Tres Wishes

K&Company's SMASH Book... A Review

2011-07-15T04:23:00.000-07:00

In short... I LOVE it

So here's how it went down... I received an email from Two Peas in a Bucket that had a subject line about new CHA released products. Now I was fairly sure this would cause me to do a little shopping as these types of emails always do but I knowingly clicked open the email anyway. At the top of this email was the SMASH book collection. Honestly, it was love at first site. I am a sucker for accessories and the go-withs for this journal were pretty spectacular. Then I watched this video (Go ahead I dare you.) and knew I need one instantly. Well, me needing one lead me to thinking I needed to buy one for Jessica and Andrea too because a) I had been looking for an unbirthday gift* for them, b) It would be fun to share the packs of accessories, and c) I thought it would be fun to work in them together.

After doing a little on line research I realized the whole line was pretty much sold out everywhere but got super lucky and found that almost everything was in stock at Scrapbooks.com which meant I could pick my order up in Mesa, save on shipping and handling, and have the loot sooner! (If after you read this you need one too and they are sold out everywhere still be patient, it' so worth it!)

I am having so much fun just adding stuff into my SMASH book! Some days I am doing a spread and some days I'm randomly attaching envelopes it just depends on my mood.

The best part is that I am using stuff that I was just saving for something special. Somehow it seems like it just belongs in this book. Check out these l-o-n-g page tabs that I had hanging out in two sizes. They were perfect for adding a quote to the top of my journal. I love how busy this looks with the clips etc.

If you Google SMASH books you will see all kinds of people saying, " Why would you buy one just make your own..." A ridiculous number of tutorials are online about how to make one- most of which involve a hole puncher and a set of book rings. I say, you are going to spend just as much cash on decorative scrapbook paper to make your own (These books only retail for $12, it would be worth buying to rip the paper out and use in other projects it is so cool!) your not going to have the cool embossed cover or the fabulous SMASH pen, and if I absolutely had to have a SMASH book today and they were all out of stock, I would at least thread up a needle and bind my scrapbook pages together into a book instead of pretending like a pile of scrapbook paper with two book rings is really as cool as a real SMASH book. (No offense if you do but I feel better to have that off my chest. LOL!)

* I will write a post very soon about unbirthdays!

Cute and Easy...

2011-07-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

That's how I like my vacation albums. I got the inspiration to make an album like this somewhere a long time ago and it has been stewing around in my brain until this summer. I actually started the Disney album on the very first day of my summer vacation and just made the Hawaii album last week.

The idea is simple, just take all of your vacation photos, back them with cool and random scrapbook paper (I only bought 3 sheets with Hibiscus flowers to make these two books, I was all about using what was on hand.), add postcards and random dividers and poof..an album! I bought one pack of index card dividers for about $2 and a pack of book rings, also about $2 and I still have left over supplies.

In the Disney book, I collaged with labels on the backs of the pages and journaled. When I went to Hawaii, I bought the postcards and just journaled a little each day so It was already done when I got home making this little album a snap!

Yay Target, Again!

2011-07-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

My mom found these great little drawers at Joann, in white, that were exactly the right size for holding pens. I of course fell in love with them but when I went looking they were nowhere to be seen. This ended up being lucky for me!

About a week ago I was wandering through Target, trying to mind my own business when I heard these fabulously lime green drawers shouting at me! I snached two of them for about $7 each (I thought it was a steal)! After organizing what I though was all of my pens and markers I found another special little pouch and then came to terms with the fact that my school pens wold be jealous if they did not have an adorable little house too so I went back and scooped up two more!
P.S. I know my pen habit is out of control, thanks for understanding!

Yay Target!

2011-05-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Yay Target, for making a box that fits my masking tape collection perfectly! (Yes, I know I have a problem.)

Washi Tape!

2011-04-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

The mother load of washi tape arrived this week! (And if you look in the background of this picture you can tell how badly I was in need of it!) I fell in love with this tape when Kelly was here last and kept ordering and ordering from Washimatta! You should order from Washimatta too. The customer service was amazing! I also got the stickers you see in front of the tape.

Now the only problem I have is that I need another ruler box to store tape in, well that and the fact that Hambly just released their washi tape today.

Getting Back To Normal

2011-04-09T04:23:00.000-07:00

Kelly's in town and I can't sleep. Now I really know things are getting back to normal. :)

Randomness

2011-03-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

I have come to realize that blogging, or journaling for that matter, is easier for me when things are roses and sunshine. I know, I know, real life happens and it is okay to be sad, upset, or disappointed and I understand that sometimes if you talk about it it makes things better. I got it, really I promise, but I just don't operate like that. I am more of a think it through myself, take action, report back when things are roses and sunshine kind of girl. There are times when I appreciate sympathy but it generally annoys me.

In the last few days I have started hearing my journal calling to me. Now what I'm thinking I need to write is all disjointed and out of order but I have come to terms with that and my OCD side is prepared to deal with it too. LOL. Luckily, I collaged an entire journal while I was thinking things through and refusing to write about it and have it ready to go for such an occasion.

I realized today that my hang up was that in the past I had come to a point where I was able to photograph all of my journal pages and post them on my blog for people to see and I was torn. While I want to be able to show my journal pages I also want to keep the ideas on them private. (See, believe it or not some people actually read the words and sometimes even comment on them. LOL!) Then it hit me.... I could photograph them with no writing and still post them. After all a blog with no pictures is no fun and there are only so many times you can post that you are really art journaling again without proving it. :)

Marshmallows!

2010-11-22T03:02:00.000-08:00

Ayesha brought me these amazing handmade marshmallows back from her trip to South Dakota. I had never had handmade marshmallows before but now I can't stop thinking about them! I got an email from Etsy the other day and low and behold people actually sell handmade marshmallows on Etsy! Now I have been trying to forget that I can buy them their and trying myself out of buying them but obviously I am not doing a very good job at it! :)

A Spooky Book

2010-10-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took my mom's class at Frenzy Stamper. It's nice to take a class and actually get a whole project done in one sitting! Here it is...

My mom is selling her extra kits on her blog so now that you are in love with this spooky book get yours while you can!

And here are the goodies I picked up While I was at Frenzy too!

This super cool ice cream parlor also moved in a few doors down from Frenzy. It is super cute old fashioned ice cream parlor and game area. It also has a cotton candy machine! I am happy to have treats so close to Frenzy! You know I love taking classes at Frenzy and desserts only make it better!

It's Getting Spooky Around Here!

2010-10-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

I didn't get super crazy with Halloween decorations around here this year just because with Shannon's wedding and visiting Deb I feel like Halloween has been about three days long this year. I do realize that I could still add more decorations but to be honest I'm feeling a little lazy.

I do love my spooky center piece and am looking forward to showing you how it will transition into a Thanksgiving and Christmas centerpiece too!

I bought the black glittered pumpkin at Target, black and white sixletts from Hobby Lobby in the wedding section, and everything else is Gold Canyon!
Cobweb Twinkle Ties
Ivory Chimney Set
Floating Tealight Holders
Crystal Candle Stands
I love, love, love it!

Also, Have you been to Trader Joe's and met the pumpking Trees? If you said no, get in your car go directly to Trader Joe's, do not pass go, do not collect $200!

They are so stinkin' cute! Deb doesn't have a Trader Joe's so I even took some on the plane to her. The one I bought for Deb was even better than my origional one so I'm thinking that the later in the season it gets the cooler they will be!

100 Days

2010-10-22T04:59:00.000-07:00

Quite coincidentally I decided to figure out how many days it had been since my last blog post this morning and realized it had been exactly 100 days. Weird right? (Yes, the math was really about the blog in case you are wondering.) 101 days with no blog post would just be ridiculous so here I am.

Ayesha and I just got back from visiting Deb in Texas! It's perfect how the school district worked in an October break so I can still celebrate Halloween with Deb. LOL!

We visited a pumpkin farm.

carved pumpkins, (I went old school. Mine is the far right.)

visited the Halloween Bootique,

and even had spooky dinner!

We also made Alonna a new wall mural for her room!

We had a great time & I can't wait to plan our November visit in AZ!

Collaged Quote Book Day Three

2010-07-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

The end...

Collaged Quote Book Day Two

2010-07-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

The middle...

Collaged Quote Book Day One

2010-07-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a cute little collaged quote book I made over a series of Friday Art Dates this summer with the girls. It didn't start out as a quote book but I decided to collage it so heavily that the smallish spaces that were left seemed like a great place to write my favorite quotes. The best part is that if I find a new quote I love I can still add it to my book. :) Here's the beginning...

FYI

2010-07-11T04:26:00.000-07:00

The last thing I should be doing is searching skull cameo on Etsy! I thought I would see if I could find the seller but I think it will be safer just to wait and ask Deb. LOL! (Do it I dare you! It might be sfer for you than for me.)

Speaking of Etsy I have to tell you about two sellers that I recently bought from that are really cool! The first one is Skull And Crossbuns. I noticed these cute little mustache stamps on one of the daily emails from etsy.

When I went to check them out I also loved these trees.

These stamps are so cute in person and I have no idea how she is carving so many yummy stamps!

The second shop is Mommies Ink. If you are looking for invitations of any kind I would totally recommend checking out this shop! Jen, the shop owner, is amazingly fast and has great comunication! I also think her prices are amazing! Now, I can't show you exactly what I bought because it is still top secret but here is one of her yummy designs!

Yesterday

2010-07-09T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an amazing and bittersweet day and although I usually limit my blog posts to topics that are rainbow and sunshiny this would be far to big not to mention.

Ayesha and I FINALLY got to take Jessica out for her birthday! Not that she was resisting just that we finally remembered to set a date. We went to 35th Ave. Sew & Vac. and out for lunch at Pedro's in downtown Glendale. Now if you have never been to 35th Ave Sew and Vac. it is hard to describe its fabulousness but if you love fabric as much as Jessica it is like your own personal paradise. All three of us found fabric we could not leave without. :) We had a great time!

Now if you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you may have noticed that Deb, Ayesha, and I are often adventuring about together. We have been known to be a little inseparable. We found out a week ago that Deb will be moving to Texas before the end of the month and it has been a little difficult to say the least.

Deb had already planned to be out of state this weekend for a family function before she found out about the move and when she returns her fiance will be loading up the house to drive to Texas. We will still have a few days before Deb leaves but as you can imagine her schedule is crazy. Yesterday happened to be the last day that we could all get together to do Girl's Night Out in our traditional form. We also scooped up Amber because we like to bring her along from time to time and because we love her too. We went to Postino's and had a lovely dinner of yummy bruchetta, we shared a delicious salty caramel sundae (salty for the chocolate covered cornnuts and cute pretzel rod), and we even got to sit in the couch area by chance and that was fun too! For those of you that know us in real life you will be happy to hear their were minimal tears but only because we tried really hard at the end and we know we will see each other next week. :)

(Deb is sitting on my side just in case you didn't know)
I also want to add that I am happy that we now live in a time of Facebook, free long distance calls, and Skype and Ayesha and I are looking at this as a great opportunity for an art exchange that we will be starting as soon as Deb is settled in. :)

As I was dropping Deb off she said, "Hey, do you want your birthday present tonight?" I knew she had bought my gift weeks ago even though my birthday is not for months because she was so excited about it and like I'd say no. LOL! Check it out.

So me. It can be worn as a pin or pendant and I know she found it on etsy but am not sure of the seller. I can't wait for October so that it will be cool enough to wear it with a cardigan and I'm starting the search for the right chain too. Yay Deb!

One Size Fits Most

2010-07-08T05:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I made what I am affectionately calling my one size fits most skirt.

I decided that I need to call it this morning when I tried it on again and realized just how generous I was when I cut the elastic. The elastic does stretch a little bit right at this moment and I am fairly sure I could loose 10 pounds and it would still fit without going in to make the elastic smaller, but I am also fairly sure I could gain at least 20 pounds and it would still fit, hence the name.

I discovered the fabric to make this skirt in the fashion district on our trip to California earlier this summer. I actually found it in the Michael Levine shop that sells fabric by the pound. I think I bought enough fabric to make two of these skirts plus about 3 yards of black lining material for something like $4! Outrageous right? I loved its texture and while a one size fits most skirt might not be the most form flattering, (Just think about adding extra fabric around your midsection.) I still think it is cute. LOL!

An Exceptional Artist

2010-07-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

I had the great pleasure of working with an exceptional artist today! It was my niece Keegan! (Formerly known as Baby Kakes and then just Kakes when her little sister came along. I now have permission just to call her Keegan from Buffy.)

My mom was watching the girls so I called up to ask if I could come play. Usually when I arrive the girls meet me at the door but today I could hear Keegan calling my name excitedly from the kitchen when I walked in she was already wearing her artist apron that my mom made for her and she immediately said, "Nene can we paint today?" My mom had told her I was coming to do a project and they had already taken all of the art supplies out of the closet.

(It is important to note that Keegan can say Jeane but I think because she calls my mom Nona she thinks that Nene is like my cutsy name for Auntie. I like Nene. :)

I had planned to read the book Elmer by David McKee and make handprint elephants.

We were having so much fun that when we were done with that little project we kept painting. Keegan titled this one The Storm. (She's a genius what can I say.)

And this one is Tinkerbell's House. (More in line for a three year old. :)

Summer of Obsessing

2010-07-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

Apparently this summer my theme is obsessing over things. First it was the Showtime TV serries Dexter. I seriously watched the first episode of this series the week before school was out and did next to nothing until I was finished watching all 48 hours of seasons 1-4. Now, I never thought that I would find myself rooting for a serial killer but I never thought I'd read vampire books and somehow Twilight snuck up on me too. I am seriously thinking about adding Showtime to my cable package so that I can watch season 5 with the rest of the world! You should totally check Dexter out but only after you have put the kids to bed. I guess that probably is true for any show on Showtime though. LOL!

My next obsession, again a little surprising, is The Spiderwick Chronicles. One of my co-workers recommended I read these books over a year ago. (Yes, I only read fiction books from the childrens section. I'm a teacher, does that count? Adult non-fiction is so much more interesting.) I was at the used book store on Tuesday and noticed them in the young adult section and decided to pick up the first book. I just finished reading the 5th and final book in the series and learned that it was made into a movie. Guess what's next on my Netflix list?

Finally, I have been spending lots of fun time obsessing about planning the perfect wedding parties with Buffy and Krista but those are things I can not talk about here. 10-10-10 is just around the corner and Shannon is an investigator. (Can you hear my evil laugh?)

Treasures 4 Teachers Adventure

2010-06-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

We have this cool place called Treasures 4 Teachers in Arizona where teachers who have a membership can go get lots of great stuff for their classroom either really, really cheap or for free. All of the items their have been donated and you never know what you'll find but it's like and art teachers dream. I have had several project ideas in mind but always thought I'd never be able to save up enough supplies for an entire grade level and then I found Treasures 4 Teachers. :) (I see about 650 kids a week so I plan to have about 150 of each item that I use for a project.)

This year I got really lucky when Treasures 4 Teachers received a grant and was able to give 50 free memberships to teachers in schools who received 301 money from the government. (I will of course have to renew my membership when it expires because this place is that good!)

My mom and I went last Thursday and I found so much great stuff! I got about 100 desk calendars for the kids to use as glue mats (It will be so much easier to grab a calendar to glue on and just rip of the page when it is too gluey that what we were doing before!), tons of metal robot supplies, loads of great stuff for printing including tons of plastic lids in lots of sizes (Yea, I don't have to save them all summer!), a bunch of labels for the kids to use to make stickers, oh I could go on forever. LOL! The shopping trip was fun and the sorting at home was fun too but next time I will take my Zip lock bags with me and have things sorted from get go. :) Here is some of the loot.

Double Double

2010-06-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

My mom had a small class at her house on Sunday to make the Double Double book. She taught this class twice at Frenzy Stamper and I missed it both times so I was happy I could make it to class yesterday. If you look closely you might notice a few skulls. LOL!

Cleaning The Studio

2010-06-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Cleaning my studio is never as easy a task as it sounds like it will be. Granted I had a mountain of art supplies on my desk and had been putting off cleaning it for weeks. Maybe I should have taken a picture but if you are an artist you are all too familiar with what it looked like.

I can never just put things away it is a little bit like If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. If your desk is covered with Cricut cartridges you will have to rearrange your bookshelf, rearranging your bookshelf will remind you of all the great books you have been collecting so of course you will have to flip through a few of them, flipping through the books will remind you that a friend of yours told you about an online book exchange, which of course will lead you to your computer for a good hour of messing around, before you again remember that your task was to clean off your desk. :) Maybe I should get back to the desk. LOL!

I Should Have Mentioned This Earlier

2010-06-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

My mom found this really great Etsy shop and website called Pretty Little Studio. After my mom blogged about how cute the site was Melissa, the seller, offered a 10% discount to the readers of my mom's blog. When I arrived home on Wednesday my goodies were waiting for me and they are fabulous!

If you are interested in checking out Pretty Little Studio you can still get 10% off your order until the end of the month if you read my mom's blog :) and enter the code janeeileen10 when you check out. I think I am going to double check that I got everything that I "needed" right now.

Running, Running

2010-06-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that school had already been out for two weeks, I feel like I have been running the whole time.

Mom and I went on our yearly CA shopping trip with Kelly from Monday until late night Wednesday. We had lots of fun shopping and goofing around and I even experienced my first earthquake!

I had to be to work by 7:00 on Thursday but am now officially done with summer work until late July. (Of course that doesn't mean I won't be spending time reading professional books, planning for next year, and working on documents for the district office. A little secret is that teachers actually work a lot of the summer, just not with kids. LOL!)

Today I had a fun art date with Ayesha, Jessica, and Barb. We were arting with our sewing machines and I proved to myself that I am my mother's daughter and played the role of sewing machine whisperer with Ayesha's machine. :)

I think at one time or another all of our machines gave us grief even mine!

This evening I went to Val's jewelry party and tomorrow I have Jack's Second Annual Weennie Roast (a.k.a. birthday party). Things have been busy and fun here. I hope to get a chance to clean up around my studio tomorrow. I have bags of art supplies sitting about from classes, trips, and art adventures. Creating clean surfaces actually sounds fun!

Hey!

2010-06-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

I didn't even make it to airport security with my inky fingers. They stopped me on the way to the security line to swab my fingers with a little white cloth that they examined under some fancy light. LOL!

So , you may have noticed that I never actually got to post an up date while I was away. :) My conference was in Las Vegas and as you can imagine time slipped away quickly! (Plus our conference was from 7:30 ish to 3:00 ish each day so we actually had some place to be a lot of the time.) I can honestly say that the conference was career changing. If you speak PLC I'd love to tell you all about it! I actually started putting what I learned to use on Thursday writing Art Common Assessments at work.

Yesterday while hanging out with my mom for her birthday I got a chance to work a little more on my book from Dina's class last weekend. I've got to throw you a bone and give you a peek.

I also took another one of her classes, Masterful Art Journaling, at Creative Quest last night.

With all of this running I have big plans to rest up this weekend, and by rest up I mean rest and help Jim get things ready for his business trip next week. I've got anothe rbig adventure planned on Monday. :) Things will be busy for a while still.

Just Checking In

2010-06-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

Mom and I took a fun class, Graffiti Of My Life, yesterday with Dina Wakley at Creative Quest. I am not quite done with my book completely but will show it once I get the journaling and decorations added in.

I am walking out the door to the airport headed to a conference for work. (With day 2 spray ink fingers :) I am armed with my camera and Jim's netbook so hopefully I won't be MIA for long. I am also taking along my journals and pens. I need to journal on tons of done collages so hopefully I'll get a little of my own "work" done while I'm away too!

What Up?

2010-06-02T04:38:00.000-07:00

School for me is out on Friday. I am done with kids at 9:00. My 4th graders will be bowling during art time on the last day of school. I am about 1/2 way done cleaning and getting things closed up for the summer in the studio. All of this means my brain will be returning to normal soon. :)

I did absolutely nothing this weekend aside from watching all of my TiVoed shows and a billion hours in movies. I did manage to get together with Buffy and the girls ton Monday and that was lots of fun too. :)

I finally made the cute mini paper airplane garland that I linked to a few weeks ago. I used paper though instead of fabric and I love it. I actually made a practice on first and hung it in the kitchen just to get it out of the way but can't seem to take it down it is so cute. The real one was made to add to the othe little flag garland in my studio. I don't know why but this garland just says summer to me and I love it!

I should also mention that I got my copy of Somerset Studio Gallery and love my article! They photographed so many of the pages in my journal to put along with the article. It is just yummy! It makes me want to hold the journal in my hands again. LOL!

Wall Calendar Journal Day 3

2010-05-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

The Grand Finale! I really loved making this journal. I just couldn't stop working on it! Now I just need to find motivation to do the journaling. LOL!

Wall Calendar Journal Day 2

2010-05-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

My pages are about 12x6 in real life. I so love this journal, it is going back and forth to work with me so I can show my 5th graders. They are making a mini art journal in their final weeks with me.

Wall Calendar Journal

2010-05-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

I finished my Wall Calendar Journal on Tuesday. I had enough energy to post pictures today. :) Well, some of the pictures anyway. I'm going to split them up to keep you entertained. As you know my blog posts at this time of the year slow down until summer hits and then I pick back up again. :) So here is the beginning...

The Summers a Comin"

2010-05-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

(And I am excited!) We still have 2 weeks at school for this year which means we are to the challenging time. :) It reached 100 on Friday and the kids know what time it is. I frequently have these conversations with kids that after they are over I think, I never would have imagined I'd ever say that out loud and it somehow makes the conversation even funnier. If you are a mom or a teacher I'm sure you can relate. Here is one from yesterday:

(Photo of Justin Bieber just in case your don't keep up with teen music sensations. LOL!)
Student 1: (In a loud argumentative voice) Justin Bieber's favorite sport is basketball!
Student 2: (In the same type of voice) No it's hockey!
Student 1: Basketball!
Student 2: Hockey!
Me: (In a level tone inquisitive voice) Boys do you really want to fight about this?
Student 1: We are not fighting. We are just talking.
Me: Well, I heard you using loud, unkind voices and it reminded me of fighting that I have heard before. Will you please talk about something else while you are working on your project today.
Student 1: Well can we talk about Lady Gaga then?

How can you not laugh at this?

In Love...

2010-05-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

with my new free-motion sewing machine foot! My mom took me to the sewing machine shop yesterday so I could get a free-motion foot for my machine!

It is so fun, here are some sneak peeks at doodles, words, and flowers. It is trickier than it looks but oh so fun! These peeks are of my wall calendar journal class! :)

II Can't Believe How Happy These Make Me...

2010-05-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

I saw these cute little tape flag garlands somewhere on the WWW a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to making them today. The first one made me so happy I had to make another one and twisted a couple of my friends arms so they would make one too.

I'm also loving these collaged and sewn pages. I signed my mom and I up for the Wall Calendar Journal Class from Tuscan Rose. This is just the beginning of the fabulousness. My mom and I are getting together tomorrow to work on the class together! I'll show you what we accomplish tomorrow!

Want A Sneek Peek?

2010-05-12T04:47:00.000-07:00

I noticed this morning that you can see a sneek peek of my Black and White Journal in the Summer 2010 Somerset Studio Gallery here! It will be released in June! Yay! Scroll down I am second to the bottom and the only black and white. :)

Check these out!

2010-05-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

So, I have been trying to catch up on my blog reading and you know how one thing leads to another on the internet.... I think the trouble started from this post by Roben Marie.

You really should check these things out! This list is AKA what I want to do on my summer vacation. :)

Everday Chaos Fabric Airplaines!

Everyday Chaos Tattered Fabric Roses!

Giver's Log Free Printables don't miss the Lables!

The Adventures of Bluegirlxo Paper Clay Bird Tutorial! While you are at The Adventures of Bluegirl xo scroll down! This site is amazing! Lots of great tutorials!

Vellum Mobiles on Jordan Ferney's blog

I fell in love with this Danita's etsy shop and had to buy a ring. :)

I'm lucky I only got sucked in for 2 hours! :)

Inspired

2010-05-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

It took me years to discover that I was an artist. In elementary school we had one traveling art teacher that did one project with one grade level at a time and we saw her once a year if we were lucky. That didn't exactly set the stage for taking art in high school. I didn't think I could draw and who would take on the art kid stereotype if they couldn't draw, right? (I could be a way cooler Goth girl now than back then, plus being in yearbook was so much cooler. LOL!) Once I went to college I couldn't resist owning a drawing board even after my advisor told me not to get an art endorsement because I'd never get a job as an art teacher. To say I was off to a slow start is an understatement.

Now, I am lucky to work in a place that supports the arts. I went to the district art show again yesterday with some of my co-workers. It was a cool group of people who all consider themselves artists and really wanted to LOOK at the kid's artwork. I was amazed because I have walked through the show several times but I was still seeing things I had never noticed before. It always amazes me how different things look when you see them through someone else's eyes.

I woke up this morning full of creative energy, you know the kind of energy when you NEED to make your own art. It is funny how contagious art can be. Granted I had adult conversation about children's artwork but these kids really inspired me!

It is easy to forget how inspiring it can be to see artwork both in and outside of your style. It was a nice reminder to get out, see art, be inspired, and to create.

*These photos are all from my journal I created with Kelly Kilmer last weekend. I will give you close-ups when I have journaled on them.

So Way Behind

2010-04-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am so way behind. :) It is partially from the art show, partially from the big cricut project, and partially from an amazing Kelly Kilmer weekend last weekend!

I will totally post pictures of my amazing classes this weekend soon but I forgot my journal at school today after showing it to everyone who would sit still enough to look. :)

The biggest thing I have to share today is how AMAZING my kids are! First the art show. You can see the awards they were given pretty clearly in the pictures but I took the photo before the pink collage face in the upper left hand corner of the first picture was awarded a Best of Show award for the K-2 2-D category! Some of the projects you see were done by Meredith, my traveling art teacher. :)

Also, my Kindergartners dazzled me today with their art smarts today! We were doing our usual critique that follows a project when I decided we needed to step it up a notch so we were sitting on the carpet in a circle and I gave them the sentence starter, " I like..." Now I have to tell you that the reason I gave them a sentence starter aside from the fact that they are 6, is that at least 50% of them only started learning English at the beginning of the school year. We were only to student number three when I heard, "I like my texture!" I was so excited I asked the whole class what is texture? At least half of the class pointed to their eyes and then rubbed their fingers together and said the way something looks or feels! The best part is that they were looking at me quizzically wondering why I was so excited. They just knew what they knew and didn't realize they were brilliant! By the end of class they had done a guided writing exercise with me and insisted that I take the chart paper outside to show their teacher. When their teacher asked if they could read it to her they chorally read the whole paragraph! I couldn't have been prouder of them!

I Couldn't Start Small

2010-04-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

I took a class on how to use my Gypsy last weekend at Scrapbook Etc. last weekend. It was just a beginner class that would have been really helpful when I originally signed up for it but due to a wedding shower had to reschedule and take it several months later. Although I had managed to figure most of it out by now it really motivated me to try a whole project using my Gypsy. I had this great idea and didn't realize how big of a project I was creating! I promise to have pictures soon. Just now I am working in time to make art and the reveal will be worth the wait!

You should also know that I spent most of yesterday trying on bridesmaids dresses. (Like 40 of them!) The good news is that all of the girls found a dress that they love! Yay for 10.10.10!

Random Happiness

2010-04-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a few totally random things that have made me happy lately.

1. The newest Hungry Girl Cookbook!
Can you say yummy? I L-O-V-E this cookbook! I can't say enough great things about it! I bought it one week ago today and have already tried five recipes out of it! I you know me you know what an accomplishment this is! How could you say no to guilt free Overstuffed Peanut Butter 'n Banana French Toast (pg. 288 people!) It has also made me start going over my other Hungry Girl cookbooks too!

2. Happy Mail! I received several cool surprise packages this week from in person friends and happy mail people and they were not even from my assigned person of the month!

Jamie has this great Happy Mail group! It is fun to meet new people even through blogland and it is kinda funny how you meet people that you want to keep in contact with even after the month is over!

3. Netflix video streaming through you Wii! Are you kidding me with this? Okay totally cool! I got my disk in the mail today. You just pop it into your Wii and magically a video store appears in your living room.

This is amazing because you can sign up one TV to video stream through the internet but now we can use the feature in the studio and in the living room! (99.9% of the time sports are on in the studio because that is were Jim's computer space is too. LOL!) The options of course are not endless but loads of cool movies that I have never seen before but wanted to! (I have a hard time sitting still through a whole movie without falling asleep. LOL!) I watched Matilda last night and am looking forward to this summer when I have a little more leisure time and will be trying to avoid the heat!

4. The most genius Mexican Food Restaurant survival idea ever from Donna! Ask for an order of corn tortillas when they bring out the chips! Of course I had to try this out and it was amazing! I put a little smear of guacamole rolled each one (of 3) up and dipped in salsa... yum and you get the whole dipping experience for less calories than 10 chips! I should probably mention my love for Top Shelf's light menu also or you'll wonder why I'm even thinking twice about chips. :)

Things Have Been Hoppin'

2010-04-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

It has been busy around here! Monday was Jim's Birthday and even though he claims he is not celebrating his birthday any more I had to do a little something.

It is also that time of year again when I find myself busy putting the final details on the district art show that we do at Desert Sky Mall. All of the judging packets have been assembled, and all of the details have been double checked. My six sided panel is complete and wrapped and all the 3-D pieces have been selected. With a few more labels made, a little packing, and a sketch of how I want all of the schools tables to be set up I will be set to go. (Of course this doesn't mean that I won't worry for the next week that I forgot something or that something out of my control will go wrong. :)

I'm Not A Crazy Dog Person But...

2010-04-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

we do have a little Easter tradition of taking picture of the dogs with rabbit ears. (It is really cheap entertainment folks!) It started the first year we had Bentley and I wanted to surprise Jim. She was small then and I could control her back then.

It is always a challenge to get a good picture of course because they want to run in circles and try to get the ear off so they can eat them for a snack but that is what makes it fun.

This years pictures:

The best picture EVER! (We will never top this one I swear Jim and I both cried we were laughing so hard!)

Happy celebrating today!

Revised and Remixed

2010-04-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

First, revised. I thought the bird page was done yesterday morning but when I saw it yesterday evening it was asking for some tape. :) I still think I will write a big word on it - probably with glitter stickers- but thought I'd show the revision.

Now , remixed! I got a chance to play with the Braille birds last night. When I was adding them to the page they were SO WHITE! I decided to paint them with walnut ink and blot it off very quickly. They were cool but not cool enough so I colored their edges with a light green Stabilo Woody and smooshed it in with my finger. Again, cool but not cool enough. This part is my favorite....I colored the raised dots on the Braille and smooshed that around too! So fun and then they were perfect for my page! (Did you notice that I used the Luca stencil and an Itty Bittie too?)

Come and check out the birds!

Hello Birds!

2010-04-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

As you know I am stencil crazy right now. I so can't get enough of them and I decided that I needed birds for my journal and thought you might like some too!

I used one of the birds from The Flock as a stencil and then stamped with Stazon permanent ink on an itty bitty birdy to create an embelishment. I also decided I needed birds with Braille on them so you can find those in my Etsy shop now too. (Now that I have them made I am hoping to play with them today too. LOL!)

Goodbye Pink Girls

2010-03-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

The Pink Girls Journal Ends so soon. :)

I hope you haven't missed all the cool stencil ideas on my mom's blog this week! It's so fun to have an arty mom. :)

More Of The Pink Girls

2010-03-23T04:50:00.000-07:00

Don't miss what my mom is doing with stencils today!

The pink girls can be tricky to photograph but I think I worked it out. LOL. These pages definately need to be shown in double page layouts. That rarely happens with me.

The Pink Girls

2010-03-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

Have you seen what my mom is doing with the stencils? If you said no click the link for coolness!

I finished this journal a couple of weeks ago but have been so focused on stencils I have not shown it to you yet. :) It is a tall journal with pages that are 7.5 x 12.5 but it is short in the fact that it only has 16 pages. I made this journal in a Kelly class a l-o-n-g time ago. So I was taking the class and going through Kelly's big bag of fabulous collage materials when I found this section of a magazine that had all of these tall models with pink hair. I was pouring over which girl to take when Kelly, who is kind, and generous, and an amazing teacher, noticed the predicament I was in and said, just take the girls I am sure you will use them. It took me a while to do this journal because I just kept looking at the girls and admiring their fatuousness when I finally decide to quit being ridiculous and do the journal. LOL. So here's the beginning....

I'd also like to point out that Kelly will be her in one month and a day (Yay!) teaching at Frenzy Stamper! You shouldn't miss it!

One More

2010-03-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

Okay one more stencil idea from me. My mom is taking over tomorrow with ideas for stencils on fabric!

Last year at Art Unraveled I took a class with Lisa Engelbrecht and she introduced me to the very cool No Blot Pencil. (Scroll down a bit on the link. Yes, this pencil is worth $5! I would order one before it is too late!) I started this page my doodling messy around the stencil. I know it is hard to see because it just looks like pencil at this point.

Next, I used a Ranger mini mister to spritz the pencil. This is so much fun to watch in real life!

Then, I colored randomly with my wax pastels inside the stenciled image.

As usual a little collage to seal the deal.

If you look closely you can se a sneek peek of what's coming up next from the stencil project. :)

You Are So Not Ready For This!

2010-03-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I even amaze myself. LOL! Trust me when I say this is SO easy even though it may sound scary. How about a little TAPE with your stencils? Yes, that's right TAPE!

First, lay your stencil down and basically tape it to the page! Rub the edges of the stencil really well so that you can see the edges easily.

Next, get out your X-acto knife and trace gently around the edges of the stencil the same way that you would trace the stencil with a pencil. Now you can easily remove the stencil. (Hint- Don't try to lay the knife on it's side and slide it around to cut. It is too easy to cut the stencil. I tried it just so you wouldn't have to try and damage your stencil!)

Then, I drew next to the tape with a Sharpie to get a crisp line.

Collage the page and you have another amazing stencil page!

The tape I used easily peeled off the stencil but I decided to leave it on. Not only do I like it but it makes the edge easier to see for other projects too!

Okay I know I said it was going to be stencil week but I may have a few more ideas to show. :) Stay tuned.

Don't Forget The Stamps!

2010-03-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

I am famous for forgetting to use my stamps while I am working in my art journal but they were calling last night! First I traced an Olivia stencil using a Sharpie.

Next, I used a roller stamp to stamp all around the edges.

I stamped a focal image and colored it in.

Finally, I collaged around the page.

This was a good lesson that all of my supplies can play nicely together and I like how the page turned out and also how it is a little different than my other journal pages.

Also, a big congratulations to Paula who was winner of a free set of Itty Bitties!

Whoop, Whoop, Wednesday!

2010-03-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday and that calls for a little bonus!

First, if you make any purchase from my Etsy store today only and enter the word Wednesday in the message to seller I will include an extra free set of Itty Bitties. This means if you spend $20 you will get two free sets! It also means if you order a $10 set you will also get a free set of Itty Bitties!

Second, if you have already ordered stencils from my Etsy store this week leave a comment saying hi on this blog post. For every five comments left I will randomly select one person to win a free set of Itty Bitties! I will even mail them out to you in Thursday's mail!

What are you waiting for??? Happy Wednesday!

Writing Adds Texture

2010-03-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

I started my stencil page out today the same way I did yesterday's page with my wax pastels. (See what happens when you bring out a new toy- you want to use it.) I colored against the edge of the largest Abigail stencil with both pink and purple before blending them with a paper towel. I also ended up using yellow around the edges of the page just because I couldn't stop playing.

Next, I used a lime green sharpie, just because it was out, to trace the edge of largest Abigail stencil along the edge of the wax pastel. Then, I traced two smaller Abigail stencils also with the lime green sharpie. My goal in creating these line was to create an area to house writing not because this writing would be particularly important, although it could be, but just to add texture to my page.

Then, I used a blue sharpie Poster Paint Pen and began writing a quote I like.

When I ran out of room to finish the quote I just grabbed a Brown Gelly Roll Glaze Pen and kept going on top of the blue sharpie. I just think the layered writing looks pretty in its stencil house. :)

As usual, I ended by collaging and, because I am addicted to them, I added on a decorated Itty Bitty too!

P.S. You can get free Itty Bitties when you spend $20 in my Etsy store!

Three In One

2010-03-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

My stencil idea for today is a three in one. #1 Fall in love with supplies you don't use as often all over again. #2 Stencils can also be masks. #3 Don't make it harder than it has to be.

#1 Chances are good if you are like me you have supplies that you love hiding in your studio. Chances are also good that these supplies would love to play with your stencils! For my little demo today I pulled out my Neoart water-soluble wax pastels. I LOVE these why do I always forget to take them out to play?

#2 Besides just tracing around the outside of your stencil you can actually use them to mask off, or protect, the paper that is hiding underneath. Today I started by pushing my wax pastel firmly against the edge of my stencil. Not only did this leave a path of color it also jammed a tiny bit of the pastel along the edge of the stencil. I decided to use two color against my stencil because I wanted the colors to blend together a little bit. Next, I rubbed over the wax pastel with a paper towel with the stencil still in place so that it would continue to mask the paper underneath and also so that it would also continue to hold onto the tiny waxy edge.

#3 Sometimes I get into a pattern of over thinking my piece. I forget that I don't always need 16 pieces of paper and 12 embellishments. :) Sometimes one strong focal image, a wax pastel outline, and a few stickers is all I really need.

Don't forget to check out the stencils in my Etsy shop after all it is stencil week. :)

It's All About The Line!

2010-03-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so using paint with stencils might not be a crazy idea but here are a few fun ideas to try. First, instead of just using one color...

what would happen if you tried two? I used two different sized stencils here. (See why you need a whole pack. :) I was working on top of vintage book pages but you could even choose to work on solid white.

Even if your colors seem super bright or just somehow off to you don't surrender. This is just the beginning! The thing that makes all the difference in the world to me is just a simple line. Once my paint has dried I lay the stencils back down one at a time and trace around the edges with a Sharpie Poster Paint Pen but any marker or pen would work. I LOVE the lines!

Once you add on a few Itty Bitties that you have traced or decorated, a focal image, and a little masking tape you have a masterpiece on your hands!

If you look closely you will notice that I even traced the paper Itty Bitties using a brown Gelly Roll Glaze pen. Once again, it's the line that makes all the difference!

Don't forget, If you pick two $10 stencil sets from my etsy shop you will get a free set of Itty Bitties.

Falling For Ittiy Bitty Stencils

2010-03-13T04:24:00.000-08:00

I am totally in love with Itty Bitties and my love is only getting deeper! I thought today I would show you why I love them so because it is possible you will love them too. :)

First, it great fun to trace the Itty Bitties and create itty bitties out of both solid and patterned cardstock. (Besides just being pretty here you can see how I created layers with them in the pages below.)

Next, I love edging the Itty Bitties using a Sharpie with a broad tip. This makes them have a bold edge that I love on my journal pages! Some times it is even fun to use a stencil to draw a second smaller shape inside the outline. Playing and experimenting is fun. You can add lines to your borders of just leave them as they are. The Sky is the limit!

My very favorite thing to do with Itty Bitties though is to stamp on them! You can create interesting designs and patterns stamping with StazOn permanent inks. Remember to stamp lightly so your stamp won't want to slide. (If you have a baby wipe handy and you stamp slides you may have time to wipe the permanent ink off. I know from experience. :) Also, remember to let the ink dry for a few minutes before touching the image.

Attaching the Itty Bitties is easy too! Staples and clips look cool and produce a more 3-D look. You can also lay them down flat by brushing the back with gel medium and pressing them down firmly in your journal. The pressing is to get the air bubble out of the glue not because it is a difficult process.

Here are two pages where I both traced and glued down decorated Itty Bitty Stencils.

I should also mention that you can write on the Itty Bitties using permanent markers or Gelly Roll Glaze or Souffle pens!

You can get a variety pack of 10 Itty Bitties for only $3 in my Etsy shop. Am I tempting you?

Introducing Stencils!

2010-03-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

So what's all the excitement you say? My mom and I have been busy playing this week and the result is yummy stencil sets in six different styles! These stencils are so fun and so addictive! Each stencil set comes in eight different sizes from approximately 2 inches up to 9 inches. Please meet

olivia

quinn

zöe

grace

luca

and abigail

These great stencil sets are available now on my Etsy shop here. And will also be available for purchase in August at Art Unraveled from my mom if supplies last! At only $10 a set they are sure to go fast! And as an added bonus for a limited time (And only through my etsy shop!) I will send you a free set of Itty Bitty stencils for every $20 you spend! Itty Bitties are fun to decorate and add to your journal pages!

In celebration of the new stencils I plan to have loads of stencil ideas on my blog but for now check out these unjournaled pages. Keep an eye out for the Itty Bitties!

You know you NEED them!

Hey, Hey!

2010-03-11T18:01:00.001-08:00

So, I didn't forget about you over my break. I've been busy working on a little something. Well, that and a little food poisoning from Monday that wiped me out on Tuesday. :) I thought I should show you some goodies from shopping adventures this week.

On Monday Ayesha, Jessica, Barb and I went adventuring to Mesa to visit Scrapbooks Etc. and Mystic Paper. I was so good! I spent less that $40 on my habit for the whole day although I did buy some paper not pictured here for my nieces first birthday photo shoot too. :)

Today I went to the two smaller scrapbook stores near my house I was not impressed really. Aside from the amazing ribbon bag that I actually went to go buy I spent less than $15. If you know me you are amazed right now. :)

Prepare yourself for the amazing ribbon bag..... Not so exciting in the store....

So cool you can hardly stand it holing ribbon! I met one of Jim's friends last Friday and saw her ribbon bag and I couldn't stop thinking about it so I had to get one for my scrap ribbon too! It is love!

Come back tomorrow for an exciting crafty announcement! I am excited!

The Best Manicure Ever!

2010-03-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun with Buffy and the girls yesterday! I was helping Buffy work on some final details for Baby Q's first birthday next weekend when Kakes asked politely if she could paint my nails. How could I say no to an offer like that?

It was super sweet and I think pretty good for her first manicure ever! :)

I know this is a heavy picture post but here is the end of the altered deck.

Yay Spring Break!

2010-03-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

Today is my first official day of spring break and I am reeling with good ideas! I actually called my mom at 6:30 this morning to share them. She didn't answer. I was like oh, no where is she? When Jim woke up a little bit late I told him about my mom being MIA he said it is only 7:00 give her a few minutes. HA! (Don't worry, I found Mom by 7:30)

Due to all the great Ideas I am sure I am going to have tons to show you this week so I decided to post 10 of the journal cards today for your viewing pleasure and then I will finish the deck tomorrow because I already have a whole 12 page journal waiting to be see too!

I love when I get fired up like this!

Here Comes The Deck

2010-03-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

I was able to finish my art journal deck this week so get ready here they come! I remembered that I posted a few of the original pages on my blog last summer. You can see them here. That way I won't need to post them again. :)

You should also go check out this great giveaway from Tiffany! I so lucky to be paired with her last month for Happy Mail!

More of the Deck

2010-03-04T04:36:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more cards from the deck!

Art Journaling Cards

2010-03-02T04:22:00.000-08:00

I am so into these cards right now! I will actually probably be done with them tonight because I have and in public art journaling dinner planned. I have so many to show you because of all of the other exciting things that have been going on so stay tuned for lots of cards. :)

The Last Big Surprise of February!

2010-02-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not we pulled off another Surprise Baby Shower yesterday! (Yes, if you are counting I had 4 baby showers and a wedding this month. :) We wanted to welcome Cooper Scott too! Val, Noel, Deb, and I all planned a shower with the help of Peter, Amber's Husband.

(Don't you love how my flower matches the shower colors? I bought it from Jamie's etsy!)

Deb had "planned" a boys day out for Ben, her boyfriend, and Peter so when Peter grabbed this pack of beer that really had the Scott's camera and video camera it didn't look strange at all. Really Peter drove Amber straight to us. Val, Deb, and I drove her to the party with a blind fold and a few balloonos. We were lucky because she is used to us kidnapping her so she didn't find this strange. :)

When she got there we gave her an invitation to the party.

Cooper had his own banner.

Party favors.

I also made Amber coordinating thank you notes.

A pair of big and little brother shirts and special onsies just for Cooper.

It was such a fun time! Speaking of babies we got the fun news that Max Crawford was being born during Amber's shower! Lucky we had her shower last weekend. :) And I should also mention that Trystan Thibault was born this week too! Yay babies!

Tammy & James' Wedding

2010-02-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

Last night was the much awaited wedding of Tammy and James. Both Tammy and James were in our bridal party on Jim's side. :) They didn't really know each other at the time so of course we were so excited when a few years later they fell for each other. (Tammy and James are on the two on the far left.)

The wedding was at the Intercontinental Montelucia Resort in Paradise Valley. It was impressive from get go. Luckily we were with Rob (who happens to be the other guy in our wedding photo:) and he suggested we take a photo just after we walked into the resort.

Everything was beautiful. Lots of little details and an amazing view! Tammy's dress was so beautiful!.

James and Tammy actually didn't realize it but had booked the same minister who married Jim and I. Their were a few times when I felt like I was a guest at my own wedding. It was so col! This is the best shot of the wedding ceremony that I got. :)

While I was impressed by the actual towels to dry your hands in the bathroom and the amazing appetizers during the cocktail hour the thing that really stole the show was the cake!

Yes, this is really the cake! The giant flower petals are made from WHITE CHOCOLATE! When they served the cake they put a piece of one of the petals with it too. So yummy!

I also loved the personalized menu cards with the peacock feather!

And this is the card I made for Tammy & James. The paper I used matched the wedding invitations. :) Jim and I had so much fun!

More Cards

2010-02-24T04:00:00.000-08:00

I love working on these cards because they are small and cute and they don't have a place in the box which is so unlike me. I love that they get all mixed up and out of order!

P.S. Don't you love my new iorning board cover? it makes the cutest background. Much better than my knee. LOL!

Introducing...

2010-02-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

the altered deck! I took this class about a year ago from, you guessed it...Kelly! The idea was to make an altered deck of loose cards similar to journal pages that were all housed in one cute place. As with mnay times that I make a new "journal" I was in the middle of a different one at the time and it had to wait it's turn. I played around with some of the cards this summer but am now fully committed to seeing it through to the end. :) You may remember from an earlier post that I was working on some of the cards at the last Kelly weekend and I even made it a real cover this weekend so It is official and everything!

The Cover

The side view so you can really get the idea. :)

A few cards

Surprise!

2010-02-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned I love surprises? These were the cute little surprises for Sara! In case you didn't know Max is a Rock 'N Roll baby and I knew he needed these!

Now I wouldn't ordinarily make a onsie like this for a baby but if you knew this babies daddy you'd get it for sure!

Max is lucky to have two cool parents! I can't wait to meet Max!

Margriete, nspiegel, and bettie don't forget to leave me your address! :)

Congratulations!!!

2010-02-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Margriet, nspiegel, and Bettie who are the lucky winners of the goodies! Girls, please leave me a comment with your real names and addresses by Wednesday so I can mail out the goodies!. I promise not to publish the comment. :)

If your lucky number wasn't picked don't give up quite yet If I have not heard back from the girls by Wednesday I will pick a new winner. :)

Adventuring With JIm

2010-02-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

Jim and I decided to adventure to the London Bridge yesterday. The drive to Lake Havasu, AZ, is about 3 1/2 hours from our house but we like adventuring together!

At about lunch time we ran into a casino (This is not shocking if you know Jim). Jim put $20 down on a hand of blackjack, won, and paid for our lunch. Once we got to the London Bridge we walked around the little tourist trap and shared a delicious shaved ice, bought a shot glass, and took a few cheesy pictures. On the way home we stopped to buy some tasty jerky from a guy on the side of the road because no road trip is complete with out doing so. We had lots of fun and the day seemed like two in a good way!

If you are looking to sign up for the give away look at the next post! You have until 8 PM my time. :)

I Have A Little Problem...

2010-02-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

but you can help! LOL!

Last weekend Buffy and I were working on invitations to Baby Q's first birthday. At some point in the process of going to my studio to retrieve exactly the thing we needed for the next step in the process Buffy turned and looked at me and said, serriously how much do you think all of your art supplies are worth? This was not a question I even wanted to think about answering!

Pair this with me sorting through all of my supplies because I am finally putting away my supplies from Kelly weekend and you have the I Have A Problem Giveaway! I'll admit it, my personal stash of art journaling supplies is getting ridiculous so here's the deal. :) I will send a 10 x 13 envelope of art journaling supplies to three lucky people who agree not to send me anything in return! :) If you are interested in focal images, random pieces of scrapbook paper, and random doo dads leave a comment promising with your right hand raised not to send me anything to add to my studio. (It's not that I don't want to add to my collection :) It's just that this particular post is about trying to clean out a bit!) If more than three people comment I will have a random number generator, aka Jim, select the lucky winners! I want to mail these packs out on Monday as I am sure it will make me feel just a little better about my problem if I share my stash!

Yay! I can't wait to see who gets/wants the goods!

The End

2010-02-19T04:55:00.000-08:00

So, here is the end of the ledger journal.

Now the pressure is on to get crackin' on the journaling for my altered deck! LOL!

More Surprised Revealed!

2010-02-18T04:17:00.000-08:00

I warned you this month would have lots of revealed surprises. :) Yesterday was Sarah's school baby shower. When I fond out her little guy, Max, was going to have a rock N' roll nursery I volunteered to help with the shower decorations. I knew she NEEDED these table centerpieces.

A banner with Max's name.

And a rockstar baby banner too! (I won't tell you how irritated I was when I discovered that one of my kids had torn the cutest star off of the end of this banner some time during the day!)

This was the card for Sara.

And her school gift was thanks you notes to match the shower!

The shower was super cute and fun too! I can't wait to give her, her gift on Sunday at her personal shower either!

A Little Reorganization

2010-02-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a little reorganization in my studio most of which you would never be able to tell I did. I have been cleaning out folders of supplies and trying to pass on what I don't think I'll use. If you have ever done this you know how painful it can be. For me it is mostly disappointment that I have not used so many supplies before they loose their cool factor. Passing them on to my oldest niece is making it a little easier. She loves stickers and will not care if they are random alphabet stickers. :)

One part you can see (but probably would never notice :) is my tape stash! I reorganized my pants holders so that one holds all of the opaque tapes and one holds all of the transparent tapes.

I love this but even more I love my new masking tape stash! I had serious tape envy over Kelly's masking tape box at class about a week ago so I had to make my own box! I had this ruler pencil box and it fit my tape perfectly! (FYI... Kelly's box is larger than mine so if this looks unreal to you just think it could get bigger!)

Here are a few journal pages too!

Officially A Bridesmaid Again!

2010-02-16T17:10:00.000-08:00

It's true! Shannon got engaged on Sunday and asked Buffy and I to be in her wedding at lunch on Monday. I am so excited for Shannon and can't wait for the three of us to be in another wedding together. Shannon was in both my wedding and Buff's!

With so much other excitement can you believe I still haven't posted all of my last journal yet?

A Valentine For Jim

2010-02-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

Now I am trying not to be ridiculous with the pictures her but I love Jim's Valentine! (Their are actually 10 different pages but I condensed. :)

I saw this great idea at one of the local scrapbook stores in December and waited until now to put it to use. Who knew that a flattened toilet paper roll was the perfect size for a little love not or a gift card? I covered 10 flattened rolls with super cute Valentine paper from My Mind's Eye and embelished, cut tiny cards and attached ribbons and other bits of fun, and then added the words reason and a # cut from the Cricut of course! Wrapped in a little fabric envelope it is perfect!

Have a happy Valentine's Day!

A Big Surprise!

2010-02-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

Today Buffy and I managed to pull off a big surprise with the help of all of our friends staying super quite and the help of Malissa's mom!

First of all you should know that Malissa & her husband Tony were responsible for setting Jim and I up so of course I would do anything for them! Malissa and Tony are expecting their second little girl in about three weeks so Buffy and I knew their needed to be a party!

Buffy and I decided on an orange and pink theme for the Big Sister Party. We were looking for bold colors after all this was a PARTY! I used the Cricut not only to make the invitations and thanks you notes but this cute banner with Trystan's Name.

Cute little thank you tags for the pink an orange Now and Later parting gifts.

I even used the cricut to cut out circles to make sister pins. Big Sisters were orange, little sisters were pink, and middle sisters were pink and orange.

We drank pink and orange Crush.

We ate pizza, fruit salad, Pita Jungle Garlic Dip and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. Of course, my favorite part was the pink and orange cupcakes.

(If you look close in this picture you can just barley see three pregnant tummys.)

Malissa had no idea and that was part of the fun! She was so surprised. Luckily we remembered to take a photo before too many guests got away! It was a fun day!

School Valentine's

2010-02-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

This weekend will be a great weekend for revealed surprises if you have been watching for that on my blog. :)

Today's surprise revealed is the Valentine's I made for some of my friends at school. I made these sweet Valentine's small so that they could be extra sweet!

Are you interested in winning a great little Valentine of your own??? Check out Sharyn's blog! Go now do not pass go, do not collect $200. She is looking for comment #10 and is almost there! Heck, leave a comment even if you are not #10 tell her I sent you. :)

Cuteness!

2010-02-11T05:16:00.000-08:00

Some of you noticed these cards and comment on them so I thought I should share a little more info.

This cuteness is Paper Doll Parade Notecard Set by Suzy Ultman. It comes with 16 notecards in 8 different designs, super cute matching envelopes and 18 stickers. I bought them for my journal but have been having fun mailing them out for Happy Mail too! (I so did not pay the Amazon price they actually used to be much more affordable. Maybe they are not printing them now???)

The DL on Kelly Weekend

2010-02-10T04:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, let me start by saying that I have loved everyone of Kelly's classes that I have ever taken but some classes just grab you in a special kind of way. I'd have to say that Addicted To Tape is definitely in my top five favorite Kelly classes of all time! I had a ball creating backgrounds and collaging using decorative tapes and I discovered that I am in love with colored masking tape!

My next "journal" is actually an altered deck of cards (that was also a Kelly class:) and I made all of these cards in Addicted To Tape!!! I should mention that both sides are done too!

(I will put a photo of each card on my blog once I have journaled them. :)

Friday night was The Language of Color. We experimented with color, technique, and even types of paper. I made loads of paper that I ended up binding in to one of my journals in another class this weekend.

I had so much fun Saturday taking Everything You Need To Know About Pens (and More)! We played with tons of pens on top of acrylic and of course I created a shopping list of a few more pens I had to have. :) Once I have them in my hot little hands I'll tell you all about them. I also took all my practice pages and bound them into a journal later in the weekend!

Saturday was a Few of My Favorite Things Book. I flipped the book to be bound from the shorter side and LOVED IT!!! This book is actually inspiring me to do some sort of photo journal... we'll see what happens!

Sunday was Spirit Journal. Loved it too! This little cutie has super cute pockets in the front and back cover and gave me a fun idea I want to try the next time I make one! I could tell you the idea but then I couldn't keep you coming back. LOL! I still want to add a ribbon to this journal so watch for that the next time you see it too!

My other revelation from the weekend is that I should actually try reading the handouts after class. HA! I noticed all kinds of great tidbits in them. Kelly says they are designed to be like a workbook...I have enough workbooks to last a year at least! I need to get to reading! :)

I love Kelly weekends! The only trouble is that they take so long to get here and then go buy so quickly! So much fun!

So Much Fun!

2010-02-09T04:35:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun this weekend with Kelly! Her classes were amazing as usual. The unusual part is that I was actually able to sleep, well at least on Friday night and Saturday night. LOL! this made squeezing in a blog post a little tricky. I will post pictures of classes soon but for now more journal pages. :)

Off To Play With Kelly!

2010-02-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

How appropriate is it that I finished my ledger journal this morning and I am off to play with Kelly at Frenzy? Don't worry, I'll keep you updated. :)

Goodbye 2009

2010-02-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

Finally posting my last 3 pages for 2009. I actually have quite a few pages done from 2010 so I need to get a move on. :)

I have been busy working on surprises as I mentioned before and with Valentine's coming up next weekend I will be able to start letting you in on the secrets. :)

This weekend is Kelly Weekend at Frenzy! I can't wait!

Don't Faint...

2010-01-27T18:30:00.000-08:00

Yes two workdays in a row I actually have a post. ;)

I had a normally scheduled six month check up at the doctor today that HAD to be in the middle of the day so I was off work. I got tons of pages done in my journal in no time at all so I figured I should keep posting the ones from December. :)

After my apointment I visited with Debbie at Frenzy Stamper. Frenzy is only 10 minutes from my doctor's office lucky me! :) I found a few cute stamps and got even more excited for Kelly weekend next weekend!

Fortunately...

2010-01-26T18:26:00.000-08:00

Fortunately, I have been working on tons of projects.
Unfortunately, they are all top secret. (Insert evil laugh!)

Fortunately, I will show you how they all turn out over the next month.
Unfortunately, I have little to post for now.

Fortunately, I have a few journal pages I have not shown you yet to make the wait see shorter. :)

Oh The Online Classes!

2010-01-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

I have seen so many amazing online classes lately and I want to take them all! In fact, if I am being honest it is making it difficult for me to pick any classes to sign up for at Art Unraveled this year. (I haven't signed up for any classes yet. I just keep talking to my mom about going shopping with my friends that will be coming to town.:)

If you have read my blog for any amount of time you know I adore, follow, and stalk Kelly Kilmer. So, of course I am signed up for A Life Made by Han d at this very moment. Kelly is also coming in person to Frenzy Stamper February 5-7th and of course you should check that out too!

Alisa Burke is offering $10 off any classes that people sign up for tonight so I need to make that call quick! I absolutely loved Graffiti Chic that I took with her about this time last year and now I hear Recycling Remix, Canvas Collage, Adventurous Accessories, Anti Scrapbooking, and Graffiti Chic 2 all calling my name. You can see desc riptions here.

I want to take Art Journaling 301:Graffiti of my Life with Dina Wakley over at Get It Scrapped. I took Art Jornaling 101 and 102 with Dina and loved them both! I loved the videos and the handouts. These classes actually made me want to take an in person class with Dina and I'm lucky because she teaches locally so one of these days....

I am also oogling over Captured Through The Lense with Katrina Kennedy also at Get It Scrapped. I have always wanted to take a photo class and I'm confident it would be good because of my experience with the other classes I have take

n from that site.

Who wouldn't want to take one of the great classes at Dispatched from LA? And Oh the classes by LK Ludw ig!

If only I could get paid to take online art classes. :)

Here is the center of my journal. Lots of tiny little pages.

Catching Up!

2010-01-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

I feel like I am running to catch up lately. So many things need to get done. My goal to day is to try to finish my prompts from December before we need to leave to watch the Cardinals game. Fingers crossed I can do it! :)

Last night we had Thanksgiving dinner with Deb. Yes, I know it is January but when your friend asks on Wednesday if you can make it for Thanksgiving on Friday you hustle home on Friday and whip up a corn cassorole. :) Fun times!

I Heart My Cricut!

2010-01-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

I missed my Cricut all week while I was busy being a responsible adult. :) I had so much fun playing with it today and my pre-order cartridges finally arrived today! Yeah! Although I called it playing I was really accomplishing a major and top-secret to do!

I also got super lucky and found a great dress to wear to Tammy and James upcoming wedding. Not only was it 40% off but I found it at the first store I looked! I went to Dillard's and found about 7 great dresses to try on. I liked a lot of them but I loved two of them and one of them was not formal enough for Tammy's wedding but I clearly needed it for the bridal shower so I had to take them both home. :) I did justify the purchase because I could wear it to another wedding or to dinner for Valentine's day if Jim and I choose to go fancy. :) It was also 40% off so it wasn't that hard of a decision.

I also picked oranges off of Deb's tree today. Man, come to think of it, it was a busy day!

Arm Warmers!

2010-01-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

Jessica got these great arm warmers for me! what a fun back to school surprise! I love them, actually I am wearing them now. :)

Wallet Recovered!!!

2010-01-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

After I wrote my last post I decided to call the place one more time and the girl who found the wallet answered the phone! Great luck! Even with the hassle I am glad we don't have to worry about his ID number being stolen-phew!

Back To It

2010-01-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I am back to school. You'd think I'd be ready to go but I just keep thinking of all the thing I need to get done it is always overwhelming (Especially when you finally sit down to write your lesson plans only to discover you left your notebook with all your research for the next unit at school over break. Oops! reason #991 not to wait until the last minute for planning.) The funny part is that I can count on the kids being ready to be back and telling me how much they missed art for the last two weeks and then me wondering to myself how I couldn't be ready to be back yet. :)

Today was back to reality for sure. Laundry, cleaning, school work, etc. The good news from today is that my phone did dry out! Yay! I was talking to Deb and about 15 minutes into the conversation the volume magically returned to normal. The bad news is that Jim and I went to watch UFC fights last night at a sports bar and he accidentally left his wallet behind somehow. He realized it about an hour later we went back and it was gone. Luckily I had won all of his cash from him betting on the UFC fights, (Yeah that's how I roll.) and we were able to call and cancel all the cards before they had been used and now although it is/was a lot of busy work, fingers crossed, we should be back to square one by the end of the week.

Oh, and here's a little art too...

Mas Journaling

2010-01-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

I started my morning by dropping my cell phone into the kitchen sink, under running water. while I was talking on the phone. My phone is sitting in a bag of rice at this moment. Keep your fingers crossed and let this be a lesson...Don't do dishes and talk on your cell phone at the same time. And furthermore Ayesha + Jeane + cell phones + water= uncertain disaster!

On to the journal...

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

I spent the last day of 2009 art Journaling and it was great! Jim had to work a 12 hour day like every last day of the month so I had lots of time to play. I will admitt that I did feel a little guilty like maybe I should start off 2010 with the laundry done and no dishes in the kitchen sink but I got over it quickly. :) I was able to finish 10 pages yesterday!

My goal for today is to do at least 3 pages so I can reach the middle of my journal. I want to be done with my A Prompt a Day Prompts by Saturday so that I can start my new online class A Life Made By Hand- with Kelly Kilmer! You should check it out it is a great deal and you know I think Kelly is the best!

My mom and I went to check out the new Crop Girls location this morning. It is in the same shopping plaza they just moved and have tons more room and their own restroom. :) I was on good behavior but found a few things I just had to have. I'm sure you are shocked! It is worth checking out.

Randomness From Yesterday

2009-12-31T05:30:00.000-08:00

My mom taught me to crochet yesterday. I am determined to make a pair of arm warmers cool or not. :) I'd like to have them done while the weather is cool but I have learned that if you can't exactly feel your fingertips at all time crochet can be a little tricky. I am also determined to get a lot done in my journal today. As per usual I am running a little behind on my A Prompt A Day prompts and don't want to be behind in a different year.

Cricut cuteness! The tree in the pocket was made with the Cricut!

Look at this cute little bird that is sticking off the page. Also from the Cricut! I even cut one out of chipboard so he is very dimensional in my journal!

We also took a little trip to Scrapbooks Etc. My mom wanted to check out their newish fabric section. I found some great Valentine's paper and the chipboard embellishments that I wanted for my nieces Christmas album were back in stock, but mostly bought journaling tags- oh shocker!

(Kelly, the thing you needed is not in this photo. :)

The Journal

2009-12-30T05:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted pictures from my journal in forever for some unknown reason. Let me catch you up to speed. :)

I am working in a transformed ledger so many of my pages are very large. It has been a little bit awkward writing in this journal at times and is sometimes tricky to photograph as well but I still love it!

Vote Please!

2009-12-29T17:46:00.000-08:00

Please help solve a little Frizzell family debate! Arm warmers cool or not? Please leave your vote in the comment section. Thanks! I need a little help from my creative friends on this one!

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

2009-12-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here is the red polka dot wrapping paper.

My big fabric trip last week was to 35th Ave. Sew and Vac. I was actually able to find some of the fabric that I had been eyeing on ebay so if you don't live in AZ there is hope. :)

Left: Hanging Cages Laura Gunn for Michael Miller
Right: Pod Vine Michael Miller

Left: Mod Girls "Patsy" by Jennifer Paganelli-Sis Boom for Free Spirit (In Green on Ebay)
Right: Girlfriends "Molly" by Jennifer Paganelli- Sis Boom for Free Spirit (Not on ebay but type in Sis Boom Fabric their is some great stuff.)

Left: Red Letter Day by Lizzy House for Andover Fabrics
Right: Red Letter Day by Lizzy House for Andover Fabrics (Not sure why they are called the same thing but type in red letter day fabric as a search while you are on ebay. :)

Nest by Lula Pink for Moda

#NOBU-38 Kona Fabrics

Speaking of the quilt I should be working on it but want to go out shopping for just a bit. Like I really need anything. :)

Oh, Christmas Tree

2009-12-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

If you find your self thinking this post is a little late follow to the bottom and you will see the relevance. :)

You might know this about me already but I'm a little kooky about my Christmas tree. :) The first year that I had my own house I just HAD TO HAVE a Christmas tree that was all white lights and silver ornaments. Once I got the breathtaking tree up all of the presents underneath the tree had to be wrapped in silver because by then it was really just one big art project.

Now a couple years later (after much teasing from my friends) I decided that I would try to add light blue ornaments to the tree and naturally the wrapping paper followed. While I also enjoyed the light blue and silver tree I went back to all silver a couple of years later. About two years ago I walked into Walmart, of all places, and discovered the magnificence that was black Christmas ornaments and became obsessed with finding them. :) It is a little harder than you might imagine. You can find one here or their but never lots of them together. (I think that is part of the draw actually.)

This year I started thinking that my obsession with matching the wrapping paper to the tree might be a little silly but once all the gifts were wrapped I remembered why I love to match everything.

Anyway, I went out to buy my wrapping paper for next year yesterday (I never pay full price for wrapping paper. I think it's silly when I could just plan ahead.) and found myself IN LOVE with this red paper with white polka dots! I tried to ignore it but it kept calling to me until I had to buy it! Now if you know me don't faint because I actually found some great red ball ornaments at 50% off and my vision for next year is the red polka dot tree! Mostly silver and black but a few shiny red dots! I am so excited and the excitement of next years tree will actually make taking this years tree down today seem less painful somehow.

Hey, Hello!

2009-12-26T19:04:00.001-08:00

I've been having tons of fun on my winter break from school and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas too! I started celebrating on Monday with pink donuts and The Beauty and The Beast A Christmas Story.

Christmas with the girls on Tuesday.

I've also had the chance to meet up with old friends from high school and college and was invited to tea with a princess too!

I have been having a ball playing with my Christmas toys for the last day and a half as well!

If you don't know already I love the Cricut! ;)

Fabric

2009-12-21T05:47:00.000-08:00

I'm aiming to make this fabric famous! LOL!

Mom and I went fabric shopping yesterday. I have this quilt in my head that is nagging me to bring it to life. My mom told the lady at the cutting counter that I was making a quilt for the first time. She offered kit. I said, oh no I don't need a pattern I have it in my head. She looked confused. Ha! I love it!

Off to take donuts and Beauty and The Beast The Enchanted Christmas to Kakes and Baby Q. I love break!

Hope You're Ready...

2009-12-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

for the cuteness that is my nieces! I made this great little book last week at what turned out to be a little art party.

It helped that my sister had amazing photos taken. That is always inspiring!

Jessica, Angelique, and I made these cute books using 8 x 10 canvases for the front and back cover and cut down 12 x 12 cardstock for the pages. To finish it off I used decorative scrapbook papers and cute black scallops from my Cricut! I can't wait to see Buffy on Monday!

Seriously

2009-12-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

This is seriously the top of my art desk right this minute. My computer desk looks the same way. It is so exciting! They have both been hiding from me for weeks!

I also did a little reorganizing of supplies (so that I could actually clean off the top of my desk) and now my suply closet looks like this.

Only the center three boxes and plastic storage envelopes are new but I am posting a picture by request. :) Hooray! Now I am ready to mess it all up and work in my journal and it is only day one of Winter Break!