New Journal Jitters

Admit it. You get them too. It's that nervousness you feel when you open a new, unmarred journal. It engulfs you. Makes your heartbeat quicken. It's that hesitation to take pen/pencil/marker/paint to it the first time.

There is something so beautiful about a blank book. A promise just waiting to be fulfilled. Dreams that are yet to be dreamed. Creations lurking within each page.

I have been toting a blank journal in my purse for a couple of weeks now. Almost had a coronary when my oldest asked if she could rip a page out of it. GASP!!! For a shopping list! Oh the horror that was.

This is my antagonizer.

Why have I been carrying this wonderful blank book around? Why have I been torturing myself by occasionally flipping through the pristine, promise laden pages?

I don't know.

What is holding me back from USING this wonderful little journal that spoke to me enough to make me possess it?

I don't know.

Do you?

WOYWW #93

Welcome !!!

If you are just seeing WOYWW, and wondering what it is, well, I'll try to explain. It's a peek at many workdesks. The lovely Julia of Stamping Ground hosts What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday.

You take a photo of your workdesk, as-is, and post it for anyone who cares to come around to your blog to take a look-see.

It is a bit intimidating at first. I felt like a big slob. My workdesk is always crowded. Full of "stuff". So I was worried that I would seem untidy, but then I took a peek at other workdesks, and realize that I am, mostly, normal. LOL Go figure. Sure, there are those neat-nick's out there who make us all look bad, but they are few and far between. I just took a picture and posted it without too much thought...

 Now it's gotten to the point, in the few weeks that I have joined in, that I look forward to seeing, not only what is on everyone else's workdesk, but what is on mine as well.

You see, it gives me a different perspective on what I have out.  It allows me to take a different approach to my things. I really kind of like this. It's a step back and a head tilt so to speak.

Anyway, on to MY WOYWW entry for this week:

1.) Zentangle ATC's and an inchie - I finally tried my hand at Zentangle. (Rosemary is to blame.) And must admit that I LOVE it. I am going to keep practicing. My hand wasn't as steady as I would like. Partly because I didn't really know what I was doing. I have done some research and found some very informative sites, so I have more of a clue now.

2.) Fabric and zippers for an upcoming project. It's kind of hush-hush for now. But I'll link to it in the future.

3.) One of the ATC's from last week. You can see all of them HERE. Lots of pictures. They aren't grey blogs anymore. Here's a teaser:

4.) A springtime project I am working on for a challenge blog I co-host with Rosemary.

5.) New (to me) Tim embellies I got this week.

Join in on the fun.

I'd love to see your workdesk.

Get yourself a handful...

This is what you can get when you reach out and grab a handful of what you already have.

The challenge this week on OPUS GLUEI is to reach out and grab what is within reach on your workdesk, then make something with what you have grabbed.

My workdesk is usually creatively cluttered. LOL So, I had a bunch of things within reach. Now the problem of what to make with my wonderful goodies. You know, those little bits or pieces that were intended for a project but didn't make the cut.

I thought about cards, but wasn't feeling it. Then I thought bookmarks, but since I have made about a gazillion in the last few months, I decided against that too. ATC's came to mind and I knew I had a winner. I grabbed that piece of cardstock and decided to make a set of 10.

I cut the cardstock as arranged above. Those little white pieces are the leftovers. I'll make 3 inchies out of the larger piece.

I used some gaffers tape and fabric tape to make the background pieces. I used the same pieces on the outside edges to unify the set. And a photo turn and brad on each one too.

My hubby sent me a romantic email the day I was typing the DYMO tape, so I was inspired to use this saying.

And a silver circle on each one too.

And a bit of DYMO tape on each one also.

Can you believe I had so many different bits lying around?

Even the stamps were in reach on my table.

Since I am playing along in a couple of Christmas card challenges I had some Christmas items, so I made a Christmas ATC.

Not all of them are themed, but, they all have something with wings on them.

They all make me happy.

My middle daughter thought up this one.

She even helped by making the DYMO tape for me.



She loves this quote, and has claimed this ATC as her own.

Think you are up to the challenge this week???

Flashback Friday #9

The very loverly AMY of Tsuruta Designs has honored me with the privledge of picking the Challenge for the 9th edition of Flashback Friday.

Flashback Friday is a creation that was inspired by her desire to see what others had done back in the day. So to speak. She put up a challenge on HER blog, and since then it has grown to a blog of its very own. Complete with sponsors. AND with many lovely participants.

Every week she uses a random generator to pick a winner. It's really the only way to keep her sanity with all of the wonderful submissions. (And the not so wonderful ones too.) But, hey, we all grow and change things up a bit, so it's all good. It's all part of how we got to where we are.


Okay, enough blabbering, my choice for this Flashback Friday is your first "Window in the front" card. (I picked one with a nice technical name. Because I am very exact in everything I do. LOL)

Here's the one I did way back in March of 2009.

There are many things I have learned since then. Like how to take a picture. LOL. You would think that I would have known how to get the light in front of the card instead of blindingly behind it.




You can see my original post for this card HERE. I have since added a watermark to pictures I post here. Most of the time. And take pictures with the light in front of the subjects. LOL

This week the sponsor for Flashback Friday is the loverly Julie Peterson. She is a Stampin' Up Demonstrator and is offering up this prize package:

All you have to do to for a chance to win these wonderful goodies is to head over to FLASHBACK FRIDAY, and show us your first.

WOYWW - March 9

It's time again for one of my favorite weekly events. Yes, it's an event. You get to snoop into other peoples workdesks. You get to see how normal you really are. You get to get inspiration from other peoples projects. It's fun. You should try it. And post a picture of your workdesk for us to snoop around your place too. Go HERE to the lovely Julia's for more info and to post your workdesk this fine Wednesday.

This is what is on my workdesk this morning. I can't show the ATC's just yet. (I've already said too much. LOL) But, I can tell you that they are for the next OPUS GLUEI challenge. You can check back here, or on OPUS GLUEI Sunday afternoon, to see what they look like, and what the challenge is.

I haven't been at my workdesk much this week. All of these were gotten to this point on Sunday. My oldest and youngest daughters have started playing soccer, so our days are QUITE full with work full-time and carting the kids everywhere. We aren't getting home until after 7pm each night. (We leave the house at 7am.)

At the top, center of the picture is my newest set of toys. Paint pens. I have just discovered them. And wonder how it took me this long. I LOVE them. This last set was gotten with a 40% off coupon, making it even sweeter.

If asked what tools are my favorite, you can see them here. My ATG gun, my Honey Bee scissors and my paper piercer. I think I use these on EVERY single project. Love 'em.

Do you have any favorite tools?

WOYWW #92

Hard to believe, but I have been at bookmarks. Still. There is something so satisfying about creating a little work of art AND then being able to use it. I LOVE the look of tags, but I never know what to DO with them. I mean, sure I can display them, but I want to USE things. Just one of my (many) quirks.

Opus Gluei - #93 New Tricks

Show us a new trick. That's what those goofy Poobah's over at OPUS GLUEI want this week. (I can say that because, well I'm one of the goof's. LOL)

You all know that I have ventured into the world of Art Journals. I am not professing to be an artist. I AM professing to enjoy the heck out of what I am doing. I will go further to state that I am out to please only me. If you like or don't like the things I come up with is okay. Heck, even I don't like some of the things I come up with. Generally you won't see them, but, sometimes you will. Cuz I am consistently inconsistent. It's how I am.

Anyway, this week I played with texture. I used the gesso I have to create a couple of pages in a new art journal I bought. It wasn't what I really want (the journal) but I am going to use it anyway. It'll be a laboratory of sorts. I'll experiment here. (I used to say I wanted to be a Mad Scientist when I was younger, so here goes. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!)

I didn't take pictures of the process, but here's a look-see anyway. I had a hard time getting myself to make any mark of any sort in this pristine new journal. (Do you get that way too?) So, I just jumped in and used watercolor crayons to color one of the pages. When that was dry, I just dumped a big glob on there and covered it all up. Oops, I dumped too much gesso, so I covered the page next to it too. What the heck was I thinking?!?! Yep, I just dumped a big glob on there and spread it ALL OVER. Crazy, I know. Then I took the end of the brush handle and doodled designs into the wet gesso. Then came the really hard part.

Waiting.

Waiting for the gesso to dry.

Once dried, I used water colors on the plain white page and acrylics on the watercolor crayon'ed page.

I tried, but wasn't able to get a good close-up of the blue/green page to show the texture. The circles and the zig-zags are the textured doodles. I really didn't like the stark white, so I traced over them with paint pens. There are still teeny, tiny spots of white peeking through. I guess I am okay with that. But I really, really, really like, no LOVE, the next page.

I love the way this page turned out and might have a problem covering it up. LOL But, I will. Eventually.

Isn't this great looking. I love the brush strokes and the grooves made from the brush handle. See the watercolors peeking out from the grooves! I LOVE IT!!!