Handmade Journal Winner...

Hi there everyone! I'm happy to announce the winner of my Wizard of Oz handmade journal!

It is........

Ashley said...

This journal is amazing! I hope that I am able to win a piece of your work. You are awesome! :)
I'd love to have this to carry around with me everywhere I go!

November 19, 2011 7:28 PM

Congratulations Ashley! Please email your address to me at michellelapoint@yahoo.com, and I will get the journal right out to you!

Thank you so much to everyone who visits my blog and who entered the drawing! You truly make my world brighter! I appreciate you all!

Smashbook Update - November 14 - 18, 2011

I'm still having so much fun with my Blue Smashbook! Here are my latest pages...

It's so much fun having a way to use up alot of my treasured, but older embellies!

This one was done using my new Cocoa Daisy kit! I especially loved working with the Balzer Designs Stencil that came with the kit! I sprayed it with October Afternoon Sprinklers. Have you tried those? They are wayyyyy cool! Different than regular spray ink/mist. More opaque. More like paint. And I love that they come in groovy retro colors...
Not the most attractive photo of me ever taken - HA. But hey, this is just the way it is sometimes! (grin)

I made a page to commemorate my latest blog milestone...
Oh, and p.s., that kraft colored chicken was on a different page in the Smashbook. I didn't want to cover him up, so I tore the page out, trimmed around him and added him in here. There are so many ways you can use the art in your Smashbooks!

and just miscellaneous tid bits of life here...

Don't forget - you've still got time to enter my handmade journal giveaway! You've got through Thursday night at midnight CST. I will pick a winner on Friday. To enter click here to go to the giveaway post.

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

Finishing the Black Page and Starting a New Page...

We finished up our black journal pages, in the 30 Days In Your Journal class! Here's how mine turned out...



and now we are on to another new one! Here's my first day's progression...
I've had a china marker forever, and never used it til today. I must say I just love working with it! It made sketching the woman really fun! It's like you get the texture of a pencil, and the boldness of a marker, at the same time!

P.S. Thanks for all of the interest in winning my handmade Wizard of Oz journal! If you haven't entered the drawing, there's still plenty of time! Click here to go to the giveaway post.

I will be back next time with a Smashbook update. Take care and have a wonderful week!

Handmade Journal Giveaway!

This past week, my blog got to 70,000 hits! As a thank-you to all of you who are kind enough to visit me here; I am giving away this journal I made with a vintage Wizard of Oz book...

It's size is 5.5" x 7.75," perfect for tossing in your tote bag!

It's got a hand-stitched binding...


and 114 pages of all different kinds of papers, including kraft paper, sheet music, scrapbook paper, envelopes, and some of the original pages from the book...

and including a map of Kansas! (where the story takes place)



If you would like to give this little journal a home, just leave a comment on this post. I will pick a random winner next Friday (November 25).

Thanks so much for visiting!

70,000 Hits Means A Giveaway is Coming...

Thank you so much to all of my blog readers for helping me get to 70,000 hits! Yes, that is you! To celebrate I am planning a little giveaway - so watch for the next post and I will have pics and a chance to win something handmade, which I hope you will like...

For today, I am excited to share the beginnings of my next art journal page for Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's class! Here's the start of my page - from November 15th. We are working on black this time...
The background is black acrylic paint; and I just love how my neocolor II crayons show up against it!

and here's the progression for November 16th...
I am doing my doodling and journaling with a white poster paint sharpie.

How is your week going? What creative projects are you working on?

I am off to work in my Smashbook now - I will see you soon (hopefully tomorrow) for the giveaway!

Finished Journal Page and another Cocoa Daisy Challenge...

I am really learning alot from Julie's "30 Days In Your Journal" class! One of the biggest things I am learning is the art of building a page bit by bit. It's becoming quite the adventure to see how the page progresses from day to day!

Here's my final page for November 11 - 14...

On the last day I added poster paint sharpies to fill in the circles, acrylic paint for the splatters, and Lumocolor pen for the doodling. This page was an absolute joy to create!

The next page we are working on is something totally different! Can't wait to share it with you!

I also finished another one of the Cocoa Daisy Fall Crop Challenges. This one was called "Home Baked." The rules were to follow this recipe:

FLOUR - Something white (I added white labels)
SUGAR - Something that sparkles (pink glitter across the top border)
BERRIES - Something red or pink (red gerbera daisy, pink watercolored piece behind photo)
AND LET IT RISE - Add some texture (orange fabric banner, turquoise pom pom trim)

I haven't done any challenges in a long time and I'm having so much fun! For this page in my daily record, I included leftover bits of patterned paper from my table, and a doodled flower and ladybug that I had done during a phone conversation. I love that I have somewhere to put these little bits of life. The photo was taken on my walk with Michael.

If you want to check out the Home Baked Challenge, there's still time - click here!

Did you see that the teachers lineup for the 2012 "21 Secrets" Art Journal Workshop has been posted! It looks like an AWESOME lineup! Check it out here!

I hope your week is going well! I will see you again soon!

30 Days Journal Progression - November 11 - 13, 2011...

I've been having a lot of fun with this next journal page! I forgot to take a picture on the 11th, but here's the progression through November 12th...


and the additions on the 13th...
The butterflies are 7Gypsies rubons, and the image is from a thrifted photography book.

Tonight I'm working on finishing this page up. I will show you how it turns out tomorrow.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Cocoa Daisy Crop Challenges and Smashbook Pages...

Hey there everyone! I had a great time at my monthly girls crop yesterday! I worked on a couple of the Cocoa Daisy Crop Challenges and can't wait to share the results with you!


The first challenge was Vicki's Sketch Challenge. You can see the challenge by clicking here. Here's how my layout came out...

That's son Stevie this past summer when he met his little cousin Georgie for the first time. I just love these photos - so it was fun to have a chance to scrap them! I used my new Studio Calico Handmade kit.

I also did Lisa's "Creative Label" challenge. You can see the challenge here. Here's my take...
I did a smashbook page about my crop yesterday; and included the labels from our Jimmy John's lunch and our trip to Caribou Coffee. The girl in the gingham dress is a vintage valentine I've been saving. I thought she went with the smashbook background paper just perfectly!

I also have a couple more smashbook pages to share with you today. These were just daily pages - not for a challenge or anything. Here's the one for November 10...
p.s. I made the little kitten button (next to the felt apple) with the epiphany crafts shape maker. I love that thing!

and here's the one for November 11...

Today, as soon as I get myself woke up, I'm going back over to Cocoa Daisy to do some more challenges - the crop is still going on! Come on over and join the fun!

Thanks for visiting!!!

30 Days Journal Progression - November 10th...

When I get stuff in the mail from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, it ALWAYS has the cutest animal pictures on it! Even their envelopes are ADORABLE! So, when I got my latest newsletter this week, I knew right away what I wanted to do with the envelope! Use it on my journal spread...

The kitten was already printed on the envelope - isn't she cute? I painted around her with orange and magenta acrylic paint and glued the whole envelope right on the page. Other things I added include:

Studio Calico journaling stamp
SiStv "Be Creative" sticker
7 Gypsies tissue tape
7 Gypsies #10
White poster-paint Sharpie for journaling.

If you want to see some of the other "30 Days In Your Art Journal" student's pages, check out the flickr group here. It's super inspiring!

Have you heard about the online crop over at Cocoa Daisy this weekend? There will be challenges, tutorials, games and other stuff. It sounds like great fun! I am planning to participate - how about you? Check it out here.

I wish you a wonderful weekend my friends! Thanks so much for visiting!

Progress on "30 Days" Spread #2...

I'm excited to share my progress in my "30 Days In Your Journal" class! Here is the progression from November 6th through 9th...

November 6:


November 7:


November 8:
November 9:

You know a class is a good one when you can hardly wait for the next lesson! LOVE THAT!

I hope your week is going great! Thanks for visiting!

Daily Record Smashbook - Week of October 31st to November 6, 2011

Another week at the Rydell household. Fall weather, two birthdays and typical projects for Michael and me. Here's how my Smashbook spread turned out...



And some closeups:
I wanted a little extra color on this page, so I backed the Smashbook paper with some Sass Lass.Other things used on this page include pink Amy Tangerine tape, stickers from Sass Lass and October Afternoon, and polkadot Smashbook tape.


More Sass Lass stickers. Plus I printed out the blog badge for Julie's art journal class, and included it with a photo of my first spread.



This page in the Smashbook had a fun retro picture of a guy on it. I hated to cover it up, but it didn't go with our week. Instead I put - you guessed it - more Sass Lass Paper - ha...
What I love about this page, is that I got Michael to contribute. I asked him to write down what he said to me about having the kids over, and he agreed! More Amy Tangerine tape here too.

I'm thinking I might start doing more than a spread per week in this Smashbook. I'd like to finish it this month, because after November is over I will be starting a December Daily, and I don't really think I need to do both at the same time. Not sure yet, just mulling it over.

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

Three Cards...

I haven't made any cards for awhile, but I had a chance last week! We had a few family events going on.

This first one was for a baby shower for my niece...
It was fun making this one because everything I used was from my Sass Lass Grand Finale Box, which I just received! The only thing I added was the white and black doodling.


We also celebrated two family birthdays - son Stevie turned 20, and daughter Becca turned 22...

The chipboard 20 on Steve's card was also from my new Sass Lass box of goodies! The paper is from the American Crafts "Campy Trails" line; the arrow is a Sass Lass stamp which I shaded with colored pencils.

Finally we have Becca's card. She is our girly girl so I always try to include a little bling and/or glitter...
Most everything on this card is from the Pink Paislee Soiree and Daily Junque Collections. The velvet flower is from Maya Road.

I'm very excited because I received my Project Life Page Protectors today! I got the big variety pack, plus some extra A's and G's! And Speaking of Project Life, Lisa Truesdell has an awesome post about her Project Life process on her blog right now! It's full of tips and photos - check it out here!

I'm excited to be featured at the Smashbook blog today! I'd love it if you come on over and leave me a comment! Click here to go to the post.

That's all for today, but I will be back soon with more updates! Thanks so much for visiting!!!