Crowned

Recently I enetered a month-long competition at Scrapdango. The winner gets a guest DT spot. I'm currently in week 4 and competition has been fierce. The other ladies have come up with some gorgeous creations. For the first week, the challenge was to add bling to a layoout. I don't get into a lot of sparkly on my pages, but I found that glitter glue and glittery ribbon worked well on this Christmas page.



Week 2's challenge was to create something for a mother. Since Mother's Day was just around the corner, I made a mini-book of my kids and their sports for my mom. It's made out of just one sheet of patterned cardstock. The cut and fold method is called ox-plow pamphlet. I love how this one turned out and so did my mom when I gave it to her.

I had a tougher time with week 3's challenge. This time we could use no patterned paper, only solid-color cardstock, which could be altered with stamps, etc. Very hard for me as a patterned paper addict! I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out though. This one features Little Yellow Bicycle rub-ons, dry embossing, button and ribbon flowers, and a few pieces of some handmade paper I made while teaching high school.

Crafty gifts

Lately, my financial situation has dictated that I make more gifts than buy them. And that's ok with me since I love making things. So for my aunt's birthday, I made her a purse-sized journal (yes another book!) with one of my favorite classic stamps from Stampin' Up! and a birthday card with American Crafts papers. I also used this sketch challenge from Sketches4All for the card.

And because it was Mother's Day, of course I had to make mother something to celebrate the day. The card I made was also for another challenge on Sketches4All. I made a gift, too, but that will be for another post ;)

April Sketch

J recently got braces and I thought this sketch challenge found at Sketches4All was perfect for the picture I took. I used Collage Press and Basic Grey papers along with Foofala rubons.

Teacher gifts

When I finished with my student teaching, I wanted to show my mentoring teachers my thanks with a token of appreciation. For my elementary placement, I didn't have much trouble coming up with an idea for a gift to make. I saw quite a few framed crayon monograms on pinterest and thought that would be a great gift for an elementary teacher. I printed out a big letter "C" in my favorite font, Garamond, on a pale, dusty green cardstock, spent a good hour cutting pieces of crayon in a rainbow order and glued them onto the "C." I used some Making Memories rubon letters for the name underneath.

I had a little more trouble coming up with a good idea for my secondary placement. I didn't think a crayon monogram was appropriate for a high school teacher and couldn't find much in the way of idea on the internet. I eventually decided to make a sketchbook using my Zutter binder. I purchased a drawing pad at Michaels and cut the pages to a smaller size. After decorating the chipboard covers with mostly Basic Grey Mellow, I punched and binded the covers along with the sketch paper with the Zutter binder.

And Another...

With all the papermaking and bookbinding going on in the high school classes I've been teaching, I just couldn't help but to make another book. This one is a little bit bigger and more substantial than the last little book I made. This one also features handmade paper. Using this book as an example, I taught the students how to sew the pages together, adding ribbon if they wanted to attach it to the covers. I cut chipboard to size and covered both pieces with some Basic Grey, then added sheet music, Glitz paper, a Fiskars stamp, Prima flower, grungeboard shape, and a few embellishments I cut from paper. I'll be adding this to my Graduate Colloquium Art Show.

Book Arts

An art form I've really embraced lately is the art of making books. I've learned several bookbinding techniques and have bought a few books on the subject for inspiration. I've even implemented the art in a few of my high school art lessons. I've been making handmade paper with the high school kids and I've been working on a few books of my own. Yesterday, I finished up this tiny little book (measures only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2") as a birthday present for my mom. The inside contains handmade paper and is hand-bound with a simple saddle stitch. The cover has Webster's Pages and Lily Bee Designs (on the inside) paper, Prima flower and stamp, and Frances Meyer sticker.

And here's another book I made a little while ago that I've been using as an example in my classes. I used some nice, heavy sketchbook paper for the inside and bound it with a Japanese stab binding. The cover is all Basic Grey (paper, rub-ons, stickers) and a button from my stash.

Spring Break!

So nice to have nearly a week off from student teaching...  Not only am I planning on sleeping in every day of my break, but I also need to get caught up on some housework, schoolwork, and, of course, artwork! Teaching art to kids has been a lot of fun, but I'd also like to do some art just for myself. I bought a ton of new papers and a few stickers from an online scrapbook store that's going out of business and has some deep discounts, I've joined a few new scrappy sites with some good inspiration and challenges, and now that I have some time freed up, I'm going to have some creative play.

And just for some inspiration, here's a card I made not long ago, but I'm pretty sure I haven't posted yet. This tag-shaped card was made with Upsy-Daisy Designs paper. The butterflies and flourishes were fussy-cut and I used Glossy Accents on them to give them shine and dimension.

Back to School

It's that time of the year again - the beginning of the school year. I go back on Tuesday, my last semester before student teaching, and my kids go back on Wednesday. The past week - and the next couple of days - are about getting last minute things ready. I took the kids back to school shopping and I have a few things to get before I start, namely a parking pass and one last book.

But beyond the necessary school stuff, my mind is still on creative things... I had so much fun at the crop I went to a couple weeks ago. Of course, I didn't get a whole lot done as I figured - way too much fun socializing to get a whole lot of scrapping done, but that's sorta the idea. Fun giveaways, new techniques, delicious lunch from Panera's, and so many sales that I just had to take advantage of... but I did at least get a start on the paper bag albums that I had wanted to make. I have one more thing to add to the covers before I can post a picture.

Also, Michael's had a sale last week on Fimo polymer clay so I picked up several colors to play with. Right now, I'm experimenting with mixing colors, Skinner blends, and making rose buds. I had so much fun in my Ceramics class last semester and this seems like a natural segue. It's not exactly the same type of clay, but many of the same techniques I learned easily transfer over to this kind of clay - plus I can bake it in the oven instead of having to wait for a kiln. I have a little free time today so I'm going to play a little more with it - maybe with textures . Pictures to follow...

Looking for my niche

For a while now, I've been looking for a new scrapbook forum to join. It seems that everytime I find one that I really enjoy and seem to connect with the members, it ends up shutting down. Since it's happened to the last forum I called my scrappy home, I've been on the search for a new regular spot to hang out and, so far, I just haven't found my niche. I will continue to look though, since I really crave sharing my creativity with like-minded crafty folks and finding some much-needed inspiration. I could really use some recommendations.

In the meantime,I'm gearing up for a crop with my friend Diane this coming Saturday. I haven't been to one in a really long time and I'm very excited for it, not only for the visiting but also for the large amount of time I'm setting aside to just create. I certainly don't get much of that in my everyday life with kids, housework, and school. We'll see how much I get done though... I usually end up spending a lot of time talking and not a lot of time working.

I think what I want to work on at the crop are some paperbag books. Both my boys just completed baseball season and I have a bunch of pictures from their games. I'm thinking a book for each of them for Christmas presents... and maybe a blank one for my Etsy shop. I guess I need to print out some pictures today and look on the internet for some inspiration. Maybe I'll find a new scrappy forum in the process.

Like a headless chicken...

I sometimes wonder if I thrive on being so busy. Though I feel a bit stressed when I have so much on my plate, I seem to also be the most productive. I suppose as long as I'm taking the time to slow down periodically, and know how much I can handle, then it's ok.

Right now, I'm juggling part-time work, raising 2 rambunctious boys as a single parent, serving on a Design Team, getting my portfolio ready for review for grad school admissions, and the everyday hassle of running a household by myself, in addition to possibly moving for the third time in the past year and a half. *Phew* Yes, it's a lot, but I do enjoy always having something to do. I suppose it's better than having nothing to do? That's what I tell myself, anyway.

About a week and a half ago, I posted my Ad/Art Challenge at Ch{all}enge Masters. I chose a vintage Coke ad from which to garner inspiration. Here's the end result:

Of course, being a multi-tasker, I could not just create a project for only my challenge and no other reason, so I decided to not only make a set of the cards for a Christmas gift, but to also create some packaging for it to make it worthy for my portfolio.

And still, in true MJ fashion, I still couldn't leave it at that. The card packaging I made was a box, which I then altered for this month's Altered Challenge at Ch{all}enge Masters... using this fabulous sketch for the current Design Dollies Sketch Challenge!
Before:
After:


So, yes, as you can see, I am a master multi-tasker... And now, while my kids are off with their dad at a movie, I'm going to get a few things done around the house while it's quiet. Or maybe I'll just look at a few more challenges and see how I can combine them with what I still need to get done for my portfolio review.