I'm Not a Clutch Player, Apparently

Well, I've tried driving the stick shift car.  There may have been some tears involved.  There may have been some hurky jerky of bodies flailing in the car, and possibly there were some little girls in the back saying "Whoa!" every time I tried to find the correct balance of release the clutch, push the gas.  Perhaps I've been defeated for the moment...(and having nightmares about breaking the car) but I will probably try again some day...maybe....especially if we can get rid of the squealing little girls in the backseat first.

Hey, let's move on to happier news!  How about the fantastic Liz Qualman and her sketches for scrap pages that always inspire me?  This month I've tried out three of the four sketches, and I have to say I had fun with all of them!  I highly recommend checking out her blog at http://lizqualman.blogspot.com/ .  Here's the first design I tried:

and here's my take on it.

The journaling reads: While on my computer one day, I glanced out the window and discovered my two girls huddled in their towels on our back steps.  I missed the shot of them face to face, still cute tho!

This LO is almost entirely Sassafras Lass product with a small touch of Doodlebug thrown in.

Next up, this sketch from Liz....

For this one, I scrapped a year old picture from last year at Easter.  For those of you who may know the man in this LO (my dad), maybe we can just keep this a little secret, okay?  I'm not sure he'd love going public with a band of pink butterflies on his head!  But, what he doesn't know won't bother him, right?  Personally, I think it's sweet how he is with my daughters.

See, he's not real happy about Paige's decorating him, but he's putting up with it.  Can you believe that?  My journaling reads: Papa puts up with so much from Paige and Erin.  Case in point:: allowing Paige to put her headband on him!  He lets them drink out of his drinks.  These are things he never would have let me do as a kid!  Guess it's true....Grandkids really are different! 

Most of this LO is My Mind's Eye product, but the leaf vine is from Kaiser Craft.  I used mini brads to create the circle Liz designed in her sketch.

Last one for this month!

For my version, I flipped some of the elements and left others the same.  I used Creative Imaginations Loolah and Fancy Pants Wishful Thinking lines.  Love that Wishful Thinking!!

It's exceedingly rare that I go some place with only one daughter in tow, so this was a special event for Erin.  We were at Kohl's, where they were having their usual big "sales", and I told Erin she could pick out a dress to buy.  This is the one she fell in love with.  I tried to point out many other options that *I* liked better, but she would not be swayed.  This was the PERFECT dress in her eyes. 

The flowers are Girls Paperie, the butterfly is Jenni Bowlin, and I made my frame by tracing a frame from the So Sophie collection from My Mind's Eye onto a sheet of Loolah paper.  Add a little bit of Kaiser Craft bling, and we have a work of art!  I just love that picture of her goofing around pulling her bangs back!  (And yes, I know she looks pretty sheepdog in the other picture.  We're trying to grow the things out!)

Thanks for stopping in to check out my latest creations, and a big thank you to Liz Qualman for generously sharing her sketches.  I had a blast using them!

Meet the Family...

Today I worked on a picture I've had of Jon and Paige for almost exactly a year now.  I picked out the paper I was going to put with this picture at least 6 months ago.  Just today I finally had the moxie to sit down and just try it.  When surveying other artist's work, I always love checking out the style of shabby and chic.  I've admired scrappers who are willing to rip into their papers...rough them up...embrace messy.  See, while I may be shabby, I'm certainly not chic.  And messy?  Forget it!  (Remember, we're not talking about my house here, we're talking about my scrapping style!)
So, I finally decided just to go for it.  I'm getting to the point where I'm realizing it's not the end of the world if I create a layout I don't love.  The picture can be reprinted.  With the adhesive I use, most things can be pulled back off.  It's freeing to just attempt something without knowing for sure if I will match the picture in my mind.  Sometimes, it matches.  Sometimes it looks crummy.  Sometimes, it looks better than I ever expected!
Without further ado...

This is my beloved daughter Paige, and my handsome husband, Jon.  I know this picture was taken on July 20, 2009 because it was my younger daughter's fourth birthday, and they were sitting across the booth from us at Applebee's.  I absolutely adore how Paige is leaning into Jon and the look in his eyes.  Paige did the journaling for me here, "When I'm with Daddy, I love it.  I feel like I'm at home.  He makes the sun shine.  He makes everything feel exciting."  Awww...now if that doesn't warm your heart...

On the technical side of the layout, I know everything looks a little crooked, but in real life it's okay.  I really wanted to have some brown buttons in the corners to frame it out, but I had NONE in my stash.  Can you believe it?  But, I did have some transparent buttons.  So I used my special glue and some brown patterned paper (that matches his shirt!) to create my own brown buttons.  It looks like I've stitched on this, but I actually faked it with a template, my paper piercer and a brown marker.  I don't yet own a sewing machine, but I'd really love one....  Did you hear that, Santa? 

Throw in some paper tearing (Paige was a little freaked out watching me rip it up!), some Tim Holtz tickets and journaling spot, a Jenni Bowlin bingo card, and a Webster's bloomer, and you have a perfectly shabby LO.  It's nothing like the girly stuff I usually specialize in, and I love it!

Stay tuned for an Erin layout, and every dog should have his day, so I'll show off one of my Alex puppy too.  (Not so much a puppy anymore at 11 1/2 years old, but that's another story.)  Enjoy your weekend!  :)  Wendy

Free goodies!

These products are being given away at "Artful Delight" blog.  Follow this link, leave a comment and become a follower to enter in the drawing.  :)

http://artfuldelight.blogspot.com/2010/07/here-we-go-again.html

Don't Panic, but...

So, I don't have my LO of me as a new woman yet.  We'll get to that one of these days soon, hopefully.  But today what I do have is some friendly scrapping advice from my point of view.  Gosh, and you didn't even have to ask for my thoughts.  Lucky you!  :)
See this LO?  Yeah, this beach LO right here.  (You can make it larger and easier to see by clicking on it.)

This was a totally unplanned photo series.  Jon was trying to take posed shots of the girls, and we did get a few, but then they just went goofy.  Both of them dropped to the sand and began army crawling, commando style.  I thought they'd been outside in the heat maybe a little too long, but then Erin explained it to me, "Mommy!  We're sand swimming!"  Of course.  Sand swimming.  That is a perfectly normal thing to do on a daily basis.  In fact, I think it's up for consideration as a new Olympic sport!  Point being, have your camera handy.  Use it often.  That's the beauty of digital.  Shoot away, delete the misses and revel in the amazing shots of real life with a four year old and a seven year old. 

But, there's something else to see here.  I'm sure you noticed it right away.  What?  You didn't see it?  But, it's so obvious!  Look, it's right here:

Yeah!  There it is!  That big, glaring mistake I made when the layout was completely done, except for this brown dot border I was adding.  Blissfully dotting along my ruler, every 1 cm, and then I got distracted.  Believe it or not, it happens in a household with two children and dog.  I dotted in the wrong place.  With marker.  When the layout was basically done.  Okay, deep breath, Miss Type A.  No, honestly I didn't freak out, chuck the pages to the floor and burst into tears.  First, I tried to decide if I could just live with it.  Um, that'd be a big no.  So, then I considered my options.  White-out?  Nah, it's on a cream colored paper.  It'd look way too obvious.  Then, inspiration struck!  The border strip of the paper had the same pattern on it as the paper.  I took my smallest hole punch, cut a circle, and carefully glued it down over the errant dot.  Yay!  A solution I could live with.  Honestly, when I'm looking at the layout, I don't even notice that spot.  And that's pretty good for a detail person like me. 

So, if disaster strikes, take a deep breath.  There will surely be a way you can cover it up!  There's a life lesson for you....when you make a mistake, just cover it up, gloss it over and no one will ever notice. 

Unless you point it out in a close up on your blog, that is.  :)

Jane, stop this crazy thing!

First post.   I never thought of myself as a blogger, but I do love to write.  And I do love to create scrap pages.  And I am trying out for design teams that ask for my blog address.  So...voila!  Welcome to my blog!

Now, let me tell you about the ideas I have swimming in my head for my next scrap page.  I just turned 34 about a month ago, and since then I've been trying a bunch of new things.  I've planted my first vegetable garden, and aside from not realizing the cucumbers would take over the joint, it's not doing too terribly bad.  Those cucumbers are incidious, let me tell you.  They have made several moves on my green and red peppers, but I continue to amputate their grasping tendrils and the peppers live to grow another day!

Then, my mother-in-law visited from Ohio and taught my seven year old how to knit.  Well, I decided if the seven year old could handle it (admittedly, she is near genius, but still), then I could too.  So, I learned how to knit.  That scarf may be holey, but it's MY creation.  It will only take three more winters to be ready for my younger daughter at the rate I'm working on it. 

Next on the list of new...I completed my first 5K race.  Note the word "completed".  I'm not going to say I ran it.  I didn't.  I'm not going to say I'm an athlete.  I'm not.  But, I'm a finisher.  That descriptor I can claim.  And, I finished it better than I thought I would.  You should try it sometime!  It's quite cathartic! 

Then I had three firsts at one time.  I bought my first fishing license, reeled in my first three fish, and caught my first case of poison ivy all on the same day.  Yay!  The family led me to this great fishing hole where the fish sit with mouths opened wide for any and all worms.  Unfortunately, it's a little off the beaten path.  Right off into a path of poison ivy, apparently.

Coming up soon on my list....learning to drive a stick shift.  My husband joyfully has our family's brand new (to us) car all to himself because it's a stick shift, and I am stick shift stupid.  Enough!  I shall learn...and then I shall STEAL!  :P  He will regret teaching me this, I vow....

So, all of these events combine to make me a new woman.  I think it needs to be celebrated on a scrap layout...  Stay tuned for the result to come!