Candlelight Dinner...

Hey everyone! Just a quick post here - I didn't get any scrapping done last night cuz it was Michael and my night to celebrate valentines day! We went to our favorite thai restaurant for a candlelit dinner - it was lovely (sigh)...Soooo, my Project 52 ATC for the week will have to wait for tonite! Hmmm... I think the subject will be something valentiney. :0)

In other news - I signed up for Claudine Hellmuth's new class at SiSTV - "Creativity Kickstart!" I'm so excited - Claudine does AMAZING work, and the class is based on her new Creativity kit! I ordered the book and supplies, and they should be here soon. Class started today, and so far it's looking fun! What's cool is that the instructions will come out in a PDF so they can be used anytime! Yeayyy!

So, I've been wanting to start a daily writing practice of some sort, but what's holding me up is that I always think I have to decorate the page before I write. So, then more often than not - okay MOST OF THE TIME I don't write anything. AARGH. Do any of you do daily writing practices? Do you do them in an art journal or regular journal or what? I would love suggestions in this area.

I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Coraline and Project 52 Weeks Five and Six...

OMG we had so much fun at Coraline! It was QUITE the movie! SO imaginative! Fantastic 3D effects! Awesome animation! It was a great way to spend the President's Day Holiday! I highly recommend checking it out!

I've been working on my Project 52 ATCs and I've got Weeks Five and Six to share with you. I did week five with the SiSTV Retro Modern Collection, plus some Stampin' Up! White Confetti cardstock for the background and a black journaling pen. (The journaling on the back explains the front)...


And here's Week Six - I've been thinking alot about following my heart this past week. The photo is of my sweet Wilbarino. Stamps by October Afternoon. The heart doesn't show up very well in the photo, but it's grungeboard sprayed with glimmer mist, covered with Crystal effects (thick clear glue), and sprinkled with microglitter. I got the idea from a tutorial on Julie Balzer's blog. Thanks Julie!
So now I will be ready to continue on with week seven on Wednesday!

Oh - I almost forgot - I AM SO EXCITED! I signed up for Dina Wakely's next journaling class! It's called "Art Journaling 102". I learned a TON in her "Art Journaling 101" class and can't wait to learn more! Click here to check it out!

Alrighty - that's it for today my friends! I will be back tomorrow with more news! Take care and have fun!

Two Awards and Project 365 Week Seven...

Hello and Happy President's Day! I am on Holiday today and I LOVE IT! I have sooo much to share... First things first - two awards!

I got this awesome award awhile ago from my Scrapping The Music friend Julie Dudley. This is called The Proximity Award. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers, who can choose eight more (if they so desire):

Thank you so much for the award Julie! Three people come to mind right off the bat. These three women artists are talented and supportive and always there with a kind word for others. And now I pass it on to the following bloggers:

Penny
Julie TW
Tracy P

If you haven't visited their blogs, stop by and say hello - they are top notch people!

The second award comes from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. It's the Kreativ Blogger award. I appreciate getting this award from Julie so much because she has one of the most fantastic blogs ever! Full of new ideas, tutorials and her awesome artwork - check it out if you haven't already!


Thank you so much Julie! I am honored!

On to Project 365 - Week Seven...

Monday - Feb 9: I picked up a Minnesota postcard to send to my SiSTV friend Heather's son Jacob. I scanned it into my computer so I could post it here, and I can't figure out how to get it from my scanner overview page to my iPhoto - AARGH! Oh well - imagine a lovely postcard here with a Minnesota Timberwolf on it...


Tuesday - Feb 10: It was time for the boys annual checkup. Not their favorite day, but they behaved well - I was so proud!

Wednesday - Feb 11: The boys were extra tired today (side effect from their vaccinations). I will never get over how adorable they look when they are sleeping. Here's Willie...

Thursday - Feb. 12: Finished my Scrapping The Music layout for the upcoming song...


Saturday - Feb. 14: This was waiting for me when I got up this morning - a valentine from my sweet Michael - he made my day! I'm going to print this out 6 x 8, and place it in two 4x6 photo holders - one on top of the other so it has a special focus for the week (hence no photo for Friday)
Sunday - Feb 15: Vintage glass glitter ROCKS! This is the collection I won as part of my Project Catwalk prize from SiSTV and I display it proudly in my scraproom! Isn't it beautiful?

So, that's it for today folks! It was a long post - hope you made it through!

I'm off to see the movie Coraline in 3D this afternoon with Michael and son Steve - yeayyy! I'm so excited! I will be back tomorrow with more stuff to share! Have a wonderful, sunshiney day!

Scrapping The Music, Round Robin and a Tag...

The new song is up at Scrapping The Music and it's one of my FAVES! The song is "1, 2, 3, 4" by the Plain White T's! I used the February Crop Suey kit for this one - it's the first time I've done a round layout I think! Everything is from the kit...

here's a detail shot...Come on over and play along with us!

We played Round Robin with the new "Retro Modern" collection at SiStv today. Thanks so much to my fellow team members Angie and Kimmie, and to Angie for organizing the game! If you've never played Round Robin before - it's a game where one person starts a layout, and then each person in turn, adds to it, until the last person finishes it off! It's a fun way to stretch your creativity, and it's great to see how different everyone's turns out, even tho you have the same directions, and the same basic materials! We did a wall hanging this time. Along with the Retro Modern collection, I added some vintage woodgrain contact paper, avocado green cardstock, pom-pom trim and a distressed piece of fabric...
Awhile ago my fabulous friend Tracy P tagged me with a quiz! I have to answer these questions with words that begin with "m". Thanks Tracy! It was fun! It took awhile for me to come up with the answers!!! LOL...

1. What is your name: Michelle

2. A four Letter word: Moon

3. A Boy's Name: Matt

4. A Girl's Name: Marge

5. An occupation: Missionary

6. A Color: Mauve

7. Something you wear: Mittens

8. A Food: Mock Duck

9. Something found in the Bathroom: Midol

10. A Place: Minneapolis

11. A Reason for being late: My car broke down

12. Something you Shout:

13. A Movie Title: Meet Joe Black (such a sweet movie!)

14. Something you Drink: Mountain Dew!

15. A Musical Group: Matchbox 20

16. An Animal: Mastiff (my old lovable dog Dacotah was one!)

17. A Street Name: Morgan

18. A Type of Car: Mini Cooper

19. Something Scary: Middle Age! (lol - just kidding - I'm trying to embrace it!)

20. Sorbet Flavor: Mango

So, now I tag everyone who reads this post who wants to play! Copy the questions into your own blog post and fill in the answers with words the start with the first letter of your name! It's not as easy as you'd think...

I'll be back tomorrow to pass along a couple of awards, share my Project 365 photos for the week, and who knows what all else!

Take care everyone and I will see you tomorrow!

The Animal Odd Couple

I saw this on Sarah Bowen's blog and it totally made my day. What a beautiful story - thanks for sharing Sarah!

I hope it brightens your day too my friends! (((hugs)))

She Brings The Sunshine...

I got some time to play with my February Crop Suey kit on Monday nite, and it was so much fun! The papers from the "Twitterpated" line by Imaginesce are just too cute and they reminded me of my friend Analisa! I got to know Analisa when I worked at Archivers, and she is one of those people who is just beautiful inside and out!

Journaling reads:
Analisa is one of the reasons that going to crops at Archiver's is so much fun! She's got a sunshiney spirit that is a joy to be around!

Everything used here is from the February "Cocoa Critters" Crop Suey kit. The sun and arrow are hand-drawn and cut out. The little fox is stamped with stazon ink and then colored with a white colored pencil.

Tonight I've been working on a very special layout for Scrapping The Music. I can't share more details about it yet, but as soon as I can, I will! Shhhhh...

I also want to mention that my friend Tracy tagged me with a little quiz, which I plan on finishing and posting here really soon! I still have some answers to finish and then I will share. It's coming Tracy - I promise!

My goal for tomorrow is to finish my Project 52 ATCs for this week and last week. My word for last week was Play and this week - hmmm.... I'm still thinking. Hopefully I will get them done in time to share them here - either way I will be back to say hello!

Until tomorrow my friends! I wish you peace, love and craftiness!

Project 365 Week Six...

I can't believe another week has flown by! It's week six of Project 365 and I'm still having fun with it! Here's what I got for last week...

Monday: Michael's brother Stan, his wife Amanda and their beautiful children were in town from Florida. Michael went visiting while I was at work. Here's a father & sons moment.
Tuesday: Meeting Amanda and Stan and their family was really fun! P.S. On this day I'm going to print more small pics of the rest of the children so everyone gets in my book. I'm going to paste the small pics onto one of the trifold journaling cards like this example on Becky Higgin's blog.

Wednesday: What I've been listening to lately. This is the pile that's waiting to be put back into the CD bookcase. (Click to see details)

Thursday: My sweet Johnny's beautiful face.

Friday: My new rubber stamp storage solution! Yeayyy!

Saturday: My former coworker Analisa was working at the Crop on Saturday. She is so sweet and fun! It always brightens my day to see her!

Sunday: The scraproom organization continues - this is my new Clip-it-up! I am totally in love with it - I haven't been using my stickers or rubons simply because they have been stuck in boxes and I don't know what I have - this is going to be GREAT!

So, that's it - that's my week! I never got my Project 52 ATC done last week, so I will have to double up this week. It's going to be a busy week all-around, so I better get some rest!

Thanks for stopping by everyone - I wish you a beautiful Monday!

Cropping and Organizing...

OMG I just saw the cutest squirrel go scampering across the snow with a HUGE leaf in his mouth! He must be padding his nest. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him! ADORABLE!

Hello everyone and Happy Sunday! I've been looking for a better storage solution for my stamps for absolutely ever and I finally found it.

This is how I've been storing my stamps. They are in clear plastic containers and quite honestly I almost never use them because (A) I don't know what I have, and (B) Grabbing a set from the middle causes the stack to tumble and it just ends up being more hassle than it's worth.


So, I found these 7-drawer stacking carts at Target! They are perfect! The drawers are very shallow, so they are just right for stamps! I brought them home Friday and the boys helped me assemble them...
and here's how they look once set up and filled with stamps. I took the stamps out of their containers and placed them individually in the drawers. It's amazing how many stamps will fit in each drawer!
and another cool thing about this cart is that the drawers are actually individual boxes with hinged lids, so you can pull one out and take it to a crop - how cool is that!


In other news - yesterday was my monthly crop and I had so much fun! I got myself a fancy coffee with an extra 1/2 shot of espresso and zing! I was FOCUSED! LOL. One of the projects I finished was this layout that I made for Kellie (aka divalicious at SiSTV), with a self-portrait that she sent to me.

The green diecut paper is brand new and I can't think of the name of it now (doh), but I loved how it brought out the beautiful color of Kellie's hair. Other materials used include "raven" bazzill cardstock, a printed transparency, Making Memories Chunky Silver alphas (outlined with a sharpie), and a dictionary page - part of it painted turquoise for the background, and part of it to draw and handcut the clouds. I hope she likes it!

I also finished a layout for this week's Scrapping The Music song "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks. It's such a sweet song, and it made me think of my little buddy Willie. The journaling around the edge reads: "Willie has been such a lover ever since I adopted him and his brother in 2004. He loves to be held, and he loves to follow me around the house. He's my sweet little shadow."
I used the SiSTV "Girly Girl" collection for the background paper and the flower, which is handcut from a piece of Basic Grey included in the collection. The middle of the flower is a "Flair" button (American Crafts), and the Title is a combination of black poolside Thickers and a Zig Millenium Journaling Pen. The orangey paper is Pink Paislee from the Office Lingo Collection. It had a pretty, diecut edge, but that didn't give the look I wanted, so I made my own scallop instead. The sheet music is vintage.

I also painted a bunch of backgrounds for my art journal, and finished gluing together pages in an altered book, to make them thicker. Now the book is ready to turn into something, but I haven't decided what yet!

It was a big night for purchases - I bought myself a clip-it-up to continue my organizing project, and I couldn't resist the new "Green Stack" by Die Cuts with a View. OH MY WORD ITS SO CUTE!!! And I love that it's 70% recycled!

So, now I am going to get back to my organizing project. I need to finish up for today because I have two things to scrap tonight and I need some space to work in!

I will be back tomorrow to share Project 365 for the week and anything else I can think of between now and then!

Have a wonderful Sunday my friends, and don't forget to stop by Scrapping The Music and play along with us - we'd love to see you!

B is for Because...

I am trying to catch up with the "ABCs of Me" group (also known as "A Year In The Life of an Art Journal"). The group is on C, so I'm almost there. The prompt for the letter B is "Because"... (remember to click on the pic to see it bigger)The background is done with Peerless watercolors. I love these watercolors. They come in a booklet on sheets of paper, which is really cool I think! I bought them a long time ago when they were recommended by a teacher, but only just started using them recently. The colors are really vivid. The image is torn from a magazine, the green letters are Daiquiri Thickers, the tab is "Kewl Stuff" from imaginesce, and the letter B is a rubon by Heidi Swapp, which I outlined with a sharpie. I've decided that this ABC book will have a writing focus, which is something I've been meaning to work on. I tend towards layouts that are mostly visual and I want to broaden those horizons!

So - it is Wednesday, which is Project 52 ATC day! I haven't started my card yet - I am going to do that when I get done with this post. I think my word for the day will be "Play." We went to Michael's folks house last night for a Rydell family function and I was reminded of the joy of being a kid. It's a big family and there are always kids around, and last night was especially chaotic in a happy, giggly, running-all-over-the-place-falling-on-each-other-laughing kind of way. It felt so joyful to be around all that happy energy! It made me want to be more energetic and laugh more and run all over the place myself! Playing is good for the spirit!

So, I'm off to get my ATC done, and if I'm lucky I can also start on a layout that I need to do for a friend.

Good luck with whatever projects you are working on and p.s. DON'T FORGET TO PLAY!

A is for Action...

The week is off to a great start! Yesterday I got both the new Crop Suey "Cocoa Critters" kit AND the new SiSTV "Retro Modern Collection." They are both FABULOUS! Can't wait to start creating with them!

I got started on my "Year In The Life of an Art Journal" project yesterday - (also known as "The ABCs of Me"). The first prompt was "A for Action," so here's what I came up with...
I didn't originally intend for this to actually be the journal entry. In fact, I had planned to use a completely different book for this "ABCs of Me" project. I just thought that I would do a little writing on the subject to prepare for doing the "real" layout. When I was done I thought - why do another one now? It seemed redundant. So, I guess I will be using this as my ABCs of Me journal! The ABCs will just be mixed in with my other journal entries. Hmmm... Maybe I will put alphabetical tabs on the side to differentiate them from the other entries. Yes, I think that is what I will do.

Okey dokey. That's about it for today. I will be back tomorrow with another update tho - hope to see you then!

The 90's and Project 365 Week Five...

When I think of the 90's I think of the Seattle Sound of Bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. My favorite of these was Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder's roaring voice and thought-provoking lyrics totally blew me away. The album "Ten" quickly became an all-time favorite of mine. I remember playing it over and over trying to learn all the lyrics. So, when it came time to make my 1990's edition of the Decades ATC Swap, the subject matter was an obvious choice...
It's a simple ATC. I just scanned the "Ten" CD artwork and shrunk it to fit on my card. Backed it with some grungey patterned paper and attached with some staples. With that, I've now completed four of the five Decades swap cards! I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with for the 1990's! Now I've got to start thinking about the new milennium. Hmmm... What do you think of when you think of music in the 2000's?

Now - on to Project 365! It's the end of the fifth week already!

Monday: I got this idea directly from Becky Higgins. She did a similar photo, and it felt fitting for this day. On my way to a meeting for my new job - a job that will require a lot of traveling...

Tuesday: Urban Hope on my way home from work. Note all the Obama posters in the windows...(remember you can click for a larger view)

Wednesday: This is where all the happy mail arrives. No luck today tho - just tax documents and junk mail.

Thursday: Just a part of my beloved tape collection. This pic reminds me that I need to replace the lightbulbs in the scraproom. These are too yellow.

Friday: Dinnertime for the boys is 11:00 pm. I think they need little pictures hanging on the wall above their dishes - don't you?


Saturday : I am going to print the next two photos 3x4 and put them side by side in the 4x6 pocket. This weekend was project weekend for both Michael and I. Michael was doing taxes and building a new computer...
and I had about a gazillion scrapping projects to do. It was wonderful!

Sunday: It was my lovely friend Bree's birthday today, and I made her this notebook. I'm going to print the photo out small enough to make into a simple 4x6 layout like this one by Becky Higgins. Hers is digital, but I'm going to do mine manually.


A couple more things to note: The Crop Suey kits should be on sale some time today. Keep checking the blog for the reveal. I haven't gotten my kit yet, so I am as excited as everyone to see what they look like!

Elsie Flannigan's Online store called Red Velvet Art was supposed to be open last night, but they've been having some problems with the site. Hopefully it will be up and running today! It looks like it's gonna be awesome!

Scrapping The Music's new song this week is a classic by the Velvet Underground! Check it out!

Alrighty then - that's it for today! Here's wishing you a groovy Monday! I will see you tomorrow!

Another Idea Catcher...

I made another idea catcher notebook - my second one. This one is a birthday gift for my friend Bree whose birthday is today! Happy Birthday Bree! Bree likes owls, so here's what I came up with... Papers used are Jenni Bowlin vintage star, Scrapdiary Linha Tord (owls & stripes) and Lucy Folch's Matryoshka (pink woodgrain). Acrylic paint swiped on the front and hand-drawn and cut letters for the title. The owl conversation is just typed with hand-drawn thought bubbles.



Bree I hope you have a wonderful birthday! This will be in the mail to you on Monday!

So, now I have finished two projects! Yeayyyy! I have a big mess to clean up and then I will decide whether to go to bed or start another one. Hmmm...

Oh, hey - Today is also the big reveal of the new February Crop Suey kits! Yeayyy! Be on the lookout at the Crop Suey blog!

Have a great Sunday everyone! I will be back tomorrow with another update!