Real Life.

I have not blogged about my family in a long time.  Oh - what's that you say?  I haven't blogged, period?  Holy smokes, you are right!  Yikes!  It's been since February!  Well, that's just not okay.  So here's the deal.  I'm going to stop waiting for the perfect project, with the perfectly edited photos...because I just don't have time...and you'll have to give me grace for that.  And in return, I'm gonna blog more.  But it's not just going to be about my crafty projects...though I have been making a LOT of art lately...LOTS.  It's just that I've been living a lot of LIFE lately too.  And, well, they sort of go hand in hand.  So if you want one, I guess you're gonna get them both!  ;)

So let's see if I can give you a sort of summary...in mostly photos...of what we've been up to!  (In no particular order...that would be WAY too much work!  LOL) 

I had a blast at CHA, and it was so fun to meet in person some cool peeps who've had a major influence on my artistic life and so much more...like Christy Tomlinson!

Anthony continues to home school, though more often than not these days, he refuses to do his work.  It's all part of his struggles with Sensory Processing Disorder, among other issues.  I'll definitely be blogging more about this, because it affects all three of my children, though he and Mackenzie the most, by far.  Seen here, he's playing on my iPad, which he LOVES doing!  I was bribing him...15 minutes school work, 15 minutes iPad, and so on...LOL.

Mackenzie and Makayla have grown up SO much.  This was at a recent park play date, when Mackenzie borrowed a scooter from a friend.  She hasn't mastered it, but she sure loves trying.

Couldn't remember if I'd posted these before or not, but when I went to CHA, all the members of the Craft Test Dummies team exchanged homemade gifts.  I made hand-bound journals...the first I've ever made.  It was super fun, and I'll definitely do it again!  Each one was mad with different materials and bound differently.

This is a canvas I made around Valentine's Day, inspired by project I saw in an email from Somerset/Stampington.  Wax paper hearts, stitched with bits of vintage music sheets, vintage linens, glassine paper...stamped...and attached to a decoupaged canvas with cute mini wooden clothespins and jute string.

We've been SUPER blessed to have found Sensory Time, a local indoor play place that is specially designed for children with Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and other disabilities.  We have gotten a membership here - and the kids LOVE this place!!!  It's everything their little sensory-seeking bodies desire!

And when we're stuck at home, I try my best to find sensory-related activities to help keep them occupied and happy...like making a swing on the bunk bed!

My nephew and his new wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, and my kids absolutely ADORE her.  They had fun oohing and ah-ing over her when she came to visit for the first time!

I was elated to find a WORKING 1923 Remington Portable typewriter at a local antique shop and plan to use it for bits and pieces on art, scrapbooking and journal related projects.

More bunk-bed swing fun - flying fairies, anyone?

VERY occasionally, Anthony will sit down and actually do some school work...but these times are getting increasingly fewer and farther between.  Trust me...there will be more posts about this!

I've developed a love not only for Instagram, but for tiny pottery bowls to use for storing artsy embellishments.  Sigh.  These beauties are from Anthropologie...another love!

Park days are a big hit, and we've tried to soak up as many as possible while the weather's been cool...for I know the summer heat is fast approaching!

My husband and I had the pleasure of participating in a fantastic surprise party for a dear friend.  She's been having a rough time lately, and this show of love from her friends was just the boost she needed.  Oh - and I got a hair cut.  A real one.  From an actual hair stylist, at an actual salon!  (This is a big deal...I usually just chop my own hair, or pull it back in a pony!)

{And how fun is it to actually have a pic of me and hubby?!  These are rare!}

Did I mention that we visit Sensory Time regularly?  LOL  Not only do they have stuff for when my kids are bouncing off the walls and need BIG activity stuff like balls and swings, but they also have lots of fine motor activities for them too!  I am so happy that THEY are so happy there!

My dad was staying with us from just before Christmas through the latter part of March.  This was a feeble attempt to get a decent photo of him with my kids...who refused to cooperate.  Oh well.  We had a fun day in Old Town Temecula anyway!

I've been doing LOTS of art activities with the kids - and I cannot even begin to tell you how happy it makes me that they are not only old enough now to really participate, but that they all 3 seem to really ENJOY art!!  I give them pretty much free reign of a large selection of products...various forms of paint, watercolor crayons, water-soluble gel sticks, paint brushes, watercolor paper, mixed media art journals, colored pencils, crayons galore, markers in various forms, modeling clay (including really cool glitter modeling clay that even smells good!), paper of all kinds, scissors, collage journals, glue...they've got it made!

I also re-did our bedroom.  We got a new bed frame, new mattress set, and so I felt the need to get a new comforter cover and pillows, and a great new lamp.  (The curtains on the wall are old...not sure what I'm going to do with them.)

I got a new camera - not a DSLR - but way better than my old one...a Canon Powershot SX something something...I forget the letters and numbers!  LOL  All I know is that it has the ability to do manual stuff as well as a bazillion programmed things...and I'm still trying to figure it out!  This was me trying to do the bathroom-mirror photo!  Ha!

I re-did my craft room, for the second year in a row, and as part of that, I found some cool new storage options.  This rotating bin is from Harbor Freight and cost only $20 - and holds a TON of spray inks, paint daubers, Distress Stains, tools, etc.  I LOVE IT!

I bought my hubby a total surprise - just because - no birthday, no holiday - just because.  An IPhone 4s.  Actually, I got one for both of us, and we LOVE them.  We've turned into Mac people...iPhones, iPads, and I have a Macbook Pro now - and I couldn't be happier!

Have been having fun getting some great happy mail!  So much fun!

Mackenzie's fine motor skills aren't great, and her scissor skills are rather poor especially.  I was so impressed to find these great scissors by Faber Castell at one of my local JoAnn's - she loves them, and they really help her!

Um, speaking of Mackenzie...I mentioned the Sensory Processing Disorder and the fine motor skills.  She also still lags behind in speech...and she just does some rather, well, odd things.  I couldn't help myself - I had to take this picture.  I went in to check on her one night to see if she'd gone to sleep - and she had...but apparently her princess dolls needed to hang from their hair over her for the night...their hair tucked into onto of the cross-frames from her sister's bunk bed above her!  LOL  Gotta love that girl!

I mentioned my craft room remodel.  My dad and hubby closed in the wall pass-throughs that went from my room to the family room, and built shelves in them - GENIUS.  We also got several cabinets from Lowe's which they put together for me...and I'm SUPER DUPER happy with how everything came together!!!  And yes, I've been keeping it clean...cleaning up after my projects!

Here the kids are at LAX, waiting...though they had NO IDEA they were waiting for Jeremiah and Shelia to arrive!  It was such a great surprise for them to have a visit from them!!  We hadn't seen him since he left just before the new year.  It's been a hard grieving process...but I have to say, God's timing is perfect, and I *needed* to focus on my own kids' needs...and Shelia is doing a FANTASTIC job being Jeremiah's mom!!!  I'm so thankful that we get to continue to be a part of his life, but I'm also so thankful that we were able to provide HER with the opportunity to be his mom!

I mean, seriously, how cute is he?!

Jeremiah enjoyed Sensory Time as well...he nearly fell asleep on one of the therapy swings, he was so relaxed!

Mackenzie, on top of the dome climber at Sensory Time.

See?  I really *have* been making art!  A tag I made for a Liquid Pearls review over at Craft Test Dummies.

 Sooo cute...Makayla snuggling with Jeremiah on the floor during his visit.  They just love him SO much!

Did I mention I have developed a slight addiction to washi tape?

I finally put curtains up in the girls' room.  They LOVE them...when they're not trying to pull them down.  The pink ones actually block out all the light when they're closed, but the purple ones are glittery.  So pretty!

This is a truly amazing photo.  My kids have been terrified of dogs, cats, bugs...pretty much any living creature besides humans...for forever.  But last week at a homeschool group park play date, the girls just decided they were going to make friends with this little dog who belonged to one of the other families.  OH, how sweet it was!!!

More evidence of art!!

I even made homemade strawberry freezer jam - sooo yummy!

Last Friday, my friends Tamekia and Valerie took me for a spa day.  The funny thing is that they had promised me this spa day if I survived our family cross-country trip 2 summers ago!  LOL  Hey, better late than never, right?!  It was super fun and relaxing!!

My biggest little artist...she's always trying to sit at my desk and touch my art supplies.  "Oh, this is SOOO beautiful, mommy!"  But I think you can see from the look on her face that she's not so innocent!

A canvas I made this week, using one of the monthly kit clubs I've joined.  It is seriously so much fun to receive happy mail every month!!!

Anthony on his 7th birthday - cannot believe how big he's getting!  What you can't see in this pic is that before I got the cake frosted, I had set it in the garage to cool off more quickly...and Mackenzie had snuck out there and literally put her fist in the cake and grabbed a fistful!!!  Sigh.  Did I mention my kids have Sensory Processing Disorder??

The kids have a new fascination with painting the little $1 wooden birdhouses from Michaels and JoAnn's...I say, "Hey, why not?"  It's cheap and it keeps them occupied.  And it's a great sensory activity!

Anthony finally lost his first tooth last week.  It was a big deal.  He was pretty excited about the $2 the tooth fairy left him.  What happened to the quarters I used to receive??

My hubby, working away...if he's not working at work, he's working at home...either doing work work or house work.  Poor guy!

Another pic of the girls making up with the dog.   It really was fascinating and wonderful to watch.  

Makayla must have more facial expressions than any of my children.  I think it's her eyebrows!  LOL  And those killer big eyes!

I've got lots more fun stuff to review for Craft Test Dummies - including these new Spectrum Noir alcohol markers by Crafter's Companion/Darice.  I've been having fun playing with them!

My hubby tore out the carpet in the front room and replaced it with laminate flooring this past weekend.  LOVE it!  He plans to eventually do the spare bedroom and our bedroom as well...seriously cannot wait!!!  He's turning this room into a t.v./reading room.

Okay - I know that was fast, and long, at the same time.  I promise I will go into MUCH more detail about some of the issues and things I brought up in this post...but I hope this gives you at least a glimpse into what I've been doing for the past couple months!!

I have a book I'm reading right now - Life Moments for Women - and will be posting a review soon too...keep an eye out for that!  It's a really fantastic collaborative of stories of a wonderful group of California women and what they identified as "life moments," or changing points in their lives.  For more info NOW, check out their FB page!

Til next time, keep creating, and remember to do the things that matter most!

Dylusions Stamps & Stencils with Distress Markers

These tags combined some of my absolute favorite new products - Dyan Reavely's new (and old) stamps and stencils, along with Tim Holtz's new Distress Markers.  I only had a short time to play...in the midst of a HUGE reorganization and overhaul of my craft room, but I had SO MUCH FUN playing, and am completely in love!  

On this first tag, I used Distress Ink Refills (Worn Lipstick, Mustard Seed), Distress Stains (Tattered Rose, Scattered Straw, Dusty Concord), Dylusions Ranger/TCW stencil (Dotted Flowers), Dylusions stamps (Basic Backgrounds, Around the Edge, Curious Corrin, The Right Words), Distress Markers (Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Stormy Sky, Broken China, Weathered Wood, Brushed Corduroy, Black Soot, Picket Fence), and Archival Ink (Basic Black).  

Let me just tell you...you are going to LOVE the Picket Fence Distress Marker!!!

On this second tag - which I adore...I just love her whimsical hair and her polka dot tights! - I got to play with more colors of the Distress Markers.  I used Distress Ink Refill (Worn Lipstick), Distress Stains (Wild Honey, Tattered Rose, Scattered Straw, Dusty Concord), Dylusions/Ranger/TCW stencil (Dotted Flowers), Dylusions stamps (Basic Backgrounds, Around the Edge, In-betweenies, The Right Words, Dooally Dorris, Curious Corrin), Distress Markers (Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Barn Red, Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters, Picket Fence, Peeled Paint, Black Soot).  

I am planning to teach these tags at my LSS soon, so if you are in the Inland Empire area of Southern California, and would like the info, let me know.   :)

Happy creating!!

CHA-Winter 2012

I once again had the awesome opportunity to attend the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) Winter trade show - CHA-Winter 2012 - last weekend.  I attended as a press member for team Craft Test Dummies, just like last year.  What was different this year is that our entire team - all 5 of us - got to be there!  We had so much fun, and I just wanted to share some of the highlights with you!

One of my favorite parts of CHA is having the chance to meet, in living color, great people who I've come to "know" online.  I've blogged about Julie Fei-Fan Balzer in the past, and I've shared about her 30 Days in Your Journal art journaling online workshop, which I loved.  It was great to meet her at the Crafter's Workshop booth, where she was doing a make-and-take with their newest stencils.  I got to use one of her new layering stencils - the Layered Hearts - and I absolutely LOVE how easy it is to use!  So fun!!  I've posted several times about these awesome stencils - you can see them here.

LOVE Julie's apron - "Dirty Girl - I don't clean my stencils"

Julie's new stencils with The Crafter's Workshop

Make-and-take tag done using new release
stencils by The Crafter's Workshop

I also got to finally meet Christy Tomlinson, another incredible artist whose work I have admired and have posted about several times.  I have taken two of her online workshops, the She Art workshop and her She Had 3 Hearts workshop, and I can't say enough wonderful things about them or about Christy.  And it is so awesome when you meet a person in real life, and they are just as sweet and down-to-earth in person as they are on camera/on their blog...and such is the case with Christy (and with Julie too).  I got to see her demonstrating her new line of She Art products that she has released with Pink Paislee.  (She also has a great line of stamps just released with Unity Stamps!)

I look SO tall next to Christy!!

Beautiful canvas art created in just minutes,
using new She Art products

I absolutely LOVE the look of the modeling paste over the doily mask on that canvas!!  I've looked at every thrift store locally for a plastic vintage doily like the mask she created, and cannot find one!  So excited she created this, so I can get it!!  And these products will make it SUPER easy to teach an in-store or even in-home class for people who THINK they are not artists or THINK they could never make something like this...because these products make it SUPER easy to do this.  I am really excited about this line!!

Some other CHA-W 2012 new product releases I'm really excited about...

The addition of Dyan Reaveley as the newest Signature Designer at Ranger Ink is a great collaboration!  Her lively and bright personality, which matches the bright, fun colors in her artwork, will bring a superb new range of products and ideas to the company.  This CHA, she released more stamps, 12 colors of Dylusions Ink Sprays, and 12 stencils with The Crafter's Workshop (6 designs in 2 sizes each).  I was in awe looking through her journals (many of which are large accounting ledgers).  Dyan said she has FORTY journals she is currently working in!!  LOVE HER!

Love Dyan Reaveley's bright, colorful art!

Love the sketch-like style of the words in this stamp set

Dylusions Ink Sprays, Dyan Reaveley's stencils's by
The Crafter's Workshop, and DISTRESS MARKERS!!

I am also SUPER excited about the release of Distress Markers by Ranger and Tim Holtz!!  I saw Tim demonstrate these at CHA, and I cannot WAIT to get my hands on these!  There's a marker for each of the 36 colors of Distress, plus a Picket Fence marker - yep, a white Distress marker, which writes on dark papers!!

Also exciting are the new Patina metal inks from Ranger and Vintaj.  They are a permanent, opaque ink, designed especially for metal, which come 3 to a package, with 5 packages available.  There is also a protective Glaze available, which serves as a final coat, and can also be used on jewelry to protect people who are sensitive to certain metals.  One of the fun parts of CHA is samples...and I was fortunate to receive a couple bottles of this, and I can't wait to play!!

Patina metal inks from Ranger & Vintaj

Patina metal inks and Glaze

Ranger also released 15 new colors of their popular Liquid Pearls.  These little gems are just what they sound like - with a nice fine tip, you control the size of the "pearl' you create, and you are able to create beautiful dimension on whatever your project.  Would you believe these are my first bottles of them?  I can't wait to use them!

5 of the new colors of Liquid Pearls

This next goody was actually released last year, but I'm not sure many stores picked it up, and now it's being  re-released with more attention. This is the Ink Palette by Ranger and Tim Holtz (and Tim has also released 2 water brushes, one with a fine tip and one with a nice wide flat brush).  I cannot tell you how stoked I am to have received this...I have used old pieces of packaging for forever to drop my alcohol inks into, and then  let them dry...and then pick up the color with a water brush filled with blending solution or a blender pen to color with them.  Now, I can FINALLY have an actual palette!!!  LOL!  

Ink Palette for filling with alcohol inks - put a few drops in
each well, let dry, then pick up color with blender pen!

I had the pleasure also of meeting Wendy Vecchi, of Studio 490, also a Senior Educator with Ranger.  I have long admired her art work, and am excited about her new release of products with Blossom Bucket this year.  I had a funny experience of how I met her...I was standing in the Blossom Bucket booth, and started going on and on to the owner of Blossom Bucket about how I love Wendy.  I was vaguely aware that there was another woman standing next to the owner, but hadn't fully looked at her.  Yep - it was Wendy!  I'm REALLY bad at being able to recognize people in real life, from their online photos.  Sigh.  What can I say?  At least I was saying really GOOD things about her!!  Anyway, a little while later, she was doing a book signing at the Art Gone Wild/Stampers Anonymous booth...and I happened to be there, and I said, "Oh, I don't have the book for you to sign, but I just wanted to say how glad I was to meet you," and she said, "Oh, we're giving the book away free!"  So I got her newest "Make Art, Studio 490 Style" book - volume 6 - FREE, and it's autographed by her!  Such happy serendipity!

Wendy's newest Make Art book, signed by her

And of course, the press room freebies and other samples given to us as members of the press are part of the fun of CHA.

ATC's from Speedball

New multi-directional cartridge from Glue Arts for the Glue-Glider Pro

Envelopes, tags and stickers from American Tag Company

Stamp from Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps

Wood Tickets from Prima (love!)

Assortment of magazines from Northridge Media (love these!!)

Of course, another part of the fun at CHA is the gorgeous booths - and to see some booth "eye candy," check out my post over on Craft Test Dummies, full of pictures of fabulous products and projects by incredible designers!

Finally, to see more about CHA Winter 2012, check out the Fave Crafts CHA Blog Round Up (starts Wed. 2/8).

Scor-Buddy Mini Score Board

It's a brand new year, and I'm excited at the possibilities and opportunities in store for this year!  As I'm preparing to head to CHA in a couple weeks (woo hoo!), I have one last product review up on Craft Test Dummies today before we begin a whole new round of reviews on the newly released products.  Have you been watching any of the sneak peeks?  I have, and I've been pinning some of my favorites over on Pinterest!

Screen shot of my Pinterest boards

Go check out my boards to see what I'm looking forward to seeing at CHA, as well as tons of artsy inspiration!  Don't know what Pinterest is?  Click on through anyway and see what you've been missing out on. If you don't have an account, and would like an invitation to join, leave me a comment with your email address, and I'll be happy to send you an invitation.  Be forewarned: Pinterest is addictive!  Many a time, I've gone in search of an idea for one little thing, only to find myself looking at something completely different - 3 hours and hundreds of pins later!

Anyway, this is the Scor-Buddy - a mini version of the Scor-Pal.  It is a scoring board, and this mini one is designed especially with the card-maker in mind.  It's small size, light weight and great portability make it perfect for taking to crops or traveling with.  To read my full review, be sure to head on over to Craft Test Dummies.

Scor-Buddy scoring tool

I'll leave you with a simple, sweet little Valentine's card I made using the Scor-Buddy.  I absolutely love the look of simple kraft with white paper doily, and paper tape is my absolute favorite flat embellishment right now (whether store-bought or homemade).

Card made using Scor-Buddy scoring tool

I've done a couple of fun crafty home projects that I hope to get written up for you soon, and CHA starts the 29th, so until then...get crafty and have fun!

Christmas Eve and Handmade Ornaments

It's Christmas Eve!  I really can't believe it myself.  This year, the Christmas season has been filled with an unusual sense of both angst and anticipation in our family, and I've tried extra hard to not over-do things, so that I could simply spend every minute possible just soaking up as much family time as possible. A year ago, we were celebrating the completely unexpected addition of a newborn baby boy, Jeremiah, to our family - via legal guardianship.  And this year, we are preparing our hearts to say goodbye to him just four days after Christmas, as he will leave our family to travel across the country to begin his new life with his birth mother. It has been a difficult process, accepting this turn of events, but in the end, love has won out, and Jeremiah is a blessed little boy to have so many people who love him so much.  Needless to say, we will be clinging together as a family, making this year as special as possible.

Since I needed to make gifts as simple as possible this year, I made ornaments for teacher gifts and gift exchanges.  I thought I'd share a few with you.  These are quick to make and could be made at the last minute if you need a gift idea for a last-minute guest.   

For these cute musical heart ornaments, I started by cutting two facing hearts from music paper.  I cut Christmas words out of some Teresa Collins ribbon and adhered it to the front heart, then added an additional sentiment with my Dymo labeler.  I put the hearts together, right sides facing out, and began stitching them together with a zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine.  I left about a 1" opening, and stuffed them with Poly-fil, then completed stitching them closed.  I trimmed around the hearts with pinking shears.  I used Distress Ink to ink around the edges - on the one above, I just used a bit of Gathered Twigs, while on the one below, I used both Festive Berries and Gathered Twigs.  I took a length of jute string and stitched it on to the back of the ornament, using a straight stitch, going back and forth a couple times (you could also just put it between the hearts when stitching them together, but I like the look of the added stitching).  Finally, I spritzed the front of the ornaments with some Biscotti Perfect Pearls spray for a bit of shimmer.

On this third ornament, I used Tim Holtz's Sizzix die, Carved Ornaments 2, to cut the ornament from grunge board, with the Noel Movers & Shapers die in the middle to cut out the word.  I painted the ornament using the Snow Cap paint dabber and let it dry.  Then I applied Denim, Pool, and Snow Cap Mixative Adirondack alcohol inks, using Blending Solution to help move the inks around, on an ink applicator tool, on the ornament.  I used a silver leafing pen to color the letters of "NOEL" and the topper piece, as well as the edges of the ornament.  I used the Movers & Shapers holly leaf to cut several leaves, and I used the Tattered Pine Cone die to cut some pine branches - all from Core'dinations cardstock.  I sanded them, used the Snow Cap paint dabber on their edges, and dabbed them with Rock Candy Distress Stickles.  I wrapped a small piece of fake greenery around the bottom of the ornament and then began arranging the branches and holly leaves on the ornament.  I topped them with a pearl from Tim Holt's Ideaology line. Finally, I tied a piece of jute string and inked seam binding through the top of the ornament, and it was complete.

What do you do for last minute gifts?  Do you have a go-to handmade gift?  

Christmas Tags

One of the treats of the Christmas season each year is Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas.  Beginning December 1, each night for 12 nights, he posts a new tag - created that day - and boy, are they ever fantastic!  He's done them for 5 years now, though this is only my 2nd year participating.  I never can keep up with doing them at the same time as him, but I try to do at least some of them before the month is over.  So far, I've got these three finished.

I love how Tim had us use the embossing pad on the embossing folder to get this cool double-embossed effect on this tag.  And the pine cone die - wow - it takes a bit of learning, but it is SO much fun once you figure it out, and it can also be used to make cute little dried roses as well.  (Check out my Sizzix embossing folders review over on Craft Test Dummies to see a cute card I made with a dried rose on it using this die!!)

Day 2's tag had us using the Picket Fence Distress Stain over some Christmas Kraft Resist paper...two of my new loves!  And I just love how when you apply some Distress Ink over the Picket Fence Distress Stain, it takes on sort of a chalky look - totally cool!  I've had that little bow from Jenni Bowlin in my stash for ages...just waiting for the perfect project...and this was definitely it!  That reindeer couldn't be cuter...the little greenery wreath and that ivory bow on his neck are just too cute!

I skipped ahead a few days to Day 6 for this one - and I swapped out techniques, too, for one he showed us a couple years ago.  While the metal tape, embossing, coloring and clear embossing powder on top are from this year, I decided to color the metal with alcohol inks instead of paint dabbers (though I did paint the wreath with paint dabbers).  I absolutely LOVE the look of the clear embossing powder over the embossed,  colored and sanded metal - my first time trying this - but definitely NOT my last!  Totally in love with this look!

And I especially love how you can add the Distress Ink over the alcohol ink, and because of the clear embossing powder, the Distress is sealed in and gives the tag a vintage feel.  

I'm still hoping to get a few more tags done before December is over.  I also have a couple handmade ornaments to show you in another post!

Darcie's Printable Shrink Plastic

Ornament made using Darcie's Ink Jet Printable
Shrink Plastic Project CD, "Nifty Gifty"

I just LOVE Christmas time...I think from about October 1 through the end of the year is my absolute favorite time of year.  From the minute the leaves start turning and the temperature starts dropping, through the last notes of "Oh Holy Night," and "Baby, It's Cold Outside," I am in awe at the beauty both inside and outside.  I'm such a sensory-oriented person, and the beautiful sights, wonderful scents, tempting tastes, memorable sounds, and delightful textures of this time of year just envelop me in a blanket of familiarity and comfort that leaves me feeling so full of joy and warmth. (And to be honest, I do feel a little let down when January comes around, because I just love these 4 months SO much...I'm always a little sad when they're finally over.)  

Anyway, I've been loving getting into the Christmas spirit, making handmade gifts for loved ones, decorating the house, looking at decorations with my little ones.  I wanted to share these fun little things I made using a fun new (to me) product I reviewed for Craft Test Dummies.  My review is posted today, so make sure you go check it out to see how I made these!!

Cardinal embellishment made with Darcie's Ink Jet
Printable Shrink Plastic Project CD, "Nifty Gifty"

I just love the little cardinal ornament - I made it for one of my kids' bible study teachers as a little Christmas "thank you" gift.  And the card - oh my goodness - I think that little shrink plastic cardinal adds just the right "pop" to the card!!  I haven't decided yet who I'll send it to, but I might end up making more of them, because I just love it so much, and it was so easy to make!

Art Journal - 30 Days: Days 20-24

It's been a few days...we've been busy finishing up Thanksgiving leftovers and getting back into our routine around here!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

So by now, our 30 days of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's 30 Days In Your Journal workshop is over.  (insert very sad face here)  What a fabulous 30 days it was.  I'm playing catch-up with my posts (and in my journal, as I skipped a few of the last days due to the holiday).  If you really want to get in the practice of playing in your art journal every single day, I really encourage you to give Julie's class a try.  I wouldn't say it's heavy on technique like some other classes I've taken - if you're looking for something with a ton of new techniques, I can recommend some other classes - but this class is more about helping you get in the practice of "showing up" every day in your journal - even when you don't feel like it (and trust me, there were days I didn't feel like it). 

This spread is a prime example of not feeling like it.  If you'll notice, my first entry is the 20th, and the next is the 23rd.  I had a really hard time getting going on this page.  And some of my journaling is about exactly that - my frustration with myself, my "missing mojo," etc.  I think we all go through periods like this, when we just don't feel like creating - and it's especially bad when there are deadlines to meet.  My fellow classmates and I had a great discussion on the private class message board about how we deal with this issue, and there were some great suggestions made as to how to deal with it.

But...eventually, I made it through the page - and in the end, I love how it turned out.  There's something to be said for pushing through the frustration and continuing to "just show up" in your journal.

Personally, I was able to clean and organize my entire studio while my mojo was missing!  LOL  

What about you?  What do YOU do when you don't feel like creating?  Do you try a different project?  Do you, like me, start sorting and organizing your supplies, hoping to find some inspiration in a long-forgotten supply?  Do you leave the studio altogether and go do something else?  

Leave me a comment letting me know what YOU do to find your mojo when it goes missing - I'd love to hear!