My Wonky Mandala

I finished the insert for my record sleeve art journal page. Remember this?


It was a day when I really needed something meditative to do, so I made the insert into a mandala. Here's how it turned out...



Here's a detail shot...
I used my Pitt Manga Marker set (LOVE THESE), plus a variety of colored brush markers. Michael saw it and right away was like "here, let me trim that up for you - it's a little off-kilter" HA. I'm like "NO ITS SUPPOSED TO BE WONKY!" He grinned. He knew it was supposed to be wonky. He just likes to tease me. This is our usual banter - he keeps me laughing!

I also finished binding my final Full-Tilt Boogie journal last night - the grand finale is done! Yeayyy! I will share some photos soon!

I wish you a wonderfully creative weekend my friends!

Beautiful Messengers...

This week I had the most magical experience. Two ravens landed on our bird bath and played together there for a long time. You may already know that ravens are my spirit totem animal. Did you know that ravens are said to be messengers between this world and the next? In the four years that I have lived at our current home, I have never seen Ravens at our bird bath, so this was really special. Here's a page I made about it...
I think maybe they were sent by mom and elmer to tell me they found each other and everything is okay.


Here's a closeup...

Do any of you know what your totem animal is? I'd love to hear about it! If you don't know but you are interested in finding out, you can google "totem animals" and find all kinds of resources.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Thanks so much for visiting!!!

Journaling Your Dreams...

One of my favorite things to journal about is my night-time dreams. I find them so fascinating, don't you? Images and storylines that run like movies while we are asleep. When you think about it, it's pretty amazing. Here's a journal page I made last night about a dream I had...

I got the image of Neil Young on the internet, and the sunset is a vintage Minnesota postcard. The words are the lyrics to a Neil song. The journaling is on the back of the postcard. You can read it if you click on the next image...


I hid some more lyrics from the song under the postcard.

I've been combing the internet for vintage wallpaper to use in my journaling. I was especially looking for retro styles from the 60's and 70's. I found the coolest etsy store ever and I want to share it with you! It's called Colleenabean, and she specializes in 70's vintage wallpaper! I found her prices to be ultra-affordable compared to others I've seen, and she has so many beautiful, colorful styles - I was just giddy!!! Just what I was looking for! I went a little crazy with my purchase (I was so excited); and I couldn't believe how fast my order came. The wallpaper is in fantastic condition, and it came in a really sturdy mailing tube, which I plan to use for storage. I will share a pic of my purchase soon. Click here to go to Colleen's store.

Got any fun plans for the weekend? I'm going to be on a journaling retreat, right here in my scraproom!

I will leave you with a video of good ol' Neil singing the song from my dream. Check it out:

Just a little Sneak...

The reason I've been quiet all weekend is that I'm working on this...
I'm calling it the grand finale of my Full Tilt Boogie journals, cuz it's HUGE, and it's taking a lonnnggg time to put together! That's okay tho - it's a labor of love. I'm piecing each page together from scraps of different kinds of papers and having a lot of fun doing it! I also had to rehab the cover before I started. I haven't started binding yet, but I will keep you posted!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend! Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon!

Inspiration Journal...

I finished another Full-Tilt Boogie journal! This one was a completely different cover technique because it didn't use an old book or photo album. We made it ourselves! I had so much fun putting it together! Check it out...
This one is an inspiration journal. I'm going to use it specifically for collecting images that inspire me. I'm always seeing things in magazines or elsewhere, where I notice the pattern or the colors or the design or SOMETHING that makes me go - OH, that would make a cool (insert variable here) for a page! Now I will have a place to collect all those images! I might not even know why the image inspires me, but if it does, I will put it in the book! Yeayyy! I don't have a journal like that right now, so I'm super excited to start!

I made the pages all black, so that the images would stand out...


Here's the back of the journal. The pages are 8.5" x 11"...

I've got one more FTB journal that I'm working on, and then it will be time to focus on filling them up!!!

I hope you are having a creatively wonderful week my friends! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Two FTB Journal Pages from the Crop...

Hi everyone! Saturday was my monthly crop with my girlfriends Lynn, Anne and Christina; and it was such a good time. I feel so lucky to have such awesome women for friends! I have two journal pages to share with you as a result of my time at the crop!

The first one started out as a 21 Secrets project, and then took a wildly different turn - ha. Pages seem to have a mind of their own, don't they? Anyhoo, here's how it turned out...
It's kinda funny cuz I found that picture of a man in a 1965 Boys Life magazine; and I wanted to add him to the page, just because I liked the stark black and white drama of it; but then when I looked at the quote next to the photo, it just happened to go with the theme of my page! Synchronicity!


The second one is a bit of a tribute to our crop - I gathered ephemera from the day from each of my cropmates and added it to the page. So much fun!...
The crossword is actually my castoff even tho I didn't label it. It was an extra piece of a magazine page that I had cut an image from.

I'm also working on another Full-Tilt Boogie album, which I hope to have finished soon.

I wish you a wonderfully creative week my friends! Thanks for visiting!

Cabinet Card Album Journal...

I'm still doin' the Full-Tilt Boogie!!! Remember this album? It's the one I originally bought off of ebay, for the Full-Tilt Boogie class. The cover is beautifully embossed velvet, and inside, the pages are thick chipboard cabinet card frames...
The album is going to turn into two separate journals - one using the covers, and a different one using the inside chipboard frame pages.


Today was my monthly girls' crop, and I used the time to finish constructing the first of the two journals - the one using the inside pages. I had so much fun making it, and I have to say I love how it turned out...

The button closure is made from a Tim Holtz fancy button, and some stretchy pink ribbon.

Here's how the front looks...
I got the donkey from a 1965 Boy's Life magazine, and I've been waiting for the right project to come along - I'm so glad I finally got to use him!

For the spine, I used a combination of a photo from a thrifted book, and part of a bag from today's Dick Blick art store purchase...

Here's how the back turned out...

Here's the inside back cover. I haven't started filling it yet, so the frames are all empty, but I plan to collage on the pages. Some frames will be covered and some will be used as part of the page. You can see how I attached the ribbon closure. It's just a simple hole with the ribbon knotted. The photo of the horses is from that same thrifted book...

A closeup of the inside back cover...
I could not possibly be more happy with the Full-Tilt Boogie class! I still have two more journals to make, so in the end I will have seven handmade journals from the class! And they are all different!!! How fun is that??? I love it!!! You can still get in on the fun if you want to - click here to check it out.

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great Sunday my friends! I will see you again soon!

Music is the Soul...

I was inspired to do a journal page about music last night, so I took the opportunity to create it on one of my journal pages that is an actual album sleeve. Here's how it turned out...
Inside the sleeve is a piece of white cardstock with a color copy of one of my record album labels. I plan to do some journaling on that on another day. The photo is an internet stock wallpaper image. The bird was drawn onto painted dictionary paper, and the rest is acrylic paint, colored pencil, oil pastel and paint markers.

I want to give a shout out to my good friend Julie who sent me a beautiful set of Elmer's Paint Markers to use and I just LOVE them! They are really opaque and work so smoothly! I used them to outline the letters and for the black and white striped accent behind them. Thanks so much Julie!!!

I hope your week is going well my friends! Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon!

On My Mind Always...

Thinking about my mom. I don't write about her on the blog as often as I used to, but she is on my mind all the time, and I was thinking about her yesterday when I made this page...
Sometimes it's hard to know how to feel, when you go on without someone you love, know what I mean? I'm so glad I have my art - it's the best therapy ever!

Thanks so much for visiting! I will see you again soon!

A Charming Visitor and Two More Journals Bound...

Yesterday evening around 8:30 pm, I walked into the scraproom and did a double-take! There was a beautiful deer standing right in front of the window! And it was still light out, so I could see her clearly!!! She was eating from the bird feeders, and seemed quite calm and content. Willie was just as mesmerized as I was (click on the image to see it larger)...
She looked a lot closer in real life than she does in this picture. Turns out she had a friend with her, and the two of them hung out in the yard for about ten minutes before sauntering off. It absolutely made my day (and I'm guessing it made Willie's day too)!!!

Anyhoo, I finished this week's journals for Full-Tilt Boogie, and they were the most fun yet! We learned two new binding techniques that I had never seen before - the Sewn Chain and the Triple Chain. Here's how they turned out...

Sewn Chain Binding

I made this one with a vintage Sewing Book, and reinforced the spine with vintage contact paper. I was going for a 70's look.

Triple Chain Binding

For this one I gessoed the cover to cover up some water damage, then reinforced the spine with some specialty paper before binding.

I am having so much fun learning all these new binding techniques! Here's a photo of all of my Full-Tilt Boogie journals (so far) together on the shelf...

And we still have another week of lessons to go! I can't wait!!!

Now I'm off to do a little painting and collaging. I hope you have a wonderful evening my friends! Thanks so much for visiting!!!

Listening To The Voices...

One of the things that Mary Ann mentioned in her class is how we should listen to our inner voices, and I was really inspired to put that message on a page. Here's my little tribute to the teacher...
I know I've said before that the more I just play, and don't judge or overthink my work, the more I end up liking what I make, so Mary Ann's words really rang true, and I don't want to forget them! Thanks Mary Ann!!!



Oh, and I must say, Johnny was very happy that the voices told me to add a couple ribbons to the left side of the page - lol...

Tomorrow I will be back with my 3rd handbound journal from Full-Tilt Boogie. It's a new and super fun stitch!

See you then!!!

A Couple More Random Journal Pages...

For us here in the U.S., we are starting on a long holiday weekend and that feels wonderful! I learned a couple of fabulous new binding stitches in Full-Tilt Boogie last night, and I can't wait to try them out!

In the meantime, here are a couple more random journal pages I just finished...
This one is made with an 8" x 10" photo, acrylic paint, 7 Gypsies Paper Tape and Sharpies. The base page is a Studio Calico patterned paper.



This one is made on a base of ledger paper/map paper taped together; and collage is a magazine image, colored pencil drawing, vintage wrapping paper, Cosmo Cricket border strip, various types of tape, grey pitt brush marker, and sharpies.

I thank you so much for visiting and wish you a wonderful, creatively inspired weekend my friends! See you again soon!