Dear Diary...

{Never underestimate the tag art from a can of peanuts -

this is probably one of my new favorite journal pages....}

I've been a journaler for a long time and have the shelves full of tattered bindings to prove it, but it's always been a struggle for me to get beyond a shallow ramble when I write... This blog series at A Holy Experience encouraged me lately and I thought I'd share. 

It's funny how each time I sit down to write, trying hard to listen for my Redeemer's voice, the Jason Mraz song 'Lucky' plays through my head! 

". . .Do you hear me? I'm talking to you

Across the water, across the deep blue ocean

Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying.

Boy I hear you in my dreams

I feel your whisper across the sea

I keep you with me in my heart

You make it easier when life gets hard. . ."

He's there.

Conquered!

Spring (or at least the early hint of a Carolina spring) seems to bring a boatload of blogging ideas with it. Among other things, that I have finally "broken in" my new journal! Since January, I've been using it as a nice little planner - but no journaling in sight. Laura brought home 1000 Journals from the library and it did just the trick!

{1000 Journals, my journal, Master Gardeners manual & newspaper}

 

Now if I can only keep it up....

(It is so encouraging to see Christian artists in books like 1000 Journals!)

Hi There, 2009!

(I got a new journal/planner/sketchbook - and a new skirt!!)

Also, you may have noticed the delicious new layout that my sister gave me. Isn't it lovely?? I wasn't allowed to have a sneak peak - it was all surprise. Ah, she knows me so well! It's up to me to get the sidebars all filled in again. That shouldn't take very long.

As if that were not enough, my socks were knocked off to open this VERY unexpected present. May I tell you how many months we three, my mother, my sister and me, have been drooling over Alicia Paulson, aka PosieGetsCozy's book: Stitched In Time.  

Oy, it's lovely! And has inspired a few things, which you'll see later...

Happy New Year!

This Doll Named!

Hello everyone! Thank you for all your beautiful and inventive suggestions for this paperdoll's christening. I took them in hand this morning with a good old-fashioned "Eeny meenie, minie moe" and the winning name is...

Emily!

(Which I think is just about perfect and I didn't skew the results-honest!) Emily would like to thank Barb from Art-Therapy for this lovely name and is sending her lots of kisses. Did you get them, Barb? Muah!

I'll let y'all know when I get her into a cozy little etsy shop. Scary stuff, that! It might be a little while, as I'm still in SC. There's also a baby doll and a 70's inspired gal on the way, so...keep your thinking caps out where you can get to them! (If you want, of course...)

Soul Journaling pt 5

(An unprompted page inspired by my first time at the polls. There was a cat there!)

(Misfits. Mine are decidedly unscary. Which is less so: the hula dancing circus seal or the unicycling rooster?)

(Prompted self portrait. For a finger painting, I think it's pretty swell! Well...reasonably so. When did I get a beauty mark??)

(Table of Contents collage page - [yes, I'm awesome like that.] Very uninspired, except for the Pocket made with Laura's quilting scraps and some masking tape! I LOVE it and intend to make similar ones in the fronts of all my future journals. I'm always sticking receipts and clippings, etc. inside - now they have a home and will not fall out whenever I build up the courage to write in public!)

And that's the end of that. I'm not sure where my next journal is going...we'll see!

Name This Doll!

She's smart, fun, and fashionable, with a love of the great outdoors. I don't think she's all that fond of the winter though...judging by the look on her face. Maybe a pretty name would cheer her up? Soooo.... NAME THIS DOLL! Enter two or three or four of your favorite names for this young lady in a comment. In a few days, I'll do a drawing and announce her new title. (Any one else getting Snow White vibes?)

 

Outfit 1: red patent headband, pencil, lacy t-neck, tweed jumper, vintage cameo, red tights and teal boots

Outfit 2: gold ribbon with feather-flower accessory, black dress with lace overlay, fringed gold throw, gold purse, gold ballet flats

Outfit 3: earmuffs, harlequin patterned scarf, striped sweater, green down jacket, pleated wool trousers, pink Uggs 

And keep watching, because Miss ____ is going to be the first in my new etsy shop!

Sara the Cardmaker

As my stationary supplies were running rather low and I had a letter to write, I decided to make the card myself. And (thanks to the soul journaling pages, I think!) it turned out pretty well for a first (well, fresh) try!

(Paper: salvaged Fanny Farmer cookbook, old scrapbooking g/w  checks. Art: salvaged nursery rhyme book. Not acid free here! Embroidery floss, German initial ribbon. )

The ribbon is from this lovely German 'chewing-gum' pack that my Mama surprised me with. Since Sarah and I have the same initials, I had to share some! :) (Hopefully she won't visit here until her letter arrives. ;) )

I think that a Card Day each month would be a good idea, to stock up our writing desks and save some lovely green stuff. Would any one like to join me?

(Now that I have pictures up, the card does look pretty wonky. Still, good for a first/fresh try!)

'Cause it's important.

(the idea was a lot clearer in my head...hope you can read it!)

Composition Book Journals

On the banks of Bay Creek

I've been wandering through this lovely blog today and being inspired. (You know, whilst rewarding myself for another 50 words written....) If this sort of journaling made my present journal so much more tolerable, what else could it transform? What sort of composition books does Target have? I'd need some real gouche. And more cheap acrylics. Mama has every color in the world of quality ones, but did you know that the cheaper ones have more filler in them, making them chalkier and less likely to make the pages stick together? I just learned that this summer (from Soul Journaling, I think) - no wonder my old pages felt so gummy!

Images from Crazyquilter's Flickr photostream.

Soul Journaling pt 4

Still following the prompts from www.sarahwhitmire.blogspot.com

These are what? 17 - 19? 

 Went back to add to the taped page. It wasn't hard to write over at all really! I'm leaving frames on mine, for word journaling. I love swirls. :)

I don't like this page so well. Tis bleh.

But this part is kind of cute! And I like the string tied around the finger. 

Hey, look! I wrote something! I love how dreamy this page turned out. 

Same for this one. It's much less washed out than it photographs! I finally put my one bell pepper from the garden to good use. :)

Dab

There were some lovely snatchets of time at the cottage/cabin where I got to doodle, spending as much time on it as I liked. Made up a little book of watercolor sheets and was glad Mama suggested we bring the Prismacolors. They are nice for the dark spots!

(Best seat on the place - loved this swing! Wish the picture had turned out better...)

(Seriously, yes - GOOD tomato. And I cannot express how happy gathering nosegays of roses, maple leaves and lavender made me!)

Soul Journaling pt. 3

Day 14 - 15 of Soul Journaling.

Hello from our little house! (I still haven't gotten around to giving Mama and I new heads...)


The whole family. (Help! I think I've fallen and can't get up! And my feet are in Eli's face. Whoops!)

Mama and Daddy with Bebe being a bad jumpy puppy. Since Daddy's outfit seems to need explaining... he is wearing a straw-colored cable sweater vest, a blue plaid shirt, and brown cords or khakis (I can't decide). He owns none of the above. At least I let him keep his base-ball cap and tennis shoes! :D

We three girls + The Dog.

Laura and her "zoo".

Woohoo! I made it back to the house first!

We're all snug in our home-sweet-home.

Good night!

A Puzzle Of A Family

I've been making my family of paper dolls for day 14 of Soul Journaling. Had to trace and cut out all the pieces twice, since the first time I did them out of plain copier paper. Whoops! Watercolor paper is much nicer. At least this way I can fit all the bits together and know I'm not wasting any! We're all much too big and Mama and I need head-makeovers, but we can do that. The pets turned out C-U-T-E. It's just not fair. ;D

Be back soon with more pictures!

Soul Journaling 2

Continuing to follow the prompts from Sarah Whitmire's blog, Caspiana.

Days 7 & 8

I was not too perky about this idea of taping all over the page. So...industrial, grungy. We have dozens of rolls of blue painters tape left over, masking tape large and small - I even found some stretchy black electrical tape in Daddy's toolbox. Thank you, Daddy! (Later discovered silver duct tape. Shucks - it would've been nice!) Once I took white paint and dashed a few lines of blue and brown over the pages, they took on a decidedly denim air. And I like that! Still seems more of a background though. Maybe more instructions come later.

Day 9

The "inchies" page got a makeover. I liked it better before. The recommended matte medium might have made the pictures more receptive to paint. It's hard to make things look like one lovely mass when corners are flopping up every whichaway.  ;)

Day 10, 11 & 12

Fun, fun, fun! The pocket-house had me stumped for days (journaler's block?) until a paper doily fell out of some boxes we were unpacking. My little house just HAD to have a paper doily roof. From there, it all turned autumn-yummy. Complete with a neighbor's knitted door. (Heart!) That was a happy accident. Also, my jumping ahead got me a little confused, which explains more "Mansfield Park" pages behind everything. Ah, well. 

Since I'm doing 'Soul Journaling' long after the original publishing date and allow myself to peek just one or two days ahead...I hear rumors of paper dolls in the brown paper pocket. Prepare yourselves. 

_____________________________

Things I'm Learning To Not Believe:

1. I hate blue.
2. I hate clutter.
   

These pages beg to differ. 

What I've Been Up To:

Working on my next project for the English Gardening School's distance course:


(I love how smart and architect-y the tracing paper looks. Even rolled up in a pot on my bedside bookshelf - gotta have one of those, you know.)


Wandering around Kirtsy: (cute! Design & Style, 'specially)

Playing with Picnik: (which explains all the little corners)

And doing a few other little things you'll be getting a peek of soon. :)

Ciao!

A Lady of 1939 Lives For A Day

Another EFA paperdoll (with a slightly edited hairstyle). How could I resist when she is from just a year after the original "Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day" novel was published? These little ladies are fun to make with Big Band music in the background.

She thought that the movie was darling, a little riske, but now we know when to go hunting for cookies, we like it quite, quite a lot. Of course we would.

Soul Journaling

It all started when Laura got a tin (!!) of watercolor crayons at Michaels. The excitement was infective, and I got caught up in googling anything related to watercolor crayons, which led me here. Oooh! Art journaling! I used to try that! Tutorials, videos! This is just what I was looking for.... From a link from a link from there I happily stumbled into the secret garden of Soul Journaling, a series of visual journaling "assignments". They are just the key to breaking out of my pale, lined journal and into something friendlier.

And so (if Blogger would get a move on with uploading the pictures)...

Day 1:

Boy, this was fun! I had dictionary, cookbook and Jane Austen pages on reserve to use. After using so many words lately (part of why I've been avoiding paper journaling in general) it was nice to let the printed word speak for me.

Day 2, 3 and 4:

Painting over the journaling was rather shocking, but once the midnight doodling set in, I had loads of fun! (I blurred out my name in the photo. :P) The second page became very dark, but it sort of fit the verse journaled in behind. (Isaiah 50:10).

Day 5 and 6:
I did these last few days in one or two. Finally! Yard sale freebie magazines are put to use! Couldn't bear to cover up the Mansfield Park quotes. They're lovely and I intend to post them later. I like the background on this one. It's rainy here for the first time in weeks. Sort of fits our mood.

For now, I'm off to watch Miss Pettigrew again, girls only.

A Lady of 1839

I had SO much fun piecing together this paperdoll from Edith Flack Ackley's Paper Dolls, Their History, And How To Make Them. My sweet mama gave me a copy a few weeks ago and I've been drooling over the old illustrations.

It is wildly different than the paperdolls my sister and I drew every summer. For one thing, the dress is made of tissue paper and gathered with needle and thread.

Playing milliner was especially fun. :) No, no, it wasn't. Those tiny flowers can be ridiculiously sticky, and it took several tries to figure out what Mrs. Ackley meant with the rear fold. But "milliner" sounds so nice. :)

I really like the way she looks in front of this watercolor by my aunt Mishelle. Like a Southern Belle wandering around under pink weeping cherries. What a lovely way to spend an afternoon before lounging on the front porch with sweet tea and divinity.

She needs a name: a good, sweet, sorter elergant name. Like Sophie or Susanna or Clementine.

Any suggestions? :)