Can you guess what starts with S?

I made this for my scrapping desk ... well okay I paint and papered it!

Geez, with that title I almost think I should have written about Suess, as in Dr. Suess … who’s books I had memorized at a very young age … who’s “Grinch” is an annual must see, and who has authored some of my favourite quotes … but I’m not …

A layout of Honey ... in the garden ...

I’m writing about Scrapbooking of course … gosh I love love love scrapbooking … it is such a fun hobby/craft that involves the people I love, the family history … going way way way back … the family present, friends, and pretty papers to boot! And who doesn’t love pretty paper!

Honey details ... I cut out the little puppies from the paper and covered them with glossy accents to make them all shiny!

I have been scrapping for 5 years now … it all started accidentally when my daughter lost a good friend at the age of 13 … my daughter was having a difficult time … and I had remembered seeing a “scrapbook store” so one day I wandered in with my daughter … we had no idea what we were doing, but we found some pretty papers and stickers and stuff we didn’t quite understand as well as an album and we put together a Memory book of her friend … so that was it for about 2 years … I had no desire to go back or start scrapbooking, I wasn’t that enamored with it … and hey, we had been dealing with grief while doing it so …. yeah … I didn’t feel a need to do it again.

I don't always use a lot of patterned paper ... sometimes simplicity works best for me

About 2 years after that my Mom showed me some massive family tree charts that she and my Aunt and relatives from England and Australia had put together … something in my brain clicked and I started thinking about putting the charts on pretty paper … My mom also mentioned that she had driven by a different scrapbooking store so I took a little drive, walked into the little store and OMG haven’t looked back. That store had such pretty pretty stuff … and beautiful classes, such amazing papers …

and I sometimes scrap the same subject twice ... only from different perspectives ... just because

My other crafts … with the exception of soap making (another S) have fallen by the wayside … unfinished quilts languish in my bedroom closet … half done cross stitch projects lay in a drawer waiting for attention … in fact they call to me when I open up the drawer and take some of the beautiful cotton threads to add to a scrapbook page … It’s just all about scrapbooking now …

It's not every day my daughter climbs up trees ... ropes courses ... sometimes, but trees, that's a rarity ... I used older paper and products on this layout.

I could go on and on about this topic … but I think it’s safe to leave it here … just know that is a hobby/craft that lets me feel like and artist and a storyteller and a historian … and it lets me be me.

Silly daughter in a frog hat ... I just love her goofy side

This post has been brought to you by the letter S and Jenny Matlock’s incredibly fabulous Alphabe-Thursday meme … go visit her blog links to some interesting and amusing S posts! This week I am also linking to The Inspired Scrapper, who posted and animal challenge this week.

I love this new IOD paper for Creative Imaginations ... so cute!!! i cut out the little lady bug, coated it with glossy accents and stuck it in the handmade flowers. More handmade flowers are shown in yesterdays post.

Peace, Love & Paper … Jo

When you cant grown em ...

... make em!

I made this one last night ... it started off as white cardstock ... i did a kind of bleeding ink type thing with it using lots of inks & water! I used ink pads, colouring the edges and then letting the ink spread ... Sue F taught me a very similar technique using reinkers ... this is my interpretation of her work!

This big flower is part premade Prima Crochet flower and part die cut paper shapes, distressed and glittered for a vintagey effect!

I love flowers ...in fact ago, once in another life i was a florist ... for a couple of years anyways and i really loved that job ... you got to see people at their best (think weddings & birthdays) and at their worst (think funerals and other sad occasions) and it was always inspirational to how and why people chose the flowers they did, and why .... and you got to actually learn a bit about your customer in an unusual setting ...

The smaller flower shown here is a Prima flower. The larger flower is a Jo flower ... paper, & glimmer mist are the main ingredients ... the rose leaves are mine as well ... they were stamped from the backside, cut out and then glittered around the edges.

anyways ... i digress .... back to the actual flowers ... i use flowers a lot in scrapbooking ... i use them in simple pages, i use them in more complex pages, i use them on covers, pages, altered projects & cards

I have posted this flower before, only it was on a different project ... i call it my Bridal flower ... i love the tulle, the ribbon paper and glimmer mist combo ... I have a feeling i will be making this flower over and over again!

I love to by them ... my fave scrapbooking flower manufacturer is Prima Marketing ... i think i am a bit of a Prima ho ... (yes i went there) ... because i buy a lot of their product and i use it all ...


While I was making the large flower last night, i decided to alter 3 plain white small Prima flowers. They started off looking like the little white flower, then i painted them with Distress Inks and crumpled them. Once dry I painted them with rock candy distress crackle paint to give them a retro feel.

for the last couple of years i have been making flowers for a lot of my scrapbooking projects ... and i use just about everything i can get my hands on to make flowers ... like patterned paper, cardstock, starbucks holders, chipboard, canvas, grungepaper, fabric, lace, tulle, mesh, felt, wool, vintage books, vintage maps ... the list goes on and on ... i figure its all fair game!

I didn't make this one, but isn't she just so darn cute. Honey posing in her flower dress ... she wears it on special occasions like birthdays and Easter! cute eh ?

Peace, love & paper ~ Jo

when it rains ...

rain and wind on my clematis ... they blooms have yet to see the sun

and it has been raining a lot lately ... just kinda sporadically ... sometimes a downpour, sometimes just a few random drops spilling from the clouds ... just enough constant rain to the keep the skies a steady grey ... cold looking, yet warm ... you can feel the humidity from the cloud cover ... I am rarely motivated to do much in the rain ... i work best in the sun ... yes, feed me, nourish me and sit me in the sun and i will grow and flourish and spout words of love to each and every living thing around me .... sit me under a cloudy grey sky and i just kinda melt ... and not in a good way. So I am sitting here waiting for sun ... i know its out there ... i can look to the south and see clearing skies ... and around 7 o'clock each night the sun usually breaks through the cloud on this little mountain ... so i do see it ... but just for a bit ... but i am longing for it to come out and stay out so i can feel the warmth and freedom the sun seems to give me and i can play until nightfall ... sigh ...

Re re re re re re re ...

Everytime I think of an R word I end up at re … which according to wordnetweb.princeton is either:

- S: (n) rhenium, Re, atomic number 75 (a rare heavy polyvalent metallic element that resembles manganese chemically and is used in some alloys; is obtained as a by-product in refining molybdenum); or

- S: (n) Ra, Re (ancient Egyptian sun god with the head of a hawk; a universal creator; he merged with the god Amen as Amen-Ra to become the king of the gods); or

- S: (n) re, ray (the syllable naming the second (supertonic) note of any major scale in solmization).

Cool …. Right??? Or maybe not so cool …

feet at rest

I also jump to reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose … all of which live in my vocab and I do live by these words.

Reinvent … I haven’t been able to use this word since it became synonymous with Madonna and her constant reinvention of her image…

recycle ... or tricycle???

Read … even read is a re word …

reclaimed??? recycled??? reused???

Rely, reply, rejoice, repell …. Re re re re re …

stuff to repurpose

Which brings me to reclaim … and I don’t mean it in the reclaiming old wood from ships … I mean reclaiming myself …. This is the word that I chose to focus on this year … you can read all about it here when I first posted it to my blog … so my progress … well, I am trying … I am walking more often than not … I have cut down on my fat and carb intake … I am still having specialist after specialist tell me that my body just isn’t working the way it should but they don’t know what’s wrong, what’s causing it or why … so I have decided that until someone names the “disease or disfunction” that I am not sick … So this is progress … mentally and emotionally … I did put on a pair of jeans that I haven’t worn for about 1 ½ years and they fit … I’m just not quite ready to dance on table tops yet … but I am getting there!

relaxing and reading

This post has been brought to you by the letter R and Jenny Matlock’s incredibly fabulous Alphabe-Thursday meme … go visit her blog links to some interesting and amusing R posts!

Q is for Quirky

quirk·y
[kwur-kee]
–adjective,quirk·i·er, quirk·i·est.
having or full of quirks.

If I take pictures through windows of weird books ...

Ah yes … The one word that my Mom uses to describe me … her “Quirky” child …
I guess if I had just one word to describe myself I would also choose quirky …

and dead flowers ...

So Mom, I concur … just as long as you mean it in the fanciful, whimsical way … and not the odd, eccentric or idiosyncratic kinda way …

and become part of the art installation ...

And yes, I am being rather quiet with my post today … short, sweet (well kinda) … Signing off this week as quintessential “Quirky Jo” …aka the real McMe…

does that make me quirky?

This post has been brought to by the Letter Q and the Alphabe-Thursday meme at Jenny Matlock's blog. Stop on by there and check out all of the other Q entries!

Happy Mothers Day!

Mom and itty bitty me ... this layout was done a couple of years ago, i loved doing all of the hand cutting of the patterned paper.

I want to wish you all a Happy Mother's Day, I hope you find the time to enjoy your children, love them, hug them and that you celebrate the lives of all mothers ...

You know, i never thought i would be a mother ... I was married young (19 gasp) ... and although we tried for about 8 years, we never could conceive ... I think the stress of trying and constantly failing helped end the marriage ... of course it wasn't the soul reason, but it sure helped. There was nothing medically wrong with us ... for years I was convinced that God or karma or someone/something was punishing me for some past life transgression ...

When i conceived at the age of 32 i was in a steady relationship but was taking birth control ... talk about your miracles ... (when they say 99% effective, they mean 99%) i knew from the moment that i loved this child with all my heart and that I would follow my own mother's example and my grandmother's example of being a "good" mom to my child ... and I have ... and I love it all, even the bad stuff, because its life and its love and its the bloodline connection to generations past ... to those beautiful women who have taught me to mother ... those women who have shown me how to love, how to nurture, teach, mend, discipline and most importantly how to let go ... I love you Mom ... you are so beautiful and so strong and I can only hope to live up to the amazing examples that you have set .... and I miss you grandma ... and one day we will be with each other again ... and i love you my darling child ... who has taught me a lot about patience and play and laughter and love ...

My little miracle ... truly my "wish granted" ... this layout was done about a year ago i think ... again, lots of hand cutting of the patterned paper ... i love hand cutting i find it very meditative.

Happy Mother's day! and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Colour challenge at The Inspired Scrapper

I thought i would play along with this week's colour challenge at The Inspired Scrapper. If you haven't checked out this site yet, it is interesting, with a great Design Team, and a new challenge i think once a week ... So here is my little entry on their challenge which appears to be dark brown, turquoise & cream/white.

I love this flower ... sadly you can't see all of the glimmer and sheen on the flowers and the leaves, but a whole lot of technique went into this page ... the flower is constructed from white cardstock, polka dot tulle & ribbon.

Thanks so much for stopping by and take the time to grab your scissors and glue and go play!

P

My Mom & Dad have a little Yorkie named Buddy ... he is just a cute & sturdy little guy ... when out and about on walks Buddy likes to sniff and sniff and sniff. He doesn't just sniff for the scents of other dogs, he sniffs everything ... including the flowers ... he takes such a long time to lift his leg and do his business because he is so involved with his sniffing ... So my Dad has decided they should have named him Shakespeare ... "to Pee or not to Pee" ... that is Buddy's question ...

Buddy ... hiding on top of the sofa... he hates the camera.

Allright, we now resume our regularly scheduled P post for Jo's compendium ...

This week for P I started searching hi and low for P words that defined me and i was totally stuck, i mean totally ... like a bug in amber ... just that stuck.

okay, so this bug is trapped in a lollypop ... not quite the same as amber ... this is my daughters, she hasn't quite licked it clear down to the bug yet ...

So i started to search obscure P words (don'tcha just love google) ... and i found quite a few very interesting words, but again ... nothing just quite fit ... i was back in that amber.

Late last night, as I was shutting everything down for the day and getting ready to tumble into bed the words finally hit me ... in fact they were staring me right in the face ... and those words ... drumroll please .... my Paper Playhouse ... the name of my blog ... duh!

I made this little house banner maybe 18 months ago or so ... and look at the butterfly, it almost looks like it is trapped in amber! weirdness abounds!

Here i have been running around the house and the internet, shaking things loose, searching in those dusty cobwebby corners, hoping that the much desired P word will fall out and land at my feet, when i have been staring at it everyday since I started this blog.

The banners and the "clouds" are cut from separate pieces of paper! Sometimes all you need are a few scraps and a bit of glue!

Paper - gosh i love the stuff ... and i always have, so it's no surprise that i ended up loving scrapbooking and paper crafting as my favourite hobby ... sure there were stops along the way, forays into the crafts my mother and her mother and her mother before her enjoyed ... but i was never really home until i discovered playing with paper. So here i am, in my imaginary/cyberspace playhouse, playing with paper, and the sun is shining brightly... the skies are blue and the birds sweep & swoon & sing ... the crickets tell me their stories and the butterflies whisper their secrets and anything absolutley anything glued down can be lifted up and repositioned without causing harm to a single piece of paper... my loved ones and my friends stop by for a cuppa and a chat and life is beautiful ... here in my little paper playhouse.

Look what you can do with plain white paper ... it's good to play ... and no, there are no bugs in that lolly!

Once again coming to you from the uber fabulous Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday Meme ... just click on the link and follow the mclinky for other totally cool posts all about the letter P!

National Scrapbooking Day

Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day ... I guess it should be called International because everyone celebrates on the same day ... i think it's just kind of an industry holiday ... anyways most scrapbooking shops will have a special event or sale or something like that going on. I went to a 12 hour crop at Pick of the Patch ... a local store ... I had a great time, loads of friendly people and some of the scrapaholics went as well. I was totally happy to see Sue C ... (I miss you Sue) whom I haven't seen much of lately ... oh and visit her blog, she is going to shave her head for Cancer once she raises $1,000.00 ...

I spent NSD making a mini album ... one that is apparently resistant to being photographed ... i tell ya i tried to take photos of it yesterday and only 2 came close to turning out. This is a little heart shaped album ... I wanted it to kind of be reminiscent of a vintagey type box of chocolates ... unfortunately I didn't have any vintage images with me ... so i just went with what i had. The ruffle is all crepe paper, the edge of the crepe paper has been glued and dipped into iridescent tinsel glitter. the little pink rosette is pink crepe paper, this time edged in stickles and the little white rosettes are edged in stickles as well ... it is really pretty IRL but I can not get a decent photo of it ... I think because it is painted with shimmerz, which is a shimmery shiny paint and it reflects the light ... I haven't taken pics of the inside yet because the journaling isn't complete .... hopefully i will get to that today ... Did I mention that I was making this as a valentines day gift for my dear sweet daughter ... yeah ... I'm a little behind in my scrapping ...

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, please take the time to "smell the roses" as they say, let bygones be bygones, pick no battles and live in the moment.