An Exciting Day!!!!!!!!!!

Look what I got today - I'm so excited!...
That's Travis the super-nice sales guy with me and my new Beetle! I am in love with it! My lease was up on Sunshine (my green beetle), so it was time to either start a new lease or buy, and we decided to buy. I can't believe how SHINY she is, and she's even got a spoiler in the back - yeayyyy! I feel like the luckiest gal on earth! Now to pick out the perfect flower for the inside, and come up with a name for her - hmmmmm......


On the crafty side of things, I do have one project to share with you today. It's for the Studio Calico CHA Challenges - five of them! Now, normally I don't believe in combining challenges, but in this case part of the deal was that you could combine these challenges any way you like, so here's what I came up with...
The challenges were to scraplift an SC member's layout, use stash that's at least a year old, draw on your layout, use ephemera and whitewash a background. The layout I scraplifted was this lovely one by Lisa Truesdell called "Grow." Oh, and p.s. I missed the deadline for these by an hour or so, but I still played along just for fun.

My project for tonight is to work on getting my room organized. It seems like an overwhelming task, but I'm just going to take it a step at a time and we will see what happens.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by and I will be back again tomorrow with an update!

Scraproom Update, New Class and Another Challenge Project...

My scraproom is still a HUGE mess, but my new storage unit/entertainment center is assembled and waiting to be filled with scrappy goodness... I just LOVE IT! Once I get things organized it's going to be great! I've got 16 more cubes for organizing my stuff, and a big place in the middle where I will someday put a flat-screen TV. I have to save up for that though!
I have not done a thing to the room in the last two days. I've been feeling more like scrapping than organizing! (Story of my life - LOL).

I finished this layout for two challenges over at Studio Calico. It's for the weekly sketch challenge, and Kimmi Achord's challenge to use some packaging on your layout. Here's what I came up with...
I used the SC "Over The Rainbow" kit, plus a strip of Love, Elsie adhesive fabric. The strip of hearts is cut from a Studio Calico advertisement postcard, and the piece above the word "Beach" was taken from the top of the Melody Frances Flash Card Box - both came with the kit...

It's hard to see on the main photo, but I added some gems randomly to the background paper.
I am loving these challenges!

I'm also SUPER EXCITED because I signed up for Marit's "Let It Loose" Art Journaling class today! It starts February 1st - I can hardly wait!!! There's still time to sign up if you are interested - click here for more info.

Tonight I will be working hard on my room again, and getting ready for the LSS garage sale. Denise asked if I get cash or credit at the garage sale. The way it works is that I pay $5.00 for a spot in the sale; and then for everything I sell, I get store credit. It's a wonderful deal!

Alrighty then, I am off to start another project. I hope you are having a wonderful week! Take care and I will see you soon!

Challenges and Projects...

Studio Calico is having a bunch of fun challenges this week, and I am hoping to get all of them done! They are listed on their blog - in case you want to join in! The first one I've completed is Kelly Noel's challenge to use hearts on a layout. I incorporated them into my art journal page for yesterday. I'm still making my way through my December prompts from Kelly Kilmer's class. This was inspired by the prompt from December 25...
The image of the bird is from a Papaya Arts catalog. I also used some dictionary paper, a strip of patterned paper, and the rest is acrylic paint and poster-paint sharpies. I love those sharpies - I wish I could buy them by the case in every color!!!

The next thing I have to share is my first "Artful Amblings" page! I had SO MUCH FUN with this! I decided to use one of my canvas pages. The idea was to journal about what is holding you back creatively, and then cover the journaling up with something positive and affirming...
I journaled about my creative fears, and then partially covered it up with bits of fabric and dictionary papers. I painted the word fearless over the top because that is what I am going to be from now on! Yeayyy! If you want to join in, come on over! The blog post is here, and the forums and gallery are both here. It's a fun group and I think it's going to be an awesome year of art journaling together!!!

I also want to remind everyone that there are still a few days left to do your Fave Fragrance layout for the Fave Things blog. The deadline is January 29th. Click here to check it out.

Tomorrow is the Studio Calico February kit reveal and I'm so excited! From the sneaks that I've seen, this kit is going to be fabulous!

See you again soon for another update - take care and thanks for visiting!

Still Working On My Scraproom!

My scraproom organization process is going to be a work in progress I think! I'm still working on it, and I can tell it's going to take quite awhile to get it to the point I want it. What I want to do is really give some thought to how I create and what things I really use, and purge the rest. The timing is great because my local scrapbook store is having a garage sale this weekend! Yeayyy!

Here's a peek at my desk area right now. Aack! I have to work in this space in the morning! I have to get this part organized tonight...Note Willie surveying the disaster - LOL.

Here's what I've bagged up for the garage sale so far....
So, that's where I am right now. I've got to get it to a place where I can still function because I've got alot to get done in this room this week!

It's going to be a fun week!

Monday is the start of The Street Where You Live over at Get It Scrapped!
Wednesday is reveal day for the February Studio Calico kit!
Saturday the new prompts go up at Artful Amblings, and Fave Things!
Saturday is also the day the February Project 12 sketch is revealed!

I will be back tomorrow with another update - thanks for visiting and have a fabulous day!

Project Progress...

It's 2:38 in the morning and I've still got sooooo far to go, but I wanted to take a minute and share some photos of the progress we're making...



I will be back tomorrow with another update - thanks for stopping by!

Saturday Project...

It's one of those cold, rainy days here in Minnesota. It's 35 degrees, which is just warm enough to make the snow sloppy. A very nice day to STAY INSIDE!!!

A couple of things to share with you today. First is my journal page for January 21st...
The image is from a collage sheet we got from Kelly Kilmer in her class. Now I want little beads to put on my eye lashes - so cool. The green striped stuff is Love, Elsie fabric paper. The rest is just acrylic paint, pan pastels and sharpie markers.

The second thing I have to share is a "before" pic of my scraproom. My project today is going to be to clear everything out of there, so Michael can construct my new entertainment center. It will go on the wall where those blonde cubes are now, and the blonde cubes are going to move to the far wall. I've been waiting for this for a long time and I'm so excited! It will give me so much more room for storage! It's from Ikea and it goes with my Expedit bookcases on the other wall. This is what it looks like. I will share photos along the way. This is going to be so much fun!

The Street Where You Live...

Hey, everyone, look what I just discovered! It's a new class starting January 25th over at Get It Scrapped, that's all about your home and neighborhood. It lasts all year and its FREE!!! How great is that???!!! I went over and got started in the forum tonight, and I'm excited to see what it will be like. Here's a link to the class description and info on how to sign up, just in case you're interested...

Oh, and thanks for the tip about using Studio Calico boxes to spray ink and mist in! That makes so much sense! HA!!! I will have to try that with the next box I get from them!

Here are a couple of more inspiring artists' blogs that I've discovered recently...

Diana Trout

Alisa Burke

What's inspiring you right now?

That's all for today, but I will be back soon with another update! Have a fabulous Friday!!!

The Littlest Birds Sing The Prettiest Songs...

This week's song over at Scrapping The Music is "The Littlest Birds" by the Be Good Tanyas! It's a super-cool song that was suggested by Trhodes (a participant), and I'm so glad, because I had never heard it before, but I love it now!

For my layout, I had my first attempt at making a "spray booth," to keep my mist from getting ALL OVER the scraproom. I used a couple of paper bags layered together like so...

I really thought it was quite genius at the time, but it turned out not to work so great because the paper bag is not big enough to house a 12 x 12 piece of paper without bending it, which made it difficult to lay the mask letters on there and keep them in place. It was a good first try tho. I'm thinking my next attempt will involve a huge box. We shall see how that goes.

Through all of my spray booth making, Willie was oblivious, which is just as well since I wouldn't want him getting his little paws in the ink...

In the end I ended up NOT using the masked page! Instead, I used the letters I laid down as masks! I liked the way they looked! So, here is how the layout turned out...
I used the Studio Calico "Orchestra" kit, plus a tiny big of vintage walllpaper, and the aforementioned chipboard letters from basic grey. Mount Curve is the name of the condo I owned after my divorce. It was a beautiful place and such a turning point in my life. I will always have fond memories from my time there. Here's a closeup of the photos and journaling. The strips are a lyric from the song...

It's a really cool song, with lots of different options for scrapping! Come on over and play along! We'd love to have you!

I'm a Glimmer-Misting Fool!

I took a Glimmer Mist Mini-Album Workshop at Archiver's yesterday with my friends Anne, Christina and Lynn, and boy did we have fun! I've done some misting, but I was looking to learn some new tips and tricks and I sure did! Here's the mini-album we made...
We used Tattered Angels Embossed Chipboard Tiles, and the three colors of mist you see in the photo - moonlight, wheatfields, and coffee shop. I am completely enamored with the mist colors - you can't tell in the photo, but the Wheatfields color has a subtle green twinkle to it that is just beautiful! The inside pages of the album each have a unique design to them - I will share the rest when I finish the album.

So, they had a special deal going where if you buy two mists, you get a free gift, so I purchased these two FABULOUS colors...

The first one is called marshmallow, and I love it because it's opaque! I love the idea of being able to spray it on a dark color...

and this one!!!!!! How could I resist - it's called RAVEN!!! The color is to die for - it is black with an irridescent purple sheen - just like a raven's wing....

and the free gift was a glimmer screen (mask) and this beautiful color of mist called Seaglass...

Here's a test sample I sprayed of all three together. Isn't it a pretty color combo?

Then, after the class we stayed and cropped! I worked on my Honeymoon Two Journal (2008) - The Nashville/Smokey Mountains/Dollywood Adventure. I got phase two (out of about four phases) done, which felt great! Here's a sneak peek. The cover is an 8 x 10 postcard of Miss Dolly herself...

While I had my camera out this morning, I decided to take a few portraits of Willie, who was looking quite handsome...

The left side...

the right side...

and a full-on portrait...

Which reminds me, I need to take that blue sticky note off of my cabinet door - LOL.

The "Say Hey" slideshow is up at Scrapping The Music! Check it out - there are 20 layouts this week and they are ROCKIN! And don't forget to check back tonite! The new song will be up and it's gonna be fun!

I'm off for a day of cozy winter scrapping with the cats. That is bliss if you ask me!

Have a great Sunday and I will see you tomorrow! Thanks for visiting!

MMM... Warm Vanilla Sugar...

The new challenge at the Fave Things Blog is to scrap your favorite fragrance or smell. The fragrance I decided to scrap is Warm Vanilla Sugar...
It's a Bath and Body Works fragrance and it's deeeeliciously wonderful! What's really funny is that - of all the smells in the world - another Design Team member chose to scrap the exact same fragrance! HA! Deana, you've got great taste!!! LOL!

Anyhoo, I used the January Studio Calico kit called "Whodunit" for this layout. The only thing not from the kit is the vintage crocheted lace that I wound around the metal button to form a flower. It was so much fun scrapping with these colors - I don't normally do much with yellow and black/brown.

P.S. If you are interested in trying out this fragrance, click here to go to the Bath and Body Works website! (you won't regret it. :0)

The very first Artful Amblings prompt is up today, and it's a fun one!!! I can hardly wait to get started! But now, I must go get ready because tomorrow I am cropping with my girlfriends and I've yet to pack! EEK!

Have a wonderful Saturday my friends and I will check back with ya later!

Project 12 Part Two For January...

I am SO glad I decided to do calendar pages along with my layout pages for Project 12 this year! OH MY WORD. This was SO MUCH FUN! I've been cutting and pasting to my hearts content on this thing for a few days now, and it's finally done! Here's how it turned out. (click on image to see details)...
I used the Studio Calico "Yearbook" kit, plus some happy tape, Love, Elsie and a few other Christmas embellies thrown in there. If you are interested in trying this, you can still get the calendar pages over at Studio Calico - they sold out initially, but were just restocked!

I have one more thing to share - my journal entry from yesterday, which was done using Kelly's prompt from Dec 24 ...


Oh, and I want to share a few cool art journaling blogs I've found lately - check these out...

River Bend Ranch

The Poetic Eye

Every Life Has A Story

and I know Judy Wise is very well known, but I don't think I've ever linked her up here so...

Judy Wise

and speaking of art journaling.......only one more day until the first prompt goes up at Artful Amblings! Yeayyyyyy!!!

That's it for today folks, but I will be back tomorrow with my first design team layout for the Fave Things blog - I can't wait to share!

Thank so much for stopping by. I appreciate it so much!!!!!

Happy Birthday Tony...

It was my awesome stepson Tony's 22nd birthday in December, and today we got together as a family to celebrate. Here's a pic of Tony with his grandma (Michael's mom Sue).
And here's a pic of the card I made for him. (made with the Studio Calico Orchestra kit)...

Michael made a fantastic triple-layer chocolate cake (yummmmmm), and we all got to sing happy birthday to Tony and wish him a wonderful year ahead!


Friday is going to be awesome because.....

A. The next Fave Things challenge goes up, and it will be my first official time as a design team member - yeayyyyyy! I finished my layout tonight and had so much fun with it! and also...

B. The 2010 "Year In The Life of an Art Journal" project officially starts! The theme this year is "Artful Amblings" and I can't wait to see what the first prompt is!!! I'm going to be using my Donna Downey Canvas Album and I'm excited to bust it out! If you haven't seen these, they are super cool. The cover is canvas and completely customizable...


and on the inside there are padded canvas pages...

and sheet protector pages...

and for mine, I added some chipboard pages...so now, I will have numerous options for each prompt, depending on what technique is being used! I'm so excited!!! I've decided I'm going to make this as inky and messy and experimental as humanly possible! It's going to be so fun - Yeayyyyy!

I've been discovering some more really cool art journaling blogs. I will share links soon. Right now tho, I must get some sleep!

Have a wonderful Wednesday my friends and I will see you tomorrow with another update. Thanks for visiting!

Layout About a Layout...

Hey everybody! I'm so excited because my introduction as guest host at "A Year In The Life of an Art Journal" is up! I hope you will stop by and say hello in the comments! It won't be long now til the prompts start! Yeayyyyy!

The current challenge at the Fave Things blog is to pick your favorite layout that you made in 2009. It was so much fun to go back and look through my 2009 albums, and there were a number that were extra close to my heart, but this is the one I picked as my favorite...

It's one I did for Marit's Top 2000 challenge, and I first posted it in this post. I had so much fun just making this layout - dancing to the video and singing "Mr. Jones and me, tell each other fairy tales...." all the while cutting and misting and painting. Everytime I see it it makes me happy all over again!

So, because I am making a separate album to house all my Fave Things layouts, I decided to make a layout about my fave layout - LOL! The sketch challenge at Studio Calico this past week was the perfect excuse to get it done. I used the Orchestra and Whodunit kits, and this is what I ended up with...

and then, in a super-fun coincidence, I got the COOLEST surprise in the mail!!! Marit sent me a fun handmade card, along with a portion of the actual newspaper from the Netherlands with the Top 2000 listed! - YEAYYYY!!! I think I will have to do a layout to showcase this memorabilia, don't you????? THANK YOU MARIT!!!
That's it for today folks! I hope you have a Terrific Tuesday, and I will see you tomorrow with another update! Thanks soooooo much for stopping by!

Say HEY...

The new song is up at Scrapping The Music and it's "Say Hey" by Michael Franti! I really love it and I hope you do too! The lyrics have a lot of meaning, and it's had me singing and dancing all week! Here's what I made for the challenge...
I used the Studio Calico Yearbook collection, plus some houndstooth fabric, plaid happy tape and slate glimmer mist. Here's a closeup of the flower...
Those Making Memories metal sayings have had me baffled for awhile, but I think I finally found the perfect thing to use for distressing them, and it's a Sharpie Mean Streak Marking Pen! The thing is like a really greasy oil crayon, but it dries like paint and it worked perfectly to bring the words on this embellie out!

There's a great prize at STM this week too! My friend the awesomely talented Marit Berentsen is donating free tuition to her premiere art journaling workshop! What an awesome prize! Thanks Marit!

So come on over and play along! You know you want to........ (grin)

One last thing for today is my January 9th art journal entry. It's based on the December 21st prompt from Kelly's class...
I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday my friends!

I will be back tomorrow with another update! Thanks for visiting me and for your comments! I really appreciate them!

Happy Weekend my friends! I've been working hard on some projects that I can't share yet - aargh! I hate waiting! But in the meantime, I do want to share my January 8th Art Journal Page. This one was not from a prompt. I just really wanted to record my dream...

There is lots of fun coming up at Scrapping The Music! There are tons of awesome layouts rolling in for our "Golden Girls" theme challenge! And I can't wait for you to see next week's sponsor! It's a really good one! AND I guarantee the song will make you want to get up and dance! Stay tuned......

I'm off to work on some art journal collages. I will be back tomorrow with another update! Have a super sensational Saturday!!!!!

December 18th Journal Page and Exciting News!!!!!

I'm still catching up with my December Prompt-A-Day Pages. Did this yesterday with December 18th's prompt...


I have some super exciting news to share!!! Rachel Whetzel, author of the "A Year In The Life of an Art Journal" project, contacted me and asked if I would be interested in guest designing for this year's project!!!! I am thrilled and honored!!!! The theme this year is "Artful Amblings," and the format is going to be a little different - the changes are going to make it even more FUN!!! I will be guest hosting during July and December, but the first prompt will be going up on January 15th! We have a community forum this year, and the blog is already active with posts about the guest hosts. Come on over and check it out! I think it's going to be a lot of fun - and I hope you want to play along! You don't have to be an experienced art journaler - if you've never tried it but have wanted to - here's a great reason to start!

Hey, did you hear that Elizabeth Kartchner is teaming up with American Crafts to design a line of scrapbook products? It looks like it's going to be super cute! Check it out on the AC blog here, and Elizabeth's blog here.

That's all for today, but I will be back tomorrow with another update! Thanks for stopping by!

Art Journal Page...

I spent the whole night reorganizing my Project list for January and February! I think I am set to roll for the next two months - Yeayyy!

Had to squeeze in a little creative time too. Here's today's art journal entry (using the Dec 17th prompt from Kelly's class)...
The gold marker doodles you see on there came from the new pen that Marit sent me - WOW I love it! It works great! It's called a Verona, which I've never heard of over here, but if you can find one where you are I highly recommend it! Thanks again Marit!

I will be back tomorrow with another update - have a terrific Tuesday my friends!

Project 12, Scrapping The Music and Fun with the Girls!

Saturday was my New Year's Crop with the girls and it was SUPER FUN! and also PRODUCTIVE! Here's Lynn, Anne and Christina at our table...
We were each given a little pail that we could decorate any way we wanted for a contest, so here's what I did with my Sharpie poster paint pens, happy tape and some YUMMY fabric that Anne had just given me - it was great to find a use for it that very same day! I have no idea what I will use it for, so I just labeled it "super cute stuff." I figure that leaves it wide open!...


I even won a prize (not for the contest, but in a drawing) - Glimmer Mist in CANDY APPLE RED and some mistable flowers - how FUN is that????!!!!

And I got a number of projects done too! Here's my layout for this week's Scrapping The Music challenge. The featured song is the theme from "The Golden Girls" TV show...
I used the Studio Calico "Yearbook" kit, and the photo is of Lynn, Christina and me at Scrapfest this year.

I also used the "Yearbook" kit to finish my first Project 12 layout! I have been so looking forward to starting this challenge, that I couldn't wait to scrap January - I had to start NOW! So I scrapped the month of December 2009 and I used the sketch they provided; and it was SUPER FUN to do!
here are closeups of the individual pages...


I'm also planning to do a calendar page for each month, and I started my December one but didn't get it finished.

P.S. Come on over to Scrapping The Music for this week's challenge - we are being sponsored by none other than the FABULOUS STUDIO CALICO!!!

See you tomorrow for another update - thanks for visiting and have a wonderful Monday!