Friday, February 27, 2009

Here's another Ro Muse from Scrap Girls:

BU

I looked at the blog and heard a familiar voice of discontent whisper in my ear that the blog was proof that my life isn’t good enough. “You should be like that,” the voice said. “You’re boring. You’re messy. You’re wrong.”

I held my head in my hands and groaned. I was so weary of these feelings. “How do I get them to leave?” I wondered.

The response was short and to the point, “BU.”

“BU?” I asked, puzzled.

“Write it down,” came the instructions.

“BU,” I scrawled in my notebook.

“Not that way,” the whisper called. “Vertically.”

B

U

I stared at the stacked letters.

B

U

I said them out loud to make sure I was receiving the correct message.

B

U

“Be you,” I repeated. “Yes, I need to be me. That’s the answer. I just need to be me.”
It is a small and simple idea and yet it’s powerful. If you happen to be like me and sometimes feel like you are not enough, just remember this little thought. I think it will help.

B

U

- Ro

There seem to be so many who are afraid to be themselves. They compare themselves with others. They define their worth by what they do, how much they weigh, what they look or don't look like. I know for myself I wore masks for years, afraid to be myself, because I was so tired of hearing criticism from others. It was more safe to be the pretend me than the real me. Throughout the last few years I have come to know myself more and more. It's been a wild journey and each day I learn more and more about myself. Sometimes those around me don't like or accept the changes, but I still need to be true to myself. Sometimes they don't like the real me, but I'm not here to win a popularity contest. Being me is good enough.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Hello!

It's been a couple of weeks since I have posted anything. I'm visiting family/friends in Michigan. I have really been missing creating, so I sat down and made some cards today. I felt like I had better create something before I went crazy. Ha! I'm used to creating something each day, so this was a much-needed time of creating this morning. I have been knitting a bit, too. I found a super cool yarn shop in town here and I'm planning on going there again sometime. I've been to a few scrapbooking type stores too and I have plans for a couple more. *SMILE* It's strange though because when I walk into a scrapbooking store now, I'm a lot more selective and picky about what I purchase because I love digital scrapbooking so much.

I thought the lighting for these cards would be good, but I guess it wasn't...sooo, I tried to lighten everything as much as I could . The blue on the card is actually more of a brighter turquoise color. That was the last card I made.


This is my favorite card I made today. I'm so thankful they had glue-all (Elmer's). I tell ya, it's challenging not having a paper cutter and other things I'm used to using, but it's fun working with what I have. It's so possible to make cards even when you don't have everything you think you need. I really think I'm going to have to purchase a paper cutter for my little sisters though.

I just couldn't pass up this paper. I think this will make a cute little kid birthday card.

Maybe I'll be back with more creations soon!



Friday, February 13, 2009

Friday Cards


This card is pretty simple.


I used purple! This was inspired by Dawn. This is the first purple creation I've probably made in a year.
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Thursday, February 12, 2009

You are my...


It's time for another one of Kristina Werner's color challenges. I wasn't really planning on participating, but once I got started on this page I knew I must. Ha!


Having color in a black and white photo like so was one of the main reasons I wanted Photoshop. Little did I know it was just the tip of the iceburg!
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Happy Valentine's Day

I know it's early, but I thought I'd post some things about it now.


Quent brought me flowers! Awww....


This is the card I made for Quent for Valentine's Day. Since I won't be home on V-day, we celebrated Valentine's day early.

Happy Valentine's Day!
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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Visitor


Look who came to visit me in the loft today.

It's a special treat for me when Tigger comes up in the loft. Usually he'll rub on my legs, plop himself down on the floor, and beg me to pet him. Sometimes he even sleeps in the loft near the railing. Or he'll look out the window.

But today he not only came up into the loft, but he also he jumped up on my table and just sat there. I bet it's like when I'm on the computer and he sits right in front of the screen. I guess he wanted some attention. I love when he comes and visits me in the loft.

Anyway...just wanted to share.
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More Vacation Pages

I started these 3 pages a few days ago. The sun is out and creativity is alive!



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Cards I

These are some cards I had been saving on my memory card to blog.


This was a Valentines's Day card we made at my last stamping workshop.


This is another card we made at the workshop. I posted one similar to this before.


The stamp set on this card is called Fifth Avenue Floral. It's a new set by SU. I really like it!

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Cards II


I was inspired by Dawn's idea to make this card for my brother, Matthew, and my sister-in-law, Jessica for their anniversary.


This was inspired by Jessica.


So was this one.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Love


My first complete digital page in a week or so! It's so nice to have the internet back so I can blog again!

These stacked hearts are from Designer Digitals. I thought they were pretty neat!
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A Ro Muse

Hello! I have been "missing in action" because our internet was down...since Thursday. *wiping tears* I'm SO glad to be back!! I wanted to start off by sharing a muse written by Ro from Scrap Girls. This is from the free Scrap Girls newsletter.

I began scolding myself in my journal because I caught myself trying to be something I am not.

“I want to be acceptable,” the conversation began.

“Acceptable to whom?” I countered.

“Acceptable to... to...” I thought. “Everybody?”

“That’s silly,” I shot back. “You can’t be acceptable to everyone.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “I can’t control if anyone at all will accept me. There may be times when what I am doing isn’t acceptable to anyone.”

“Remember that famous quote?”

“You can please most of the people some of the time. You can please some of the people all the time. But you can’t please all of the people every time,” I paraphrased.

“Correct. So, tell me... who are you?”

“I’m a short, blond, 51-year-old woman with a husband, four children, and one grandson. I run a digital scrapbooking company....”

Interrupting the flow of the description, I commanded, “Don’t tell me what you are. Tell me who you are. Tell me what your truth is about yourself.”

As soon as the thought came to me, I realized I had stumbled onto something. Who am I? What is my truth?

I began making a list:

  • I am spiritual. I love Heavenly Father and Christ. They are my North Star.
  • I am focused when I work. Perhaps, too focused. I sometimes become unaware of what is happening around me.
  • I am a deep thinker. In fact, I often think so deeply that I get lost in the forest.
  • I am always trying to improve myself. I usually fail, but at least I keep trying.
  • I am not cool. I don’t care what is fashionable. I like what I like. The only time I feel unsure about what I like is when I start overanalyzing myself and worrying if people will think I’m dorky.
  • I am an introvert. I enjoy spending time alone with brief expeditions into sociality, which sometimes tire me physically.
  • I am easily bored.
  • I stop and start projects too often.
  • I am serious. Often, too serious.
  • I have a wry sense of humor.
  • I am a teacher.
  • I am a storyteller.
  • I speak in analogies.
  • I am a writer.
  • I am a musician (although, not as much as I used to be).
As the list continued, I realized that I have more strengths than I give myself credit for. My strengths often counterbalance my weaknesses. I understood that it doesn’t matter if other people see me differently than I see myself.

As I wrote my thoughts in my journal, I saw myself scrawl a phrase that caught my breath. “Accept your truth,” it said.

I read the phrase over and over. “Accept your truth. Accept your truth. Accept your truth.”
“Yes,” I said. “That’s it. If I accept my truth, I won’t worry about being acceptable. This will open me to the freedom to accept others without worrying if they accept me.”

I closed my journal and smiled. Life is good.

- Ro

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Yesterday's pages


I love this page. It makes my heart melt.

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Monday, February 2, 2009

New



I think I'm becoming more confident with handwriting with the Bamboo tablet as I wrote "camera" and it turned out decent. Ha!
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Monday Page



Happy Monday! Here's a page I created today. This is the second page I have created with the snow angel picture of me, but I just wasn't satisfied with the first creation. This is a pure digital page.

Today I was looking through a blog of a lady who went to the Winter CHA. I found myself intrigued by some of the pages she had taken pics of at CHA, but I also found myself thinking, "Isn't all of the details to that page taking away from the picture?"

Lately I have been rethinking the whole concept of scrapbooking. Why do I scrapbook? What do I want to portray on my pages? So often I just have a picture, some rushed journaling, and all of the other fun stuff. Lately I have been thinking about how I want pictures to be the main focus...as well as journaling. When my children, grandchildren, and my great-great-great-great grandchildren look at my scrapbooks I want them to know about what we were like. I think pictures can tell a story without any words, but I want more words. I want to talk about things that matter, like our thoughts, feelings, personality, etc.

I did a lot of journaling on this page, but you don't see it because I took the journaling away for the sake of posting. There are just some things I don't care to share with cyberspace...and that's ok!
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Sunday, February 1, 2009

Heart Box

As promised, I said I would show what we made at a class yesterday. Nettie taught the class and she did a super good job! She reminded me to smile once...haha...no seriously, it was super fun and I got to stay later than expected!! Yeah!


This is the top of the heart box. I'm not usually interested in making boxes, but I really liked this...like a lot! I'm trying to decide if I'm going to keep this for myself or give it as a gift. I guess I'll just have to see what happens. As I type this I'm getting all of these ideas of what I could do with it as a gift. Hmmm...


The top and a glimpse of the inside.


The side.

I'm loving Papertrey Ink's Raspberry Fizz paper and ribbon.

I made one card tonight (I was supposed to make 3--oops!), but I cannot show it until later because it could spoil the surprise for someone who visits this blog.

So until tomorrow...
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Hello Pink!

After I posted my last post, I saw the pictures in Picasa that were above the picture I posted. They are some of my childhood pictures. I noticed that I was wearing pink in some of them and I just had to share since I was just talking about how pink has made its appearance back into my life. These pictures made me smile.


Me and my little brother, Matthew. I hadn't seen him for a week before this picture was taken; that hug makes my heart melt. There were only a few times growing up that we were apart. Notice the pink outfit I have on?


Hello again, pink! I don't know how old I was in this one.


Pink pants, pink coloring...haha...ONLY coloring in pink for this one. Haha! Oh, I even have pink hair-ties in my hair!! My hair was in pigtail braids a LOT when I was a kid.


This was the first picture I saw when I was looking through the pics. Look at those bright pink tights!! I remember those. They have white hearts on them. Haha! This picture was taken in my grandparent's basement when they had black walls. It was actually really cool! And that's Snickers, their dog. I sure do miss that pup.
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Heart Card


This card was made with the goodies that were already on my work (play) table. Somehow pink has made it's way back into my life, and the hearts are coming back too. This really could have been a Valentine's Card, but it's not. It turned into a birthday card for a special someone.

In a little bit I'll finish up something we made at a class yesterday and I'll post some pics. I also have some cards to make.
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