Blah...

I hate being sick!! I'm not good at it because it doesn't happen all that often, so I have NO IDEA how to feel better. So I went to Starbucks and sykped with Kelly while I ate a scone and drank coffee and plaed in my newest journal.



Just babbles today...

First things first, Mercury retrograde is FINALLY over. 

This is a combo of two pictures on my iPhone that I made with a fun new app! It's called ArtStudio (one word, I don't know why) and of course I got the free version. I'm cheap.

And today is Kelly's birthday! Unfortunately we're both feeling shitty and are postponing the celebration until better days. 

I'm boring when I'm sick. My brain feels like there are cobwebs over it and I just sit, staring at nothing. It's boring. Really boring. I've tried to scrapbook about 75 times today but every time I sat at the computer, I just  couldn't even remember how. So, I drew a quarter of a face on Kelly's birthday page in my BORING planner (Ajae thinks it's boring, she said so!) and played with my new app and that's about it. Maybe tomorrow I'll be feeling more lively. 

Alcohol inks for next YSM

Hey, suckers. I made my own alcohol inks and here they are!! 

It was super, mega, ridiculously easy. I got my Sharpies and spray bottles from Wal-Mart. Oh, alcohol, too. I've never had rubbing alcohol at my house - what do you rub it on? Anyway, I made them and you can, too! My markers did NOT pull apart easily like the woman in the video's, but I just used my enormous pliers to snap them where the colored part meets the gray part.

Here is where I was spraying (it's really a terrible book):

That's red, and I really like how bright it is, especially compares to the sprays we made with the Rit dyes. I love those colors, too, but they're mostly dark shades, and these all turned out pretty bright!

Wait - but, Goog, why would you make more sprays when you already HAVE sprays? Alcohol inks are permanent on all surfaces, while the rit dyes are only permanent on porous surfaces. That means metal, plastic, glass - we can color those things with our alcohol inks! Try making them, I promise it's the easiest art project you've ever done!

Sugar and Spice

I'm not very good a girly LOs, but I'm working on it! This is was too cute for my not to want it. It's called Sugar and Spice and it's by Lollipop Designs, available at Scrappity-Doo-Dah.

Alphabet Stamps

Doodled and carved by my very own hand, what could be more fun than that?? They're one inch by one inch, and the tall ones (t, h, etc) are one by one and a half. I love them. I really, really love them!

I stamped a few during the process, just to make sure I was happy with them (I was!):

And here they are all done and happy.

So, hubby wanted to know if carving letters backward was "easier" for me because of my dylexia. Just in case you're wondering the answer is NO. It was not easy for me at all, and stamping letters is always a challenge for me - you can cell when I was test stamping that I thought the "n" stamp was "u" - even though I wrote "n" on the back of it (of course, upside down they look the same...). I get really confused with b,d,p,q,s,z, and j. Not g - I'm totally fine with g, but j really gets to me. Finally I sat right next to the computer so I could see which direction the letters pointed, typing them to get the lowercase ones when I needed to. Good times.

Brass monkey...that funky monkey...

Just a song that's stuck in my head. I love to share. So, You Suck Monday this week was about text. I like it as background. Very rarely is text my focus but it's a really great way to add a layer, to add texture, with very little effort. Examples:

This is a canvas journal I just made. She was looking EXTREMELY boring and slightly awkward until I added a little text stamping. My stamp doesn't have anything on it you could actually read, it's just scripty gibberish, but it makes a difference!

This is the girl who started You Suck Monday. I journaled on her before adding paint, and in her hair after adding it! It looks really shiny on camera, but in real life you can barely see any of the writing.

Here's one where there was a huge blank space and it needed "something". I love the quote and how much the writing adds to the piece!

That's "the Ugly Me" and he's drawn on book text, but there's also journaling underneath him.

I was feeling crappy today, so I didn't make anything specifically for YSM like I usually do and I was surprised to see how much stuff I already HAD with text as a part of it and how often I use text. Start with a text stamp. Or a book you hate.

Blessed

I know, you're totally tired of hearing about One of a Kind Design Studio, I just really love her kits. This one is a mini kit called Blessed, and is available at Ahhh Scrap. The colors are just so pretty, how could you resist them??

And both LOs are made with templates by Digilover's Addiction, also available at Ahhh Scrap!

New Journals!

Three new journals! One for me and two for...?

Fabulous Father's Day

This is a super fun kit from Lollipop Designs! It's called Fabulous Father's Day, but it's not really themed, it's just boy colors. I really, really, love the color combinations!!

CTJ

This is my Cheap Thoughts Journal and I heart it :)

Scrapping YSM

I'm going to make this into a little book (just as soon as I get a new black ink cartridge for my printer and I can print the pages!!) I've been really loving the kits coming out by One of a Kind Design Studio lately. She makes LOTS of kits, constantly, and they're awesome to work with. This one is called "I Believe" and has TONS of awesome elements.

This kit is also my absolute favorite color combination - lime green, teal, and purple! It really has a lot of fun things to play with. Looking at it again makes me want to make more pages with it!!! :)

iCreate

Another kit from Lollipop Designs, called iCreate. Kelly making stamps and Liam journaling.

YSM - Doodles!

I'm not a good doodler. Never have been. I don't doodle while I'm on the phone, I never doodled in class (I took copious notes in class), I'm just not good at it! Then what happens is I'll doodle one little thing and it comes out pretty good and I'll think "I can TOTALLY doodle!!" but then I try again and find out I was wrong. So, here's my YSM doodles, and it's OK if you think they're ugly because I know they are!!

This one's just a flower on book text, glued into my Cheap Thoughts Journal (CTJ)

This was me trying to give my self a contained area to doodle in (I like circles!)

More circles (kinda). I like things to go off the page (I have no idea why).

Then with these two pictures, I wanted to show you guys how much of a difference something as simple as WHAT you're doodling on can make. Here's my CTJ page with little roses:

And here's little roses on book text:

I think the book text makes a big difference, especially if you're not a great doodler. It just adds a little something that makes me happy!

I Will Be Stronger

August collab from Ahhh Scrap:

(Template by Mandagirl Designs)

It's a very cool concept, I think. It's all about being a strong woman and the colors are bright but soft, if that makes any sense. I really love it.

A bag for my journal!

Does it need its own bag? I guess not. I mean, I usually just todd it in my purse and take it with me to doodle in. But this is for when I'm going somewhere specifically TO journal! It's made with muslin for demonstration purposes, but I'd like to try canvas.

It opens completely flat, I don't know why I like that so much, but I really do!

This pocket is sized specifically FOR my journal:

These ones are just for "stuff".

The straps are tie scraps, which totally amuses me. I'm trying to decide if it needs a closure of some kind but I really like it just the way it is!!

What's next?

I never know how to make a journal page feel finished. Everyone says things like "Collage? Stamping? Ephemera from your day?" I've tried it all and I just don't know. So were is a spread...it was just this:

 Then I added a girl and some words...

A word here...

They're not "done" but I always get kind of lost and just turn the page and move on to something else.

Lollipop Designs!

A new creative team! This kit is Monkeying Around and the colors are super fun. 

The designer is Lollipop Designs at Scrappity-Doo-Dah and you'll be seeing more of her stuff soon!!

Does it count...

As making art, even if it's jut a doodle on an old book page? Even if it's not going to turn into anything more than a doodle on an old book page? I say yes. It counts. I made art today, even if it's just this art.

I DOODLED!!

Not only did I doodle, I used the watercolor crayons that I hate and they look pretty good!! I can never seem to get ALL the crayon marks out, that's mostly why I hate them. So, doodles first, with black Glaze pen, then watercolor crayons. Not horrible, right?

Then I stuck them in my  journal and spent some time doodling around them! I'm not done, I don't think. I don't really like to doodle, but I want to be able to make cool doodles so I gotta get out the ugly ones first, right?