Calvinball update- "Seed Catalogs"

 (sorry in advance for the horrible yellow tinge to the photos- I've been scrapping pretty late at night, and the lighting isn't the best for true-to-life photos.)

that being said, the positive thing is that I've been scrapping! This Calvinball contest is getting me to complete layouts I've had halfway done for ages, or ones that have been just marinating in my head... (attending a 12-hour crop at the local SB store yesterday helped, too... haha!)

This layout has no photos at all, and is one I've wanted to do for years but couldn't figure out quite 'how' to do it. I got the vintage seed catalog cover images from the internet, and left myself plenty of room for journaling my memories of gardening and the excitement the seed catalogs would garner when they came in the mail. (Sadly, Mom says they don't send print catalogs anymore-- it was always fun to read through them, read the cool names they came up with for the new varieties, and see the pictures people sent in of their 5-lb tomato, 150-lb pumpkin, carrots that looked like faces, etc.) 

This page talks about the kinds of things I remember eating from the garden-- rhubarb, strawberries, fresh peas, green onions, radishes, apples, currants, plums, and pears from Grandma and Grandpa's yard... and Mom's process for selecting what new seeds were needed by going through the box of left-over seed packets she had stored in the kitchen cabinet from the previous year. 

this page used only patterned paper, journaling cards, and vintage buttons

Once I got that page done, I realized I hadn't said everything I wanted to so I made another one (see it below). I started out with a 6x12 yellow background and added canning jars that were cut out from a different piece of patterned paper. I added the canning labels from a third piece of paper and started writing. Again, I didn't have enough room... so I added a 3-inch strip of lined paper to the right side of the layout to give myself plenty of room to write. 

The second page talks about my memories of helping out in the garden, starting with helping to plant the seeds in the spring (and putting the seed packets on a stick at the end of the row so we could remember what was in each row), thinning out the plants when they came up to give them room to grow bigger, pulling the weeds, and picking the vegetables when they were ready. 

There was nothing quite like going out into the garden with a bowl and a paring knife to pull the first green onions and radishes from the garden, then eating them at dinner only 5 or 10 minutes later, or picking a dozen ears of sweet corn, taking off the husks, and dropping them right into the boiling water to have that 'just picked' freshness and sweetness that didn't even need butter.

cutout canning jars for adding my journaling, and more vintage buttons 

This page also talks about how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to grow up the way I did: to learn how my food is grown, and the effort and work that goes into getting food for your table and preserving it for the winter. So many people nowadays don't have any idea of the labor involved in getting that bunch of green onions to the grocery store, or what type investment of time, effort, and faith / hope in the weather and growing conditions you have to have to be a farmer, or just to cultivate some of your own food. I am truly grateful I had that experience, and that my mom and dad (I love you guys!!), by giving me the experience of working outdoors in the garden, instilled a love of plants and nature in me that I will always have. 

Even though I still don't like cooked peas, lol! (private joke-- I hate cooked peas, so I would always get a small bowlful of raw peas instead of having to eat the cooked ones... )

This post took way more space to write than I thought, just to talk about one layout. (but it's worth it-- it's a layout I really like, even though there are no photos on it at all.) So keep your eye out for more Calvinball scrapping posts soon! And, I went hiking last weekend to see some of the very ephemeral spring wildflowers we have here in Arizona-- the flowers were gorgeous, I got some fresh air, and I got a few good pictures out of it (along with a bit of a sunburn!), so I'll post some of those photos soon. 

Minnesota memories journal pages

and now for a couple more 'serious' art journal pages, featuring memories of childhood vacations to Minnesota. Every year growing up, we went on vacation to a resort on a lake (Loon Lake, in Ottertail County) in northwest Minnesota for a week of fun, fishing, and relaxing. My dad went there with my grandpa for a 'guys' fishing trip' even before any of us kids were born, maybe even before my mom and he were married? (I'll have to check with Mom on that one.) Anyway, those trips have been on my mind recently, because we would always go at the beginning of August. So, I painted and collaged my way into recording some of those memories:

Map to the Past:  I found a topographical map of the lake on the internet,
and printed it out a couple of different times at different zoom levels.

This page spread marks places I remember, like the cabins we stayed in, the bay where we always went to pick waterlilies, some of our 'tried and true fishing spots' (right out from the Lutheran Church across the lake is one I remember), things like that. This page was sort of inspired by techniques from Jill Berry's Personal Geographies book... she taught a class at Artfest when I was there that involved some of these map-related techniques, and I saw some of the student work at Show and Tell night.

close-up of the left-hand map, showing the entire lake. 

#9 was turtle town, where we could always find plenty of turtles sunning 
themselves on downed trees; #14 is a spot where I remember (very vividly) seeing a loon swimming underwater right next to the boat. #11 is the fishing spot across the lake from the resort cabins. 

another page of Minnesota memories

the Minnesota map on the page above marks Vergas, the town nearest the resort. The loon statue is the largest in the state (Minnesota is known for large statues of all sorts of things); we'd always have to go into town at least once and stop by the loon statue for a photo op. 

my work space (plus a nosy dog trying to horn in on the photo- lol!)

This is a photo of my usual work space, which isn't really much of a defined space, at all. If I'm painting or spraying something, it's done either in the kitchen or out on the patio, but the collage and 'finishing work' is usually done in the family room, in front of the TV. So, I sit on the floor in front of the love seat and spread everything out around me, effectively 'walling myself in' until I get it all picked back up again. I've tried sitting on the loveseat or couch, but I work better with everything spread out... Michelangelo had his work space issues, I have mine- lol! 

scrap!

since I've gotten into scrapping again, I have plenty of ideas and things I want to scrap... both recent photos as well as other things, like the following layout of a childhood memory / reminiscence: I found the Barbie trading cards at a local scrapbooking store, and just had to buy them. They were the impetus for the page, since I don't have any photos of all the childhood Barbie stuff-- I don't have any idea what happened to it all, actually...?? (Mom: any ideas?? ...just wondering.) Anyway, I pulled together some multicolored papers and letter stickers that I've had for a while with some others that are recent purchases / trades. I'm not thrilled about what I did to the upper corner (I think a splatter of paint or ink there would have been better than doing the dots by hand), but I do like the page overall, and the fact that the memory is on the page instead of just in my head. :D

I thought the pink stickers would stand out more than they did on the pink polka dot paper, so I outlined them with a black glaze pen-- that looked so good, I did some more of it around the edges of the pages, which I think really ties the page together.

disregard the mess in this pic (it's my craft studio; of course there's a mess!) but I wanted to show off my latest estate sale purchase: the rolling cart, circa early-mid 1970s, perhaps?? I got it on Saturday (half-price day) for the sum total of $3; she said how about $5, but I bargained her down to $3... do you think the American Pickers would be proud of me? haha!! (I know I'm still small potatoes compared to their bargaining skills.)

These two pics are my latest, and last, scrap-related purchase for quite a while. Some new-sized page protectors that I'm excited about using and mixing into my albums: 8x8 inches, 6x12 inches, and a set of 12x12 page protectors that allows you to just slide photos into the different slots.

This pic is of a couple things I'm quite excited to try out-- one of them is the Sew Easy; it's a tool that helps you make evenly spaced holes for sewing on paper (similar to a tracing wheel, but the interchangeable heads allow you to make different types of stitches, including zig-zag, scallop, cross-stitch, and more, without having to punch each hole by hand). The other item is two new idea books that include 60 totally pre-planned sketches; all I have to do is decide on the paper and photos-- the sketches even include the dimensions for trimming the paper!! ...so now, I'm off to scrap!!