Rhyming Words

Great coogally moogallies, I've got some catching up to do!

I went to the beach and then...well then, wallowing in misery because I couldn't stay at the beach...  I've got some pictures to share, but I have to edit them a little first, so for now, let's play art journal catch-up...and I'll show you one beach picture this time (at the end).  Deal?

First, I'm going to share my JOURNAL 52 (J52) pages for two weeks ago and last week.

The first one is for the "Rhyme Time" prompt, aka the unfinished page I shared before I went to the beach, but she's finished now:

"It's never us, it's you and me -an unrequited melody."

I am still gloating to myself over FINALLY making a decent profile face!

My rhyming words came from a poem that I wrote...this is the entire thing:

I don't know how the song must sound.

Only, my dear, that you have found

a way to play, upon my skin, 

an ancient melody I held within.

As, tenderly, you strike the keys, 

I go weak in my tired knees,

but your habit is only to play the tune

when I get used to ignoring you.

If I pay too much attention

to the sweet chords I've mentioned, 

you take your hand away, 

decide that you don't want to play.

I wish that I could let it go

but you somehow tap the perfect notes

and I turn to you again, at last, 

hear the song rushing past, 

till I do some unknown harm

and you take your fingers off my arm.

It's never us, it's you and me 

-an unrequited melody.

I saw the girl's 'tattoo' on Pinterest...I totally stole somebody's tattoo...but in a complimentary way, as it was so cool that I had NO CHOICE but to steal it!

I did the page with this poem in mind, and so I had a plan of attack before I started drawing the girl.  The thought behind the page is that the girl is looking over at the guy...he's just off the edge of the page...wishing he would make a move, one way or the other, and let her know how he feels about her. She knows what she wants to happen, but his ambiguity is frustrating the crap out of this girl!


Next is my page for the J52 prompt "In the City":

"I have dreams of far off cities."

This page was simple, but I really like how it turned out!  I just cut random shapes from scrapbook papers, which hopefully give the impression of city skylines...then a rolling hill and, lastly, a small forest of pine trees (Which, for the record, used to be x-mas trees till I cut off their stars...I felt very smart about it indeed!)  Then came the point where I added the outlines in a watercolor pencil, which didn't show up that great, and then a grease pencil, which showed up a little too well...next time, I'll use my black Neocolor II (which is what I should have done this time!) and everything will be perfect.

Just for the record, I don't know if it's exactly true that I have dreams of far off cities, or if it would be more correct to say towns...or villages...aka smaller than cities...  I think I would like to see Paris...that's probably the only city I have the desire to go visit.  Otherwise, I'd much rather stick to the road less traveled and see the small towns of the world!  Although, I do have to say, I really enjoy going to Charlotte (North Carolina, USA), which is a big city (at least in my eyes anyway)...but I don't really think it feels like a big city...it's like a home-y big city.  The people there seem much classier (in a friendly/nice/elegant way) than the country bumpkin who's talking to you now...

I've also got my DOCUMENTED LIFE (DLP) spread for last week, where the prompt was to "Paint or color with three colors you never use."  And this is my page:

"Two black kitty cats"

I used pink, green and brown as my colors, but I think I use the whole rainbow of colors fairly often...  I try to mix it up when I can!  I'm not uber thrilled with the way the background turned out, but I am really enjoying the two kitten silhouettes!

This past week, my husband brought home two wild kittens from his work.  His job is on a pretty busy street and the kittens probably would not have made it if he didn't catch them.  Plus, they're both black cats, and with Halloween coming up and the fact that there are some crazy sick weirdos out in the world, they're in a safer place now.  

They're very young, so it's not been too hard to get them used to civilization.  They've only been here since Wednesday and they've already stopped hissing at us when we get near them.  (Which was actually adorable, because they're so little that their hisses sounded like "keh, keh"!)  They let us pick them up and have stopped huddling together in terror when we come in the room.  

We think we are going to call them Pauly and Fat Tony.  If you pick them up, the one likes to crawl up on your shoulder and sit there like a parrot, hence we went with Polly...but since they're both boys, we changed it to Pauly.  I said we should name the other one Vinny (because, you know, Mafia reasons)...which Andy was ok with except he said, let's call him "Fat Tony" because that's the mob boss from The Simpsons.  And my husband has a deep, deep obsession with The Simpsons.

Hey Fat Tony, we're gonna name a kitten after you!

He's cool with it.

Plus, the kitten we're calling Fat Tony has a lazy cat personality (whereas Pauly is more...adventurous and feisty), so Fat Tony will probably end up being a pudgy cat and the name will fit him well...

And lastly, as promised, here is a picture of my mom and me at the beach in Pawley's Island, South Carolina.  It was cool and overcast the whole time we were there, which was actually a-ok with me...I'll take cool and overcast over boiling lava hot and a sunburn ANY DAY (must preserve the pale)!!!

My adorable mom and, my adorable (to a lesser extent) self...

I've got a few other pictures to share with you guys, but like I said I have to do a little editing before I do.  I'll probably sneak them in with my current J52 and DLP stuff a little later this week...as soon as my DLP polka dots dry!

Swept Away

The prompt for Journal 52 this week was to make a weather related page.  You can read more about J52 HERE.  I just could NOT get inspired by the weather prompt!  Nothing came to mind...NOTHING!  

Last night, I was fooling around with my pens and just started scribbling...random pen check to see which ones were running out of ink.  It ended up looking a little like a tornado to me, and I thought BOOM!  Weather related page...and here's what I ended up with:

"I have always been the calm at the eye of the storm...I get tired of the chaos around me.  Sometimes I wish I would let myself be swept away in it."

Simple pages count too I guess, right?  I just cut out a Marry Poppins silhouette and wrote the words and I was done.  On the opposite side, I hate 'fussy' cutting...so it did take me a minute to snip out Mary.

I usually have...what to call it...fish bowl syndrome (?)...I often feel like I am on the outside looking in on things.  People around me have a lot going on in their lives...there's a lot of craziness occurring.

Don't get me wrong, I'm do appreciate the relative calmness of my life.  I know I'm happy to avoid drama whenever I can.  And I know that most of the action happening in the lives of people around me is negative...self-inflicted, negative chaos.  ...why is it so easy to see the solutions to other people's problems, but our own seem so insurmountable?  ...I guess it's because we have no stake in the fight...the end result doesn't affect us, so we can have a free and easy opinion...that's what I think anyway.  But I digress...

Despite the fact that I appreciate the calm, I do have to admit that there is a small part of me that wishes for some fun excitement...or at least for a little positive change.  

I sometimes mentally bemoan the feeling I get that all the interesting things that are going to happen in my life have already happened.  Now it's just a slow, downward trudging to the grave...OK, OK, maybe that's a little hammy...but the less dramatic thought behind it rings true...

Maybe the fact that my younger years played out like a poorly executed novel has something to do with my partial dismay over the current lack of excitement.  I went from Cajun food to plain white rice over the years...and sometimes I miss the spice...

Now when I see chaos around me, I have mixed feelings.  Part of me wants to say these people are old enough to know better...but there is a teeny tiny voice that tells me I'm just jealous.  I'm sure that the excitement would get old pretty fast, but for a day or so...it'd be GREAT!  

Oh well, I guess for now I'll just sit back and watch the soap opera that's happening around me and enjoy the show.  Besides, nobody knows what's around the corner...maybe in a little while, I'll be in the throws of an adventure...wishing I was right back here in the calm...

And on that note, I'm off to work.  But before I go, here's the art for today's fake journal entry:

"She knew how she felt."

You can check out the diary entry that goes along with the art HERE if you'd like...or just enjoy the art...

I hope wherever you are in the world, you'll enjoy your calm or your chaos...because somewhere out there, someone's wishing for whichever one you have...

Alternate Amy's First Journal Entry

I just finished writing the first post over at my fake journal blog, which you can read HERE, if you are interested...if not, please enjoy the art that I made to go along with the entry.

On a side note, how hot was Paul Newman?  Yowza!

Additional side note: isn't that girl silhouette the COOLEST?  My older sister sent me some a long time ago.  Her local library has a die cutting machine that you can use if you bring your own paper...how jealous am I?  (Answer: SUPER jealous!)

A Documented Life and One Last Lovely Day

Isn't it amazing how much stuff you can get done when you're trying to avoid doing something you don't really want to do?  Well, maybe you are someone who just jumps in and does the boring thing to get it over with...I thought I was too, but it seems that's not entirely true...

A while back, a friend of mine asked me to sew something for her.  I really didn't want to, but I can't say no to her, so I agreed to do it.  At least a month ago, I got all the stuff to make it...and it sat there for various procrastinating 'reasons'.  But this past week, my glorious vacation week, I commanded myself to get it done before I had to go back to work.

So all week long, I avoided the fifteen minutes of time it took me to sew this thing for my friend by devoting a lot of time to things that also 'needed done'.  

It started out with me realizing I needed to clear my sewing desk (the one legitimate task on this whole list) before I could start sewing.  And I couldn't just dramatically sweep the clutter into the floor (which is my normal cleaning technique)...oh no...it was 'a place for everything and everything in its place'...and of course, some things had no home...so I had to make one for them...by cleaning and organizing the other places in the house...you know, so I could put the sewing desk clutter away.

And then we ran out of clean plates, so the dishes needed done.  And since the kitchen was clean, it was the perfect time to make some of those sugar cookies I've been craving for so long now.  And then my husband asked me to make him some banana bread, and how could I deny that?  (full disclosure: I am never swayed by what he wants...normally I'd tell him to make his own dumb banana bread...but I was procrastinating, so I made it...)  ...and then the kitchen needed cleaned up again...

And then, since I have to wear clothes, the laundry needed done before I have to go back to work...all of it...like summer clothes before I could pack them away...and winter clothes that I just hauled out...and then of course why not just wash everything and have it done with?  And that was the perfect time to see if anything didn't fit anymore (by trying on everything) and make a Goodwill bag...

And then since the studio (which included everything...down to sorting the smallest scraps of my ephemera stuff) and the kitchen and the laundry room were clean, the bathroom was the only one left, so I cleaned that too.  And, if you've been reading the blog for a while now, you know how much I don't clean...or don't like to clean...or don't like to even think about cleaning...so you know I was giving sewing project avoidance my all.

And then there was Morning Pages, and art journal stuff, and hanging some art around the house, and blog posts, and reading, and playing with Fusco the drop-off wonder dog...and...and...and...  The list could go on....and on and on...  Finally, I just had to knuckle down and sew.  And, yeah, it took me fifteen minutes...total...cutting, sewing, stuffing...everything, start to finish.  Quick, somebody yell "Shame on you, Sweets!"  

Nah, you don't need to say it, I already feel ashamed of myself...and snookered.  Like I snookered myself...  I mean, this whole time I could have been doing absolutely nothing of any importance and here I cleaned the house and made food and did responsible adult things everyday this week.  WHAT!?!  That's crap-ola... 

Just kidding about the crap-ola part (mostly).  All the stuff I got done did technically need doing...at some point.  Despite my laziness and general not caring about cleaning, I do like it when the house is in good order.  I'd just rather be doing other things...and I have a problem with cleaning up after grown people...I'm looking at you, husband!   ...but, since I bit the bullet and did it anyway, I do have to admit that I feel a certain amount of relief and comfort when the house is tidy.  And honestly, I think it makes me more creative as well.

I've worked on a lot of art this week, and did get several things done (you've seen some of them in the past couple days) and I've got something else to share with you today.

Have you heard about The Documented Life Project?  I bet you have, especially if you're on Pinterest...it seems like I see it every time I check in there...probably because it looks so AWESOME!  

"One part planner plus one part art journal and one part weekly challenge equals an amazing year of organization, inspiration and community."  That's the tagline.  If you want to find out more, or join in the *free* fun, you can find out more HERE and HERE.

This was actually a right place, right time project for me, because I've been wanting to redo that bill calendar I showed you a couple days ago.  The ladies doing this project/challenge are using/suggesting a Moleskine weekly planner, but since I am trying to use what I've got on hand when possible, I decided to convert a K&Company SmashBook that I've had since FOREVER (as in since they first came out...yeah, that's quite a while...).  I think SmashBooks are cool, but for some reason, I'd not been able to force myself to use the ones I've had (I have two...because they are so cool looking!).  Some people struggle with blank pages, I struggle with the thought of ruining already cool pages...but I powered through, and there's no going back now...

Here it is so far:

Look at those tabs!  Hubba hubba!

I put the monthly tabs in for quick reference.  I made them myself from my sweet stash of scrapbook paper...again, something I have (quite a bit of), but hardly ever use...same reason as above: don't ruin something that's already pretty!  I realized that it's better to just use it...they will make more paper...  To make the tabs, I just cut little squares of paper (about 3"x3"), folded them in half, rounded the corners with a corner punch, and used a tape runner to adhere them to the pages.  I wrote in the month names and used some Tim Holtz Idea-ologly Label Letters next to the handwritten.  I don't know how necessary the tabs are, but they just look cool, don't they?

Here's one of the pages.  It turns out that a smash book has enough pages for about 30 weeks (if you are doing each week like a two page spread), so I ended up adding some more pages with scrapbook paper.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but I found that the best way (for me) to add pages was to use some jewelry wire I had, loop it around the spiral binding, and then masking tape the ends to the paper I wanted to add.  Then, to cover the masking tape, I glued (or taped, really, with double-sided tape) scrapbook paper over top.  It was a little bit of a pain, but it worked really well without adding too much bulk.

Like I said above, I did each week of the year as a two page spread.  I drew in the calendar bits myself.  At first, I was being meticulous, with my ruler and accurate measurements and straight lines, but then that got boring and was taking FOREVER, so I just winged it the rest of the way.

As you can see in the picture, I also added monthly calendar pages as tip-ins on the pages where the first of the month landed.  The two pictures above show a tip-in closed and then an open one.  I used scrapbook paper (again) for those, using various washi tapes to adhere them.

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." - C.S. Lewis

This is the first page in the book.  I (washi) taped in two envelopes (one on either side) to the the little vellum advertising page at the beginning of the SmashBook.  I also left on the protective plastic cover thingie that the book comes in (I just cut off the part that goes over the pen/glue stick combo thingie...maybe it's called a SmashPen?), that way my cover will stay neat and clean...I like to reserve covers for the very last so they don't get messed up as I work in the rest of the book.  The clear plastic cover also gives me two pockets for holding various things (like another envelope...that's the yellow you can see peeking  at the top left of the left page).  

And I think that's it for the book so far...we'll just have to wait for the new year to see how the Documented Life Project will work.  I had fun making my little journal/organizer/whatever-you-want-to-call-it book, and I'm proud to say that I used ONLY what I had on hand to make it; I didn't buy one new thing!  That's an ongoing aspiration for me...to use what I have in my stash...so I can have room to buy more things!  I really need to yarn-it-up, because if I could go through my stash of yarn, I'd have A LOT more room...but I digress...

So today is my last lovely day of vacation...it's been wonderful...*sigh of happiness*  I don't want to go back to work tomorrow...*sigh of sadness*  I've decided that I was meant to be a House Frau... but one who doesn't really cook or clean all that much...so maybe Lady of Leisure fits better...  Yeah, definitely that one...  Unfortunately, art supplies are not free, so (hi-ho, hi-ho) it's back to work I go.  I've heard people say they couldn't stay at home all day, because it would be boring, so they work even when they don't have to.  Can I just slap those people?  I make my own fun...as long as I could afford art supplies, I'd be fine.  So if any of those 'bored' people want to switch places with me, that would be awesome.

What about you?  Are you meant to be a House Frau (like I was)?  Or do you prefer to go to work (and if so, can we switch places)?  What about Documented Life?  Have you heard of it?  Are you going to see what it's all about and attempt it with me?  Or do you have other fun projects planned for the new year?