What Does Your Workspace Have to Say?

On my workspace (2 desks shaped to form an L) is: 

• strips of Girard High School paper which I'm using to make favors for the Girard swim team
• a beautiful Disney princess sticker that will become the cover to the Disney scrapbook on the road journal
• a butterfly punch, 1" and 1 11/4" punches and a corner punch. I use these all the time
• large bottle of caffeine Diet Pepsi; my go to drink
• Keurig tea cup with lid and straw, filled with the above
• assorted glues...I'm still trying to find my favorite
• a journal which is part of a round robin
• a cute elephant kids toy
• a smiling siamese cat figurine
• a collage that is in progress
• a plant that is miraculously surviving
• a picture of my Grandmother
• Tim Holtz paper tape which is holding a bottle of Glossy Accents upside down
• assorted pens and highlighters...I have a problem, I know
• paintbrushes sitting in water, which I rarely do
• copic markers
• my log your memory log book for 2011...so far so good
• cat treats
• Gypsy
• cellphone
• a box of embellishments

While working on some favors I started noticing all the things on my desk and wondered what all of it said about me, my working style, etc. I wrote the list first in Evernote (which I totally love) and then pasted it here. I plan on making a layout, adding a few photos of my workspace. First the party favors.

Yesterday and Today Layout

Our layout this week was to focus on combining two stories to create a third. One of the examples was riding a bike as a child and riding bikes as an adult. I decided to do one about my Mother and I being first born daughters and sisters to younger brothers. Funny thing is until I saw the two photos I never made the connect that my Mom and I were both sisters to younger brothers.

The journaling template was done by Ali Edwards who is teaching the class. I initally had everything in shades of yellow and then I found the pale orange botanical paper and ended up going with greens. For the transparency, I used copic markers to color a plant then decided I really didn't like that look so I reached for some green acrylic paint. Once it dried I added veins with a black micro marker.

This was one of those projects were I had a definite idea of how I wanted it to look when I started and by the time I was done I'd jumped the track. I like the way it turned out and the more I look at it, the more I really like the transparency.

Twilightine

I love Valentine's day and making Valentine's cards however after a few weeks of working with hearts, pinks and love stickers I reach Valentine overload and all my Valentine products must go! I finished the last of the cards today and put all my pink supplies away until until next year. ( I admit I over bought this year). I've been collecting Twilight emphera for a while and decided to make myself a Twilightine!

And there were Valentine's too! I cut the white out of cardstock and then just decorated them using papers and embellishments I had on hand. And one last shutter card with a basketball them...just because I loved making them so much.

It Must be February

Everywhere I look there are pink hearts, pink cards, red heart lights; yep it must be February. I spent this past weekend making the heart garland (above). I used Photoshop Elements to make the hearts. Go me! It was my second attempt at designing in Photoshop and it worked pretty well. I added Stickles and Prima flowers for embellishments. I used a light pink ribbon to join them together.

My next project was taking some calling cards which my Father had given me and arranging them in a frame. The card in the top row middle was my Grandmother's; the one next to it on the right was her Father's. Next up was my Mom's Valentine's Day card.

I saw one of these cards and just had to try one. I found a tutorial on YouTube and within minutes I was ready to decorate her card. She is a seamstress and quilter, so I'm hoping she will enjoy all the sewing embellishments. I've made two more with a third on the way...can't show those until I've given them to my Valentine's. And there were mini books too...

These are Ali Edward's design and when I saw them I knew I had to make them too! I made one for my brother, sister-in-law and nephews. So yep it's February and I've surrounded myself with pink hearts, pink cards, pink garland and well pink everything.

Valentine Tags

My co-hort in crime visited this weekend, which spurred me to do tons of crafting. I managed to make 18 Valentine tags (three sets of six) which I've listed on our Etsy shop - The Ivory Tower.

Each tag is 3" x 5 1/4" and covered with paper, flowers, glittered grunge board, ribbon, Stickles and other embellishments. I embossed each card first and colored them using inks. I highlighted the hearts by coloring them with my Copic markers then added Glossy Accents. Using all the pinks, reds, light greens and whites definitely chased my winter blues away.





For My Valentine...

I had an aha moment when I spotted this tin mailbox in a craft store. I'd been looking for something simple, easy and special to make for my Valentine's. Candy is out (diabeties) and I didn't think my nephews would appreciate jewelry so I needed something different. 

After I picked up the tin, I bought two packages of foam stickers to decorate the mailbox. I know I could have gone all out and used ribbons, stickers, rub-ons, flowers, paper and the whole nine yards but I wanted simple. Next was making and printing journal cards. 

Between now and Valentine's day I will be writing messages on the journal cards. The special things my Valentine's do throughout the month that I want to thank them for, notes of appreciation and lots of love will be written on those cards which will be waiting inside the mailbox for my Valentine's to open on love day.

Valentine Journal Cards PDF

Yesterday and Today Layout One

Taking a class with Ali Edwards and Tim Holtz are definitely on my bucket list, which is why I signed up for Ali's Yesterday and Today class at Big Picture Classes. I will be working with old and new photos and writing the stories about yesterday and today.

What struck me while working on this page was:

• how each of the photos invoked so many thoughts and memories
• how each photo has a story to tell
• how much I loved my joy at being in a tub full of water at 2 1/2
• how much I still love the water today
• how much of my personal history is in the details of the photograph

I've been doing digital scrapbooking for about two years. For me a hybrid page is filling in a template, printing it off and adding a few embellishments. Ali's way was different. I started with the photos; making a photo strip and the larger photos. They were printed and added to a 12x12 page along with the words and embellishments. I liked the process and can't wait to do other pages.