Blue Kitten Journal Update...

Here's a little update on how my blue kitten journal is shaping up...

I added a transparency to the front with some doodling and a title...

I also added in my project list (the highlighted ones are finished).  This is the way I keep track of everything.  The stars in the second column are commitments I've made to other people, and the column on the right is the date I want to have each thing done.

I tried doing my daily journaling in different ways...

I am having fun doing different kinds of pages!  It is fun to learn as I go; and one thing I have learned with this journal, is that I have the most fun when I am being spontaneous.  It works great for playing; but not so great for writing longer journal entries.  I am going to start keeping a separate journal for that.

With that in mind, I ordered three new writing journals!  Yeayyy!!!  These are the three I ordered:

I can't wait to get them!  I will let you know what they are actually like when they arrive, and I will share more about that process as I go.

I hope your weekend is going great!!!

Meet The Monkees (Scrapping The Music #197)...

Hey there everyone! I hope you had a nice weekend! The new challenges are up at Scrapping The Music and they are tons of fun!

The inspiration song is by Adele and it's a good one! I don't have a layout to share, but click here to see the design team layouts and find out what the song is...

The prompt this time around is to Scrap the First Music you purchased - be it a Record Album, CD, Cassette or download. Here's what I did...
The Monkees' debut album was the first one I ever bought. It came out in 1966, and I think I bought it in 1967 or so? Anyways, I played that album until I wore it out, singing along with all the songs. Here's a link to one of the hits off the album "Daydream Believer." Davy Jones was my first teen idol. Rest in peace Davy...

Head on over to Scrapping The Music to check out the challenges and play along! We'd love to have you! Click here to go straight to the challenge!

Thanks for visiting and I'll see you again soon!

The Beginning of a New Journal...

Just like I love finishing a journal, I also LOVE starting a new one! This time I decided to go with a whole different format. I used this jumbo birthday card (7.5" x 9.5") from 1970 as my cover...


and filled it with a mix of scrapbook papers from my Noel Mignon "Primrose Lane" kit, and plain hot-press watercolor paper. It's pretty thick and heavy...
I bound it with rings so I can add things as I go, move things around or whatever! My plan is that each day I will decide what kind of page I feel like doing. It could be a smashbook-style page, a more art-journally page, or no page at all! HA. I love the flexibility of it!!!

Here's an idea of what the bare bones looks like...


I made this month's envelope myself, using vintage wallpaper...


The only structure I gave this book was that I made a divider page for each Monday in April...



and I also added in the back half of the card, just for fun...
I've started using it already and I'm having a blast! As I fill it up, I will share the finished pages with you.

In other news, the new Scrapping The Music format is a hit! Yeayyyy - we are so excited!!! The new slideshow is up and it's jam-packed with goodness! Check it out here.

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

The Vintage Record Album Journal is Complete...

I created my Vintage Record Album journal in Mary Ann Moss' "Full Tilt Boogie" class last year. What a fun class that was! I highly recommend it if you are interested in learning to bind your own journals! Anyways, I was so excited to finally finish filling it up at the end of March! Here are a few photos of what it looks like now...


and because Johnny believed he should be in one of the photos...
To see some photos of the inside pages of this journal click here.

I'm already 10 days into my April journal, so I will share that with you tomorrow! I hope you are having a super-duper week! Thanks for visiting!

Project Life Update - March 27 - April 8...

Hi everyone! I'm still playing around with Project Life and trying new things! I've got a couple of weeks to share with you today.

This is April 27 - March 1...
I used my Noel Mignon "Primrose Lane" kit for this week. This was the first time I used the page protectors with the 6 x 6" slots. It worked out well. One thing I noticed after I completed this week, is that I forgot to put a date header anywhere. Oh well!

Closeup of the left side...
Ephemera included: Noel Mignon Kit sticker, and pieces of the tags from my new decorative tape and Cabana slippers.

Here's another shot of the Noel Mignon kit card (sans glare). Everything on this card came from the kit...


Closeup of right side...
Ephemera included: Packaging from organic granola and Art Journaling Magazine label. My fave photo from this week is the "New Kids In Town" one. I love how Johnny showed up in the background!

Here's the layout for April 2 - 8, 2012...

Closeup of left side...
Ephemera included - reminder postcard from the dentist's office.

Closeup of right side...
I tried something brand new for this - a plain, undivided, 12 x 12" page protector. It was fun and saved me alot of time, because I didn't have to worry about fitting things into a certain size slot. I just arranged everything into one big collage. I will definitely be doing this again! Ephemera included: Business card from my hair stylist, and part of the takeout menu from my breakfast at Sunstreet Breads.

Thanks for visiting!

21 Secrets Update - Wonderful Watercolors by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer...

Hey there everyone! I stayed up til 5 am this morning watching Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Wonderful Watercolors videos and had so much fun! It's my second completed class for 21 Secrets. I thought it would be the perfect time to do this one because I just started a new daily journal and alot of the pages are plain watercolor paper right now.

Here's how my pages turned out...




I can't wait to turn them into finished journal entries! I will share when I do.


Also, here's an update on my doodle page from Diana Trout's class. I've been coloring in the shapes with colored pencils, a little each day - just for fun. Here's how it looks so far...


To find out more about 21 Secrets, click here. There's still plenty of time to sign up!

I hope you are having a simply groovy weekend my friends! Thanks so much for visiting! I will be back tomorrow with a two-week Project Life catch up!

Balzer Designs Stencil Hop - Spring 2012!!!

Hello hello hello! Welcome to the spring 2012 version of the Balzer Designs Stencil Hop!!!



I was absolutely giddy when Julie asked me to participate in her hops this year! I got to pick which stencils I wanted to use, and this one jumped out at me right away! It's called "Pomegranate," and it's made (like all of Julie's stencils) by Crafter's Workshop. They were kind enough to send me both the 12 x 12" and 6x6" versions...To me, this stencil looks like an EXPLOSION OF GROOVINESS! I couldn't wait to dive in and see where the vibe would take me - ha. Here's how my little pomegranate party went...


I got out my watercolor journal, the 12 x 12 stencil, and three of my fave Mr. Huey Mists (by Studio Calico): Custard, Heirloom Blue and Estate Green.

First, I sprayed with Custard...

I forgot to take a picture of this part (doh!), but my next step was to cover the design elements with some Glossy Accents and let it dry. If you're not familiar with glossy accents, it's a clear fluid epoxy, that goes on like glue, and dries hard. I wanted to create a resist.


After it was completely dry, I went back and sprayed the whole page with Heirloom Blue and Estate Green. I tend to be an oversprayer (ha), so I really saturated it...

Then I took a baby wipe and smeared the mist around, and I ended up with this! I just love how the resist let the design show through so nicely!


And here's the finished journal page...
I added some handpainted circles, an image from the web, typed journaling, and the title, which was done with acrylic paint over gesso.

Let me show you some other things I did to make the most of the stencil during the process...

After I first sprayed the stencil onto my journal page, there was still a ton of ink on it, so I got out my jumbo journal and turned the stencil over (ink side down) and rubbed over the top of the whole thing...

It left me with this coool abstract image! I just took a baby wipe and rubbed the edges of it to get the soft yellow around it. This will be the start of a journal page to come...

There was still some ink left on the stencil, so I turned it right side up and used my baby wipe again on an already painted journal page. This created the soft, greenish design on my blue page. This will be another future page...


For my second project I used the 6x6 version to create these flowers...It was super easy to do. I just pounced some fluid acrylic paint through some individual pieces of the stencil. (I masked them off with tape first.) Then I created the flowers by adding petals and stems with a Pitt Pen. The white petals were colored with a poster-paint sharpie, and the negative space in the middle was done with colored pencils.

Here's a closeup...

To see what beautiful things the other hopsters created, check out their blogs here...

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
Leslie Jenison
Paula Phillips
Michelle LaPoint Rydell (that's me!)

If you want more info about the Pomegranate Stencil by Crafter's workshop, click here!

Thanks so much to Julie for inviting me to participate in this hop! I had a blast! I will be participating in another one on April 26, so stay tuned for that! Yee ha!

21 SECRETS HAS BEGUN, and an Upcoming Hop!

The playground is open and I've begun playing! The first workshop I joined was Gina Rossi Armfield's "15 Minutes to Sanity," and I loved it! I created this art journal page...
It took me more like 30 minutes, but that is partially because I was watching the video while I worked. I can't talk about how I did it (that would be giving the secret away), but I really think this is a process you could do in around 15 minutes! You can still sign up for 21 Secrets. If you are interested in finding out more, click here.

I also have some exciting news! Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is starting her Spring 2012 Stencil Hops, and I am excited to be a participating blogger for two of them! Julie's got a whole bunch of new stencil designs (that are all fabulous I might add), and and each of her upcoming "hops," will feature one of those designs, and how each of the hopsters have used them.

The first Balzer Designs Stencil Hop is this Thursday, April 5th; and I can't wait to show you what I made!

Scrapping The Music has a Whole New Format!

We've changed things up again at Scrapping the Music and we hope you find it as fun as we do! We are now posting challenges twice a month (on the 1st and 15th); but each time we post, we are bringing you TWO challenges - one is a song (just like always), and one is a prompt! You can choose to do either the song or the prompt or both!

This week the song is one I picked - it's "The Time Song" by Matt Urmy. I love love love this unique song! Here's what I created, using the lyrics...
I just couldn't resist - ha. Knowing our cats - I could just see this scene. It fits their personalities. Check out the video for the song here.


The second challenge this time is to scrap a concert that you've attended. Here's what I did...
This was such a fun prompt to work with! Live music is one of my favorite things in all the world; and the Amos Lee concert at the State Theatre last year was amazing! Click on the image to make it larger, if you'd like to read the journaling. It's all about the magic of hearing music live. Photo of Amos is borrowed from the web here.

Head on over to Scrapping The Music to see all the details about our new format! You can hear the song, see the video and check out all of the design team layouts for both prompts. We are going to have a lot of fun with this - and we'd really LOVE to have you join us! Click here to go to the challenge.

Project Life - Week of March 19 - 25, 2012: Keeping it Simple...

I've seen a lot of people around the web posting that they are falling behind on their Project Life. Some are even quitting. I feel your pain. This project does get to be pretty darn time consuming, especially if you have other projects you are also trying to do. This past week I fell behind too, and so, in trying to catch up, I kept it simple. Hardly any embellishing. Just photos and patterned paper. I must say I still love how it turned out!

Here's the full spread. I used my Cocoa Daisy "By The Numbers Kit for the base this week...


Left side...
I have discovered that it's quicker for me to have one card where I highlight the events of the week, rather than embellishing each photo with detailed info.


And here's the right side...
The middle right image is one of my favorites from Maxfield Parrish, who is listed as my favorite artist on the card right next to it on the left. We visited daughter Becca and her boyfriend Chad on Saturday and I forgot to take a pic (doh!); so I just used a pic of them from awhile ago.

I saved a lot of time this week, and now I am keyed up for this week!

Scrapbook Soup Interview...

I'm so excited to be interviewed today on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog! It's part of her Scrapbook Soup TV series that has been going on this week. Check it out here!