Digi kit to benefit Autism Speaks

Ali Edwards collaborated with Song Bird Avenue to create a digital scrapbooking kit. This kit is chock-full of papers, embellishments, word art, frames, and my favorite: templates, and is selling for only $8. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of these kits benefit Autism Speaks. I'm thinking this kit will come in very handy for my 37 Days challenge.

Pieces of Me

A quick little project I started last night:

This is a small ringed binder I picked up at Target's Dollar Spot (can I ever walk into Target and walk by this little area?!). It was an ugly orange color (some of which you can still see on the inside cover--need to do a bit of touch-up) that I sanded and painted "baby pink" with acrylic. The torn out page from a recent Pottery Barn Kids catalog that I was using to cover up my workspace became the inspiration for the cover motif. You never know when a piece of trash will become the basis for your next creation! So I punched white circles, stamped a title ("pieces of me") and used one of the cutie owls from my Hambly rub-ons. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort to use something from my stash that I just love. I have to quiet that voice that asks, "Is this project worth that really cute owl? What if you need it for another project and you've wasted it here?" I have learned that there will always be something else for that next project. Use what you love now, because before too long you'll be loving something else. Disclaimer: I only feel this way about scrapbooking supplies! Anyway, back to the book. To ground the punched circles in my title I penned rings around the outside edges. Love this very easy and effective technique. The purpose of this book (another Ali inspired project): to house the little, well, "pieces of me". It contains indexed alphabet dividers. So far I have a photo of the boys that's been kicking around my workspace under 'B', and the Starbucks cup wrap under 'S'.

From Life Artist: "It's a simple, quick way to feel like you're doing something, recording something, documenting some part of your life as you experience it. It's a book that can grow and change right along with you. It's also a wonderful way to create in a continuous way, a way to go with the flow and record what's happening as it happens."p. 44 Love it. . .

When inspiration strikes

I have this mini album idea inspired by, who else, Ali Edwards. Are you surprised? Anyway, I have an old board book, well a few of them, recycled from my children's book shelves. It's been sitting on a closet shelf just waiting for the perfect project. I took it out the other day and counted the pages: 5 two page spreads, plus a front and back cover. I had seen in Ali's book (Life Artist) what appeared to be a child's board book altered with acrylic paint (turns out, when I reached the end of the book and found a materials list for every project in there, that it was actually a funky little chipboard album that she covered with paper). Anyway, my sister had tried this with some trouble and I thought, why not sand the shine off the pages and cover them with acrylic paint? Then inspiration hit me, right smack in the middle of the boys' February vacation, as to what I can use this little album for: a recording of their five days off from school. So, here I sit with emery board in hand and vacuum within reach as I sand the pages. I could go down to the basemement to get a larger piece of actual sandpaper that would make the job go faster, but frankly I am too lazy at the moment to get out of my chair. I'll let you know how it all turns out. . .

I am an artist

I've been totally engrossed with Life Artist. In an effort to absorb so many of Ali's inspiring ideas, I will share some of my favorites so far:

• Celebrate the everyday (already doing this in my "Remember Today" posts--yippee!)
• Let go of perfection
• Cultivate a creative lifestyle
• Scrapbook rule free; it is ok; just be; let it go
• Get to work making stuff; using supplies, not hoarding them, is freeing
• Create in a way that reflects you at this very moment (don't wait until that perfect idea, or think that something better will come along to make a layout right)
• Post the words "I am creative" or "I am an artist" someplace you look everyday
• Keep cool ideas and inspiration in a notebook (love this! starting this, more on it later)
• Take a creativity field trip: bookstore, antique shop, walk in the park, etc
• Go beyond the scrapbook page to create life art to display; use something found at a yard sale, flea market, antique shop
• Go through a stack of photos (old or new) and jot down notes. Take your time and go deeper than the surface of the photograph
• Take a class: pottery, knitting, photography, writing, painting. . .
• Use alphabet index dividers to create a "little things" album about yourself or someone you love. Use 4x6 dividers and a hole punch with binder rings and add to it continuously(will be doing this one)
• Layouts don't need to have photos

All this in just the first 2 chapters!

Life Artist

I got it today--Ali's latest book Life Artist. I've only had a chance to thumb through it and already I am in love. It is chock full of inspiration, not only for the scrapbook pages and art Ali has created, but for the eloquent words that describe her approach to scrapbooking and her philosophy on life in general. This is so where I am right now: living life, letting go, being real, creating, telling, the here, the now.


I think this book will make a great companion to Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, a 12 week program designed to help you find your creative muse. I see some similar themes: letting go, embracing imperfection, taking creativity field-trips (Julia calls these "artist dates"). I picked up her book at my church book sale for a quarter! I like to think it was divine intervention! I'm off to curl up in bed and begin my creative journey.