Thursday, September 25, 2014

09/25/14 - "Get Messy" : September Prompt

Hi there!
I wanted to stop by real quick and share what I created for the "Get Messy" September Prompt.
If you don't know what "Get Messy" is, please check out this past blog post of mine (which also includes a link to the "Get Messy" blog): Get Messy
 
There, now that you have been educated, let me tell you what September's prompt is.
Just like in August, there is a "Journal" challenge and an "Art" challenge:
 
Journaling Challenge: Live your adventurous dreams on paper. What would you love to do, or at least try, if you had the courage to live more adventurously?
Art Challenge: Try a method or material you’ve never worked with before. Be adventurous!
 
Here is what I came up w/:




 
As you can see I went in a different direction w/ this prompt.
The truth is I am a very simple person; I don't need much to make me happy!
My life is fine just the way it is.
We travel,  and although I would like to travel more...it's lack of money, not lack of "courage" or "adventure" that makes us unable to do so.
I don't have a "bucket list" and struggled to think of things I would put on a list if I had one.
I couldn't think of a single thing which just goes to show why I don't have one! LOL!
I then thought about the things I like to do and realized that as much as I liked them, others would probably find them very boring!
And that's when I remembered this quote I saw a long time ago:
 
"You never realize how boring your life is until someone asks you
what you like to do for fun"
 
I love quotes and this one was so true about my life and made me chuckle so I remembered it.
And it was perfect for what I was feeling about this prompt!
I printed it out and stuck it to my page and framed it w/ a  die cut frame I've had in my stash for over 13 years (before my daughter was born)!
I also added some journaling:
 
"I love my life just the way it is!
But I am well aware that since simple things make me happy, others
might find me boring!"
 
I also dated it and referenced that the page was created for the "Get Messy" prompt and included the prompt and Art Challenge info.
 
As for the "Art" challenge part of the prompt?
I used a roller stamp that I have had in my stash since December of last year.

 
Nothing fancy, but it turned out to be fun to use!
Although I wasn't very "adventurous" w/ it... I used it on a regular piece of paper and glued the finish product to my art journal page!
Oh well, close enough! LOL!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

09/24/14 - Art Journaling Update

 
Warning - this blog post is photo heavy!
 
 
I'm taking a poll...
How many of you thought I had given up on "Art Journaling"?
It's okay you can be honest!
Anybody?
Hahaha! I'm just kidding!
Although if you said "me", no worries.
I won't hold it against you as I am known to do that w/ every new project.
 
I have not given up.
In fact I find that it's an awesome way to help pass time at work!
I want to share the pages I have completed since last I shared.
(As you'll see I eventually got lazy w/ the photo taking...these are harder to take pictures of than layouts!) 
 
PG 7 - BFFs
 9.4.14
 
 
 PG 8 - One Direction AKA: 1D
"I created this page in honor of Madison's first concert, which I am taking her to
along w/ her BFF and her BFF's mom, and the fact that I am currently, for the
next 7 days, listening to Madison's 1D cds so I won't be totally
clueless at that concert"
9.4.14
 
 
 
 
 PG 9 - Fred Fredburger
"My favorite character from the cartoon The Grim Adventures of
Billy and Mandy"
 9.5.14
 
 
 
PG 10 - The Necklace
"Putting a smile on my face this Monday Morning: my new favorite piece of
jewelry; a silver giraffe necklace from Chichime. Why a giraffe? Because
it's David's favorite animal...and since David is my favorite everything it just
seemed fitting"
 9.8.14
 
 
 
 
 
PG 11 - Smiling Gives You The Good Kind of Wrinkles
Middle Journaling:
"My Husband texted me that business was slow and included a "frowny face"
emoticon. I told him not to frown because frowning causes wrinkles. He said
so does smiling. And I said yes but those wrinkles are good wrinkles"
 
 Quote at bottom: "I just like to smile! Smiling is my favorite"
- Buddy the Elf
9.9.14



PG12 -Roses
 "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
Old time is still a-flying
And the same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying"
-Excerpt from the poem "To the Virgin to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick
My roses: 7.24.11/Page: 9.11.14
 
 
 
 
PG13 - Circles
"Circles are my favorite shape... Is it weird to have a favorite shape?"
9.16.14 
 
 
 
PG 14 - I Like Cats
"Saw this picture on a T-shirt on Instagram. The company name is
Animal Hearted Apparel and not only is the picture cute...
it's 100% true about me"
 9.17.14
 
 
 
PG 15 - Strong
Lyrics from One Direction Song: "Strong"
The lyrics make me think of my husband because he really does
keep me strong!
 9.23.14
 
 *Linda Roessler if you're reading this...I used Color Mist on the BG! Yay!*
 
 
 
PG 16 - First Day of Fall
"Fall makes me think of pumpkins.
Oh, and Pumpkin Spice Frappucinos!
But, mostly...pumpkins!
 9.23.14
 
 
I think you can tell, most of my pages have no real rhyme or reason...I just create them because that's what I feel like making at the moment! And some are super simple!
Also you can see I threw in a few scrappy type pages, although nothing like the real scrapping I do.
My Art Journal has seemed to blossom into it's own creation w/ my drawings on 1 side and my "scrappy/journaling" stuff on the other. I notice tend to draw on the right hand side and do the "other stuff" on the left hand side.
Here's an example of what I am referring to:
 
 
 
 
IDK if that's how it will keep going but it's how it's going as of right now.
 
 
Another thing, I discovered in regards to my Art Journal, my scrappy pages are not in "chronological" order.
That's very weird for me!
Also one of the reasons I didn't like Smash Books.
But unlike a Smash Book, the not-being-chronological issue has more to do with me creating what I'm feeling at the time and less w/ having to go back in forth in my book to  try to fit my topic to the design of the patterned page that is in front of me...because, if you didn't already know, Smash Book pages have designs on them. 
The completely blank slate of an Art Journal allows me to enjoy the process better and to feel less pressure.
With my Art Journal,  my "jumping around" is a choice not a necessity.
But, so it doesn't set off my OCD,  what I have done is include the date of the photo being used along w/ the date of when I actually completed the page. The date I completed the page is more current than the photo date and helps make my journal appear more chronological.
For an example refer back to the page I created w/ the photo of my roses.
Also since my book is divided w/ scrappy stuff on one side and drawings on the other...if you view just the scrappy stuff in order, it's chronological. Same w/ the drawings.
But if you view them all together, that's when the dates get out of whack! (So I try no to do that!!!)
 
I'm enjoying including a bit of scrapping because it allows me to include photos I may not want to, or know how to, devote a full 12x12 layout to.
I thought that creating a page on such a smaller scale would be difficult, but it actually is nice not to have to worry about filling such a big space!
 
In conclusion.... Yup! I (still) love this art journaling thing!
 
Just so you know, I won't subject you to another post filled w/ my art pages in the future...this time was just to prove, mostly to myself, that I can do this!


Wednesday, September 17, 2014

09/17/14 - CPC: "The Cat In The Hat"

 
After my failure in August to complete a layout for either of the 2 DT assignments for "Child's Play Challenges", I was determined to complete at least 1 for September.  2 weeks ago I shared a layout for the first challenge Sequins. Today I am here to share a layout for the second challenge!
That's right, I participated in BOTH challenges this month!
Whoot-Whoot!
 
The inspiration this week is the classic childhood book:
 
 
 
My layout (Click on photo to enlarge):
 
 
 
"The Cat In My Lap"
Journaling: "Panini doesn't seem to like me much but on 2 different days, close together,
she came and cuddled w/ me. 12.31.13 and 1.4.14"
 
Besides using photos of a cat, I also did a play on words and called my layout "The Cat In My Lap" since the pictures on it are of my daughter's cat cuddling w/ me.
 
Panini is not very friendly in general. She ESPECIALLY isn't friendly w/ me, but she didn't seem to mind hanging out w/ me on the days referenced on my layout (and of course I have photographic evidence, HA!).  As a matter of fact, she has been a little more loving to me this year.
I think the reason is I leave her alone now. I used to go after her for love but now, for the most part, I ignore her and she comes to me. I also noticed she is more "lovey-dovey" late at night or REALLY early in the morning...Ugh! How completely inconvenient!
But truthfully, I'll take what I can get!
I love her THAT much!
 
Speaking of love...who doesn't "love" a good challenge?!? 
Stop by the Child's Play blog to check out the other DT layouts and submit something of your own!

Saturday, September 13, 2014

09/13/14 - One Direction Concert

 
 
The concert outing was a success!
We had such a great time, although since Madison is more low-key than I am, it appeared I had MORE fun! Hahahahaha!
Yup... I sang, I danced...I even screamed a little... ;0)
 
We had some really good seats: 7th row.
But the floor seats went so far back that our close seats seemed far! Bummer!
I felt bad for the people sitting way at the top in the "nose bleed" seats.
Oh, well that's what Jumbotrons are for!
 
As I said I screamed a little but it was nothing compared to the other screams we heard!
The screaming was crazy... but not unexpected.
I have been to a few concerts and, especially w/ boy bands, there is ALWAYS a lot of loud screaming!  I warned Madi about it before hand since this was her first concert.
She was amazed at some of the things that got "screams" though.
She understood the screaming when the acts came on...but there were lots of screams for the videos they showed on the jumbotron prior to the concert.
Here reaction was "it's just a video!" with a bit of an eye roll!
Hahahahahahaha!
I agreed but I'm a lot older so that reaction would be expcted from me...coming from her, it was a surprise.
 
Thanks to this concert I am now aware of another new boy band,  5 Seconds of Summer,
and they were pretty good as well.
I see more CD buying in my future!
 
Here's a page I made of the event (click on the layout to enlarge):
 
"One Direction"
Journaling - 9.11.2014: Madi and I, and her BFF Emily, and Emily's mom, Sarah, went to
the Rose Bowl to see One Direction. The concert was part of their "Where We Are" Tour
and was Madison's first concert ever! The opening act was 5 Seconds of Summer; another fave.
We all had a great time!"

I found the set list for the night/for the tour online so I printed it and added it, along w/ one of our tickets, to the layout.
 
I was able to work on this quickly because I only took a few pictures of "us"...
But even then, I had to narrow it down to 3 of my faves so the layout wouldn't be too cluttered.
Part 2, the 2nd page, with pictures of the guys will be harder because I took a lot of pictures!
I still have to go thru them and see which ones actually came out good.
I'm thinking of the "100" or so pictures I took, only a dozen probably came out, good!
That's why I always take a bunch of pictures at events, in hopes that I capture a few really good ones!
I'm completely dreading the whole process of  sorting thru them, though!
I really should just get it over with but I assure you I will procrastinate! LOL!

Here's a few pictures that when I looked really quick, I happen to notice came out pretty good (click on the picture to enlarge):

The whole group:

 
 
 Madi's favorite: Niall
 
Maybe I should just print these out and delete all the rest to save me the stress!
 

Madison was a cheap date.
She didn't want anything to eat or drink and when I suggested that she at least get the concert program as a souvenier,  she agreed, and then when I told her she could get at least one more thing, anything, she didn't want anything else!
Shoot if my parents had said that to me, I would have jumped all over that opportunity! Hahahaha!
I'm not complaining, though.

Anyway...
That's just a quick snippet of the event.
As I said, it was fun...but One Direction is nowhere near as good as my beloved New Kids on the Block!
Now those guys can put on a show!
:0)
 
 

Monday, September 8, 2014

09/08/14 - I'm a "Directioner"...Sort of!

 
 
You know that expression "What a difference a year makes"?
Well, I'm experiencing that now...only instead of a year it's only been 7 months.
If you've been following my blog, you may (vaguely) remember I created a layout for a Design Team I was on, "Scrap It w/ a Song", in which I had to use a "One Direction" song.
In that blog post I stated that although my daughter is a huge fan of theirs I just could not get into their music, despite the fact that I love Boy Band music!
Here's the link to that post to refresh your memory...
 
Anyway, fast forward 7 months and guess who likes "One Direction"....
Yup, you guessed it: this girl! LOL!
 
Am I ashamed?
Nah!
As long as it doesn't hurt anyone, we should never feel ashamed for the things we find joy in.
But I admit, after making the statement I made in my original blog post, I tried to fight liking them; I hate appearing wishy-washy!
 
You may wonder why I flipped the script like I did, and I have an excellent explanation...
As I stated before, my daughter Madi, is a huge fan!
As it turns out, so is her BFF!
We were offered to buy some "One Direction" concert tickets off of a friend of ours who wasn't going to be able to use them, so  David and I decided since Madi was being exceptionally good lately, we would buy them. Of course I would be taking her as there was no way David was going to allow his man-card to be revoked by going a 1D concert! Hahahahahahaha!  The friend actually had 4 tickets so we thought what would be better than for Madi to go w/ her BFF!  
So on Thursday we, Madi and I and her BFF and her mother, will be attending a 1D concert!
 
This was something I was doing for my daughter, because as I stated I do not like "One Direction".
But since I was paying the money and investing the time, I decided I better listen to their CDs so I wouldn't be totally clueless at the concert. There's nothing worse than going to a concert and not knowing the music!!! I have been listening to their CDs on the daily for the past 4 days.  And...yeah, well... I like their music!
 
My husband knew of my "homework", as I call it, to become fluent in "One Direction" music and so I texted him one day:
     "Rocking out to One Direction! LOL! I hate to admit it it's pretty catchy!"
 
His response?
     "That's because u like stupid teenager music...lol!"
 
And you know what? I can't argue w/ that...at all!
A lot of my music collection is teen pop music...
I guess at 38 years old that should be embarrassing to admit, but I see it as a plus for my daughter.
After all, I don't mind playing the music in my car and she's getting to go to a "One Direction" concert!
Score 1 for mom! :0)
 
BTW - aren't our shirts for the concert way cute?!
 


Thursday, September 4, 2014

09/04/14 - "Get Messy": August Prompt

What is "Get Messy"?

Quote:
"Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practise our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire."
 
 
The ladies, I mean vixens, in the group are responsible for the following, and again I quote: 
1. Post at least two pages onto the internet each Thursday - 10am CAT on blogs, and throughout
the day on Instagram. This challenge was created to keep us creating, and to keep us accountable. 
2. Take part in the prompt link up once per month.
3. Use the hashtag  #getmessyartjournal


I am -NOT- part of the group.
I just don't have that kind of time.
However, I have been stalking them, all of them, since I need ideas and inspiration for my art journal.
I have not been disappointed!
I have enjoyed viewing their work and even interacting w/ them a bit.
I have also been inspired to create something for their August prompt: "Who Am I?"

Before I share what I created I want to include the link to the "Get Messy" home blog so that you can take a look at it and, because it includes links to all their blog and/or IG accounts, maybe you may want to visit a few of the vixens yourself!
Get Messy

*************************************************************************************************************
Okay, so as I stated earlier, the prompt I am interpreting is "Who Am I?"
I will share what I created and, in case you can't read my writing, I have typed my journaling underneath my photo. The journaling also gives details about the prompt:
  
 

Journaling: "9.2.14 >
I decided to join the ladies at "Get Messy" in creating a page for the August prompt: "Who Am I?"
(yes, I realize I'm a few days late!)
This involves 2 parts:
1. - A journal challenge: If you had one page to show the world who you are what would you put on it.
2. - An art challenge: Use anything except an actual photo of yourself to make a self portrait.
This is what I came up w/ - cuz who I am is much to complicated to explain despite the fact that I really am a simple person!"
 
 
When I read the prompt, I was excited to dive in!  However it was a lot more challenging than I thought!
My first instinct was to list:
   My titles:  Mother, Wife, Daughter, etc...
   My favorite hobbies: Drawing, reading, scrapbooking, etc...
   My other favorites: colors, foods, TV shows, etc...
But than I realized, even though those are pieces of me, they do not make me "Who I Am". Plus I had just recently created a "Favorites" art journal page.
Then I started to think, what if I left something out when I created my page...
It started to become this "monster" in my mind.
So I stopped actively thinking, pushing the challenge to the foreground of my thoughts and after a few days of this, suddenly ::POOF::, the Popeye quote came to me!  I knew at once that it was perfect since I really 'am what I am' and nothing more. Plus it's a funny way to express oneself and I'm all about the funny!
I then thought I should put a little bit of seriousness into the page and I then remembered one of my favorite quotes, which is also very true about me!
After finding the perfect image on Google, my page came together quite easily and I am very pleased w/ it!
As you can see it's simple, but that's one of the things I like about art journaling: you can make it as complicated or as simple as you choose. And since I am both complicated and simple, it fits into my life just perfectly!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

09/03/14 - CPC: Sequins

Hi all! It's been a month since I created something for "Child's Play Challenges" .
If you recall they allowed me to stay on their Design Team on a "as you can contribute" basis.
I was bummed to miss both challenges last month, August, so I made it my mission to participate in at least 1 of the challenges this month.
 
Here is the first challenge - Sequins:
 
 
 
 
 And here is what I came up w/
(click on layout to enlarge):
 
"Freestyle Fun"
Journaling: "Freestyle concert w/ my love.
Robin S, Debbie Deb, Shannon, Crystal Waters, Trinere, and Color Me Badd.
8/9/14"
 
I do not own any sequins and, just for future reference, I also do not own glitter... "The horror!" I know, LOL! So I had to think outside of the box for this challenge. This was my thought process: sequins make me think of dressing up in a fancy dress and going out. My husband and I don't go out on many "fancy" dates, but we do "go out" a lot so I decided to scrap one of our latest outings. Also to help tie in the sequins just a little bit I scattered paper circles and self-adhesive gem stones across my page to mimic the look of sequins.
 
I think it works for the challenge... it definitely works for me!
 

03/27/23 Planning with Urban Journal Season Ink

My printer was having issues and I fixed it but during the interim I was not scrapping and lost my mojo ::le sigh:: But I've still been ...