Birth Story|Journey to Parenthood|Mom Post

Hey crafters!

I think I’m going to call this an “In my feelings” post. So over the weekend Imani, my 1.5 year old was over her Auntie’s house. (Shout out to sister Nesha free date night/me time babysitting lol) Anyway, so she came how today and while she was napping and I was doing the dishes I was having all the feels. I also felt the extreme urge to share those feelings and thoughts with you guys.

So, those of you that know me know about the  my husband and I took to become parents. Those that don’t: we tried for a few years to conceive and were eventually told that it would not be a possibility.  We had literally just signed up for adoption classes, and accepted our new path to parenthood when we found out that I was pregnant. Which was pretty eventful in and of itself. I was the maid of honor for my cousins wedding and the bride and I were on the way to my house to get dressed but got into a major car accident. My cousin and I decided not to go to the emergency so that she could still get married but went the next day and found out we were pregnant.

Pretty intense and exciting right? Yeah, we thought so too. She was due February 26th but due to my blood pressure (which had been borderline the whole pregnancy) and a condition called preeclampsia I was admitted to the hospital a month early. And after about half a week of not being able to move or be awake much because of the drugs they had me on, I had to have an emergency c-section. She was born January 26th 4lbs and 11oz and thankfully healthy and did not have any further complications.

***Side note I totally did not mean for this to be a birth story but oh well it is now.
Anyhow, so on to the point. With all of that as a prequel to the beautiful baby girl that is Imani, I can honestly say that it was well worth it. Yet there are moments when people will ask me a question about her and how she’s doing and I’ll make some remark that insinuates that she’s a brat or something like that. Instead of saying what I truly feel which is that I welcome the terrible twos and the sleep deprivation and feet sore from chasing her down. I welcome it because I didn’t think I would have an Imani.

I mean, I guess sometimes the awkward in me takes the forefront and when people ask certain questions I’m trying to be funny or relatable but the reality is that I’m not funny and usually do not relate to other people. But it shouldn’t matter right? When someone says “hey she’s a busy little thing” because I’m chasing her around the playground or something I should say “yeah but I’ll take it every day of the week and twice on Sunday” because that’s how I feel but instead I say something like “OMG tell me about it!”

I guess the true point of this all over the place post is to say that if you ask me how Imani is doing or make a comment about how busy she is or post a video saying how aggy she is, know that what I really feel is that I don’t care because I’m just thankful to have her to chase around.

I told you in advance, all the feels. 😐

That’s it for now!

A Cool Junk Journal |Glue Book | Tutorial For Beginners

Hey Crafters,

Yeahhhhhh, it's been a while. Crazy times in our life. We moved/downsized, began potty training, stopped cosleeping,  and a whole lot of other things that have really taken up a lot of time. Not to mention that I am now babysitting two children, 8 and 10 years old, which is great! So, yeah, a whole lot to catch you guys up on.

But, today I'll be focusing on something completely unrelated to any of those things: Art Journaling. I'll be doing more posts soon to talk about/share tips and things for everything else I mentioned before, so don't fret.

Any who, so I don't know about you, but before I start a craft or new project I do a lot of Google, Pinterest and YouTube searching. This time was no different. I found lots of ideas that I wanted to try but only a few really made the cut.

Some of the things I saw I felt were too simple or too difficult. I wanted to try some new techniques but I'm crafty, so I didn't want to feel like I was doing a toddler craft, ya know? I wanted to make a book that wasn't lame/boring to make. Well, I succeeded because I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the transformation of this book in just a few days of work.


Well the first thing I did, was the front and back covers.

The YouTube video that I watched was: Art Journal Cover Process | Art Journal From a Composition Book Part 2 | Jenn SWT
She is super detailed and great for beginners and pros alike. You can check out the video for the full process, but I'm going to tell you what I did, too.


So the Materials you need are:

Composition Notebook
Mod Podge
Gesso
Paper Towels (I KNOW!!!! So exciting!)
Foam brush
Spray Mist Inks (Optional)

So basically you begin with a new composition notebook. I opened to notebook up at the middle and placed pages down on the table so that I could work both the front and the back at the same time.

After Mod Podge and Paper Towels Have Dried Overnight

Then, with your foam brush, you're going to make a thin/medium layer of Mod Podge completely covering the cover. Then you're going to take your paper towels, and cover the entire cover.

When I did this, I kind of scrunched the paper towels up a bit to give a little more texture. TIP: For the excess that hangs over the sides, you can either cut it off or like I did fold it over the top and add more Mod Podge. I like it like that because made the edges look more natural, and not straight, but whatever you think is best, "Do you, Boo."

I put two layers of paper towels and Mod Podge.  I then let the notebook dry overnight. (It should look like the first image.)

Then, because you can still sort of see through the paper towel, you're going to paint over it with some white paint or gesso. Which I, of course, didn't take a picture of.
Then, I took my Spray inks (pink and purple) and sprayed to my heart's content.

This is what it looked like after spraying with the mists. I think I liked it better before I added my chipboard embellishments but, I'm keeping it like it is.

                                                                                                                               

So, I added some chipboard shapes that I like, and freehand cut the word "ART" with some heavy card stock. Then, I painted over them with Gesso, and once that was dry I sprayed some more mist. I also added some gems, because... well. I like BLING!! Any who. That's it for the cover.

The inside I watched AMANDA RANDOMS video on how she prepped her junk journal. I actually ended up watching her whole series on that Junk Journal and subscribed because I really liked her ideas, but again, "Do you, boo."

Her page process is basically, crumpling up a few pages at a time, then uncrumpling them. Then taking an ink pad and rubbing it over the pages, mixing and blending different colors. Amanda Random used distress inks but I used my Stampin' Up inks, and it worked just fine. Some pages, I liked the way the back bled through and didn't add any additional ink, but others I added in some colors.

 I think they look AWESOME!

 I used the spray mist on some pages.

 I tried to make some pages look connected by the way I prepped them.

 Here's my WIP first page. I'm not sure where I'm going with this page, but I know I'm not completely done/satisfied with it yet.

This is the front inside flap. I'm planning to put a pic of my family in the white square, then on the numbered items, write some personal promises or memories that I cherish. I'm going to add some stencil work with gesso or modeling paste to break up all of the browns.

Well, alright! This was a WAYYY longer post than I intended but, you've finally reached the end. LOL.

Thanks for stopping by, Crafters!