Sketchbook 3|Week 2

Today I'm sharing the layouts I made for week 2 of Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 3. I can't believe today is the last day of the class! I will miss getting sketches and inspiration in my email inbox.

Since the layout is about how my nephew wanted to go around and around the block on his bike, I had fun creating a circle as the base of the page and then I also journaled along the circle.

JOURNALING| On a beautiful April day, we got out your bike. We went around and around the block. I got a workout trying to keep up. Yay! for warm days. {2010}

I had fun using red and yellow on this page. It brought out the colors in the photo really nicely. I was surprised I had never created a page about my favorite foods at the State Fair. Such an important topic!

JOURNALING| I've been going to the State Fair for many, many years now. The food is by far the best part. The minute we're on fair soil, we have a Pronto Pup in our hands. I also love the big bucket of fries. Sweet Martha's cookies are divine. The real lemonade is thirst quenching. A recent fave is the wine tasting.

I love how bright and cheery this page is. I'm obsessed with yellow lately. I had fun creating a little sun. I love going to Millennium Park on a hot summer day. My niece was tentative at first, just wanting to walk through the water, but by the end she had dipped her head in it.

JOURNALING| Hello riding the L train. Hello walking in the water. Hello running in the water. Hello putting your head in the water. Hello watching your brother go under the spout and getting soaked. Maybe next time. {July 2009}

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Just For Fun

When I was trying to fall asleep the other night, inspiration struck. I keep a notebook on my nightstand, so I can write down ideas, thoughts, etc. If I can unload the stuff on my mind onto a piece of paper, I sleep more soundly. I drew the sketch in the notebook and the next day, I just had to choose the papers and a few embellishments and voila!, a fun page done.

JOURNALING| Megan and I tried to get a jumping picture, but we couldn't get the timing right with Dad who was taking the photo. I love that Megan is always willing to entertain my ideas for crazy photo shoots. It's always fun trying! Easter 2011.

Ten on Tuesday

1| We had a very nice Easter. I created a treasure hunt for my nieces, which they flew through. We played games, enjoyed a delicious meal and had banana creme pie for dessert. I was not too sure about the pie at first, but how can you wrong with graham cracker crust, vanilla pudding, whipped cream and bananas? I only wish we had had nicer weather, so we could have been outside playing 4 square or flying a kite.

2| We had a couple of beautiful days, sans today, and a friend, her two little ones and I had a picnic. The first of the year! So lovely to be on the green grass with the sun on our faces. Thankfully, her little boy didn't bring his millipede friend with him when we ate. Not a fan.

3| Dancing with the Stars. I desperately need to earn more points. I'm choosing Chris Jericho to go this week. (Crossing my fingers)

4| I made pedicure appointments for my Mom, sister, sister-in-law and myself on Mother's Day. I cannot wait. I need some pampering and girl time.

5| I did some spring cleaning. I tackled my magazine pile and I was brutal. I took out the pages I thought I might refer back to and recycled the rest. I did the same with my scrap supplies. Felt good.

6| I don't have cable, so whenever I'm at someone's house that does, I love when I can watch an episode or two on HGTV. I love all of those shows. It's a good thing I don't have cable. I would be watching it all the time.

7| The farmer's market returns this weekend. Hooray! I'm looking forward to walking there every weekend and smelling all the fresh veggies and seeing the color and being around others in my community. People are always happy at the farmer's market.

8| I need to get some daffodils. Several bunches. That I can stick in my Ball canning jars. Love how they brighten a room.

9| I'm thinking about joining the Twitter wagon. But I'm worried about having one more thing to update and check. Hmmm.....

10| I'll be with my family over the next few weeks having fun together, so my blogging will be interrupted a bit. I'll post when I can.

Glimpse

On the grocery list| Couscous. Having this for lunch almost everyday.
On the TV| Oprah.
On the nightstand| The Happiness Project. Review soon.
On the to do list| Make clues for Easter treasure hunt. 
On the scrap table| A page about a new favorite game. 
On the movie list| The documentary, I Am. 
On the dinner plate| Pizza. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Stretch Your Sketches No. 2

I'm back today with my take on sketch #2 for the Stretch Your Sketches challenge on the Ella Publishing blog. I'm getting so many pages done with all of these fabulous sketches. Very satisfying.

I stayed close to the original sketch, but just moved my journaling to the left. This is one of my favorite layouts in a long time. My niece is already three, but better late than never, right?

JOURNALING| Darling Audrey, you turned ONE this month. We celebrated the entire week of Rick Fest. You opened, with help from your brother and cousins, a different gift everyday. What fun! During our time together, you enjoyed sitting in the grass, while playing with stacking toys. You liked to blow people kisses. You liked to cuddle. You were a super fast crawler. You are an awesome little girl, A. Happy Birthday. I love you.

Ten on Tuesday

1| I wouldn't call myself a baker, but I had some ripe bananas, so I made a batch of banana oatmeal cookies. They are definitely not as good as my Mom's, but they are rather good. And since they have bananas, oatmeal and whole wheat flour, I've convinced myself they are healthy too. Three in one sitting isn't too many, right?

2| Last week's Dancing with the Stars was a debacle. The couple I chose for the ultimate winner was voted off. I was shocked. I thought Sugar Ray was entertaining and he had skills. I hate losing a bet. Like last week, I'm sticking with Kendra for losing this week.

3| I have several First Communions to attend in the next few weeks, so I bought a pretty spring dress to wear. If you know me, you know I rarely wear a dress, so it was fun to find one I really liked. When I tried it on, I said, aw, this one is really cute. So I knew it was the one. I tried to find it online to link up to, but came up short. I will share pictures after the event.

4| One of the best (free!) inventions: Skype. I'm able to keep in touch with my brother and his family like I wouldn't be able to without it. My nephew just had a birthday, so I Skyped with him. We pretty much spent the entire time making funny faces at each other. I enjoyed every minute.

5| Elise linked to this on her blog and I thought it was hilarious. Check it out. The entire store has clever cards that will make you smile.

6| I'm looking forward to spending Easter with family this weekend. I see egg hunts, 4 square, and a delicious meal. It's been awhile since we've seen each other. Too long.

7| I really want to see Water for Elephants. I loved the book, so I'm hoping they capture the beauty of the book. But I'm realistic too. It's not often that a book translates well into a movie.

8| I spent a couple of hours last week at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts with my parents. My Dad has an old photograph that had been damaged and we met with someone who restores old photographs and art pieces. It was really cool to talk to her about her process and to see her work space. After the meeting, we had a tasty lunch and perused the other collections. I love looking at the photography and the Impressionists.

9| Parenthood's season finale is tonight already. Will miss this show while on summer hiatus. I can't  believe it's already time for season finales. Time is just flying by. I'm having a hard time keeping up.

10| While listening to the radio the other day, Eternal Flame came on. I was immediately transported back 20+ years to my front yard. My bffs and I were choreographing a dance to this song that we later performed for our parents. Good times.

Sketchbook 3|Week 1

To continue with my sketch obsession, here are the layouts I made from the first week of Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 3 class.

I've been trying to experiment more with paint. I think I need to keep working at it. But I'm enjoying the pop of yellow.

The page is about how suddenly my niece has become a young woman. Well, of course, it hasn't been sudden. But it sure feels that way to me.

JOURNALING | I'm not ready for you to be 12, to be a tween. I'm not ready for you to be going out with friends without any adults around. I'm not ready for you to have a cell phone. I'm not ready for you to be crushing on boys. What happened to your 6 lb. self? But you are ready and I'll be there through it all.

I'm loving the different layers of this layout with the little photos tucked into each one.

Our family spent a long weekend together in Galena, IL a couple of years ago. We went to see the balloon festival, which was really beautiful. I got so many wonderful shots that I've been doing pages from that quick trip for two years now. Love when that happens.

I like the clean, graphic design of this page. I like the white title against the white cardstock. I continue to love the Stella Rose collections from My Mind's Eye. Lovely patterns and colors.

I traveled to Seattle a few years ago and it was one of my favorite trips. I loved Pike Place Market. I'd love to go back and spend more leisurely time there. I loved our day trip to Mt. Rainier. An awesome sight. I loved traveling by ferry to Bainbridge Island. So many great, new experiences packed in one trip. Love that.

This is my 200th post! Thanks so much to my readers for stopping by and spending time here. I always love hearing from you! Starting this blog has been one of the best decisions I've made. 

Obsessed With Sketches

The Ella Publishing blog has a new challenge series, Stretch Your Sketches. When I saw this, I knew I had to play along. I am obsessed with sketches lately. I am also taking Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 3 class. I find that I get tons of layouts done when I have a sketch to inspire my creating.

Here is my take on the sketch.

This layout is close to the original sketch. But I used two 4x6 photos instead of one 5x7. Sometimes, I use the sketch exactly and other times it takes me in a different direction. This is what I love about sketches. There are always so many possibilities and you can never go wrong.

Ten on Tuesday

1| This weekend, I felt like creating something a bit out of my comfort zone. I have had this small canvas sitting around for awhile now. I decided to paint it and add some rubons and ribbon. It makes me happy. I have it on my dining room/office table, so I can look at it while I work.

2| I've been ma'am(ed) lately way more than I'm comfortable with. This does not make me happy.

3| I saw two movies this weekend. The first was Morning Glory. This was a cute, fun movie. I laughed a lot. The second was The Kids Are All Right. I didn't like this movie. I am actually surprised it was nominated for an Oscar.

4| I've been volunteering a lot more lately. This weekend, I spent two hours watching 3 and 4 year olds. They are full of great energy and happiness and fun ideas and it's awesome to be a part of their day. I'm working at two food banks later this week. It feels really good to be meeting new people and giving back.

5| I walked outside for the first time. Birds chirping. Green sprouting out from everywhere. Heads held high toward the sun. People acknowledging each other and saying hello. We survived.

6| I am not usually a fan of yogurt because of the consistency, but my sister suggested I put it in the freezer for awhile. Genius idea! I also tried the new fad, Greek yogurt. I liked it.

7| I got out my spring and summer clothes. I always love doing this because, inevitably, there are a couple of pieces that I forgot I had. It's like getting new clothes. I'm also loving all the colors that are laking in my winter wardrobe.

8| Dancing with the Stars. Bye-bye Kendra.

9| A couple of books on my wish list. Kristin Hannah's new one, Night Road and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.

10| I am a huge fan of Lisa's work. I love this layout of hers. I keep coming back to it and looking at all the awesome detail.

I Love Being An Aunt

I realized when I was going through my albums that I didn't have a layout about how much I love being an aunt. I had to remedy that quickly!

This page is really simple. I used smaller pieces of patterned paper. I used variety in the title. I spread out the journaling. Three things I don't do very often in my pages. I like how fun and colorful it is. Exactly like my nieces and nephew.

JOURNALING | I love them with all that I am. They bring me such joy and peace and fun. They are the best and I am thankful for them everyday.

I am very happy to finally have this part of my story documented.

Have a wonderful weekend. It should reach 70 here tomorrow. I. can't. wait.

10 Things I'd Rather Be Doing

1| Working. It's been three months of unemployment and it's no fun. No fun for the obvious monetary reasons, but also because I've always really loved working. I enjoy interacting with other people. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and making a difference. I miss it. I hope the next job is right around the corner.

2| Sitting on a beach with my feet submerged in the sand.

3| Walking around a lake with my sister or a friend.

4| Getting a pedicure.

5| Eating a chocolate filled croissant at a street side cafe in Paris.

6| Playing tennis.

7| Sitting on a patio sipping a cold drink.

8| Having a dance party with my nieces.

9| Reading a "can't put down" book.

10| Playing games with my family. Cribbage, 500, Clue, Battleship.

What would you rather be doing?

See more of my lists here. 

Ten on Tuesday

1| I'm sick....again. As my niece would say, "Seriously?!"

2| Stomp lived up to all the hype. Highly entertaining. I tried to make music out of everything for the next few days. Operative word is tried.

3| Dancing with the Stars Week 3: Bye-bye Wendy.

4| I've found that I like to watch golf when I'm sick. Is that weird?

5| My new favorite cereal: Kashi Honey Sunshine. Small, crunchy, tasty puffs of deliciousness.

6| I'm enjoying listening to Adele. I was sad to see her concert next month is sold out. Not sure why they chose such a small venue for such a popular performer.

7| I never thought I would say this, but I want an iPhone. I can't stop thinking about having one. I feel like I'm missing out on something. What has happened to me?!

8| I want to see Source Code. Jake Gyllenhaal. Enough said.

9| I'm reading Look At Me by Jennifer Egan. I've never read her books before, but so far so good.

10| I'm feeling uninspired and restless. Probably a side effect of being sick. I can't wait until I feel healthy again. I've been trying smile therapy. Have you heard of this? I first heard of it on Ally McBeal. It's simple. Smile even if you don't feel like it. Surprisingly, perhaps, it works.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Hello April.

Hello Spring?! I hope, I hope.
Hello open windows.
Hello celebrating with family.
Hello walking outside.
Hello lunches with friends.
Hello exploring a new city.
Hello Easter egg hunt and 4-square.
Hello new volunteer opportunities.
Hello meeting new people.
Hello blooms.
Hello getting my Mom on April Fool's Day. 
Hello a mini fresh start.

What is in store for you this April?