Where I’ve been….

Hello!! I bet you thought I forgot all about blogging. December has been full of highs and lows….none of which had me racing to the keyboard to share. Since my last completed post was December 3rd, we have a great deal of catching up to do.

December 10th I actually had a partial post written for T Tuesday wrapping up November.

T Tuesday: November wrap-up edition

I’m a little slow on the draw lately. I’m finally wrapping up November. Technically, I’m not fully wrapped up since I haven’t completed the #junkjournalnov19 prompts. But just go with me on this.

11/30 Zodiac sign

12/30 Autumn evening

14/30 Dress

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As you can see I never finished the post including missing one of the days. That’s ok…I’m learning to embrace imperfection.

December really was a whirlwind. Lots of activities, snowstorms, J coming home for winter break, shopping, cooking, sewing, shoveling, cleaning, decorating and a little bit of creating.

Everything came to a screeching halt when I threw my back out on December 12th….the morning of Mini-me’s holiday choir concert…also a Thursday. This was really unfortunate because my chiropractor doesn’t work on Thursday! I always seem to break on a Thursday!

The last 2 weeks have been painful and scary at times. I’ve had an urgent care visit, 2 ER visits, 2 injections, 5 medications, an MRI, 7 days of missed work and numerous chiropractor visits…including one today.

In the end, I’m doing much better. Diagnostic tests came back good, the healing process is moving forward. My back still is easily fatigued and a bit fragile but something really positive came out of this. I’m learning to ask for help, let others do, letting go of things I can’t change and embrace the chaos.

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T Tuesday: spare time sewing edition

This week is brought to you by my sewing machine…

Most of what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks is sewing in my spare time.

I can’t stop. I pushed off my junk journal November project a bit because of all my sewing.  I still plan to finish the prompts…just a bit behind schedule.

I completed another quilt top with my scraps and some that were gifted to me. So many fun fabrics!!

I haven’t decided on the backing and binding yet to it sits for now.

Our school is having the annual craft boutique this week. After last year’s dismal turnout, I wasn’t sure I’d even participate but I just couldn’t help myself. Since I was in full sewing mode I decided to try a couple of crafty items that I wanted for myself but would be great and less costly made in bulk.

My first item is key chain wristlets. They are so cute! Since I have such a huge selection of scrap fabrics, I knew these would be perfect for another stash-busting project.

My next item has school staff written all over it.

 

They are lip balm holders on a clip. Perfect to attach to your lanyard, bag, backpack, purse….you get the picture.

Lots of fun varieties to fit anyone’s fancy.

Today when I set up I saw the cutest Gnome and snowmen decorations. I hope I make more than I spend. :)

Last week had my college student home not only for Thanksgiving but for two additional days due to bad weather on either end of the holiday break. You know its bad when they cancel college classes. But a blizzard with over 20 inches of snow will do that.

Today had me at school and then at a meeting until dinner time. Long day…but I knew I still wanted to stop in for T Tuesday before you all forgot all about me.  LOL My own fault…I haven’t been very active in the blogosphere lately.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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Junk Journal November 6-10

So playing catch-up is harder than I expected. But I’m not giving up in #junkjournalnov19

Repurposed 6/30

This page isn’t my favorite but I definitely nailed the prompt. I used all repurposed items or ones headed for the trash. Such as the end cuts off a quilt block, packaging from a makeup brush, a scrap of greeting card and it was all adhered to a magazine cover as my substrate. If that isn’t repurposed I don’t know what is!

Colored leaves 7/30

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I had a ton of fun with this one. I stitched a few pressed leaves into an interactive specimen pocket. After journaling about my love of fall and memories of fallen leaves I decided that a few punched leaves would add the right touch to the page.

Vintage 8/30

Not my usual style but I do love vintage!! Honestly, every time I create a super vintage page I wonder why I don’t more often.

I picked out a few pieces that seemed to fit with the embroidered piece that was on the book page before I started. I originally thought the embroidery would be a focal point. Nope..my mind took a sharp left. I ended up with a two-page spread since I had so many things I just had to use.

 

Foggy 9/30

This prompt had me a bit stumped…then I thought of waking from a dream. How the images are a bit foggy in your mind. Just out of reach. I used vellum to cover the existing page to give the illusion of fog. The found text story was super fun to come up with from my stash.

 

Autumn food 10/30

Ah, apples. The perfect fall food. Whether you grab one straight off the tree and polish it on your shirt before crunching into that beautiful gem. Or a fresh-baked apple crisp. Apples are a gift.

 

Linking up with Art Journal Journey today for Rike’s theme of Fruits and Veggies.

Art Journal Journey

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Junk Journal November challenge

I did it. I committed to a new challenge. Even knowing I’d be behind in the beginning.

I’m over halfway to being caught up.  Not too shabby.

Time Travel 1/30

All the pieces fell right into place for this one. I had the tag premade from another scrap busting project. The clock face is vellum. I have no idea where I got it…I have a small baggie of clock faces and gauges in vellum.

Collage 2/30

I wasn’t sure where I was going with this one…I didn’t really think, just started layering papers. I knew I’d end up with a focal image or words. The fussy cut elephant told me she belonged on the page. I love elephants. One Saturday I spent the afternoon watching documentaries on elephants while cutting fabric. Such a great way to spend a couple of hours.

Old-fashioned 3/30

I’m sure this prompt was meant to be old -fashioned as in a period in time and all that went along with it. My mind went in another direction entirely. I immediately thought about Don Draper of Mad Men. The character had a drink of choice…an Old-Fashioned.

I did my best to mimic a low ball glass with whiskey. I even added ice cubes.

Reduce 4/30

I didn’t particularly care for this prompt so this is what I came up with to get it over with.

Fox 5/30

This one feels a bit too scrapbooky. I journaled about the time we had a sick fox under our deck. It was really gross…we could smell it before we could see it. The police and animal control were in the area looking for it as they feared it had rabies. It ran away before they caught it. I never heard the end of the tale but I have to assume they got it or it crawled in a hole somewhere and died.

Stay tuned for more pages as I get caught up. You can also see them on Instagram if you can’t wait for them to post here.

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T Tuesday: Halloween edition

I sometimes feel guilty about dressing up for Halloween when we skipped the whole works when our kids were young. At the time it made sense due to food allergies. Now with my job, it’s kind of a thing again.

I dressed as a VSCO girl. Those of you who don’t have teenagers won’t get it. but the kids at school loved it! “Oh my gosh Mrs. G…you’re a VSCO girl!” “That is so awesome!”  You can google it if you are super curious…

This was a good chunk of the staff who dressed for the occasion. So fun…and some actual learning took place believe it or not.

Over the weekend I went to a local craft fair and immediately fell in love with this bowl.

Something about it spoke to me. I told the potter that I’d be back…I had to think about it. I quickly made the rounds through the rest of the vendors in the gym and came back with cash in hand.

I LOVE IT!! The potter is a retired orthopedic surgeon. After decades away from the wheel, he started creating again.  I’m certainly happy he did!

I have to show you my view this morning after the time change. Marvin is not a fan. He doesn’t understand why I’m not willing to open the shades @dark 30.

So he waits… giving me the cold shoulder…or rear.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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14 Comments

New junk journal

I can hardly believe it but I’m posting something other than T Tuesday. It’s been a while. I’ve been in a creative slump. Not sure how it happened but never the less it did.

I’ve sat down a couple of times trying to force creativity.

Don’t do it. It’s ugly.

What I did finally decide that I’d like to create was a place to create. A junk journal. I’m sure you’re thinking…hey wait…didn’t she just make one of those. Yep sure did. But that one is for bits of my life, more personal.

This one is for the creative process. Whether that may be art journaling, responding to a prompt or a challenge.

I loved this calendar ephemera my BFF sent in a package. She knew I’d love it as much as the actual gift she sent.

I used some rusted fabric on the inside of the softcover.

The outside is watercolor paper that had been painted and whitewash some time ago. I found it in my stash and knew it would make a nice flexible cover.

I decided to use a 5 hole pamphlet stitch this time instead of my usual go-to of three hole stitch.

This journal has a wide variety of papers that should prove to be a good and challenging launching point for the creative process.

I’m considering joining another junk journal challenge on Instagram as I did in July. I need to decide soon otherwise I might be too far behind.

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T Tuesday: Como Zoo edition

Good Morning! I almost missed another week of blogging. I’ve been really off my game for a couple of weeks.

J came home from college on a 4 day Fall break.
It was fun to see him again so soon and mostly healthy this time. He still has a lingering cough. The evening we picked him up I sat back and watched the fun banter between the kids. It felt more like old times. Warmed this mom’s heart.

On Saturday Mini-me and I went to Como Zoo so she could take photos for a photography class assignment. It was a photojournalism assignment to record a community event. We went to the polar bear talk at the zoo. 

Look at the size of those paws!! It was an interesting presentation. Mini-me got lots of great photos to complete her assignment. Then we were able to walk around and enjoy the rest of the chilly morning.

This lioness was very upset. There was a service dog walking past. She was staring and growling. The dog was whining. It was sad because the family was deaf and wasn’t aware of the dog’s distress right away until it began to act out of sorts…definitely not like a trained service dog. Thankfully for the dog, they immediately left the area when they realized it.

Before heading home we stopped in the gift shop.

We discovered a large selection of tea sets. Who knew?

These cats made me smile.

I was very tempted to purchase this black set. It was so beautiful.

Well kids…I’m off to school. Halloween is Thursday…I’m dressing up again this year…the kids will think it’s pretty funny…I hope.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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