RANDOM, RANDOM, RANDOM

Last weekend we went to the Home and Garden Expo.  Em played "spin the wheel" at the Geico Insurance Booth and won a Gecko... She wanted to take pictures with him:

(photo by em jay)

(photo by em jay)

We also spent some time journaling...

here's em jay's. it's pretty neat to see what she ends up with after going at it with the supplies...

REPURPOSE THOSE CLOTHING TAGS

I've been collecting clothing tags for awhile-- some of them are just too cute to throw away.  I really wanted to document all of my favorite television shows right now because there are so many!!  So...I made a little "shows I love" mini book using a bunch of clothing tags.  the great thing about them, is that they come with a ready made hole to attach your book ring to.

this was so much fun to make, especially since I tried to make it a point to use only left over scraps--it was a challenge!  and okay, so twilight is NOT a television show...but it goes with the "vampire" theme, and I LOVE IT!

and here are a few "juno" ATCs I made for a recent ATC swap:

in other news...em jay had her very first "time out" this afternoon (it worked!).  she was just not listening and getting into EVERYTHING.  most of the time she's a very good girl--and so funny and cute.  but man, sometimes I feel like a failed mother.  I think to myself "what am I doing wrong, here..."  am I giving her too much attention, not enough, is she getting spoiled, is she becoming much too strong-minded...and yikes, is she learning all that from me?!?!?  all those things go through my mind.  Is it just a toddler thing?  Or maybe I'm having too high expectations and being unrealistic, and I'm expecting her to be "good" ALL the time.  I don't know, parenting is HARD!

here's my little toddler tonight with her signature goofy smile...

SUMMER OF LOVE ONLINE CLASS

I had fun using the vintage book cover, though being a book lover--it HURT to rip it apart.  It's hard to find beautiful old books at thrift stores here in Hawaii, but I was able to find an old ledger book in this pretty green color.

look familiar?  I used the same idea for a collage I did for my sister--I just enlarged the photo.  I still want to add a few stamped words somewhere to make it look messier...it looks too "plain", I think..

*EDITED: here's the finished cover with added distressing...

and this is what "summer love" looks like...

have a great day!!!

JOURNAL PAGES...

Sad to see the "Tell Your Story Class" ending.  It's been so much fun, I really hope to see a sequel to this course.  I still have a few more pages to go--I'm so behind.

I also signed up for a few more classes to keep me going, and creating...One of them is an e-workshop called "A Journal of Interest" from the ever-inspiring Paper Bella Studio.  It's very different from "Tell Your Story"-- a little more challenging because it's a new "style" for me.

Here's my first page:

I'm also registered for the "Summer of Love" class by Kara Haupt.  It starts on Monday and also sounds like a challenge for me.  Can't wait to start.

And as if I don't have enough to do already...I'm also participating in the 30 day journal challenge!

P.S. if you haven't already, you still have until 12am (Hawaii Time) to enter the GIVEAWAY!!!! just scroll down for the post!

FINALLY SOME JOURNAL PAGES...AND A CARD.

tell your story class: 

DREAM PARTY: I journaled about my ultimate party.  I used watercolors, free people catalog image, paint chip, and japanese washi tape.  I've been inspired by dream catchers lately-- I'm thinking of doing a "dream catcher" project soon.

FRIDAYS ARE MY FAVORITE:  2 colors of tissue paper, decoupaged onto the page.  japanese washi tape and a little bit of doodling.  and of course, lyrics by the cure!

here's a birthday card I made for my going to be 10 year old cousin (cousin's daughter), raini.  she likes skulls.  I dusted off my old "love, elsie" stamp and papers I had stashed away. hope she likes it!

TELL YOUR STORY JOURNAL CLASS: ups and downs

"ups and downs"

this page actually has a lot of meaning to me.  it's a quote by johann wolfgang von goethe, "where there is much light, the shadow runs deep."  it's about duality.  to me, this means in our darkest places is where we find our biggest gifts.  the idea that our "shadow self"--the "bad side", "dark side", all the horrible things that happen to us is what makes us better human beings.  wherever there is light you will always find a shadow.

for this page: I wanted to use a "diamond theme" because raw diamonds are so ordinary at first glance, and are only shiny after being processed-- "a diamond in the rough."  I used a mix of vintage papers, and one of my hand carved stamps of a diamond.  I colored in a scallop design with markers.  then I drew a bunch of diamonds in a row, and added lettering, and watercolor paints.

RECONTRUCTION MAGAZINE JOURNAL

marc acutally gave up one of his old skindiver magazines--the pages and images are beautiful, and I also used an old japanese fashion magazine, and some kitschy digitals and shop 66 elements.  it still has lots of blank pages. I'm behind on my class pages, no time! hopefully I'll catch up this weekend.

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS

my secret world:

 vintage wall paper, and wood grain contact paper

paint, paper, pen:

I used purple paint,  sassafras wave paper, and hand drawn mushrooms

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS

I printed out a big blurry photo of one of my garden gnomes, and added a small photo of a deer.  journaling says: "I love to surround myself with things that make me smile."

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 15 & 16

my thoughts are full of...

I used pink felt at the top, scraps of free people catalog pages, kraft paper, masking tape colored with markers, japanese tape.

dream home:

I kept this page really simple with a hand drawn title, and plain journaling.  I used the little pink and green rectangle on the bottom left to add some color.  it's a packing tape transfer from a catalog page-- a really fun technique!  I'll share a "how-to" tomorrow when there is better lighting for photos.

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 13 & DAY 14

summer...

I free-hand cut letters from patterned scrapbook paper, and used the negative space for the title.  Used a little strawberry printed package to hold my journal page.  cut out a scalloped border from a old security envelope at the bottom.

a journal made from an altered book:

I used one of em's books (that she had two of).  Covered with adhesive fabric paper (by love, elsie). covered the spine with silver duct tape.

things I love 2010.  here's my first entry. used japanese tape for the title.  free people catalog page for the scalloped border.

TELL YOUR STORY DAY 12

Noted

I'm always talking about how appreciative I am for Marc and Em Jay... but there are so many other things I'm thankful for too!  This list is just a few of them!  I truly am very lucky.

I also completed day 13, but have to wait until daytime to photograph--better lighting! Will post soon...

pretty paint chip colors just waiting to be used...

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 11

FOR THIS PAGE: 

I used kraft paper for the background.  cut out "leaves" from magazine pages.  used gesso to "frame" the photo. added an instax photo.

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 10

my thoughts on...

trying to be more forgiving.

FOR THIS PAGE:

I used pages from a japanese fashion magazine.  did my journaling over the page. used gesso to make a white triangle on the second page, framed with tape.  and stamped "my thoughts".

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 9

a closer look:

bad photo.  for this page: I layered graph paper and patterned paper.  added photos and doodles. and used different colors of duct tape to journal on. you can't tell from the photo but the silver tape in the middle is super duper shiny. when I saw it at walmart, I HAD to get it!

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 8

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

that's it. it was hard for me to just let go and be done, I tried really hard to just keep it simple.

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 7

DREAM LIST

I've had these dreams for awhile now.  After having a baby, I'm starting to think #4 is impossible, I can accept it--but it's still one of my "dreams".

FOR THIS PAGE:

I painted the background in a mustard-like color.  free hand cut letters from fabric, clothing tags made out of fabric that I could never get myself to throw away (volcom, billabong, paul frank, etc.), and scrapbooking patterned paper.  I did my journaling on masking tape strips.

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: day 6

make a "bag journal"

FOR OUR JOURNAL MAKING ASSIGNMENT:
I used a file folder for the cover, green embroidery thread to bind, found papers cut in different sizes, and punched eyelets with two different patterned ribbons threaded through them to keep the journal closed.  I plan to use this for our upcoming san francisco trip this june.

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 5

Deep Down:

FOR THIS PAGE:

I painted the border with brown and orange paint--I always wanted to do something in that color combination.  I free hand cut the letters from woodgrain contact paper. And doodled around the border.  This was a very personal topic for me, I thought about it all day at work-- "what do I really know or feel deep down in my heart and soul?"... this is it.

P.S. I plan on posting some crafts soon.

TELL YOUR STORY CLASS: DAY 4

3 wishes:

they are pretty simple ones...