Ronda Palazzari Designs

Moments Like This

Have you figured out i've been on vacation?  Martha flew in from Orlando a week or so ago and then the next day we flew to Seattle.  From there, we drove to the Pacific Coast to spend 8 days exploring the Olympic Peninsula, and finally, getting back to Ruby Beach.  

More details (and LOTS of photos) on that later but my desire to return there & the upcoming vacation is what sparked this layout for My Mind's Eye.  The gray background paper is a lovely neutral paper for my previous vacation photos.  I used the teal Necessities 6x6 paper pad and layered rows of the foiled vellum over it to give it that beachy feel.  I used a border punch along the edge of the vellum to give it texture.

Got leftovers?  Line up little pieces of chipboard, patterned paper, buttons, die-cuts, and other items to make your own adorable banner.  I love the pop of color in the little banner, especially against my photos.

Did you know you can sew through the chipboard?  No needle change, just use a regular sized needle.  Because of the adhesive on the back of the chipboard, you should wipe the needle with alcohol after sewing.  It removes any sticky residue.  

Have you ever scrapped your wants/desires/life lists items?

 

Create Daily: Art On the Go

Last week i shared a couple different ideas about traveling with art journals and an artsy travel mini album.  i hope you realize you can always be creative on the go.  Today i want to share a couple ideas about how to carry these items with you while you travel and what i actually have packed in my mini tote.  

i bought this tote years & years ago from Creative Memories.  It is one of the best crafting purchases i have made.  i bought a second one and use them both frequently.  i use it for crafting supplies, to carry my art supplies to class, and when i am traveling.  i searched the internet for something similar since these aren't sold anymore (you can still find some on ebay) and the closest i could find is this tote from Storage Studios.  Don't be afraid to shop at home stores or office supply stores to find solutions outside the craft industry.  An inexpensive toiletry case is great for supplies.  Another good option are those plastic zipper cases sheets or bags that shower curtains come in that you probably already have in your house. 

This little case measures approximately 10.25" x 6.5" x 3.5" and fits perfectly in my carry-on tote or my travel backpack.  i love it for it keeps all my supplies together and holds a lot of items.  i keep my larger items "loose" and place smaller items in a zipper pouch.  A couple things to note:

• Make sure the water bottle is empty before boarding a plane
• Scissors need to have less than a 4" blade in the US
• make sure your waterbrush is empty too 
• a plastic baggie (or two) can be very useful

i like bringing a plastic bag to collect ephemera for your art journal, mini album, or even project life pages.  i place items in the bag, sometimes marking the date on the piece if i am going to cut it down to help remember what happesn when.  i like to keep rubber bands around my inks to keep the lids in place.

So here's what i have in that one small tote and what i am bringing on my trip.  

• 4 watercolor brushes (Flat, Filbert, Round, & Spotter)
• Sketch Pencil (2HB)
• Black Pen (Waterproof)
• White Pen (Waterbase sharpie)
• Compressed Charcoal
• a few hand-carved tiny stamps
• Label Stamp
• White kraft mini Jotter Labels
• small scissors
• 5" x 8" Journal
• small moleskin "mini album" with decorated pages
• Travel NeocolorII set
• Sakura Travel Watercolors with Waterbrush
• two washi tapes
• small punch
• gluestick
• Tim's tiny attacher
• Date stamp with plastic block
• Plastic baggie
• Mister Bottle (small water bottle)
• Grey Stamp Pad
• Empty plastic container for water

Quite amazing isn't it?  All that fits into my bag & can go on the plane with me.  i'm packed & ready, now if my vacation would just hurry up and get here!

Art on the go could also mean just embroidery supplies.  i usually throw mine in a plastic baggie & go.  In this art on the go kit i include scissors, smaller embroidery hoop, floss on a ring, and a plastic needle carrying case.

Or maybe my art on the go is a knitting or crochet project.  i like to keep it simple by bringing one or two small projects.  Again i just use a plastic bag to hold my items: crochet hooks or knitting needles (both are allowed on planes), small scissors, yarn, & instructions (not pictured).  

Not going anywhere soon?  Use these tips for Staycations to the park, swimming pool, and other favorite local passtimes for your art on the go.  

Julie joined me at Rocky Mountain Memories this past weekend for my make & take.  While driving Julie to the airport, we hatched some plans for an art retreat here in beautiful Colorado in September.  Once we work out the details, we'll fill you in, but we are seriously super excited about the whole thing.  Doesn't a weekend making art with Julie and Ronda sound like trouble the most awesome thing in the world?! ;)

 

Artsy Travel Mini Album, Part 2

i love traveling and i am really looking forward to time with my Martha.  The vacation/holiday isn't too far away and i want to spend most of it relaxing with her.  I also want to document every minute of it. So why not soak up that precious time together in an artsy travel mini album? 

After misting some of the pages yesterday, i went back in & added in some washi tape.  This helps give the pages some structure plus it's just pretty!  i didn't add it to all the pages but just a few here & there.  i also added some Earl Grey Maya Mist splats to every page to tie them all together (not pictured).  

Now that the interior pages have backgrounds, i am ready to travel.  i will leave the cover plain until i get back and decide what the title will be based on how i fill it up.  The next step is to decide what to bring with me to fill the album.  i can keep it really simple if i wish. 

Simple includes:

1. Mini Album
2. Glue stick
3. Small pair of scissors
4. A Cocoa Daisy label stamp & stamp block
5. Archival Ink (Wendy Vecchi's Watering Can)
6. Waterproof Black Pen

A little above simple is nice too.  It gives me a little more flexiblity in my pages.  

The next level includes:

1. Simple kit
2. Washi Tapes (i'm keeping with my grey theme)
3. Small Heart Punch
4. Maya Road White Mini Kraft Jotter Tags
5. Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

i can kick it up a notch and bring one kind of medium with me.  So many choices but what to bring?

1. NeoColorII Watercolor Crayons
2. Faber Castell India Ink Brush Pens
3. Faber Castell Colored Pencils

i don't know what i am going to bring just yet but i have time to decide.  i will coordinate it with the Art Journal i am bringing.  i want to limit myself so i don't overthink it.  

and that's my advice to you...don't overthink it!

 

 

 

 

Artsy Travel Mini Album, Part 1: Getting Started

Yesterday i talked about traveling with your art journal & limiting your supplies. Maybe art journaling isn't your thing but you do want to capture your vacation/holiday.  How about an artsy travel mini album?  

The first step is getting a little notebook to use as a mini album.  i like using these little notebooks with grid & lined pages because it adds another layer to your mini.  i used one before and it turned out ever so lovely.  i tend to pick up these moleskin albums in three packs just for such occasions (plus i also keep one in my purse for every day life). 

i decided to go with a little grey album.  There's three in a pack and so i thought i would make Martha one as well for our trip soon.  To get started, select a note book & grab a gluestick.  Simple as that.  To make the pages a little stronger, glue some of the pages together.  i like to glue about two or three pages together.  Don't skimp on the gluestick & cover the whole page before sandwiching the pages together.  When i was done i ended up with ten double pages or 20 pages total.  

Once they are glued togther, build up some of the backgrounds of the pages before you even go on vacation.  i am using some of my stencils and various spray inks to create my backgrounds.  i used some distress inks too.  

Tomorrow i will share with you how to add a few more touches before heading off on vacation, plus how to be successful while on your journey!

 

Days in Doha: Museum of Islamic Art

i have been wanting to visit this museum since i first set foot on this sandy soil.  it didn't happen before but i knew this time, i had to make it happen.  I.M. Pei designed the beautiful building which is a work of art in itself.  The building sits on the corniche with a waterfront view on one side and a city view on the other.  

Quite stunning isn't it?  There is a beautiful water feature leading up to it along with this bridge to the entrance.  I love the strong edges and black features of this building.  And the interior is just as stunning.

This is the view from the second floor with the spectacular stair case and light feature.  The other side is the cafe and water feature where you can enjoy a spot of tea. 

We started up on the 4th floor at a temporary exhibit called Steel and Gold, a historic swords exhibit. A unique exhibit that shows the history of blades in this region including India.  I like that they share not only the blades but some prints of fashion that went along with the pieces.  The intricate details on both the blades and sheaths is breath-taking. 

The way the museum is laid out is quite unique.  On the third floor are the earliest pieces arranged by time.  I could spend hours in the ceramic room looking at the intricate details of the hand painted pottery.  Throughout time, we all seem to be drawn to the same basic shapes.  Did you spot the herringbone like patterned in the above pottery?

This jar is a feast for my eyes.  So much texture and details to digest all in one big beautiful jar which dates back to the 13th century. 

 

This is one of my favorite pieces i spotted this day.  The color and design just fascinate me.  it's a simple piece but utterly beautiful.

I love that the museum is filled with everyday art including glass, ceramic, and metal bottles.  Look at the details on the perfume bottle displayed above. 

 

Very few portraits exist in this museum.  There are small gouache paintings and lots of book pages but these two are rather large portraits hanging on the wall.  Obviously done by the same artist and hung side by side in the museum. 

it's filled with unusual objects and unique pieces.  Metals, jewels, jewel encrusted pieces, and more.  They have a figure room, a calligraphy section, a patterned section, and science section as well as rooms laid out by time periods.  

One of the cool parts of the museum is a small section dedicated to the art of science filled with compasses of days gone by, celestial maps, quadrants, and astrolabes.  Once again that recognition of every day items, tools of time gone by, displayed as art.

Like these beautiful pieces, jar lids, displayed beautifully.  The display itself is so very cool but a little too high for me to peek into each piece.  I confess i want to hold and examine each lid carefully.  So gorgeous. 

It was an enjoyable day at the museum.  I was impressed that Andrew & Anthony were pretty patient with me being so absorbed into many of the pieces.  I know i would love to go back and take a little more time.  It is an inspiring collection and i would like to take advantage of the education center.  Admission into the museum is free which also makes it easy to go back. 

The Travel Journal

In addition to my Art on the Go kit, i wanted to bring along supplies to build an Art Journal on the Go.  Last year i did a little art journal mini album for our stay in Doha using a small moleskin journal.  i really love that little journal and wanted to do something similar but different.  So this time around i am thinking i will create more of a travel art journal plus a "project life" style album using a Simple Stories Snap album.  The latter will be completed when i get home after sorting through tons of vacation photos and collecting daily ephemera.  I plan to use the art journal pages in that album as well but needed a way to keep it organized on this trip so i made it into a little ring binder.  The pages are 4 x 6 and could easily be cut down to 3 x 4.  I really like this idea of combining these two pieces. 

So let's take a look at the supplies found in this little kit.  All of this kit plus the kit before pack down into two little travel totes.  These totes i picked up years (1998 ish?) ago through Creative Memories.  They are similar to this one i found on their site only less decorative, a simple black bag. 

1. Tags, chipboard cover, & watercolor paper.  I like the idea of tags as a way to create on the go.  The chipboard album is a Maya Road album that i pulled apart for the two pages as my cover.  Like i said, the watercolor paper is cut to 4x6 and could be cut down further to 3x4. 
2. Stencils & small tags.  Lots of TCW stencils in 6x6, including my new ones.  I love the 6x6 as a travel size.  I love smaller tags too. Easy way to add that little something to a larger tag or art journal page.
3. Instax Camera.  I love this Fuji camera with the vertical photos.  I usually save it for special occasions as the film isn't cheap and roughly works out to about a $1 a print.  However i think it adds something special to my albums.  I brought along extra film so i can take a few shots daily. 
4. AC/Dear Lizzy Stamp & embellishments.  The stamp is a date stamps + words.  I love these little stamps and packed multiple.  The baggy is full of little embellishments including wood, buttons, and flair...most of them travel themed.
5. Small white coin envelopes.  simple way to store little ephemeral bits & pieces plus fun to decorate.
6. AC/Amy Tangerine Stamp & Glitz roller stamps.  i love this interchangeable date stamp from Amy Tan.  It's great to keep track of the days.  The glitz rollers have been my favorite for a while so i was happy they brought them back.  I have a number one & a camera one in my stash. 
7. 7 gypsies label stickers, AC/Amy Tangerine Transparent Stickers, Map punched shapes, & baggie.  The label stickers are oldies but goodies.  in fact i am thinking of purchasing some more.  I thought the vellum stickers were an easy travel alphabet to carry with me.  The star burst punched shapes i cut out of an old atlas.  I love this shape & idea of using maps in my art journal.  The plastic baggy is to collect ephemera along the way.
8. Ranger black ink, thin acrylic blocks, & Cocoa Daisy stamps.  I love archival ink.  it's waterproof and i can get a really clean image.  I really like the thin Tim Holtz acrylic blocks, easy to grab, easy to take traveling.  The Cocoa Daisy stamps are travel related, a giant world map, travel words, and a camera stamp.  
9. iPhone 4s.  It's an easy way for me to document moments using the camera & instagram.  i also have apps like Postagram that allows me to create postcards for mailing. 
10. adhesive & matte medium.  I love this adhesive from 3M.  i brought along some replacement cartridges as well.  The little squeeze tube of matte medium is so useful to have on a trip.  I also have a collage gluestick that isn't pictured. 
11. Canon 60D camera and lens. Not Pictured.  The camera is a must as well as my favorite 24-70mm lens.  I wouldn't go anywhere without it. I had to use it to photograph this pic!

 

 

I was here

On Tuesday i flew to Cleveland, Ohio to be with this beautiful lady, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.  She is the co-host of Scrapbook Soup, a PBS show that is full of creativity.  i was there to film a couple guest spot for an upcoming shows.  i arrived in the airport on Tuesday and when i was in baggage claim, i spotted this gal.

We had lots of fun at dinner, chatting & catching up with life.  Ali Edwards is such a remarkable soul and radiates warmth. I am blessed to know her.  

Lots of fabulous people in the studio, including Kelly Purkey, Ali Edwards, Nancy Nally, and Joe Rotella.  Kim from Spellbinders was there but sadly i didn't grab a photo of her.  It was so much fun to sit in the green room and chat with these creative people.  It felt so relaxed and natural with lots of laughter.  I loved seeing everyone's stellar creation.  KP just might have inspired me to take the full plunge into project life.  Julie's been telling me to jump in and Kelly gave me that last nudge i needed. Maybe i will even start with this week!

The team at KS Productions were incredible.  I truly enjoyed the atmosphere there.  Everyone was so helpful and friendly.  Julie is such a great host.  She knows how to make me laugh, to keep me calm, and to inspire me.  She is so unique and i am so very very blessed to call her friend.  I am a better person for knowing her. I am an incredible time filming, nervous at first and then it became easier.  I have a secret to tell, i actually really like it!

The new Scrapbook Soup shows will be airing in October.  You can check your local PBS listings for times.  Don't have the program in your area or live outside the US?  You can view them online!  Check out the Scrapbook Soup Blog for details!

 

 

inside the Doha Mini Art Journal

Over the last couple weeks, i have been able to sneak in some creative time while the boys were off spending some time together.  I decided to work on the interior backgrounds of my Doha Mini Art Journal, adding in little bits and pieces of ephemera.  I want to add in the photos at home and then finish off the album.  My plan is to use 2" x 2" or 3" x 3" square photos on the inside, depending on what fits better. 

On these pages, i have used 6" x 6" The Crafter's Workshop stencils and lots of mists.  I then stamped images in black and added bits & pieces of washi tape.  I plan on doodling some on the pages and adding in bits of journaling.  Here's a look at some of these background interior pages.

and don't forget to register for this FREE webinar I'll be hosting with the incredible Lisa Pace.  You can find all the details in THIS POST. 

Doha Mini art Journal Album

Remember this blank journal from a few posts ago?  I knew at the time that it would serve as my travel mini album for this trip.  I know that Doha is become a second residences of sorts but i am still so fascinated with the culture, the scenery, and the time i spend here.  i like the idea of this mini being a cross between a scrapbook travel album and art journal.  The grid on the interior of this album is just perfect for this idea. 

It comes with plenty of pages so i decided to adhere some of the pages together since i wanted to add in some spray inks & paints.  You can take a glue stick and glue two or three pages together for extra support.  i don't mind crinkles but if they are bothersome, use a brayer to get a smooth surface.

Of course i couldn't leave the outside plain.  One of the biggest fascinations for me is the use of design elements in every day items.  Beautiful intricate designs in doors, gates, walls, etc.  I thought this mini should have that same feel.  I used some leftover decorated watercolor paper from this post on the front cover.  Next i stamped some leaves using paint onto some old text.  I outlined them with my favorite uniball vision pen.  I layered three of them at the bottom of the orange paper.  I added a strip of metal foil tape at the top and drew a design on it.  I then stamped some boarder stamps and added my title.  I do love this little design!  I have been slowly adding to the interior of the album and will share some of those pages soon. 

 

InLinkz.com

have art, can travel

With numerous days ahead in Doha, i decided to pack me a little travel kit.  Ok maybe not so little but compared to the studio, trust me this is a small portion.  Andy will be working and gone some nights while we are there.   Anthony & I have 24 hours of traveling ahead, plus the return trip.  So i will need something to keep me busy and I have an insatiable need to create. I actually tried to limit myself this time, meaning i didn't take every medium i own.  Trust me when i say this is so hard!  Not all of this will be in my carry-on.  I will limit myself to the art journals & pens for now.  Maybe some washi tape.  So let's take a closer look at what's in my travel kit.

I have two art journals going with me, both Moleskin.  These are watercolor journals perfect for almost any medium.  My adhesive dispenser is a must.  Yes i decorated it.  I had leftover paint one day and it was sitting there. 

If i had to limit my mediums, spray ink/mists is always going to make the cut.  I decided to bring a small rainbow of colors.  The mini misters are perfect for traveling!  They will be double bagged in case of leaks.  Right next to them are my black pens in a variety of sizes.

Love Picket Fence distress stain.  It is a great white that really covers well without lifting off the page days later.  Black ink is a must and there is a white ink (Snowcap) underneath as well.  Water bottle, glue stick, some dabber paints are to the left. a simple corner punch can add so much to a page.  Needle & black floss.  A tin of embellishments.  Paint brushes in round, flat, and filbert.  Water pens, a pencil, and a good white eraser.  What you don't see is some stamps that are already packed.

There is a kraft journal under the scissors and brayer.  Again moleskin.  It will be my travel journal for Doha.  Just a little grid journal to help me document my time in Doha.  Behind that are some travel word fetti stickers from Making Memories.  Remember those?  Yes i still have a few of those from ions ago (11 - 12 years ago?).  Perfect for this trip, along with some 7 gyspies date stickers.  There are some kraft journal jotters & Kraft Polka dot envelopes from Maya Road and some glassine envelopes from Tim Holtz.  Manilla tags, 3 x 4 pieces of paper, and book paper under the brayer & scissors.  A few washi tapes and walnut stain ink.  It's my favorite.  And underneath it all is a craft mat that will be joining me on this journey.  It's a great instant go to surface.