yarn along

Today i am joining in with Ginny from Small Things and so many other crafters to share about two things that i love a lot. One is knitting. The other one, reading. And here is what it looks like right now:

On my needles: The Juliet Tee, by We are knitters. The front side has been ready for a while now, and i just started working on the back side. Super simple, just rows after rows of seed stitch for now (my favorite!). The yarn is pima cotton in the loveliest and "summeriest" shade of blue, called aquamarine. It would be the perfect top to wear on the beach when it's too windy for just a dress. All i need is to finish it. Then go to the beach. Hopefully before summer ends.

On my bookshelf: The latest Mollie Makes, which is so far my very favorite craft magazine. I love that there is always a very wide range of project, plus lots of inspiration and cool interviews with crafty people. Even the cover is dreamy! Feel good magazine if there ever was one. And for the more serious days: Stone Junction. I've had this book for at least 5 years and in an effort to read the books in my library (you know, as opposed to buying new ones every week but not reading any), i picked it up last week. it's pretty big but a quick read, so that's awesome!

What about you? What's on your needles, or your Kindle, or your Amazon wishlist? 

Life right now - June 2014

loving my walks to the park, listening to podcasts.   

thinking about getting rid of more stuff. less is more.

eating apricots and watermelon. i love summer.

wondering where do they all belong  

listening to Blood (The Middle East), Chances (Athlete) and All of me (John Legend)

enjoying my art journal. paper is the best!

making a massive multicolor crochet blanket.

struggling with motivation to write cover letters. ironic right?   

feeling way too tired after a party and a few bottles of rosé. am i too old for that s***?  

dreaming of a life by the lake. 

finding time to do the important stuff.  

celebrating the sunny days with picnics by the Seine.

watching Grey's Anatomy and crying way too much .

hoping i'll find my McDreamy.

BREAKFAST IN NEW YORK

I have been trying to work on my archives lately and realized there was still a few layouts i haven't shared here. Including some of my favorite ones. So let's get back into the scrapbooking world alright?

This is probably my favorite layout design (well with this one ). The proof is, i've even used it before. Which i am perfectly ok with as long as the layouts end up in different albums.

Best part about this sketch is how simple and quickly it all came together: a 12x12 paper for the background, and then 4 papers from a 6x6 pad will do the charm. I think the best way to make them all work together (even though there are many different colors and patterns) is to stick to one collection (in this case,  Maggie Holmes). Then I added lots of kraft and brown since that was the main color of the photos. 

Also, i realize this is not the healthiest thing in the world, but I do think a starbucks + cupcakes combo makes for a very awesome breakfast.

So tell me, what are your go to layout designs when scrapbooking?

It's a blog hop

A couple weeks ago the lovely Abi from Creative Paper Dreams invited me to take part in a blog hop. More precisely, a blog hop about creativity. Which is sort of my favorite topic. So of course i said yes! What's a blog hop you say? Well it's like a super cool chain reaction where one blog lead you to another that then leads you to another and so on. The best part? You get to discover amazing blog and people who might live on the other side of the world but thinks like you and share your passions. The funny part? It was actually through another sort of blog hop (a swap in fact) that i first discovered Abi's blog (thanks to the also very lovely Sian!) It sorts of feel like we've came full circle right? Awesome, let's start!

So like i said, the blog post is about our creative style, and this is what i have to say about mine :)

What am I working on? 

Probably way too many things. But a desk covered by paper and felt and a bedroom full on wool is in fact just a normal day for me. I started knitting this winter, mostly because i was sick, very bored and couldn't find my favorite hat. So i decided to knit one. The thing i hadn't expected was the huge creative boost that followed. Six months later, i'm still knitting like the crazy lady that i am (those are my friends' exact words), but also got into crochet, want to start sewing my own clothes and am playing with pretty papers again. 

What i am most excited about is my new Craft 25 project which i announced here on the blog last week. It's all about having fun, finding what i am the best at and love the most, and most importantly, making things with my hands. I am currently working on project 1 and that big pile of wool is how it started. I think the next 300 and so days are going to be awesome!

2. Why do I create what I do?

I don't know if you can tell from this blog, but i am sort of a shy person. An introvert as the personality tests say. Being creative, making things, is the way i express myself best. Every single thing i create has a little piece of me inside and everytime i share it here on with my friends, i also share a little bit about me.

Also, I spend an insane number of hours watching movies and tv shows every week, and i like to keep my hands busy while watching. Mostly so i don't feel too guilty i guess ;). But really, making things is really really fun. And can make you feel like you are not just one in 7 billion.

3. How does my creative process work?

Actually, without realizing it i answered that question a few days ago while working on my 52 weeks of art journaling album. I was gluing pretty photos of my knitting project and then added 3 words: DREAM. MAKE. REPEAT. Here it is, my creative process. Which is also my life process if we're being honest. The dreaming part i am excellent at. Always have been. Then Pinterest was created and the dreaming reached a whole new level. Honestly, there's no way if you have wi-fi not to find inspiration. Most of the time, there's even too much, right? Then i start making things. plural. Working on just one thing is not in my genes. I am basically like a 3 year old who needs a new activity every hour. I think it's ok, as long as you can handle the mess. Messy is fun :)

Talking about messy, i was sort of supposed to email 3 other bloggers to invite them to take part in the blog hop. And i sort of forgot. So I thought we could do something else instead. Like you could leave a comment telling me you also love talking nonsense about creativity and would like to join the blog hop.
Honestly i love reading about creativity as much as i love to make things, so i the entire blogosphere wanted to join in the fun, that would be awesome. What do you think?

52 WEEKS OF ART JOURNALING - ONE

On my 25th birthday i started working on a new mini album to record my thoughts on that special year, who i am and want to be, what i like and dream about and all the little details that make the everyday. I am following along with Rachel Denbow's class 52 weeks of art journaling (which is amazing!) and using a Dear Lizzy mini album along with a massive amount of scrap supplies i have been hoarding forever. In other words, i am not buying a single new thing to work on that album, which i am quite proud of :)

Here's a look of the first few pages (following the one you saw on that last post):

 Rule #1: JUST BE HAPPY. If there was only one word in the universe, i hope it would be happy. Or maybe love. tough call. I have been working on myself A LOT these past two years to become a more positive person and embrace the little joys we (I) tend to ignore, so i made sense to me to start with a page on that topic. I printed a grid of some of my instagram photos from the #100HAPPYDAYS challenge i am doing (getting close to 80 days, loving it and super happy to have seen many people join since. it's super fun!) for the left side and then had fun on the right side photos and words i found in a magazine, cut then glued on the cardstock. Neon pink washi seemed like a very obvious thing to add so i went with it, plus a pretty flower cut out from Dear Lizzy. The black dot transparency was part of the mini album and is super cute!

One of the class ideas was to recreate grids (like on Instagram) to make a page. My brain likes grid a lot so i went with it super gladly, and made a collage using various photos of my knitting (i'm obsessed!). I left a few squares empty and then had the idea of making it about my creative process (which really is also my life process i think). DREAM. MAKE. REPEAT. The right page was inspired by something i heard on a podcast. it's about an artist who's business card says "Hello my name is XXX and i am a _______ . She left a big blank that she could fill just before handing the card. I love that idea. Somedays i feel like a business graduate and some days like a crafter. Some days i am a sister, or an aunt, or a friend, maybe one day a mom. That's what this page is about. All the things that i am.

That next page was inspired by that gorgeous forest shot i found in an old magazine. It's wild and beautiful and i thought it deserved it's own spread. I added a few photos from my walks in the park near my own, along with an Amy Tangerine card and one of my favorite quote from Mark Twain. Words to live by that i'll leave you with for this month ♥

1 PHOTO & 20 WORDS // A SUMMER IN PARIS

SUMMERTIME

They say the French are lazy.

I say, please take a seat.  Paris is so pretty in the sun.

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One Photo and Twenty Words is hosted by Abi over at Creating Paper Dreams. Click that link, her blog is lovely and you'll get to see and read plenty other stories. 

introducing: craft 25

As i've told you here a few days ago, i am decided to make my 25th year The Year Of Craft.

I guess it all started when i was just a little girl who liked to cut out pretty things in magazines to glue them in a notebook filled with doodles, then later when i made pretty necklaces and bracelets with pearls or even later when patterned paper and letter stickers came into my life and i feel in love with scrapbooking. Forward to right now and a 25 year old girl who spends her days knitting, crocheting, art journaling, gluing, painting, weaving, cutting. Making things with her hands. There is quite nothing like it.

To celebrate (and also, have fun), i am going to create 25 crafty projects, each using a different technique or material. I am so excited to try new things (wood?), rediscover mediums i love (felt! it's been too long), and see how far i can push my creativity and where it might lead me. Some of these projects I already have in mind, some I juste wrote down on a piece of paper along with a few sketches and some don't exist yet. This is going to be so much fun. Let's go make something!