Hello!!!!!!

How have you been? Wow it's been so long since I've been here!! I've been so busy! The summer came and there were baseball games and county fairs. CornFests and $1.00 movie tuesdays. Weddings and interviews.

Friends in town and a 50th birthday. Cooling off in the pool and working up a sweat at the gym. Concerts and crafting. Sleep overs and staying up late.

There were BBQs and summer foods too. Many lazy mornings, wearing pjs all day and shopping trips. I think we managed to get quite a lot in even if we didnt travel out of the area this year.

In addition to the fun we've been having around here, (which has definately impacted how much I've been crafting lately).... I also got a full time job!! I can see how full time work may impact how much time I spend in my studio!! Oh, I havent stopped crafting...I'm just even slower at getting my projects done than I was before!!

I have a really fun mini album that I've been working on for weeks a little here and a little there. I really like it...some of the pages are so fun!!! Creams, whites, teals and pinks...yum! I hope to have it finished in the next week or so. Hopefully I'll manage to get a few in the shop too!!

I still want to show you the message board I was working on. We sanded it down and repainted it again. A leaf fell on it and stuck. We sanded it down again and repainted. It has turned out super pretty....I just need to finish it (story of my life!) and hang it before I show you! It is also that time of year to start finding some fun treats for the Girls...the new school year is coming up fast....Hard to believe how much my babies are growing up!!! One of them is even off to High School in a few short weeks!!

So I just wanted to pop in and say Hello...to tell you...I'll be back with some cute things soon.....and that I hope you're enjoying your summer and the weather and all that is good and right.
XOXO,

Mini Art Journal Fun!!!

A while ago, I bought my Girls the Smash Journals from K & Company {Okay, yes...one for myself too!}. I love the idea of it but soon realized that its just too big for me to lug around. The Girls like them but don't take them with them for the same reason and because they are too big for their already over laden backpacks. After seeing some of Amy Tangerine's albums I thought I would make something similar that I could shove in my purse and the Girls could tuck in their backpacks! This is what I came up with....

So Fun! Seriously. I sewed all these fun pages in there...like vintage atlas pages and vintage sheet music. Plastic overlays, a card stock card, graph paper, ledger paper, regular paper. An envelope and more. Ends up to be 40 pages to put pictures on,decorate, stick stuff too and of course write on!! Here is a peek inside....

I made lots of them. I'm doing some craft fairs this coming Holiday season and need to start getting prepared...They are packaged up with some Happy Little Bits to use for the cover and inside the mini journal...This is what the pink bits look like...I thought this would be so perfect for Breast Cancer awareness...

I didn't just make pink embellishments....I made the rainbow of colors...Whats your favorite color? I probably made one in that color too! Inside is fun foreign stamps, cork board tags, glittered clothespin, felt circle, paint chips and more!! So Fun!! I'll be putting some of these in my etsy shop tomorrow...fun part is you can pick what color you want your embellishments to be!!!

So, I've been busy, busy! What are you doing? The weather here has finally turned into fall....with rain and all! I kinda love it!! I love sweat pants and sweaters, rain boots and warm crock pot food!!
Hope your having a great week!! Thanks for stopping by!!!
Hugs,

Happy Monday....

Monday! Oh how I love a Monday morning....I like it when everyone has to get up and go...summer is so hard when my little babies stay up late watching a movie and then sleep until noon or beyond....teenagers....glorious little teenagers!!

This weekend I made a little art journal or mini photo album {as they are sometimes called} to highlight our little day trip to Monterey and the beach. {Its already been claimed by my youngest Daughter}. When I was done I saw all the extra papers and decided to go ahead and make some blank minis to put in the shop! I'll have 3 available!

Here are the fun and funky pages inside the book....lots of different textures...like felt pages, cork board pages and envelopes and tags...I even did a little sewing for you on 5 of the pages!!

I didn't stop there....I added lots and lots of embellishments, some handmade like a yummy yo-yo and glitter button flowers, punched butterflies...oohhhhh yea!! Its all in the cool colors of summer....Yellow, Teal and Orange!!!

I love how all the pages are different and while looking at one page you can see other pages peeking out...

Here is one page in my little album....a jelly fish page...I finally used the cool little printer the Kids got me for Mother's Day and I heard a resounding "It's about time" throughout the house....guess I should have used it earlier!!!

So....What do you think? It's my first time making minis for the shop...and they were so fun...I'm going to make some more...the next one is going to be PINK!!

If you have an extra second I would love for you to "Like" my HappyLittleArt page on Facebook.....just click HERE!

I hope your Monday is Great!! Thanks for visiting!!

A Mini Art Journal....Sneak Peek!!

I've been working on some Mini Art Journals! I've forgotten how much fun and calming they are to make!

Do you journal?

Collecting bits of the days journey and the rush of thoughts and ideas that can come through out the day. I do. I even carry a little one in my purse with me. I draw and sketch in it. I jot down something I might want and the price of it. I might write down a birthday or a to do list. Grocery lists and bill calculations, often plague my little book.

My Youngest keeps her own art journals and I'll admit...I've taken a peek in them once or twice, I couldn't help it. I see her working on them sometimes, but she when asked to share, she just smiles, a sneaky, not on your life kinda smile....she's a beautiful 10 year old...and her creativity is a completely awesome. She takes tickets and stamps and cuts photos out of magazines of things she like and things she doesn't. She writes made up stories and talks about people and her day and feelings. Some pages are just hundreds of stickers, some, in neat little rows....she has no IDEA how much I ADORE her books! Love!!

What are in your books? Can you share???

I'll have one or two mini art journals in my etsy store next week. Filled with 25 or more pages, some left blank for you to add your own bits of fun, thoughts and photos and some pages will have a few yummies already attached waiting for you to decorate around them!!

I hope that you'll come back to take a peek!!