Yah! The Cast Is Off

The stamps on this page are some more of the bargain ones I found in the $1.00 bin at JoAnn's.

Updated Sister Study

This spread is rather unremarkable except for the fact that I decided to make a paper facsimile of a real throw pillow that I made for the nursery.
I had seen this pillow at Sew Contempo and fell in love with it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find all of the exact same fabrics, and I wasn't real happy with the look of a couple that I used, particularly the bow. Now, mind you, I had already tried two different fabrics, and had even zig-zagged the second one in place. Really close together zig-zags! I disliked it so much that I wasn't even going to show it to Melissa, but I'm glad I did, because she came up with a suggestion that worked well. She said why not use some of the pink striped fabric that I'll be using for the window valance. So, that's what I did after spending about 2 hours painstakingly clipping and pulling out all that zig-zagging.
After all that work, I just had to commemorate it in my journal by making a tiny replica. At least that was fun.
It's probably hard to tell from the picture, but the green dotted part at the top is a whole pillow stuffed into a sack that's made from a soft blue fabric covered in white dots. This is appliqued with a gift package, a party hat, and a small heart. The inner pillow is held in place with straps.

Nursery Pillows

I got a real bargain on the stamps that I used on this page. I found them in the $1.00 bin at JoAnn's. There are 4 different styles of flowers on a foam block. You can hardly beat 25 cents per image! I added the vine with Tombow markers.

JT's Broken Wrist

It seems that I've become lax in my journaling. Most of my spreads these days seem to cover several days or even a week or more. I guess that's better than nothing at all.
The design on the right page is a strip that I made ages ago by swiping colors from pigment ink pads onto cardstock using cosmetic sponges, and then using just one small stamp held at various angles. I found it in my scrap box. I'm finding lots of good stuff in there of late.

Third Week of July

The illustrations on this spread are "Brianna Florals" by Brenda Walton. I love her illustrations, and they are even prettier in person because they are embossed. These were left over from 2002 when I was making a memory book for Mother's 80th birthday. I can't believe she's going to be 87 next month.

Beatrix Potter Fabrics

This spread tells how Melissa and I spent our weekend picking out fabrics and a crib for the nursery.
For the background, I painted Turquoise and Barnwood, overbrushed with Antique White when it was dry. Then I cut out a Peter Rabbit scene from the Beatrix Potter fabric and adhered it with Sobo glue, adding dots and dashes around it with Stabilo mini pens.
I had some space left after I got through recording our adventures, so I glued on a strip from my scrap box that had complementing colors.

July 6-10

These pages were painted with "Soft Apple" and "Melted Butter". The flowers were cut from the cover of a magazine and adhered with a xyron machine.

Hip Hip Hooray

I pre-paint most of my pages, but I did this one especially with the picnic basket in mind. To create a soft blue for the sky, I added some white to "Morning Blue" for the top and used "Soft Apple" on the bottom.
You can't really tell it from the photo, but I used a couple of flat toothpicks to make the stick for the flag and lifted it up with foam tape so it stands above the page for a 3-D look.
I used a blue Tombow brush marker for the title, shadowing with a platinum Zig Brushable, and adding little doodles on top with a silver gel pen.

It's a Girl!

The ultrasound came up with 96% odds that Melissa's baby is a girl. She and I are ecstatic and Jerry says he's fine with that too. I thought Charlie would be wanting a grandson, but he says he really prefers a little girl.
Missy and I can't wait to start decorating her nursery now that we know what to expect.

Denis Brown Workshop

This 4-day workshop with Denis Brown was probably the most difficult I've ever attempted, and I've taken from over 60 different calligraphers. He is a good teacher and an amazing calligrapher, but the pen angle changes, switching smoothly to half the nib and then to the corner only, were way beyond my comfort level. And having to contend with weekday traffic was a real stressor too. I tried to leave home by 6:45 to avoid the worst of it, but it was still bad, and even more so in the afternoon. I am promising myself that I will never take another workshop clear across Houston except for those held on the weekends. I have to admit that it was a great relief when it was over.
I really much prefer to write with a brush or a pointed nib. The only broad-edge nib I really like is the Mitchell #6, and that's probably because it's so tiny it's almost a pointed nib anyway.
The illustrations on these pages are Denis' work. It was almost worth the price of admission just to watch him write.

Fruitful Day

I love the colors on these pages. I used Turquoise, Morning Sun and Napa Red.
Of course, the cut-out picture goes so well with these colors and really draws the eye.
To repeat the yellow and red colors on the left side, I glued on some strips that I had left over from some faux momi paper that I made using brown paper grocery sacks. I never throw away even the skinniest strips of paper. Just toss them in my scrap box, and eventually I find the perfect use for them. I didn't even trim up the raggedy edges on these, and I'm proud to say that I like that look. Maybe there's hope yet for overcoming my 'Miss Perfectionist' gene!

P.J. in the Rain

This was a fun spread to do. Lots of experimenting just to see how something would look. I started by painting just as I usually do...this time using "Wisteria" and "Turquoise". Then I took the Hero Arts stamp "Old French Writing" and used it to stamp all over the pages at various angles and in a variety of colors, being sure to keep stamping without re-inking until the image faded to nothing. This makes an interesting, but subtle background. Next I stamped some swirls with brown ink. These didn't show up as well as I wanted them to, so I touched them up with a brown Prismacolor pencil and used a white Prismacolor to outline them, join some together in new shapes, and just doodle in general. I continued with additional Prismacolor pencils to draw shapes and add color to the pages. Prismacolor pencils are fabulous to use on top of acrylic painted backgrounds.

Ovals and Rectangles

This spread shows another time when I used stencils to create journaling spaces. However, these stencils were not plastic. I love to walk around in "Dollar Tree" stores looking for stuff to use in journaling. Many months ago (maybe even years!) I happened upon a package of paper frames in different shapes, sizes and colors. Never did anything with them until now.
I had previously painted the pages with "Citron" and "English Ivy" greens. To prepare for the writing, I taped the stencils in place with double-sided removable tape and then painted the interiors. After the paint was dry, but before removing the stencils, I applied chalk inks with cosmetic sponges for some additional color. Then the stencils were removed and I used black Pitt pens and brush pens to emphasize the edges.

Paper Towel Motif

I was working on my journal at my sister's house when I spotted the pretty paper towels on her counter. I hadn't used this technique in a while, and since I needed an image for the right hand page, they seemed perfect. I tore around the butterfly, but since the white background paper didn't blend into the page as much as I would have liked, I just cut around the flowers, leaving a small border. Then I peeled the layers apart and applied the one with the image using matte medium.
The pages had been painted with "Wild Berry" and Delta's "G.P. Purple". I created journaling frames by drawing around the openings in plastic stencils that many scrapbookers use to plan their pages or for cropping photos. Then I doodled on the top left one, and used colored pencils on the bottom one.

Eyeglasses

This is different looking page compared to what I usually make. After blending stripes of "Teddy Bear Tan" and "Morning Sun" on the pages, I simply stamped an image of framed eyes all the way around and used various colored pencils to fill in the spaces between them. I think it's simple but effective. I wrote the text in a vertical alignment reminiscent of an eye chart.