Altered Notepad

Here’s a quick little project I threw together this weekend that was so super easy!  Using one of those standard generic notepads you can pick up for under a $1 at any office supply (or even drug store), simply alter the cover with a favorite patterned paper and a few embellishments to make a unique gift for a friend, a make and take at a crop (or for yourself!).

All you need:

• Notepad with a spiral binding in any size ( I used the pocket version)
• A patterned paper you love
• Mod Podge
• Hole Punch (like the Crop-A-Dile)
• Any embellishments you choose

To make it:

Step 1:  Bend the edge of the wire binding to “open” it up.  Then simply turn the metal spiral so it twists out of the holes holding the note pad together.  Don’t worry it will just as easily go back in.

Step 2:  Adhere your paper using Mod Podge to the cover and backing of the notepad.  The trick here, is to go back and punch the holes through the existing ones before you completely cover them up.  So cover the front of the front, punch holes, cover the back of the front, punch holes.  Make sense?  That way you can be sure you keep them evenly spaced and where they are supposed to be.

Step 3:  Now go ahead and thread the wire binding back through, twisting and feeding the wire through the holes the same way it came out.  It’s really super easy.

Step 4:  Embellish!

Though you can also put together a note pad or journal like this yourself (especially if you own a Bind-it-All), altering a pre-made store bought version saves you from cutting and punching all those interior pages, and is even a little more cost affordable.  Make a ton of these for Easter Baskets!

Or like me, use it for all the important lists you need to keep up with:

Hope you have had a wonderful weekend.  We were snowed in believe it or not (or at least we chose to stay indoors and thus refusing to believe we got as much snow as we did), but that made a for a very productive weekend.  I’ll have lots of fun things to share this week, new ACB projects with Cloud 9 Designs, a recipe that makes Alan swoon (hee), and some sneak peeks of AC Bailey’s gorgeous April Kit.  Whew!

Thanks for stopping by today, and see you soon.

Five on Friday – Healthy yet Tasty Snacks

I had an entire post started today about my newly found ambition to quit dieting and just live healthily (healthy?  healthier?  anyway…), but it got very long and a bit over the top opinionated, so we’ll save the long and opinionated for another time after I can stand behind said opinion with some results. 

In the meantime, if you’re living better for yourself lately too… these are some healthy yet taste pretty darn good snacks that I’ve discovered recently. 

Unless you are one of those people that can honestly say you eat fruit and veggies for a snack every day, in which case my reply…please tell your Uncle Wilbur I said hello. (Mr. Ed… get it?  Ah be quiet it’s Friday )

1. Kellogs Mini-Wheats Little Bites in CHOCOlate.

Seriously delish.  And the really do conquer a chocolate craving.  They are not too sweet and have a TON of fiber.  These are so much better than trying to fool yourself with those dinky little 100 calorie Oreo packs, promise.

2.  Lara Bars.

These, to put it simply, ROCK.  They are all made with no more than six ingredients (all of which you can pronounce), have no added sugar, count as one serving of fruit, and are vegan, kosher, and gluten free. Whew!  Can’t get much better than that.  You can get them at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, sometimes Target, or here’s their website with a store locator.  (Cashew Cookie is my favorite flavor – yum)

3.  Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cones:

Specifically the Vanilla with Carmel.  Skinny Cow has become pretty well known as ice cream lover’s savior during a diet… but the cones are my favorite.  And yep, they have chocolate in the bottom just like the bad for you kind.  (Once, I got one that was accidently filled twice… it’s a euphoric experience that I wish for again every time I crack one of these babies open). 

4.  94% Fat Free Kettle Korn:

Alan doesn’t care for Kettle Korn, so lucky lucky me gets these all to myself.  Get the mini-bags so you don’t over indulge… but sprinkle in a little cinammon and some apple slices too.  So, so good!

5.  Wasa Crackers with Laughing Cow Cheese:

I love Wasa crackers, and I love Laughing Cow cheese (who knew cows could be so happy?), and together they are wonderful.  For an extra special treat spread a little apricot jam on top too.  Just awesome. 

If you like fun little tips on tasty treats that still taste good, I highly recommend checking out Hungry Girl.  She is sent from heaven for every dieter everywhere and has hundreds of recommendations like these.

Hope you are having a wonderful Friday.  Working on some AC Bailey DT projects this weekend that I get to post next week.  (Plus sneaky pics of the April kit which is just absolutely gorgeous!!)

Thanks for stopping by today, and see you soon!

Inspiration Pieces

Sorry this is a bit later than I promised – time… it be fleeting lately.

Quick post today too… check out the last Five on Friday for more of an explanation on these. 

My Scribble Project:

A favorite quote of the moment:

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself.  ~Alan Alda

I WISH I could trust my intuition more… I’m such a Virgo that lives by lists, organizing, and can rarely do things without a very specific plan.  Working on that one.

A recent favorite Flickr photo:

So retro cool and I love the colors… this reminds me to look at things artistically for what they are, especially if they are something I see every day and gloss over now.  (And doesn’t this look like the most wonderful place to stop on a long road trip for the chicken salad plate and an iced tea?)

You can see more of my Flickr faves here… and evidently I have a thing for cafes and cupcakes lately.

A dishtowel I SO want from Anthropolgie:

 We could make that though don’t you think?  Hmmm… definitely goes on the project list to experiment with.

And, my first Polyvore board:

Chill – by Craftista on Polyvore.com

Right now I’m tucking all of these away in a folder until it grows to fat to hold them, and then I’ll find them a more permanent home.  (P.S. I should have mentioned last week… your blog is a great place to keep all these too! )

Hope you’re having a great week.  I’m having a productive one and can’t believe that it’s almost Friday!  Whoohoo!  Thanks for stopping by today, and see you soon!

Everybody’s a Critic…

But I actually get to be one!

I am so honored to announce that I have been selected as one of Craft Critique’s new reporters! 

Please read all about what a great site this is at their home page here, and be sure to mark it as a favorite.  For all those times when you question one adhesive over another, a new line, or even a particular tool… you are sure to find an intelligent and honest review from the staff.  Because let’s face it, there is a ton of stuff out there we can play with, and especially now-a-days, we want to be sure our money is well spent!

Congratulations to my other new fellow reporters, and to the existing staff and editors… thank you so much for this opportunity, and I am so looking forward to working with you.

Quick drive by / announcement post today.  I’ll post some pieces from my own Inspiration Journal tomorrow.  Now off for some celebratory chocolate!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Five on Friday – Start An Inspiration Journal

Happy Friday!  This is a long one today – but I owe you for my cop-out last week.

At the beginning of the year, I posted this list of five things I wanted to try in 2009.  So far we’ve checked off the new “do”, which I am still loving by the way, as well as start a journey into Holga photography.   More on that soon – I’ve had to send the film to the four corners of the earth to be developed.

What I need right now however, is to get that Artist’s/Inspiration Journal started!  And I’d love it if you would be inspired to start one too.  Don’t think of it as another thing you “have” to do, try and think of it as a way of feeding your creative side. Just like we use working out to exercise our bodies (yes I know, but you get the metaphor), searching for items to put in your journal is a way to exercise your creative muscles.  Once we get in the habit of searching for inspiration everywhere we look, it will come more naturally.

Just like climbing the stairs rather than taking the elevator.

Riiiiggggght.

So… if you’re wondering where the “Five” comes in for today… I’m going to get you started with five sections and five pieces of inspiration to stick in one right away. 

First and foremost, find a place to keep all of this!  Whether it’s a simple notebook, a pretty binder, or even just a folder (but get a good one like you loved in grade-school…. with fuzzy unicorns ), have someplace specific designated to hold your treasures. 

Here we go:

Section 1.  Scribbles  – Don’t limit yourself to perfect sketches or journaling all the time, just get those thoughts out when they come to you in a sketch area – you can go back and perfect them later!

Inspiration piece #1 - A great place to start your doodling juices flowing is by completing one of the Scribble Project Blog Sketches.  Such a fun site!  Go print one out a starter page and doodle away!  And get silly!

Section 2.  Words – Quote Garden, Lyrics, Poetry – I’ve preached on about the inspirational power of music and lyrics often, you probably know by now it’s a big part of my creative process.   Same goes for quotes and poetry, but other than literal meaning, what can we get from them?

Inspiration piece #2 - think of your favorite song, and write down the title, or chorus.  Underneath write the answers to the following questions (don’t think, just do!):

• The color of this song (poem, quote) is _____
• The shape is _____
• If it had a texture, it would be ____

Now when you listen to the song (read the poem, quote) what does your inner artist see?

Section 3.  Images – Flickr is such an amazing tool… get into the habit of marking items as “Favorites” in Flickr (sign up if you’re not, it is a plethora of inspiration) that you can look back on time and time again, or even print out and place in your journal. 

Inspiration piece #3:  Go to Flickr, and in the search bar at the upper right, enter your favorite color.  Do a search and voila!  Be inspired!  Mark some as faves, and print at least one out to place in your journal.  (Right-click and hit print to do so)

Section 4.  Design- patterns, magazine ads.  We’ve all seen those ad-inspiration challenges.  Start a collection of your own if you haven’t already.  But don’t just look at “ads” per se, the next time you’re browsing through a catalog of any kind, keep an eye out for patterns too (think Pottery Barn or Anthropologie) on materials, or even room design.  Once you get a good collection of these magazine and tear-sheets going – you will have an excellent idea of your style.   (This is a great section for fabric scraps too!)

Inspiration piece #4:  Find a catalog or magazine in your home NOT related to scrapbooking or crafting.  Flip through and find one ad or design that speaks to you and rip it out.  Write on it too!  (Love the colors, nice clean lines, etc).

Section 5.  The Blank Canvas - leave a section of your inspiration journal blank for a very important reason… you need a place to a) put the miscellany and b) to have a place to play with and compile your other collections from sections 1-4.  This is the completely fun part!   Try that fabric swatch with that doodled design, add lyrics and the color you see from that song…. see what you get and keep the ones that just look right to you.

Inspiration piece #5:  Let’s practice this… go to a wonderful new site that was just introduced to me called Polyvore.  Registration takes 2 seconds, and once you do you have access to hundreds of fun design components which you can create a collage/design board with.  Or, just browse the hundreds of already brilliantly inspiring combos other members have come up with.  Warning!  This site is addicting!

And there we go – Five ways to jump start an inspiration journal that I hope will be both beneficial and completely fun.  Because I’m a firm believer that art should be fun… I am not a dye my hair black and emote carnage kind of girl… (see fuzzy unicorn reference above).

I’ll be working on mine too and will share my pieces as I collect them.  This weekend is catch-up weekend for us at the house, time to reclaim a couple of rooms, but hope to get some crafting in too.  Have a happy Friday and see you soon!

(P.S. Happy Spring!!!)