My Journals and Elsa

It surely seems that time is sprinting by this year. One would think that the empty nest years would move slowly but that certainly is NOT the case for me! It was so nice reconnecting with some of you after my last post by the way and I am making progress through my blog roll. Slowly but surely...

Since no sewing has happened since my last post I'll share a bit about my ongoing affair with paper. My current books are shown above - the bottom two are for creative journaling and the top two are for planning and tasks. I use the middle two every day. The pink disc bound journal is my Fauxbonichi which has been a part of my daily habit since April. These pages make me so happy! They are a mix of color play, glued bits, stamped images, journaling prompts, what happened during my day and/or what's on my mind.

The purple traveler's notebook houses my calendar, bullet journal and some inserts I use to track my walks and projects. This is a new setup for me since November 1st as I try to stay focused and make the most of these last 2 months of 2015. The inserts are held in place by elastic bands and this is a very tactile journal. I love the color, the leather and the way it feels in my hand.

The colorful journal on the bottom is my MAMBI Happy Planner which I have been using since July as a motivational/memories/gratitude journal. Planner decoration is a huge thing now... and while I'm more of a functional planner this journal allows me to get my "pretty planning" fix so I can leave my real planner alone!

I won the small orange traveler's notebook in an online giveaway and I carry it with me in my purse. It has an appointment calendar, an insert to jot down notes and an insert for me to journal about My Obsessions. As in things I may WANT but do not NEED or things that stuck in my mind that I want to write out.

Elsa loves my Paper Room almost as much as she loves my Quilting Room as it is full of little bits to bat off a table, paper edges to chew and containers to examine. As if she has no toys at all of her own! She has been with us almost 2 years now and still has the energy of a kitten. The top of this tower is for napping and the middle is... well... for toys. *WINK*

She also has a second toy box in the corner of our living room. Every couple of days I pick up after her and then she has lots of fun scattering them about again. Oh the life of a Spoiled Sweet Little Princess Cat!

I am looking forward to a long weekend in Dallas to meet up with several cousins and welcome the youngest member of my extended family - an adorable 2 month old boy who I cannot wait to cuddle and snuggle! And yes, I am packing a quilt for him that has been waiting for the right little person. Next week will be busy with preparations for Christmas. Is your tree up yet?

Good Grief - June!

For all of the Peanuts lovers out there... Good Grief Charlie Brown it's JUNE! Even though I had  to put my annuals in the garage due to frost warnings over the weekend it truly is June 1st.

Elsa is happy for warmer temperatures again for her afternoon nap. Our son Micah is home from school and started his summer job today. His school year ended on a high note and, while he is happy to be home, I know he will be anxious to go back in late August. It is so nice to have him around and he seems to have accepted that straight A's at a quality school in a demanding program is NOT going to happen. I am loving his new relaxed mood and feel lighter as a result myself.

My quilting room is still eluding me and I'm not even going to bother setting goals for June. Tom and I will be spending our annual week in Vegas this month, there is lots of planting to get done and our daughter Megan arrives for a visit at month end. I have 3 Junk Journals to make for swaps this month - above you can see my paper dying experiments using Koolaid and Glimmer Mist sprays. I think I captured the soft vintage look I was going for. And, when those summer temperatures arrive to stay the lake will be calling my name.

My Fauxbonichi habit is still going strong too... I've expanded to 2 pages per day so that I can write more and follow along with some of the daily prompts in the Fauxbonichi Journalers Facebook group. I'm loving the color prompt days we have where we are given the photo for inspiration as shown above - it's like picking fabrics for a quilt but finishing it right NOW! My creative mo-jo hasn't gone dormant - it's just coming through in different ways. Maybe not setting any quilting goals will get me sewing... fingers crossed!

Monday Monday

We are getting much needed rain the last few days but I do have a pretty picture of my lush Flowering Almond shrub to share that I took on Saturday morning. This is the 1st year that ALL of the shrub has bloomed... some years it has only bloomed on the lower branches and other years just at the top. I'm wondering if a healthy trimming last summer was the key to success?

I'm determined to blog a few days a week even when I'm not sewing which is pushing me out of my comfort zone. Which is OK really because that's how real life has been lately too. I'm finding that learning how to parent kids that are 1,000+ miles away is not natural for me. It's easy to blog about happy events but what about the rest of life? Our daughter and her fiance became unengaged/disengaged/not engaged (is there a word for this?) a few weeks ago. Our son has been having a rough semester at school with one class in particular and I have been trying to help in a way that isn't helpful to him.

Generally I'm not a person who spends a lot of time worrying because it just isn't healthy or productive for me. I like to keep my mind & my hands busy when I'm stressed... for some reason quilting isn't the cure right now. Instead it's paper play and writing that I'm turning to. I shared a few of my Junk Journals a few weeks ago HERE and in May I've started a fun project called #ListersGottaList hosted by TheResetGirl.

Basically each day there is a prompt and you run with it. Some days are light & frothy (like these) and other days we dig a little deeper... yesterday's prompt was My Strengths for example. Pictures are shared online and it's a lot of fun to see the creativity and insights shared. Elsa and I contemplate our world from here most mornings while I'm cutting, pasting and writing.

I've also resurrected my Fauxbonichi which I first posted about HERE. I got behind when I went out East to see the kids in late March/early April, tried to catch up, got discouraged and decided to make a fresh start in May. The Facebook group I belong to is simply amazing... so many talented and inspiring women who are very encouraging to newbies like me and share their art techniques generously.

We have daily prompts to use if we chose as well as theme days to learn techniques. Above you will see my Tuesday Tangle where I'm learning how to use Micron pens for Zentangle-like doodling. Under the card on the opposite page is some personal journaling about my sad mood that day. I even wrote the date wrong TWICE (it has since been collaged over).Some ladies paint and sketch... others do collage... some use a lot of stamps and others mostly write.

Each Thursday one of the members provides a quote and a technique to try. I have always loved quotes and pretty lettering so this page made my day! I still can't believe I made that quote look so good and it was such a fitting quote for me right now. Even beginner art like mine is good therapy.

And, for the real nitty-gritty-write-it-out-of-my-system-stuff I have a worry notebook inside my lovely eggplant fauxdori. I love to write and have used different techniques over the years... sometimes I get thoughts stuck in my head and simply writing them down helps to dislodge them.

So, no quilting but lots of real life today. I'm looking forward to having our son back under our roof for the summer in 10 days. And, I'm simply going to have to trust that our daughter is doing OK as she has told us. She will be home for a week over the 4th of July. But I'll continue to keep my hands and mind busy in the meantime.

WIP Wednesday: Hello Fauxbonichi

Once in a while I come across something that makes me drop everything and think "How I have not seen this before?". For the last few weeks I have been feeling, for lack of a perfect word, restless. Not unhappy, not frustrated, not overwhelmed... just an under-it-all sense of something missing. Last week for my birthday I gave myself an art journal book, a grown up coloring book and a watercolor kit looking for some inspiration. I spent a morning making a collage journal cover out of an old file folder, pages from a Connecting Threads magazine and Mod Podge just because I wanted to play.

The inside has pockets made from folding the edges back and gluing them down. Nothing fancy... just fun!

Sunday night I was watching some videos on YouTube when THIS popped into my suggested viewing list. I had no idea what a Fauxbonichi was but I clicked on it and about halfway in I was hooked. As in joining her Facebook group, finding a notebook to use and staying up until 2:30 AM watching more videos, reading blog posts and watching that same video again (and again!).

First thing Monday morning I added washi tape around the edges of my journal cover for reinforcement and threaded some elastic to hold my Moleskine large size cahier notebook in place inside. And I decided that as a part of doing my daily pages I would add an item to my cover each day until it feels "done". Then I will give it a couple more coats of Mod Podge to seal it. Of course I chose one of my Elsa look-alike stickers!

Then I turned my attention to the inside. Basically this will be my play journal with a quote, a sketch/doodle, a journal prompt, a gratitude section and what ever I feel like doing with the large section on the left. So far I'm playing with some stamps, washi tape and my colored pen & marker collection. I tend to buy this stuff with great intentions but let it sit unused so I'm challenging myself to let loose and have fun with this book.

I laid out a weeks worth of pages so I can just open it up and get to it. I look forward to seeing how my pages evolve as I start to change things up over time.

Here's what my cover looks like as of today and my page in progress is below. Tonight or tomorrow morning I'll fill in the rest. I'm going to be backing each page with scrapbook paper to cover any marker or stamping that bleeds through. I'll be able to do extra journaling or collage some items there as well.

I used to keep diaries and at various times I've kept a journal. I have a sense that my life right now is at a point where I have the most ME time I might ever have again. The kids are out east, my husband is 3-4 years away from retiring and my parents are (knock on wood) healthy. I have a bad habit of pushing things off until "Someday". I also have been feeling very nostalgic since the kids moved away and would like to capture some memories of our lives. Someday seems to be NOW, especially as the days fly by. So this is my start and I'm loving it!