Mini Journal

I am so glad that I decided to take the "Tell Your Story" art journal class. It has been amazingly inspirational. Also, I have enjoyed getting together every week with a good friend, Angela. We met via Flickr and realized that we lived near each other so we get together every week and force ourselves to work on the prompts. I've managed to stay pretty caught up. Not every page is completely finished (even though the class just ended, sad face) I can go back to the ones that aren't quite done when I am feeling inspired, or when I fee like finishing them.

The pages in this post are from a mini-journal that we learned how to make in the class. Basically, I selected pages from a favorite catalog and folded them in half and stitched down the middle for a perfectly sized, perfectly beautiful art journal to take on-the-go. These images are from a recent Urban Outfitters catalog.

I love the cover. Nellielicious. Its a book of confessions and realizations.

This page isn't really finished, but I like looking at it.

The idea is to draw, paint, write, collage on the pages when we are feeling inspired. Its a great way to up-cycle these beautiful publications after we look at them!

My centerfold....I love this picture... I can hardly wait to finish it!! I'm waiting until I have something perfect to write on the sand.

A pretty little thieves' inspired page!

Mini Album for 2010

So I totally meant to post this yesterday...But I didn't do much of anything yesterday. Everything felt sort of boring: bookstore was boring, food was boring, going out was boring....So I went to bed early. Maybe it wasn't boring somuchas it wasn't warm....Yesterday it was sooooo cold here that all I wanted to do was snuggle up under a blanket.

I've been working towards my one little word. GIVE. It is probably the best new years resolution ever. I just finished 30 Valentine cards for a local hospital and today I am going to make a stack of cards to help Winter and her drive for St. Jude's Valentine cards for kids. (If you like making cards, this is a very great opportunity to pass on some love!) I think this is a great cause. Yesterday, I taught an art class at a local gallery and I am going to donate my pay back to the art center for art class scholarships for kids. Giving really does feel great and doing one thing....inspires me to do more.

Okay, so here is that mini-book with tons of Hambly that I mentioned a couple of days ago. This is one of those little creations that I needed to make. I had to push through a spell of the creative blahs and just finish it. I also had to use up some supplies that I have been hoarding forever. To see each page with more detail check out my flickr set.



Also, snow days are great for crazy nails:


Well, I am off to prepare for a day of making Valentines, photographing a bunch of rainbow cupcakes I made yesterday and hanging out with my girlies, watching movies!!

December Daily 2009 {in progress}

A couple of things about my December Daily.



1. I get all of my photos printed in about 2 batches...I don't know how people work on it every day. They must use a lot of ink on their home printer or make a lot of trips to the developer.



2. Not every picture is from the exact day that matches the journaling and I am okay with that, as long as they are from December.




3. I type all my journaling in Word....a paragraph a day, maybe a story or two...then I print out LOTS of days at once and assemble with the pictures. (I don't have a lot of handwriting in this ablum....I may need to add some.) Some people may not like the look of a typed document on top of a patterned paper, and I suppose I could use transparencies for some stuff, but it really doesn't bother me to have a block of journaling....I keep it consistent throughout the book.



4. I assemble the papers way in advance so they may not match the pictures perfectly and I am okay with that. I don't have a theme this year, but I like the idea of using one thing over and over...or going with a color scheme...May have to do that next year!




5. I used a lot of HAMBLY overlays this year--YAY!!




6. I decided to go with a 3-ring album, it is awesome for moving and removing pages.


7. Stitching! Aaaaaaw yeah....Something totally new for me this year!



Also, I like to print off important blog posts to help tell the story from this month.

8. I still need to add some big numbers on most of the pages. I bought a sheet of numbers 1-25 and I can't find them anywhere....

I had to improvise here...Loving this leg lamp with a '4' inside it....totally random and perfect to tell the story of my 'A Christmas Story' crop!!


9. Some of my journaling is blurred out. I had some horrible family stuff happen this month and it is private. I am sure you understand....If I hadn't assembled this book way in advance, my family trama probably would've discouraged me from even making this book. But. I had to finish it.


10. I will continue to journal and take pictures through January 3rd, as I am still on vacation and I would like to include New Year's.

11. I printed all of my photo collages onto cardstock so that I can include more pictures:



As you can see, I didn't put this in order of what happened each day...I didn't assemble it with what happened each day either. I created the book months ago, journaled every day, took tons of pictures, made photo collages and then I put it all together with stitching, stamping and stickers.

I am ready to put this December behind me. Woke up to a beautiful snowfall on Christmas morning, it was a glorious bright, white enchanting snowfall...but this December definitely wasn't one of my favorites.

I wish I could say that it has been great....

On paper, in this beautiful album, in the pictures, it looks like the perfect twinkling December.

I did my best to give back to the students at my school, to create some handmade gifts for people who would sincerely appreciate them, to spend quality time with my friends and family.

I feel like I am doing everything I can to live a good life, to make good, healthy choices. I suppose that is all I can do....give my best effort...

My parents will not change, cannot change and do not have any desire to live a healthy, sober, happy life.
It really does suck.

But dealing with all of this is part of my daily struggle, even in December.

And for what it is worth, I must document the good, the bad and the ugly. It makes it easier. To say it out loud. To understand. To deal. To reflect and to look ahead to the future.

So, thanks for reading...your comments really do matter to me. Happy New Year!

I am working on what my one little word for 2010 will be....What's yours?

Mini-Album December Journaling Prompts

Things have been a bit quiet around the 'ole blog lately. With all the holiday frenzy, I just haven't had much time to sit down and write anything.

First, I would like to show you what I created last week for my Holidays at Hand Class.

After creating a list of my holiday goals, and my list of 'to make' and 'to do' I created a mini book to hold all of the awesome journaling prompts for December. (Sort of in reverse...the homework suggested making a place to hold the prompts first...but I just didn't have time!)



Jessica Sprague created prompts for every day in December. On each page, there is something to Write, Photograph, Do, Make and Remember.

I printed the prompts onto cardstock, cut them out and then mounted them onto patterned paper. I had tons of paper left from my December Daily so the two will sort of match.



I plan to use the mini-book as inspiration for my December Daily. I may add a few little embellishments to the mini, but I won't be putting any of the journaling or pictures in the book. It will simply be something to refer to if I am stumped on what to write for each day in December for my daily album.

Paper in the album includes Martha Stewart and Making Memories. Also, the covers are Close to My Heart Mini Album. I used the corner rounder a lot in this book. A lot of the papers are glittered, felted, flocked, or embossed so there are a lot of textures going on in the book. I am really happy with how it turned out.

Mini Album {Update}

Hey guys! I hosted a fantastic crop last Friday. Thirteen wonderful women (including me!) got together to crop the night away with food, games, 80s music and prizes. It was a super fun night. I forgot to take any pictures that night but I did get a lot of work done. I finished adding the pictures to this and I made some cards. I will post them this week!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Here are a few of my favorite finished pages!











I have been trying to post every day and so far it is working out well for me because I have been making lots of good things on the weekend. Actually, I have been setting up AUTO-Posts each day. I prepare an entire week's worth of blogs and set them to post each day. It has been working out pretty well. I may not write as much on each one, but you get to see what I have been working on and if something profound strikes me, I can edit the post before it goes live or I can post a two-fer. Hehe! As always, your comments and praises mean so much. Thanks for reading This Little Blog of Mine!