Childhood Challenge Album

Over at Soul Scrappers, I've decided to keep up with a year-long challenge about scrapping childhood memories. This kind of book is more of what I want my scrapbooks to be about: less about just the big events like birthdays and Easter, but about personal memories that matter. This book would be impossible for my parents to complete for me because they are MY memories- so while I like to have them commemorate the big events and name the people that I am too young to remember, I like to pull out the things that I found to be most memorable.

One note about this book- since I was a young child of the 80s, I decided to forgo the muted, distressed colors of most people's childhood books and go for more appropriate colors for that bright decade: hot pink, lime green, and electric blue (peppered with black of course). I hope that when my future children some day get to leaf through my childhood, they will catch a small glimpse of what it was like for me as a kid.

Stretching those creative muscles

I love learning. Whether its a new technique, or how to use a new tool, or really anything! I just love learning about everything! So, as part of my challenge to myself this year, I am committed to learning something new every month and trying to incorporate that new knowledge into my creative ventures. This month, I joined an ATC swap at artfortytwo.org which challenged me to "zentangle" my new year's resolutions. 

First, I went, "What the heck is zentangles?" Then I hit up Google images- and it is really cool! The only thing you really need is a white background and a black felt tipped marker. Then you just make repetitive designs as you feel- for my first one, I leaned heavily on Google images to give me ideas about patterns- but once I got the hang of it, I started to invent my own :) 

It is really relaxing and I will definitely be employing this technique on my scrapbook pages- it IS time-consuming but it feels just like the doodling you would do if you were chatting on the phone (or half paying attention in class).

Here are my four ATC cards:

I was supposed to represent my resolutions in zentangle format- but I just couldn't get away from using words- so I tried to incorporate them as best as I could. 

I really wish that Blogger would stop "fixing" my pictures to the way it THINKS I want the photo to go!!

I am researching what my next month's new thing will be! Right now, I am hooked on these zentangles~ :)

New Years Goals

Well, it's that time again: time to start a new year and start fresh! I really don't make "resolutions"- they tend to be lost within the first month- sometimes even the first week- and then I just feel guilty about not following through. So, instead, I've made some goals: mostly for self-enrichment (not the typical diet/exercise ones: those never have worked for me, but ones with life-enriching tones) and of course, creativity! 

My first creative goal is to participate in at least one challenge a month and in one ATC swap every other month. So far, I'm doing well: as of today, I've completed not one, but 3 challenges :) (of course that was last month so I still get to do one for January, but that's only because I find them fun).


The first challenge was a sketch challenge compliments of Joy Anderson at Soul Scrappers: Here is my page: 

This page I made to commemorate the cool dragon ornaments I put on the tree in honor of the year of the dragon- I had fun with this page- especially cutting out the ornament toppers by hand and adding lots of Stickles glitter. 

The next challenge was to use a quote in a Christmas layout that describes a fun aspect of Christmas- and I couldn't resist giving our "mooning" angel its own page. :) The quote was, "at Christmas, play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year." - Thomas Tussler. I thought it matched perfectly with my theme and decided to run with it! I had a lot of fun making this page- I even continued my love of glitter on this page!

The final challenge I completed was a sketch as well- with a challenge to scrap about a particular holiday event. This challenge was also issued by Soul Scrappers- and this one I had fun with too! I decided even though the sketch was for a single page layout, I needed a double page to fit my event- so I did the sketch on both pages- but made them a mirror image of each other. I did spell Solstice incorrectly: but I fixed it after the pictures were taken :)

I think that I am starting out this year creatively charged and ready to try new techniques! I can't wait to get going- what kind of creative challenges are you taking on this year? Are you going to try to learn new things? Try a new approach? Or just resolve to get more pages in your scrapbook album? I'd love to know! 

Christmas craft!

Christmas is such a fun time to do crafts! There are always so many that I want to do and so little time to complete them all! One I have managed to complete was a countdown to Christmas calendar: there are little drawers and tasty candy in each one- I had fun making the small pieces and using buttons and other really bulky elements that wouldn't go well in my scrapbooks.

I made the numbers mixed up on purpose- looking for the number is part of the fun! 

Here is a close-up of a few drawers- I really liked getting to use that flower brad (on day 4)- I have had that embellishment for years but it was just too bulky for my scrapbook!

What crafts are you working on this Christmas??

Branching out for Christmas!

Since getting my "crafting legs" back, I've been playing with ATCs (artist trading cards) and Art Journaling- I'm still diligently working on my Italy scrapbook, but it's been fun just creating for the joy of creating! I don't really see myself as a "real" artist and have very little confidence in myself when it comes to drawing or painting. Lately, my darling husband has been encouraging me to draw more and to be confident about what I make- and so I decided to find other ATC swaps online! 

This swap was for making Christmas owls- I could have used a stamp or paper- but I really wanted to doodle it- so I did! I drew in pencil, then colored with acrylic paint, and then outlined the whole thing with a paint marker (my new favorite thing). Of course, I had to add some glitter! I was really pleased with how they turned out and by making them and sending them to complete strangers, I feel like that demonstrates confidence! 

Here are the owls- I had to make 3 of them- so there are slight differences- but overall I think are cute :)

Ok- so Blogger hates me and I can't flip this the right way- but you can really see the glitter on the lights on the tree- plus I think the painted background looks the best in this photo

Obviously, I have seen better owls and will lament again about wishing to be "that talented" but I am finally feeling like what I create is "good enough"- which is an empowering feeling :) I am trying to learn new things and create for the sake of creating- not just so that a page can be in my scrapbook :) What is your challenge for the end of the year?

Details details details....

Wow- time has just gotten away from me! I have been doing a bunch of crafty things in my cyber absence, though. :) One of the things I have loved doing is spending a lot of time on individual pages: less quantity, but a lot more detailed!

This top ten double layout took forever: but the details were so much fun to put together- plus I loved the fact that I could add these kinds of pictures to our album~ I often don't know what to do with random shots and this was the perfect solution! 

Here's page two: the bottom tag should have a die cut of a cruise ship- with tiny pics of chris and I on the helm...but it refused to be photographed (fell off and has to be completely reconstructed)! 

Here's a close-up of the title- plus those letters on the file folders were tiny individual letter stickers- they look awesome but took forever to place :)

 This next layout was for Chris' birthday: I had fun pulling tiny elements together for this page!

What are some things you like adding to your scrapbook pages?

Crafter's funk

Well, it's been awhile here- I've suffered from major "crafter's funk" where I have many ideas for projects but lack the incentive to actually get started/find materials/do something besides think about the cool stuff I could do :) Then the hubs and I took an amazing trip to Europe (I know my life is hard...) and I was very involved in getting ready- hence here we are! Since I didn't want to drop off the crafting bandwagon before going to Europe, I did an Artist Trading Card swap with Soul Scrappers- the theme was sewing and these were a TON of fun!:

I used muslin fabric instead of paper, sewed buttons on it, cut up a fabric measuring tape and glued/tacked it on to the card and had fun with my rubber stamps and Stayz-On ink (I LOVE that stuff! It's one of my "necessary" crafting items)- plus I added some glitter to add some color! I had to make 8 for the other lovely ladies involved in the Swap- but there was something freeing about making something so small and intricate (ATCs are only 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches) with a theme- which inspired me to make a few more cards about my interests that I might not want to make a full-sized 12 x 12 page about! (I started one about my love of Halloween...that'll be another blog entry)

I'm glad I went on that trip- I've returned invigorated and feeling much more creative! I have a ton of ideas for projects in my scrapbook and for various other paper crafts- It was the perfect way to get re-inspired after being in a funk- How do you get back into crafting after just "not feelin' it"???