WHAT A DAY: October 20, 2013

BRRRRR!! is how I felt on this early morning. I woke up and left my house around 7am. Bundled up in long pants, tank top, UnderArmour shirt, sweatshirt, ear warmer, and jacket, I made the trek up north to Statesville, NC for the 8:30 Balloonfest 5K. I was moreso going to see the balloons than race but the exercise was needed nonetheless. 

As you can see the moon is still up and the fog is dense but makes for a pretty picture.  And thank goodness...no deer around. 

The grass was very wet due to the rain the day before but I was prepared with my lovely waterproof shoes :) not a drop of water got on my socks!  Love Brooks trail runners. 

I snapped a few pics before the race as many balloons were inflating. Other balloons prepped nearby so were mostly seen flying overhead. 

The race took place at the nearby hangar. With quite a few runners. I actually met someone from Nebraska City, NE.  I had asked her if she thought it was safe to leave our sweatshirts at the start and looked down to see her Cornhusker shirt. When I said I was from Nebraska, I think she thought I was joking...nope. 

The start time was coordinated with the first balloon launch of the day. 

I was so hoping to pass this house coming back as it had several livestock and was such an old home, but we took a different route. 

I called myself a Touristy Runner as I was snapping pictures the whole way. So hence time wasn't a huge concern. 

Look it's corn...and we are not in Nebraska :)

I grabbed a few scarves at a vendor and so wish I got more. So cute and so cheap. 

It was neat to see the times posted immediately. I ran a 40 even though the timer coming in said 38. So I was happy considering I hadn't trained or ran in a week...stopped and took several pictures..and walked/ran the event

And all this was done before 10am...crazy for me?!?  Next it was off to work for me at 1p. 

WINTER ALBUM: Album Cover

It has been a bit chilly outside lately and has inspired me to get into the winter spirit. Probably my least favorite time of year, but gotta love it for the scenery, spiritual references, family time, relaxation, and most important ..my birthday :)

I always love making a December Daily album in past years, but plan on doing a Winter Fabric Album this year to focus on the entire season...and use my Project life book for my December Daily. 

So I had a super and easy way to create my cover based on this Painting By Number kit. 

I took out the practice sheet or as I refer to it as the guide..grabbed a piece of tracing paper! and my gessoed book cover. 

I used a stylus to draw the entire painting on the book cover. Although it was a bit smaller than the cover, I plan on adding more elements later to blend it in.

(And please note...make sure tracing paper is facing right way before start of trace...I had an oopsie, but luckily noticed it after doing one bird.)

And then using the kit's paints and guide, I started.  I didn't trace the numbers onto book to avoid having to cover them (most annoying part of paint by numbers...in my opinion.)

The final result...

And now I am having a paint by number addiction to conquer :(

2013 AUTUMN JOURNAL: Fox

As the season goes on, I'm can't tell you how much I enjoy FALL....and love working in my Autumn Journal.  The page I will share today is titled "FOX" for obvious reasons.

It started with wanting to do something fun and whimsical.  So I sketched out a fox and used canvas letters to simply write FOX onto a gelli printed page with fabric accents.

I didn't really like the overall look of the fox, so I added some reinkers to the mix.  I loved how this looked.  Kate Thompson showed us this technique and material during her class. 

I planned on keeping the fox, the same shape and whimsical aspect....but once the ink dried...I didn't care for his figure, but loved the background....so.....

I used another technique from Kate's class ...and started an image transfer of adorable real life fox (foxes?!? not sure what the plural is...my mom would be so ashamed :(  I acquired the images from none other than Pinterest. 

Before printing I mirrored the images:

The images below show the initial result from rubbing off the paper.  I did this a couple of times to make the image not so cloudy.  (Hint: You can use Tar Gel to make it even more clear.)

  

So after the paper dried, I used a Stabilo ALL black pencil to highlight accents of the fox plus it created a better outline.  I instantly fell in love with these little guys (I refer to them as guys since I have so many Warrior girls already in the journal)

I felt I was done at this moment.

But the next day, I needed to add a bit of orange/rust via watercolor to make them more FOXY :)

And I fell deeper in love with the guys. 

Other pages I have completed using inspiration from classes include:

Warriors

Free Spirit

My goal is to complete my first vlog once the album is finished showing each page. 

I truly adore this and love mixing the papers and fabric plus embellishments.

 www.aligitt.etsy.com

WILDE AND FREE: Free Spirit Warrior

My Little Owl Loving Free Spirit Warrior :)

SUNNY CARVALHO: Doll #2

My little One-Eyed Wilhelmina . . .