Friday, August 27, 2010

I stabbed myself with the stabby tool...


so there's a hole in my finger...

things are just getting messier...

I'm going to hold off on more pics for now, because my camera died...  and I took these with my phone...   and the camera I ordered is on back order... YAY!  I love to wait for things that I shouldn't be buying anyway...

But really... me without a camera is like me without coffee...
 and I also promised Norma and Cliff I'd do a photo shoot with them like old times...
 I admit Roo has been the main attraction since she's been born....  and the fuzzy all fours walkers are getting jealous.  And not in a good way.

In other news, I made my first stab at making a scrapbook.  I mean, the actual outerings.  The banana peel if you will.  The thing the pages go in.  I mean, I had some book board... and some batting... and some fabric so I thought... how hard could it be?  So it's not quite as sturdy as the store-bought ones...  but I kinda like it. I probably need better board... and better supplies in general.  But I just made due with what I had handy..
 So far I've only got a flowery fabric on it. I'm planning on decorating it a bit...  since I think I'm going to use it for Eleanor's "first year of life" book. ha...
I don't know about you... but I could just stand in AC Moore and stare at the scrapbooks for 10 hours and still not know which one to pick...   so I figured if I made my own, it could be exactly how I want it. ( well... exactly as far as my skills go...)
I remember once my Dad compared mine and my brother's artwork.  He said we had similar taste and styles except his was missing the "insane" part.
In my opinion...  I am missing a lot of the actual know-how when it comes to creating things.  I just kind of trial and error till I like it.

Now I'm gonna take a stab at sleep...  since I should've been there 3 hours ago...  then I would've avoided the stab at my left index finger.  But I would've been four pages less done in my scrapbook. And I'm giving myself till her first birthday party to finish it!  Which is in a week...
which I also hope I have a camera for...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

keepsakes

So we all have some "hospital" pics... Wait... scratch that...  I've heard many birth stories... and many of them involve kiddie pools and living rooms and burying placentas in the backyard....
But I digress.... Anyway... I saved the bands roo and I wore at the hospital.  And I wanted to include them somehow subtlety. And I think you almost don't notice them...  



Ok, I guess you do notice them... but the monkeys are more apparent...

so there's some acrylics happening here... which do well on paper.  Don't seem to make it bendy. I guess if you poured a bottle of acrylic paint on the page... damage would happen. But a branch here and there...  a breeze for a heavy scrap paper! And on a side note: Do trees ever go out of style?  Not in my book... but I'm the one with a tree tattooed up the side of my body so I guess my opinion doesn't count...
 I don't know what I'm saying really... it's borderline babble and very non-imformative!  I apologize...  roo roo and I were just dress shopping at the mall for 3 hours...  We did stop for dinner though... so that took up some of that time. 


I will shut up now!  yay!


I wish you all a happy Friday in one hour and 15 minutes!  
Thanks for browsing my blog!
 there are no monkeys


Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Feets feets feets




So...  instead of going to bed early, I had some peanutbutter cup blizzard and some chai with whippy.  And this is what came out of it...

And honestly, these kinds of pages are my favorite... kinda borderline altered or collaged... but still work as a scrapbook page...   All I know is I have gel medium... spray glue... and paint all over me.

If you've never worked with Gel Medium, YOU MUST! It actually works great as a transfer on canvas. You can take a picture, swipe a coat of gel medium on it, paste it onto your project, let it dry, and then peel it back, and TADA! It's transferred onto your art!  (in backwards style of course)  And if you're working on a canvas, you can actually wash it off and the paper clears, but the ink stays.

In this particular work, I transferred some pages from an old children's book... Another great transfer is sheet music. Paper paper works better than photo paper because it peels easier...    Ya know.. paper paper...  ha...

Ok then.... I'm off to wash some stuff off a babies knees ....

Have a GREAT TUESDAY!



Sunday, August 8, 2010

Eleanor


I'm tryin' to finish her first year scrapbook by the time she turns 1... But I'll leave some room at the end for the actual birthday pics. So far I have an parade of random pages...  so I'm now going back to fill in the holes... (I keep thinking about my un-born, un-conceived second child Henry and how I'm probably not gonna do this for him...  but hey, I'll think about and really really really feel guilty...  often...)

In any manner....   I guess it goes for any kind of art... sometimes you get so drunk on it.
I have this photo of Daryl and Eleanor, and even though it's a little fuzzy...  it's just so sweet. And when I was making this page, It just plainly made me feel fuzzy.
So I decided to make it the opener.  It's not her first picture taken... but she's still pretty new...



So... anyway...when it's for me, I tend to get a little messier.  This page has lot of extra's...                                       First of all, that Somerset magazine...  I ALWAYS find interesting pictures in there. As well as all the other stuff... but I've used pages from that magazine in my art from time to time.
 big ol' bunch of flowers...
why not?

And I found this great "ribbon" at AC moore.  Though it looks more like curtains...                                The birdie is cut out of somerset with the micro scissors... and those foam stickies make it stand up a bit...

Ok well...  Roo is doin' a bongo solo right now, so I'll be back later...   I may be pulling an all- night scrap off with myself...  






Wednesday, August 4, 2010

For GG... with ♥

Been meaning to make a few pages for Grandma for a couple months now and finally got a chance to.

My lovely cousin was up from Florida last month, so we all got together with our kiddies at Grandma's house. And of course, it was a good opportunity to get some pictures of Grandma with six of her grandchildren. (she has way more than six, but I stopped counting after my brain exploded) 







Occasionally, I'll bust out my sewing machine when I scrapbook.  I really... don't know how to use it all together. I never made anything that could be worn, or hung, or sat on...  but a short straight line I can handle.  And I love what it does for a page! I wish the tension on my machine would stop getting all screwy... coz it gets all jammed up... and I'm running out of ideas on how to fix it other than just asking someone who knows how to sew....

And if you don't have a sewing machine, hand stitches are adorable on a page!


I started with two pages, and ended up with four. I could've probably made an entire scrapbook with photos from this 4 hour meet up if I wanted. But I'm sure her book could use pages from some other events as well.








And sometimes, a little journaling, or in this case, a note to GG fills a space nicer than jamming another photo.

Ok.  So good night all.  I'm either going to wawa for an Italian Hoagie, or to bed.  ...   ....  I know what I should do... but man I'm hungry...

Monday, August 2, 2010

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Dreaming through the long winters


I just recently had a garage sale... and I unearthed boxes and boxes of Cd's while looking for stuff to sell.  I came across this one, and I can't believe I didn't just carry it with my wherever I went.  Because I love it that much.
I remember where I was when I first heard it.  I was in Barnes & Noble. They were playing it throughout the store.  I went up to the register and said, "I have to have this cd, who is it????"And so I bought it and it makes me feel like I just drank a bottle of wine.

The last song, Recessional, might be my favorite song ever.

The whole cd is beautiful...  you just can't go near it.  So a Miller High Life toast to Vienna Teng this evening. THANK YOU! I love you!


On a side note, I had a dream the other night that I went to a Long Winter's concert.  And certain people had special passes to not only meet John Roderick, but to lay on him.  Ha... lay on him while he was on stage.  I don't know how he played with people laying all over him, but somehow the music kept on...
Anyway, I had one of these "special" passes, and when it got to be my turn, somehow something happened and the one of the guys in the band got sick.  Anyhow, it must've been a keyboard player cos next thing I know, they're asking me if I can read these charts... so I say, "SURE!"  So I guess not getting to lay on John was redeemed by getting to be in the band.  I wonder if they kept me around?  ha...  DAMN waking up always gets in the way of AWESOME happenings....  I at least got to hear myself play a couple tunes... wish I remembered which ones....