I just saw this photo on Mary Ann’s blog.  I am struck with lust so severe I’m not sure how I’ll make it through the day.  What an awesome way to store flat collage ephemera.  Everything is organized, kept flat, and the whole thing is just so pretty.  I’m not usually one who gets worked up about organizational tools.  In fact, I’m actually pretty big on repurposing and upcycling things into service as storage units, but this?  This has just turned me into a believer.

I finished my Trev page.  I thought it might be the end of my moleskine as the page started pulling out of the book, but I stitched it back in with some embroidery floss.  From this point forward I’ve started reinforcing the center of each set of pages with a strip of duct tape.  Not very pretty, but I cover it anyway with paper and gesso before I even start creating anything so I don’t think it’ll be very obvious.  It should help a lot since it’ll prevent most of the wet media from seeping through the middle.  If not, I’m fully prepared to stitch more pages in as needed.

The page on the right was based on a sketch from Stuck Sketches.  It’s something else I’ve decided to try for at least the time being.  When I did a ton of digital scrapbooking I used sketches all the time.  I fell away from it as I started taking a less linear approach to creation, but I don’t see why I can’t work a sketch in here and there without losing spontaneity.  I think I stayed pretty faithful to the original sketch, but I still explored areas I wanted to experiment (gesso over a Silhouette cut transparency stencil in the upper corner) and did things that made it feel personal to me like honor Trev’s request that I use shapes punched from a soda can.  All in all, it was a fun spread to work on.

I was also able to finish up a page that I started months ago.  I did the background during the summer, but didn’t really know what I wanted to do with it so it sat there, patiently waiting.  So today I went in and filled in the journaling.

This layout was all about playing and very little concern went into design.  I dressed a magazine cut out in clothes I created by cutting book pages and patterns from other magazines.  She rests on a background I created by scraping molding paste through sequin waste.  The raised dots are kinda fun to run my fingers over.  I am really attracted to journal pages that promise opportunities to touch.

Due to a question posted on Julie’s Flickr group I was inspired to take some photos of my work area.  In the past I’ve had an entire room for my stuff, but in this house I’ve been reduced to a corner of my bedroom so I’ve tried to make the most of it.  I also use my walk in closet for storing things and I will most likely take a photo in there soon, but first it needs some serious reorganization before I’d willingly share that publicly.  All my photos are clickable to my Flickr, but these next couple are annotated with descriptions of what everything is so if you’re curious, feel free to check them out.

And what photo tour of my “studio” would be complete without a photo of my lovely assistant, Azrael?

I’ve been giving some thought to other things I’d like to accomplish this year.  I wrote the first things that came to mind in my art journal, but as I thought about it more, I realized that there are still things I think need some improvement in my life.  Here’s a longer list (the journaled goals listed first):

* Be kinder- I’m a very sarcastic person and I feel like my sense of humor is sharper than it should be. I’d like to work on being a nicer, kinder person.
* Finish NaNoWriMo 2011 on time- I thought 2010 was the year I’d finally make it, but I got to about 16k words and lost steam.  2011 is going to be my year though.
* Be creative everyday in some form- I include pretty much anything in this goal.  Writing and photography count as well as painting, journaling, or other paper crafts. I’ve decided to participate in Julie’s 10 minutes a day art journaling challenge so that should help.
* Submit work for publication- I’m a little vague about this one because I’m not sure where this year will take me.  I assume that my something will be a piece of work, but I’ve also toyed with the idea of submitting articles for publication in non art magazines.  Just as long as I get over my fear of rejection and give it a try, I’ll be happy.
* Blog at least 2x a week- Pretty self explanatory.  I need to be better about communicating with people and blogging is one way to do that.
* Take more photos- I got a digital SLR camera in the early months of 2010, but instead of using it as much as I dreamed I would, I found that I took less pictures than ever because getting it out of the case and attaching the lens is prohibitive.  It feels like the moment is gone by the time I get it set up.  I am going to work on over coming that feeling.  I don’t aspire towards pictures every single day, but at least once a week would be much better and seems attainable for me.
* Become a hometown tourist- Due to the military and contracting jobs being a huge part of my adult life, I haven’t had very much control over the places I’ve ended up living.  It’s my intent to try to find the beautiful, touristy, and interesting things that are offered in the place where I live.  Wherever that ends up being.
* Live vividly** and appreciate all my blessing for what they are- I have had a rough couple of years in my personal life, but I’ve also been blessed to experience things I never have before.  I have found the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.  I have the most beautiful, funny, amazing kids a woman could ever hope for.  These are all wonderful things that I want to acknowledge in some way. 
* Become part of the art journaling community- I have become a virtual hermit.  I want more than anything to change that.  I want to be more active in the community I see happening around me online.  I read blogs and follow more Twitters than I can count.  I know people are meeting up and finding friends that share their passion for creating beautiful things.  I’d like to share in that as well.  I just need to overcome my inclination to lurk and start being more social.
* Learn to crochet a granny square- Doesn’t seem like it should be that hard, but I haven’t been able to figure it out yet.
*Finish my NY Remains of the Day journal- I have everything all sorted out, pictures are printed, the basic structure is already done.  All that’s left is to sew the embellishments on, add the photos, and journal.  So why haven’t I accomplished this yet?  Did I mention that this has all been done since I took Mary Ann’s class last year?  If that’s not lazy, I don’t know what is.

I spent another nap time working on my journal.  Although I had spent well over my 10 minutes just picking, editing, and printing the photo I wanted to use for the page.  It’s nearly all done now, but I’ve still got a little more to go before I feel like it’s really done.  Here’s a couple of pictures I’ve taken during the process.

I work in a moleskin sketch book.  The pages aren’t especially thick so I usually glue down some scrap paper to give me a thicker page to work on and it gives me a subtle background texture to work with.  Today I decided to use an idea I saw on Julie’s blog a few weeks ago.  As is painfully obvious, the pages warp and buckle like crazy due to my liberal use of Mod Podge.  It doesn’t bother me in the slightest.  I like the texture, truth be told.  And for added texture I used my sheet of bubble wrap again to add gesso dots.  It pulled some of the left over purple paint from yesterday’s page.  I liked that too.

This is pretty close to complete now.  It’s a layout about my son, Trev.  The post it note was a note that he left for me and the hearts on the left page were cut out of a page he painted.  Everything else is just an assortment of scraps I found on my desk.

**I’ve never really done Ali’s One Little Word project.  I don’t plan to do anything this year in an official capacity.  However, as I was making up my goal layout in my art journal my choice to use the word “vivid” struck me as right.  What an awesome concept.  To live life deliberately and seek out every opportunity to do things bigger and brighter than you might otherwise.  I want to look back at a year full of Technicolor memories.  A vivid 2011.  I can’t wait.

I’ve been debating for the past week or so since Julie announced her intention to art journal every day whether or not I could do the same.  It’s not that I wouldn’t like to.  It’s just that I never seem to make the time.  It’s sad that I don’t spend more time working on my art journal.  I have some of the coolest toys at my disposal.  I have a hard time disconnecting from the distractions of my life.  I want to be downstairs in the living room with the rest of the family.  I want to hear the kids bickering with each other and the never ending drone of cartoons and have all the wonders of the internet in front of me.  When I’m working in my art area upstairs it’s just me and my project.  A welcomed occurrence once I finally get started, but a huge negative when I’m trying to psych myself away from my desk.

So I’m going to treat this like the kick in the pants that I need and I’m going to participate.  Even I can stand the social isolation for only 10 minutes a day.  I probably won’t be diligent about blogging about what I’ve done every single day, but I’m going to strive towards posting at least twice a week from now on.  Even I can think of that much to talk about.

To cement this new goal of mine, I spent nap time working in my art journal.  Nap time is almost sacred in our house.  My 3 year old can NOT function unless we adhere to his schedule as much as possible.  On days that errands keep us from following our routine he is unbearable to be around.  It’s a mixed blessing since he is a dream to put to bed as long as we follow a strict regiment of bath-> teeth brushing –> tuck in.  When we can’t do that… *shudder*

When the older boys are home on the weekends or school holidays they have quiet time too.  For two hours it’s peaceful.  Normally I spend that time doing anything that having the kids around would make tough.  That usually translates to watching a movie or playing a game.  But what I’m going to start doing is using at least part of that time to nurture my creativity.  Maybe I could benefit as much as my child from having a routine that I don’t waver from.

I created a spread about my goals for 2011.  I’ve seen some pretty fierce hate about the word “resolutions”.  So call them whatever you’d like.  These are just some things that I’d like to work on this year.  I think every day is a good time to bring positive change into your life, but there’s just something more exciting about doing it at the start of a new year.

My goals are totally attainable this year.  This is not a total list.  There are so many things I could add.  Like finally finishing my Remains of the Journal I started last year.  Learning to crochet a granny square is on there too.  Still haven’t figured that one out.

I just used bits and pieces of things I had sitting on my desk.  The stripped tape along the right edge was scavenged from something my son was working on.  He took a strip of my “fancy” tape and colored between the stripes.  I was a little bummed since I horde the stuff like it’s gold, but it’s my fault for leaving it sitting on my desk with all the stuff he knows it’s ok for him to use.  I like to use little pieces of his art in my own.  The heart image is a packing tape transfer that I made a month or two ago for a project that I never started so I nabbed it from the scrap heap.  The quote came from a magazine that I got in the  mail the other day.  It’s a mystery as to why it was there, addressed to me at the correct address even.  Like I’d ever turn away more collage fodder.  The journaling is done on left over pieces of paper I throw into a flat box to dig through for just such occasions.

I had some fun with a shape I cut out with my Silhouette (which hasn’t worked as expected since I got the dang thing, but that’s a post for another day).  I painted over it on the left side with watered down paint and then lifted it up before it was totally dry which resulted in a lot of puddles of color just sitting there.  I didn’t want that to happen again so on the right page when I did a layer of gesso I let it dry better.  Much to my dismay, it stuck to the page.  I scraped off as much as I could and I was left with an interesting texture.  I don’t love it, but it’s ok.

I felt the need to do some personal journaling, but not necessarily anything that I wanted anyone else to be able to read.  I wrote my thoughts in pencil over a section of book text, turned it sideways and it became my title when I painted on it with black ink.  I played a little with an extremely used set of kid’s watercolors.

This embellishment is one of those things I like to include in my art journal whenever I can. The yellow circle is the top of one of those little popper things that are filled with streamers that burst out when you yank the cord.  The butterfly is punched from a Dr. Pepper can I drank last night.  It’s visually interesting, but still meaningful.  Layers aren’t just about paint and collage.  I think layers of meaning and symbolism are really important too.

Lately, I’ve been entertaining fantasies of going back to New York.  Last Thanksgiving I was lucky enough to go for a visit with my mom with my love.  We stayed at her house in Long Island over the long weekend and she and her friend drove us into the city the first couple of days and we rode the LIRR in on our last morning.  Ever since I can remember I’ve wanted to visit NYC and see all the usual stuff.  I made a list of the things I really wanted to do during my visit and my mom and her friend made it happen.  We saw a show on Broadway (or close to it, at any rate), went ice skating at the Rockefeller center (and later went up to the observation deck), rode the subway.  It was such a wonderful adventure.

Unfortunately, the lack of sleep got to me and I ended up getting sick early on in the trip and didn’t enjoy everything as much as I wanted.  By the end of our last day I was so frustrated.  We stopped in Pearl which is easily the biggest art supply store I’ve ever seen.  Floor after floor of crafty goodness and I just remember being overwhelmed with exploring it.  We made it to the highest level, only to turn around and come right back downstairs.  Since we flew in, it didn’t make sense to buy anything there since it’d have to make it past airport security to get home.  The only art related things I bought in the city were a Martha Stewart elephant punch that I’d had my eye on for awhile and a small roll of Little Red Riding Hood paper.  I was actually really disappointed by the lack of stores dedicated to arts or scrapbooking.  I really assumed there’d be dozens.  Isn’t New York supposed to be a hotbed of art?

A desire to travel is nothing new to me.  I always make resolutions to make the most of the places I live.  I’ve moved around a lot in my adult life due to my own and my ex husband’s military careers and have been fortunate enough to have lived on both coasts and many places in between.  I’ve had a lot of opportunities to see new things, but inevitably, I never live up to my goals to play hometown adventurer.  I think that it’s something I’m going to add to my list of resolutions for 2011.  I’m hoping that the new year will bring a change of scenery and with that move away from this part of the country that I dislike so much, I hope to really appreciate where life takes me.  With any luck it will take me back to New York, if only for a visit.

Today was the official release of Cataclysm, the latest expansion for the game World of Warcraft.  I mentioned that I go through stages in my hobbies.  My love does not.  He loves playing WoW all the time.  For the day to day stuff, he’s got his brother and assorted other friends that he enjoys playing with.  When I’m not in a particularly video game playing mood, I’ll join in on the occasionally playing session, but mostly we’re content to do our own things.  The launch of new content, however, is a special circumstance.  There are levels to gain and I’m expected to attempt to keep pace.

At the moment my interest in playing isn’t at an all time high, but I do enjoy spending time with him so that’s most likely how I’ll spend the majority of the next couple of weeks.  Once we hit the max level (up to 85 from 80) I’ll be able to go back to doing my own thing as we’ll have the next couple of years until the NEXT expansion to run the same content over and over again.  I’m just as happy to let him do that with his friends.  Since my Silhouette still hasn’t arrived to distract me, this is as good a way to pass the time as any other. 

For those of you who follow the game, I’m happy to say that we gained a level today from just a few hours of casual play.  The new zones are novel and for the most part, fun.  I could live without the crush from everyone who plays on the server trying to do the same quests at the same time, but I knew it would be like that going into it.  I *love* being able to fly through the old world.  Suddenly it seems so much more manageable when you can just fly up and over those pesky mountain ridges that used to require running through 3 or 4 zones to circle around to a zone that’s right next door.  I am definitely looking forward to the rest of our leveling progression.

It also doesn’t help that when I’m upstairs in my room, I’m isolated from the rest of the family.  As mentioned both computers are downstairs in the living room, as is the TV and video games.  It gets lonely up there.  I also need to remember to pick up a lamp because the overhead light just doesn’t cut it. 

Despite these setbacks, I’ve been working in my journal again the past few weeks.  On weekends I can usually entice my 7 year old, who loves to play in my supplies, to come hang out with me and create.  We talk about the things he cares about while he rummages through the box of paper scraps I’ve given him and creates pictures with turquoise pom pom trim skies and yellow button suns and I paint and glue and paint over that. 

Today for my 10-year-old-tomorrow’s birthday my love has taken the older boys to a movie while I’m home with the little one.  It’s nap time.  It has been for the past hour.  Nobody is home to miss if I’m upstairs in my room working in my journal.  I have this lovely pile waiting for my attention on my desk:

Instead of playing, I’m sitting here at my computer feeling discontent because my Silhouette still hasn’t arrived.  This past week I’ve filled several pages in a sketchbook with ideas for pages, which as you can probably imagine, hinge on the extensive use of shapes cut from my machine.  Which is such a spoiled brat attitude, I’ll admit.  I’ve gotten along fine for 30+ years without one.  In fact, for most of them I had no idea that such a thing existed.  I’ve got my paper punches my Big Shot, and my scissors.  I could be creating right now instead of whining. 

On Tuesday a new expansion releases for World of Warcraft.  My love and I both play and we pre ordered the digital copy of the game, which is downloaded and waiting for them to flip the metaphorical switch.  It’s going to be a time sink for sure.  WoW is my guy’s primary hobby.  It’s what he loves to do with his free time.  I know I could leave him to his own devices and catch up on my own terms later, but I wouldn’t do that.  I’ll play with him whenever we have time together to play.  Unfortunately, for a few weeks that means that I’m not going to have a lot of time to spend on anything else.  I’m afraid my Silhouette might not get here until after Tuesday and I won’t even have the patience to figure out how to use it since there will be dragons waiting to be killed in my game.

And so that’s kinda where I am right now.  I got out my good camera today for the first time in ages.  It’s a bigger camera.  A Canon… XS?  I think.  I just realized that I don’t even remember my camera stats off the top of my head because it’s been so long since I’ve used it.  I’ve barely taken a photo in months and even then it was either with a cell phone or a 8+ year old point and shoot.  It never seems like a photo-worthy event.  But I’m realizing looking back over the last year that I hardly have any pictures at all.  When I was big into digi scrapping it wasn’t uncommon for me to take a couple of hundred photos every day.  Not important things, just day to day stuff.  Went for a walk… take some pictures of it.  Took the kids to the zoo for the umpteenth time… take pictures of it. 

I don’t think it’d be such a bad thing to get back to that mentality.  I think it’s much better to have too many pictures than not enough.  I’ve heard arguments for both sides.  The live in the moment camp seems to think that taking pictures means you aren’t really experiencing life as you live it.  The die hard memory keepers feel like if you aren’t documenting every single day in a scrapbook you aren’t doing enough to preserve your life for future generations.  I fall somewhere in the middle.  I certainly appreciate the value of scrapbooking as a form of expression, as a way to keep memories alive, and as a hobby.  But I don’t feel like I need to document every minor (or even major) event in my life either. 

What I do wish is that I had more pictures to look at when I’m in the mood.  Memory is subjective and fuzzy, but a picture brings everything back.  I always seem to forget little details, but it’s great to have pictures to remind me of some random thing I might never have realized I’ve forgotten.  I just seem to think that there’s nothing happening in my life worth taking pictures of most of the time lately.  Some of the same reasoning that keeps me from being a very good blogger or Twitter user.  My mundane feels exactly like that… Mundane.  But it’s only the ordinary for as long as I’m living that little slice of life.  Every time I move or as the kids get older, the things I take for granted right now as “boring” are in danger of being forgotten.  It’s something I need to keep in mind.  I’d hate to regret the fact that I didn’t so something as simple as take a few pictures or write down the cute things the kids are doing and saying.

Post a list of Chronicle Books valued at up to $500 that you’d like to haul in, and you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing to WIN your list of books! And, one of your readers who comments on the post will win the list too!
Last day to submit entries is December 10th!

I think this is a fun idea so I decided to play along.  One thing I can’t get enough of are craft books.  These are the ones I’d love to have:

I don’t feel like I can ever have too many business books.  I have never taken the steps to start my own business, but I’d really like to someday.

I have the companion book for this planner already.  It’s a good resource and I enjoy referring to it. 

I would really love to learn how to embroider.  I’ve eyed this book a few times in the past, but I couldn’t justify getting it only to realize that it’s just not my hobby. 

I already have a couple of stencil books and I’m forever looking for more or creating my own.  I’ve coveted this book for ages. 

More stencils!  These look like fun. 

Another stencil book I’ve had my eye on for awhile.

Would you believe yet another book of stencils? 

We’ve been toying with the idea of moving to Maryland.  I lived there for about 5 years and never felt like I took advantage of all the things there are to see and do there.

I would have loved to have this book when my love and I went to New York to visit my mom last Thanksgiving even though the kids weren’t with us.

Another one for the next time I go see mom.

This is just too cute.

Also adorable. 

This one just looks really interesting. 

I’ve seen these two in the book store and I always love just flipping through and looking at the patterns.  It’d be great to be able to browse them at length. 

Printmaking is something I’d like to try someday.  Specifically screen printing, but this seems like a great resource for any kind I could ever want to explore. 

I’m not much of a greeting card maker, but these projects look like they’d be a lot more fun than I usually imagine when I think of greeting cards. 

I haven’t knitted for a few years now so it would be great to have a resource to refresh my memory.

Another embroidery book. 

I never know quite what to expect from this book.  I’ve never seen it in person to flip through it, but I’m intensely curious. 

I love Indian food and it would be awesome to learn to make it at home.

This looks like an interesting book.  I’ve never read anything by this author before and it’s always nice to expand my comfort zones.

I debated adding this book because my love of celebrity gossip isn’t something I consider to be one of my finer qualities, but there you go.

I really enjoyed browsing through Chronicle’s catalog and seeing what kinds of books they offer.  When I’m shopping for books I rarely look beyond a self imposed set of criteria.  This was a cool exercise for me. 

I love paper shapes on my pages.  Especially book pages.  I have a pretty unlimited supply of books to repurpose.  I found out that our local used book store just throws out any books that they can’t sell.  Not sure what their criteria is specifically, but I’ve found everything from old text books to paper back romances in their dumpster and everything in between.  I’m not above a little trash picking for treasures.  The other day I found a miniature reprint of the 1900 Sears and Roebuck catalog, itself printed in 1970.  It’s got the most awesome yellowed pages filled with the kind of line drawings you’d expect from a catalog from that era.  Love!

I probably wouldn’t have bowed to my desire to get a Silhouette.  As mentioned I’ve got ways to cut paper.  I’m not above tracing a stencil on a page and just using a pair of scissors.  Then I saw that a bunch of blogs were given promo codes for cyber Monday and the deal was really good.   So after a little negotiating, we called it an early Christmas gift and I ordered mine.  Now it’s Friday and I’m still waiting.

I realize that probably a billion other people jumped on that same deal so it’ll probably take awhile to get it.  I can deal with that.  It’s not a big deal.  What irks me a little is that I wasn’t given any kind of tracking number.  I’ve always been given one for every other thing I’ve ever ordered online.  It’s so weird to me not to have one for a purchase this big.  I’ve actually been toying with the idea of contacting customer support to see if they can give me one.  But then I feel like that’d make me seem like “that lady”.  If you’ve ever worked in customer service then you know exactly which lady I’m talking about.  Being like that is a horrifying thought.

So to pass the time I thought I’d list a few things that are still on my wish list. 

Shimmer Mod Podge, silver.  I kind of hate to admit that even though I have half a jar of Golden gel medium, I still use my Mod Podge for everything.  First the dumpster diving, now the cheap-o glue… what must you guys think of me?

Like a bird, I’m attracted to shiny things lately.  I bought a pack of acrylic gem stones the other day and I just can’t get enough of them.  I think I might actually have to buy this assortment.  It’s almost half off for all the faux gem goodness I could possibly use.

Sequins!  For the same reasons as the gem stones, I really like the look of the random sequin glued or sewn on the page.  I really like the assortment of shapes in this pack.  I think a little seashell would really brighten up a page.

I saw one lonely little Love Nest paper pad by My Mind’s Eye at Hobby Lobby last week and I just kinda fell in love with it.  I’m not a paper snob.  At all.  I usually pick up one of the 180 sheet pads of whatever happens to go on sale at HL.  When I need paper in a project I’m far more likely to go with a sheet of notebook paper, a book page, or a some graph paper than patterned scrapbooking paper.  I like to have some on hand, but again, not very picky about it.  When I have bought “fancy” papers like a couple of packs of Basic Grey, I’ve been super reluctant to use it.  I’m not sure if this pad would get used or not.  All I know is that it’s a glitter pad in shades of pink and brown and that it features birds and dots.  It’s just all kinds of win and I want it.  Better decide soon before someone buys that last pad.

I read a tutorial once about making my own alcohol inks using rubbing alcohol and RIT dye.  It was a pretty awful experiment and it pretty much turned me off of alcohol inks for a couple of years.  I’ve been wanting to play with transparencies lately and I’ve seen some really cool coloring affects achieved with Ranger inks.  So it’s on my list, although not as high as some of the other things.

I might as well mention that I’d be happy with nearly every product Ranger has ever produced. 

Without a doubt, the thing I want the most right now is Japanese masking tape.  Pretty much any kind.  I’ve got a fairly decent collection of tapes right now.  Any time I see an interesting roll in the paint section of the hardware store or meant for drafters or unfortunately very rarely, in an art or scrapbook store, I snatch it up.  I think I’ve got something like 20 rolls of tape in various widths, textures, and colors.  And I still want more.  I guess as far as addictions go, tape probably won’t land me in the middle of an intervention, at least.  So there’s that.

Just about anything from 7 Gypsies.  I’m not as wild about their patterned papers, but I adore everything else they’ve ever created.

I could go on and on actually.  There are just so many cool tools out there that I’d love to play with.  I really hope that my Silhouette makes it here today.  I’ve been searching the internet for all the tutorials that I can find about using the software that comes with it and ideas for projects.  I’ve got my unlimited pile of book pages to practice on just waiting for it to show up.  I think it’s about time to check out the window again just in case some sneaky delivery guy left it outside and then crept away.