My Travel Journal is All Set

This weekend I finished up my travel journal for my upcoming trip at the end of the month. 

Thought I would show you the "finished" book. 

Its a mixture of painted pages, plain tags, envelopes as well as other scrapbook and office supplies.

Of course won't be finished until I complete it while traveling and once I get back home.

But a few pages need a bit of artsy ephemera that I won't be lugging with me. This dapper gent is my inner cover. The black star is actually only an image stamped in silver on black paper and then cut out. 

You can see my pages vary in size, shape, design, etc.

I did find this vintage postcard on eBay and liked it so much I bought it and already added it to the book. The woman reminds me of my mom when she was a young woman.

There are lots of places to write, doodle and glue things down.

I've also added little pockets and envelopes. I love to be able to include little "souvenirs" I picked up along the way. I also love to find those free travel brochures because I chop them up to help record my journey.

 I assembled the book using a plain cardboard cover, one of those Tim Holtz 2 ring binder pieces you can buy, and lots of aluminum tape you get at a hardware store. I haven't used this tape for awhile but it was really fun to use it again.

The first 2 posts about producing my journal are here Making a Travel Journal Part 1  and here Making a Travel Journal Part 2.

Thanks for visiting!

In my Brain

In a slump this week-again. Think it is the cold temperatures that arrived yesterday with a bit of snow. Oh winter and being around so many sick people lately. Fighting another cold myself. GRRR! Not that I am down, just not wanting to get up and go out and be very productive. I want to sleep and read. So here's the latest book I am reading and enjoying.

Definitely not wanting anything too intense or long right now in the book department. 

Any suggestions?

And today, some art from the archives. This was my travel journal from last February's trip to Tucson. Have been thinking about getting a journal ready for my trip to Taos. Thought this might inspire me.

Yup, that helped inspire me.

Hope it inspired you to do whatever it is you've been thinking about.

Journal Pages

Got to love having some studio time. Yesterday I finished up 3 cards and several journal pages and spent 4 hours in the studio. LOVE IT! None of these are recent since I need to photograph some things...spending time playing not taking pics. So these pages are from my 2009 California trip-still. The top page is made by first drawing that heart on the page and adding the words. Then I took a playing card which I loved the back of-those clouds are great, and I stamped the sun on it-and I love the attitude this sun has. Then I added just a bit of color.  I attached it and then added some orange distress ink which I brushed on. Then I added the 2 cents stamp (Impression Obsession) image and I ripped some purple paper and attached it. Then I cut out the hearts...added them and finally added some Dimensional Pearls by Ranger.

This page introduces us to Mendicino.  I won that triangular sun stamp in a lot of stamps on eBay-have no clue who made it but I like it. I stamped on white paper with yellow ink and then colored in with a different shade of yellow and cut them out to edge the page. Then I added the photo, outlined in black and die cut the swirly, which I then added my writing on. I also die cut the little frame-did that twice once in yellow and once in blue. I stamped the words (Technique Tuesday). I also stamped the road trip car in black and colored in the words (Cat's Life Press). Finally I stamped the little hearts (I think Basic Grey) mutliple times and then I stamped once on white paper and cut that out and added it over the frame.

Finally this page. The flowers in Mendicino were GORGEOUS!!!!! I love this photo.  I simply covered part of a page in printed paper and added the photo. Then I cut another swirly ric-rac with my Big Shot machine and attached it and finally I used some small typewriter letter stamps to stamp the word bloom over and over. I love decorating the page but some photos should not be overpowered by the design-they should be the main focus.

So yesterday besides studio time I planted 1 of the 2 rose bushes I need to plant, and got the doogie-man groomed and also went to Old Navy (big sale-buy 2-get 1 free) and got some shorts for my trip to the Outer Banks in 2 weeks! Can't wait to explore some place new for me! And I had book club last night....Today...who knows? But that's the best part of summer...spontaneously!  It's a perfect day- breezy-about 72 right now...my kind of weather! A bit cool for the beach- but great for gardening!

Happy Day!

AnotherHot One

In the 90's...already it's about 70 and it's just after 5 a.m. Oh man, it's getting really hard to be in school.Today we have this long assemblely...and I have to sit with my crazy class-love those kids but they are NOT motivated and this might be a bit of a challenge for them. This week is exhausting and dragging...although our sashing went really well last night- even though I came home and Dave and Kate had gone jet skiing-and tomorrow is another long day with graduation.  But then we're over another hump and 1 step closer to finishing up the school year.

Anyhow, not to sound to whiny (what happens when you're tired) , here's some art...

I like how my background came out. I first stamped a B-Line stamp on the background in brown.Then I added the red starfish on the right hand edge.  I added a strip of scrap paper. Then I stamped a small circle word  mark in black (7Gypsies) and the brown compass. Finally, there's photo of the fishing bouys and the seagull sticker-which is pretty cool as its pretty transparent...oh yes, and the stay the course words...

Very pleased how this page came out!

Thanks for stopping by...

A Beach Kind of Day

I'm really missing the photo files I had on my computer...and I don't want to fill up the hubby computer with photos, since he is SO nice to let me use it.

Yesterday was another gorgeous day...another day too hard to be in work...today is going to be beautiful too...and I have to go to work and stay inside all day...but maybe they'll run the ac since its getting more humid and hotter. I HOPE.

So I finished one of my summer goals last night- watched the final episode of season 2 of True Blood. Its addicting once you start watching...now...I'm ready for season 3.

So on the journal page above...I put tan paper down on white, added a blue stripe and some torn strips...I love the blue swirls which are actually CHF, Kim Hughes stamps. The saying is a fairly new stamp I bought...and wish I could remember who made it...I just bought it back in April...

And this page below, I love this page...I love this Sizzix starfish embossing plate which I then cut out...the brown paper helps make them look real too. Background paper is 7Gypsies and the words are Hot Off the Press stickers.

And here, simplicity. White paper, some tan distressed paper die cuts, some little seahorse Hot Off the Press stickers, some white hole reinforcers, and a simple stamped phrase.

With graduation at school on Friday night...tonight we sash the NHS kids...its a CRAZY week at work. Hard to believe that another school year is winding up...I wish I could take a major road trip across country this summer...something I've always wanted to do...even though I am going away...I have road trip fever-travel fever...time to GO! And I hope I get to take lots of little road trip this season...but one summer, most likely once Katie is out of college and working, I am going to take a cross country roadtrip.

And time for me to go to work...the type of going I seem to do the most...

Thanks for stopping by

Counting Down

I am starting to get into countdown mode, 3 weeks or 15 days until I am done for summer. I have 2 weeks of teaching left- 10 days to try to teach the kids something...and then exams and a couple of work days. The last week should be fairly easy, but the 2 weeks until then, tough since the weather is nice and everyone, including me, is in summer mind frame.

So I being good and watching True Blood season 2 so Katie and I can watch season 3. She's waiting for me, and that means I need to get watching.  So I am. And today I gardened and then I finished up my project for my friend...I'll put up photos later. I also made a couple of birthday cards today...but I still have a list of some cards to make...will get to them...I'm busy 2 days after school this week with sashing the NHS kids and graduation.  Hopefully I'll get to them but then I might not...we'll just have to see.

So here's some scrap pages of Katie's wish from out California vacation in 2009-a drive through Redwood Tree.

This page was made using 2 die cuts, the photo which is outlined in Dimensional Pearls. Then I stamped the letter's to make the words with some older Hero Arts stamps, and colored them...and then I added some Dimensional Pearls to the die cut edges.

I like this page much better than the last one I showed you. I used this Martha Stewart paper, added some ticket stubs, some woody looking paper, a big heart I cut out, some little stickers which I added some dots.

Lastly this page I stamped some stars (Hero Arts) and colored them with various green Copics. I used some 7Gypsies paper and die cut the label, I stamped and cut out the posted image (CHF). Also the postcard stamp (CHF) and I think the saying is also CHF but not positive.

Cooler than Yesterday-

Thursday-this week is flying. Yesterday was HOT and HUMID but we had a great day to the aquarium...I petted a shark and ray/skate..watched some fur seals...had a fun lunch at Quincy Market and caught up with my friend who also brought her class. Fun! Boston is a great city-and I love the aquarium.
Big tornadoes down in Massachusetts yesterday-the videos are dramatic.It was one of those nights I came home and crashed...the heat just got to me.

Since I'm still working off the hubby's computer I can't show you a fish card but here's some more scrap pages from my California journal. Above, I love this page. I used some cheesecloth looking vellum, some textured paper, some ric-rac  made out of brown paper and some great Viva dots. 

 

I little road sign to show how far north of San Francisco we had to go on Sunday-when our ultimate destination was that great city.  I made a half size page, and love the little Cat's Life Press car stamp and the B LIne Trip of your dreams stamp...I don't really like the leaves under the sign...but it needed something and I tried the leaves, didn't work very well but it is what it is.

And here's a page I made with this beach photo. I used some Autumn Leaves clear stamps to make the title word, then I colored them...the north and west parts are die cut words which I colored, the little blue swirly middle trim like design is part of the paper, and I drew in the greenish lines and added the words...

Anyhow...it's Thursday...

another work day and I am SO ready for it to be summer! Can't wait to get out of the routine for awhile...to get to PLAY!

Have a great day!

June!!!!

Here's some new scrapbook pages to start this new month off on the right foot. These are ALSO from my California Journal-summer 2009.

This page uses some Hot Off the Press stickers, 2 7Gypsies tags and gaffer tape, plus some assorted paper. I colored in the stickers to give them more of a finished affect.

For this page I stamped a punch of Tim Holtz swirls in brown, aded some paper, a die cut tag and swirls and then stamped the bird (7Gypsies) in blue and cut it out.

This is fun wavey blue water paper. I added some die cut starfish and shells, some Hot Off the Press stickers, some other stickers, stamped the caught on film saying and there you go.

For this page I went fancy...I texturized some greenish paper with dots. Added the photo, then added some die cut flowers, twigs and dragonflies. I also added a die cut swirl. I used a green marker and a black fine line Sharpie to doodle a bunch of rambling words, and then I added some string which I held in place with some Viva pearl dots. I like the result, even if its not usual style.

So its June...we're in countdown mode until the 24th, my last day before vacation. But there's so much else going on this month, father's day, hopefully some boating, nice weather, gardening, LOVE it.

This Saturday is the big fabric, yarn sale at a local quilting store that I love to go to. It's also a stamp show down in Massachusetts...have never been to that and would love to go but its a big trip down there- all the way to Springfield...about 3 1/2 hours away...and to go by myself, it's a lot of driving without someone to chat with. Will just to the quilting/yarn sale. Maybe I won't buy much either...maybe.

Anyhow- thanks for stopping by- I'm going to check out what the new Paper Smooches stamps are before I leave for work. I'm off to Boston to the Aquarium (love that place) with my honors kids today-a great day for a field trip with great kids.

May Day

It's MAY First! WOW! This is an exciting month as the weather gets more summer like and the yard and gardens get greener and full of blooms. I love May...and hope for a few weekday rainy days here and there to keep the kids at school more focused...as we start tomorrow (wow-vacation flew) the final countday until summer vacation.

Can you believe it?

So here's some scrap pages I've recently made in the past couple of weeks. Back to California-in particular the very northern coast at Crescent City and Redwood National Park. Above is a sign we saw just before we saw a bunch of wild elk. I used a Basic Grey large leafy stciker and die cut the deer and I also die cut the slide mount which I stamped and colored and added a die cut center from another die cut.

Here's the lighthouse just north of the town wharf, I believe it is called Battery Point. To make this I used some 7Gypsies Morroco paper, some Tim Holtz and 7Gypsies tape, some die cut stars (colored) and a die cut tag, plus some stickers (Hot off the Press). The lighthouse just was the outlin and I colored in the top and though you can't see it, I stamped some speckley brown mini dots on the body. I actually put the sticker down on white paper and then cut the whole thing out once I'd colored it.

 Here's those elk the sign told us to watch out for. Not sure I like this page a lot...the paper kind of looks like napkins, but I made the slide mounts and filled in the cneters and I die cut the bird and colored it. The saying is from Postmodern Stamp.

A foggy coast view from up high...I used 7Gypsies tape, lots of Dimensional Pearl dots, a 7Gypsie's tag, ditcut bird and Hot Off the Press word at the top/title and the big scallops shell which I colored in and used some more Dimensional Pearls on.

And here's a sign we don't see here in New Hampshire, even at the coast. I used some wave paper to represent the water, added some 7Gypsies gaffer tape, stamped the word escape in blue and then outlined it in black, stamped the little car (Fontworks) on the bottom corner and added a stamped tag (Autumn Leaves) and the ship's wheel. I also distressed the background.

So its a pretty blue skied Sunday here, the air is cool but the sun is so warm...bit too chilly in the screen porch but that's ok. I made tons of cards...used my Kim Hughes stamps by CHF...was having so much fun-will show you some this week once I load them on. Sometimes its just fun to make light silly cards...later I'm going to make some dried cherry bars- a switch from my date nut bars- and should go back to work on organizing my studio but don't think that's on today's docket...maybe a nap...it is Sunday the day before I need to go back to work after a week's vacation...was a GREAT week off, felt like I did some fun things and did a few chores and relaxed...can't wait for summer so i can do this for a few weeks instead of just one. More tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting.

Already Vacation Thursday

How can it already be Thursday of my vacation week? It is NOT possible. Why is it vacation weeks just FLY right by?

So today is a LOW KEY day for me. I might do some cleaning-that I want to do-and want to play in the studio, read some more (I woke up and read for an hour and a half this morning-LOVE IT!) , and since its cloudy (but awfully warm) take a nap. I just feel LAZY and its great to feel that way and be able to be that way. I need a low key day after doing all kinds of going and driving in the last 3. First to Mom's and back (2 1/2 hours away) and yesterday out shopping in Natick, MA outside of Boston which was a good 2 hours each way. But it was a fantastic adventure day yesterday, lots of good chatting, a great lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, shopping at Crate and Barrel and at the Container store where I bought some cool storage bins that I want to fill up-hence my cleaning today. Fun cleaning-if such a thing can exist-but I love going though and organizing my craft supplied.

So today I am posting a few recent scrap pages from my Road Trip in a Huyndai California summer of 2009 trip journal that I am still working on. I do love to scrapbook/journal my pages...but one thing I find about doing that is that after a bit I need to put it aside because everything starts to look similar. Then I make some cards, do some other projects, and get back to it, eventually.
In all 3 of these pages we are in Northern California. This one of me, with the big head that someone snapped while I was driving (most likely Katie but it could have been Dave too) is while in Stout Grove in Redwood National Park. I stamped some Basic Grey stamps in green to make the backrgound and mounted the photo on some 7Gypsies paper (trimmed to make a small mount) and added some stamped and die cut images- I know the explore your world stamp is from Autumn Leaves and the other, I think, are from kaiser Craft.
The photo of Katie is mounted on some other 7Gypsies paper and then decorated with die cuts and a deer which I cut out of a piece of Martha Stewart paper. Dave's page is made by stamping a bunch of Tim Holtz background stamps in various colors and then a bit of 7Gypsies tape added along with soem scrap paper and also the words which are from MSE.
Finally the top scenery page is made by stamping a checkerboard background stamp rather grungily on the page and then a piece of Basic Grey paper put down. There's a die-cut tag which is distressed and some brown starfish stickers (I colored in the spaces) and some old seagull stickers I found. I also added a bunch of Dimensional Paint dots, some brown wave stickers (those and the starfish are from Hot Off the Press) and some 7Gypsies photo corners.
So there you go...I suppose I should get up off the couch and get moving...maybe take the dog for a walk and get myself into action mode...
Enjoy your day and thanks for visiting.

SNOW??????????

What is this some kind of early April's fool joke? They are saying a BIG snowstorm tonight and tomorrow! A big snowstorm?  Winter is suppose to be over, isn't it? I hate these cruel springs...the kind that can't quite fight off the last hold of winter.

Can you tell this kind of (LOL) upsets me?

So, to get my mind off the impending doom, here's a few scrap/journal pages from my family's summer 2009 vacation to Northern California and Crater Lake. These all all from Crater Lake-if you can't tell-lol.

This crazy page is to celebrate the gorgeous blue the lake is. The photo is looking down into the water. I really LOVE the tag I made on the left- the base is stamped with a PostModern Design stamp, tinited light blue, the heart is stamped and cut out (used the plain back) with words written on it and then inked a darker blue. I added the words stamped on another paper (7Gypsies) and then overstamped the whole thing with some circles. There's also some fringe I made at the bottom.

A collection of cabin receits where we stayed our one night at Crater Lake. Also a bird I die cut and colored, some Martha Stewart paper and the bottom stamp, a die cut tag with the 5000 miles stamped on it and some other stickers and paper tape.

A pocket to hold my map which I made from a Sizzix pocket die and then decorated it with gaffer tape from 7Gypsies, some Hero Arts gemstones and a Crater Lake sticker I picked up at the park visitor's center. I also used some die cut trees and some more gaffer tape along with a  flying bird sticker which is ancient from my stash.

We took a boat trip on the lake to to get photos you got people's heads...so I included it because the journal is suppose to be like the trip. I love my bottom art...some die cut trees, some 7Gypsies stickers, some gemstones by Hero Arts, a few circle stamped images, a butterfly sticker.

More of the lake. I don't know who made the tiny fish stamp-maybe Magenta- but I added it to the distrssed striped paper. The photo is actually mounted on a piece of inked of scrap...I added some Jolee flowers, some board tag stickers which I decorated with stamps and a Making Memories sticker.

Finally another boat trip photo on distressed and scrap paper. Using some of those much loved Autumn Leaves postmark stamps, a tag I die cut, distressed and used an ancient stamped phrase on...also wrapped on end in copper craft wire and cut out a craft wire leaf to finish it off.

Anyhow...don't think the wam glow posting these photos will last too long with people talking snow weather all day... and yesterday it was in the 50's, sunny and gorgeous...a real snow melt day at home...

Try to keep your chin up and smile...I will...try at least...