Art Journaling

I will admit that I'm a pretty terrible blogger. I do have a good excuse for going MIA though, well at least I think so. I am currently in the middle of my internship for my future career. I can tell you that it is one of the hardest things I've gone through as a perfectionist. One night was so bad I wanted to throw in the towel and change careers. That was until I watched a Jenniebellie video, in which she was talking about having the best/worst year of her life. That's where I think I am. I'm having the best/worst time of my life right now. It's hard to describe but I think we've all felt it.

That being said I also realized that I was not taking care of myself like I should. I needed to carve out more time for myself. Whether it's time to meditate, write poetry, or create art. I need time for me. One of my favorite was to decompress is to listen to music and art journal. After the Jenniebellie video I pulled out my finished art journal and just flipped through the pages. I didn't have the energy to create and that was okay. I just looked.

I was inspired to make a little flip through video.

Remember to take care of yourself,

Auror Willow

Scrapbook Sunday - Family Photo

Recently I have fallen so in love with 8.5x11 layouts that I've decided to go back and scrapbook everything! lol Not really, but all the photos that I have that I love I will. Luckily for me my photos really start in 2008 as that was the year that I got my own camera and became interested in collecting photos from family members. To make it easier on myself, and to save money on wasted prints I have decided to plan out my layouts ahead of time and use sketches. So you might see more structured layouts.

So, this first layout is documenting some family photos that were taken as a Mother's Day present for my grandma. The only ones present are her daughters (my mom and her sisters) and her grandkids (me and my cousins).

The colors in this photo were god-awful. My aunt made all the grandkids wear pink (even the solo guy) and I have no idea what the photographer was thinking when he picked the background. I had to turn then black and white to scrapbook them for the mercy of all who look at these pages. 

I really love making double page spreads now, especially if a page comes pre-printed with a design. I loved the flowers on the second page. I actually fussy cut out the same flowers from another page and added them with pop dots on to the design. So Lovely! 

Thanks for stopping by for Scrapbook Sunday, I will see you next week!

Pink Smash Folio - If You Really Knew Me

As you can see I have another Smash Folio share. I'm still working in my "Pretty Pink" book. Now when I first starting working in this book I wanted the theme of the book to be "My Twenties". Now scrapbooking is a form of therapy and reflection for me. With that in mind this book has kind of evolved as I've worked on it. As I enter my 28th year on this beautiful earth, I'm finding my twenties to be a time of growth and refection. For me, my twenties have been a time to come to terms with my past while also discovering who I am. A time to some how make those two pieces come together. So that's what this book has morphed into. Not the "things" I've done in my twenties, but documentation of my reflection and growth.

On this page I used a Paige Evans' butterfly background svg file. I also used the Colorbok Modern Millinery paper pad to fill in the negative spaces. Some butterflies I kept empty, others I used white embossed paper, and finally some I tied white string bows. I think that gave it a nice balance and places for the eye to rest.

I love butterflies so much, so this page makes my heart happy. I also made another crepe paper rosette with a wooden center. The wood circle and the stamp I purchased at my local Walmart. I used embroidery thread for the small bows as well. 

In the little pocket at the bottom of the page I tucked away a poem I wrote for a university assignment. It's called If You Really Knew Me... This poem I'm not going to share as it's personal and it would defeat the poem itself. But the gist of the poem is to have each stanza read If you really knew me... and then write something that only a closed loved one or family friend would know about you. 

I wrote each stanza on a strip of a notecard and then tucked them into the pocket. The way the poem is set up the order of the stanza's don't matter to much, at least for me, so the pocket idea worked great. Plus it keeps it tucked away for an illusion of privacy. 

That's all I have today, check back in on Sunday for a scrapbook layout. Thanks for stopping in, I will leave with pictures of each individual page.

Pink Smash Folio - Where I'm From

Look another blog post! I have another page to share from my pink smash folio. This page is a bit special, as it has a poem that I wrote rather recently. It was an assignment for one of my college classes actually.  I am an Education major and one of my method classes was how to effectively teach the language arts to future students. I absolutely adored my teacher that semester and could gush about her for hours, but I promise I won't. I do want to share her book however for those who would like to try writing poetry.

First i want to share my page and poem:

Where I am From

I am from city slickers in a small town

farms and factories built on native ground

I'm from shopping at the mom and pop

before Walmart came around

I am from ghost stories and Stephen King

watching behind closed hands on the old wooden tv

I am from home cooked meals and southern hospitality

tastes of cornbread and cowboy beans

I am from the backyard gang of free rein 

double dutching where the green grass grows

close your eyes and count to five

18 on a 3 of a kind is where you'd find me

I am from bare feet overtop gravel

headed to get my belly full of sweets 

down at the end end carry out 

where Julie greets me with a smile

I am form the middle branch of the tallest tree

the backyard of honeysuckles and poison ivy

I am from pipe tobacco and old westerns

From bubble baths to Alan Jackson

I am from the old man struck down by fate

with his coin collecting and songs on tape

I am from old hands in gardening gloves

bible verses and quilts sewn with love

I am from that small corner in the thrift store

buried beneath a pile of books

a bathtub filled with pillows and weird looks

livin' happily in my own world with just me

I am from big dreams of breaking free

small town life not quite right for me

I am from goodbye kisses and farewell wishes

I am off to find me

I decorated the page next to the poem with pictures from my childhood. My cousins and I are at my maternal grandmothers house in the top left-hand corner. The bottom photo is my paternal grandmother's house. The woods behind that house is where a majority of my childhood was spent. 

If you are at all interested in writing poems I recommend this book by my former professor:

Wounded Writers Ask: Am I Doing it Write?

S. Rebecca Leigh

Amazon Link

The book is intended to be poetry prompts for students of all ages really. She had us work through the prompts in class and for me it was magic! I use to write poetry in high school, but it was awful. I hid it away in a notebook and shared it with no one. The poems I've written based on this book, I want to proudly share with the world. If my future career fails I could be a street poet! Just kidding.... maybe

Scrapbook Sunday - Music

So.... I have not been keeping up with this blog as much as I had planned. I have plenty of layouts and projects to share. I just need to prioritize sitting down for a few minutes and writing these posts out. I could not let a Sunday pass without a new post however.

This layout was made with all scraps. The papers are the remaining few from an older Maggie Holmes paper pad. I have been wanting to make a layout using circles as the main element and a circular photo. It was completely out of my comfort zone, but I love the way it turned out.

I have been obsessed with matting my layouts and then distressing and stapling the edges. I really like how the black frames the layout and I feel the ripped edges make it more playful. Another obsession is using my embossing folders whenever I can. I do need to invest in more designs. I did pop up some of the circles using recycled cardboard. I wanted them to have a solid base, and I figured that would work better than trying to cover them all in foam dots (cheaper too!).

Hopefully there will be more layouts soon! I will have a Smash Folio share coming up sometime this week. Happy Scrapbook Sunday!

Scrapbook Sunday - Hello Beautiful

Now I promise not all my layouts are of myself! I plan on starting to scrapbook more event layouts soon. Today's layout is more focused on a technique I want to share. I discovered this on my own and it's one of my favorites that I can't wait to try again.

For the background I used an older cut-file from Studio Calico that unfortunately I can't find in their shop anymore to share with you. I did cut the background out of white card stock. The outline of the flower I painted black with acrylic paint. You could just cut the file twice in two different colors, but this way seemed faster to me and the paint added to the artistic look.

For the petals of the flowers; first, I embossed them with a flower themed embossing folder. Next, I added color using oil pastels. I really love working with my pastels after having to purchase and use them for one of my college courses. Now the pastels never set, so I used Modge Podge to seal them. I went with a glossy finish out of preference. I love the shine it gives, but wasn't able to capture it in pictures. 

I hope you give this technique a try. Next, I want to purchase a butterfly embossing folder and use one of Paige Evan's many butterfly background cut files.

Happy Sunday!

Project Share - Family Portrait

This is a bit different than my normal posts, but as I've said I'm a girl of many hobbies! A few weeks ago I was commissioned to make a cross-stitched family portrait for someone. They sent me to this Martha Stewart tutorial to give me a sense of what they were looking for. I did use the tutorial as a guide for some of the figures, but was able to modify the design to fit the people I was emulating.


The hardest part was the puppy. They have a small Shih Tzu who is very lightly colored; whites and creams. I had to modify the colors slightly so she wouldn't disappear. I also couldn't find any templates or guides online for her design. I was on my own with her, but I love the way she turned out.

The final piece in the end was perfect for an 8x10. I think that's an appropriate size for a family portrait. I have noticed that most of these on Etsy are only 5x7. For what the cost is to the customer that seems too small to me. I went larger to give my client more bang for her buck so to speak.

Here is one more shot of it out of the hoop when I was ironing it. She is taking it in to be framed professionally instead of displaying it in the hoop.

If you are interested at all on having a portrait made please feel free to contact me!
aurorwillow@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping in.

Scrapbook Share - But First Coffee

Hello hello. I hope everywhere and whenever this blog post finds you that you are doing well. Hopefully it will be on a peaceful day with a cup of coffee in hand (or tea if that's your fancy).

Today, I wanted to share with you another layout. This was the first layout that I made after stepping away from this hobby for about a year.

When I first got into scrapbooking all my supplies were very inexpensive, think Colorbok and Michaels. Well soon after I fell in love, and became obsessed with following the trends and the designers. It's funny too because every layout I made during that time I didn't love. In fact I don't even have them any more. I got tired of spending so much money on my hobby and never feeling happy with what I was making. I never felt like I had enough supplies or the right ones. So I chucked it all and washed my hands of it.

I stayed away for about a year. For some reason I always get a strong urge to scrapbook on my birthday. Maybe it's because the passage of time is so unavoidable. So this year on my birthday (February 20th) I went to Walmart. I bought one paper pad, a bag of wooden shapes, some bling, and a stamp set. I think I spent around 20 - 25 dollars. I came home and this is what I made.

Isn't it simple yet beautiful! I adore it. I am really proud of the wooden embellishment at the bottom. I had watched a couple of tutorials on how to make crate paper rosettes and had a go at my own. Again, the wooden circle and the coffee stamp came from Walmart. 

Most if not all of the layouts you will see on my blog from now on will be inexpensive layouts. I have plenty of paper left in that paper stack. No need or desires anymore to stay trendy.  

Oh before I go I wanted to share the t-shirt I was wearing in this photo too. It's what I wear on Scrapbook Sundays (or Sunday Fundays). 

To Perfect right?!

Thank you for sharing a small part of your day with me.

Scrapbook Sunday - Hometown

Today I have a two page layout to share with you, and it's one of my favorites that I've created. It came about in a serendipitous kind of way. Whenever I get an idea for a scrapbook layout I jot it down in a little notebook. It's in a list format. I had the idea that I wanted to die-cut the shape of Ohio, back it with pattern paper, and then add some stitching. That's been in my notebook for awhile. Lately I have been obsessively listening to Kacey Musgraves' and the lyrics to one of her songs caught my attention:

"Had to get away so I could grow

But it don't matter where I'm goin'

I'll still call my hometown home"

Dime Store Cowgirl - Kacey  Musgraves

I went to jot that down in my notebook, and when I was flipping through the pages I noticed my previous Ohio idea. Bam! Inspiration struck and I had to create this layout. 

I die-cut the Ohio shape with my Silhouette Portrait. The papers I used are from a ColorBok stack I picked up at Walmart. It's called: Modern Millinery. Oh all the wood pieces also came from Walmart. They have this big bag of random shapes in the craft section. It's totally worth picking up.

Here are the pages individually:

The Logan, Ohio at the bottom I used a Studio G dollar alpha stamp set as well as some cheap alpha's I found at Meijer. Those dollar bins have always served me well. 

Here is the right side:

Thank you for taking a look. I really recommend having a place to store all those random ideas that spring to mind. You never know what two ideas will connect!

Scrapbook Share - Adore

Today I have a layout to share. This layout was inspired by a Wilna Furstenberg layout created way back in 2012. I even used the same cut file as she made it available through one of her classes. I could not find it for purchase in her store by it self but this one is very similar and could be used to achieve the same look.

The Inspiration

My Layout

I modified the design to work better with an 8.5x11 layout and of course to make it my own. The photos are of my niece and I. She has a very special place in my heart so you will be seeing that smile again. 

The papers I used were from an old October Afternoon collection that is no longer around. It's hard to say what I used because the scrapbooking market moves way to fast for it to be of any use. I am a big supporter of using what you have in your stash. 

I want to share one more close ups before I leave you. The top section of this layout is my favorite. I will have to use the stacked circle sticker idea again soon.

Pink Smash Folio - Happy Birthday

 I'm sure many of you that have been scrapbooking for a few years have a Smash folio or two lying around. They were all the rage back in 2012 I believe. I was really into journaling around that time and I remember going to google to look for interesting or guided journals. For some reason the Smash Folios came up in my search and I was sold. They were my first introduction into scrapbooking and here I am six years later.

Now I don't have my first few books, as they were mostly filled with junk (old receipts, movie tickets, etc) and pinterest quotes. I ended up tossing them when I moved out of state as I just wasn't in love with them anymore. Although I kept one that was filled with pen pal letters and postcards. I'll share that one at a later time.

About a year ago I re-purchased two of them. I have the Red Doodle one that I'm using to document my university years, and also the Pretty Pink one that is going to be about my twenties. That one I want to share with you today!

Pretty Pink - My Twenties 

The cover I painted white with regular craft paint. It was a tad difficult staying within the embossed area so I only did one coat. 

The first spread that I want to share is a birthday layout.

This was truly one of the best birthdays of my life so it had to go in this book. Every year I take a birthday selfie, so that is the picture on the left side of the spread. I used a Maggie Holmes line for the papers and embellishments.

My boyfriend surprised me that morning with yellow roses so I glued two of the dried leaves on to the right hand page next to the calendar. I did use them as a stamp on another project so that's why they are painted gold. 

We spent most of the day at an art museum, so I included a picture of myself and also my favorite piece of art. Every time I visit this museum I have to gaze at that statue. It's so detailed and lovely. 

Here is one more close up shot before I leave you!

Scrapbook Sunday - New Beginnings

I have started a recent routine where I devote Sundays to only doing the things that I love or want to do. I am not a religious person, but I do value the idea of having a day of rest. Lately I have been spending my Sundays either scrapbooking or surfing Pinterest for scrapbooking ideas.

To add to that I want to have a weekly Sunday post sharing a scrapbooking layout that I've made. This first one I have for today is the title page for one of my albums.

About the Layout

This is one of my favorites! I am normally a stickler for things being straight on my layouts. For this one I let the entire middle design be at a slight angle. I also watercolored the flowers on the paper to the right to match the paper embellishments. Oh I cheated on the background too; I used two pieces of identical 6x6 paper, the seam is hidden underneath the photo.

About the Photo

The pose I am holding in the photo is that of the Hindu god Shiva. I learned about this stance in my Mythology course. The hand that is up, is a warning in regards to life; life is full of pain and suffering. The other hand that is down and exposed is a welcome however. I fell in love with the notion of being given a warning and a welcome at the same time. I like to experiment with my self-portraits so this pose was something I wanted in my scrapbook album. 

Let me know what you think in the comments. 

If you have any questions as well, feel free to ask.

Thanks for stopping in! 

My Life Right Now

Welcome to my blog! For my first post I figure I would introduce myself, and talk about where I am right now in life.

Now my real name isn't Auror Willow, it's kind of my online pen name. I'm a bit of an introvert so I like being able to have a bit of separation between myself and the rest of the world. Although I do plan on sharing some of my memory keeping projects, so you will certainly see my face, and in time decipher at least my real first name.

So a bit of background about me.

I grew up in a very rural area in the Midwest. I'm a country girl at heart through and through. The only down side to rural areas is lack of opportunity. So, around six years ago I left my home state and packed my bags for the city.  My main reason for moving was to attend college, and this summer I will be finishing up my very last semester (Hallelujah!). When I am not in school I am usually working on some sort of creative endeavor. I won't even bother listing them all here as the list keeps growing longer. You'll just have to stick around and see what I'm up too!

So what will this blog be about? 

I don't want to have any restrictions for this space, so it may end up a bit of an eclectic mess. Which is exactly how I would describe myself so it's perfect! Right now my plans are to share the things that I love, any important thoughts or feelings I need to get down into words, and of course my art projects. So without further ado here is...

My Life Right Now

# Watching - Picnic at Hanging Rock (Amazon Prime)

# Reading - From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty

# Listening - Space Cowboy - Kacey Musgraves

# Making - Cross-Stitch Family Portrait (Commissioned work)

# Feeling - Stressed and hopeful at all once.

# Loving - This Quote:

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, and to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars. " 

 - Jack Keroac 

That is all for now,  I should be back soon with my finished cross-stitch project!