Saturday, May 29, 2010

Inside my pocket

Every day when I come home from work I'll realize I have something in my pocket, it never fails. When you work at a day care center you pick things up or are handed things that you absent mindedly stick in your pocket. Here are some of things things that have come home with me over the past few weeks.



Starting at the top left and moving clockwise: a die, green butterfly ring (given to me as a gift), pirate action figure, a gray crayon, animal shaped rubber bands, and a building from Star Wars monopoly. What I haven't photographed includes: band-aid wrappers, fuzzy bits torn from our tablecloths, and a good bit of lint.


Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Follow Me!

I've given in. I own a twitter account: http://twitter.com/RougeRaven You can follow me to get blog updates- I'll announce new posts and contests this way, and I'll be using it to share links when I don't have to time to create a full post.

-Aly

Embracing Mistakes and Learning From Them

We all make ugly journal pages, it happens.


I started this page while watching Samantha Kira's vlog at journalgirl.com I was playing with my watercolor crayons and using my hands to spread the paint. I enjoyed the process but I decided I hated the shape. It reminds me of a bubblegum tumor. This lovely mental picture has been brought to you by Aly. I also hated how all the different inks I used for the fonts I think it looks disjointed. So I decided to see what I could salvage from this icky page: I liked the colors, techniques and the layout so I tried again...


And made this:
= a much nicer page with a happier journaler behind it. The calendar is actually an acrylic stamp from Michael's and I LOVE IT. Moral of the story: try to find something you like about your failed attempts and try again. I didn't rip out my ugly page or work over it, it serves it's own purpose- it's just not to be pretty =)

Monday, May 24, 2010

Flap and tape love

I've become very fond of flaps, I love the extra layers and dimension they add. This falp is from a flyer for the Charm City Roller Girls (which is Baltimore's roller derby league. I love them!) I find them in the girls' bathrooms at Towson all the time. Tapes are also growing on me: printed packaging tape (new ones are in at JoAnns), masking tape, colored duct tape, etc. I have yet to buy the cute Japanese tapes but I'll be keeping an eye out for them. What's your latest crafting obsession?





Sunday, May 23, 2010

Short Post

Just a quick, fly-by post today I have to head out to tutor one of the kids from my daycare and then I'm off to my friend Pam's graduation party. I can't believe I have my degree! I'm so happy!

Onto the art- I love these two pages because they seem more coordinated. I made the flower stamp for the top page to mimic the design on the bottom page's background. They kind of look like the wheels on the bikes too.



This polka-dot paper is my favorite out of all the hundreds of papers I have. It's from a K&Company specialty pack. (The bike paper above is from the same pack.) But I can't find it in stores anymore =(


I'll be posting more often now that college is out!
See you soon!
-Aly

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Ephemera spread

For some reason blogger didn't like uploading more than one picture at a time the other day but at least I figured out why I couldn't post. These pages are from my winter journal,which seems so long ago already:

I used a lot of ephemera for this spread- the name tag is from my university's annual Multicultural Conference where I was able to talk to the famous sociologist and author Patricia Hill Collins! The envelope and stamp are from ihanna's postcard swap (sorry I didn't post the front, it has my address on it and I have neglected to blur it out for the time being. I love flaps/hidden words so I added my Dunkin' Donuts gift card envelope one of the kids at work gave to me.




For the spread I used a variety of different pens: the white and fuchsia are Sharpie paint pens and the gold is a metallic (Galaxy?) marker. The thicker black letters are from my go to Sakura black glaze pen. The fine letters are from my black Sakura gelly roller medium point.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Some Internet Inspiration

I have an hour to kill before turning in my final exam so here are some great links I found:

Lolly has created a beautiful owl camera bag complete with step by step photo tutorial- http://www.lollychops.com/lollychops/2010/05/edna-the-owl-bag.html

Daisy Yellow has already begun planning inspiration boosters for the summer- http://daisyyellow.squarespace.com/vividlife/a-summer-project-list-part-1.html

If you love whimsical, delicate photos then you're going to love A Field Journal- http://afieldjournal.blogspot.com/

The Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo is at it again! This time it's all about shoe shrines. I am absolutely going to make one about my mom using her pink high tops- http://thecraftychica.blogspot.com/2010/05/shoe-shrines.html


I hope these help!


-Aly

Spring journal page 1

It seems something went wrong with certain photos from my winter art journal but here is the first page of my spring journal:


The kids at my work have expressed an interest in altered books- I may make it one of our craft projects before the end of the school year =D

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Disappearing Act

Monday is my last final, which means I get to spend a lot more time with you lovely people! I am so sorry for the month hiatus! I haven't been able to work in my journal for weeks since school has been taking up every last waking moment of my life.

I just got hired as a preschool teacher so I'm sure there will be plenty of kid/teaching related posts in the fall =)

I have photos to post yet blogger keeps telling me there has been an error. I plan to spend the day at the library tomorrow so I'll try again from there

-Aly