Greetings from Snuggleville...

We are having another winter storm, and the boys are all snuggled in. I never get tired of how sweet they look all cuddled up together...



I finished making my "Daily Junque" journal (from the Archiver's class). I put my own twist on it by changing some of the embellies and redoing the cover. I decided to make this one about things I would tell my younger self...
I added some things from my Noel Mignon Playdate kit. I will share the insides as I finish the pages. First I have to think of 10 Things I would tell my younger self. I can think of quite a few off the top of my head! What would you tell your younger self if you could?

P.S. We used the Daily Junque line from Pink Paislee in the class and it is sooooo AWESOME. Check the whole line out here. And if you want to get the kit to make the journal above, they are selling it here.


Here's a sneek peak at what I'm working on now. Its an "Urban Journal..."

Thanks for visiting and for your comments! I really appreciate them!

I will be back tomorrow to share some news that I am really excited about!

Soul Journal Tape Page...

Thank you for your kind comments about my tribute to my mom. It really means a lot to me to be able to share my memories with all of you. I hope your Saint Patty's Day was wonderful!

I finished another page in my Soul Journal. I am finding this journal so freeing to work in. The prompts were to use tape for a background; and then to make copies of previously done journal pages, and use pieces of them on a new page.

Here's how the prompts turned out...

Then I just kept adding stuff to it here and there; and finished it with a quote from Mother Teresa that I saw yesterday and thought was really beautiful. Here's the final page...


I signed up for another art journaling class by Sarah Whitmire (the author of the Soul Journaling prompts). It's called "Jet Set Journaling" and is about art journaling on the go. I'm excited to make up a new travel journaling kit. I will be sure to post about it when I get it all set.

I received my three journaling books from Amazon today. They all look good, but the one I am going to read first is this one:

Life's Companion
by Christina Baldwin

It captured my attention immediately, and I'm really looking forward to delving into it further. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

That's it for today! Thanks so much for visiting and I will see you again soon!

A Saint Patrick's Day Tribute...

Today is my mom's birthday. She would have been 78. I've been wanting to do a tribute to her, and I thought today would be a good day for that. I want to tell you a little bit about the person my mom was.

My mom was named Patty because she was born on Saint Patrick's Day. How neat is that?

(Mom & Me circa 1961)

My mom was the kind of person that made friends with everyone, and once you were her friend, you were her friend for life. She taught me a lot about loyalty.

Circa 1969

She was a beautiful woman, and very stylish. As a teenager, I always liked to borrow her clothes and jewelry...

(Renee, Mom & Me circa 1976)

Mom was a believer in women's rights. She was a big fan of Gloria Steinem. She went through a painful divorce from my Dad when I was 15, and after that, she was a very independent woman for many years. I always remember her wearing a t-shirt that said "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle!" HA. She taught me to stand on my own two feet. She taught me to make my own way in the world.

In 1985, she got a chance to move to California for her job. It was a chance for a fresh start. I was sad to see her and Renee go, but so happy for her to have a new adventure, a new chapter in her life. She was my inspiration to never be afraid to try something new. To take a risk.

In 1987 she met Elmer. The two of them were perfect for each other. They got married, and started going on adventures together...

(Mom & Elmer circa 2004)

They used to spend their summers here in Minnesota, and their winters in California...

(Mom & Elmer circa 2005)

My mom was there for me through all of my ups and downs. She was a wonderful mother and friend...
When Elmer got sick, she was there for him too. A committed caregiver, she never left his side. Renee and I tried to get her to take a break once in awhile and go do something for herself but she refused. She was right where she wanted to be she said. She taught me alot about love.

Elmer passed away in April of last year after a four-year illness. She was alone again. Lonely, but resilient. We talked every evening on the phone. As the days and months went by, she started to make new friends, started a new exercise program, and her social calendar got busier and busier. She was very active with her church. She even made plans to go back to college. It made me feel so good that she was doing well and was happy again. She taught me alot about strength. She taught me alot about cherishing every moment.

Mom and Michael's Mom Sue this past summer (2010).

My mom volunteered regularly at her local soup kitchen. She was part of a "prayer shawl ministry" through her church. She would knit shawls and they would be given to people who were going through a hard time in life, to give them some comfort. She also was part of a group that got together regularly and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless. She taught me a lot about being a giving person.


My mom always had a smile and a kind word to share.

She was my inspiration.

She always will be.
Happy Birthday Mom. I love and miss you. You've been gone for two months now, but you will always live in my heart.

Thanks so much for visiting. I really appreciate it! I will be back tomorrow with some new artwork to share.

Closer to Fine at Scrapping The Music...

Hi everyone! The new challenge at Scrapping the Music is "Closer to Fine" by the Indigo Girls! This song has such great lyrics. I did an art journal page, and here's how it turned out...

I experimented with layers on this one. Here's what I used (in order)...

acrylic paint
journaling
more acrylic paint
stamps
spray ink
collage magazine images and dictionary paper
masking tape with lyric stamped onto it
doodling
self-portrait photo

Come on over and play along with us! Make anything you want - just let the song inspire you! Click here to go to the challenge!

There's also a new challenge up at the Fave Things blog! This time it's to "scrap your favorite pastime!" Should be fun! Click here to go to the Fave Things challenge!

Last but not least, I finished another page for the "30 Days of Lists" challenge...

That's all for today. Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon!

Wrapped Tape Binding and more Soul Journaling...

I took LK Ludwig's "Just Three Journals" workshop back in November, and loved it; although I hadn't gotten up the nerve to try binding my journal until last night. I made the cover and pages, but I was a bit intimidated by what looked like some intricate sewing. I'm happy to say that I tried it last night and it wasn't hard at all! I finished the whole thing and am so happy with my new journal! Here's how it turned out...
For the cover I covered plain chipboard with a few layers of sewing patterns. Then some gesso circles and a painted flower.


The inner pages were torn from big sheets of Stonehenge paper, and painted individually before binding.

and here's the binding. It's called "Wrapped Straps..."
I have an idea of how I am going to fill it - I will let you know if it works out once I try it. LK Ludwig is having a big sale on her classes right now. If you are interested check it out here.


Here's another page in my Soul Journal. It's not finished yet. I'm letting it simmer. There's journaling covered by tape covered by paint with cut up copies of my older journal pages...

Monday the new 21 Secrets Workshop goes on sale. It looks awesome! Check it out here.

Thanks for visiting!

Still Going...

I don't mind telling you that scrapbooking is really hard right now. I start looking through my photos and my mom is everywhere - I really miss her. I'm so glad I've got those photos, and the memories to go along with them, but scrapping will have to wait awhile I guess.

Journaling, however, is keeping me going. It keeps my mind busy and the prompts keep me creating, which is so helpful. I've got a few new pages that I'm excited to share with you!

Here's another page from the "30 Days Of Lists" prompts...

What's In My Bag

I didn't realize I had so many packs of gum in there - LOL.


and a few pages in my "Good Things Daily" journal...
(the business card flips open and there is journaling behind it)


does anybody recognize that tape with the Q's on it? It's from Quizno's sandwich shop, which is where we had lunch! Who knew that they had their own deco-tape? I just had to use it of course!

This was a truly exciting find at the consignment store!

Thanks for the advice about the books and classes from my last post! I just ordered all three books!!! HA. I couldn't decide. And I think I am actually going to take both classes too! I will probably sign up in the next day or two. I will let you know how it all goes...

Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon!

Another List Page...

I'm skipping around in the order of the "30 Days of Lists," trying to do the current ones, and still make up the old ones. Here's the one from yesterday...

If you want to get in on the 30 days of lists challenge, click here!

In the past couple of days, I've started surfing around the internet, looking for either a book to buy or a class to take that will focus on writing in a fun way. There are some really fun-sounding options out there. Here are the classes I'm considering:

True Stories (instructor: Shimelle Laine)

Just Curious (instructor: Tami Morrison)

And here are the books that look fun:

How to Be An Explorer of the World (by Keri Smith)
Life's Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest (by Christina Baldwin)
A Writer's Book of Days (by Judy Reeves)

Have you read any of these books or taken either of these classes? I'd love to know what you think if you did!

Thanks for visiting and I will see you soon!

30 Days of Lists...

I found a new journaling challenge that's really fun! It's called "30 Days of Lists." Every day in March, they are putting up a new "list" prompt, and you can do your list anyway you want. I decided to do my lists in my Nancy Drew journal - remember this? It's the journal my sister Renee made for me for Christmas. She painted the pages for me and everything - it's just beautiful...

I'm a little behind since I just discovered it, but I did the first couple of lists this weekend...

List #1 "A Few Things About Myself..."

I tried to put a few things in there that I haven't already listed in other places a billion times. More like quirky little things.

List #2: "Things I'm Good At..."

This one was hard for some reason. There are a lot of things that are important to me, but I don't necessarily think I'm good at - you know what I mean? Anyhoo, if you want to check it out, here's a link to the challenge. I think it's a fun one!


I also finished my third "Collage Potpourri" experiment in my Soul Journal...

Oh, and also - right now, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is teaching a free class on making a travel journal over at the Live With Prima site. The class will be archived, so even if you read this later, you should still be able to watch it. Julie's classes are always fun and laid back. Check it out here.

Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon with another update!

A Cozy Sunday Update...

Yesterday was an awesome day of creativity. First of all - in the morning Christina, Anne and I attended this class at Archivers which was totally fun...

It's a really fun little journal made with the new "Daily Junque" collection by Pink Paislee. I haven't finished it yet, but I will post it when it's done.


After the class, we met up with Lynn and cropped the day away! I made one more page in my "Good Things Daily" journal...
Christina had to laugh about this one. I admit it's a stretch, but it's true! I was really delighted with that lip balm! It's yummy!

When I got home last night, my "Delightfully Domestic" kit from Noel Mignon was waiting for me and I absolutely adore it! Here's a pic...
The colors in my photo are slightly off, so here's a pic from Noel's store that is better...



and now, Johnny is patiently awaiting our day of scrapping at home, so I better get busy...
Thanks for visiting and I will see you again soon!

Good Things Daily and Soul Journaling...

Just a couple of journal entries to share with you today....

One in my "Good Things Daily" journal...
(The photo is from the web). I am using my Very Virginia kit from Noel Mignon for this entire journal. It's got a beautiful vintagey feel to it that I just love!


and another "collage potpourri" prompt in my Soul Journal...
Materials used were: acrylic paint, numbers cut from magazines, color crayon, sharpie marker, shipping tag, embroidery floss and Tim Holtz distress inks.

I will leave you with a pic of my two buddies hanging out with me in the scraproom - aren't they just the sweeeeetest???

I wish you a wonderful Friday my friends! Thanks so much for visiting and I will see you soon!

Another Week of Art Journaling Every Day...

It's time for another "Art Journal Every Day" update!

I have gotten into a morning ritual of writing in my "pre-smashbook" aka Field Journal, aka "Chronicles of Ravenea." Lots of days its just plain writing...

but I also tape in ephemera and pictures of things that inspire me...

anything goes, and I find it's a great warmup for my day...

I've also been doing more work in my Soul Journal. I finished this prompt tonight - it's called Collage Potpourri and it has many layers which we were to mix up in any fashion we please...
There's ephemera, gesso, splatters, stencils, journaling, tape, wash, and more. I really like how it turned out. There are two more collage potpourri prompts coming up and I am excited to get started on them!

Julie is taking signups for March now, and I'm on the list - are you? I was a regular art journaler before, but I am really delving into it now and enjoying it so much. I was honored to see that Julie featured my bird sketch on her blog! And Marit has an awesome journal page there too! It's fun to have the weekly updates from Julie, and also to see all of the other participant's work! Here's a new blog I've found through the challenge that I just love:

The Lost Coast Post
(if you scroll down a little bit you will see the most awesome purple owl ever!)

Click here to go to Julie's blog for more info on the Art Journal Every Day Project (and to see Marit's and my journal pages!).

The new challenge just went up at Scrapping The Music and it's a good one! We are featuring "Chances Are," by Five For Fighting as our tribute to the movie "The Blind Side," and guess what? My friend Anne is our guest designer for March and April, so watch for her awesome designs!!! Come on over and see what the design team did for this one - and perhaps you will be inspired to play along??!!! We'd love to see what you create! Click here to go to the prompt.

Also, the beginning of the month means there is a new prompt up at The Sketchbook Challenge. This month it's "spilling over." I already have some ideas. Check it out by clicking the widget in the sidebar or click here.

Last Night's Concert...

I didn't get any creating done last night, because Michael and I went to see David Gray in concert! It was awesome! This was my favorite song of the show:



I love the lyrics, especially the part that goes:

"Hey better realize my friend
lord in the end you can't take it with
gotta live

If only for a second
I see a twinklin in your eye
gotta try"

I've been shying away from music since my mom died. It's so out of character for me to do that, but it's just felt too emotional to me. But last night at the concert I was reminded of how healing it is. And how magical.

Thanks for that Mr. Gray!