pamgarrison

friday

spinning out & calming down

I have a lot on my to-do list today. Likely too much, as I am overly ambitious by nature when thinking them up. I went to bed waaayyy too late (2am), and woke up late (7:20), which was not enough sleep (dumdum pam), all resulting in an unpleasant start to the day. Set myself up for that feeling of pressure, or panic to set in about all I have (want) to do, and my ability to accomplish it. I found my crazy thoughts taking over and my mind spinning out. Deep breath. "Stop it. Focus on some little things, see some calm, and good, and beauty," I thought to myself. Why do I always forget that picking up my camera and going on a hunt right where I am is a great way to hone in, calm down, gain a different perspective? I suppose intead of being annoyed I don't think of it right away, I should appreciate that I eventually did (duh). Here's what I found:

So enjoy the morning ritual of opening the bamboo shade behind the kitchen sink and seeing the difference in light (you can see the before and after in the two above).

This little guy came back from Palm Springs with me. Found him at the grocery store and knew he'd be the perfect counterpart to the sharp edged fella next to him. I used to buy Trader Joe's orchids (because they are pretty inexpensive and last so long) for some living green on the kitchen counter), but now I'm going with succulents which cost less and last even much longer, without asking for hardly a thing in return. 

Sun shining on the shells...say that five times fast.

So glad the kitchen sink looks out on our sideyard. The sideyard itself is one of my favorite spots. I think it's the pea gravel we put in. That crunch underfoot is such a good sound to me; reminds me of being in Europe, which is always a good thing. I see that yesterday I forgot to put the nozzle back on the hose after doing some chores. Not even gonna bother adding that to the list, will catch it the next time watering...can't fall prey to my own destraction devices ;).

Usually, I head out doors into the fresh air when employing hunt&seek-attitude-adjustment tactics, but this time I decided to stay right where I'm needing to first get to work, inside in the family room. The light on this little wall cupboard that hangs there was pretty, and maybe I'll use the items in it as a visual touchstone today to reign in my wandering thoughts.

Those are sharks' teeth pictured above, found with my mom on the beaches of Florida. When I was young, we lived in Michigan (born and raised until 8, love Michigan! although from photos my cousin has sent I'm glad I'm not living there this winter!) and we'd drive to Florida every year to visit my Grandpa. I am thrilled my Mom was a collector at heart, and love having tangible evidence of those magical moments together. (It also makes me wonder if we always went to the same beach and if sharks' teeth are commonly found there still.)

We also collected sea shells of course! 

Some of the items I've collected with my kids reside in the cupboard as well. It seems we have visited more places with seaglass than shells.

This beach in Kaui was our favorite. The first day we went there was so much seaglass that we got super selective, looking only for certain colors or shapes. The second time we went (on the same trip), there wasn't much to be found. Just in case you ever go there and strike out, I suggest you try another visit on another day.

My son and I really want to go here someday. Have you ever been? Is it as dreamy as it looks?  You aren't allowed to collect seaglass there, but there are beaches nearby that have it from my understanding.

I hope the kids will keep these little collections of ours, along with my Mom's, when I am long gone. They better, if they know what's good for them!

I have never been to a beach that had pottery shards but I would love to! This collection in a bottle was bought at an antique store. Anyone know of great beaches for this? I think a lot are overseas. 

Other little finds have found their way into the cupboard over the past few years too. Love this little metal car found at a flea market.

Tiny + wooden +painted + game pieces + house shape = happy. I can't explain it, but I know there are a few out there that know that same equation! (That's a  heart rock there behind it to the left.)

My Grandmother's watering nozzle.

A homerun baseball.

 A wooden hand carved rosary.

Some original art from John and Lynn Whipple from an art collaborative I was part of many many moons ago. (They are even cooler than their art btw, if that's possible.)

Ahhh..by this photo I was feeling calmer, so I stopped for today. The point was to calm my racing thoughts so I could tackle the to-do list after all, not to the point of over-indulgence (another to-do list-defeating trap I can find myself in when allow my creative whims to wander). And, I have to say, I HATE it when magazines talk about something like a cupboard a favorite ottoman, whatever, in an article and then don't show the item...like I have done here! My mission was to go small, tune in, stay simple when photographing, so I failed to think of getting the whole cupboard for you. If you're like me, and like to see the item mentioned, I'll get a pic for you soon, promise. In the meantime, you can see it behind the roses in this post. 

All right, let's get this day going!  

 

project life 2013 • that's a wrap!

My two new grey binders came and I took all of 2013 out of the two temporary books I had inherited and was using all year, and with that, 2013 is officially done! 

I'm going with 12x12 albums again this year, white this time. 

About mid year I totally changed up my style. Part of that was just due to being so far behind that I had to adapt to survive (finish), and part of that was just due to me starting to find a little bit more my style of expressing myself in this way. I totally simplified. Way less embellishing or altering, much more writing on the photos themselves, and more photos in general. Unfortunately, because I fell so far behind, I didn't post the spreads after week 31 on my blog. There's real genius in weeks 32-52 people! (I kid, I kid. As cute as can be Stephanie said, "a Project Life is a Project Life is a Project Life", which I both completely agree with, and totally disagree with at the same time. I think you have to do it to know what I mean. It's one of those things that they all look the same from a distance, but as you get closer, you notice the slight differences and see them add up differently.) And now, it's just way too far gone to go backwards and post them. I have a hard enough time keeping caught up with the here and now! So, I thought I'd share some ways the second half of 2013 varies from the first half, in one last 2013 PL post. 

I kept using inserts but started including larger pictures within some weekly spreads. I like the way a larger photo looks so much.

I kept doing large photos within the pockets of the weekly spread too (sans insert). Totally helped me catch up to use some large favorite photos, and I still love the look of the broken up photo in the pockets.

By the second half of the year, my boys (husband and son) were even a little trained to take photos for me. If I remembered to remind them before they headed out the door, that is. This is a shot taken from my husband's cell phone. He thought enough ahead to leave it with his friend before he headed up. I found that cell phone photos blow up just fine by me. Having others help do the documenting helped and of course, adds more of their voice to the book too. 

My husband said that taking a photo "for mom" after their hike was my son's idea. Love that! You might not be able to tell, but they're at the top of a steep hill. I asked my husband to write on the photo so that some of his handwriting was in the book as well. (Need to do this more.)

I found this note with my son's writing on it- a post it reminder to himself to bring something to school. I was very excited to find it because I had just the spot for it- PL! The Snapchat app selfie he took (next to note) was originally sent to his sister and she knows to help her mama out by taking a screenshot and texting it to me.

Not much better than than the note I found above. Love. 

I used a lot of my daughter's texts in the album- straight screen shots from my phone that I then uploaded to my computer. I changed the color in iphoto because frankly, I think the text screen as is is ugly!

Occasionally, when the weather was unusual for some reason, or struck me as particularly beautiful, I'd use a weather app and take a screenshot on my phone and put it straight in the pockets. Using my own hand written fonts was faster than putting down stickers or stamps and way faster than doing it in Photoshop for me.

Occasionally, I'd use an instagram photo I'd taken too. And I started using this sweet little stapler more than glue.

The biggest embellishment I used the second half of the year was the "flair" or badges. I was so happy to have found this one floating around because it's exactly what my son said after he finished his giant art project shown next to it. Cracked me up and brings me right back to that night. 

See? More badges, and also simple label stickers, I used those a lot too. 

I have always been a fan of label stickers. Always will be I'm sure. And I didn't let blurry photos bother me, I wanted this memory of them playing a new game together captured far more than I cared about it being a pretty picture. We can pretend it was an artistic choice to have such a shallow depth of field, right?! Right! 

I turned to some inserts with lots of photos taken together right away, sort of photo booth style to tell the story for me. (I used this pocket page here.)

I did occasionally do a little bit of sewing. I do love the interest it adds.

Writing on journal cards and photos both, just seemed so easy. My daughter took that photo of both my husband and I having fallen asleep on the couch, ha! Can you say "jet-lag"?

And still more writing directly on photos. (This s my favorite white pen and this my favorite black.)

I liked using the elements in the photo as a design cue for the addition of text. Fun! Like on this date part below:

 

It really became quite a go-to trick to making myself happy ;).

and the date and happiness above, I chose to write that way because of the space provided in the photo. I also made a few letterpress cards for some 4x6 slots. I'm a big fan of the letterpress look and can't wait to make more. 

And since we're talking about text design, we can't fail to mention the brush script that's enjoying some time in the limelight right now. As a matter of fact, I'm one of the many contributors showing script in use in PL in the life|scripted  Kal Barteski class over at Studio Calico.  You don't have to be a SC member or do PL or anything if you want to join in the fun and learn script school from Kal, she's one of the best there is in my book and just so love this of hers. Go check out her Blurb video here and you can see just how cool she is if you don't already know. 

More hand drawn fonts for fun and easy date card making.

I started including photos that had no embellishing, no writing, no explanation. I mean, what's to explain here? Technology, pj's, the family room couch...

Or very little writing as seen on the sea glass found by my daughter and photos that she sent with it. Simple is nice. 

I love having a place for photos I really like, but really wouldn't frame because...well, because, let's be real, I rarely get around to framing, so when I do, I'm going to go with one where her mouth isn't funny. But it's perfect for PL!

Because I was doing a December Daily album, I went very simple for he holidays in PL, repeating some of my favorite pictures even, just in different sizes.

I focused on getting the photos printed and in the pockets as my main objective and it helped me speed up the process and actually enjoy the result more as well. I think less embellishing will make it more timeless in it's appeal. Maybe?

 A friend recently asked me if they always get along like this, and the answer is yes, now that she doesn't really live here anymore ;(. They used to fight like typical siblings, but since she's not around as much, when she is, there isn't enough time to waste on fighting. Plus, they are six years apart and that seems to help him accept her being a big ol' bossy pants! 

Which brings us to the final page of 2013...

...the end.

 

project life • 2014 • week1 & more random rambling about PL

Someone likes having her photo taken, can you tell? hahaha. As she should! When I was her age, I liked it too. I remember how at college parties there would be a hired photographer and we friends would gather and yell, "photog!" and a week or so later would all pour over the film contact sheets and laugh and enjoy all over again. Those were the days before digital cameras and cell phones...and selfie wasn't a word in the dictionary. Oh, the good 'ol days! 

But back to today. I'm still so happy that I have decided to document our lives (mostly through my eyes of course, but still our lives) using the increasingly popular "Project Life" system. A system based on using binders, pocket pages, and journal cards, to simplify and encourage the documenting of daily life. (As the company motto reads, "cultivate a good life and record it"). Apparently, it filled a major need, based on it's success. And like all good ideas, it has morphed, and others have created products similar to, or that coordinate with, or build upon the original idea of. For me, it means seeing our everyday lives, not just the big moments, and documenting it via pictures and other life fodder & words in a simple pocket page format. I am using Project Life binders and Project Life pocket pages, and bought a PL core kit this year as well as PL dividers. I'm doing weekly spreads (I think, more on that to come.) And I'm definitely trying to "cultivate a good life and record it"! Other than travel journals and printed books (like Blurb books), I don't do any other documenting, so it's certainly filled a need for me.

I feel really good about how participating in 2013 helped me to see our lives differently, notice differently, take more photos, get my family-other than my daughter ;), who already did-,  to start taking photos as well, print the photos, and put them in a format for sharing. And, of course, having the year in a format that we can readily flip through is awesome. 

We certainly would have collected the seaglass and shell bits before, but I love having a place to keep them. One that adds to the memory of our day, along with words and photos. 

I wouldn't likely have printed out a text from my daughter, received at midnight on New Year's Eve. I like having it printed. Very much. I love that although she took photos before, she is sure to share them with me for my album much more now. 

It even provides a place for random photos taken, that really I wouldn't have cause to, or use for. 

And, yes, it's fun to play with the products that are out there too. 

They may not have a timeless appeal, I don't really know how I'll feel about them later, but they sure are fun. I get most of mine from the Studio Calico kits.

And, it's just a fun, and different than my usual, creative exercise for me. You know I love pursuing creative expression, in many many different ways. 

So, as I mentioned above, I'm re-thinking the weekly format. All the photos from week 1 were actually taken on January 1, and I don't mind that I don't have the rest of the exact week included. I'm debating on whether to keep a loose weekly concept or switch to a monthly format that some other popular Project Lifers are switching to. Basically, filling the pages in with photos from the month, and other fodder, divided by the monthly dividers vs. a weekly spread concept. I'll have to see as time goes on, I see pros and cons to both approaches. 

But no matter which format, I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy putting my pictures in the pockets and seeing the pages add up. I'm definitely going to be doing it in some format or another, maybe a little of both! 

 

paintings in progress • january '14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Been stealing some time for painting recently, and if feels good. Things feel like they're making a different kind of sense to me.

Time spent wearing one of my painting aprons is good time. (I just sewed one of my samplers and a bunch of fabric scraps over an apron that was covered in paint one day, figure I'll cover it up again with paint eventually.)

I'm currently trying to focus on 3 larger new paintings. Well, they've been works in progress for awhile, so the term "new" is flexible. I'm really enjoying them and feeling things in my painting style and process shift a little. Creative exploration always leads somewhere...sometimes places more pleasing than others ;).

All I know for sure is, the more I paint, the more I want to paint. I still do not have a dedicated painting space set up and that makes me frustrated as well as annoyed with myself. It makes things harder and wastes time. As soon as I finish the art journal e-course, that should be first on the agenda. We'll see.

These are feeling close to finished and it feels exciting. I'm hoping I'll be able to let them go right away, right now I'm feeling too attached. It's always a process. 

I love exploring texture, and color, and form, and line quality, and and and...

It's a fun ride...

and it's Friday...hopefully more painting in store this weekend!

Happy Friday to you out there!!!

 

my art journaling from the weekend

The art play this weekend was all about journaling. So much fun to sit at a table and journal with others that love it like I do. Carol's post about sitting at the same table cracks me up (totally true too, the howling and exclaiming- but add some "give me that right now!" to the outbursts as well). Those Moss sisters are so clever with their words and telling of tales, aren't they?

I drew the ink bottle above after seeing Mary Ann's drawing of her ink bottle. Had to stop on the spot and draw mine. That's the type of stuff that wouldn't happen were I sitting home alone. I like blowing where the breeze takes me when journaling. I am not one with a master plan.

Clearly, no master plan here, just whatever was in front of me or in the forefront of my mind got added to the mix. Neither of these pages are finished, they'll be added to as time goes on.

We did lots of discussing dip pens and nibs and other lettering pens. And by discussing, I mean trying out of (clearly). You know I love my pens and letters!

And of course, brushes and colors too...

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we were totally inspired by  the artwork of Mark Hearld (link to his books in yesterday's post too)...

Sometimes we directly "copied" (left page), or attempted to, and sometimes were just inspired by (right page).  

The page on the left was inspired by the artwork of Emily McDowell. I recently discovered her work and love it!

Yowza! A portrait artist I am not (poor Carol), but that doesn't stop me from throroughly enjoying our games of timed sketching. Mary Ann put on a mean face, and Carol tried to be tricky and show her teeth, but the joke was on them, because it gets hard to hold a pose like that, ha! I love their renditions:

(Although, I really think Mary Ann was thinking about Nic Cage when drawing Carol.)

One last journaling page, from this morning. A quote I need to reflect on A LOT.  My first thought was, "so many interests, so little time"...the second thought I had was "I really need to hire help to clean the house!" ;)

(off to edit more class videos- won't be before end of February for those waiting!xo) 

more fun in the sun

And there they go, the Moss sisters, off into the sun. But before that happened, as you can see in all the other pics above, there was lots of art and lounging, eating and drinking, talking and taking of photos too. Just so great to be with friends spending time enjoying...no, make that celebrating, like minded interests.  After all, not much time in my everyday life is spent talking about pens and nibs and inspiring illustrators and line quality and color and and and...but I'm thinking about it all a lot everyday, so it's super fun when I get to lose myself into the love of it all with like minded folks.

I hope that you have found some friends that share some of your interests and that you say yes to spending the time doing whatever "it" is. I know it's often not easy (for so many reasons) to find a way to make it work, but as one that tends to feel a pang of guilt about dropping out of "real" life and "indulging" myself, let me tell you, it's always worth it for me. And it seems so silly to have made such a big "I can't. I shouldn't....but I have to..." deal out of it all once I'm home a day or two. Always makes me want to work harder & choose smarter so I can say yes more! 

{random reference notes: We were totally inspired by Mark Hearld's book, as well as a coloring book by Nathalie Léte that I bought in Paris years ago. Also, my favorite new toy was what enabled me to easily get some camera timer group shots with my phone and my small camera both. Love how easy that clamp is!}

 

fun in the sun

 

I was lucky enough to spend another weekend as an adopted Moss sister, joining Mary Ann and Carol in the desert this past weekend for our Art Retreat #2. What can I say? The weather was beautiful, the company excellent, and the scheduled activities (or lack thereof), perfect. 

Ahhhh... Mary Ann sure does have a knack for finding the best rental properties, am I right? She volunteers for the assignment and takes her task seriously! (In other words, it's a lot of work and I'm grateful I get to reap the rewards without doing the legwork.)

 As always, the fun and free time is fleeting. We three parted ways yesterday. Carol is now a flight away, Mary Ann has started a new, and hopefully excellent, teaching adventure this morning, and I was up off and on all night with a sick, (but so sweet- saying, "I'm sorry mom" each time he woke me up) son, and I've already spent time this morning on the phone getting the internet connection that mysteriously disappeared yesterday re-established, and now have my business taxes to tend to ASAP. As I look at my to-do list and re-enter my regular routine and responsibilities, I want to rewind the clock! (A sign of   time well spent.) Well, I'll have to do it by revisiting these pics and working on another post of weekend memories to share. Actual photos of art and other shenanigans up next!

More through their eyes here and here. 

 

yesterday

I spent the day yesterday in Jenny's sunny studio sharing my love of lettering with a private class of artists and creatives. My friend Carolyn hosted a post CHA get together for some of her friends and craft/art/scrapbooking industry pals. (Did you know that you can rent Studio Crescendoh for your own private events? For more info, email: [email protected] )

It was a relaxing day spent playing with pens and inks, brushes and fonts. I'll be teaching a similar class open to anyone March 9th at Studio Crescendoh. The sign ups and class information will all be posted in the next few days over here. I'll blog more about that soon as well. 

After a day spent celebrating a love of letters, I couldn't help but continue in my journal at home last night. Love that quote. Good words for a Thursday, as well as any day! Just be happy. Sometimes I have a knack for overcomplicating things. I love the concept of simplifying down to "enjoy right now", just be happy. It's on today's to-do list!!

 

happy saturday!

I'm happy to hear that the weather has been warming up for everyone that went through that craziness this past week! My son and I saw this and were blown away. It's unusually pretty here today and I'm trying to appreciate it doubly for all my friends in diferent climates! I've got a to-do list a mile long and am motivated to attack it. I'm currently waiting for the house to clear out so I can continue filming for the e-course. Just too awkward and really, impossible with others in the house making noise. While I wait I'm enjoying looking through sweet Courtney Cerruti's new book, Playing with Image Transfers, and making a mental list of which projects I want to do first. Then there's some supply gathering and sorting happening for upcoming live teaching events, which led to other sorting, including going through this months Studio Calico PL kit so I can finish up my spread for the first week of January. How are we at the end of the second week already?!?! It's all moving way too fast. I think I'll take my book and go sit in the sun until the boys leave...maybe that will slow time down a little!

Hope you're having a happy Saturday! 

art journaling update

Hello there! Popping in with an art journaling e-course update of sorts and some journal pages. Well, the update is really just to tell you that I'm back at the development of it now that the kids are back to school and the holidays are officially over. We don't have much more info for you than that, as it takes shape more and more I'll have a better idea of content included, price, release date etc. for those of you that have asked. It's interesting, because it's such a long time passion for me, and a process class vs. a project class, which means I've got a lot to say! I'm so so thankful for your constant support and patience! As I was digging through some older journals today taking notes (above), I found it a little funny that I am taking all my notes in a Smash Book. Not an art journal. I mean, it makes sense, just made me chuckle a little. 

A plain ol' black one at that! I had to dress it up with Mary Ann's printable labels to make it more appealing for me, a black Smash book is maybe as plain as I get when creating. ;) Here are some recent pages for your viewing pleasure while you wait for me to wrap this up! xo

more prep for one little word

As I mentioned before, I'm participating in Ali Edwards' One Little Word class this year. It seems I've fallen down another fun rabbit hole with this. My word isn't "yes", but it's my feeling about this whole project (and it's a small word), I guess I could have used my initials too, that would've fit, might still do it. 

Finding these free printables got me all kinds of excited. They are so pretty and clean. And the cover and it's tagline? Love it:

I decided to put the monthly calendar  in an insert and on the back, add a self portrait photo and see how the changes I make in my life show up in the photos as the year goes on. And it gives me place to journal as well. 

The binder I'm using came with a black plastic divider type thing, and I had to dress that up of course. Out came last years Paper Source calendar and some scrap artwork of my own. One run through the sticker maker and I was good to go. (Well, first I had to warm up my brush painting hand with a little practice and testing out color and what size brush):

 Can't have too many reminders to focus for me. On the back, I did the same:

I think I might tire of that word, (but not the concept!).

Now I'm off to do the monthly exercises, honing in on what it is I'm working on!

 

embroidery love

I love to embroider. Pretty much for as long as I can remember (in off and on phases, of course), I've enjoyed spending time hand stitching. It bums me out that I can't remember how or when I first learned embroidery. It was either from my Mom who embroidered a little, (and needlepointed a lot), or during 7th grade home economics class where I also learned to use a sewing machine. I swear, that home economics (and the typing class) I took as electives in middle school have been two of the best, most used school learned knowledge! Not sure what that says.

Anyway...last night I finally finished up one of my own sampler pattern designs:

Why do I always forget how good finishing feels?!? Going to keep track this year and finish all (whoa there Pam, maybe I should say most?) of the many started projects I've got going.

Here are some close-ups of my first finish of 2014:

My sampler patterns don't currently come as a kit or include stitch instructions. I'm thinking about changing that, as it's been requested as an option. I'll have to see after finishing some other things first. I am going to figure out a way to offer a how to on a popular embroidery project from the past and I'm wanting to drop everything and get started on it. So the way with me, thus I must remind myself how good finishing feels and focus on that first! When it does happen,I think you might want to play along, if you enjoy stitching. It's a good one. See my recent instagrams for a big hint. Do you stitch? If you don't yet but what to, I always suggest a search on google for "embroidery stitch videos" there are tons of free, really good tutorials. Or, Rebecca Ringquist has an excellent beginning stitch class over at Creative Bug. 

Also, even though I've been stitching for years, I still consult these reference books:

Carol sent this one and this one to me after I raved about hers. I love them both. I also keep this one in my embroidery in progress basket for easy consulting. It's spiral binding means it opens up and stays open so you can keep both hands on your stitching. And hey, check it out! I just found this when searching for the other links...Jenny has a new book coming out and I've got three stitching projects that I really love in it. Available for preorder now. That was a fun surprise, I can't wait to see it...I know I'll want to make some of the other contributors' projects already, having been privy to sneak peeks. Well, that should be enough to get you started if you want to, but here's one last reference just in case. Happy stitching!

 

what's going on around here

I hope your 2014 is off to a good start. We've developed the tradition of spending the day, or at least a good chunk of it, at the beach every year. It feels like such a great way to start off on the right foot. 

I guess I can't give my family a hard time about the faces they give me when trying to get their pictures, I did no better. Look at how beautiful it was though, the water was so warm, we would have gone in had we brought suits. 

Back at home I've been doing a little of this, a little of that, all first of the year activities. Like printing out the One Little Word class sheets, and wraping up my December Daily. 

I really really enjoyed December Daily this year and can't wait for next years (ok, I can wait, just looking forward to it I mean).

I received my pretty white PL binder and it's all ready and waiting for attention. 

Oh, how I love calendars at the start of the new year! I found this one and am crazy about the oversized one, but went a little more practical and ordered the large, not big, size. Can't wait to start filling it in!

Still have signs of the holidays to be put away here and there...

and we always have a jigsaw puzzle going at the holidays too. This one is hard!

I find myself looking for clean, calm corners after the holidays. We're in the not-quite-back-to-real-life-yet stage...taking deep breaths and wanting it not to end and to end all at the same time. You know what I mean, right?!? Hooray for the weekend, they are always welcome here! Sending you official "happy new year" greetings!