Art de Scrap Journal Challenge

I made my own journal for the Artz de Scrap Challenge. I decided to recycle stuff I had plenty of. For the inside, I used tons of brown paper bags which I cut in half. I gave the other half a hand-torn look. I just punched holes on one side using my blue Zutter and walaah! I have a journal! My idea is that with each page, I can actually store ephemera as keepsakes, say when travelling. I also decided to keep the embellies to a minimum because of possible wear and tear in travelling. Also, it makes a great gift to anyone, male or female alike! I actually left the journal on top of my pile of stuff on my desk and I saw one of my co-teachers admiring it. (Mmmm. Her birthday is coming up. Maybe I should give it to her.)

Chipboard, the one that comes with the papers and kits I buy, was used for the cover. I painted it white, then misted it with Glimmer Mist Dewdrop for a glittery effect, then stamped the journal text of Tim Holtz. I adhered Sugar-coated Doodlebug alphas in black, and added a big J grungeboard which I painted black and sugar-coated as well. Bright red ribbons give a final dramatic touch.

Family Christmas Balls as Gifts

I've been busy making my gift of glass christmas balls with the photos of individual family members. I've done about 15 families already. The work itself is fast and easy once I knew how to assemble it. However, gathering ID photos of everyone is the harder work. Friends and relatives had to be contacted again and again just to make them send me photos. Some, I was able to download from the Facebook (thank goodness for people posting photos there!), but others keep on promising, and still forgetting to send them via email. Oh well, everyone's busy.

However, last Christmas Eve, I witnessed my relatives opening their specially made boxes of the christmas balls. Everyone was ecstatic! I told them about my idea of transforming the christmas tree into a family tree. Despite the fact that most of my relatives only got 3-4 balls (based on number of family members), they still LOVED the idea. So I guess, it is all worth it. --- Now if I can just get the remaining relatives and friends to send their photos, I'd be done with this project!

Next year, I'm going to add more balls to each family, by asking them to send me photos of their parents and even grandparents. Then their Family Trees will also become Ancestral Trees as well.

I'm thinking of selling these balls next year. Don't know if there will be takers.