pamgarrison

happy new year!

vintage party wear headband from my mother in law's closet :)

Happy New Year!!!!!

As December flies by, I've begun to think about the New Year. I LOVE fresh starts, especially New Years. They are rife with potential. Hopes and dreams. And thoughts about this past year and what I'd like to be different, what I'd like to do differently, in the New Year. Feeling ready for some big changes. And that leads me to two resources that I'm going to use, which I thought might interest you as well:

Susannah Conway's free 2013 workbook

Jessica Swift's goal setting workbook

 

Hope 2013 has great things in store for all of us!

See you in 2013, ready or not, here it comes!!!

xoxox

 

 

a little bit of the newport harbor boat parade

fireworks on the last night of the parade

A favorite holiday tradition for us is to attend the Newport Harbor Boat Parade show.

I thought I'd share a few (less than focused at times) shots and a little video for those that haven't seen it and want to, or those that have, and are nostalgic for it (as I discovered when posting some photos on my instagram feed).

After the parade, we always walk around the island, taking in all the decorations. Just like the boats, the houses (and docks) go from simple to beyond "over the top"

why yes, Virginia, that IS a train on a track that goes in and out of the house!

And of course, no trip to Balboa is complete without this stop:

 

december

I love the sights of December, from the hustle and bustle out in the world, like the merry-go-round I couldn't resist snapping last night (above), to the simplest things like the red ribbons below.

The happiness that decorating brings is so contagious. My son  loves holiday lights most of all.

This year, lighting the tree was a family affair, so much more fun that way (for me, anyway).

I also love unpacking Christmas and re-acquainting myself with crafts from Christmases past like all the garlands above. Here are the posts on them if you are interested in more info:

white large holly garland

circle felt garland

colored holly leaf garlands

I think I'll add some of this sparkly felt found at JoAnn's to them.

The hand made stockings and tree skirt come out with the felt garlands too.

And the ornament boxes! I have never met a vintage ornament/Christmas box I didn't care for. But I also use new boxes like these candy boxes for storing ornaments year after year. I figure they will become true vintage boxes for my kids someday.

And when we are fortunate enough to be gifted with a Henry & David box, I save those too, because they package the fruit so carefully, it makes a wonderful box for special ornaments. If you don't like the cover, you can wrap it with your own vintage (or new) paper as I did here:

I guess that's my tip for the day: repurposing into ornament storage! What's yours? Have a good ornament storage solution to share? Inquiring minds want to know...

I'm off to continue working on our holiday cards. Late. Again. Maybe next year I'll get them to people before Christmas. One can hope. I used one of my iphone photos taken while searching for a Christmas tree and uploaded them to Minted. (Love this glue stick for sealing the envelope by the way-just in case someone out there is as late as I am.)

Hope you are enjoying this holiday season! xo

back home

Loving this milk jar I brought home, it's so cute. Love utilitarian things like jars that have style and uses long past their original purpose.

 

Don't you just love this wall if books? Done by the clever partners at a store called Pink in Spokane. I found a few other treasures there that were small enough to bring home with me.

Spokane was full if snow and and charming sights. It was cold too!

And now, with four days before Christmas Eve, I am home and feeling the need to catch up. Leaving in December caused a bit if an upheaval to "December as usual", but I look forward to catching up with things- including my December Daily. Will show some updates here soon!

 

 

 

ciao bella!

I'm off to Italy with Mary Ann!

Ok, not really, but in spirit, via her latest, and quite possibly greatest, new online e-course: Ticket To Venice. She's awesomely talented...at traveling, and journaling, and teaching and sharing the story with blog readers...and I can't wait to experience her travels in a new way.  And not just because she's my friend, nope! 

Are you coming along?!? I hope so!

I'm actually off to Spokane tomorrow morning for a little job of sorts...Spokane, Italy...hmm...well, I've never been to Spokane before, but I'm thinking it's just not quite Italy, especially the way Mary Ann does it. Can't wait for the Venice adventure to begin! See you there... safe travels everyone.

handmade holiday boutique tomorrow!

 

Jenny, Amy and I have been having fun preparing for our little Handmade Holiday Boutique happening this Saturday.

These photos are from when we got together to bring a little winter wonderland to Studio Crescendoh the other night.

And we've each been busy making things on our own. One of my favorite new things to make is these painted totes:

 

I don't think I've ever shown you the tote I painted for myself. (above)

I love it so much and have been working on painting a few for the sale tomorrow. Here's the back of mine:

It's fun having a one of a kind bag, and I get lots of compliments when using it too, which is always nice :).

Here are some more things that I've been gathering for tomorrow's sale:

an old optometrists test lens kit...

...vintage ornaments in fun containers like candy jars and boxes...

...and strands of vintage lights that work...

...inexpensive decorating props...

...Christmas tree paintings...

 

and supplies like bullion...

and vintage wallpaper...(even some of my precious flocked rolls!)

...and so much more...

We hope you'll join us tomorrow 10-4, rain or shine, indoors in the warm winter lights of Studio Crescendoh. Maybe you'll find just the treausre you need to wrap up your Christmas list...oh ya, we'll have a cute little wrapping station too!!!

 

december...

Hello blogland, hope you are enjoying December!

Reporting in on more december goings on around here...

When we were driving up to see my daughter for her birthday, the boys allowed me about 10 minutes to run into Art From Scrap (they are so no fun, those boys!)...and I scored these vintage ornaments. I was especially excited about the mercury glass pickle, because we love that tradition in our house. - Well, we sort of don't do it right, it's more "hide and find the pickle" over and over again vs. "the first one to spot it gets a present and the fun is over" version of the tradition. Now if only the tree were ready...

We did get to the tree lot, but this is seriously a perfect representation of the cooperation I get when asking my three knuckleheads to pose for a picture. I did however, get my kids to give me a shot amongst the trees, and although I really wanted to send out a holiday card of the four of us after reading Meg's post, both time, and my belief that we'd get one, were running out...so I went with just the two of them. ("Why?", you ask Meg, I'll tell you why, because it just might not get done otherwise!!! :) - note to self for 2013, must get in a few pictures with my family, not just take them.)

We did get a tree, and here it sits, waiting for lights to be strung and ornaments to be hung.

...Hopefully today, after my son gets home from school we'll get the lights on, and then ornaments tonight as a family. Hopefully, the key word when it comes to time and my plans for it around here.

Let's see...what else have I been up to?

I snuck in a little playing on my tablet,  trying to grow my PhotoShop skills (not hard to grow when you've got so much to learn!), by doodling on some photos like the one above. That was fun. I want to do it more, more, more. I do like drawing on the tablet.

I've also been working on our December Daily book:

Day 4:

Day 5:

(I do really like these pens for writing on photographs-like the glossy one on the left)

For me, that saying is absolutely true, especially one that smells like fresh gingerbread!

I just baked some gingerbread, as a matter of fact. Off to eat gingerbread and retrieve my boy from the bus stop, crossing fingers there is not much homework today; we've got fun December things to do!

 

recent art journaling

Late one night, while journaling, this woman showed up, not sure why, as I don't often sketch faces. I like her, she seems wise, (and a bit exhausted, thus the words below). The next day, I doodled a few more friends for her, trying to draw different types of faces. I am sure I was at least subconsciously inspired to draw some faces after seeing my friend Jenny's creations for our Handmade Holiday boutique this Saturday.

I've been doing other journaling too, some with paints:

and some with markers and paints:

And since the paints were out...I  painted on wood too:

Some  of the painting is on pieces for the boutique:

Of course, I'll show you more of those paintings this week as I finish them up!

Total non sequitor, but I just had to share this funny video that had me laughing out loud; a good laugh is such a nice start the week. Hope it strikes your funny bone!

Thank you Amy Tan for sharing this video on your blog:

 

december daily, days 2 & 3

Before I get to days 2 and 3, I wanted to show some additions to what I've previously shown. I did end up going back and making another "hello december" arrow, this one is more legible in person, although, not super clear here.

I couldn't resist gluing this scrap of magazine paper from a Hallmark ad down on my inside cover.

I also added a clear overlay to day 1 spread and this little ribbon with the date stamped on it:

The ribbon is actually in between plastic, kept in place by a little gold brad on the outside, since it was moving around. Before I had put the ribbon there, you could see through to the next spread where I had stamped Dec 02 2012 and it was annoying me, :).

Day 2 spread- my favorite parts of these pages are the arrows that were scavenged from packaging, the red arrows in a row, from a new faucet we installed, and the brown one above the shell was one of those "pull to open here" arrows on shipping boxes.

Because the day was full of things I wanted us to remember, I used 2 spreads. Here's the second:

The left side is a full size pocket protector- I wanted to do one where the photos were cut up, but figuring out how to do that since the back would be affected by the same perameters was getting me confused and getting in the way of me actually documenting it, so I let that go.

The right side page is one of the pieces that came with this. Love that it had the 2 cut out and I attached some paper security tape behind it.

I sewed on a photo I took of my lap when driving home- and added a playing card from an old game of Rook (I think it was Rook).

And day 3 spread:

A full page photo sewn in a page protector with a Martha Stewart label sticker on top, stamped with an old set of stamps I have:

I don't know if the company is still selling them, but here's their info on the box:

On the right side of the page, I used one of the same pages from the same as the 2 above, and it had a 3 cut out already:

I didn't back it with anything, because I liked the page 4 stuff that was showing through.

The only thing besides pen and washi tape on this page are the button from here, a gold doily from here.

Onto days 4,5,6 and soon 7, time is flying, at least I'll remember how we spent it now ;).

love!

Meet my Dad (Duke, right), and his pal Wayne (left). They've been friends forever and have worked together over the years making various products, both having had business with machine shops etc. Anyway, not too long ago, I sent my Dad a photo of an arrow light that I saw at the flea market that was $500.00 (!!!) and asked if he could make one for me. And look what they came up with! Love, love, love the arrow lights they've made out of beautiful metal. They also made a star and some alphabet letters for me. How awesome are they?!?! So awesome!




For the moment, one of the prototypes is living on my kitchen counter. It was a huge hit at Thanksgiving with all that came through the house. I was so happy for my Dad that everyone showed such honest enthusiasm at the sight of them. 

Look at the little star:

They're making 2 larger sized stars, as well as some arrows that are slightly larger and with a different shape. A couple other shapes in the work right now too. They've got a bigger project in the way right now, but as soon as that's out of the way, they'll be on these full time. They may even open up a little etsy shop! Of course, I"ll let you know. But, in the meantime, they're manufacturing a few for me to bring to the Handmade Holiday Boutique to sell!!! Can't wait to see them all together, the lights are so pretty against the metal, and can't wait to see who they go home with! 

december daily, and so it begins

I'm having fun with December Daily, but wishing I had a little more time to play and experiment. I am feeling behind already. We went on a little overnight trip on the 1st, so I didn't get to begin the storytelling/documenting/ until returning home on the 2nd, and really, because of a busy day yesterday, last night (the 3rd). So here it is the 4th and I'm just now posting day 1. I'm trying to figure out how I want to approach this as I go along. I know so many that participate in December Daily also do Project Life, so they don't document all that happens, just capture moments of the season daily. I'm not sure what approach I'm going to take yet, it's an experiment for me for sure, having never "scrapbooked" (for lack of a better term), before.

Last night I lined the inside of my book with washi tape. So fun to do and I love the result. Need to take a little sandpaper to the edges, but other than that, it's good to go.

I also worked on a working title page of sorts. I'll probably add another page on top of this eventually, but for now, I've got something in there to get me started. I just used one of Ali Edward's stamps with hot pink zing powder onto a handmade paper. It didn't work out that well, I think because of the porous, uneven paper,  but no big deal.

I practiced writing a sort of title, using ink (I do love that vert olive color!) and a dip pen, before writing directly on the page...

But as you can see, I had trouble with the paper (too porous) and didn't really get such a lovely result. This is a good example of how each stage of my creating informs the next, because I then went searching for something to obscure the writing, deciding on a velum paper included in Kelly Purkey's kit, and taped it on.

I like the result of it. Although, looking at this photo, I really think I am going to re do that "hello december" arrow so that it's easier to read. :)

Onto December 1...

December 1st happens to be my daughter's birthday, so my husband, son and I headed up to love on her. It's a long, mostly beautiful drive, and I took lots of photos along the way, as well as once we got to her, her room mates, with us, etc. but in the end, the iphone photo I took of her making a wish on her birthday gelato summed up the day the best I felt. I added the Bokeh hearts using the Picfx app.

Next I did a rough cut and paste of some of the hearts in PhotoShop to obscure the people in the background and printed it to fit in a full sized pocket protector that came with my book.  I put some glitter alphabet stickers on top of the pocket protector vs. on top of the photo. I went back and forth on whether to print the photo on card stock and not use a page protector at all...may still change my mind on that. Here's the spread of December 1, the notes written about the day done on the backside of the title page. There is more "flair" than I would typically want to use, but I made a writing mistake that was too distracting, so added a second, and then for balance added the third at the bottom.

And there you have my day one of December Daily! Like I said, I'm figuring this out as I go along, but the point is it's fun, and the most important part is that for once, I will have created something for my family that tells the story of our family at this moment in time. I've been good at making treasures for them throughout the years, such as quilts or stockings etc. etc. but NOT good at pictures and words, and it's something that I do feel a lot of guilt, (or regret) about, so it feels good to be doing something now.

You can see Ali's page one here and links to a whole bunch more on the bottom of her post.

 

december daily... i'm in!

Every year, Ali Edwards documents December for her family in something she calls "December Daily". I've watched and enjoyed her process and wished I'd have done it too on occasion. Well, this year  I (and lots and lots of others), am joining in. Ali is great about keeping the focus on telling your story, in words and pictures; it doesn't have to be over the top or an outrageous commitment (not that I don't tend to make things that way, :) ).

{As you can see by my washi tape, I've been gathering supplies. some of it I've had for a long time, some is even vintage from the flea market. The rest is either from Target, Freckled Fawn  Martha Stewart or Studio Calico I believe.}

The book I'm going to use is an America Crafts Handbook. The book is a ringed binder sized around 9x10 with a "Kraft Chipboard" cover. I went for simple and put some silver Martha Stewart Alpha Letters similar to these (I can't find the exact item. Also, I had to make the second 2 out of a 3 and a 5 because the set only had one. I figure it's good enough. ) I had the little soft blue accent stick on and have never known what to do with them, but thought here it might be subtle enough. If it falls off, I might not put anything there, or perhaps a dab of glitter. I'm obviously taking the plan less, let it evolve approach that I'm most comfortable with when creating.

For the top, I cut out a piece of scrapbook paper the shape of the books embossed area and adhered using my xyron sticker maker. There wasn't much room, so I just took my own hand carved number stamps (I'll be making stamps and printables out of these soon) and stamped them straight on the paper using this stamp pad, ( it may not be the proper product to use, but it worked well enough for me. I don't have an embossing ink pad or pen that it calls for.) Then I dusted the wet ink with Zing powder and hit it with a heat gun to set it.

I did practice first on another piece of paper, just to make sure I liked it, as the photo above shows.

There are so many different ideas out there for December Daily, lots of kits like this one  by the super cute Kelly Purkey,  or this one by December Daily originator Ali Edwards with Studio Calico, or even my sweet friend Jenny Bowlin has a few different kits, or there are non kits but books that would work like this one by Elise Blaha Cripe but you don't need a kit of course! And I could go on and on finding different books/kits etc. obviously.  (And I see when finding links that some are sold out, although I have also seen that some people want to sell the kits they bought, so if you really really want one, I'm sure they can be found.) {If you know of other kits, or have one to sell, feel free to include them in the comments.}

Anyway, I decided that I needed something a little bigger than the kits I've pointed out, since December is an especially  big month in our house due to the fact that 2 of the 4 of us have birthdays as well as the usual holiday events. Since I've never done this before, I wanted flexibility to see where it goes. I'll probably use this and various page protectors for inserts as well as my own papers.

I'm not sure whether I'll end up using a non traditional color palette like the above, or a more traditional one like below. (cute alpha stickers here)

And there you have it, a link- full introduction to my December Daily. Of course, I'll show you my inside pages here as I go along. Are you participating in December Daily? Care to link us to your concept in the comments? Feel free. Ali has a whole bunch of link of participants here if you're looking for more ideas and inspiration. She's also got a great December 1 welcome post up too today. December: here we gooooo!!!