Here it Is!

So this is my Valentines/Breaking Dawn DVD Release TM Card Exchange gift!


I wanted to do something like the amazing shadow box I received for the Christmas gift exchange but more card like. So I took a small 4x7 canvas board and painted it with acrylics to get a meadow effect. I thought the colors were a little too bold so I then decoupaged white tissue paper over it to mute the colors a bit. The rest is basically scrapbooking. I think they turned out well! I would definitely love to receive one. And I had so much fun! This is what I received for my first card exchange.


I've already used the decal in my 2012 day planner and put the card up on my refrigerator! Lol. Cheers!


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Busy Bee

Gosh I can't believe it's been a week since my last post!!! As you can guess the Spring School Semester has begun for me. I get to read 15 books this semester and I'm only in two courses! It's going to be fun. But I'll still be making plenty of time for crafting. Right now I'm working on my Twilight Mom Valentines card exchange parcels. I hope they turn out great! I think they will. Pictures to follow later this evening I expect.


My university campus. CSUCI. Formally a state mental institution. It's hauntingly beautiful.

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Here It Is!!!

It's finished! It only took about 4 hours and it came out amazing!














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A Journal in the Making

Super exciting. And it's raining. I love the rain!!!






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Mail Call

For Chrissy! That is all. I promise a more interesting post in a bit! Getting ready to start sewing some paper and making some journals! The task seems a bit daunting. But I know once I'm in the groove it'll become my obsession. Till then! Cheers!



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Just a quick little boring post of my newest journal pages. Hopefully something more interesting tomorrow!







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Am I Weird?

Well actually yes I am. But that's besides the point! I was just reminded that I have always thought being committed to an
Institution for awhile would be very interesting. Is that strange? At one point in my life I fancied doing just that and writing a book. But a few years ago I discovered it had already been done. Which reminds me I wanted to read that book!

Other things I thought would be interesting are of course packing and leaving to a foreign country. Joining the armed forces. Taking a vow of silence and living in a convent. Moving to a cabin by a lake, alone. All of these things I have pondered doing because I want to have the time to write! Either about the new unusual place I find myself or one that is completely free of distractions. Anyone else have thoughts of grandeur?


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Thoughtful Journaling

So my last few journal pages have been about memories and not really anything going on my life right now. For some reason I prefer to write about the past more than the present. When I do write about the present it's usually cryptic and out of a need to purge unhappy feelings.




I know that I'm not the only person who prefers to journal when happy. I guess it's because I would rather have a happy record of my life rather than a depressing one. Though the entries involving the wrenching of ones soul are usually a better read later on...




I guess it's lucky that my journal will hopefully get a fair amount of both. A balanced record holding my life's story. Even if it's cryptic. Aren't mysteries the most fulfilling to read?!

Ps. The Blog Press App is working again! I prefer it over the Blogger one because all of the photos don't end up at the end of the post. I love that I can Blog from my iPhone! I almost never do it from my laptop. Funny huh? Cheers!!!

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Reminiscing

About my Grandparents' home. It's been fifteen years since they died and there house was sold but I still remember absolutely everything about it. Even the smells. I love thinking about it from time to time. Sometimes when I can't sleep I take a tour of it and always drift off peacefully.

Genius

I absolutely love this new technique I
learned! It's a way to print photos onto scrapbook paper that enables the photo to look a bit old and it allows the underlying scrapbook print to show through! I picked up the idea from Mary Ann Moss. She's an AMAZING visual journaler whom I've recently come to adore.

All you do is take a piece of scrapbook paper. You then take Gesso or any other acrylic gel medium and apply it to the page. An opaque one works best but all I had at home was a transparent gloss so I mixed it with white acrylic paint and it worked wonderfully.

Next all you have to do is choose an image to print and after the Gesso is fully dry run it through your printer. My printer didn't seem to have any problems at all. But make sure it's 100% dry and not still tacky or sticky. Mine only took about five minutes.

I LOVE how they turned out and pages like these are definitely going into my journals I'm making for the shop!!!

Always Throw Salt

Over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Plant lavender for luck. And fall in love whenever you can.

I absolutely love my new journal! I've already got the first two little pages done. I'm trying to let myself LIVE in my journal like Debra from "A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk" once wrote.

I always fail at journaling because little quirks that I stupidly consider as imperfections then rile me and cause me to quit. But a journal can't be perfect because it's a record of a life and life isn't perfect. So this is my motto. I WILL finish this journal! And I know that the things I won't like about what I write or draw or glue in it now will be what I really love looking back through it years from now.

It's finally here! Cheers!

Haha. My new journal has officially arrived! But alas I am still at work. But oh what a fun evening home it will be! This evening will be filled with the new episodes of "Vampire Diaries" and "Secret Circle" as well as a final glass of wine before a much needed dry spell and some amazing journaling! All week spent waiting has led me too some great ideas for my new journal as well as some fantastic ideas for the journals I am beginning to make! Yippie!

Here's the Stitch

I'm learning how to make the best journal ever! I stumbled last night upon an amazing woman named Mary Ann Moss. Her blog address is:

http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/

You can also find her in my CLICK PLEASE! section under Mary Ann Moss

She has as amazing blog about her worldly travels and her much too gorgeous visual art journals! She offers an online tutorial for her intensive class called Full Tilt Boogie which is how she describes her mood when shes in her crafting zone. I am only partially through week ones videos (there are four weeks) and not only am I totally hooked but I am fully confident that I can make beautiful journals like the one I just happily purchased from Debra (see yesterdays post).

Mary Ann's instructions are super easy to follow. She describes herself as a renegade book binder. She gives uber simple instructions through charming videos. She is super funny and sweet and she my kind of crafter, off the cuff! She doesn't measure or worry about precision or exactness. She revels in the uniqueness of mistakes in handmade items and passes along the knowledge that anything gone a miss can be fixed! Can you tell I'm excited?

So I will be lovingly using my new journal the second the beauty arrives but I will also be gathering and preparing to make my own. And I am SURE a few lovelies will end up in my shop these next few weeks. Happy binding!

The Best Journal Ever

I was having a nice lovely lazy morning when I decided to catch up with some of my favorite Blogs, one of these being

A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk

She's in my CLICK PLEASE! section, to the left.

Debra is a phenominal artist and makes the most wonderful hand sewn crazy beautiful journals that are chock full of all kinds of gorgeous papers. I've been drooling over the journal she made herself just a few months ago and fancied the idea of making one for myself but never did. So imagine my glee when her last post before Christmas was to announce that she had two of her hand made journals in her Etsy shop! Ive never clicked on BUY so fast in my life!

Now my only conundrum is I started a plain little journal on the first for the New Year, oh well. I am sure I'll figure out something else to do with it.

Oh, and she has one journal left for sale! I seriously would pop over if I were you and snatch it up!