Vacation

What I'm doing: Friday morning my family is leaving for a roadtrip in an RV to Yellowstone!  We have never been there before and never done an RV trip before so I am sure there will be many adventures.  So I do not think I will be able to post while we're on the road, so today's post will be the last post for a little bit! 

What I'm going to be reading: Today I went to the library to stock up on books for our trip.  Here are the ones I will be reading.  I will let you know what I think of them!

1) Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (recommended by a friend!)
2) Open City by Teju Cole
3) Little Princes by Conor Grennan
4) i think i love you by Allison Pearson

What I'm creating: I finally made some time today to make more art journal pages, and I made quite a few since I had not many any in awhile.  Here is my ICAD for today.  This one is made from scraps from the other pages from today.  I missed the halfway mark celebration on the 16th, but that is okay.  I plan on taking cards with me on the trip so I'll try to continue the project on the road. :)

Here are the pages I made in art journal #1 today.  I loved the feather earrings on the first page from today, so I was excited to incorporate them into the bird themed page.  The quote followed the theme of the page perfectly.  The second page is just a collage of magazine pages that go along with the quote.  The last page is simple, but I have had the balloon concept ready in my mind for awhile, so I am pleased with how all of these pages turned out!

Here are the pages I created today in art journal #2.  A new technique, stamping tissue paper, is showcased on the first page.  I used scraps of paper along the right border of the second spread.

Okay, well I have a ton of packing and cleaning to do but spend a few days creating something beautiful while I am gone and tell me about it in a comment. :)

Much love.

Friendship

What I've been doing: Spending time with friends these past few days has made me so excited to go back to school, even though there is still a month and a half left or so.  I was in Seattle on Saturday, and we went to Pikes Place and the gum wall!

What I'm listening to: One of my friends showed me this really good video about a different way to curl hair.  Not only does the lady have pretty hair, but she also has a wonderful voice!  They perform covers of different songs, including Look At Me Now, Written in the Stars, and Forget You.  Soooo good!

What I'm creating: I have not had much time to make new art journal pages at the moment, but here are a few ICADs. :)  I just used pen on these.

Make sure to tell a friend how much they mean to you! :)

Much love.

Josh Ritter

What I'm reading/What I'm listening to: If you have not heard of Josh Ritter, you seriously NEED to look him up.  Not only is he the nicest guy ever, but he is an amazingly talented singer/songwriter/author.  Tonight my dad and I went to a book signing and we met him for the second time.  His recently published book is titled, Bright's Passage.  Not only did he remember us, but he was so thankful that we came and supported him.  Plus he gives the best bear hugs.  My favorite song at the moment is Come and Find Me.

What I'm creating: Here is a present I made for a friend for her birthday.  Her favorite colors are blue and purple, and she loves giraffes!

Here is a page from art journal #2.  I just made a simple collage and added a sticker in the middle.

Well I am going on a train tomorrow to visit a friend so I will write again when I get back on Sunday.  It's my first train ride, and I am so excited.  I feel like I'll be in a movie...riding a train and everything. :)  Have a great weekend everyone!

Much love.

Compliments

So I dyed my hair last night...burgandy color, and today at work so many people gave me compliments!  It's crazy how it feels so nice to be noticed and appreciated, and in return, notice and appreciate others.  Spread the love.

What I'm creating: Here are my ICAD for July 11th and 13th.  The silver paper is a gum wrapper!  And I went with a window theme on my index cards and on my journal pages because I am going on a train ride this weekend!  So I've been thinking about travel and windows lately. :) I need to spend some more time on Daisy Yellow's blog to get some index card inspiration.  After looking around at what everyone else is creating, it makes me want to put more time and effort onto my little canvas.



These next pages are from art journal #2.  I love the window concept and how people can see piece of the other page through the hole.

This last page is very simple, but I like how it turned out.  The bottom paper looks black, but it is actually dark purple.  I used a new stamp on the top of the page.

Spread some love and share a compliment today. :)

Much love.

Sleepy

Today was a long day, filled with projects at work and cleaning my bedroom at home.  My room now looks like no one lives in it, in my opinion.  My mother says that is just finally looks clean!  When I get a place of my own it is going to need a large craft room for me to create all of my projects. :)  Something like this...

or this...

from: here and here

What I'm creating: The first two pages are from art journal #1.  They are both pretty simple, but I like how they turned out.  The first page I used scraps of paper and a newspaper clipping of a quote about teaching.  The second page has a cartoon my mom saved for me because she thought it was funny.  I used a stamp, and the brown paper came from a Starbucks bag. 

The bottom two photos are from a spread in the paper bag journal.  I used a sudoku page and filled in inspirational words in the blank spaces.  Under the game board I created a mandala of sorts using quotes with a heart in the middle.

The rain just started to pour outside...good thing it's July, huh?  Sweet dreams to the sound and smells of rain. :)

Much love.

I love sundays

The combination of church, relaxing, time with family...it makes for the perfect day.  Church today was SO encouraging.  We finished the statement "God is great because..." and texted it to a number.  At the end of the service there were some of the responses shown on the screen.  My favorite was, "God is great because He can change any heart."

What's inspiring me:  This piece of artwork!  I used it as inspiration for my ICAD, shown below.

What I'm creating: Here are my for July 9th and 10th.  They are both pretty simple.  I feel like I have been slacking in this summer project that I've started, so I am glad July 16th marks the halfway point in the index-card-a-day journey.  I hope it will motivate me to work harder. 

What I'm decorating with: I found this yellow box at my grandpa's house today.  It was in one of his barns, and I thought it would be the perfect place to hold my index cards!  I added the blue and white ribbon trim.

I love the blue and yellow color combination!  Here are some other inspirational photos with my favorite color scheme. :)

from: here, here, here, here and here

Much love.

Library Trip

What I'm reading:  I just finished two really good books this week.  I have heard lots of good things about The Help, and I finally got around to reading it.  I got so attached to the characters and I found myself cheering them on as I read.  I am looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out later this summer.  Hopefully it is as good as the book. :)  I also just finished reading The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen.  My sister gave it to me to read around a year ago, and I am so glad that I read it.  It was the perfect mixture of a romance story and a story about a family trying to stay together.  One of my favorite quotes from the book is, "I'd long ago learned not to be picky in farewells.  They weren't guaranteed or promised.  You were lucky, more than blessed, if you got a goodbye at all."

Today I went to the library for the first time in ages.  I ended up checking out several books with ideas for art journals.  If I end up finding anything good, I'll let you guys know the titles!  I also checked out 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult, and I cannot wait to start reading it next week.

What I bought: I got three new books from the book cellar at the library that I plan on altering some day! Here are the covers of all three of them:
Book 1: come love with me and be my life by Peter McWilliams
Book 2: loving promises especially for you by Helen Steiner Rice
Book 3: the scented room by Barbara Milo Ohrbach

Book one: I liked this book because it has a ton of love poems in it.  Also, they are short so there is lots of white space on the pages to decorate and change.

Book two: This book has poetry about loving the Lord.  There are bible verses and beautiful watercolor flowers.  These books might be too pretty for me to change!  The cover is a mint green. 

Book three: This blue print is on the inside of the cover and it is what drew me in.  I love love love the print!  It is beautiful.  There are also lots of photos of flowers throughout the book which I will need to come up with a creative way to play with those pages. :)

What I'm creating: The paper bag book is coming along really well.  I fully finished the first two pages today!  I filled them with stamps, quotes and scraps of ribbon.  The quote on the post it note came from someone I heard at work.  Crazy where you can find inspiration!  It is kind of hard to read, but it says, "the more you worry about stuff, the more good time you burn." 

Here is a page from art journal #2.  I used a leaf stencil that my mom had.  The border is created using gel pens. 

Here is  page from art journal #1.  It is kind of hard to read, but the quote on the left side of the page under the photo says, "patience is the key to paradise."  The photo came from a piece of junk mail!  The pocket on the right side of the page is made of construction plans.  I put a fancy quote inside the little pocket.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Much love.

Brown Bag

What I'm creating: I found this video from the Journal Junk blog when I was searching around last night.  I loved the idea of creating something useful and beautiful out of something that most people would use for trash.  I made a smaller journal using the bottom of the paper bags.  I used masking tape and string to hold the pages together, and I used a doilie on the cover!

I have the main pages of paper bags set up to make a larger journal, but I do not know how big to make it.  What do you think?  I love using paper bags because I don't feel like there is pressure to make the pages perfect.  I can just fill them with me. :)

Here are two pages I made in journal #1.  For the top page I used a stencil I got at Michaels yesterday.  The bottom page is not my favorite, but I love the quote I pasted on: "Life is a beautiful struggle."

What I'm watching/What's inspiring me: I was watching So You Think You Can Dance last night and Caitlynn and Michell's dance last night, and it was amazing!  Here is the video for their dance; acutal dancing starts at 3:23, and I had chills even after it was over. :)

Much love.

Alas We Aspire

What I'm listening to: My wonderful sissy made me a cd, and track #3 is Alas We Aspire by Amy Stroup.  The song was featured on Pretty Little Liars and it is a new favorite.

What I'm creating: I went to Michaels again today, which is becoming a problem.  I buy too much whenever I go there!  I got three new stamps, several sticker sets, and cute tags with flowers on them.  I used one of the stamps in both the projects I made tonight.

Here are my ICAD cards for the 5th and 6th.  July 16th marks 45 days of creating cards, which is halfway through the project.  I need to find a cute box or something to put the cards in because at the moment they are all paperclipped together, and now the paper clip is about to burst!

Here is journal #2.  I used the gift card spreading technique for the background, and I used my new stamp on this page as well!



What I'm looking at online: I was searching through different blogs today to look for inspiration and I can across this site, and I LOVE her journals!  She has beautiful ones on sale at her etsy shop, and I literally spent two hours searching through all of her old posts about art journals. 

Much love.