Journal Crazy, May Day swap, and Birthdays...

I saw this tutorial by Lisa Sonora Beam on how to make mini journals from greeting cards and had to try it myself! So much fun and quick, too!

I used scrapbook paper, old ledger paper, music sheets, and scraps from my daughter's birthday invitations and other paper scraps.

oh, and stickers (love my PaPaYa! stickers) and japanese deco tapes!! (just google or look on etsy! i love RetroNaNa or JustaPerfectDay)

And here are some more journal pages from my adventures with Nostalgic Musings. We're on week #2. I have yet to do the lettering, but I'll get to that today or tonite when everyone is asleep!

Here's on of the first pages I completed. It took me back to when I was a kid! I love writing about myself at that age. So much creative energy! I'm glad I still make art today.

And I ventured into making my own stamps! I had the materials to do it but just couldn't make the time or find the motivation (you know how that goes!). These were made with items bought from my FAVORITE japanese dollar store, Daiso. Just some wooden blocks and cut pieces of "no slip" shelf liner.

Other artful adventures:

I won this lovely hand-made fabric wall pocket from Ellen at One Ripe Peach! It's made with vintage sheets (my favorite fabric of choice these days!) and you can tuck things into the pocket. It's hanging in my studio as we speak!

Found this wonderful booklet full of old labels on Ebay. Most of the pages are still intact and include airmail labels, address labels, blank (in red and blue!) and labels for poison, fruit, jam, etc. Awesome! But it REEKS of smoke! :( Anyone know of a good way to get rid of smokey smell from old paper? I'm experimenting with putting it in a plastic bag by the window with some dryer sheets. Crazy, I know. but I think it's working...

Other fun stuff...it was my birthday last saturday and i was surprised by a dinner at PF Changs (thank you, little brother!) and some gorgeous roses! It was a wonderful birthday considering we were just going to go out for coffee (weathering a mini financial storm right now...all will be well soon). So this was the icing on the cake!

Also, here is the amazing items i received recently in a may day swap hosted by artsymama. my partner, vivian, put together this wonderful collection of goodies (below). (she made the tussie mussie--paper cone with flowers--above!)

am i lucky or what? she made this amazing bracelete, too!

and that about wraps up what's going on over here. we're having some cloudy/rainy/cold weather again...so i'll just finish with this post of a sunshiny day earlier in the week:

can't believe my little girl is going to be ONE already!! two more weeks...wow. she's walking a little bit more each day and climbing (!!) on everything. can't leave a laundry basket because she will either climb in it (full or empty) or turn it upsidedown and stand ON TOP of it! she's a crazy little one but i love her dearly!

Arizona Adventure (April 10-17, 2010)

napping in the shade

cool chalk art at the santan outdoor mall in scottsdale, az

visiting with the butterflies at the botanical gardens

maya gets a little visit from a butterfly friend! it landed right on her pretty skirt.

sureya and grampa study some butterflies

playing in the mud! on a warm spring day in grandma's backyard

maya waters the plants (no, she's not hurt...she's making a fashion statement with band-aids! just like her older sister used to!)

fun MAIL and art journaling class

i love it when i get good fun stuff in the mail!! along with the usual boring bills and catalogs i found my JOURNALFEST registration booklet! yeehaw! it came inside a hand-sewn folder which was mailed in a clear plastic envelope (sooo cool!)

on the cover of the folder is the word "suenos" which means dreams in spanish. this is certainly a dream of mine, to go to Journalafest and be among other like-minded artsy types, taking classes for three days and journaling all night! :) (and the little vacation from the kids isn't so bad, either! i'm almost more excited about getting a FULL nights' sleep for FOUR nights!)

and speaking of journals...i made another journal for my daughter maya. she wanted one JUST like mine (same paper for the cover and everything!). she picked out the papers she wanted inside and i made it a little smaller so we wouldn't get our journals mixed up. (the envelope is for size comparison.)

she's already started writing and drawing in it! i can't wait for the day i can take her to artfest or journalfest with me. i know she'd have a blast.

i'm art journal crazy right now! i am taking an online art journal class called "nostalgic musings" and it is so much fun. it is taught by hope wallace karney of paper relics. each week she posts a new prompt and a video going over her journaling process.

somer journaling from our recent vacation in phoenix (above). i got a lot of journaling done while the baby was hanging out with grandma and grandpa (thanks, mom!).

below is an example of a "sub page" inserted between a spread. the lady is a photocopy of an illustration from an old book glued onto cardstock and cut out and taped to the middle.

when you turn the sub-page, you can see writing on the back and some "hidden" elements on the second page.

here is a page waiting to be journaled on...

ok, it is just too beautiful outside to be indoors on the computer. time for a blanket and some art supplies. hopefully baby will comply and not try to wander off TOO far...