inspiration sticks

I found this idea on Facebook.  I have always struggled with a blank journal page and I really like the idea of having at least some parameters or some items not left up to chance.  The inspiration sticks posted on Facebook were really stunning with a framed circular top and fantastic designs along the sticks.  As a perfectionist with enormous fear that I would mess up terribly and have to redo a bunch of sticks (which, by the way, took a much longer time than I originally thought) I created something that is very much my style but with limited room for error.

I painted each stick with acrylic paint, added some washi tape (the glasses are very me), added the inspiration and sealed it with gel medium.  I left the tops with their original wood finish, added tissue paper and sealed it with gel medium as well.   Sounds simple, right?  Well all of those layers multiplied by 35 inspirations took more than a few days to finish.  The process was amazing fun and I'm super pleased with how it all turned out.

I'm right in the middle of the Valentine's Day swap with the stamp club: 45 cards in progress but if I start to run out of steam I might just take some time to give these little ones a good test run.

What inspires you when journaling?  I would love to hear how you overcome the blank journal page.

thank you for helping me grow

Last year Alex and I borrowed a fellow blogosphere friend's idea for teacher gifts and because we're at an entirely new school this year I decided to go with the same idea (Alex helped decorate the flower pots and he made the tie-dye t-shirt).

 

It's a fun easy and inexpensive project.  Before painting I like to apply a layer of gesso even though the acrylic paint has pretty good coverage.  The gesso just makes the application of paint easier and apply more evenly.

 

I taped off the bottom to allow for nice clean lines.  And then with permanent marker, Alex decorated the flower pots and chose begonias for planting.

 

 

I inked the base of the manila tags with distress inks (twisted citron, cracked pistachio, peacock feathers, abandoned coral, worn lipstick and victorian velvet)and added bokeh circles with white permanent ink.  I then layered on tim holtz tissue wrap (mélange), added the dina wakley silhouetted women stamp, banner and thank you sentiment (tim holtz thinlit dies celebration: script).

I found the adorable music box at Chapters.  Alex's music teacher had taught the class the words to what a wonderful world this year.  It was a perfect find, and addition, to our thank you gift.

 



 

 

This is definitely a quick and easy little gift to say thank you to someone special in your life or for no other reason than to bring a bit of colour and happiness to their day xx

 

remembering a mixed media collage with finnabair; dreams do come true

Last summer I participated in a Finnabair class.  I have always loved her style and craft elegance.  After the class I can honestly say she is one of the most talented, incredible and lovely people you can hope to meet.  Her teaching ability is as great as her talent.

The class focused on building layers using an image as a focal point, gesso, sprays, little treasures you find around your home and odds and ends from other craft projects. 

I'm participating in another Finnabair class this July.  This time we'll be working with paper instead of canvas and although I didn't think I could top last year's excitement, I am simply over the moon with anticipation.

happy new year! resolutions and rememberlutions for 2015 and january dt project

Resolutions have never been my strength.  They tend to be monster-sized goals that seize your attention for a few weeks until your best friend says to you, as you're carrying your gym bag out to the car with the greenest of green smoothies, there is a super sale at (you fill in the blank) and we will need humungous lattes to survive the rush.  Resolutions can be behemoths if you let them.  

But resolutions really are simply goals; we just tend to make them at a critical time when the world is bellowing sentiment of new beginnings and fresh starts.  Therefore we often take a reasonable, probably meaningful, goal and turn the little critter into a mountain of an accomplishment.

With that said, I have made two "resolutions" this year (I have many goals but two of which I really want to be mindful): (1) Organize better so that I may (2) spend more time with family and friends.  The first resolution may surprise those of you who know me.  I am quite the organized person.  Everything has a home and events and activities are always well planned and prepared.  What I need is a schedule.  

I read this article (Here’s What You Should Do Instead Of Making New Year’s Resolutions It’s called a “rememberlutions” jar and it’ll make you feel good all year) posted by Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine and decided to, in addition to my two resolutions, celebrate the smaller resolution successes as they come as well as all of the magnificent things, memories and accomplishments over the next twelve months by creating my own rememberlutions jar.

That coupled with our design team inspiration, I was off to the races.

I created a pendant for each of the four seasons of the year so that I have something to look forward to at the end of each season as the jar turns.

winter:

spring:

summer: 

autumn:

And here they are all together and assembled:

Whether you create resolutions this year or a rememberlutions jar, do what makes you feel good, makes you giggle and smile and let's you celebrate you all year long.

I'm entering my rememberlutions jar in the Sweet Stampin Challenge: New, Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #8: Something New for the New Year and Anything But A Card Challenge New Beginnings.  The rememberlutions jar is a new project created for the new year.

when a man retires and time is no longer a matter of urgent importance, his colleagues generally present him with a watch - r.c. sherriff

One of my work colleagues, ms. giraffe, retired this summer and in lieu of a card or photo album I created, with some assistance, a memory book.  What is the difference, you ask?   A memory book is a card and photo album rolled into one, including photos of ms. giraffe and colleagues through her years at the office, co-worker salutations and some brilliant work done by the graphic artists.  And all was supported by my bestest enabler/amazing friend.  Thank you, I could not have retained any sanity without you.

WARNING: There are several photos in this post of the eleven page memory book.  I suggest a coffee, tea or apple cider, sit back and review at your leisure.

Every page has at least one pocket to hold photos and/or colleague greetings and/or well wishes and signatures.

Cover:  I cut out the follow your dreams: transform your life quote and layered it on top of a self-made paper and photo collage.  One of our graphic artists at work took the photos of the boots and birdcages at Fort Edmonton Park which, if you recall, is one of my favourite Edmonton sites.  It never disappoints.  For photographer fans, it really is a great find.  The dress form and bike die cuts are from Memory Box.

Page One:

This little envelope was created with my envelope maker.  Thought it added a sweet touch especially with the hat pin as a faux closure.

Page two: Developed friendships

Page three: Group events

Using Dina Wakley techniques, I transformed this image of settlers into a playful moustachioed group.  I was inspired by the fun and playful photos of the group events included in the pocket of this page.

Page four: This is one of my favourite pages.  I love the colour combination, the little Memory Box clouds, the mini red clips and the wood chipboard birds which I distressed with vintage photo distress ink.

Page five:  This was a super fun page to create using tissue paper, Dina Wakley stencils and book pages.

Page six: Last page of photo memories.

Page seven:  I wanted to create a retirement book that included both memories as well as ms. giraffe's interests.  Pages seven to eleven reflect ms. giraffe's love for reading, traveling, camping, biking, gardening and giraffes starting with a tongue-in-cheek photo of our team.  All of the photos on pages seven through to eleven were created by the graphic artists.

I made a little comic book out of some internet images I found.

Page eight: 

Page nine:

Page ten:

Page eleven:  I love this page.  The artists did a remarkable job superimposing ms. giraffe's face onto a person hugging a giraffe.  I built three gift card-sized envelopes for memory tokens and the gift card.

Back cover:  Image taken by one of the artists at Fort Edmonton Park.

Finished book:

I had a great time putting this book together.  Are memory books something you would like to see in my Etsy Shoppe?  What is a reasonable price?

Next up:  Retirement book number two for mr. chemistry.