Christmas and I know it

So my brother and his family made this great video for the Christmas program at Church. Thought I would share it. It made me laugh pretty good.

Art Journal Page

I finally felt like being crafty. I created this art journal page the other day in some of my free time. I'm moving into a place of feeling content in my life and that always makes creating come so much easier. I am really hoping my funk is gone for a long while. It helps of course that I met someone who treats me well and makes me happy. That's the basis of this page. "Unbelievable love" I had a hard time believing or excepting that someone would feel that way and not be diceptive or out to see what they could gain. Thank God I didn't push him to far away or run the other direction myself. Things are looking up.

Not Feeling It

So I have not forgotten about my blog. I just haven't been able to get myself into a crafting mode. Scrapbooking and what not is so much easier for me when I'm content in life. I'm struggling with contentment at the moment. Not feeling it at all to tell the truth. I am so ready to be at a different place where my divorce is settled and life feels normal. In the mean time I feel like I'm on auto pilot just moving from day to day. I am ready for a distraction. I keep trying to find things to do to distract me from the reality of life at the moment. It works for the most part but then there are those nights like tonight where I'm home all day and pulling out photos thinking I will scrapbook. Then it hits me. I feel a surge of emotions revolving around those memories and I don't want to remember to be honest. I don't want to think of happier times cause then the reality of my situation makes me sad.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I finished this art journal page up Sunday night. This is a pretty obvious title. Didn't feel I needed to do much journaling about it. I am simple looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel. Life can seem at times like one long tunnel, but It's so much more rewarding to look forward to something ahead than to dwell on hurts of the past. I'm looking forward to the future and all the new things in front of me.

Melted Crayon Art

Had a great weekend with my son. Went to the beach, a bike ride and we made crayon art on canvas. I'm hoping you will be able to guess which one is mine and which one is his. I haven't been working on the art journaling to much. Just haven't felt up to it. I did start one page the other night and will share it once I get it finished. I have a few more canvases though so I just might play with that some more. Who knows what will come out next.

Turkey Day Layout

I finally got this video done. Don't have time to type much but I got my video up. Woo Hoo.

Changes

So I know I have been seriously neglecting my blog lately. I had a video I was working on and thought I would get that up soon but life got in the way as it often does. A rather large life changing issue came up and I have been forced to deal with it instead of enjoying my usual crafting. If you followed my old blog then you already know that I have had issues in my marriage and for the past couple of years have been trying to work through them. Without getting into details something came up that made me feel that it is time to move on with my life. No more trying to work things out. Just trying to move forward, heal and see what great thing life has for me up ahead. After struggling as much as we have for the last few years and not even living together for over a year. I'm really at peace for the most part with my choice. Although, I'm sure I will have my moments of sadness at feeling like this chapter has come to an end. I am also very hopeful of new possiblities. So that said I think I am going to try focussing on some art journaling. I haven't felt like scrapbooking cause lets face it I'm not exactly thinking about happy family memories right now. I was thinking about all the family photos we took together and was wondering if I should scrapbook them now. I think I have decided that when I feel up to it I will for my son's sake and for mine I guess. They aren't all bad memories. In the mean time though I'm hoping the journaling will be theraputic as it has in the past. So I hope you all stick with me on my journey and let me know if you relate to anything I'm journaling about. 

12 x 12 Process Video "Family"

Here is another process video of a Thanksgiving layout I did recently. I have another video coming as
soon as I have time to get it all together.
 

National Scrapbooking Day

Here is a 12 by 12 layout video and a couple of layouts to share with you. Hope your all getting some scrapping time in today. I am. Started working a full time job this month and I think it is going to take me a little while to get in to the swing of having less time for the fun stuff. Hopefully I will figure out a good mixture of how I spend my free time.The first layout is the one I am making in the video of my brother. I have been meaning to scrapbook these photos for a long time. I kept teasing him and saying I was going to do a whole layout about him being single and put it on my blog. He didn't think it was a great idea. The second layout are photos I liked of myself. It about those days when you actually feel like you look good. lol  Anyway, I am making this short so that I can get back to scrappin.

Dream

Here is my latest art journal page. I made some mists after Easter using egg dye and I wanted to test them out. I am loving them so far. These ones don't have any glimmer in them but I made some that have perfect pearls in them also. So much cheaper then buying Glimmer Mists. Anyway, I sprayed them on to the paper towel and then sealed them with Mod Podge. I used all different stencils for the shapes. Then typed out the journaling. It was a fun distraction from 12 x 12 layouts, but I'm back to working on those today. Just realized how behind I am. I am working on deciding what photos will go into mini's and which ones I want to scrap. Hope your all having a great weekend.

Scrapbooking Layout Challenge

I decided to participate in a giveaway that mercytiara is having on youtube. She is giving away an great set of goodies. Here is the video if you want to participate. All you have to do is be a subscriber to her channel and create a layout about scrapbooking then leave a comment on the video linking to where your layout is. So here is my layout.The photos aren't that great. I don't have a nice photo printer anymore because I usually don't print them at home. The paper I used are Mat Stacks from DCWV it is called Hippie Chick. For some reason it seems like the Mat Stacks are the only size the paper is sold it. Seems weird to me. The journaling blocks are a Jenni Bowlin stamp and the letters a Thickers. I punched all the scallops out and just put them randomly behind the photos. I also busted out the sewing machine on this one. I love the stitched look.I also wanted to pass along what I think is a great deal. I found these paper tapes at Target in the office supply section. They are $4 for the set of 4 and I seen 3 different color choices. I think this is a steal considering how much tapes are going for. So check out your local Target. 

More 12 x 12 Layouts

Here are four more 12 x 12 layouts that I have done over the last couple weeks. I seem to of found my "layout mojo". I am so missing playing with mini albums though and I found some great inspiration for art journaling this week. I hate when I get inspired and I want to put everything else on the back burner to play, but the responsible side of me talks me out of it and says stay on the path you already set. I wonder if some great work falls by the wayside because I didn't follow the fun path. Sometimes my type A personality is evil. lol Anyway, all of these photos were taken last Mother's Day but I journaled about different things on each one and included different themes. I don't need 4 layouts that all say Mother's Day 2011 but this way I was still able to use the photos that I liked while jouranaling about a variety of things. I am off to enjoy the rest of my weekend. Planning to play a bit today. Hope you all have a fantastic Easter. Enjoy the time with family and friends.

Couple of Layouts

I have a couple of layouts to share. I am forcing myself to get cought up on some 12 x 12 layouts before I let myself do another mini album. I am pretty behind. Anyway, I got both of these layouts done this week. The first layout is about our Guinea Pig Darwin. I had to document that my son loved getting this little guy and has done pretty well at taking care of him. Darwin is a character. He has started nibbling at his cage when he wants to eat and trys to pull the bowl out of my hands. He is so darn cute. The second layout is of Mother's Day but I decided to make the layout about my son and his cousins relationship instead. There isn't any journaling. I felt the title said enough, but who knows maybe later I will add some. The paper I used on this layout is from Believe by Recollections. Which is a Christmas paper pad. I have been having the hardest time finding paper in my stash that I want to use. So I decided to broaden my horizons and looked through the Christmas papers and found something. Seems silly that in all the paper I have I can't find anything I want to work with. I always think in terms of mini's and don't want to use paper that would make a cute album. So that's what I have been working on this week. Now I am off to get some more done.

Love Is The Master Key

Here is a mixed media piece I did this week. I think it will be one of three. Two at least. I got the idea for this from Rachel or Rach0113 on youtube. She does amazing work. I'm calling it Love Is The Master Key. After Oliver Wendell Holmes's quote "Love is the master key which opens the gate of happiness." If you want to know how to do this then just click on Rachel's youtube channel and it will take you to her video.

Nature Mini Album Swap

Here is the video of the Mini album I made for the swap I did with my friend Misty. It was a lot of fun trading. I just might get into doing more swaps.

Assembly Line Scrapbooking

I have seriously neglected my blog for the last month. Not that I haven't been crafting. I have. I just can share the mini I completed yet. I'm doing a swap with my friend so I'm waiting for her to be done and us trade. I will put that video up soon. I do have this video about scrapbooking pages in an assembly line format to get more done. I explain it all in the video. Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. So sorry for all the "UM's" in this video. I never realized how much I say that.

OMG. 

What I've Been Working On

My friend Misty made a mini that had all these pockets in it. It was made from business envelopes. Her mini inspired me to make one. She originally got the idea from Laura at Following the paper trail. Laura's video shows you how to make the album just in case your intrested in making your own. I used chipboard for the front and back cover and UTEEed it. Man I love UTEE. The paper line I used is called Fashion district by Me and My Big Ideas. I put photo mats into all the pockets and added a file tab to pull them out. There is plenty of room for photos in this mini. I didn't have a theme in mind when I started. Which has been causing me some problems on finishing it. I have a hard time embellishing without know what photos will go in it. I did a few things but have left most of it for a future date when I know what is going in it or if I decide to give it away. I'm going to set it aside for now and work on a mini that is for a swap I'm doing. I might make a video of this one when it is completed. For now though I am off to play.