B is for busy ....

In my little Brain I have been tossing around ideas for the B post ... at first I thought I might talk about Beauty ... finding the beauty in life, the beauty in little things, in little moments, in the everyday ... and in oddities like little flowers growing in a crack in the roadside

Then i thought ... I should really do something on Bliss ... on how we should all try to attain a state of bliss ... even if it is fleeting, or momentary, like the feeling you get when meditating on a branch of cherry blossoms against a blue sky

Well, okay, maybe that might sound too pretentious so i thought i might post about Balance, and how it is just so darn hard to live a life in balance ... but it is something i need to do

Finally i came to the conclusion that I should write about the first B word with popped into my head on Thursday morning .... and that word is ... drumroll please .... the suspense is building ... BACON! Yes, Bacon was the first B word in my brain on Thursday morning as i was running around like crazy, because i slept in ... again ... and i need to get my Butt in gear in order to make it on time ... and all day i kind of mulled it over ... what could i possibly say about bacon? that i like it when its not quite well done ... it still has a few little lesser done spots ... that i like a thick sliced bacon and not your ordinary bacon ... that i like the expensive stuff ... and i make a darn good BTL sandwich? Clearly would not have been much of a post.

But what did strike me is after dinner i had a choice ... do my post or bake muffins ... of course i baked the muffins ... little mini Banana muffins ...

And then friday came ... and because my daughter and i have a lot of opposite schedules i decided to hang out with her this evening (i know, she was home on a friday night how rare) but then i didnt have time to post till now ... if not now it would have to be Saturday Morning ... and i have to teach a mini book class (see below) and i just knew i wouldn't have time ...

So i arrived at the conclusion that my B word is definitely BUSY ... yes it's dull ... not too thrilling ... but that is where i am at these days ... with not much spare time ... but it is all good

thanks for stopping by ... I am playing Alphabe-Thursday with Jenny Matlock. Check out her blog, the link is at the top of the sidebar on the right and if you have some time, check out the others playing along that are linked to her blog ... its an interesting read!

PS Sorry I'm a little tardy Mrs. Matlock. :)

So I went to a crop on Sunday ...

... the regular monthly Scrapaholics crop ... (an interesting group of ladies). We are getting quite large with over 40 members yet we cannot find space that will accomodate more than about 28 at a time, thank goodness not everyone can make every crop ... (and why can i never remember that that are 2 m's in accommodate). So it was a good day ... a lot of fun was had ... i kinda was off on the side working away ... you ever have one of those days when you wake up with a headache, kind of a sinus thing and you just feel kinda discombobulated all day? so that was me Sunday ... but i still did have fun ... i actually did two layouts ... and hopefully next month i will be in a much better space and be a little more up for it ... and damn, the sun went and the rains came and thats what the sinus thing was probably all about ... Such a weird weird winter ... how are we going to welcome 1,000's of winter olympic vistors when it is mild enough outside for tshirts, a light jacket and an umbrella? Seriously the climate has been so moderate of late ... not at all like last year when transit came to stanstills over the tremendous amounts of snow. And speaking of snow, one of the mountains has had to move its snow from the bottom of the mountain to the top, to keep it cold ... hopefully in the days leading up to the olympics it gets chillier and we can show off our town when it looks all pretty with snow covering and a blue sky.

My two sweethearts ... a layout for my daughters book!

And the little wants a closer look at the page ... or, as i suspect, just wants to be in the photo!

A layout for my book ... called "my heart beats"

A close up of the flower and leaves and ribbon and stuff... i modified the Prima flower by taking out the ugly yellowish bead from the center (it was the colour of nicotine stained fingers) added a few pink beads and glimmer misted the flower a pales shade of pink ... it looks quite nice now!

A is for Alchemy, Art and Absolutely

Okay ... i love to scrapbook ... and make cards, and altered art and decorative items ... i love playing with paper ... and i like to think of what i do as paper Alchemy ... I love that word ... Alchemy ... just kind of rolls of the tongue, has a hint of mystery & beauty & darkness to it all at once ... and no, i cant pull a rabbit from a paper hat, or make a single crease in a piece of paper and have it flutter beautifully into the sky (although those would be real cool tricks!)

What i can do is put together a scrapbook page that i like, that makes me happy, that makes me feel like i have accomplished something, that allows me to relax while i create it, that brings me joy.

My family is filled with people who coulda woulda shoulda or are becoming artists ... and i am not just talking about my siblings ... it extends to my parents, my cousins, my grandparents and even great grandparents ... I actually have sketches done by my grandfather and a print done by my great grandfather ...( my uncle has the original but all of us kids have prints) and the Artistic talent lies on both my mother and father's side of the family. I am the nonArtist ... I still have not mastered the Art of the stickman, so papercrafts are my little talent.

I am not a great scrapper ... I don't have my creations on loads of blogs or galleries or published in numerous magazines and i would hardly call my work Art. But with my limited artistic talent i do call it Alchemy... yes magic! To me there is magic in the process and in the completed project and in the way it makes me feel to play with paper.

Imagine starting with paper, adding a dollop of glimmer, a dash of ink and a whole lotta heart and actually creating something that satisfies the soul .... Art? no, Alchemy ... Absolutely


ps, will this blog post become a scrapbook page? Absolutely!

dont ask, dont tell ...

I am not one to ask people how my layout is shaping up when i am creating ... i mean i do, now and again, but not very often ... and very few people ever suggest changes to something i am working on ... i guess i just like to scrap to the beat of my own drummer and most of my scrapping buddies seem to recognize that ... Except the divine ms g aka Hayley ...

So I am working on this layout ... for my darling daughter (looks so much more caring than dd) and using pink, black and white (which are my sweeties fave colour combination ever) ... and i think i am finished ... but i doesn't quite look like a me layout ... and Hayley says "how firmly is that lace edge of the paper attached?" ... well good enough i tell her. She then asks if I have any white tulle ... well at home i tell her (not my brightest day) ... "well i was just thinking" she says "that it would look really cool and more like a you layout if your kind of gathered white tulle under the lace edge" ... TADA ... i have one of those wow, the heavens open up with brilliant light and the gods are suddenly smiling down on me ... well me and Hayley moments ... Brilliant call Hayley ... so off to grab the tulle in the shop ... 3 yards latter i am busy stuffing it under my black lace paper ... and now the layout finally looks like my style ... only it took Hayley to make it look like my style ... so now i think i can start using all of that black and bright pink paper i have been squirreling away because my sweetie loves it so much and i am afraid of it so much.

Good Company ...

I think I have been burning out a bit when it comes to creativity ... I just haven't had it in me. So I went to a crop at POTP on the weekend and sat with Hayley (not my Hayley), Carrie and Sara ... and it was good! I wasn't helping in the store, i was just there to crop and enjoy myself and honestly it was the best time i have had at a crop in a long long time ... I got there just as Hayley & Co were about to head of for lunch so i cranked my ipod and just let my creativity rip ... and when the girls were back from lunch i turned off the tunes and just really enjoyed some light hearted conversations and laughter ... first time in a real long time for that. I managed to make three layouts and started on a 4th ... here are the two of the four.

This is my fave layout ... I used stuff from most of my fave manufacturers ... Collage Press, 7 Gypsies, Prima, Maya Road & Fontwerks. The stamped title/journalling is purposely obscured ... it reads .... these boots will set you free ... and so far, irl, these boots have been on lots of adventures with my Hayley!

A work in Progress ... again using product by my fave companies ... Tattered Angels, Websters Pages, Basic Grey and of course Tim Holtz. The flowers were made with pages of a novel (dont worry it's a spare i picked up at the thrit store ... and i always used pages from books that mean something to me ... kind of double memory type thing) ... okay .... where was I? oh yeah ... I used the Tim Holtz film strip ribbon as leaves for the flowers and at the end of the title ... the eye in the filmstrip is from another photo of my dd.

Thanks so much for stopping by ... and thanks for taking a peek at my layouts! I truly had a blast creating them!

word ...

So i wanted to start the year off with a meaningful word ... one that would carry me through the year, one that would remind me to grow, to challenge myself, to become a better me ... and it didnt come to me till late last week ... I had to sit on it for awhile, to mull it over .... forget it, remember it, write it down .... doodle it, play with it ... and finally scrap it. While i was scrapping it I knew that i had found the perfect word for this year .... introducing .... insert drumroll here .... RECLAIM

And that kind of tells you where i am at these days ... i am tired of being overweight, tired of being ill, being late, being stressed, being tired etc .... and i need to reclaim my heath, my body, my joy, my creativity ... this year i am reversing the aging clock, the grey hairs and the chronic exhaustion ... i am kicking illness to the curb and will dance on the table tops when i do ... so here i am ... right now ... sitting with RECLAIM .... I plan to do another layout at the end of the year ... i wonder if there will be a difference ? ...

sneak peek!

okay ... it's just a sneak peek of some Christmas cards i made last night ... tired of my christmas paper and not wanting to sort it and put it away, i decided to turn most of it into cards ... warning ... the cards are uber simple ... but i like simple for most of the people on my list as i dont know if they really appreciate the effort that goes into some of my cards ... so very simple ... and it was a perfect exercise for getting my mojo flowing again ... so here, take a peek!

Now for the real sneak peeks ... Who has been checking out cha sneak peeks??? I have been stalking my fave companies to see what is going to be released soon ...

Tim Holtz ... as usual has amazing sneak peaks ... he is actually doing dies for sissix now ... so clearly i need a big shot ... gotta get my hands on those dies ...

Maya Road has the cutest little chipboard mini's ever ... i have to have the mini butterflies and the kraft tags and the elephant coaster book and the mini sewing chipboard and ....

Websters Pages has gorgeous papers coming out, i cant wait to see them irl

Prima ... sorry ... you dont want to look at these ... THEY ARE ALL MINE so dont bother peeking .... OMG their papers and flowers and embellies are totally me and totally gorgeous ... and i need them all ... and ... and ... thud ... my panties just hit the floor ....yes their stuff is just that gorgeous ...

So which sneak peek are you lusting after?

2 down ...

So my buddy Diane has challenged herself to post a layout, card or altered item every day this year as her 365 project ... Kudos to her! me ... well I'm just hoping to get a few things done .... and complete all of last years ufo's. And believe me i have a lot of ufo's hanging about ... i used to complete everything as i started it ... but last year ... i just didn't get things finished ... ever have a year like that?

You would think that I would be jumping to finish stuff ... but no ... i have been starting new things instead ... so here are two new layouts ... both of these were a pain in the butt .... they almost didn't get finished ...

It's my mommy and daddy at Christmas! I used Webster's Pages patterned paper, velum patterened paper and card stock .... i cut the center of the "frame" page out ... then i cut out the inside bits from the velum paper ... then .... huge mistake ... tried adhering the vellum to cardstock using matte medium ... okay .... Dont try this .... ever .... I finished the layout ... the vellum kind of wrinkled up ... so i though this is okay, this is kinda cool ... looked at it the next day and the wrinkles had come out of the velum, but the cardstock had now shriveled up and warped the entire page ... so i tried regluing the frame bit down ... then putting books on top, after a week i gave up and ran to the shop for a new vellum piece of paper ... came home and redid the whole layout without using liquid adhesive ... and its all good now

With all of the lack of snow this year I am scrapping a picture of my daughter that is 2 years old now ... anyways ... for some reason, I decided I wanted to try and make tracks in my page just like tracks in the snow. I used the same method that you would use if you were making a chennile rug at home ... you know ... multiple layers of fabric or in this case paper, and stitching parallel lines and then ripping the fabric between the two lines ... it worked .... but it took a while to rip all of the layers of paper and the photo as well without tearing into the white cardstock that was the final layer ... I couldnt find my seam ripper so i had to do a lot of the tearing with scissors and using my fingers to plow through the cuts ... so ... this little layout took me 3 days ...

13 days, 2 layouts .... so maybe i will shoot for one a week! at this rate, thats going to be about the best i can do.