Your Doodles are Gorgeous!

Artwork by Traci Bautista

Ever looked at a doodle and thought it was beautiful? I have. I've been looking at a LOT of doodles lately and they're downright awesome.

I signed up for a workshop with Traci Bautista. A doodle workshop. A majorly cool and fun doodle workshop. I'm stunned by the pages displayed by students before me...I swear to God...they're gorgeous. They're doodles, and they're freakin' gorgeous. Who knew?!

Yeah, I think you need to check her out...talk about inspiring! I'm really glad I signed up for the doodle class...now I'm loving the 24 Holiday Inspirations on her blog.

(Re)Discovering Donna Downey

So there I am minding my own business when I find an art journal reference toInspiration Wednesdays. It's Donna Downey's site, best known in the scrapbooking world, but here she is in the Art Journal world. OMG, the thin veil that once separated artists and scrapbookers has really vanished, and the two worlds have now collided. So if you're a purest...well, sorry about that.

I remember Donna from the old days. I even bought some Donna stuff...like crappy tag books...and here she is producing her own journals to sell to us peons while she buys new clothes from some shabby ultra chic online store. Of course, she's more than happy to share that information because the clothes are expensive. She'll even tell you (and show you) which items she purchased so you can check out the price. I don't know what it is about Donna that makes her want and/or need to divulge information about her financial status. I got the message the first time, when she built her new office and just had to tell everyone how much it cost. Now she's doing it again, and quite frankly, I don't like it. Never did. Still don't.

I know people have to make a living. I know that my money actually supports a lot of other people when I spend it. But I don't like it when people tell me how much they make, or how much something cost them, or how rich they are because they have MY money! That's just rude. Rude, crude, and definitely not classy. It's kind of like laying off hundreds of employees and then giving yourself a raise. Not kosher, kids, don't do it. Keep the money talk off the internet, keep it to yourself, because you're not getting anymore of mine when you do that. I think your journals are really neat and I probably would have bought one (letting bygones be bygones), but you just had to talk about the new expensive clothes you were buying. Several items at an average of $150... you must have bought at least a $1,000 worth of clothes from that shop.

God love ya, Donna. I know you mean well, but it so offends me when I have no office, no studio, and I can't afford $150 skirts or there wouldn't be any scrapbook supplies at all...You don't need my money.

On the other hand, I'm loving Donna'sInspiration Wednesdays. I really am. Check it out...

sad

Okay, this is getting a wee bit out of control now. I'm getting caught up in the past and I don't think that's a good idea! I didn't know what I was starting. I really like these journal books, but going through all the papers and ephemera that I've collected over the years is taking an emotional toll on me that I didn't expect. Just sayin'.

Junque Journal Love

I love my junque journal! I can't wait to fill it up and start another one!





After getting interested in art journals, I came across this video about altering Composition Notebooks. I've done that before....back here in 2008, but this video, by Rita Hutcheson Cobbs, made me take another look.



Can you believe how happy she is? Such enthusiasm! It made me want to create again...so I grabbed a few more composition notebooks and started in!

In the meantime, I found this next video, Junque Journal Introduction, and knew I wanted to make a book like this!



Tangiebaxter's tutorials:
Part Two
Part Three

I love these videos. I've watched them over and over and over, and learned how to break out of my box and and just play! Scrapbooking, Art Journals, Junque Jounrals. This mixed media stuff is fun!

My Sweet Magnum

I lost my beautiful boy on Monday. It was unexpected....so sudden. He wasn't feeling well, very sluggish, running a slight fever. It was cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma. An insidious, aggressive form of oral cancer. I hate cancer. It keeps taking my loved ones from me.

Journal Me This Swap

I joined the Journal Me This swap at YourPaperPantry. Jane was my partner and made a beautiful layered page with turned edges and romantic detail. I love this page.

cards for claudia

Some of the beautiful cards made for the "Cards for Claudia" campaign. Over $1,000 was made from the sale of these cards!!

LOOK what I have created!!! Happy Dance!

OMG! I joined a swap at Your Paper Pantry (a very cool site with extremely talented people that love scrapping, card making, journaling, etc. Check it out!) The following video was made by my swap partner. I was so shocked when I saw this, when I heard what she was saying. The funny thing is that when I saw what a beautiful plaque she sent me, I felt the same as she did! I just didn't think my tag was good enough and I felt like I had not done enough. And yet we're both so happy with what we received! What a great day!

My apologies that the video is no longer on YouTube.

Do Something Nice for a Fellow Scrapper

Go here and buy yourself some beautiful handmade cards. These were put together by some of the best scrappers and card makers who came together to form one giant heart. All proceeds from the sale of these cards will go to Claudia D'Alessandro who recently lost her husband and father to their six children. Yes, six. I believe the oldest just graduated from high school.

You're gonna buy cards anyway....and some of you are going to buy them online....so why not buy them at Jade's Etsy shop and help a fellow scrapper. Imagine giving up something you love doing so much... imagine how hard it would be to sell off all of your scrap supplies... imagine your life if you lost your spouse, your kids lost their father. Nothing will ever be the same again for this family. Please help.

A Couple Graphic 45 Layouts

I signed up for a class because it said GRAPHIC 45. Yep, that's all it took! I made four pages that day but I'm still playing around with them, trying to make them my own.

Stay cool and have a good weekend!



Original designs by Yvonne Nash.

Altered Clothespin

I made this for my sister to keep notes in or to display pictures. It's a giant 9" clothespin that I covered with scrap paper, a little Prima and a little Tim Holtz. I love the way it turned out! Just in case you can't read it, the book plate on the front reads "Sister", and the one on the back reads "Friends". I have another one that I'm keeping but it's not done yet. Still needs a few embellishments so it will look pretty too!

You can pick up a clothespin kit complete with Graphic45 paper and all the trimmings at The Jule Box .

Dedra Long is back!

My darling young friend, Dedra Long, has returned to blogland! Yaaaaaaayy! I couldn't be happier today if you told me it was the 4th of July! OMG, it's the first of July....celebrate people! Independence. Freedom. The right to be HAPPY!!! Yes! We have the "right" to be happy! No one is going to stop us from smiling, or whistling a tune....from singing out loud or dancing in the street! (ok, maybe the street's are off limits to dancing, but hey, you know what I mean! What I'd give to be one of the flashmob that danced to the Black Eyed Peas on Oprah...that was SO COOL!!) So, do you get it? I'm happy. I'm happy to be alive, I'm happy that I discovered scrapbooking again after so many years, and I'm happy that Dedra is back! I love Dedra. If I had a daughter I would wish for her to be Dedra. Yeah, I would.

If you go waay back to this post...you'll see where I bought one of Dedra's books and loved it so very much! I wanted to journal in it and make it pretty with bows and ribbons and adornments from years gone by. I wanted it to look like one of Dedra's books.....oops


But it was MY book now, made by Dedra, but MY book. Wow....I had to chew on that for a while 'cause you see, I don't journal. Never have. Can't be bothered and believe me, I've tried. I hate journaling....(is that one l or two?) So here I am, almost TWO YEARS later....TWO YEARS!!! and Dedra's book is still Dedra's book. I haven't done a damn thing to make it mine...I just look at it and dust it off on occasion. Until now....wanna see? I think I can show you a page but that's about all because it's PERSONAL! I'm using Dedra's book as my PERSONAL Art Journal and I love it. Okay, here's a page in progress...but I'm only showing this for Dedra, the rest of you close your eyes.



So there it is. One little page consisting of water colors, acrylic paint, some gesso and glue, an old tag that I love, and lots of pink. Look closely, you just might see my soul.

Welcome back, Dedra, and thank you for making art journaling a part of my life, long before I was ready for it.

This Is What Cute Looks Like

...the finished album.

Fiber! Fiber! Fiber!

I've been SHOPPING! Yes!! Shopping at Creative Fiber Arts. If you like fiber.....go there now. They sell their stock quickly, but restock just as quick, and right now they have GREAT stock and even GREATER PRICES! Honestly, you can get 15 yards of fiber for a buck. A BUCK! They sell in packs of a single yard for about 30 cents up to whole skeins. It's fiber heaven and I found it through the mini album girls on YouTube. Boy, do they know how to shop. ~ post written 3/25/10

OMG,I didn't even post this. I've really ignored my blog and I shouldn't do that. People stop visiting when you ignore your blog! So, let me take some pictures and I'll show you what I've been up to. Honest, I'll be back soon!

Gotta Love that Graphic45

I LOVE this paper!! It was so easy to make a masculine layout. A little G45, a little Prima, a little Tim Holtz and voila! I have no idea why there are white areas showing in the pearls unless it's a glare on the glue holding them together. This can't be seen in my picture or in the layout itself....strange.

I really wish I took better pictures. This layout is absolutely gorgeous, and the picture just doesn't reflect that.

What I'm Working On

Are you posting

Are you posting 'Please Rob Me'?

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Valentine Mini

For Valentine's Day I made this little mini for a friend. The idea came from Arlene at My Butterfly Kisses. You can see Arlene's video here.

Another video of an adorable mini in a tin is here

What I'm Working On...

A little mini that I've been mulling over for some time is beginning to take shape. I hope it turns out as pretty in real life as it looks in my head!

Prima! Prima! Prima! What a dry spell we had on Prima in my little corner of the world. There wasn't a Prima to be seen on a shelf anywhere for months! And now, they're back, better than ever. Oh, Prima, how I love thee...







I also picked up a few ribbons and fibers at my local scrapbook store. I just grabbed what I wanted, ordered a yard of each, and when I was ready to check out she presented me with this beautiful little bag...





Look at the glimmer in that fiber. Man, I love this hobby.

January 12th???? Where has the time gone to? I thought I was all set to start blogging again...something must have gotten in the way of my desire to blather like an idiot where everyone in the universe can see it. Imagine that. Oh, I know...Facebook! HA! It's a devious thing, that Facebook. It sucks you in until you have no choice but to log in every day and read every status report that was ever written. Things like "red", "white", "black"....c'mon girls....once is enough. New variances on an old game are just old. It was interesting the first time, not so much now.

Most of my "friends" fall into two categories....either "scrappers" or "family". Everyone else is well, everyone else. Except for best friends from high school that I've categorized as "family", because she will always be family to me. Unfortunately, these categories still fall under the general theme of "friends", so you can't decide who sees your status and who doesn't without a putting in a LOT of work. So it's amazing to see how different generations deal with Facebook. The things kids will say nowadays without any care as to who sees it. Wow.

As for me, I'll stick to the scrap stuff. This is a little book I made for my sister. I loved putting it together, and she loves having it. She's kind of nice that way.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!