a-journaling I go... vacation journal

There are so many things to try that I often have a tough time narrowing my adhd focus down to one thing long enough to complete it. My stack of quilting UFOs has filled many a Goodwill bag over the years. But when I made plans to go visit a friend in San Diego last January, I knew I wanted to keep track, in some way, of the fun I knew we'd have. In surfing around god knows where on the intertubes, I found a tute on making a quickie journal from a manila file folder. As I'm surrounded by file folders all day long, it was right up my alley.

I didn't take any pics of the thing as I assembled it (gluing, folding, sewing, inking) (doh!) but now that it's finished, I figured I'd post it. Visiting Julie...

Front cover. You can see the tab at upper right. It ends up at the back of the journal.

Pages 1 and 2, scanned. Reciepts from shopping, bits of the trims I bought at Road to California, a sun because the sun was actually out and shining!!!, what we had for dinner, football playoff teams, an accordion of pictures.

Pages 1 and 2, photo 1. You can see the photo accordion. That's a big chicken looking at you bottom center.

Pages 1 and 2, photo 2. Unfolded flyer from that art store, I think. Pic of Julie in her wonderful kitchen making me something to eat.

Pages 3 and 4, scanned. The fish are street art we walked past. Blueberries for breakfast, Mex for lunch, cake for dinner, more trim, a crossword puzzle, bit of a book I bought at the excellent used bookstore, pic of coffee from an old dictionary, more receipts. Upper right corner is a bit of the lace we dyed one afternoon on the back patio. 

Pages 3 and 4, photo 1. Fish pic opens to show another image on the back. Book page unfolds. More little papers stuffed into the pockets.

Pages 3 and 4, photo 2. Just a different angle.

Back cover. Tim Holtz tissue tape. Some journaling using a white gel pen, the one I bought in San Diego.

And that's it. I'm very pleased with it. It totally captures the mood of that trip - colorful with odds and ends all over the place because we crammed so much into just three days. 

Sunday studio shots - the inaugural post

Because I have no shame and because I love seeing other people's creative areas, every Sunday I'm going to post pictures of what my studio looks like that day.  Here goes.

This is my computer desk, just to the left of my craft desk. Color printer hulking just to the left, b/w printer in the center, up on top of the paper trays. Above it a little green shelf with various hand made items on it. Sewing machine on the far left, under the window so I can see well. Fleece jacket that needs tailoring draped over chair (been there 3 weeks). Pillow case that needs mending under jacket, been there 6 weeks. Michaels coupons at lower right. Just enough room for my hands to get to the keyboard.

Craft desk. Finished ATCs for book page background swap at center. White sports tape DH didn't use for basketball hanging on front of stamp storage drawers (wait - don't throw that out! I'll use it in a journal!!  big eye roll from him). Newly acquired rolls of Tim Holtz tissue tape on shelf just below sports tape. Old wooden box of paints at left from making journal page backgrounds a couple days ago. Hand made pottery mug of glue sticks at lower right edge, next to little flower-topped glass jar containing Vaseline from peeling paint technique swap weeks ago. Wire box of ATC blanks below and just to left of Tim Holtz tissue tape, next to margarine tub of water from painting session. 

Roller blade cutter, ruler and mat at center front, left over from quilting days, works great for paper. Ironed lace hanging on back of door, right above the18-drawer chest I bought one time with Farrah while coming back from lunch when I worked in Oceanside. Love that thing, perfect for holding all the little stuff. I have it arranged alphabetically. I'll go thru it some day row by row and show you all the goodies. White shelves in center hold all the stuff I use most - flat boxes of various papers on top, stamp pads, paints, clips to hold things together while glue dries, etc, etc. 

This is the wall across from the desks. Bookcase chock full of books to alter, to scan, to tear pages from. Dog bed for Mags, box of books for library book sale, old white table drug in from family room cause it was easier to carry the table than put all the stuff on it away. Big TV I hardly ever look at except every July for the Tour de France and every two years for the Olympics. Makes a great place to hang the hand dyed crepe paper rolls I bought while in San Diego in January.

And because this is the first look at my room for some of you, let me say that it almost always looks at least somewhat like this - stacks of stuff on the floor (eBay piles, Goodwill piles, etc) but right now it's particularly bad because I'm weeding thru the way-too-much-stuff I've accumulated since I got into paper arts.

peeling paint technique swap and returns

For this one you had to smear Vaseline here and then on a card, then paint over it and wipe away the paint where the Vaseline was. You could embellish the card before and/or after the paint. I made a whole bunch of backgrounds for later use and ended up with three cards I was happy with. I love the image of all the kids reading. I've used it a few times and I'm not done with it.
The ones I got back were all very neat. The first card in the series of three returns at the bottom of the post is very cool in person. It's done on canvas and the colors are lovely. Good swap.

ransom notes swap and returns

This was a cool swap. Your ATCs had to have every single letter cut out one by one. My poor fingers. I had glue everywhere by the time I was done. I like my own cards a lot and the returns are all neat too. I especially love the Starbucks card. Mine are all on hand painted and stamped backgrounds and have some more drawing on them. I'm getting more adventurous...

queen for a day swap and returns

No rules other than your person/place/thing needed to be wearing a crown. First mine, then the returns. Whoops, I see I forgot to turn one of the return cards the right way. I made a queenly Russian chocolate Lab, a lady with a weird hairdo and a hand drawn flower, and the same lady image on a painted stamped background with some scrap paper cutouts.  

abstract torn paperswap and returns

Just like it sounds - randomly torn paper on an ATC. First my three, then the ones I got back. I used some handmade Japanese papers my friend Pam gave me, wild colors that I normally don't work with, and they were fun. I couldn't resist sort of making them into a something, so the first one is Clouds over Ocean, the 2nd is Envy, and the 3rd is Mardi Gras Moment.

the tree next door

Every spring this little tree bursts forth in the most gorgeous blooms. It's between my garage and my neighbor's, in a neglected out-of-the-way spot, but it doesn't know or care. It blooms like it's in the center of Times Square and thank goodness. It's just spectacular.