messy journal status and other random things on my mind today...

The messy journal:
So I currently have three people's pages, and I know Chelle's is on it's way. Is anyone else planning on participating? Please let me know asap! My email is theasbeesATyahooDOTcom. I don't want to send it to Leslie unless I know for sure that everyone who wanted to was able to contribute! The pages I have gotten so far are really beautiful! I can't wait to see them all together.

My gift:
So I am planning on sending a little package of my own in addition to the messy journal- including a couple of appliqued onesies + a book + a treat or two for Miss Leslie, but there is no way that I can send them in the next couple of days. I think I can get them out at the very earliest Friday, at the very latest Monday (a week from today). Audrey's 3rd birthday is on Wednesday and her party is on Saturday, so I have quite a bit going on project-wise this week. I'm sorry! But please don't let my late gifts stop us from having the shower when we need to to make it work for Leslie and Nick and Cade's arrival. I am fine with whatever works!!

How I know Leslie:
So as I was looking through older posts, I realized that I never commented on the one asking how we all knew Leslie! I met Leslie online about two and a half years ago- I am pretty sure it was via my friend Misha's old blog, but it could have been Chelle's blog...who knows! We started reading each other's blogs and I remember being so excited when she found out she was pregnant with Rylan-she wanted a baby so bad! Leslie has always felt like a dear, "real-life" friend, even before we had ever emailed or spoken on the phone. We have still never met (hopefully some day!), but I love her so much and am so grateful to have her in my life.

Other random thoughts:
So, I promise to post some pictures of the messy journal when it is all done, as well as my other gift. All the gifts that have been posted so far look amazing and beautiful. I can't wait for Leslie to hear about all this! She is going to be SO surprised!!!

xo Andi

messy journal details

So I am having a really hard time decided which style of messy journal to go with! I really love the look of the sewn one, but I think for a collaboration work, it may be easier to use the jumper rings...Is everyone okay with that?

Here are the details I am thinking, as far as putting it all together goes:

* For your pages, please use paper that is no bigger than 8x8 inches and no smaller than 3x3 inches.

* Please leave a 1/4 inch to 1/2 margin open on the left side without any writing or detail work on it. This way none of your lovely work will be cut off when I put it all together.

* Feel free to create as many pages as you want! I think with using jumper rings, I will not have any trouble fitting in everyone's work.

* You may use one side of the paper, or both. Both sides will be visable in the journal.

* Feel free to use any kind of paper, fabric, pictures, whatever to create your pages! I think that the beauty of these journals is in fact that they are made up of all kinds of random textures and color.

* You may include anything, as far as writing goes, on your pages. Some ideas: words of wisdom, quotes, poems, verses, photos/pictures, letters to Leslie...

* The deadline for sending in pages is: Wednesday, September 10 (that's 2 weeks from today).

* Please send me an email (theasbeesATyahooDOTcom) to sign up and I will send you an email reply with my home address.

I can't wait to see all of your beautiful pages!

more on the messy journals...

I am so excited that everyone likes the "messy journal" idea! After I posted about them last night, I remembered another example that both Emily and Miss Cathy Zielske posted on their blogs a long time ago. Here are some photos of those ones...

Cathy's:

Emily's:

So two questions...

01. Which style do you like better? The ones I posted photos of yesterday (seen here: http://showersofblessingforcade.blogspot.com/2008/08/just-few-random-shower-ideas-and.html), with the pages folded in half and then sewn in the middle to bind them?

OR

The photos from this post, with the pages held together with jump rings?

02. How much time do you think you need to get your page(s) done?

Please leave a comment on this post and let me know your answers! I will post something tomorrow night finalizing all the details and definitely want all of your imput before I do that!

Thanks ladies! I am really, really excited to see what we are going to come up with!

messy journals and other random thoughts

Just a few random shower ideas and thoughts that have been on my mind this evening...

01. I am so very excited about this whole amazing surprise! Thank you so much girls for putting it all together. Every time I log on here, I get all weepy thinking about how much Leslie is going to love this!

02. I cannot tell you how completely in love with this blog design! It is beautiful! I am especially in love with the "lined notebook paper"- seriously lovely.

03. Do we have a specific date set yet for the shower?

04. What is the plan for the day of the shower? What will the blog be like on that day? Are we posting photos of our gifts here or are we trying to get everything to Susan for her to give to Leslie that day? Sorry for all the questions, I was just kind of confused...

05. I would love to make a couple of appliqued onesies to go with the color scheme of Chelle's quilt. And maybe a few burp cloths, but we'll see if I can get the onesies done first...

06. And now for the big one...

I have an idea for the collaborative journal/scrapbook. (See photos above) (And dear moderators, feel free to shoot this down if you have a better idea- no hurt feelings, I promise!) I was thinking that it will probably be hard to get an actual circle journal up and circulating quick enough to get in done in time for the shower date. But, if we did it more "messy journal" style, with everyone sending their contributions to me to put together at once, I think we could pull it off...

I was inspired by the lovely "messy journals" Miss Emily Falconbridge (http://embers.typepad.com/) has sold in her etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=102997). (Sorry for the awful links- I don't know how to post a link in Blogger...) She also wrote a tutorial about how to put them together here: http://www.todaysmama.com/expand-articles.php?view=374&apg=2.

Anyway, I thought that if everyone sent me their thoughts- scrapbooked, written on paper, photos, whatever (I'm thinking normal notebook paper size and smaller)- I could put them all together into something messy journalish. What do you guys think?

Hope you are all having a lovely Monday evening!

xo Andi