Summer journal....

I'm having a fun time in Rachel's summer art journal class. I'm a huge fan of mini books and have found them the best way for me to keep up with my photos and my journaling. I'm such a theme based person that they're perfect. I've created books at the end of a season before to celebrate and document all that took place, but this is different. Below is my summer journal that I am beginning now, at the beginning. So I will scrapbook and journal as the season goes along. It won't be as much a reflection, but more in the moment.
So far we've stated our intentions for the season.
Followed by a list of things that surely must be involved if this summer is to be grand.

This is really getting me excited about the summer ahead and helping me to prioritize what is important. Even if that means just paying less attention to the time and more to where the sun is in the sky.

What a summer it's going to be!

Worlds away....

We looked at this old globe for days, drawing an imaginary line from Minnesota to Japan. I'm happy to say that my husband made it home safe and sound from his 10 day trip. He went for his tai jutsu training. That explains why it's been a bit quiet around here. I've been holding down the fort, along with lots of help from my parents. Thanks mom and dad! Now we have images from that far off land. I love seeing photos of places that feel worlds away. So much imagery to take in and fresh perspective. Hope you enjoy them as well!

From temples to perler beads...a little bit of everything. I found these images so inspiring.
Kashiwa

Kamakura Tokyo dome in Suidobashi

Coffee and Booze?!?


beautiful gardens



glimpses of Tokyo

So glad to have him back home!

Magnetic attraction...

I've been aching to journal all week and finally took some time to do so. I did Danielle's magnetic attraction 101 exercise. I made my list, started snipping out pics from some new magazines and enjoyed coming up with things that I'm attracted to, intrigued by, enamored with...
I then analyzed a bit about why I like these things and ended up coming with these words that rang true for this exercise:
*organic
*engaged
*curious
*receptive

Speaking of journaling, I know a few of the fabulous ladies involved in this have blogged about it, but I wanted to give my shout out for LK Ludwig's new book Collaborative Art Journals.

In the spring of 2007 Julie Collings hosted a Spring Secrets round robin with Melissa, Cassondra, Lilia and myself. We were fortunate enough to have this wonderful project presented as an entire chapter in LK's new book!

I posted on the project several times when we were passing the books around. Here are some pages I did in Melissa's book. Also my contribution to Cassondra's wonderful mini-albums was published in the book. You can see what my beautiful book looked like when it arrived home with all the amazing artwork from the other ladies on this post. What a fun project and even more exicting that it was published!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Color my world...

The gorgeous flowers of spring are putting a smile on my face and inspiring me right now. They're getting me in the mood as I put together my summer manifesto.

The lady's slippers were in bloom this weekend and were quite stunning. How could I resist?!

Such a riot of gorgeous colors and fragrances.

The end.

Iris study...

We were at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum today and the iris were spectacular!
Hope the weather is as perfect where you are as it is here.

Enjoy your weekend!