This week’s question was “what was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?”
I thought about this one for a long time. In the end, it always comes back to my family. My husband makes me laugh a lot and so does my 4-year-old son. Watching them play together also makes me laugh out loud often and all the memories I could remember of myself laughing involved either one or the other, or both so I centered my tag around family.
This week’s technique was inspired by two very talented ladies: I used the wax melting (using a crayon) technique Claudine Hellmuth highlights in Collage Discovery Workshop and this beautiful art journal page by Ali Edwards that has inspired me for a long time. Besides the wax, I’ve also used acrylic paint rolled over with a brayer and green alcohol ink as well as several distress inks and brown chalk ink.
—-
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here
How about something different today? For reasons I am not sure of, lava lamps are a part of Google culture so we have them in many buildings and in almost all the lobbies. Here are the four sitting in the lobby of my building. I had never seen a lava lamp until I came to the US for college and I instantly fell in love. Not sure why honestly but I always wanted one. I am happy to say that I now have one on my desk. And a purple one!
Today has started out well so far. No breakdowns at school, no weird conversations, all quiet. I will be in class tomorrow and Friday so I have a bit of a busy day but otherwise all is well. I had fun last night with interesting people and got to celebrate my friend’s birthday. Though it was 9:30 as I was driving home and I was really really tired, which is kind of sad that I can’t stay up past 9pm anymore.
I also worked on my eighth tag last night and will post it in a second.
The wonderful ladies at Big Picture Scrapbooking are offering a special deal for my upcoming class: Telling Stories Deeply.
You get ten dollars off my class, if you sign up for Scrapping on a Shoestring. That’s a 50% savings on my class and a 30% or so savings across both classes. I know times are tough so I really appreciate that BPS is doing this. I hope it’s one more incentive to sign up for my class. To read all the details click here.
I don’t think I really wrote up a lot about what the class will encompass and you can see some details in the class site but I wanted to share a bit more here, too. So here are some details:
The class will run for four weeks. Each week we will be exploring one area of what I consider deep/authentic journaling. The focus areas build on top of each other and get deeper as the weeks pass. In each week’s class, I also include one journaling tool and one writing focus. And then finally, we have the layout for that week where the journaling highlights that week’s focus area.
So each week you get four downloadable handouts:
- The handout for the main focus area.
- The handout with the writing focus and journaling tool. (these are like mini lessons.)
- The handout with my layout and step by step instructions.
- The handout with that week’s downloadable journaling spots.
And then there are handouts in the beginning that are for pre-class reading and a handout to fill-out throughout the class and one at the very end for parting thoughts. The first two handouts each week also have several examples from my own layouts that highlight the specific journaling theme we have for that week. The journaling spots are usable if you’re digital or if you’re traditional or a mix. They are just for fun.
We also have two chats scheduled. And of course the audio recordings from me each week and the gallery and message board which are staples of BPS. I am also compiling a long list of links to articles about writing, inspirational quotes, etc. just so you can have them on hand.
I have poured my heart and soul into this class and I plan to give it 100% of myself to this class. Journaling is my passion and something that I truly believe in when it comes to scrapbooking so if I ever get to teach one single class, this is the one.
If you’ve ever wished you could journal more or more authentically, I hope you’ll join me in this class. I promise it won’t disappoint.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Just click on the “share” link below.
So is it better to share tulip photos too often or David ones? I can never get enough of either so it’s a dilemma. Let me know if you have a preference.
My weird days are continuing…after yesterday’s odd incidence at school, today David decided to have a full-on melt-down which he’s never ever had in four years. It was so odd that the teachers didn’t know what to do. I am not sure where it came from but I am hoping it was a one-time incident. It also meant I was 15 minutes late to my morning meeting but otherwise things have been pretty quiet. Well, except the fact that I woke up at 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep and I am going out tonight so we’ll see how I survive the night out. Baby’s still kicking like crazy and I love feeling it especially when he or she is obviously doing cartwheels inside. Here’s one of David from this morning where he’s sneaking a smile:
I spent a little bit of time helping a friend today with some coding problem and once I figured out the problem, it was one of those “i can’t believe someone would write code this bad” cases which made me laugh so hard that I had to call Jake up to share. I love that we can share things like that and we understand each others’ jobs well enough.
Less than a month for my class at BPS to start. I am really really excited about it and can’t wait. A post coming with more details in a minute.
Today was pajama day at David’s school. Hence the Hulk pajamas under his jacket. He’s finally feeling back to his own self and I am so thankful. Everyone feeling better is exactly how I like it.
Mondays are my craziest days and today was no exception so I am happy that it’s finally over. This week will go fast but will also be full cause I am going out tomorrow and I have a class Thursday and Friday that goes late into the evening. This will mean that I will feel wiped by the end of the week. I just need to take some time tomorrow and get organized for the week and then things should go smoothly.
Still thinking a lot about relationships and friends and how much work things are. I am still hearing sad stories from friends and strangers and it’s making me wonder about how hard it is to stay together, to keep the communication going, to make sure to check in with each other and not let things rot. Because letting it deterirorate is a from of giving up. It’s sneaky cause it doesn’t feel like you gave up since it wasn’t a conscious action but in the end it achieves the same result. Especially sad to see a family with kids falling apart. Happening a bit too often lately.
Anyhow, on to happier things….Happy Monday!
Jake started teaching David how to play chess. David paid a lot more attention than either of us imagined. It’s really fun for me to watch them play. They’ve spent a lot of time playing together this weekend and it’s been joy for me to watch it. Here they are planying with a fancy lego set:
Another quiet day here with me sleeping in and then Jake taking a nap. I had coffee (well hot chocolate for me) with my friend Mike today. One of my favorite people from college and yet we see each other too rarely. I’ve noticed that I’m not as good at keeping in touch as I’d like to be. There are some people I wish I still had in my life or others that I wish I saw more consistently but I am not organized enough. Maybe I need to establish a better routine around this.
A few more things I would like to get done this weekend before I am ready to face the week but overall I feel peaceful, relaxed and rested. We’re about to go out for some yummy dinner and spend some family time. Something I always cherish.
Happy Sunday.
Today’s catalyst is: What is something that you turn to, to lift you up out of a bad mood?
here’s my text:
The one thing that never fails to lift me out of a bad mood is music. Even if I’ve had the worst day, I can get in the car, jack up the music all the way and feel better instantly. That’s why I am thankful for my 120gig iPod. This way I never have to worry about not having the kind of music I am craving at that moment. All my music is in one little machine.
David asked me to take a photo of his toys. These are from a pirate set we received on his birthday. The skeleton on the end glows in the dark and makes David very happy.
Relatively quiet day here. Jake and David kindly let me sleep in which was wonderful. When I woke up Jake took a nap and then when he woke up, I took another nap and then it was David’s turn so the house was pretty quiet all day long. I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked but I did manage to finish one big item on my list which is the first step to a big dream I have so I feel pretty good about that.
I’ve decided to change the titles of these posts, so that they are by date so this way I don’t have to count what day I’m on and it’s also easier to see if I miss a day.
Today was my doctor’s appointment and we got to hear the baby’s heartbeat while David perused the toys in the magazines at the office and asked me if I can buy him each of the toys there. All is well with the baby and supposedly the contractions are perfectly normal so I am not worrying about a thing. That’s that.
I was worried that lately I haven’t been eating that healthy so I decided to have some soup last night and the baby was like “Are you kidding me?” so the soup didn’t even get to sit in my tummy for more than 6 minutes. So much for being healthy. Won’t try that one again. And here’s to those who say nausea goes away after the first trimester. I am almost 8 months now and even with the medication, I still hugged the toilet last night, thank you very much.
Anyhow, on to nicer things. The rain has finally subsided in beautiful Palo Alto so we can see some sunshine now. David’s temperature has also finally stayed 98.6 for almost 24 hours now. Things are finally looking up. Hope you’re having a happy Friday.
Part of me feels bad for having so many tulip photos but then these make me happy and right now I’ll take anything that puts a smile on my face. Admit it, aren’t tulips amazing?
David’s still got a fever and I am just trying to stay calm and assume that it shall pass. I have just made my peace with the fact that this week is lost to taking care of each other. He woke up at 3:30am last night and wouldn’t go back down without me so I haven’t slept much in the last week and my very pregnant body is not liking that. But the baby is kicking away and I am loving it. My checkup is tomorrow so I’ll get to hear the beautiful heartbeat too which I am very much looking forward to.
This weekend will be resting and rejuvanating for all of us. I think we all need some of that. I shall leave you with another glimpse at the tulips.
David was feeling better last night but since he has to be well for 24 hours before he goes to school, Jake stayed home with him today and I went to work and it was a long long day with back to back meetings. And then David’s fever spiked again to over 103 so I took him to the doctor again and still no infections anywhere so we’re back to square one with Motrin and hoping it gets better. My turn to be home tomorrow.
On the way home from the doctor’s I got several Braxton Hicks contractions. Really strong ones. I didn’t realize they come so soon. Still got the heartburn, too so it’s been party-central here…Off to lie down and relax now.
Oh, and, Happy happy happy happy birthday my friend Cole, Alcor, Nicholas, Jack. Hope you had a marvelous one!
This week’s question was “what would you do, if you knew you could not fail?”
For me, the thing that I keep coming back to over and over is to write. I want to write novels and be published. if i weren’t worried of failing, i’d be a writer. (and maybe an artist, too). So I made this little girl who’s holding a book and the letters spell “write.”
This week’s technique was inspired by the talented kelly rae roberts. I tried to use one of the techniques she highlights in her book “taking flight.” this tag uses old music, book, and mechanical drawing sheets and some stamps. Acrylic paint rolled over with a brayer and green alcohol ink as well as several distress inks. i really do wish i could draw better…but oh well 🙂
here’s another look:
—-
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week.
see full list: here.
|
projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
|
