Art Junk Girl~

Dorm Decor on a Budget, Missed flights and other mishaps...

workin' on shelf decor here....moving Ria back to new dorm room
Originally uploaded by artjunkgrl.

Dear Friends~
I've been in Boston helping my daughter move in for her second year. Here's a wall shelf I was workin' on for her. I didn't like the background of this shelf, and you can't paint it in the dorm, so I tacked up this map from my purse (which went well with her "beach theme" room)...the only problem is that I needed this map on the way to the airport......that was just the beginning of a myriad of mishaps on this trip...I will update you all soon. Poor Ria fell and broke her foot as I was flying out of town the next day (after missing my flight the night before)...She fell at the bottom of some steps and has a fracture near her toe bone. I don't know what the name of it is....something very long that I can't pronouce.
When I called her to tell her I had landed, she was in ER. Sigh. Doc said it will heal fine, but she starts classes tues., has to learn to walk with crutches, (in the city)...
Now I'm off to visit my son this weekend. Haven't seen him since we dropped him off almost 3 weeks ago? I'm very discombobulated right now. My head is fuzzy and I'm going thru serious square withdrawal. Miss you all. I will be back soon. Think good thoughts for a quick healing for my Ria. xo Lia

journal junk # 4~New Beginnings

Dear Friends~
Here is the decorated cover of my next "journal junk". These are journals I started using small drawing paper spirals. I usually collage things that inspire me in these as well as add some words and tidbits inside. I like these because they are durable enough to paint into when I want to and they are super cheap at Michaels. (especially if you have your coupon, which I know y'all do now!)
Today is the first day of school for my youngest and tomorrow I'm off to get my oldest settled for her second year at college.
This journal will coincide with this new beginning. I have lots of things to share with y'all, like my junk finds during the trip, my new paper obsession (no, I told you it isn't circles!) and much more, but I got to get the kids settled and then we can sit and have some coffee over the blog and chat, ok?
hugs, xo Lia

p.s. Here are some of my older "journal junk" journals...

Thinking outside of the square...

Ok, friends, I want to start by saying that I have by NO means left my square friends for circle friends. Let me splain. I am still a very square girl. I'm just thinkin' of things to make with my squares as I will be preparing for my first craft fair booth at the Creative Bazaar. Can you say run on sentence? Ok, so I'm not the best at grammer here. I try my best, but anyhoo, I'm rather chatty so it's hard to stop when I get started. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, the lump in my throat thing (see last artjunk episode)..I'm still feeling very, very wierd and things are so different here at home. It's hard to adjust to such a huge change. I've still been crafty, but in a different sort of way. You see, when I feel kinda out of sorts with my art routine and my brain is all mush, I turn to the most mindless (but fun) part of being a paper and collage addict: I cut paper, then I cut some more, then I cut some more. That's a lot of cutting this last week with my son gone and all and me feeling weird and all. My immediate reaction to any stressful situation is to want to change everything about my life. I mean like, everything. Like crazy person kind of stuff. Like up and moving to another town, city, state, country kind of crazy. Like painting my whole house a different color kind of crazy, like I wanna go dye my hair bright red kinda crazy and have it all wierd and spikey and totally not conservative, homemakerish, prudish kind of me that I am. So, I digress. Back to the circles meeting the squares. I went and visited Martha on Monday (well, the next best thing...her "isle" at Michaels) and I decided that my square puncher needed one of her nifty circle punchers. So, some people get a pet to replace a child leaving the nest. I adopted a new puncher. So anyway, I started punching and cutting and punching away my stress while watching depressing movies on TV and eating klondikes and wearing sweats and not combing my hair. well, swooping it back with my hands, but not combing it...and going around the house with a permanent sad puppy look. So, back to my story, I printed out some of my squares to see if the collages would fit in a circle so that I can use them for my new magnet or button machine that I want to buy, but haven't yet because my husband, (aka Bruno the Tuition checkbook) will blow a puncher gasket if I do so... So I'm thinking outside of the square and what I can have to offer at the creative bazaar, etc. etc. So, the long and the square of it is that my cutting/punching party yeilded two new collage sheets with images cut from my ephemera and old magazines, perfect size for inchies. I will be offering these in the shop soon. In addition, I've been movin' along on my square goal (722ish) and I'm also going to get some of my inchies printed up into postcards. I think that all of that has kept me busy enough and out of trouble, or at least out of the hardware store, where I would go and stare at new colors to paint my house in. So, that' all for now. One big mind dump. Goes to show I shouldn't skip too many days on my blog as I usually chronicle most of my shananaghans on here. I'm sure I totally botched that word. Hope everyone is having a good week. xo Lia

"square" meals...

"square" meals...
Originally uploaded by artjunkgrl.

I recommend at least one square meal per day.

be back soon,

xo Lia

the big college drop off day....and a break...

proud momma!
Originally uploaded by artjunkgrl.

Dear Friends~
I'll be back when the lump in my throat is gone....I dropped off my one and only son today...and I thought the school bus was hard when he was young...sheesh. It's not going to be the same around here and I have to figure out how to adjust, I kinda, sorta am not prepared for this as my son and I are very close and he is such a big part of my daily joy. I'll find my way, but in the meantime, I'm takin' a little break here. If I owe you an email, please be patient with me right now.
talk soon, xo Lia

Square Matters~

Dear Friends,
So, I haven't posted in a few days as I've been trying to fill etsy orders (I'm a very slow one woman show). I can tell you that I really appreciate what goes into running a little business, no matter how small (or square) for that matter. I'm sure that most "normal" people do not start up a little shop the week before their son goes off to military college....but that's pretty much par for the course with me. So, today, (when I get my last orders in the mail), I will switch into "the good mother" mode and finish shopping and preparing for my son's departure as well as making a meal with all the basic food groups. Now, don't get me wrong, even my mother-in-law insists that Pizza is a healthy meal and I'm not going to fight her on that...
Well, enough of my rambling...If you didn't get a kit this time and want one, don't fret, I will have more Artjunk Inchie kits available next month. Apparently, more than 3 people read my blog and they are admitting that they (might) be addicted to making 1 inch square art. So, perhaps I'm not so crazy after all!
Last nite, I cuddled up on the couch with my lap desk and made a few new squares with leftovers from my inchie kits. You see, here's the thing, while I'm making kits, I want to start making squares, so I set aside one's to work on when I get an idea. Oh, and guess what? My daugther decided to make a collage with the paper I punched squares out of. She covered two folders for me. I will take a pic soon and post. So that's it for today from this square girl.

I will be back soon when my alter ego (the "be a good mother" person) is satisfied with my progress at home. Then I'll have more square "tales" to share with you all! Have a great day everyone! :) Lia

I really love squares...

I finished up a few projects and now I'm back to making my squares again. I just enjoy making these little collages SO much. I just see so many possiblities. They are also small enough to work on while I watch a movie or relax in the evening. I recently painted some watercolor paper for some larger collages, and I was so excited to take the leftovers and "punch" away some squares to work on. I am coming up with some ideas on using them in projects and such, since many of you ask what the heck you do with them. Oh, that is the magic of craft, isn't it? Finding ways to incorporate what we love into things that we can give to others or make into useful things. My mind literally explodes with ideas when I work on these! If you are transfer and digitally savvy (and have a good printer, which I don't...), there really are alot of ways to incorporate one inch square collages into your other works or scrapbook pages. I think of them as "embellishments". Ok, well, enough of my babblin...Here are a few other things I've made recently...
I hope to get some of these (and my square postcards) printed up soon. It's on the list. I kind of like the simplicity of these cards, and I loove painting my own backgrounds for collage, so it's a fun project for me.
There are SO many things I want to try this fall..I have a list up in "ma pea brain" and I will spill it out here sooner or later. I get sidetracked so easily. This morning, I punched out some little squares to include in an etsy package, and I liked them so much, I made a set of my own.

Now you know why I never get anything done with that. lol. Ok, well, I better go get ready for the days events. I'm going on a golfing date. The closest I've come to golf in the past year is watching "Tin Cup". It should prove to be an interesting afternoon for me and anyone close to me when I'm hitting that dang little ball. Have a great weekend everyone! Square on! xo Lia

Art Junk on Etsy~

Well, after much trepidation, I've taken the Etsy plunge. I will now be offering 1 inch square supplies I've made as well as whatever strikes my fancy in my new Etsy shop. I hope it will be a fun endeavor. I would like to keep making things that I like, one at a time and one of a kind. Go take a peaky and tell me what you think. Email me (you know I love hearing from y'all) or leave a comment. Have a great weekend my friends! xo Lia

I heart Martha and other random thoughts....

some of the new squares I'm workin' on...
Originally uploaded by artjunkgrl.

Hello Friends!
I'm up early this morning making my lists, etc. and feeling kinda blah. I had a allergic reaction last week to something and the symptoms keep lingering.....I hope to get some rest this weekend. It always helps to divert myself with my various creative obsessions. Thought I'd share some of my latest with y'all here on my little blog.

1. I heart Martha. Yes, I do. Always have. Always will. Now that she has her own line of craft supplies, I heart her even more. I swear, whenever I go to Michaels and I enter "that" isle...I see fairy dust being sprinkled about and I go into this fairy tale craft abyss. Everything is so neat and organized, pristine and color-coded. I mean, have you seen the blank labels in her isle? I want to buy it all, but I usually leave with something I "need", which is not hard because she has many useful things as well as some frillies. I tivo her show every day. My youngest dd and I watch it together...although one day she watched it before me when I was running errands...that little bugger.
2. I'm totally obsessed with magazines. I'm a certified, magazine carrying member of magazine-a-holics anonymous.... I ALWAYs have at least one on my "list" to go out and find/buy. I believe the headlines. yes, every word....those little cliche phrases like, "walk off the weight by next week", and "look great by next weekend"..oh, they give me so much hope, that I, too, can look like a million bucks by eating the 4 "secret foods" I'll find out about after I buy their magazine...
3. I have little snacks I get obsessed with and I will stay with them until I find my new "fix". My current "fixes" are:
CrystalLight Lemonade
Klondike 100 calorie icecream bars
part-skim mozzarella sticks
and
tazo chai (especially starbucks skim chai latte)
and last, but not least I'm obsessed with
4. my square puncher...yes, after nearly 8 months of making little square collages, I finally bought a 1" puncher. I can punch til the cows come home. I love this new little toy. Did you know that Martha carries punches? Her square one is foo-foo ish with a rounded border, (I got mine as a gift from Chrysti, who's been a major enabler of my square obsession, sending me more prepunched squares than I can make this year!) I used Martha dears punchers for a few of the above squares. Hmmm.... i wonder if Martha could make inchies? WEll, of course she could, I know she loves squares.
She would.
Ok, enough babbling from me...off I go to my next adventure. If only in my own mind. lol.
xo :) Lia

And the Winner is.........

Well, I don't know about you, but I think I have a blog party hangover this morning...I only got to maybe 10 out of the hundreds of tutorials posted yesterday (for links, see ArtsyMama's blog). I started keeping track of the one's I want to try, but then lost track...lol. I have to go back and do so...but today we must eat a "real dinner". LOL. Ok, ok, so you want me to get to the "winner" of yesterdays giveaway...Well, I used a random number generator online and on the very first try got the following number...

The Lucky Winner is:

21

Ok, well, what does that mean? The 21st comment wins. Well, when I went into the listing of comments on typepad to verify I picked the 21st comment, I came up with a different name because typepad lists the comments on your post from last to first. SO.....I decided I would give away to both commenters, (21st position from start and 21st position from end of comments). Sound confusing? Ok, now, don't go back and start verifying my scientific methodology here....I'll have another give-away in the future. The lucky winners for this one (as of the time of this posting are).....

Cheryl (fromthepines) and
Jennifer (crimsoncat)
Cheryl and Jennifer, please email me your addy's so I can get these out to you today!
Thank you everyone for visiting yesterday and for your lovely comments. I'm glad you want to try inchies and I was suprised a few of you didn't know about them. Ok, so, off I go to make some more inchies and find more fun things to make to avoid housework. Oh, isn't crafting fun????!!! I think so! Pass the gluestick baby! xo :) Lia

There's a party goin' on 'round here....

Well, well, well, Miss ArtsyMama is in the mood for another blog party and she's done gone and invited the whole blog world to it! So, in the spirit of crafty celebration, I am going to attend with my little tutorial offering here as well as a itty-bitty giveaway.
I must say that I was racking my pea brain to come up with a tutorial I hadn't already done on here. All I could come up with to share is a new little twist to inchies that I've recently discovered. (To see how I make my "inchies" and to learn more, check my tutorials here and here).

Now, where was I..Oh, yeah. One of my dear online art buddies, Pam, wrote and told me about Bazzill chips. Bazzill chips are basically extra thick chipboard, precut 1" squares you can get at CreateforLess.com. I like these chips because they are like little tiles and once more, you can make little magnets out of them as they are sturdier than what I normally use. (140 lb. watercolor paper).
I started "playing" around with some ideas lately and made one of these little squares. Meet Ariel.

The supplies I used to make this little tile are as follows:
cheap acrylic paint (turquoise blue in this case)
a foam brush
one small vintage image (from collage sheet mini purchased from TuscanRose)
text from a book page
and my new favorite product: Aleene's Paper Glaze (this will give the little tile square a nice finish and protective coating should you attach a magnet on back and put on fridge).
Self stick magnetic backing cut to fit (optional)
So, there you have it... a cute little magnet for those of you who often ask what to make with these cute little inchies.
Alternatively, if you make inchies already, you can copy them, cut out and paste them onto these sturdy chips and glaze/magnetize them.

These tiles look great glued onto the top of a journal as well!

Still not convinced. New to inchies and wanna try? I'm giving away this little baggie which contains little bits from my personal stash including: 10 bazzill chips, 10+ painted inchies I've done recently, tiny images cut from my vintage magazines and a few extra's from my collage sheets to try. So there you go! Just leave a comment if you want to enter the giveaway. I will announce the winner tomorrow morning!
Remember, go on over to the Artful Blogging* hostess, ArtsyMama as she will have a loads and loads of links to other arful bloggers attending with lots of other tutorials, etc. I think we will all be ordering pizza tonight. lol. Have fun now! xo :) Lia

For more links on making squares and to visit my "inchie/square" blog, click here.

*Artful Blogging is a new magazine put out by Stampington Company. Read more about it on ArtsyMama's blog.

Monthly Mosaic: July~Looking Ahead

Monthly Mosaic: July
Originally uploaded by artjunkgrl.

I can't believe it's the 6th already! I can already tell that this month is going to fly. I've got alot of things planned with the fam and with my art junk. I've made some progress in the studio area. Finally.
I've also been busy making some new little things for my etsy shop. You know how I love little things! Speaking of squares, I have some new one's I'm workin' on that I will surely post soon, as well as some new studio pix. I'll be back soon with more on that. Have a great week! Off I go to find something to glue together. lol. xo Lia

Zine-a-fied!

First and foremost, I stumbled upon the announcement of a new zine that one of my favorite Artist's, Sarah Fishburn is publishing along with Angela Cartwright. What a powerhouse of talent there! Whoo. I immediately rushed to the cart. LOL....but don't tell Bruno (aka my husband)...but I just can't miss this one. It's my birthday tomorrow, so an early present for me. You understand, right?

I am also looking forward to receiving the premiere issue of Kira's Zine. It's called Page by Page. Here is the link to see if their are still copies available.

In the meantime, Teesha Moore's Zine's are keeping me occupied until the said zine's are pulled out of my mailbox, covered with my arm's and rushed into my home for immediate consumption.
Peace out for now,
:) Lia

p.s. Here's a recent page from my "gluebook" journal.