heart the art! (week 1)

have you been over to gina's blog, tyggereye art to see the first prompt of her weekly journaling inspiration, ♥HEART the ART♥?! i have, and it's a good 'un! but before we get to that, howsabout i show you the little book i made to hold my 52 pages for the year?

(patterned paper: prima & a bit of love elsie packaging; chipboard letters: making memories; bling & rub-on letters: k&co; clipart banner: anahata katkin; stickpins: joann essemtials; chinese charm: oriental trading; epoxy stickers: michaels; labels: dymo; bookring: staples; ink: colorbox; other: velvet flower, misc. ribbon scraps, chipboard; adesives: xyron, uhu gluestick, tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape)

of course, i didn't need to make a special home for these; i just happen to really loooooove makin' little books, and it seemed a perfect opportunity! afterall, there are loads of cool pre-made journals or blank books out there (gina decorated one of her beloved moleskins); or i could've chosen to make individual atc's, or tags, or digital layouts; or to use the prompts in my existing art journal, or on my blog, or... ok, well, my point--and one of my favorite things about these year-long journaling projects--is that there are as many ways to approach them as there are people who participate! if you feel like trying this on for size, don't think you need to buy or make anything particular to do so!

(you needn't publicly *share* your answers either, if you are a bit shy about it; but if you'd like to, gina has set up a special flickr gallery just for us!)

ok, so anyway, the prompt for week one was "AIM to...?" and here is my page:

(hand carved robin stamp: tyggereye art; branch rub-on: hambly; flowers & leaves: prima; sparkly alpha & star stickers: making memories; white cardstock: staples; pen: uniball signo; other: body art gems, copic outliner, watercolor paints, prismacolor pencils, glimmer mist, vinyl lace used as a stencil, 3m foam tape)

well OF COURSE you knew i was gonna use gina's gorgeous robin stamp for the first time on my inaugural page, right? i mean, it had to be done, even if it hadn't been the perfect fit...which it was, actually! i'd been experimenting with glimmer mist a month or so ago and made some cool background paper with a lacy pink pattern on it. now i realize lacy pink doesn't ordinarily leap to mind as a background for a robin on a branch, but when i sat him on there i thought he looked cool, so i painted in a bit of blue sky in the blank bits of paper et voila: he's sittin' in a flowering tree! (can ya tell i am ALREADY jonesin' for spring or WHAT?!)

text reads, "#1: experiment/learn/play more...make a mess...don't be "safe"...have FUN!; #2: spend more time with friends and family and banish the toxic time-wasters!; #3: pare down, clean out, sell off, donate, use up, re-purpose...less stuff=more creativity!"

so what are YOUR aims for 2010??