'First prize of 2012!

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

As promised, here's the scrapbook layout that won me my very first prize of this year - Best Layout on New Year's day at Archivers!

There were a few constraints for this contest, we were required to use: 6 red buttons,  piece of cardstock provided, transparency provided. I had fun designing this page within the constraints.

Can you see the little areas of sparkle? Did you notice the vellum? I love using vellum in my scrapbook layouts. And I love mulberry paper, too! I used a ton of mulberry paper in my wedding album - which I've been working on for 7 years....I hope I'll finish the wedding album before our 40th anniversary in 2016 - HA!

Would love for you to comment on this post, or any of my posts - and become a Follower while your here.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you can visit often.

Peace,
LuLu

'Deep in the throes...' Thank you, Sting and George Lucas!

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome!

I'm deep in the throes of re-organizing and purging in my 'winter' craft studio. Not much fun, but I'll sure be happy when I can focus on making art. While I'm busy with that task and up to my neck in errant art supplies, here's a spread I created in an altered book art journal - from last fall.

"...growing up is optional!'
Inkjet transfer/transparency, gel medium, Acrylic wash, gel pen,
colored pencil, vellum, rub on, custom embossed foil tape with acrylic paint

My 60th birthday is rapidly approaching and the sentiment on the left page reflects my feeling perfectly this year. (Sting and I are nearly twins - his 60th birthday is a few days after mine! I'm a big Sting fan - and going with another couple to his concert in November. Sting is releasing his 25th anniversay CD collection on my birthday. I'm also a huge Star Wars fan - and George Lucas is releasing his Blu-ray collection of the Star Wars saga on on my birthday. Isn't that so nice of those guys to give such great 60th birthday presents? :-)

The past few weeks I've been assembling a list of 60 items (places to go, things to buy) - one item for each year on planet Earth! I'm also adding ideas to the back half of an altered book art journal that I started in May of this year - to chronicle our 35th wedding anniversary celebration.

What do you do on your milestone birthdays? Do you plan to do anything special to celebrate your milestone birthdays? I'd love to hear what you've done for your milestone birthdays.

Thanks for stopping by. Please take some time to look around my blog - there are all sorts of neat things to see - and come back again soon.

Peace,
LuLu 

WOYWW - 01/26/11 "Cut 'em, Stick 'em, Bind 'em, Test 'em, Rock 'em!"

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

I've been super busy - cutting, gluing, assembling, testing and experimenting. In addition to going to physical therapy for my sprained ankle - which is not healing as fast as would be expected. Darn it!

I also re-organized my workstation - again. Trying to get non-essentials off the table - it was getting too cluttered again...and my workspace was shrinking...Here's what is on my workstation for WOYWW.

1) Cutting and gluing fancy patterned scrap booking card stock and recycled cardboard. Sizes are 2.5" x 3", 4" x 4", 6" x 6" and more . The glued pieces of card stock and cardboard will be used as pages for some of my art journals. They will be very sturdy substrates with patterns in the bottom layer. I'm using a lot of glue sticks and do this step while watching a DVD movie!

2) Assembling fancy patterned scrap booking card stock pages interleaved with vellum pages and patterned transparencies. These pages are 3" x 6" and are almost ready for punching and binding. I really enjoy how the vellum and transparencies obscure the patterned card stock - just a tad... 


3) Testing how wax paper, deli paper and freezer paper behave when heated with a craft iron. Wondering if they will act as an adhesive when melted. Guess what? They don't really. Only the freezer paper adhered permanently when it was ironed to another piece of freezer paper. The wax paper and deli paper adhered temporarily.


4) Experimenting with my binding machine (ZUTTER Bind It All) to practice punching holes and attaching wire for my art journals. I've had a cute little Bind IT All machine for 2 years - and just now am learning how to use it! There was an instructional DVD in the box (I bought it used from a scrap booking buddy - thanks, Marisa!) It was pretty easy, I practiced on scraps first. The punching was foolproof. The first journal I bound had squished wires instead of circular. Operator error! After I tweaked the machine for the proper size of wire, the binding worked great on the next journal. It was nice and circular. Then I punched and bound a couple more before hitting the hay last night. #4 is displaying a length of wire that I cut to bind the pages assembled in #2 above.

5) Rocking - almost! My invitiation to the GRAMMY AWARDS in Los Angeles, California just arrived a few days ago! Wish I could afford to go next month. Almost made it to the GRAMMY AWARDS show in New York City at radio City Music Hall several years ago. It would be so exciting to go next month. Wouldn't it be fantastic to see all those musicians singing and dancing live onstage?! Maybe I'll get to go in 2012...

6) Cutting - finally bought a pair of T.H. Tonic scissors! They work great. I  used them to cut the binding wires, instead of wire cutters. Bought the scissors with my 40% off discount coupon at Michaels!

Well that's what's on my workstation for now for now. Click here to take a peak at other artists' digs.

Would love for you to be a Follower if you're not already. And comments are encouraged. What do you think of this post - or any of my other posts? Did you see the post about the Altered Book I made for my hubby's Christmas gift? Check it out - there's a link to photobucket.com with lots of photos of this Altered Book.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you can come back soon.

Peace,
LuLu