just your average fall day...

well, october has totally caught me by surprise!  and fall has suddenly arrived.  we were still having park playdates in the hot sun the last week of september and now...brrr!!  rain and clouds and socks and sitting by the heater and snuggling up with a blanket and each other to keep warm.  i live for summer. love it.  but i do appreciate the cold, cloudy, rainy, cozy season of fall.  

a journaling-pages-in-progress shot.  it is so meditative to sit and chat with friends while randomly taping things down in my journal. 

i guess we'll be saying goodbye to journaling in the sun on a blanket in the grass.  but we'll still keep being creative. even if by candle light! i am just finishing up my september daily journal/scrap/photo/book.  i'll post photos soon.  now i'm off to start one for october!  it is my new artistic interest.  you know, no matter how boring or routine you think your life is, once you start to keep a daily journal with a few photos and memories, suddenly your life seems so FULL and AMAZING.  i know that's how i feel right now.  i think that's what keeps me blogging, too.  just to capture these seemingly insignificant moments only to turn them into something more.  something so beautiful.

and yes, this is a photo of snails painting.  (fyi: no snails were harmed in the making of this painting! we used food coloring and gentle loving care)  this was part of my daughter's current science investigation.  oh, just your average day in the homeschool classroom!

so that's what i've been up to lately.  loving, living and dreaming.  i hope you are well.

photo effects & chalk art

just a little update...i've been having fun this past week participating in ella publishing's boot camp.  it was a week long event that consisted of different exercises in journaling, design, photo tricks, etc.  i learned a lot and this is just an example of how to add a different look (vintage, urban, etc) to your photos.  i love learning new tricks, especially in photoshop.  i'm shooting with the camera on my phone and it takes OK photos, but i always have to end up editing them.  i like this look and it's super easy to do (ok, as long as you know a little bit about photoshop.  but with all those tutorials out there, it won't take long to learn a few tricks yourself!)

over the weekend we went to a sidewalk chalk art festival in our neighborhood.  my stepdaughter participated along with some of her friends from art class.  they made a very cool mural with trees and fairies (photo came out too dark!).  i brought my daughter and her friends to see her big sister in action and they were inspired to draw as well.  above is just a little bit of what they did.  it was a fun day in the sun, watching artists of all ages expressing themselves.  

been working a little bit on my september daily journal. more photos soon.  fall has snuck up on me again!  the days are getting shorter which means i gotta get my photos done earlier than usual.  where does the time go?  so long summer. see you next year! 

what i've been up to...

so, september is now more than halfway over...but i decided to start a little september daily journal just for fun!  i was inspired by elise joy and her amazingly-beautiful-yet-simple journals.  (she has a ton of super cute--and affordable--classes, too!  you ought to check them out!)  my september journal is a basic 4x6 ring-bound mini book with a cardboard cover and various paper pages.  i used my favorite scrapbook paper and printed up some 4x6 photos, too.  the great thing about the ring-bound journal is you can take pages out, re-arrange and just punch holes in almost anything to add to your book!

so what else have i been up to?  took a fun class at paper source the other night.  i really needed a mom's night out and this class just seemed like the perfect little getaway!  we decorated blank calendar pages with stamps, stickers, glitter and punched out paper shapes. so simple but so pretty.  we only finished half the calendar in class so i was at risk of not completing this project once i got home! (you know how it is--projects tend to pile up fast!) but i finished up the last few pages tonite and i like how they turned out.  you could do this on regular cardstock.  just type up the months/days in a word document (or use a stamp set) and print on white card stock.  then stamp/glue/embellish as you wish.

and last, but not least, i received a lovely package of wonderful australian ephemera, paper bits and a magnificent hand-made journal (with a fun assortment of lined and hand-printed paper!) from sue.  we were partners in lawendula's paper swap this summer and it was just so much fun, i had to share it with you.  these swaps are so much fun.  you get the chance to be matched up with people from all over the world.  how cool it that? 

hope you like the new photo format!  i'm playing around with using blog templates for a more modern look.  there are some super cool blog templates and other goodies available out there by some talented and generous designers.  all of the above templates are courtesy of pugly pixel.  she has a ton of free goodies and lovlies to pretty up your blog.  

hope you are having a nice september!  

september has come so soon

well, this is the time of year that i desperately cling to any last bit of summer!  luckily for me, i live in northern california which pretty much has awesome weather all year round.  so it isn't TOO hard.  i can still enjoy sunshine and warm weather and wear summer dresses and flip-flops well into october!

got some much needed time in my journal today.  just started a new one, too (amid a pile of so many others! ha!  art journalers, you understand, right?)

here's a few closeups.  i love zooming into a page and discovering a whole new work of art!

i'm having way too much fun with my collection of deco tape.  this is very different from washi tape.  the deco tape is plastic and bright and comes in all kinds of weird patterns!  my favorite are the transparent kinds.  so fun for layering.  oh, and anything with cute, weird hello-kitty style or kawaii animals.

i love the changing seasons, don't get me wrong.  i can't wait for halloween and christmas and all.  but what i lament most about the end of summer is the end of looooong sunny days.  days that don't end until 8 or 9pm.  i love soaking up the last bits of sunshine.  the only good thing about the sun setting earlier each day is that in the fall, you get the most wonderful, dreamy, orange marmalade-y evenings as the sun melts into the sky.

here, maya combines shadows with a friend to form a strange, two-headed, four-armed mythical creature!

sorry, this post is so RANDOM!!  here is a shot of my work table today.  set it up outdoors in the backyard and played with all this fun stuff while maya played with a friend and sureya napped.  there's a little peek at my new journal.  it's a LARGE moleskine cahier type journal with a green floral print (came in a pack of two at barnes and noble--the other is orange, same print)  i decorated the cover with all my favorite deco tapes!!

journaling essentials are as follows:

1. WASHI TAPE!  

rolls and rolls!  different colors and patterns are a must.  i've organized them by colors: warm and cool.  (i found the pencil holders at target for about $3 each!)

#2. ALPHABET STICKERS!

all different fonts, colors and sizes.  these are all from different scrapbooking lines.  my favorites are echo park, october afternoon, and websters pages.  you can find these at michaels, target, and your local scrapbooking store (not to mention a plethora of online stores!)

#3. 6x6 SCRAPBOOK PAPER PADS!

these are my favorite kinds of paper to work with these days (besides vintage papers!)  they are so colorful, portable and not to mention a cheaper alternative to buying the full 12x12 collection kits.  my faves are basic grey, echo park, my mind's eye, just to name a few!

#4. SCISSORS, ADHESIVE AND GLUE STICK!

these are my favorites. small and portable.  the scissors are kid-sized, blunt-tip fiskars.  they are super portable, comfy, and are AIRPORT FRIENDLY!  you can take them on the plane with you. (please always check with your airline ahead of time, just in case these regulations change).  this is my favorite adhesive, too.  cheap refills (best deals are at walmart so far).  and this is my favorite glue stick.  others work just fine, but this one smells like almonds! yum!

#5. and last, but not least... SAKURA MOONLIGHT GELL PENS, WHITE SIGNO UNIBALL AND PILOT PERMABALL

absolutely my favorites.  they all pretty much write over everything (except the gel pens don't write on plastic or glossy surfaces too well, or on washi tape)  the bright colors are great for coloring in lettering, making doodles, and writing on dark surfaces.  the white signo is great for writing over the darkest surfaces and for outlining.  and the permaball, well, it just rocks!  it's smooth and writes over ANY surface and doesn't clog up.  i have yet to meet its equal!

hope you are living up these last few summer-ish days before fall really sets in.  what are your TOP FIVE must-haves when you journal or create art on the go?  i'd love to hear them in the comments! GO!

words to live by

here are a few more pages from the album i've been working on.  i really forget how much i like making these little scrapbook pages!

i love mixing colorful washi tape, boarders stickers, alphabet stickers (mix matched colors & fonts!) and using my moonlight gel pens to add little designs to the background.  and of course, i must have the pilot permaball to outline and journal and add little bits of texture and dimension to some of the elements on the page.

here is the cover of the album.  it is made of 5.75" x 5.75" envelopes from papersource (love LOVE that store!!)  i bought a super awesome kit on etsy once that taught me how to make the envelope album and now i'm hooked.  love it.

look at all these yummy colors!  and since it's made of envelopes, you can also use the pages to tuck in little bits of ephemera, notes, photos, secret journaling, etc.  i think these would make awesome journals, too.

i love the faux stitching on the border stickers on these two pages.  the stickers are from sassafrass lass.  makes me want to experiment with stitching (in the style of amy tangerine!)

some more examples of adding details with the gel pens.  i'm loving these banner stickers by sassafrass, too.  love adding them to the sides for a unique twist.

and i had to include a photo of my dear 81-year-young grama in my album!  i love her smile and her laugh.  she is the inspiration for the name of my blog, too.  love you, grama!  and i printed all the photos from my camera using the pogo printer.  fun!

my scrapbook style

i guess i would say my style is colorful and eclectic.  i don't do a lot of scrapbooking, but i am starting to kind of like it more and more. especially since they hold all of my precious photos of my day-to-day life. if they weren't in an album of some kind, they would just sit on a computer or in a dark box on my shelf!

so thank goodness for free classes like the one going on at big picture classes right now.  i am just that kind of crafter/artist that is motivated by daily assignments and "deadlines."  each day, a different teacher posts a new word of the day and a template.  i print out the template on colorful cardstock, cut to size, add a photo (printed from my portable pogo printer--LOVE!!) and then i'm good to go.

i've made 10 pages so far and that's 10 more photos that i will actually have the enjoyment of seeing and sharing with others. yay!  

and this is just a random shot taken with my phone at a red light on my way back home from running errands this afternoon.  i was just inspired by the super blue sky and the pop of red and yellow from the old western appliance sign.  (excuse the crazy dirty windshield!!  i must've run into a bunch of crazy bugs or something).  but that sign has been there for as long as i can remember.  now i am actually a little bit inspired to go around my town taking photos of all the old signs and buildings.  i'll keep you posted!

summer fun & giveaway winner!

here i go happily journaling my summer days away. just a few pages-in-progress.  i really like to see the pages before i write on them. sometimes i like them better that way.  full of potential. :)

i just love mixing the craziest colors together. i don't think ahead, just play with whatever catches my eye.

journaling about some of our current summer happenings and catching up with photos from summer days past.  played with my pogo printer and used some photos in my journal.

thinking i'd love to get my hands on an old polaroid, but i heard they stopped making them and the film, too!  anyone know more about that?

and here we are, strawberry picking round 2!  we loved it so much that we had to go back with some friends and show them the fun and wonder of picking your own fruit, straight from the ground!  yum. so fresh and the smell is just divine!

we've been playing at the fountain a lot these days.  it's like going to the beach but without the sand and the fear of little ones wandering into the ocean!

how could i resist this photo of cute little feet?  our friends love to visit and join us on our picnic trips to the fountain where we sit in the shade and enjoy our little oasis in the middle of our lovely downtown.

oh, and congrats to LELAINIA for winning the packet of summer fun from my giveaway.  please email me your details and i'll get that out to you asap! :) (kinueko aT gMail (dot) Com) thanks for all who entered.  i do love to read your comments!  you are always welcome to stop by and chat.  my door is always open. ;)

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

pink and blue

working in my new journal the other day.  played around with a set color combo.  PINK and BLUE.  here are a few pages and close-ups.  remember to enter the giveaway on this post by friday. ;)

little green dress (and giveaway)!

my littlest one models her new green dress that i made for her the other day.  it was my first attempt at sewing an article of clothing and i think it came out pretty good! :)  (just don't turn it inside out to reveal all the funky stitches!)

i've always wanted to learn to sew clothes.  especially make them for my little girls.  one of my very first memories (may be my actual first memory!) is of my mom making a nightgown for me when i was 2.  i remember laying down on the floor on crinkly pattern paper so she could trace around my body to get the right size for the gown.

next i'll sew up something for my 9-year-old and then maybe even try to make a skirt for me!  it's funny how all of my latent math skills came in use while constructing the dress.  looking at the pieces, i couldn't believe a dress would be possible.  but i followed the directions and it just all started to make sense.  it also helped that i bought the kit pre-cut to size from this awesome etsy shop.  next up, i tackle a vintage pattern from the 50s!  i'll keep you all updated.

ALSO, don't miss out on a little giveaway in the previous post.  still open until the end of the week.  i'll send a lucky commenter a little packet of artsy fun just as a little way of saying "thanks!" and "enjoy the last remaining bits of summer!"

Colorful little pieces

ok, i'm officially back from vacation and getting ready for back to school (eek!)  i was in a little bit of a blog/journal slump the past week.  just didn't fee like posting!  but i had to take down that last dreadful post with the too-dark photo and re-do everything bright and up close!  hope you enjoy. also did a little blog redecorating.  i like it. :)

 colorful little pieces

 meaningful experiences

meaningful (close-up)

open

 open (close-up)

 the month of joy

the month of joy (close-up)

 hello my name is summer

 hello my name is summer (close-up)

 special

 special (close-up)

 curious (close-up)

 stuff i want to remember

stuff i want to remember (close-up)

the two photos above are of a mixed media painting i did recently.  i was inspired by the style of sarah ahearn and her new book, "painted pages." i thought i'd try something outside of my usual approach.  my first instinct is to cover the entire page/canvas with color and pattern and brightness and joy.  i like this more reserved approach with lots of white space and simplicity.

what creative adventures are you up to these days?  how are you savoring the last few days of summer? let me know in the comments below and i will send someone a little summer sunshine packet of fun.