Travel Journalling

 This week's Simon Says Stamp challenge is nautical.

Thought I'd show you some of this travel journal I made a few years back.

Think its fairly nautical.

 We had travelled down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a friend's 50th birthday bash. 

Since we had never been there, the hubby and I decided to make a little summer vacation out of it too.

We stayed a few extra days and did some sight seeing along with the beach.

 This journal was made in 3 steps.

1- I put the base together before we left on the trip.

2-I made the journal while we were there-that's why there isn't a lot of stamping but far more die cuts and tags and stickers-easier to carry.

3- I did a few little finishing touches when we got home.

 Hope you enjoy this view of some of my travel journal.

10 Things Friday

1. It is finally time to call it quits showing off the pages from my OBX scrap-journal. Not only am I finally finished with this project BUT I am sure we are all getting tired of looking at this topic-HA-HA!!!!!!

So this page above and the one below are front and back to each other. I stamped the sun (Dawn Houser) twice and attached them back to back since they pop up over the page.

On the top page I stamped a honeycomb image which I made with Ranger fun foam and a Tim Holtz honeycomb stamp. I also used spray ink, a book page and a die cut circle (die cut from cardboard).

And this inner title page is one of my favorite. I did lots journaling with some stamping too. And I love the orange and the sea green together.

Dyan Reavely's, Dylusion's orange spray ink, hand doodling, some stamping, some doodled waves, great colors...a fun little page I enjoyed making.

And a change from the beach, one more page from our visit west to the Nascar Hall of Fame.  I love these racing/car stamps from Crafty Secrets.The set is called Car Classics.  I've used them a lot! Here's a close up.

You can see this cool old service station stamp, racing flags and spark plugs. I also used this old bottle cap embellishment I had stashed away. Some tape and of course, Viva Paint Pen in red.

OK, I am done. No more pages from these scrap-journals-they are put away and I am moving on. New scrap-journals are about to be done.  I had a blast making this album, and I hope you enjoyed looking at these pages.

2. I think my next album will be Arizona.

Or Barcelona.

Or Death Valley.

I have tons of photos I need to scrap-journal.

Which do I chose?

3. Love it- it is now getting light right after 5 A.M. I know this because I roll out of bed so bright eyed and bushy tailed for work-HA!

4-This week's rain and cooler weather is suppose to go away today or tomorrow-YEAH! But my lawn has loved the rain. It has also made it easier to teach at school-especially for my seniors.

5-All I want to do is sleep in! Amazing how one week off can throw you off schedule and it takes DAYS to get back on schedule.

6- And with this cool weather it is so hard to pick out work clothes. I want to wear my sandals!!!!!! My capris!!!!! But not when it is only in the 50's.

7-5 1/2 weeks of school left-time is flying-especially when you have zero snow days to make up.

8- But I have been in a strange mood this week- I have major travel fever-which is weird since last week I was in such a homebody mood. Maybe just hearing about people's travels, maybe summer being so close. I wish I had the guts to go do something wild and crazy. Like take off for a year. But I can't- I have to get my baby through college. Still thinking maybe in my future-I will just have to go and do it at some point. Something to plan for.

9-And I have been feeling like I am transparent. Not that people  know what I am thinking about or my thoughts, but I feel like people look at me and don't see me. Don't notice me. That what I do doesn't show up. I am transparent.

What a feeling! Good thing I am a generally happy content person.

10-My obsession for the week-more Dark Shadows of course. Still working on the first set. And it is getting spookier.

Glad to have you visit!

Tuesday

It was great hanging home yesterday while the rain came down. Me and my sweats. Sleeping in after Dave left for work with a dog and a cat in bed with me. It was the perfect sleep in morning and it was so nice not to have to get up for work.

 I will admit though, once I got up and going, at first I felt like I needed to do chores, and there are so many chores on the need to do list, I could have worked all day. But I reminded myself it is VACATION, so I did a bit of seasonal clothes change over first thing and then hit the studio for 5 hours. 

Was sure better than working all day, especially when you know there will always be chores on that to  do list.

Plus after playing in my happy space I did some reading and made a quiche, my first, and it was easier than I thought it would be.

Yummy! Think I'll be making a few more quiches in the future.

I added onions and bacon to it-mmm.

Anyhow, back to yesterday and my studio time. I finished my North Carolina scrap-journals. I had only 1 photo  left to scrap and then I needed to put in my covers. And I did all of that!!! Plus some other art too.

I haven't been in the studio for that long in a few weeks, and I was so ready to play.

Here's some views of pages I made in the last few weeks to finish up my Outer Banks, North Carolina scrap-journal.

Here's a tag I made last week. I started with a die cut scalloped circle made out of cardboard. I glued down some little decorative shells and a couple of shells I think I found in the Outer  Banks- (I have this habit of collecting shells every time I go to the beach-and there's quite a few of them so if these aren't from the OBX, they're some a beach someplace.) LOL. I also added some of this Viva sand paint, which dries into this real sand that's stuck on for good on the page.

Here's one of the 2 pages I made yesterday. It is the last page I made. I like the checkered flag style letters. The words are from Cornish Heritage Farms that I stamped around the edges. Here's the other side, the last photo I needed to do.

I had this cool photo of the walkway into the Nascar Hall of Fame.  So I stamped these cars onto my watercolor paper (Crafty Secrets) and then I stamped and embossed the King of the Road image, which I then colored with Copics. A little red and yellow spray ink, some paper tape, the North Carolina sticker....that's my page.

Last page for today is this journaling page. I added some slides that I ran through the printer/copier, some 7Gypsies tape and a sticker I picked up at the Hall of Fame. I stamped the pit stop image and embossed it and colored it. Then I gave the page some spraying and finally added the chipboard letters.

So that's it for today. I am off to visit my mama down in Massachusetts. Me and Harley are going to a little road trip together- and he will be one happy puppy since he loves road trips.

Till next post.

Assorted OBX scrap journal pages

Working away to finish my Outer Banks journal. Getting SOOOOOOO close. Here's some assorted pages from various times I was busy scrapping and journaling. I am very happy with how all of these came out.

On the Nascar page I used some 7Gypsies paper and tape and made the journaling card myself. Then I added some epoxied yellow letter stickers.

This one is different for me, but I love how it came out.

I stamped the back ground with a B Line Design stamp and then sprayed it with ink. Looks like paper in a way, not just my background watercolor stock. I added the die cut (Cuttlebug) and a stamped and cut out image. I took this photo of Dave while we were atop Hatteras Light and so I added that lighthouse image to the page.

I made an envelop to hold a brochure from this textured craft paper. I taped it down put added some paper tape on top just to design it. Then the 7Gypsies tag, 2 images and a bit of baker's twine and a bunch of Viva paintpen dots.

Some 7Gypsies tape and some stamped words and phrases- the phrase is by Postmodern Design and the sun,sand and surf words are by Rusty Pickle.

I'll only have a few more posts from this project I think...as I said my goal is to finish this by the end of my vacation...

I worked some more last night and I think have only 2 or 3 photos left!!!!!!

And it has cooled down a lot this morning. Finally, not so HOT weather-no AC on at school and with a room on the third floor-and of course, next week when I would have loved this weather they say rain- at least through Tuesday.

But we really need the rain badly.

But it is my vacation!

Just a few more days until it begins!!!!

More OBX pages

I am almost finished with my travel journal from last summer. I guess I just take way too many photos-LOL. Today I will show you some more OBX journal pages. The theme today-lighthouses on white backgrounds. Simple pages but sometimes the white background really makes the photo pop. Especially when you have a super blue sky and use a black accent/highlight.

I used a Crafter's Workshop template and some paint on these 2 pages. Also, a bit of SmashBook paper tape.

I know lots of people wouldn't leave a plain white background. I wouldn't always leave a plain white background either, but sometimes it just looks good to me. I am kind of a simple gal anyhow. I don't like too much on my pages so the photos stand out.

I am kind of a messy gal too.

My pages never look perfectly neat or straight.

Probably means lots of you wouldn't like them. But my scrapbooks are more like a journal than a scrapbook.

A journal with photos you could say.

And below, I used some 7Gypsies striped tape and a couple of die cut letters to spell out the word UP. The stamped words are from a clear set by ??? Wish I could tell you but I can't remember if it is Pink Paisley or Cosmo Cricket. But I think it was Pink Paisley.  The set has a number strip, some postal items, a pointy fingr hand and this very cool strip stamp with a bit of swirls and a little bird on it too.

(Ignore the spots on the photos that look like rain spots-they are shadows from my window. Guess it wasn't such a good time to take photos-either that or I better wash my windows soon.)

And this page is mostly journaling. Except for the photo of course.

So I have been starting to plan for my next vacation- a trip of a lifetime trek to Glacier National Park in Montana and then up to Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada. Sounds like a spectacular place to go.

Picked up this book the other day and gave it a quick read through.

It is an exotic place to me and I am excited. It will be packed since we are going in July-peak season and expensive- but when you teach school September-June it is hard to go any other time unless you wait to retire.

I don't want to wait! Seeing retirement is still a bit down the road unless something exciting happens in my life to change that.

So today we are having another day of grey skies. Again. A repeat without all the wind. It has become a repeat for us the last 3 weeks-ever since our gorgeous March week of heat. Yesterday wasn't really windy but by noon it was CLOUDY. Better than late snow yes, but we could use RAIN. So if it is going to be cloudy it might as well rain. We had such little snow this winter that the lakes are really low and we are dry already. I guess if it won't rain I wish it would be sunny and a bit warmer.

But then I don't get a say about that, do I?

Yesterday I also had a great day home. I signed up for 2 classes with Tim Holtz in May at my fav. craft store, got the taxes completed, took a walk,  and played in the studio. Except for my walk didn't go out all day. Got to love it!

And now it is Thursday and we're at the end of the week-already!

Enjoy your day.

More Beautiful Weather

So here is a view of a page I made for my scrap-journal- from my North Carolina, Outer Banks vacation. It was to commemorate my first and only trip-(so far)- to Archiver's. I started by covering watercolor paper with some old book pages and then giving them a spar with some October Afternoon spray ink. Then  stamped the honeycombs in black ink (stamp by Paper Smooches) and then stamped some red dots (Tim Holtz/Stamper's Anonymous. I colored a few of the honeycombs in with a green Copic. The heart I cut out on white paper and colored with some distress stain. The flower is a Sizzix die cut, with several stamped impressions embossed in white-the circle stamp comes from a set of circles by 7Gypsies-I just stamped the image several times. Finally I added a small butterfly and some green Dimensional Pearls to make its body. Then I used a black Sharpie to journal. Since I didn't have a photo I wanted to make the page a little more creative and different without getting too busy-I wanted the journaling to really be the meat of this page.

So I have a BIG hankering to start working with some cloth. Make some Prayer Flags like I saw in the latest Cloth, Paper Scissors  issue. I want to make some fabric-you know, layering lots of fabric and stitches and all kinds of additions. Think that might be tomorrow's studio time. If I'm not too tired after work. Sometimes I am just too tired to do something that pushes my limits...doing a journal page is challenging but not too challenging...or maybe some would say I am taking the easy way out and not pushing myself far enough.

Did I show you this page? It is really similar to the above page but really different too. Yes, I used a big heart, but for this page I didn't cut out a heart, I drew it on paper I had sprayed with some Tattered Angels and then  colored it in with some red Twinkling H2O watercolor paints. I journaled and then added red (on part of the heart) and pink (on the rest of the outer heart) Viva paint pen dots. To me, it is very simple but a great way to add a favorite memory to a journal when you don't want to add a photo...and I think a scrap-journal is about the topic at hand-the whole topic...not just the photos-those you obviously want a lot of those. And  a happy memory deserves a great big heart, doesn't it?

Anyhow...

Here's some more photos of my pot of tulips- they are really blooming in this gorgeous hot weather we've been having.

I love them.

Another Beach Day

Yesterday was so beautiful. I had windows open and went and sat out and read in the sun. I also raked...raked on March 18th!!! Often we're still white with snow. Not that every garden is raked, but anything you can get to and enjoy some sun and fresh air works for me! And today is suppose to be nice too and I am off to work, but that's ok. With the time change and the longer days I still have daylight time when I get home.

Also, I slept with my bedroom window wide open last night. Wow-can you believe I am doing that in New Hampshire in March?

So here's some scrap-journal pages that I did a while back. Photos from our trip last summer to the Outer Banks. The top page (shown twice) is a view photo and to make the page I started with water color paper, cut to size with holes punched for the album. I used turquoise ink and a stencil by Crafter's Workshop. I used another stencil by the same company and some blue acrylic paint to make the big tie dye looking circles. Then I attached the photo, added some little pieces of yellow paper tape, some cool epoxy sea horse stickers, the word sticker and a circle I die cut and wrote in my journaling.

This page is also on water color paper with some October Afternoon 8x8 paper laid down diagonally. I added the photo, the stamped phrase (Technique Tuesday) which is stamped on white paper in red ink and then cut out, some die cut flowers (in white) with a Tim Holtz page protector sticker and some red stickles. The dots on the page are the die cut pieces that are suppose to be the center of the flowers you see on this page.  Alittle grey ribbon glued down on the page too. Then I sprayed the whole page with some yellow-green October Afternoon  spray ink.

Finally this page-I know the photo isn't too exciting but I see the green background on 98% of the page? It is a home made stamp I carved!!!!! I added a scrap of paper along the top and some ribbon on that. Then I put 

down some of those Tim Holtz page protectors (as seen in the photo above) and a small piece of ball chain over those. Also, I added a small punched out heart. Below you can see the ball chain and my homemade stamp detail.

So found out Maine did make the NCAA playoffs and they are playing in Worcester, MA-my hometown-next Saturday night. We got tickets to the games yesterday and I am very excited. Hockey season is NOT over yet!!! Yahoo!!!

So have a fabulous Monday and thanks for stopping by.

No Holiday for Me

Here in the US it is President's Day holiday weekend, and lots of people have today off. Not me, but not complaining since in 5 days I am on VACATION!!!! Can't wait.

So my last vacation trip was this past summer to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I am wrapping up my scrap journal pages from that journey...been working on them off and on since the end of the summer.  Yesterday I made a couple of pages that I just loved the results, so I am going to share those with you today.

I had those photo of this egret...with a bit of egret shadow. I wanted to make it a nature kind of page...and I am very happy how this turned out. I started with white watercolor paper and attached an old book page to it. Then I added some 7Gypsies paper tape with the black horizontal stripes.  Then I added a die cut shell (Cuttlebug) and a small white die cut shell (Sizzix). I have these Hero Arts feather stamps, and I stamped them in black Staz-On on acetate. I trimmed them down and attached them, and I love the results.  Finally I added this little pin design from Darcie's.

Oh and I forgot, the stamped saying at the top from an older Tweety Jill stamp set.

Here's a close-up. Ignore the shadow lines- I took these photos on my window sill and there's a bit of a shadow...time to wash my windows (eeek!) I guess.

This page I made because I wanted a little pouch to hold my travel guide brochure. I used this cool textured craft colored paper that I recycled from some packaging that some supplies that arrived in at work.I tore off a piece and taped down the edges...then added this paper tape. On the left edge I added some Stickles blue dots. I also added this 7Gyspies tag with the edge riped off, some baker's twin and a couple of art stamps by ArtChix.

Here's a close up of these images too.

So if you're enjoying a three day weekend, I hope it is great. Even if you're not...have a fabulous day!

And thanks for visiting my blog.

More weird Karma

So here's a scrap journal page and the close up below it. I love this page...simple but to me, really speaks to a sunny summer day on the ferry. I think the leaving the background plain white works for me. I like the clean lines...which I guess really are my favorite, but then some photos just don't call for clean lines the same way. The photo colors are pretty crisp and I wanted to recreate those on the page. I started by attaching the photo on a diagonal, then put down some red Martha Stewart paper tape. It was in a set of Valentin'es tape I bought a year or 2 ago. I used some scrap paper for the blue wave-I used a Sizzix strip die to cut out a ric rac style curve and this was one of the left over edges. Then I used some Darcie's clear stamps and some Vermillion and some aqua Ranger ink. I cut out eh flags and attached them...the red rope and the saying stamps are also from Darcie's.

So yesterday was another weird day like Friday afternoon...even though I did a few chores and had a few productive studio hours my ambition wasn't very much and Dave and I were both in this indecisive mode...is there something going on in the atmosphere that's throwing off my mood?

Hmmm.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Dreaded Day

Tonight is parent's open house at school, a night I always dread and will be glad when it is over. It is a long day...basically I'll be at work until 8 p.m. tonight, except for a couple of hours off after school. Good news is we go get dinner as a department which is great and at least it is on a Thursday night and tomorrow is Friday!!! Hurray!!!! But it is so stressful to be on for parents...you never know if you get a crabby one. Sometimes you just get blank faces and sometimes you get nice complements.

I will just have to wait and see.

So today a few more snippets of scrap journal pages from last summer. Not whole pages...just bits.

This page is made with some October Afternoon paper (a ripped 8x8 sheet), some 7Gypsies tape and tag, on the tag used some Postmodern Stamps to stamp in the word Duck-a great play on words for duck, to watch you head, and sicne the sign is in Duck, NC...what more can you say? I added an arrow from some paper line-perhaps Scenic Route, a page from an old book with some hearts punched out of it, and I recycled some blue rickrack trim with red Viva paint dots on it that I made for another project and didn't like. But it words here. Oh yeah, and some scraps of green graphie looking paper.

Here I used some red flowered paper-red to match the house roof. I added and outlined the photo. Then I stamped and embossed the deal design (Jennie Bowlin) but made it more into a sun for my purposes. I attached. I added some red tape (Martha Stewart0, some Viva red paintpen dots, some more dots I punched out, a postcard from Tweety Jill's seaside paper pack and my hand designed postage stamp on the postcard, and finally I stamped some starfish (Fred Mullett) and cut them out and attached.

Lastly, this photo which isn't such a great one but I loved the close up of the pelican. He is boxed in with a 7Gypsies stamp. I doodled the letters for the words in black and colored them in with a white pen. I drew the circles with black Sharpie and colored them with blue and green Copics. I added some Viva Paint pen dots and a paper  arrow (like in the top page), and then I lightly spritzed the edges with some Tattered Angels.

That is my art for today...a rainy (I hope and NOT snowy) Thursday when I have parents night and no studio time at all.

I hope I have a good day.

AND

Hope your day is fantastic!

I really mean that too!

Another Week Begins

Weekends fly by just way too fast, don't they? And this week will be a busy one.

But...only 10 more days of work until we leave for our trip to Arizona to be in some sun, some warmer (I hope) temperatures and new places to explore. I was checking out weather.com and it looks like the temperature most days in Tuscon has been in the high sixties-my kind of temperatures!

I am just a little bit excited!

Busy planning my July trip to the Rockie Mountains of Montana, Alberta and British Columbia too.

Oh the winter hibernation mode is going away and travel fever has hit me!

So I've been back to finishing up my travel scrap-journal from last summer when we went to North Carolina and the Outer Banks for a week. I had a lot done on it but then stopped and put it aside to work on my holiday journal and to make a bunch of cards...but now I am back trying to wrap it up before we head out on vacation.

This page kind of photographed weird...you can see shadows of the backside, but I used a bunch of Tattered Angels and Adirondack spray inks. Then I put on this fun sticker I bought on vacation and added some Viva sand paint which is very cool since it has sand in it and actually sticks on the page. I punched out a few crabs from an old book page (Martha Stewart punch) and also added a Darcies pin. Then I journaled all around the edge of the page.

Here's a close up.

Here's a tag I made. I used a black tag and some striped October Afternoon paper. I also used a few scraps to embossed textured cardstock. On top of all this I attached a ticket from when we went up to the top of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.

Then I used an October Afternoon sticker tag and wrote in the words. Now time for a spray with some Tattered Angels. Then I added the ahoy there sticker (October Afternoon), the red Viva paintpen dots around the tag, some red string (Martha Stewart), a Darcie's metal pin with crabs and 3 little paper clips. Oh yes, and I used a white pen around the edges of the black tag.

And lastly for today...I BIG photo that I didn't cut and left on the paper I printed it on. I added this Technique Tuesday paper ring I had which I patially wrapped in 7Gyspies paper tape. I put some bronze Viva paint dots on the inside of the ring and then added a Darcie's pin.

Here's a close up.

I know, lots in today's post. Anything to make me mentally go someplace outside of the cold and colorless winter. You do kind of get sick of it by this time of February. That's why I do need to go somewhere on my February school break.

As Dave said yesterday, a long time still before we can go boating or jet-skiing.

I know that.

Well, happy Monday...have a good start to your week...and I'll see you one tomorrow.