Here a little. There a lot!

Less is definitely better!  I am looking for the happy medium for my planner pages.  :O  This is last week's journal page.  The paper isn't too suited for the really wet mediums.

 Then I am also working on the previous months.  I need to keep the two pages on my work table at the same time but the back of one was drying.  :P

 Not there yet!  I need to think small and subtle!  sheesh!  Good thing there are 52 weeks in the year.  I am gonna need them!

oh, boy.  Now we have 'spotty'!!!  And I am mixing cute and vintage.  :/

Perhaps I should keep my mind on one job only.  Kiss???  It just seemed a good idea to sort ephemera at the same time since I am looking through stuff. lol  I 'edited out' the overflowing baskets!  This post has enough uglies in it!

The last few nights and even during today's lunch and coffee break, I have been going through magazine stacks to see what I should keep.  Isn't this timely!  Now to apply this to my planner pages.

Perfect may be an exaggeration but it is only loosely stuck down.  August was a busy month so we'll see how this goes.  A little more thought and a lot less enthusiasm to use up my stuff!  At least that is the plan for the planner!!!  :^)

Wrapping up the art challenges.

While the grand kiddies were here visiting they made a spread in their Smash books.  But I wanted to give them a memory page for the actual time.  Of course, I had too many photos so I had to add a flap.

Some photos were printed for all three books and darn it,  one printed in a big size. awk!  All that ink!  So I incorporated it into the flap.  :}

I tried to keep the flavour of their art canvas in their own spread.  I had thought Josh's would present some difficulty but the advantage of doing three is that the ideas also multiply!  ;^)

Eliana is all about bold colours and super heroes. (faeries)   I found a dream quote to match the word on her canvas.  :)  I hope that by occasionally adding my own spread to theirs, it will inspire them to explore creative options.

I worked on Jolina's first and it was perhaps easiest.  I should have used more yellow, her favourite colour.  Apparently she 'sleeps' with last year's smash book.  :)

But they took a whole day and now there is clean up.  I did a quick skim through this library book and I really must learn to put things away.  The key apparently is for everything to have its designated spot.  Now that particular challenge is to find a home spot for everything first.  :/

Next week I hope to be back to my own journal challenges.  But now to wrap up the rest of the week!  ;^)

If at first...

Try Again!

I used the spays I knew to be permanent.  The nozzles are dicey and the Heidi Swapp Color Shine seems very user friendly. The spray on the Mister Huey's sprays blobs and Maya Mist kinda goes off to one side.  i.e. my hand but that could be operator error!  :O

I sprayed and dried and over sprayed.  I was happy.  I will use a brush to move spray around but this dried quickly.  Hmm, I shoulda maybe have tried to spray some water as they will move but are permanent once they do dry. 

Then I used acrylic to lighten the centre area and had no problem.

I added paint pen and washi tape which tends to lift so I always use something to glue down the edges. My brush stayed pretty white.  :)

I used some more acrylic to add some stencilling and again was happy and added pen marks to the mix.

Then I smeared to mute everything again.  I was following some gal's advice. ;-)

One bit of smearing on the left bottom but the pen may not have dried.  I am hasty!  lol

And speaking of hasty I stopped taking photos in the mad frenzy of creativity.  But I collaged, I stamped, I sprayed more spray through a stencil and I tweaked!!!  Wish I'd trimmed the ragged white edge from the large rectangular photo so I tried to deliberately smudge the edges. I also stamped with the Dylusions White Linen using a grunge stamp. It was okay!  If I was the teacher I'd give me a B+.  But I am also gonna get a detention if I don't get back to the homework for today! 

I will add that these products all work. Success comes from understanding  how they work and also how the one who uses them works.  I will just try to remember that the Dylusion Ink Sprays are for small 'm' mixed media and not for when I want to get real messy and mix things up in a major way. Lesson learned- Keep creating and don't give up!

And the score is...

hhmm.  You wanna know something.  I am no good at math and I NEVER keep score in a game or in life.  I am not one of those who shall remain nameless (Cock a doodle do nor first peep peep) who obliterate the accomplished item from not only the initial page but the impression three pages down.  LOL 
I do not count stitches, yardage, hours or finished projects.  And if I am now forced to carry a list to town it is usually to check to confirm I missed a few things when I return home.  ;)

The seasonal accessories are all under their covers.  My stuff is pretty much done except for the paint cans.  I'm waiting on the Rooster to figure out how he wants his spices arranged in the pantry.  :O  Then we'll tackle the tools and paint. I may have some paint for that far back corner which will have a clothes bar set up when the boxes for the kitchen remodel leave.  Feels good.  Move ahead five free jumps!

I did a deep clean  of the upstairs and found some missing fabrics for my wall hanging. I'm think I'm at the miss a turn stage of the game with it as I think and then decide about stenciling or stamping any leaves on it.

If the name of the game is fun, I am advocating this sticky back foam for stamps.  LUV it!  This technique just skips me right into the final round with confidence that I'm a contender for the prize.  :)

I am feeling my points adding up in my copycat journal. Unlike solitaire this involves watching the other player's moves and then that  makes you think about your next move.  Its good.

The year long monthly technique class from Julie Balzer is really helping me understand how to do things.  I signed up for the 12 months of classes and I am definitely getting my moneys worth.

I can have a leisurely play time this evening with my scrapbook layout and reflect on a score that reveals that this week's work was fun indeed!

Think cool!

It's a hot one here. 34 degrees Celsius yesterday!  And my second story studio is even hotter.  But you can't keep a wanna be artist down!

So I am switching from the warm colour palette for my calendar pages to a cooler colour run.

But first:

Sherry and I can't quite remember how we connected but we have been visiting for some time.  She blogs over at Createology.  She is very talented and has helped me with my beading endeavours. But she surprised me with this lovely hand made journal for my birthday.

It is almost too lovely to use and contains various papers.  But I know she means for me to journal in it and I have been wondering what especially I should use it for.  I have decided that I will write about my blogging journey and include some special people and happenings in it.  Thank you, Miss Createology! 

This is a good start on a background.  I luv my new triangle stencil.

I should have quit before I did the last bit on the right hand side, a perfect pearls technique.  The upper left is embossing.   But I'll fine tune the pages when I actually do that week's pages.  This is all just the background and the next layer will begin to pull it all together.

This page is more finished and has a better cohesiveness to it.

Cool, huh?

In my Element

Things are a bit droopy as I play catch up.  The rain is making the peonies sag so I'll need to go rescue some more.

Before she left my DD reminded me that I had said we could even just sit around and do some crafting! Not.

Only the grand and messy kiddies got a chance to do that.

There were a few curves in the week's plans

DD got a cold from her Dad and shared it with her bunk mates who passed it on to their mother!

It was a good thing we got our trip to the city in.  Except for springing for snack, I left no cash behind at Chapter's although DD has told me all about Kobo.  yes!!!  Likey!
I did take advantage of DD and we scooped double coupons at Michael's.  I had to scoop quickly as the grand kiddies parents were arriving for the rest of the festivities.  I think we all had a good time.

But the rain is settling the dust after everyone left and I'm back to work.

The Altered Book is coming along as I posted previously.

I used some of my new supplies and this week's visit spread is coming along not too badly.

My techy DD commented on my old mouse for the 'puter.  She prophesied that I should get a centre wheel.  She is a true prophet as I picked one up on a run to babysit the recuperating grand kiddies while mum got assessed.  She is looking good and has about 4 weeks to get ready to receive Jolena.

Now part of the journey to finding how I wanted to do a daily journal led me to  Jessica Sprague.  I joined her site and perused a couple of beginner classes.  My timing was excellent as a few days later she announced her gift for her fifth birthday.  She is offering, FREE, 5 days of tutorials on Photo shop and Photo shop Elements.  I had bought Elements but I've been rather intimidated by all of it.  In fact I had to (BLUSH) do a search to find where the program was on my computer as the desktop shortcut had been wiped out in one of those "would you like to..." that the computer uses to clean up obsolete stuff. ={  I have now completed the updates on it and Acrobat Reader.  I got the mouse Jessica said would make 'zooming' easier and I will hopefully be caught up by tomorrow morning's class.  This is gonna be SO great.  She is wonderful.

So that is what is happening this week.  Jenn comes tomorrow and we'll be doing her magazine journal cover now that I've located a jazzy duct tape for her class.  It was the main reason for the Michael's stop and I forgot it. grrrr  But I got my mouse in Steinbach's Staples and the duct tape at the Canadian Tire.  Pheww!  I couldn't face Michael's again!  lol  I'll also be in class myself for the rest of the week  as I learn all about Photo shop Elements.

I'm posting early to The Needle and Thread Network so I can get the word out to more about this wonderful opportunity.

And I hope everyone is in their Element!

Somethings gotta give

Too Much FUN!

Life is very good.  I'm thinking I need more hours in the day to do all I want to do. 
Friday the 13th has no  ill effects here.  Each day is a good day!

I'm up when the Rooster crows and I'm reluctant to turn in when he stands in the playroom door flapping his feathers at the clock! lol

Making marks is so much fun I'm having a hard time to settle down to sewing!

I did resolve the colours on the wedding quilt.  I'm thinking I like the lighter fabric better than the mauve so that was good that I didn't just rush to sew things.

I'm working on design principles in my techniques and trials journal. 

Then I get to play in my leaf themed journal.

The daily calender square is a delight.  I'm borrowing some ideas and experimenting with my own.

But now the reality is that I'm having an invasion of the dust bunnies.  I need to tell them that Easter was last weekend!  I'm also hoping that the vacuum is the only thing I need to drive today as I've been out just about everyday this week.  Wait until I tell the Rooster that making art saves on the gas bill!!! 

shhh, going to the city for supplies doesn't count.  ;^)