Finish Gelpacs Hybrid Anything Book Art Journal

Earth day is the perfect time to announce my latest Anything Book, Hybrid, filled with Earth-friendly messages and materials.

My Hybrid Anything Book comes with a ring charm featuring glass beads and an angel.

Hybrid is green all the way through, and I don't mean the color. Although there are plenty of green pages inside, the important thing about Hybrid is that it is made from upcycled and recycled materials. Some of these materials even talk about the environmental policy of various companies!



Hybrid gives you have plenty of room to add your own thoughts and materials to its pages.

Have you been looking for the perfect space where you can think and reflect on your daily life? Hybrid is perfect for you! It measures almost 6.5 inches square, which gives you plenty of room inside to write your daily revelations, list your mundane activities, and glue in memorabilia that helps you record your personal life journey. All while saving the environment.

Inside Hybrid is a mix of materials that will inspire you.

I make my Anything Books using as much recycled materials as possible. That includes scraps from my mixed media studio, along with items I find in my daily living. Much of my junk mail appears as treasures inside my Anything Books. Hybrid contains pages from old books, product packaging, paint chips, and business reply envelopes.

You can see the wide range of materials that came together to make Hybrid.

Hybrid is bound with book rings, which means that it will easily expand as you add materials inside. You can also add your own pages simply by using a standard hole punch. If you find that you need even more room, you can replace the book rings with larger ones (1 1/4 or 1 1/2) that you can find in the office supply section of most discount stores.

Each two-page spread is designed to delight you and provide visual inspiration.

The Hybrid Anything book provides a wonderful backdrop to inspire your writing. It's waiting for your thoughts and ideas, but it's blank. On the days with where your muse is nowhere to be found, the mixture of materials, patterns, and colors will make you smile even before you add your own insights, bits of wisdom, and precious memories.

Hybrid is a one-of-a-kind art journal that is waiting for your thoughts, dreams, and bits of everyday living.

Hybrid contains full size pages made from upcycled and recycled materials like patterned paper, cardstock, book pages, greeting cards, and marketing materials. Many of these pages have overlays made from product packaging, business reply cards, file folders, luggage tags, and shipping tags. You can use both sides of these items for your life.

Many of Hybrid's pages are embellished with washi tape and postage stamps.

The edges of Hybrid are messy with things poking out. But life is messy. Go ahead and add that brochure that doesn't quite fit. Oversized items are okay. Your life doesn't fit nicely into a box, and so it doesn't need to fit nicely into Hybrid. Hybrid can adapt and adjust to whatever life throws at you.

Hybrid is large enough to hold photographs and small enough to tuck into your purse or backpack.

Some of Hybrid's pages are simply beautiful empty. As you turn the pages, you will discover sights designed to delight your eyes and heart. And yet, Hybrid is here to do your bidding. Let the bits of beauty poke out between the items that mean something in your life. Hybrid is a canvas where you can tell the story of your life in spoonsized bits.

Hybrid is designed to hold your treasures on it's pages.

You can use Hybrid as a standard journal by writing on the pages, or even gluing in pages you have typed on the computer or written by hand. Hybrid can also hold the small treasures of your daily life. What about adding the tea bag label from your afternoon cup? Or a movie ticket stub? Or the label from that awesome jacket you just purchased? Or the photo (or Instagram) you just took with your bestie?

Hybrid comes with a pen and glue stick so you can start recording your life out of the package.

When you open Hybrid, you'll see that it comes with an ultra-fine permanent marker which is perfect for writing on most of the interior pages. You also get an archive quality glue stick so you can attach the bits of your life with confidence. You can use Hybrid so many ways! You are only limited by your imagination.

What will you create with Hybrid?

Valentine's Day Commision

A friend of mine commissioned me to make an Anything Book for her husband for Valentine's Day. Of course, I was thrilled to help her out.

Here's the cover with the ring charm and book belt.

He's a huge Dr. Pepper fan, so I started out with a cover made from a fridge box. She told me a few of his favorite things and that his favorite color is green. So with that jumping off point, I went through my stash.

I added a green book belt to hold the pages together while he carries his journal around with him. As it gets filled up with items and grows bulky, the book belt will help to hold his treasures inside and keep them safe.

A local area map lets an IKEA ad peek out and a luggage tag overlays a patterned page page.

Normally, I love the mish mash of colors, but it was a lot of fun to see what I could do focused around a single color. I love the way the map colors pull out the colors of the striped paper (above).

A Russian postage stamp pulls out the blue distressing on this polka dot paper.

The recipeint is a journal keeper, so I added in extra journaling sections of blank pages. The vertical shape makes this Anything Book perfect for someone who like to write a lot. With this shape, it's more like writing in a tablet. You can keep a journal in a horizontal Anything Book, of course, but it's a different writing experience. And I'm all for mixing up experiences, too.

A green paint chip adorned with baker's twine hides part of an Apple advertisement.

Some company brochures and marketing materials are so beautiful that I love to incorporate them into the Anything Books. Apple is one of those companies. The green paint chip pops against this ad and the baker's twine adds a touch of elegance.

In the center you can see the rich assortment of materials that went into this Anything Book. 

Photos like this of the depth of the book are my favorites. I love seeing the mix of materials that came together for this book. I also love the variety of materials that made up the page tabs on this book (below).

An outdated London travel guide adds a reminder of the recipient's favorite place to visit.

Her husband love to visit London, so I added in a page from an outdated London travel guide for some memory triggers. There wasn't much green on this page, so I added a paper strip to the bottom of the page, attached with washi tape that brings the brown into the green area.

An envelope with a string closure provides a safe place to tuck away small treasures.

I have a few favorite books that I like to use. On the left is a page from a mythology book that is filled with interesting illustrations. Even the printed pages are beautifully laid out. The variety of colors makes it easy to accent the green in this two-page spread.

This Anything Book has its unique bar code identifier and its name on the back cover.

Inside this book, I found the word "Thames" which is the name of the river that flows through London. So I named this Anything Book: Thames. Like all Anything Books, it has a bar code with a unique identifier on the back, along with my signature.

I got the sweetest note back from my friend after her husband received his gift. I'm honored to have a small part in helping her celebrate her love and her marriage.

Would you like to commission an Anything Book for a special person or event in your life? Check out my Etsy store for details.

Travilla Anything Book

Here's a great Anything Book for the logical, left-brained, and mathematical person. Travilla is an Anything Book made from a calculator box!

The Travilla Anything Book has a ring charm and a book belt.

The Travilla cover has a shiny plastic coating, so it was a bit tricky to photograph it without lots of glare. My apologies for this. It measures 5 3/4 wide by 7 3/4 tall and has a ring charm with an assortment of beads and an elephant charm.

An air mail envelope provides a space to hide treasures safely inside.

The larger and nearly square size of this Anything Book makes it great for a combination of journaling and scrapbooking (or smashing) your daily treasures. Many of the two-page spreads have layers, meaning that there are narrow pages in-between the full size pages. This give you more space for attaching things.

On the right is a page from a photo book layered over the full size page underneath.

Like all Anything Books, Travilla has 50 items inside, meaning you get 100 sides to hold your thoughts, inspiration, photographs, and items from your every day life. The green book belt holds the book closed, and keeps your treasures safe as it gets bulky. The ring binding also allows you to insert your own items. Simply remove a pag for a template, and use a standard hole punch to make holes.

A look into the variety of materials inside Travilla through the binding.

Travilla contains a wide variety of materials including patterned paper, solid paper, journaling (blank) pages, foreign language book page, file folder, luggage tag, playing card, shipping tag, and a library pocket. The pages are embellished with washi tape, baker's twine, recycled silk yarn (from Nepal), postage stamp, tabs and clips.

Patterned paper joins with a greeting card to create an interesting mix of materials to inspire you.

Travila would make a great smash-style journal. Let the pages and items be the background for capturing the story of your daily living. You might use a two-page spread for a week and attach items like your grocery list, a photo of you with your friends, the ticket stub from a movie, or a recipt from your dinner out. Your imagination is the limit. Travilla would hold a year's worth of memories.

The edges are lined with paper and ribbon tabs to help you move through Travilla and label sections.

Are you making a lifestyle change? It doesn't matter if you are stopping smoking, training for a marathon, losing weight, or going vegan. Travilla would make a great journal to record your thoughts and progress towards you goal. Be sure to add in photos to capture your progress along the way.

A page from an outdated San Francisco travel guide provides a beautiful background for your own items.

By adding in pages from books, like the San Francisco travel guide page above, each time your turn the page you discover a surprise. Why not add in new pages that tell the story of your life. With ring binding, it's easy to incorporate new pages. You can even upsize the book rings to 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 rings you can find in most office supply stores or the office supply area of discount stores. Travilla can grow with you!

On the left you an see a vellum page that lets you add some transparency to see through to the page below.

You can use the vellum page (seen here on the left) to hold a collection of stickers or stamps or anything else small. You can line up things on each side of the page so you can see through the gaps to the page below. The vellum gives you a fun page to experiment with your artistic flair.

A library pocket with a shipping tag has recycled silk yarn from Nepal.

Inside the library pocket you'll find a decorated shipping tag from my studio. You can use it hold wallet size photos, or other small items. Or perhaps you can write your favorite quote on it and use it like a book mark in Travilla or another book. There's plenty of room inside the library card to hold other items, too.

A postage stamp adds color and interest to a Travilla page.

Travilla has two journaling sections where you can collect more of your thoughts or inspirational quotes or stories from your daily living. Need more writing room? Add more journaling pages. Travilla can be anything you want it to be.

Like all Anything Books, Travilla has a unique identifier on the back along with its name and my signature.

I sign and date each Anything Book before it leaves my studio. I keep an inventory of the Anything Books using the unique identifier in the bar code label. My Anything Books are truly one-of-a-kind and unlike any other journal or scrapbook you will find.

Mundane Anything Book

This Anything Book may be called "Mundane" but it's anything but boring! (my Etsy shop)

The Mundane Anything Book includes ring fringe on the center binding ring.

The Mundane Anything Book is made from an upcycled/recycled Chia pet box. This one, the Chia Cat, is bright green and red and is perfect for anyone who loves cats. It measures 8 inches wide by 7 1/4 inches tall and incorporates 50 items so you have 100 pages to fill.

This air mail envelope is waiting to hold your treasures.

Part journal and part scrapbook, an Anything Book can be anything you want. There are 4 journaling sections where you can write longer stories, collect quotes, or just express yourself. The other pages can hold your words along with items you glue, staple, or clip in. That means you can add the tiny items of your daily living along with photographs, ticket stubs, and shopping lists.

Found items like this boho glam photo add personality to Mundane.

Each Anything Book takes on the personality of the items inside it. Mundane starts off with attitude! Its contents run the range from the funky boho portrait seen above, to Louis C.K., to the Wizard of Oz, to Marilyn Monroe. Add to this the mix of patterns, textures, and the variety of materials, and Mundane rises to the extraordinary.

The layering of patterns and colors give Mundane a unique feel.

The pages of Mundane will inspire you to express your personality on its pages. Think of them as a colorful backdrop for your own ideas, words, and snippets of your life experience. Layer on your own content like a deluxe pizza ingredients over a perfect crust and you get Mundane.

Small touches like vellum, washi tape and baker's twine add elegance to Mundane's pages.

It's all about the layering. Patterns on textures, contrasting colors side by side, and unepected touches like baker's twine and washi tape add to the viseral experience of Mundane. The visual interest never ends. Turning each page is a voyage of discovery.

The variety of items on every page will inspire your creativity.

Mundane incorporates a wide range of materials including patterned paper, cardstock, book pages, menus, greeting cards, product packaging, paint chips, evelopes, photographs, file folders, vellum, sheet music, a library pocket and a magazine cover.

A variety of tabs let you label sections and quickly find your treasures and memories.

The beauty of Mundane is the ring binding. This allows the book to expand as you add your own items to pages. You can also insert your own pages by simply removing a page to use as a template with a standard hole punch. Also, if you Mundane starts to get too bulky, you can upsize the rings to 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch rings available in most office supply stores or the office supply section of your favorite discount store.

A postage stamp from Mongolia sits over a strip of sheet music.

Mundane would make a great gift for someone special in your life. But it would also make a great gift for yourself. With 50 items where you can write and attach things, there's room for many, many treasured memories.

Mundane is signed by me and dated.

Like all Anything Books, Mundane is a unique book that gives you a one-of-a-kind canvas to record your life, your memories, and keep your treasures. It has its name on the back, along wtih my signature and its bar code identifier. No two Anything Books get the same bar code identifier. It's just one way they are each special.

Check out Mundane in my Etsy shop and see my other Anything Books.

I am Intransigent

I have two reactions to my new art journal and the art journaling process.

First, at the highest level, I realize that I've taken a step into a larger world and started a huge journey by taking just this one little baby step.

Second, I'm a bit shocked each time I turn the page and stare at all of that whiteness. I've learned to overcome the snow blindness of the page when I write, so I'm confident that I'll also overcome it here. I also realize this is the work, every day, to face the whiteness and take yet another baby step.


I'm totally in an experimenting stage with everything in my studio. I'm learning how the tools work. I'm learning how they interact. I'm learning how to use them and not use them. I'm trying things that I like and I don't like. I feel like a total beginner stepping fully into this realm. In every other enterprise in my life, I've reached some level of mastery from years of work and practice. Everything is fresh with the studio. Yes, I feel the advantage of the years of art in my life. I have ideas and my eye looks for things it likes, things that feel right. I'm just learning how to express these ideas, and learning how to put things together so I like the result. There's something freeing about being a beginner again in my life. It's a bit like walking in the woods after a snowfall and leaving the first footprints. (There is that snow blindness image again.)

Today, I made two entries, two very different experiments. I laid out the start of the background by using one of my new fabric stamps from India that I picked up at the Tesuque Flea Market. I just wanted to see how it would stamp using acrylic paint. The first impression went well, so I decided to lay out a background of them. After it dried, I watered down another color and painted it over the images. While that was drying, I grabbed a dictionary I keep in the studio and randomly opened it to the entry for "intransigent." It means unwilling to compromise. I love that idea, it completely resonates with me and my art journal. I added additional words that express my reaction to this word and my commitment to keeping this journal.

Many years ago, I learned how to make and keep a promise to myself. That may not seem like a life milestone to many people, but it was huge in my life, and changed so much of my inner dialog. I promised myself to start this journal, and I did it.

Something else I've learned in my life: baby steps are important. No matter how small the act, taking action in a direction changes everything. It sets you in motion, it starts building momentum. It signals the universe that you are serious, that you have your eyes open and you choose deliberately to move in a new direction. In my life, it always seems that the angels come rushing in at this point. If feels like every guide and every keeper and every fairy along the road come running out like the Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps on the yellow brick road. They laugh with glee and cheer me on because they know that the greatest part of this life is the journey, and that each step taken consciously, with open eyes and heart, and with aligned intentions is a moment of heaven on earth. Who wouldn't cheer for that?!

Today I Begin

I promised myself that my art journal was not going to sit and wait for me to have the perfect space with all of the perfect tools lined up ready to go. Today, I stole some time and using what was easily available, created a reflection of what I am thinking about my art.

Today I Begin...

...creating what I feel.
...learning how to express ideas in a new way.
...experimenting with tools and colors in a powerful new way.
...finding my way home.

As I thought about my art today, I felt my foundation for all of my art has always been collage, so I started with the checkerboard background of individual pieces. I used a fabric stamp from India to add a flower using paint to reflect the growth I'm seeking through my art journal. I used paint pens to add additional concepts and give myself some last minute advice for the journey.

The photo distorts the colors, muddying them a bit. I need to find a good light location in my house to capture the real colors of my art.

But none of this matters nearly as much as this: Today I begin a new phase of my journey.

Santa Fe Highlights - Day 1

It was a whirlwind trip to Santa Fe that left me recharged, reinspired, and ready to dive back into my life.


I drove from Phoenix to Santa Fe with a stop in Albuquerque for dinner at the Duran Central Pharmacy lunch counter. They are famous for their chicken enchiladas with green chili sauce. It was very good. There were two bug-a-boos on that first day. My camera battery died just outside of Phoenix, which meant I couldn't take any more picture en route. (I had the charger in my luggage and remedied the situation that night.) Second, my air conditioner stopped working just outside Albuquerque. The entire day I chased thunderstorms, so the temperature ranged from about 68 to 98 depending on the storms around me. I had the air off and on throughout the day. I rode the rest of the evening in the humid heat without any relief. It still wasn't as bad as driving any summer day in Phoenix without air, so I am not complaining. I got myself checked at the hotel and located the local Toyota dealership for a visit the next morning.


The first day started early with a trip to the Toyota dealership. I didn't have an appointment, but the service adviser was great and someone assessed my problem right away. It was an easy fix, and I was off sightseeing within an hour. (By the way, the Frommer's guide didn't mention the service waiting room but it was quite comfortable!)


The Plaza was only about 2 miles from the Toyota dealer, so I was there quickly. I found the public parking lot on Water street, and hit a few shops as I walked around the block to the Plaza. I arrived just before a tour started, so I impulsively decided to join the tour.


The tour covered the visitor highlights of town and we spent considerable time on Canyon Road viewing the galleries (at a distance) and seeing public sculptures. We also learned some of the history, got recommendations for restaurants and shops, and saw a great deal of the town's charm. I sat on the outside and snapped pictures as we drove. They didn't all turn out, as you might imagine, but I did capture a lot of the highlights this way.


After the tour, I grabbed lunch from a street vendor on the Plaza and copped a squat under the trees and did some serious people watching while I ate. After lunch, I sat with my travel journal, my GPS, and my web-enabled cell phone to plot out which shops I had to visit. I used my cell phone to post pictures on Flickr and messages about my activities on Twitter so my friends and family could follow my adventure. I must say, I felt like a total geek using all of that technology sitting on a grassy plaza in front of the oldest building in the United States.


The afternoon went by quickly. I found a great stamp store and not only had a great conversation there, but bought two fab stamps. I visited about 20 shops in a very short time and by the end of the afternoon, I was ready for a great dinner. I selected The Shed because it was highly recommended and was in walking distance.


I spent the rest of the daylight exploring Canyon Road on my own. Most of the galleries were closed, but since I was only looking, that didn't bother me. The buildings and landscaping were inspiring on their own, and I took many pictures of doorways and courtyards without seeing any of the art inside.


Don't miss the rest of my journey on day 2, day 3 and day 4.