pics of the party where Stan was presented with the scrapbook of letters from his kids. To say it was a hit would be an understatement...


Stan loved his book, and that each child read their letter out loud to him was the most awesome thing to see...

the whole family remembering the funny things that happened...

and enjoying the stories together...

was so touching...

It made me realize AGAIN (not that I ever forgot) that scrapbooking is more than a hobby. It truly is a way of celebrating life and that makes me happy!

Thanks so much for visiting and I will see you again tomorrow!

Back to My Regularly Scheduled Blogging...

Mom's visit is over and she is safe and sound back at home in California. It was awesome having her here and we had so much fun!

On Friday we went shopping in the St. Paul Retro Loop Area. My favorite store by far was called SWANK...
OMG they had the COOLEST stuff and it was reasonably priced! It was the kind of placed that is just stuffed full of treasures!

I bought two rolls of groovy 70's contact paper and a whole box of True Story Magazines from the 1940's and 50's...

it's going to be great stuff for art journaling with!!!

I also wanted to share a fun family story with you. It was Michael's dad's 70th birthday recently, and Michael and his siblings decided to each write him a letter about their favorite memories of growing up with him. Well, as you can imagine, that gave me an idea that they could each make a scrapbook page to showcase their letter! So, I hosted a crop at my place for the Rydell girls, and the fun began...




our nephew got in on the fun by creating this beautiful card. He was so proud...

and here we all are with the pages we created...
I love how each page turned out so unique and really shows the personality of the person who created it. I am holding two because daughter Becca created the one with the black background, but had to leave before the picture was taken. There are two more pages that aren't shown in this picture. I am so glad everyone had a good time!

More on the party where dad received the scrapbook next time!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I will see you again tomorrow!!!

Soak Up The Sun, Happy Mail and Yummy Pie!!!

The song this week at Scrapping The Music is "Soak Up The Sun" by Sheryl Crowe! It's such a bright, happy song I really felt inspired to make a bright, happy layout!!! Here's what I came up with...

The photo was taken on Honeymoon 3 in San Diego, California on the brightest, most beautiful day you could imagine! I used a combination of things from my stash for this one. The sun was made from yellow cardstock which I shaded with colored pencils. The flowers were a gift from my friend Jeanet - white ones which I misted to make the bright colors.

Come on over and play along with us! Click here to go to the challenge!

I got the coolest surprises in the mail recently and I just have to show you!!! First, I got this super GROOVY journal from my friend Julie Tucker-Wolek. How AWESOME is this???!!!
I mean seriously - the bright colors (especially the ORANGE), the 60's hippie vibe, and the inside pages which are super good quality thick, white paper - it's perfect for art journaling!!! I can't wait to start filling it up!!!!! Thank you so much Julie!!! I LOVE IT!!!


The second awesome surprise was this BEAUTIFUL handmade tag, sent to me by my friend Jana, who is new to the Fave Things design team. It's got my photo and nickname from Fave Things!!! How gorgeous is this????.......
I absolutely LOVE IT Jana!!! and I have now incorporated it into my current art journal; and will always think of you when I see it!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH Jana!!!

Earlier this week, Michael and I had dinner with my mom and his parents; followed by some of Michael's mom Sue's fabulous homemade pie. How beautiful and delicious does this look???!!!! It's like a work of art. I just had to take a picture...
It's fresh peach, blueberry, raspberry and it was YUMMY!!!

Here's Michael and mom enjoying the pie and conversation...

with Sue and Stan!
There's truly nothing more wonderful than happy family moments like these. I am soooo grateful for our families!

That's it for today! I thank you so much for visiting and for your comments!!! They really mean the world to me! Have a wonderful Friday my friends!!!

Mom's In Town, Thrift Store Treasures and Two Layouts...

Hey everyone! How's it going? I can't believe it's been almost a week since I blogged! My schedule's a little different this week cuz my mom's in town and we've been having fun! Wednesday we went to the thrift shop and look at the treasures I found! Even Willie can hardly believe it...
The Boy's Life magazine is from 1965 and full of awesome photos and images. The cover alone is priceless if you ask me! And how about the mod lady hanger??? I have to figure out what to do with her. I'm thinking maybe she could be a ribbon hanger??? She's definitely going up somewhere in the scraproom. Oh, and that little orange checkbook cover is so intensely orange in real life I just could not pass it up!!! I think it will make a great mini or journal of some sort, don't you????


I've got a couple of layouts that I'm excited to share with you! The first one is for the current challenge at Scrapping The Music. The featured song is "Santa Cruz," by one of my ALL TIME FAVE bands - Pearl Jam...
I took that photo from the car window when Michael and I were driving the PCH. I thought the lyric fit perfectly. My favorite part of this layout was gluing the sequins on individually - LOL.

Come on over to Scrapping The Music and play along with us - we have a fabulous prize this week!!! Click here to hear the song and play along with the challenge.


Next up is the current challenge at the Fave Things blog. Scrap your favorite website or blog! Now that was a hard one for me because I have SOOOOO many favorite websites and blogs! I decided to narrow it down by picking the two challenge blogs that are closest to my heart: Scrapping The Music and Fave Things!
The little photos are of all my girlfriends that are on the two design teams. I put Julie, Jeanet, and me in the middle because we are on both teams. I love these women all so much! And I LOVE sharing inspiration with each other and also with the participants of our challenges!

Come on over to Fave Things and share your Fave Website with us! Click here to go directly to the challenge!

Here are a few thing that are inspiring me right now:

Happy Birthday to my gorgeous and talented friend Georgia! I love her birthday layout!

I love Jodi's ideas for album topics. Especially the Big Things book

How cute is this ribbon holder by Michelle?

New stamps and rubons by Studio Calico. My fave are the woodgrain birdies!

Teesha continues to inspire

Alrighty, that's all for today! I hope you are having a groovy weekend and I will see you again soon! Thanks so much for visiting!

Scraplifting Game at Studio Calico...

Hey there my friends! I participated in a little scraplifting game over at Studio Calico tonight and guess who helped me with my creation???
Yes, it was JOHNNY!!! He enjoyed giving me his opinon on papers and especially RIBBON from his double-decker throne.

Anyhoo, we were to scraplift a layout by the person above us on the sign-up list. I chose to lift a beautiful layout called "Spring Tulips" by Scrapdebbie. Click here to see her layout.

and here is my interpretation...
I used a combination of Studio Calico kits for this, and the background paper is from the "On a Whimsy" line from Fancy Pants. And p.s. did you notice? I STITCHED! It's my first layout with stitching! I had so much fun and didn't even care that I made a few boo-boos. It just lends character, right?

Oh and I'm also really excited because the person that scraplifted me was the very talented Julie Fei-Fan Balzer! She chose this layout from my gallery:

and you can click here to see her interpretation of it. I just love what she did! Thanks Julie! I feel honored!

Don't forget there is still plenty of time to join in on the Fave Things "Scrap Your Favorite Store" challenge; and also the Scrapping The Music "Tiny Dancer" challenge!

I am off to work on a super-secret assignment! Shhhhhhh..... Thanks for visiting!

Tiny Dancer at Scrapping The Music...

It's movie week again at Scrapping The Music and this month we are featuring Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," from the movie "Almost Famous!" Here's what I came up with...
The line from the song that goes "now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand..." made me think of my little Wilbur and how he follows me around wherever I go. It's so sweet. The frame is from "Love, Elsie" and the rest is a mix of things from my stash.

This may be one of the simplest layouts I've made - I really wanted to focus on the picture.

Come on over to Scrapping The Music and play along with us!

P.S. I have a big secret that I am just bursting to share, but I can't yet...

Project 12 for June...

Another month has gone by and it's time for Project 12 again! I am enjoying this year-long endeavor soooooo much! Here's what I came up with for my calendar page (click on the image to see details)...
I used the "Anthology" collection by Studio Calico this month, plus some added bits and bobs from other collections and my stash too.

And for my layout page I used this sketch that Becky Fleck created for Project 12...


Here's how mine came out...
I painted on the back of the Hambly grey doily transparency, so the details would show up a little better; and the journaling is done on a piece of SC Fabrips, which is a thin, canvasy adhesive fabric, that kind of reminds me of gaffer tape. I wrote on it with a black AC Journaling marker and it worked great!

I have to say that Project 12 is seriously one of the most worthwhile memory-keeping projects I have ever done! I really enjoy creating the monthly overviews and I think it will be great to have them to look back on as time goes by. Thanks so much to Davinie Fiero for thinking this wonderful idea up, and for sharing it with us all!

If you would like to get involved in Project 12, you can go here to find out more about it. You can jump in anytime! If you are already doing it, I'd love to hear how you are liking it?!!

Now I am off to announce the July guest designer at Scrapping The Music! She's a very inspiring artist!!! Be sure to stop by in a little while to find out who it is.............

Thanks so much for visiting everyone! I really appreciate it! Have a super groovy day!

CSN Stores Sewing Machine Review or "YEAY I'M A SEAMSTRESS!!!!!"

When CSN Stores approached me about doing a review of one of their products, they said I could pick something out and it was exciting but difficult to choose! They sell about a bazillion cool things! I posted all about that in my previous post here. When I found the Brother LS2125i Sewing Machine I knew that was what I wanted to try! I've never sewn before and have been wanting to for a long time, and this machine said it was good for scrapbooking among other things!!!

I'm excited to report that I LOVE MY NEW BROTHER LS2125i!!!!!!!

Here she is.....
and here is a link to where you can buy it for only $79.99 and free shipping!!! I don't know how long that price will last, but that's what it is right now.

Okay I must admit I was scared. I've been wanting to know how to do basic sewing for crafts for a very long time, but the idea of threading a machine, winding bobbins, etc, etc scared me to death. I tend to want things simple and quick and I'm not the most patient about reading directions - LOL. But today, my scraproom was clean and I had the time, so I decided to pull out my new machine and give it a try.

First, I want to thank those of you that gave me advice on what thread to buy. Here's what I got. I hope it's good. The woman at Joann's said it was...



I got out my machine and I have to tell you the directions were FANTASTIC for a newbie like me....
They were easy to follow and included illustrations all the way through. Plus, there was a separate sheet that showed the different parts of the machine, so I had that out on one side of my machine and the user manual on the other and it was great because I didn't have to keep flipping back and forth to figure out what I was doing.

And guess what?????? I did everything right the first time!!!!! This machine is super easy to use!!! I had no trouble winding the bobbin or threading the machine!!! In less than a half-hour (probably more like 15 minutes) I was sewing!!!!!! Yeayyyyyyyyy!!!!!

Here's my first practice page. I was playing around with the stitches and the tension to see what works best for stitching on paper, but I'm happy with the results!
One question for you scrapbook stitching wizards out there - what do you do with the loose of string at the end of your lines of stitching? I wasn't sure about that.

My ONLY disappointment (and it was minor) was that with the thread on the spool on top, it would no longer fit into my ikea cube. I solved that easily tho, by just lifting the thread off the spool and laying it on it's side. It sits nicely between the bobbin winder peg and the spool peg. That way I won't have to rethread the machine each time I use it...

My final review of the Brother LS2125i is I LOVE IT!!! I give it five out of five stars, for it's ease of use, portability, quality and value for the price!!!! It turned me into a seamstress in less than a half-hour!

Thank you CSN Stores.com!!!

Once again, here's a link to the sewing machine, and don't forget to check out CSN Stores.com for tons of other stuff too!

Fave Store and Daughtry...

The new challenge is up at the Fave Things and it is all about scrapping your favorite STORE!!! That was easy for me - it's my local thrift store!!!!! I love that place!!!! I know I frequently post about the treasures I find there, so it may not be a surprise; but I thought it was time to pay tribute to my little wonderland...
The three critters are among my favorite finds, and the photo in the back was taken at the store. I used the Studio Calico "Granny's Cupboard" kit, along with some pan pastels on the yellow paper to make the critters stand out a little more.

So what is your favorite store??? Come on over to the Fave Things blog and play along with us!

The new challenge is also up at Scrapping the Music! The featured song this week is the awesome rocker-anthem "Home" by Daughtry. Here's what I made...

I had so much fun with this layout! I used the Studio Calico "Joyland" kit. The pennants that make up the banner were actually beige, so I misted them with turquoise mist. I love how the mist pooled on the coated paper and made the color a bit uneven. The white string was hand-drawn with a white signo uniball pen.

Come on over to Scrapping The Music and show us how "Home" inspires you! This week we are going to have TWO WINNERS!!! Big Picture Scrapbooking is our sponsor and they are giving away two passes to one of their super fun classes! Click here to go to the challenge and find out more!!!!

Thanks so much for visiting! Have a fantastic Friday my friends!!!