Art Journal – Week 9

The inspiration for this week was the collage style art of Sara Hearn, and our topic was ‘the power of imagery.’ Pick an image that you find inspiring and tell about it.

 
Journaling: History has always fascinated me whether it be in books, taking care of family heirlooms, or exploring some local or distant site in person. What was it really like to live in that time? would I have liked to live back then without all of today’s modern conveniences? I suppose scrapbooking is my little way of preserving my bit of history for the future generations of family yet to come.
Photo taken at the Rourke Ranch in Picketwire Canyon, Comanche National Grasslands, Colorado. The Ranch was established in 1871 and was a working ranch until the early 1980s. What started out as a 40 acre holding grew to over 50,000 acres under the care of three generations of the Rourke family.
credits: everything available at scrapbookgraphics:
by Tangie Baxter: Impossible Things (green star paper), Junque Journal, Splatter Grafitti- Junque Journal, Steamer Trunk (collage sheet), Studio Remnants Yellow Ochre (round clip, recolored)
by Maya: book paper from Book Nooks 1, Painterly Papers- Art Journal Backgrounds
Miss Vivi: Project 52 Dates
font: Jayne Print, Ticket Capitals Impressed

Last week was one of those weeks that you are grateful is over. Cramps of several kinds, not sleeping well, Beth not being able to dance because she hurt her foot somehow, the oven heating element burning out, etc. just left me in a cranky mood most of the time. I have always loved the book "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss, where each of the colors is associated with a mood that kids have to learn to deal with. This week was definitely a black week for me.

 
credits: Impossible Things by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics
fonts: TXT Abrasive, Horse Puke, Jayne Print

Weeks 7 and 8 aren’t done yet as I was really busy with costume alterations and sewing for the Dance Quest production. Performances are next weekend, so we are in the very busy homestretch for that now. DEA is only 3 weeks away too.

Valentine’s Day Festivities

We didn’t really do much for Valentine’s day this year because of things that just had to be done this weekend- ticket booth decor to be put together, dance practices, and Olympics to watch. We aren’t huge sports fans, but we always make a point of sitting and watching at least some of the Olympics when they come around. Figure skating is one of our absolute favorites in the winter set and the pairs kicked it off Sunday night. We actually did have the option of going out as the youth were offering babysitting at the church, but I was wanting to see a movie and the times just weren’t working on the movies I wanted to see with the babysitting hours. Either the movies started too early or too late, and I just didn’t see spending a bunch of money on a movie I wasn’t sure I would enjoy. So, we just stayed home and watched Olympics. Mark brought me flowers yesterday and the kids got a few conversation hearts and some valentine socks for the girls and a few $ for Bryce, so the day did not go unacknowledged.

The first grade valentine celebration was on Friday, and since it was only a half-day of school the party was at 11A. The teachers decided to go with a breakfast food theme, and we had to think of something healthy to bring as the school got some sort of grant that requires it- no loads of cookies, cakes, candy and what-not at parties any more. I was at a bit of a loss as to what to bring for a while, but when I was walking through the mall on Thursday afternoon looking for some peace sign earrings for Brenna's hippie costume and I went by one of the pretzel places and that reminded me that I had a quick recipe for soft pretzels. So,  Sarah and I made pretzels Friday morning to take to the party.

Here’s the recipe ;)
Soft Pretzels
3 pkgs dry yeast
2 1/4 C warm water
1 tsp sugar
*Stir yeast, water and sugar together until dissovled, and let rise until foamy.
*Add 6 3/4 C flour, kneading well until smooth. Let rise 15 minutes.
*In a small bowl, mix 1/2 C lukewarm water and 4 tsp. baking soda.
*Shape dough into rolls and slice. Roll out each slice into pencil shape and twist into a pretzel shape. Dip each pretzel into soda water and place on greased sheet. Sprinkle with salt or other mixture of your choice. I used a cinnamon-sugar mix made with 1 T sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon.
Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes.
*Makes 30 medium size pretzels, or 60 mini size.

 
journaling: Sarah helped make mini heart-shaped, cinnamon-sugar pretzels to take to Brenna’s first grade valentine party. Healthy & yummy, they were a hit with everyone!
credits: by Tania Shaw at funkyplaygrounddesigns: My One True Love, Newsprint Journaling Tags, Layered Up in You Volume 3; fonts: Bradley Hand ITC

and this LO is not related to any particular event, just recording a day when Sarah was in one of her goofy moods and was laughing outrageously at just about everything. I did it for the Studio NeeNee playday at Scrapbookgraphics.
 
journaling:   Some days Sarah is in a really funny mood and she just laughs and laughs at every little thing, whether it is funny or not. laughter is contgious, and soon you can’t help but laugh right along with her.
credits: Estranged Collection, Moments in Time alpha, and Metallicalpha: Red by Flergs, Templatz Vol 3 by NeeNee; fonts: Hopscotch Plain, Gigi, Century Gothic

And a couple of layouts showing off the first grade valentine festivities that Brenna participated in this year.

 
journaling: It’s time for the annual school tradition- exchanging valentines with your classmates. Brenna had fun getting her cards ready and decorating a container to collect them all in for the party on Feb 12th. First grade
credits: My Beloved by Pixel Works and Rachel Young at scrapartist; Scrap Pad Templates Designer Love: Amy Wolff by Amy Martin at The-LilyPad; fonts: Typewriter, Ticket Capitals Impressed

journaling: Brenna’s first grade class celebrated the day of love with a brunch themed celebration before the end of their half-day of class. Word searches, passing out valentines and a box contest along with lots of yummy food kept the kids well entertained during the hour.
credits: by Dianne Rigdon at scrapartist.com: Happy Together papers, solids and elements, Shabby Love elements soft things and shiny things; template by Amy Martin from Port Au Prince at songbirdavenue; fonts: Typewriter

Art Journal- Week 6

The main theme of week 6 is ‘what is your bliss’. We had a couple of blogs to look at where the ladies posted things that they found inspiring. There were lots of magazine pictures with plenty of beautifully decorated spaces all perfectly clutter and excess free. So, here is my take on the topics of ‘bliss’ and how it pertains to my living space.

journaling: I’ll admit to being fascinated by the thought of what it would be like to have a minimalistic design to my house decor. All of the clean, white walls with spots of carefully arranged color. Would I find it relaxing to have no clutter in my life? or would it just be a cold, sterile living space that would become a chore to keep up?
credits, pg 1:  everything at scrapbookgraphics: Book Nooks #1, Music Box and Sweetums by Maya, Art Journal Caravan Provisions {Parcel #6}, Glitter Foliage and Wizard School (blue bottle) by Tangie Baxter, Junque Journal by Tangie Baxter and Sherrie JD, heather sprig from Provance by Natali, pussy willow branch from Kit No 14 by ON Designs,  paint strokes from Impressions of Imagination and Impressions of Romance; font: FO Journal Away

  journaling, pg 2: Let’s face it, clean and sleek is just not my style. I’d much rather be surrounded with all of the items that remind me of my family and things I’ve done & created than have a perfectly neat living space.
credits, pg 2: everything at scrapbookgraphics: Book Nooks #1, Music Box, Bottle It Up and Sweetums by Maya, Junque Journal by Tangie Baxter and Sherrie JD, Wizard School (green bottle) and Splatter Graffiti- Junque Journal by Tangie Baxter, Vintage Antiquities Collection by Jen U, handpainted heart from Angelic by SussieM, paint strokes from Impressions of Imagination and Impressions of Romance, Fantasy by Peta Boardman (retired); font: FO Journal Away

This weekend’s LOs

A little bit of this and that this weekend on scrapping themes, I just worked on whatever I needed to get to.

journaling: It’s not uncommon for Sarah to give me big cheesey smiles, being deliberately silly, a time or two before she gives me a pretty one. That’s OK, as I love them all! 2009
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Squeak with Love and Cheese Alpha by Irene Alexeeva (coming soon!), Sketch Collection 32 by Jen Caputo; fonts: CK Elsie

Bryce has a big project going on in language arts class right now, and since our school has an IB curriculum it involves doing community service. One of the ladies in our church is working on making quilts to send to the mission in Haiti that we help support, so I hooked Bryce up with her for an afternoon of helping work on quilts. This was totally new to him, but he had a good time and learned a few new sewing skills. Now we just have to get the actual written part of the project all done.

journaling: It was an assignment for Language Arts based on the book they were reading “The Pigman” by Paul Zindel- spend 3 hours helping a senior citizen. Joyce Stubbe was looking for help with making quilts to send to Haiti, so Bryce went to help her after school one day. He learned new skills in sewing- cutting, ironing and pinning and had a good time with the Stubbes while doing it.
credits: Port Au Prince at Songbird Avenue; Learning to Sew by Pamela Donnnis at TheDigiChick; alpha from Vintage Quilt by Dani Mogstad; Template 16 by Dunia;
fonts: Ticket Capitals Impressed, Jayne Print

Since Brenna did her penguin project a couple of weeks ago, I was in a penguin scrapping mood and so I pulled out the pictures of the penguins at the St. Louis zoo from our 2008 summer vacation.

journaling: We made a quick trip to the zoo before meeting Dale just to see the penguin exhibit. It is a beautiful exhibit that is open and lets you see the birds up very close with no glass between you to get in the way. We nicknamed this guy "Mr. Splashy” as he liked to sneak up on people and splash them with the cold, fishy smelling water- it must be funny to penguins!
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Frosted Arctic by Tangie Baxter, Torn & Curled Paper Edges #2 by Jen Caputo; Template 166 by Yin Designs, Glitter Mess 3 by Micheline Martin, Water splash from Sea Oh Sea by Jofia; Ice Ice Baby Alphas- Cool by Amy Wolffe at The-LilyPad; Paint the Town Acryl-oholic alpha by Traci Reed at SweetShoppeDesigns; fonts: Juice ITC, Arial

Beth, Carissa and Brenna are participating in an original ballet production at our dance studio that was written by the studio owner. I was asked to help with decorating the ticket booth and I put this LO together this weekend while trying to put my ideas for the ticket booth down 'on paper.' Now, I just have to figure out how to translate the whole thing into something I can create with bulletin board and mat papers and fairy printouts LOL!
 
everything available at scrapbookgraphics
Alana McCarthy: Medieval, Fairy Friends- Singles, Fairy Friends 2
Lorie Davison: Flitting Fall Faeries, Bouncing Brownies & Bunnies (Katchka), Faerily Moonlit, The Big Balloon (weather vane, flowers), Hoppin' Frog Jamboree (Moon)
Jen U: Vintage Anquities Gold Elements (queen crown),
Tangie Baxter: Wizard School (wizard), Wonderland (web)
Glam Fairy: Meunier (houses, fence, hills)

A little look into the past with this one, as I had a beautiful new valentine kit to work with from Saxon. I pulled up photos of Megan and I together over the years and chose ones about a decade apart. Sometimes the photos during the 80s make me want to throw them in a box and forget they existed- what in the world were the fashion people thinking? :P LOL

credits: Vintage Valentine by Saxon Holt at scrapbook-elements;
fonts: TXT Sloppy Script

and I contributed these little printable goodies to the SBG Collective shop, if you need a quick and easy valentine treat box this year. Just print, cut and stick and you are done! (All proceeds go to help pay our illustrious Crew leader, Becky, a bit more for the wonderful job she does!)

This Weekend’s Layouts

I don’t get much scrapping done during the week lately. I’m able to find a few hours on the weekend though somewhere to scrap. With the start of opening number and Dance Quest rehearsals on the weekends during the next couple of months, that may taper off too a bit. I’ve still got costume alterations to take care of for Dance Quest too in the next month- I may even be learning how to sew tutus (I’m not sure whether to be anxious to learn that skill or not LOL).

A rainbow of nature pictures I took during my 2009 P365. LO was inspired by a scraplift I saw of an Ali Edwards LO on the Write.Click.Scrapbook blog. And it made the GSO blog too! 
credits: at scrapbookgraphics: Field Notes by Tangie Baxter, Metallicalpha: Collection by Flergs (2 letters were recolored), 2009 circle from Cherish by Baers Garten, snowflakes from Dream About Christmas by Natali Design, Flying Solo Template B by Hillary Heidelberg; white paper by Jacque Larsen from Scrapping and Snapping at TheDailyDigi; colored leaves by me; purple flowers by Christine Honsinger and LaurieAnn HGD
fonts: CK June Bug Louise

I’m hosting the SBG Frameworthy challenge this week. This is the LO I did for the challenge. It’s inspired by some wall art pieces I saw at Mark’s boss’ house during the office Christmas party in December. credits: Darkroom by Tangie Baxter and DeCrow Designs, Funny Stitches by Natali, Ultimate Staple Collection by Maya; Art Box- Stacking Canvases by Holliewood Studios at oscraps; fonts: LD Old Glory

and SBG has a new designer collab kit out- Impressions of Chocolate. yum!
 
journaling: It was my birthday and when I saw this fudge toffee cupcake in the bakery I had to get it. It was rich and delicious, and all mine!
credits: The Studio Girls’ Impressions of Chocolate; Jumper 14 from Jumpers Bundle 1 to 16 by Crystal Livesay; Estranged by Flergs; I Can See Clearly layer styles by Misty Cato; CK June Bug Louise (font)