New Year/New Changes

As many of you know, I'm making changes. My last post on this blog will be January 6, 2013. I hope you'll plan to come and visit here on that date as I'll be giving away copies of books.

From then on, I'll be posting regularly on my personal blog http://joannaslan.blogspot.com

Why should you join me on my personal blog? Well, that's where I'll share news about the contract I'm signing for a brand new series! Here's what I can share: It's a three-book contract for a mystery series featuring a spunky female protagonist and there'll be a whole lot of crafting involved in this cozy.

As time goes on, I'll also tell you what's next for Kiki Lowenstein. And I'll continue to share my love of crafting, which isn't confined to scrapbooking. More and more, I'm interested in drawing, painting, and other papercrafts.

Over the past few days, I've taken a bit of a vacation. I've been exercising my creativity in a new way by following some of the suggestions in Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals: A Mixed-Media Workshop with Carla Sonheim. I believe the brain is a muscle. By exercising it, by stretching it in different directions, it grows. So above is my first attempt at an imaginary beast. To Sonheim's instructions, I added several Zentangle designs. 

My idea of a vacation is a time when I can read a lot. I've finished Manhunt by Peter Bergen (about the search for bin Laden), Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo (about the slums of Mumbai), and now I'm reading Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (about Thomas Cromwell and his relationship to Henry VIII).

I'm looking forward to 2013. It's going to be a good year. I hope you'll continue my journey with me!

PS The clicker tells me that this is our 1952 blog post! Wow!

My Favorite Scrapbooking Tool

This week, all of us Killer Hobbies Blog Sisters will be sharing our thoughts on our favorite crafting tools. It’s a cool idea that our Blog Sis Terri Thayer came up with.

I started noodling around the theme, and golly, I have to admit, choosing just one was a bit harder than I expected. I’m lucky enough to have a crafts room/office crammed with all sorts of fun things to play with. After all, I’ve been scrapbooking since 1998, so I’ve had an entire decade to collect stuff.

But when I really got down to basics, to what I couldn’t live without, the answer was pretty surprising. Pretty simple, too.

I can’t scrapbook without a good pencil. My preference is a cheap, yellow plastic mechanical #2 lead by PaperMate. If it still has any eraser, I’m really in heaven.

You see, if I have a pencil and an eraser, I can do just about anything. First of all, I can use my pencil to assist me in creating a layout because even without a ruler, I can eyeball paper sizes. (Okay, it’s nice to have scissors so I can cut the paper. That’s sort of a given.) I use my pencil to make little tick marks for where to cut.

Second of all, with a pencil, I can create just about any art to dress up my pages. Here’s a sketch I’ve been working on. There's most of what comes to mind when I think of summer--a grill, flipflops, sand, and a bucket.

I start my images with a really loose drawing. Then I erase and refine my work. Now I’m on to adding color…probably with pencil in this case. I can pretty much “create” the art for an entire page with my trusty pencil in hand. I can also create lettering for a page title.

In fact, if you go to www.youpublish.com/joannaslan you can click on my 4th of July downloads and see how I did all the art for a big two page scrapbook page. That all started with, yep, a pencil.

Finally, if I have a pencil, I can add journaling. Sure, an archivally safe pen is great, but you know, you can still see pencil sketches done by Michelangelo. Pencil will stand the test of time.

By the way, you can always learn about the new, free art I make available by subscribing to my newsletter. Just go to my website http://www.joannaslan.com/ and sign up.

So, that’s my choice. My go-to, constant pal, can’t do without tool: a pencil.