Monday, October 31, 2011

Last Page in this Journal for Awhile...

I'm so EXCITED to start Julie's "30 Days In Your Art Journal" workshop tomorrow! Yeayyy! I bought a special journal to use for the workshop, with watercolor paper pages (click here to see).

So that means that this page is going to be my last one in my record album journal for awhile. It's from October 30th...

I've had so much fun working in this journal so far! If you are interested in seeing all of the pages from this journal - click here to go to my flickr album.

Tomorrow I will share my Daily Record Smashbook pages for last week.

Thanks sooo much for visiting and I will see you again soon!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

OMG It's a Scrapbook Layout...

It's been a long, long time since I've felt like scrapbooking, but this weekend I got out my supplies and remembered how much fun it is! I finished this layout (click image to see details)...

I can't take credit for the design. It was an October Afternoon project class from Scrapfest. I'm quite proud of myself for finishing it because, quite frankly, alot of the times my half-finished projects from Scrapfest get put in a box after the event, and I never quite get around to them again. Aargh. It's embarassing. Anyhoo, this time I did, and here are a couple of closeups...

I love, love, loved playing with the OA Sprinklers (the light-colored splats in the background)! They are so different from other spray inks/mists I've tried. They are opaque - like paint! Very retro, very cool!



I did change a few things - added some paper tape, extra embellies & changed up the photo sizes; but basically I stuck straight to the project design they gave us. I love how it came out. Now I am all keyed up to start scrapbooking again!

Speaking of scrapbook supplies, have you seen that Sassafras Lass is having a huge box sale? It's their final one, since they are no longer going to be manufacturing products (soooo sad). Click here to check it out.

One more fabulous thing I wanted to let you know about - it's a fabulous and FREE online art journal workshop! The super-talented Tracie Hanson is generously offering it up on her blog, and it's a good one! Perfect for beginners and advanced art journalers alike. Check it out here.

Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon!

Friday, October 28, 2011

New Journal Pages and a Little about Organization...

I did something I almost never do with the last couple days of journal pages. I turned them sideways (gasp)! The reason had to do with that little wolf on the left hand page right next to the number 26. See him?
The base of the left-hand page is a map, and that wolf was part of it. I really wanted to use him on my page, which meant turning it sideways. I decided it was better to turn them both sideways, than just one, so that's what I did.

Here's how it looks if you twist the book around so you can see it right...

Closeups...
The image on this one came from a songbook from my childhood, and the lizard is a stamp that I inked with a poster paint marker. I punched some holes in the paper just for fun. :0)


On this one I wanted to tone down the busyness of the map, so I painted it with blue acrylic, but first I used some clear crackle paint over the wolf, which acted as a resist. I pasted tissue paper strips on top with a glue stick for journaling.

Lou asked about how I organize my collage images; so I thought I'd share a few pics with you all...

In my studio I have this rolling cart which contains collage ephemera. I just divide it into three categories: Images, Journaling (tags, spots, and ledger paper, etc), and backgrounds...

For crops I have it organized even better. I have these four folders which fit perfectly into my rolling cart:

I can't remember who makes these things (cropper hopper?), but I got them at Archiver's and they're fabulous! Here's a closeup of the categories...

and here's how the specialty folder looks when open...
Specialty paper is a broad term I give to papers that are a little out of the ordinary, like tissue paper, gift wrap, handmade, wallpaper, etc. I love how these folders give you pockets for different sized pieces. It makes it easy to keep track of the little bits.


Here's the text/ledger paper folder when open...

I also have a big jumbled up box of stuff that has no organization at all - ha. What I tend to do is grab from that box when I need to refill my organized boxes. So far it's working great.

I hope that is helpful!

Thanks for visiting and see you again soon!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Where I get my images, and a Journal Page...

I want to share my journal page from October 24th...

Alison had asked where I get my pictures from:

I get a lot of them from magazines. Some of my fave mags for images are:

Oprah (great quotes, photography and images that empower women)
Birds and Blooms (gorgeous photography)
Best Friends (Adorable Animal photos)

I also carry a camera with me everywhere, and take a lot of pictures of random stuff to add to my collection.

Another thing I do is look for children's books and coffee table books at thrift stores. Thrift stores are a great resource for fabulous photography and images.

I encourage you to look for images everywhere you go. If you are getting coffee, check out their free brochures, look at napkins at fast food places, shopping bags at the grocery store or the mall. There are opportunities for collecting images everywhere - it can be addicting!

I hope this info is helpful. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Daily Record - Week of October 17 - 23, 2011...

I'm loving this style of documenting in my Smashbook! This week took up three pages...

The lime green quote card is from Becky Higgins Project 365 (2009); and the Round silverware sticker is Cosmo Cricket;

I think it's fun working with the designs that are already on the Smashbook pages...


Closeup of left side...
The brown tissue behind the ephemera on the bottom is what my burrito was wrapped in at Chipotle. It was too cute not to keep!


Closeup of right side...
The big orange flower was on the wrapping that came with my new journal;

and if I back out a little bit, you can see that my Smashbird bookmark is holding my place...

Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

I finished a couple of pages at the crop...

My monthly girls crop was fabulous! We always have such a great time together. I'm mad at myself for not taking a picture this month tho - ack! I got so caught up in the fun that I forgot all about it. Oh well. I did do a bunch of backgrounds and collages in my art journal, which I will share as soon as I finish them up with the journaling. Here are my last couple of days' pages...




I originally titled this one "Little Wonders," because of my fascination with birds. Then it made me think of the song by Rob Thomas, which sent my journaling in a whole different direction. I love it when that happens...

I know I've got some questions to answer and I have not forgotten - I will get to them soon, and if you have anymore, feel free to leave them in the comments! Thanks so much for visiting!!! I appreciate you!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Coyote Love and More...

Hi everyone! I've got three new art journal pages to share with you today! This first one is from before vacation. The journaling is about a dream I had, which leads me to believe I have a new animal totem in my life...
It's done on the back side of this one. Dawn had asked if I was going to put anything inside the sleeve. This time I'm not, simply because I love the way the other pages show through.


Here's one from October 19th. Check out the temperature difference since the one above. Aargh...
The background on this one is a map, which I covered with little bits of leftover scrapbook paper, to form a mosaic. Then there's gesso, then paint, then the collage stuff over the top. The last step was the writing.

And lastly, a page from October 20th...

I'm heading out to my monthly crop with my girlfriends today, so I should have more to share tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting!!!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

October is Magic...

The No More Excuses theme for October is Magic. So perfect. For the quote page, I used a piece of My Mind's Eye paper from the Meadowlark collection...


I usually do the monthly writing and collages at the beginning of the month, but they got put off since I was on Honeymoon Five. It was fun to do this stuff last night. My October collage spilled over onto the monthly envelope...


and the back of the envelope too...
I will be putting lots of random stuff in the envelope; like receipts, the NME assignment sheet, and anything else I want to keep for future reference.

I got some fun happy mail today! My new journal that I bought for Julie's class...

It's even more beautiful in real life than this picture allows. The linen cover is just gorgeous, and gets my mind going about all the different ways it could be altered. Paint? Stencils? Mist? The watercolor paper on the inside is really thick and has the most scrumptious subtle texture to it! I can't wait to try it out!!!

I also got this little travel watercolor kit that I've been wanting for a long time...
I haven't tried it yet, but it's so cute and small and will be great to carry around with me.

Thanks for visiting!!! It means a lot to me!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Daily Record...

So, I've been obsessing about Project Life for about a month now. I am loving the concept of documenting our life thru photographs and memorabilia, and think it will be a nice complement to my art journaling. Now, if you know me, you know that I'm not very good at waiting. Once I feel inspired to do something, I want to do it NOW. HA.

I always end up starting projects early. In 2009, I started Project 12 in December, rather than waiting for January. This past year, I made a Pre-Smashbook Smashbook, cuz I couldn't wait for the Smashbooks to come out. And now, I've been thinking - how can I document my life for the next three months, while I wait for the new Project Life designs to come out?

Here's what I came up with - I am using a Blue (Retro) Smashbook and calling it...

The Daily Record!

I started with October 1st, and I'm going to try to make this book last until the end of the year. Sometimes documenting a day at a time...




but I plan to most often document a week at a time...

whatever seems to work best at the moment...

I'm not journaling a lot, just enough to explain what the pics are about. It's proving to be a lot of fun and very low pressure! One thing I love about Smashbooks is that you can make them whatever you want them to be; and this is turning about to be a super fun way to use one of mine!

Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon with lots more updates!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Honeymoon 5 Travel Journal Beginnings...

I finished the title page for our travel journal today! Here's how it turned out...

The photo is one we had taken with the Monsters, Inc. guys at Hollywood Studios. They were so cute! I drew the blue letters with a Poster-Paint Sharpie; and the rest of the title was stamped. The word bubble is from Studio Calico.

Now I'm off to work in my art journal. I'd like to finish it up before the end of October, cuz I bought a new one for Julie's class, which starts on November 1st.

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

We're Back!......

OMG We had so much fun on Honeymoon 5!!! We went to Orlando to visit Disneyworld and Harry Potter's Wizarding World!!! Most of the photos are still in my camera, but here's a shot of us at Downtown Disney this past week...
I know I've talked about this before, but Michael and I got married in 2007. It was a second marriage for each of us, and we talked alot about how important it is to celebrate and nurture a good relationship. One of the things we decided to do was to go on a honeymoon every year, and we have kept our promise!

Each year, I have made a travel journal to document our journey. I make the journal up before we go, and collect postcards and memorabilia to add to it along the way. Each evening I jot a few quick notes about the day's activities, and then add photos and finishing touches after we get home. Here's the beginnings of this year's journal:

Not too long before we went, I happened upon a Harry Potter board game at a thrift shop. I snatched it up and used the game board for my journal cover. Here's the outside of the journal, which I covered with paper towels and then painted with acrylic paint...

on the inside you can see the board from the game...

On the inside pages, I used a combination of painted watercolor paper (left side), and collaged papers (right side). Here's how the first two pages look so far (click on the images to see the details)...

I used a sewn tapes binding technique to bind it together...
As I finish the pages, I will be sure to share them with you. I took about 400 photos, and I have a pile of ephemera to incorporate. It's going to be fun fun fun!

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope your weekend is going great!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Honeymoon Five...

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been a little quiet - Michael and I are having a blast on honeymoon five right now, but I will be back really soon! I can't wait to tell you about it and share my travel journal!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Art Journal Page for October 5...

This page was done on another one of the record sleeves in my current art journal. The layers went like this:

acrylic paint, lace, fabric and paper tapes, gesso circles stamped with card board tape core, more acrylic paint, magazine images, 7 gypsies sticker, hambly rubons.

Did you see that Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is teaching an online art journaling class? She is so inspiring and fun! I can't wait! Check it out here.

That's all for today, but I will be back again soon. Thanks so much for visiting!!!

Art Journal Page for October 4...



I'm loving working in this journal! Each page is a different size, color, and/or texture! It's never boring!

I'm also getting unbelievably excited about starting Project Life in 2012. I've still got three months to wait - Eek!

Thanks for visiting and see you again soon!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Changing it up a little...

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well on this fine Tuesday! I've changed things up a little with my No More Excuses process, and I want to share the changes with you...

The first of October, my plan was to go from doing a collage page a day, to making a whole week fit onto two pages. The reason being that I wanted these mini-collages to be a warmup for my actual art journal work. What actually happened was I was taking so much time with the "warmup" collages, that my poor art journal was just sitting there, neglected. (Poor thing.)

So, anyhoo, I got the whole rest of 2011 all mapped out in my NME journal, ready for my mini collages, and guess what? The first one I did (on Oct 1), I realized I did NOT like doing them this way! HA. Since I had already made up the whole book, I thought - I'll try it for a week and see how I feel. On Oct 2, I was SURE I didn't like doing it this way! It felt cramped using this tiny space. Here's how the first two pages turned out...
So that was that. The tiny collages were not gonna happen. Trying things is how you learn I guess, right? In any case, it brought me to my new way of journaling, which I am LOVING, so it's all good!

I am just doing daily entries right in my art journal! DUH. Why didn't I think of that before??? I love it!

I taped an October divider page right into my journal (on the right)...


and then I taped my page of unsuccessful journaling on the back (left side), cuz I don't believe in throwing things away. Then I started with the next page that was already in the journal (right side)...

It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Now, that may be way more info than you need - lol. But, I know some of you have been asking how I make decisions and what my process is like. I want you to know that I change my mind ALOT, and I consider that to all be part of what makes it fun!

Now, I know I'm doing it the right way for me, because I can't wait to do today's entry! Yeayyy! The different size and shaped pages are going to be a great challenge! I will keep you posted on how it goes.

I think I am going to try Project Life in 2012! Have you seen the new designs? They are so awesome! More on that later.

I hope you are having a fabulous week my friends! Thanks for visiting!