Circle Journal: Vintage Recipes

I've got new pages to show you but first: In honor of National Craft Month, Gauche Alchemy is holding a giveaway and the prize is a fabulous piece created by Sherry Goodloe from Got Art? so CLICK HERE TO ENTER and tell them you heard about it from me, eh? :D

Now, on to circle journals! This month I got a chance to work on the journal of Kristen from This Homemade Life and her theme was Vintage Recipes. Um hello, love it! lol I knew immediately what recipe I wanted to include, it's one my husband's family has been making every Christmas for generations and I've mentioned it before in my post, I'm Dreaming of a Blog Christmas: Oladyi (oh-la-zghee), which is basically a yeast pancake. These are amazing...*drool*...I wish I was eating some right now...

Where was I? Oh right, so here's what I did for Kristen's journal!

The papers and felty apple are from a past LPS kit and the bread tags I won from the marvelous Julie at Life with the Tucker and Wolek Clan. Sequins, gems, rhinestones, Thickers - you know, my usual what nots. lol

This was so fun to create for Kristen and I hope she likes it! This circle is spinning right along! :D

Have a great day everyone!

P.S.-Toot turns 17 months today! 17 months already?! *faint*

Circle Journal: Why I Like Being a Girl

First some news:

-Thanks to your votes, Zachary's teacher came in second place in the contest, that is awesome! Thanks again for taking the time to vote for Ms. Moree!

-I'm sorry if my visits have been lacking as of late, a friend my husband works with wants a crochet Katamari Prince to give his girlfriend for Valentine's Day and since my husband doesn't crochet he thought I was perfect for the job *eye roll* Good thing I love my husband...and crocheting. lol So anyway, I've been crocheting like a crazy person to try and get this done before the weekend. Pray for me. LOL ;)

But I wanted to share my latest circle journal work with you real quick. :) This entry is for Carrie's journal and her theme is "Why I Like Being a Girl". There were tons of reasons I could name including some that are not appropriate for mixed company (lol) but in the end I went with this:

Left Side:
I used pieces of cardboard to back the pictures and to create a journaling box of sorts. Lots of glitter cardstock and Cosmo Cricket papers were harmed in the making of this layout. lol I hand cut the arrow and outlined it with Stickles. My reasons to like being a girl on this side are pretty standard: The Glitz! The Glamour! The Shoes! lol
And on the right side, I stated my very favorite reason for why I like being a girl. Something no man could ever do:
More cardboard, Stickles and Cosmo Cricket and of course some Toot. :D My reason is: "Plus, could a BOY give birth to this cutie? I don't think so." lol Best reason ever!
I love this picture of Toot, all happy after a good nap, lol. I hope you like it Carrie and I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I'll see you Friday for another Friday Night Fab Five! :)

And So It Begins...With Sequins

So the circle journal I'm hosting officially gets underway tomorrow and I have finally finished mine. (After all, it won't do for the hostess to be late, right? lol) I must have gone back and forth on my theme a zillion times before finally landing (and staying put on) "My Favorite Things". I also decided to challenge myself by using a 6x6 size. (The challenge comes in because I typically like to drown my projects in embellishments and what nots so this really made me think about what I wanted to use and had room for on the page.)

In the end, I'm satisfied with my final result. My pages are smothered and covered (Waffle House-a favorite) in my favorite things, huzzah! This is my cover page:

I named my journal, "My Favorite and My Best" as a homage to Charlie and Lola-a favorite, using Thickers, Cosmo Cricket paper, the color pink and bling, all favorites. (I must also call misspelling a fave since I spelled "journal" wrong. Oh well! lol) I also decided to focus on more "frivolous" favorite things rather than the important ones (friends, family, God, country, etc etc etc) lol.

Here is my introduction page and sign-in page:
Favorites: sequin waste, Ninja New York restaurant in NYC, bling, glitter, Disney pins, unusual embellishments. Due to the size, I kept the sign-in requirements simple: name and location.

And here are is my entry for the journal, left side first:

Favorites: Chick-fil-A, video games, bling, vintage, records, Pullips, crochet, Mod Podge (used to adhere most of the elements), cupcakes, pictures, kawaii, vintage ads. I used a lot of pieces from various Gauche Alchemy mixed media color kits, along with more Cosmo Cricket and an expired Chick-fil-A coupon (forgot to use it, shoot!) lol

Then the right side:
This was a fairly simple page, more Cosmo Cricket, some ribbon and sequins. A Starbucks cup cuff to create a pocket to hold the card which I used to list favorites using a MAJOR fave of mine: my Dymo label maker. lol

A close up of the card:
I feel so much better now that everything is ready to go! I can't wait to see what everyone in the circle adds as their favorite things!

What are some of the things you like to call your favorite?

P.S.-Final count of the word Favorite in this post: 14 lol See you tomorrow for The Bachelor! :)

This Week in Twitter: January 3-9, 2010

Talking about Twitter in this week's Fab Five gave me the idea of sharing some of my tweets and/or @ replies I got to my tweets. (Uh, say what Maggi?) Well for those of you not "Twittering" @ replies are responses to things you've tweeted. I got some very interesting people tweeting back @ me this week and wanted to share:

(Click for larger view)

1. Um hello, the original Bachelorette, Trista responds to my tweet re: The Bachelor?! WOO FREAKIN' HOO! lol

2. Check it out, it's Melissa from Scrapz N Stuff. She's Canadian, she's gorgeous, she scraps...n stuff. LOL I made a funny... Plus, she just (sort of) recently signed up for Twitter which is awesome because she claims to not "get it". I can relate, I felt the same way when I signed up!

3. This is my friend Mary from Maremy's Blog who is an expert on all things tea, working out and cooking. I'm tired just reading her tweets. lol

4. Hey look! It's Melissa from Scrapz N Stuff again! I thought she said she didn't "get" Twitter? Hmmmm... (speaking of which, she's doing a Basic Grey giveaway! check it out HERE)

5. Emma from Emma's Music. She is an absolute doll and her music is so beautiful and fun. Her blog is always bright and upbeat and she offers downloads of some of her songs for free (get them, get them now!) I could totally picture her in a 1940's nightclub. You simply must visit with her for a while.

6. Wait a minute...Melissa from Scrapz N Stuff again?! Dude, she totally gets Twitter! LOL

7. Ahhh, my favorite Fairy EVER it's Twig (Twig the Fairy.com). I say that one can never go wrong with a fairy on her Twitter. Where else would you get fairy dust, hmmmm? P.S.-You can meet Twig the Fairy online and possibly at your local Renaissance Faire so check her out, I <3 her!

8. I've mentioned Twinkie Chan before but I'm not sure you could ever mention her and her amazing work enough. She's the girl that crochets food and makes them into fabulous things. This is a creative soul that knows her way around yarn and hooks.

And there it is! A little snippet from this week in my Twitter! lol Too fun! If you haven't signed up yet, go for it! And then look me up, my username is "addglitter" :D

A couple more things before I let you go to enjoy your Sunday:

Hey, if you're considering joining the circle journal swap, I still have a couple of spots left, don't by shy! :D Details are in this post (Open to US and Canadian residents).

I'll see you on Tuesday for your dose of Bachelor goodness. Who will Jake pick? Who will cry? And will Jake ever find a shirt? Tune in Tuesday! :D

Happy Sunday everyone!

Singin' in the Rain...With Swaps!!!

Hi everyone!

Well, last night was the second "meeting" of T.E.F.A.L. (Tuesday Evening Fine Arts League) where the girls and I get together to watch a movie and enjoy some time without husbands, kids (well, Toot was there, lol), work, etc. Last month was "White Christmas" this month was "Singin' in the Rain"!



We have such a good time and next month's movie is "When Harry Met Sally". Do you have any movie suggestions for us???

In other (EXCITING!) news, I'd like to go ahead and get started on hosting a circle journal swap! 1. Because I love stuff like this and 2. If we start now we should be done by the holidays. Huzzah!

So what is a circle journal swap anyway? Well, long story short (at least for now), you start a mini scrapbook or art journal of sorts, mail it off to the next person who does a layout/page in your book, they mail it to the next person and so on and so on until you get it back all done up in creative glory for you to keep forever and ever. :D

I am currently taking sign-ups starting now through end of day Sunday the 10th. If you're at all interested, go ahead and let me know as I will send you an e-mail with detailed information so you can make an informed decision on whether or not you would like to participate. If you have never been a part of a circle journal swap before, I encourage you to give it a try! Whether beginner or super artistic ninja, I want everyone to feel welcome!

I am planning on keeping the group small until I see how much interest I get although I will accept 9 people max. For those in the circle, you can plan on mailing one journal once a month. Therefore you will have almost an entire month to work on one journal so keep that in mind!

A quick note: if you are interested in more info or you already know you want to do it, PLEASE e-mail me at justaddglitter @ gmail dot com, do not just leave a comment on this post! If I don't get an e-mail from you, I won't add you to the list.

My goal is to make this project as fun and stress free as possible so please feel free to e-mail me with any questions at all. Don't be shy, I'd love to have you participate! Unfortunately due to shipping times, this swap is only open to U.S. and Canada residents but never fear! I am really wanting to host an international swap of some sort but will have to plan out the logistics and it would of course depend on how many of you would be interested in that, so if you have any ideas let me know! :D

I hope you will join me! These are so much fun to do and it's a great way to get to know other artists and see their work up close! And if a swap or circle journal is on your 2010 Resolution/Artistic Goal list, here's your opportunity to cross it off! ;)

So in conclusion, if you have questions (I'm being purposely vague here to not write a mile long post, lol) or are ready to sign up, please e-mail me ASAP at justaddglitter at gmail dot com. You have until Sunday the 10th! :D

Have a great day everyone! :D

Circle Journal: Listening and Dancing

This month's circle journal from Gauche Alchemy was Heather's who chose a "Listening and Dancing" theme. At first I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go in but luckily inspiration hit me like a truck and I whipped it together like that*! *(picture me snapping)

Anyhoo, here is my entry in Heather's journal:



I used a vintage image and colored parts of her outfit in Platinum and Copper Stickles. I added some pieces from Gauche Alchemy's (It's All) Gravy, Baby! mixed media color kit and a couple of crochet flowers I received from Y at Do More With Less. Some feathers here, some buttons there, a little lacy ribbon, a piece of dress pattern, a key brad, some haphazard acrylic painting, sequins and pom poms and last but not least, words from a magnetic poetry set.



Here's hoping Heather likes it as much as I do (why come all the good things I make are to be sent off to other people?! lol ;P)!

Happy Monday everyone! :D

Circle Journaling, Now With 100% More Cannibalism!

This time around on the Gauche Alchemy Circle Journal...uh...circle, I got a chance to work in a very special journal that belongs to my good friend Callista. I knew this would be a fun CJ to work in because 1. I like Callista and 2. Callista likes cupcakes. Not surprisingly, the theme of her journal is "Cupcakes"...how fun!

Except that...I was viciously attacked by that nasty beast: Artist Block. Boo! Hiss! Come on Artist Block, really? Give me a break! Grrrrr...

So I thought and I schemed and I planned and I racked my brain trying to make my entry in Callista's CJ the best...but what would make it the best? What could I do with sweet sugary fairy cakes that hadn't already been done? What could I do? WHAT?!

Wait a minute! I know! I can't believe I didn't see this before...duh! Everyone knows that cupcakes are known cannibals. It's in their nature...their delicious delicious nature...







Naughty naughty little cupcake!

These pages were fairly simple. I made the "bitemark" with my trusty office hole punch. I glued dictionary pages to the chipboard and I noticed the words "bitchy bite" on the right hand side and that got me thinking about the devious nature of cupcakes. Sure, they taste good but then they move to your stomach and thighs and refuse to leave! Stupid delicious sons of...ANYWAY, I added some acrylic paint and sequins and pieced together the cupcakes from patterned paper and cardstock scraps. Some Stickles and my label maker and woo hoo! Cupcake Cannibals! (Not to be confused with Cupcake Cannabis...TOTALLY different thing!)

hee hee

I'm Pretty Sure This Is The Best Day Ever...

First of all, a HUGE thank you to all of you that partied with me over the weekend at Vanessa's Halloween bash. There were so many awesome blogs participating, I enjoyed visiting each and every one! I was a little worried when I wrote my post as I wasn't sure everyone would "get" my brand of humor but most seemed to enjoy it so THANK YOU! In the end I left around 180 comments and visited over 200 blogs (not all had party posts) so I count it as a success! lol

Next, I'm not sure you if you knew this but 10 days after Toot was born, I was born! All right, 10 days and a few years after. Yes, you guessed it - today I turned 33! Go me! :P

My hubby started the party early last week by getting me a crochet magazine I'd been drooling over and 2 new crochet books. This past Sunday my mom took us to the local Renaissance Faire which we go to every year to celebrate my birthday (pictures to come later, I was lazy :P) and tonight my dad is taking us out to dinner (pizza, oh baby!) AND Toot slept until 7:30 this morning! Woo hoo! lol

I don't have much going on on the ole blog here for my birthday but I do want to share a project that I recently did that displays what my entire life philosophy is based on: a quote. I finished another journal for the LPS circle journal and the theme of this one was "Favorite Quote". This is a fun one for me because I quite like my favorite quote, which is from the movie "Harold and Maude". Here are my pages (P.S.-These pics are craptacular, I had to take them at night - boo, hiss!):



And a close up of each side:





So the quote is: "Everyone has the right to make an ass out of themselves, you can't let the world judge you too much." I love love love this quote! If you've never seen the movie "Harold and Maude" I really recommend you check it out. (Cat Stevens did the entire soundtrack for the movie and the music is amazing!) It's all about being who you are, which is a unique individual and to embrace life. Here is a scene where Maude is talking about being unique.



It reminds me of this song that "Happy Monster Band" sings on Playhouse Disney (yes, I went there) it goes,

"I'm someone no one else can be,
I'm different than you, him or he,
I'm happy too as you can see,
Cause I'm the best at being me."

This may seem like a silly kid's song but I wish there was more of this philosophy being taught to our kids than being like celebrities or copying each other. Here's the entire song:



Anyhoo, didn't mean to wax poetic there! Thanks for sharing this day with me and have a cupcake before you go!


Want to make these cupcakes? Go HERE for the recipe! (and then send me one! ;)

Have a great day everyone!

Circle Journaling: Artsy Vintage

Happy first day of October!

The first circle journal I received from the Gauche Alchemy group had a fun theme of "Artsy Vintage". I decided to make a crackle/messy paint effect with red acrylic paint and Elmer's glue. I used pieces of various mixed media color kits from Gauche Alchemy and went back to my tried and true pin-ups. :)





Sorry this post is short but Toot is currently trying to lick my laptop and I'm having flashbacks to that "fried pussycat" from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Gotta run!

Circle Journaling

First day of Fall! First day of Fall! First day of Fall!

WOO HOO! You know what that means...Too much sugar, too much commercialism and too much turkey...I am so ready for this!!!!

*deep breath*

Anyhoo, more of my work with the Gauche Alchemy "Hot For Teacher" kit can be seen on their blog but here it is, live and in person for your viewing pleasure. :P This time I used their fabulous kit to dress up the sign in pages for my Gauche Alchemy Circle Journal...uh...journal:

First the left side:



Every so often, I love using masking tape on my projects...



And the right side where everyone will put their sign in tags:



I made the pocket using packaging from cardstock, covered it in some grading paper from the kit and I then attached it to the page using masking tape. :)



By the way, if you check out the Gauche Alchemy store you'll see tons of newly added materials for you to get your art on! Tons of cardboard, paint, beeswax and Distress Inks. Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments and support during my guest spot at Gauche Alchemy, it's so appreciated! Have a great day everyone!

Circle Journal: My Vintage Bling

So my circle journal is off to the West Coast to meet its first recipient. My theme being "Vintage Bling" I went back and forth about what I wanted to do for my double page layout. I decided to do a boy/girl matching layout using pieces from the Gauche Alchemy red, white and pink mixed media color kits and some vintage ads I found online. The pictures are actually a couple of my family members on hubby's side. I got my scanner hooked up so I scanned them in and printed them out on paper.

All in all, I think they came out pretty well. What do you think?

The left side:



And the right side:



P.S.-The Ronald Reagan ad with him giving cartons of cigarettes as Christmas presents is too funny!

Let The Circle Be Unbroken...(please let it be unbroken!!!)

First of all, I have to thank all of you for your mega sweet comments on my last post. I really appreciate all of your encouragement and just think you're fabulous so thank you from the bottom of my blogging heart!

Today I wanted to share a couple of things I made for the new circle journal I'm doing with a fun group of artsy type peeps over at Gauche Alchemy. I chose to do an 8x8 album and the theme I chose is "Vintage Bling" (I know big shock, right? :P). As a way of signing in, I'm including blank tags for everyone to decorate with a request for them to include their favorite decade. Here is my tag:



I picked the 1950's (another huge shock, I know!) and included my name and why I love the 50's on the back of the tag. I'm also done with the cover sheet for the album:



For the cover I used an old picture and book page I got from my favorite haunt, Sleepy Poet Antique Mall, a few Thickers, some patterned paper the August kit and Basic Grey bling I got in a group buy over at LPS, some ribbon I bought in NY and a touch of the Blue Streak mixed media color kit from Gauche Alchemy. I've still got some more work to do on it before I send it off to its first stop but at least I'm getting somewhere! lol I'm excited for this project and really hope my journal makes it back home safe and sound!

A reminder before I go: I'm always looking for more Craftoholics to interview so if you're interested, be sure to read this post and e-mail me! :D

See you all tomorrow for another Fab Five!

Circle Journal: Favorite Verse Entry

A gal from LPS decided to use "Favorite Scripture" as the theme of her circle journal. I immediately had a flashback of 1996 when I was *signal lost* years old and was living in Colorado. I went to this church and the sweetest little old lady that used to be in the Salvation Army came up to me one morning with "Jeremiah 33:3" written on a piece of paper. As she was handing it to me she said, "This is God's telephone number". I've never forgotten that so I used that verse for this circle journal entry.

Luckily, it also fits with this week's challenge over at Paper Blooms so I was able to scrap two birds with one layout...wait, that makes no sense...

Circle Journal: Marriage Advice Entry

Click for larger!

This is the newest circle journal layout I've completed, yay for me, I'm scrapping! LOL A gal at LPS is getting married this year and so she chose a "marriage advice" theme for her journal. I used a couple of pictures from my bridal portraits and added this little poem I found:

"To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the wedding cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up."

-Ogden Nash

I thought that was pretty good advice (some that I need to follow more often! lol) I've been trying to think more outside of the box with my scrapping lately so I used some material (tulle?) that I've been saving: it actually came off a present I got for my wedding!

Anyhoo, today Toot and I spent some time with a good friend of mine and then it was off to the local market to buy some fresh strawberries. I'm going to make some strawberry jam tomorrow which I haven't done in a couple of years. There are some ladies I'm swapping jams with over at the Sugar Pie Farmhouse forums so I need to get this stuff made so I can swap and try out other people's creations. Can't wait!

Circle Journal: My Hometown Entry

The journal I received this time had the theme, "My Hometown". Easy enough! The tags included were really small so I used some index prints from Shutterfly to decorate it. I then outlined each with Stickles.

These are some of the simplest layouts I've ever done but that may be because the pictures and brochure filled up most of the space. lol (I went to my Town Hall, got a couple of brochures and cut them up)

I have to say that so far this Circle Journal has been a great experience and I hope I get the opportunity to be a part of more in the future!

Circle Journal: My Favorite Trip Entry

My first journal arrived in the mail last week and I was so excited to work on my first book! This journal belongs to D and she picked "My Favorite Trip" for her theme. Let me just say that she put together some beautiful pages for her book! I just love seeing these pages up close.

First I had to decorate a tag to "sign in":

Of course, there was only one trip I immediately thought of for my entry in D's journal: our "Disneymoon" trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando. There was never a question that DW was where we were going when we were planning our honeymoon. Neither of us has ever been there and what a better way to experience it for the first time than with my husband! We had so much fun and I so loved scrapping some pictures from that trip again. I did a two page layout, size 8x8

Let me tell you, I blew through my Xmas Red Stickles and I have found a new love: painting raw chipboard with acrylic paint and then covering the crap out of it with Stickles...oh baby!

So this book will be off to the next in the circle tomorrow and I'm impatiently waiting for my next one! So far so good, it's been a great experience doing my first circle journal.

Circle Journal: The Art in Me Entry

So after staying up late last night (and paying for this morning when Toot decided to party at 5:00) and finishing up my sign in tag this morning, I was finally ready to mail my album to the first lucky LPS member on the list. Ironically, I struggled making a layout for my own album! I'm hoping the other ladies in the circle find my theme easier to do than I did, sheesh!

Anyhoo, I decided to do an 8x8 size album and ended up with a 2 page layout that I am really proud of. The picture is small but hopefully you'll get the idea. On the right side, I used an old picture of me and on the left is one of my bridal pictures (I picked it because I was looking over the same shoulder as in the younger picture).

I really wanted to use some of my precious precious BG Urban Prairie stash so I really let that dictate how my pages ended up.

I added a flower I made a while back and distressed the edges of the paper with scissors. I put a blue rhinestone brad in each of the outside corners.

I naturally highlighted everything I could with Stickles. :P

By the way, my father-in-law will be staying with us for a few days so I won't be on and visiting with you all as much as I try to every day so NO showing fabulous creations and sharing fun stories until I get back! Please keep your blogs as boring as possible until my return (I hate missing entries!) LOL

Let The Circle Begin

Over at Life Preservers, a few of the ladies and I are getting ready to start a Circle Journal. For those that don't know, a Circle Journal is when you pick a theme and start an album (as does everyone else in the circle), then you pass each others' albums around and everyone in the circle creates and adds pages to them. You get yours back and it's full of fabulous pages for you to enjoy, woo hoo!

My theme is called, "The Art In Me". I've asked the ladies to create a layout utilizing their favorite techniques, tools, paper or embellishments. They can add pictures of their scrap spaces or what inspires them (or no pictures at all!). I'm really hoping that they'll feel this is a creative theme, I'm excited to see their scrapping style up close after seeing it online!

So far, I've made the instruction page and the sign in page for my journal. In a Circle Journal, the sign in page acts as a table of contents of sorts and is another way for everyone to use their creative abilities. I've decided to make some blank tags and have them decorate them in any way they wish. Here's what I ended up with:

Here's my instruction page:

I'm excited to get this mailed! I've just got to do my own layout for my journal and it will be ready to go! Everyone has picked great themes from marriage advice and favorite quotes to "What I Love About Me" (I'm going to struggle with that one) and favorite vacation. I can't wait to get my first journal to work in, here's hoping my first Circle Journal goes smoothly!