Ann Makes a Mess

Today I am showing you what a mess my work area is like at the moment.  This week I was busy recuperating from a minor ailment and then some retail therapy helped to cure me.  Part of creating involves amassing supplies and that is so much fun. The table is loaded with various store bought art supplies, recycled items that I diverted from the bin to my table and other store bought items not sold as art supplies but I saw art making potential in them, and then there are also the items I picked up at a thrift store.  All of this will be put away in an organized manner, believe it or not.  I will eventually use my finds for something.   In another post I might show how I organize my stuff.

Green House

During the last week I have been dealing with a sinus cold and my head has been well not up to par.  But today i wanted to show off my latest big project that i ,built well my husband did the major part but I assisted, ahem!  Ta da.  A greenhouse.  I have always wanted one of these and now that has happened. It is so cute and incredibly spacious inside.  I set up a shelving system and my husband assembled a stainless steel work table.  It gets to be over 120 degrees in there!  it is hot.  So I also installed a screen to let the light in but reduce the heat.  Now for the plants....that is coming.  Ok so I know some may wonder what does this have to do with mixed media?  Well, everything.  Plants and flowers often inspire my works.  Plus I need to feed my family and myself in order to be able to be creative.  Do you know that I have not had to buy any fresh vegetables all summer.  I started buying from the grocery store just last week.  And that was for stuff i couldn't grow myself.  This was a great year for the cukes, tomatoes and brussel sprouts.  But lousy for carrots and potatoes.  And alot of my flowers did pretty well until they were eaten by those Japanese Beetles.  And that was in my garden.  I hope to be able to over winter some of my hardier potted flowers and tropically inclined plants in the greenhouse as well as have a better system for starting my seeds next spring.

Beauty From The past

A cute page with Sassy Studio Image and childhood trinkets. I thought the juxtaposition of cute and sassy was sweet. I used laces from my collection as well as half pearls the spirals are painted chipboard. The image in bottom left is a digital download fromSassy Image Studios. I coloured it with Copics and coloured pencils.

Mason Jar Card

I made this card after a friend gifted me with several canning jars to complete my preserves. I was getting weary of all the pickles so I took a break and crafted.

My Scrapbooking Design note book

Oops, here is the second part of the post.
I often get asked where do I get my ideas.  People wonder if I pull them out of thin air or do I follow some sort of rule book that no one else knows about.  The reality is that I get the ideas everywhere!  Inspiration is all around me, in my own life, what I see in movies, read in books, going shopping, at a Dr's appointment, waiting for my kids, the Internet, my garden, nature, and other people's works.
Then there are my notebooks, journals, idea files and bits of paper with nearly indecipherable writings!
I read a lot of magazines and books and most have at least one of those sticky papers sticking out the top. I mark the pages that inspire me with, well, anything.  What I read on my Ipad that is of interest gets noted usually on another sticky back paper and then goes into one of my notebooks.
Today I am posting about one of my scrapbooking notebooks.  I may start a new notebook for every full album project I have in mind, such as a vacation that we took hundreds of pictures for.  I also have other notebooks or sketch books for just layouts or single pages.  Here I am showing you a sketchbook that I am using for single and double page layouts in 12 x 12 format.  I  will quickly sketch an idea for a page having certain pictures in mind.  I will search through my stash for just the right combinations of papers and make notes of these choices in my sketch book.  I figure out which layers are which and how I want to cut each one. Ni make all these notes because often I don't have the time to scrapbook my page right there so having all these notes means I am ready for the next time I have available.  By the way all the supplies I have chosen get put into a clear pocket file  and is labeled with a reference to my notebook.

All that Glitters 12x12 scrapbook layout

The

I made this sparkly page a while back as ii had come across the stamp "There can only be one Queen and I'm it" while shopping at Michaels.  I immediately thought of our cat, whom we serve every day. As she is very girly and sweet I chose to make a pretty pink and glittery layout.

My Scrapbooking Sketchbook