A day in pictures

Tonight I picked up my photos from the 25th and decided to do the layout right away instead of letting things stew and gather dust. I'm not 100% happy with the result but it'll do. Besides, it's only the first time I was doing this and I have 11 other months to make up for it! Out of the 30-odd pictures I took, I used 14 and followed the album prompt almost to the letter.



What I liked about this project:
-having the paper already picked and glued down makes things so much easier;
-having to take certain pictures and use those in the layout also makes things easier;
-using a lot of pictures and cropping them in different sizes was interesting;
-as was layering some of the pictures.

This project definitely forced me to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to scrapbooking. Before this, I had mostly worked in 12"x12" or 8"x8" (with the exeption of one or two projects for other people) so working in 6"x12" for myself was definitely different. A fun project which kept my hands busy long enough to stop thinking about food.

(And I just spent the last 15 minutes typing up a storm about food and weight and personal issues and with one click, deleted the whole thing because really, I don't need to air my dirty laundry in public. And my blog is titled Good things and Good thoughts! So there.)

PS I changed my counter so I can now see where my visitors are from. Cool, huh?

CeeCee's Colour Challenge

My friend Catherine (also known as CeeCee) has issued a colour challenge on her blog. This is her third one and I decided to participate in this one.

I don't have the Stampin' Up! colours so I improvised with what I had on hand. I did use a stamp and a rub-on from SU! though! The stamp says: Always on my mind - forever in my heart. Pretty, no?

The card is pretty simple but I like it.

Making art for others

I've been doing a lot of art lately. Mostly for swaps. Or friends. Or challenges. Not a lot of "just for me" art. That's ok. As long as I'm creating and having fun. Which I am.

What I love about working with the ATC format is that it is big enough that I can make elaborate drawings or detailed collages if I want to but it is also small enough that I have to limit myself to not over-do it.

This card is for the Fun and Funky Cats swap. She is made of collaged papers, drawn and coloured cat and embellished with a dry embossed basket (made of cardstock), some yarn and metal wire for the knitting needles! Such fun!

Alive

Since the return of the beautiful weather, I've been feeling very happy and alive. There are still some little things bugging me but nothing major. Mostly, I feel good.

A couple of days ago, without my even expecting it, I hit over 5000 visitors on my blog! I had more than 300 in just one day! And only 3 comments that same day... Hmmm lurking much? :-) That's ok. I'm thankful for all those visits and for all the comments I get.

So anyway, on the 25th, I took pictures to chronicle a day in the life of me. I ordered my photo online and should be able to get them tomorrow or tuesday. I will then cut them and adhere them to my Scrap Your Day album. I didn't do anything special that day, just the regular day to day stuff. Maybe next month I'll get more creative...

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to visit my blog and my Flickr gallery.

New project

So last night I had a craving for sweets. I had nothing in the house that would do. I put my shoes on twice and removed them twice. I decided not to indulge and instead, kept my hands busy while starting a new project. I saw on Shimelle's blog a new project that appealed to me. It's called "Scrap Your Day" and consists of taking photographs all through the day on the 25th of each month and then making a scrapbook layout out of it, following a few guidelines. You can see a few pictures of my book here, pages all ready to receive the photographs and journaling. The format is 6" x 12" and I made it out of cardstock and paper I was keeping for just the right project. This seemed as good a time as any to use them. The quote you see here is a sticker from 7gypsies. I love the results so far and am looking forward to taking pictures on Friday to put them in this new little scrapbook of mine.

Have you started anything new lately?

Chunky Pages

For a long time, I've been curious about Chunky Books also known as Fat Books. For those who don't know, they get their name from having lots of embellishments or fibers and beads hanging from the side, making the book so thick that it doesn't stay closed.

I got the opportunity to sign up for the Monochromatic Chunky Swap on ATCSforALL.com and only had to do 4 of these pages but I ended up doing 2 extras. I started by cutting the bases out of thick cardboard and then painting gesso over all 6 bases. After that came paint, both acrylic and watercolour, collaging of dictionary pages, stamping with StazOn ink. After that, I worked on each page individually, immersing myself in each colour, one at a time. I have to say that my favourite is the green one but I haven't decided yet which one I'll keep. What do you think?

Stash it Forward Winner!!!

And the winner of my Stash it Forward is.....

.....

tobina said... Hi! I'm an Italian teacher, I teach italian and use scrapbooking to let my students love poetry... but they haven't any material to scrap... so all you want to share would be great for them!!! Here their Los! http://lnx.scrapbookiando.com/PhotoPost/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si=&what=allfields&name=la%20pro

Congratulations Tobina and her students! Email me your postal address to sophietousignant[at]gmail[dot]com as soon as possible and I will mail your goodies before next weekend.

There will be another giveaway in the near future so stay tuned!

Life

It's full of surprises. I know I've said that before. But it's true.

Not much to say. Work is good. Life in general is good. Spring has sprung. Many signs to that effect.

The Glitter Power Sisters are meeting in Sedona. I wish them the best of times and I can't wait to hear/read all about it!

Goodnight. Next post will be to announce the winner of the Stash it Forward.

Play

So often we forget to stop being serious. So often we forget what it feels like to be free. Too often, we forget what it means to play.

Working with kids isn't always easy but one thing they are great for (amongst many other things) is to remind me to stop being such a grown up and to start to play. And today, I did play. We all had fun.

Take the time to play this week.

Chaque fleur...

I'm signed up on quite a few swaps these days over at ATCSforALL. So that means, working on art for other people. Of course the Daily Art Cards are made for me but it's still not "creating for the sake of creating." So last night, while talking and hanging out with mom, I decided to make a card. All papers, stamps and ribbon are Stampin' Up! Brads are from my mom's stash. What do you think? The saying goes: Every flower is a smile from nature. Works for any occasion! I'm hoping to make a few cards to maybe sell. One of my co-workers bought a card from me friday and said she might want some more. Fun!

I've been doing a lot of extra hours at work these past weeks. Makes me happy because it means more money! I'm going in again tomorrow morning for one hour so one of my coworkers can get some rest. I have no kids and no man in my life so I get plenty of rest! Ha! Now I'm gonna go work on my first pages for a chunky book swap!

Stash it Forward

Thanks for playing! Winner announced in the April 20th post.

Edited to add picture (to give you an idea of what you could receive) and to change the deadline. You have a full week to sign up.

Inspired by Emily Falconbridge. If you're on a budget or just starting in scrapbooking/paper crafts, here's your chance to win some goodies.

In the box, I will include 12"x12" scrapbooking papers (I'll try to send in your favourite colours) and the rest of the stuff may include ribbon, rub-ons, stickers, brads, buttons, flowers, chipboard shapes, die cuts... This is perfect as I'm looking to downsize my stash. And I'm not asking for anything in return.

You have until 8:00 PM EST on Sunday April 20th to leave a comment on this post. After that, comments will be disabled. Good luck!

PS I will ship internationally so don't be shy and leave a comment!

Discover yourself

Lately, many people have been writing or saying: just start with a doodle. And that's what I did. And it turned into a face with funky hair. So it begged for funky colours. The yellow on the face was intentional. I was trying to make highlights. It looks better in person than on the computer.

This Spring, I'm really feeling the "renew" vibe. I've been doing some cleaning every day. Not big cleaning but still, small is better than not at all. I've finally put some stuff aside to bring to the second-hand store. Things I haven't used in months, years (some even at least 10 years!) I'm a bit of a packrat, you might say. But I no longer want to be a packrat. I want changes. I admire Pam for making her dream come true.

Life...

... it's messy and full of surprises!

Nothing special to talk about. I'm not very "wordy" these days. It's not that I have nothing to say, quite the contrary. I just don't know how to put some things into words. And well, I don't particularly feel like writing or typing lately.

This weekend has been beautiful. I opened the windows a bit today to get fresh air in the apartment. Diesel wanted to go out so I put her collar and leash on and opened the door. She didn't go far though. Scared of the noises and unsure about the ice. I can't wait for the nights to be warmer so I can stop having the heat on and so I can bring my plants out on the balcony.


Image is my latest entry in the Art Journal Challenge. The word prompt was Life.

Something in the air

Lots of people are feeling sick lately. Family, friends, coworkers... It's like there's something in the air. And it's not just about health. My coworker/friend is having a bad week. An ex-coworker of hers is trying to come back in her life but he's not a stable being. So she's nervous. We finish work at the same time so from now on, I'll always be leaving with her to make sure she gets to her car safely. Another co-worker of ours is having health issues. I'm trying not to let all of this affect me. I'm trying to stay positive but it's not always easy.


Since getting sick last week, I haven't been eating a lot. It seems my body has gotten used to this since I haven't had any cravings and have to almost force myself to eat normal meals. I'm not trying to starve myself, don't worry. I'm just eating less BUT eating healthy food. I'm feeling good.

And on that note, I'll go relax in front of the television. (Image is an ATC made for a swap. I decided to keep this one as my own.)

Inspiration is everywhere

Where do you find your inspiration? Do you have a special place you go to when looking for a new idea? Do you look at every day things for inspiration?

For this month's daily art cards, I decided to make them in order to turn them into my very own inspirational deck (following in Violette's footsteps.) When I woke up this morning, I started thinking about what my card would be today. I got my answer only when I came back from work tonight. On the windshield of my car, someone had tucked a card under the whipper blade. A Pokemon card with "energy" on it. It had been raining most of the day but the sun came out just as I left from work so inspired by the card and the energy from the sun, I went about creating my card. I made it 3" x 4" out of watercolour paper and it was coloured with watercolour, coloured pencils, Glaze pen, PosterPaint Marker and a flower stamp with ink.