Me in My Moleskine

I've been using some of my LOAD time to work with ongoing projects (LSNED being the most obvious!) But one that I've really spent some time on in the past ten days is Me In My Moleskine.  Check out these new pages:

First up - My bag. I chose to use this photo rather than the drawing from the kit.  It really gives you a good idea of how much crazy stuff I can pack into a bag!

Finally did that hand and foot page.  And learned the hard way that watercolors do NOT adhere well to gesso. Suppose I could have added that to my lessons learned this month!

To save you the headache, the journaling reads:

My hands are an amazing gift. My hands allow me to feed myself, dress myself, write letters, type blog posts, button, zipper, cook, and clean. But most importantly my hands allow me to be creative - to cut, paste, paint, draw, stamp, and click a camera shutter button.  With my hands... [the rest will go on the journaling card inside the pocket and hasn't been written yet.]

Journaling:  I am a barefoot girl at heart - which is what I love most about Summer. But if I have to wear shoes, comfort is the primary consideration. And I hate heels!

I own 10 pairs of shoes - including slippers and flip-flops.  Really!

These are my two most used pair of shoes.

My Food and Drink page.  Yes, cruciferous vegetables should be abolished - broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts - all give me such wicked intestinal pains I wonder how anyone can consider them edible foods!

My Hair & Skin page in progress. I wanted to show you this before the completed page.  That lovely diamond pattern?  Is Bounty paper towels!  I brushed on a very watered down layer of acrylic paint (about 1/3 paint, 2/3 water) and then pressed the paper towel down and lifted gently to remove excess paint.  Where there were depressions in the paper towel, the pattern was left behind in paint!  Cool, isn't it???

Finished page!  Another page where I totally ignored the kit and instead of attempting to draw my dream hairstyle, I just borrowed some images from the Internet... after all, why shouldn't I look like Petra Nemcova?!

Me in My Moleskin & the Scoop

This class was a gift from my blog friend, Kai.  I got started with it immediately upon receiving it and have finished a couple of pages.  It has been slow going since then, but I'm LOVING it! Many thanks to Kai!

I managed to follow the directions fairly closely for the cover.  I had fun making the faux coffee stain with a real mug (since I don't drink coffee or tea I never use mugs!).


But that was about as far as I could get with following the directions.  I can never leave well enough alone...

My photo is bigger than specified, there is no frame around it, I created my own title and used the doilies that were meant for a page somewhere much further back in the book!


I also went through the page prompts and rearranged the entire order.  So after the first few pages, the order of my book will look nothing like the original.  But hey, that's me.  Always making it "my own."

I skipped the doodle version of my "dream" home and used a photo of my actual abode. It is a modest size 3 bedroom colonial, but honestly I no longer yearn for a McMansion with a master bedroom suite and jacuzzi tub like I used to. This home is plenty big enough for me to keep clean as it is!


I'll be sharing more pages as I finish them.  It may be slow going, but I'm really enjoying this little autobiography!


The Scoop:


Did you say you wanted details?  Here goes.  


After two plus emotion-laden roller-coaster months of unemployment, things started happening fast and furious for the hubs.  He ended up being offered not one, not two, but FIVE positions.  It was easy to eliminate the ShopRite stock boy position at $10/hr. He had been applying for stuff like that just to bring in something over and above unemployment in case it went on for awhile. And it was easy to eliminate the six month contract position in Princeton NJ (long commute and not permanent).  

It was a lot harder to eliminate the startup company with tons of future potential.  But the salary would have been ½ what he used to make and absolutely NO benefits.  The offer for #5  isn’t confirmed yet, but we know it is coming.  That one is “contract to perm” so a bit of a gamble. And he lost interest after the third interview.  

He has formally accepted a full-time permanent position with this company. Salary and benefits. He starts on Monday. The salary is a 1/3 decrease from what he used to earn, but apparently what the market is offering these days.  It’s further from home than his last job, but thankfully mostly highway driving.  It still means money will be tight, especially with one in college and two more headed that route in another year.  We are just so grateful that he is employed again!

Call for your discards...

Are you purging your craft room?  Do you have "stuff" you need to unload?  Now that I'm playing with mixed media (and LOVING every minute of it!!!) I would like to have a little more to play with.  I'm specifically looking for rub-ons (especially borders, but any will do), stamps, stencils, mists, ink pads in colors other than black and brown, and any kind of Tim Holtz "stuff" (leftovers from your projects???).  If you have stuff you'd love to unload and are looking for a loving home for it, please consider me! :)  Thanks!!