One Little Word Blog Hop - November 1st

Illuminate
One Little Word 2011

First off I'd like to thank you for visiting my blog.  I know there are a lot of blogs out there and you only have so much time to be hanging out in cyberspace!   To thank you for your time I'll be giving away two little goodie bags of embellishments.  To be entered into the drawing just leave a comment!     Check back on Wednesday, November 2nd for the 2 lucky winners' names. 
So, on to our October prompt........
At the beginning of the month it feels like I have all the time in the world to work on a fairly simple & straightforward prompt from Ali to take 9 photos that show how your word is part of your life or the meaning your word has brought to your life.  Ali asked us to think about what we would specifically like to happen in the next 3 months of this year.  I took these 4 photos at the beginning of the month and then lost track of my word as I became immersed in other projects. Right now, it feels like the month just zipped right by and here I am,  unprepared, for another blog hop!  Since I missed one month totally I've decided I'm participating each month whether I'm prepared or not. 



October 2011

So I'm still on the lookout for 4 more photos for this prompt.  The card in the center spot holds a quote that I came across that really spoke to me.  It says "When I shine it lights the way for others".  I'm not sure who the author is - I'm going to have to research it.  I'm determined to make sure everything is finished up by the end of the year and soon it will be time to start thinking of next year's word.  If you are planning on joining us for One Little Word next year check out http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/ and sign up to recieve their blog posts so you get their latest news and class info.
ADDENDUM:  For Julie Ann who asked for more information on my photos (thank you! for making me stretch and think!)-
Julie Ann - the photo of my shadow I felt represented me in the dark looking to the light which is how I felt at the beginning of the year - I was looking for answers to a variety of things.  The light bursting through the trees in the early morning seemed like the way I felt when answers came to me this year).  The other 2 photos were taken as I played with photos of light and to me just represent our days and life - they each have some confusion and murky areas and then areas of light.  I never take photos like this and wanted to include them to remind me to try different approaches. 

Next on the hop is: Amanda at           http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/

The full blog hop list:

Margie              http://xnomads.typepad.com/

Julie Ann            http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/

Lisa                        http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog

Sam                        http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/

Jenn                        http://studiojenn.blogspot.com/

Cheri                        http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/

Jan                        http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/

Debra                        http://blakleyhomeplace.blogspot.com/

Nikki                        http://www.inkyart.com.au/

Monica            http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/

Rebekah            http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

Lynn                        http://crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/

Amanda            http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/
Jill       http://jillconyers.typepad.com/             

SON-shine

There may be sunshine (or Son-shine) on this layout but its anything but sunny here today.  I finished this layout last weekend at a 2 day crop.  And it just makes me smile!  The photos are of my grandson and I got the idea for SON-shine from my daughter-in-law who labeled his photos on Facebook under the title Son-shine.  It brought the lyrics to mind. 
And for the lack of sunshine here - its been snowing or snow showering (mix of snow/rain) all day today.  Its the second time its snowed on our pumpkins this week!  What about you?  A lot of places have had snow - are you one of them?

Journey of the Heart and Simple Stories

I wanted to share these links with you
Simple Stories has several great collections - Ele'mentary, Life Documented, Baby Steps and many more.  These are great for Project Life, scrapbooking, cardmaking, mini albums and home decor!  Go to this link for free downloadable digital elements (printable too)
www.simplestories.typepad.com/simple_stories/free-digital-elements.html

Journey the Heart Journal combines an art journal and a writing journal with weekly emails.  Even if you only do one or the other the emails are great for inspiration and the artwork is beautiful  Check it out here...
http://collagediva.typepad.com/truenorht/heartjournal.html

Fall tags

 I finally got to play in my craft rooom yesterday!  A week ago Saturday I was in Wendy Vecchi's Ranger Ink Studio 490 class have lots of fun and getting very inky!  The next day when I was ready to play I realized that I had left my craft mat at the workshop!  Bummer...  Since it was a 4 hour round trip to get the mat I just ordered another one from my LSS.  I think it would have cost more in gas to make the trip than the mat itself cost.  So on Friday I got the new craft mat - aren't they amazing?  You can do anything do these and it just washes off.  I completed these 2 tags - I just love the fall colors.  Not sure if you can see the sparkle from the Distress Stickles on the pumpkins and vine in the photo on the right.  The second one did not turn out as originally planned & I may still play with that one a little more.  I have 2 more tags I've started but not finished.  One thing Wendy told us at the workshop was to have several things in various stages that you are working on.  This way your artwork has plenty of time to dry, you can work on what appeals to you that day and you enjoy the process of creating step by step and layer by layer.

Tags from Wendy Vecchi's Ranger Ink 490 Style Class

 

Technique Tags with Wendy Vecchi

Ranger Ink 490 Style



Alcohol Ink on Glossy Paper



Pearlized Stamping



Yesterday I shared photos of Wendy from Saturday's class.  Today I'm posting photos of some of the tags we completed.  I love that the directions were provided on white labels to go on the back of each tag! 

Distress Ink Application with two of Wendy's stamps



Alcohol Ink with Pigment Ink



Alcohol Ink on Clearly for Art



Gesso Textured Background

I love all the techniques but I think this last one is my favorite.  I can seeing using this for so many things!  Collages, scrapbooking, cardmaking, the possibilities are endless!  What's your favorite technique?

Ranger Ink Studio 490 Style with Wendy Vecchi



Wendy
(wearing blue apron)

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting Wendy Vecchi and taking her Ranger Ink Studio 490 Style workshop at Buffalo Stamps.  I wish I had been able to take a class like this a long time ago.  The class is in a similar format as those that Ranger provides for store owners and class instructors.  We did a variety of techniques on manila tags and on the back of each we put a label with the instructions for the technique!  Wendy was an amazing teacher - so relaxed and organized.  We never felt rushed and I think everyone felt that they learned a lot.  I had a lot of fun.  I hope I can take more classes with Wendy in the future.  Here are some photos of Wendy at the class (one with me) and some of her projects.  I'll post photos of some of the tags we made tomorrow.



Wendy demonstrating another technique



Wendy with me



Aren't these beautiful?  The flash on my camera was a little too bright on the middle photo and washed out the beautiful, rich colors in the background.  I'm sure these will inspire you though!

October 1st One Little Word Blog Hop



Welcome to the One Little Word Blog Hop!

So here is where I am in this journey........

July
We were asked to create a personal playlist for our word.
The prompt for this month really stumped me.  I finally got some ideas this month and got this far with it.  I may even switch out some of the lyrics as I spend more time listening to music when I'm not in the car.  I just realized as I'm looking at the photo that I'm missing a card and #8 & #9 are in the wrong slots!



August
Ali gave us an easy month this time.  All we were asked to do was to add a photo of ourselves - I still need to make this into a 5 x 7 and add a phrase to it.



September
This month we were asked to look back at the documentation of our tasks/missions/objectives that we created in May.  Ali wanted us to review where we were.  Did we want to change anything?  Did we want to let go of some of them?  She basically was asking us to choose our battle.  I decided to using the wording "choose your path"

 After 6 months of completing Ali's prompts within the month July's prompt just drew a blank for me.  Then in August & September a health issue requiring surgery took a lot of my time and attention along with the online class MotherLOAD.  Life is calming down (for now) and I hope to finish the few items I mentioned above during October!
Now on to more details about the September prompt....When I first read the details for September my heart sank.  I thought I really haven't made much, if any, progress on my goals/tasks/mission.  However, as the days went by I realized I really was thinking about my word in the wrong way.  I chose the word Illuminate and the things I wanted illuminated this year were our finances, family, my health & creativity, simplicity, and clarity.  While I've not met the specific goals I set in May in all the areas I really have illuminated these topics.  I've learned a lot about each of them along with finding a variety of solutions or possibilities.  My battle (or path) that I've chosen is to concentrate on my health.  I realize I tried to work on too many things and split my time & attention which diluted the results.  (I have a bad habit of this).
Thank you for hopping by!

Here's the full list of blog hop participants and if you have been following along the next stop on the hop is Lisa at  http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog  or start at the top and work down the list.

Margie             http://xnomads.typepad.com/

Julie Ann        http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/

Cheri               http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/

Nikki              http://www.inkyart.com.au/

Sam                http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/

Jan                 http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/

Jenn              http://www.studiojenn.blogspot.com/

Nicky            http://www.seejanebake.blogspot.com/

Jill                  http://jillconyers.typepad.com/

Monica         http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/

Lynn             http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/      YOU ARE HERE!

Lisa              http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog

Cindy        http://seriousplay.typepad.com/