A peek at my process

What it looks like when I can monopolize the dining room table! You can see at least three layouts on the table - this post focuses on layout 1 which is in the center right and layout 2 which is in the upper left corner.



Here's a close-up of these two layouts in their "early stages":

Layout 1: Black/Red/Swirl line


Layout 2: Orange and Navy


For both of these layouts, I started with the product first. Layout 1 is a set of patterned papers that were all sold together and that I absolutely loved at the time that I bought them. I bought the ribbon at the same time, but it's not part of the original line. I already made two layouts using these papers (pictures to come soon), and I have been keeping all of the papers together to continue to use them together, especially since I didn't use the ribbon on either of those first two layouts. Recently I decided I was kind of done with this paper (I bought it over a year ago!) and would do one more layout using the coordinating products (plus the ribbon) and then distribute the papers into my organization system, which is organized by color, not by product. I tried to think of some pictures that would go with the styling of the paper and decided on these from our trip to Prague in 2007. Here is the final product:



For layout 2, I had it in my head that I wanted to use orange and navy together. I pulled out everything that I had that was orange and navy and started to scheme up a layout. Then I thought of a picture that would coordinate and have an upbeat feel (something I associate with orange) and got this:



You might recognize it from this blog post.

Recent layouts - trying new things

Finally spending time with my paper again! Here are some of my latest projects:


Title: Nurture this relationship

There are several new-to-me techniques in this layout:
1) Write your journaling about something other than what is conveyed in the picture. The picture is from our trip to Canada, but the journaling is more about how my sister and I want to live closer to each other.
2) The 6x12 size.
3) I used Tim Holtz distress ink in Antique Linen to dye the paper that I journaled on.
4) I purposely used ribbon in a new way.
5) Not a new technique, but a new mantra - I am trying to use up what I have. The "nurture" epoxy sticker is part of a set I have had *forever* and I am glad to finally be using it!



Working Title: Grape Stomp

Trying something different with this one as well. I used brown rhinestones to continue the strand of lights in the photograph and clustered my photos in a way I don't normally do. I am debating whether this needs a title above the rhinestones -- I don't know what it should say though and none of the letters I currently have would work. I don't really want to hand write it either, so I'm leaving it as is for now. I consider it an experiment in white space : )


And a sneak peek at Week in the Life in its current form - I'm getting close to done!

Travel Journal

I just finished making a travel journal for an upcoming trip we are taking, using writing prompts from this post on the Daily Digi. [okay, to be fair, just = July 24, but it took a while to get a picture!] I purposely didn't put too much effort into the journal because I am the type of person to not write in something if it is too "fancy". I bought a Moleskine Cahier Large Blank notebook from Amazon (in blue) and stamped a few things on the cover - I was inspired by this journal on etsy. Then I wrote in the prompts for each day. I am hoping that this will make it easier to journal on the trip and scrapbook it later. I tend to journal a lot in the beginning and then fizzle out as we are having more and more fun. I also tend to feel obligated to record all of the details in chronological order and I am hoping the prompts will help me let go of that. For instance, one of the prompts is "What made you laugh today?" I can totally answer that without having to feel bogged down in recording all the details of the day.

Another fabric interlude

I want to share a quilting project that I discovered going through boxes of fabrics that used to be my mom's.



I think this project was started by my grandmother, given the age of the fabrics. It is possible though that all of these hand-cut and hand-stitched blocks were done by my mom on the jumpseat of an airplane. I know that she would hand-piece on flights (she was a flight attendant), but I remember her showing me some of the stuff she had worked on and this does not look the same. I could be misremembering though what they are "supposed" to look like. So age of fabric and project is unknown, but I am guessing it is at least as old as I am (32).



I went through a whole pile of cut triangles and half-pieced blocks before I realized what the design was supposed to be.



I unearthed this finished block at the end of the pile and it made sense what all of the other pieces were for. I kid you not, I cried when I found this block. I don't know if it was the emotion of finding a project that belonged to my mom or grandmother, or the frustration of not knowing the puzzle left for me, a combination of the two, or something else, but seeing how all these pieces came together triggered something I just wasn't expecting.



I think I am going to take the three blocks that are closest to being done and make a table runner out of them. There isn't any more of the white background, but there is a lot of the red, whites, and blues, so I will most likely use those. I'm not feeling adventurous enough right now to seek out a replacement white and make the rest of the blocks. Who knows, though, maybe that will change by the time I get around to making the runner.



And on another note, after several weeks of quilting, I have picked my paper trimmer back up again and worked on some scrapbooking layouts. I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet, though, so I will just have to post them another time.