For my dear Alaskans...and those in Hawaii

I am so thankful for the Creating Keepsakes magazine, but I'm not very excited about the amount of money they charge for shipping for Alaska/Hawaii for their special issues you can buy directly from their site.

So, if you live in one of these beautiful states and you are thinking about purchasing something directly from CK...DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you do, you will want to cry when you see how much they charge you for shipping (arm and leg).

And maybe, just maybe they'll update their website so you can actually SEE how much shipping will be before making your final purchase. And if that happens you will see just how quickly you can fling your mouse arrow over to the big red X to close the gigantic shipping cost stinging your eyes.

Ok, I've had my say...

Anyway...

Wait, before I go I just have to say this (can you tell I'm a bit annoyed?): Alaska is a state. It may look like it's part of Canada and even Russia, but it's really part of the United States of America. I know sometimes we forget because it's like way over in the corner on all of the maps (some people actually think that Alaska is south of California...seriously!!) along with Hawaii. And...Alaska has post offices. It's amazing really. Like anyone can send packages to us here in Alaska. Thankfully our sled dogs know the route to the igloo post office building. *annoyed face* Oh wait, I hear my polar bear playing with the cats...gotta go!

Wednesday Page

Is today really Wednesday?


This is another hybrid page. The are only a few things on this page that are not digital...the background paper (SU Taste of Textiles--I'm really liking this set of paper!), the red ribbon (Papertrey Ink satin) and the rhinestones. I wanted to do more digital for this page and I think I accomplished that goal.

Lizzy is my hero!

I am a Jane Austen fan and I've probably watched Pride & Prejudice like oh, maybe ___ many times. I'm really not sure how many times, but it's been a lot!

I was thinking about a scene in the story when Lizzy (Elizabeth Bennet) is visiting her cousin Mr. Collins and her friend Charlotte. They visit the very rich and controlling Lady Catherine de Bourgh (I'm going to refer to her as Catherine). As they are all sitting around during their first visit, it is obvious that Catherine wants to run the show. It's almost like she wants to talk and think for everyone in the room and she does not want to be confronted. But Lizzy, who is secure in who she is, doesn't allow Catherine to control her. Lizzy speaks her mind and Catherine is shocked and says, "Upon my word, you give your opinion very decidedly for so young a person..." After this remark, the book says:

Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth (Lizzy) suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared to trifle with so much dignified impertinence.

When I watch that part in the movie, I get all excited and I cheer Lizzy on because she's not allowing Catherine to control her or to allow her to be who Catherine wants her to be. Lizzy is secure enough in herself where she's not intimidated by Catherine. When Lizzy speaks to Catherine during this time, you see the reactions on the faces of Mr. Collins and Charlotte. Mr. Collins looks shocked/scared and Charlotte looks like she is saying, "You go girl!"

Catherine looks like she has it all, she has money, a mansion, servants, control, but what she doesn't have is security in herself. And because she doesn't have that security (which I believe only comes from God), she doesn't want to allow others to be themselves. I think she's scared to allow others to be themselves because maybe she fears they won't like her if she stopped controlling them. No matter, she's controlling because she feels something in her life is out of control. (That is what has happened to me around the holidays...things were crazy and out of control, so I tried to control)

I feel for Catherine, I really do.

In the movie, after the conversation with Lizzy, Catherine begins to pick on Mr. Collins and Charlotte again. And then she turns back toward Lizzy and makes this really ugly, grinch-like face. It's not a pretty picture! I believe she's making the ugly face because she realizes that she will not be able to control Lizzy like she can control the others. Lizzy will not allow herself to be pushed around by Catherine. She will not allow Catherine to define her or tell her how to talk, act, live, etc.

Lizzy is my hero!

And that's all I have to say about that.

For You

Yesterday I received a package of Papertrey Ink goodies! So excited! I have been wanting this ribbon for so long now, so I was pretty excited to use it last night!

Joy

Today I saw Ali's post about yellow and oh how I really like yellow right now. Last year it was orange, and I believe this year it's yellow. Who would have thought? Maybe 2010 will be the year of purple? *chuckling*

The digital elements on this page are the clock and journaling. These pictures were printed last night with a whole other idea in mind, but when I saw Ali's post this morning I knew I had to change my plan.

I cut the heart shape (good thing my first grade teacher taught us how to make heart shapes by folding the paper in half...whew!) and cut the pictures/paper to fit inside the heart.

The scallops around the heart are just punched 1-inch circles (SU! punch) and stuck onto the back of the heart. The scallop is made from some new SU paper that I'm very much enjoying. It's the bronze metallic paper that's in the Taste of Textiles paper pack. The clock arms were also made from that paper. I painted yellow on some textured white cardstock and later stamped a polka-dot stamp on the dried yellow paint with SU More Mustard (I think this is like the first time in years I've used this color--purely Ali's idea).

I also put glitter around the heart. It's a bronze colored glitter by Doodlebug.

He loves me

This page was fun!! Yesterday I made the background paper using the technique I talked about in the previous post. I experimented by folding the 12x12 paper and embossing it with the Cuttlebug folder. There was no rhyme or reason to this method; I just stuck it in there and liked what came out. Ha! And I sanded and inked repeatedly until it came out like so. I didn't know what pictures would go on this page when I was making the background paper, but I thought these pictures fit perfectly!

I really like the look of dimensions. SU! has my favorite pop-up dots.

Buttons! The pictures also have some dimension.

I used a date stamp from SU (this is a retired set).

I could giggle I'm having so much fun inking, sanding, distressing, gluing, and making a fine ole mess! You should see my table!!

So far hybrid is working this week!

And thank you to my hubby for taking these precious pictures!

Sunday Card

I found this really neat tutorial on Mel's blog. I made the card yesterday. I don't have Hodge Podge (yet), so I used some all-purpose Elmer's glue. It may be called "Glue-all" I don't remember and I'm too lazy to get up to look (excuses, excuses!). The whole time I was making this card I was thinking of my friend Katrina (*waving*). This card has texture. I did a lot of sanding on it and I think next time I should wear some safety goggles because I think I got some dust in my eye and it's irritating it. Ooops! My husband nicely suggested that maybe I should use his raquetball goggles. Haha!

What I did:

1. Spread glue around on Kiwi Kiss paper using a paintbrush.
2. Crumbled up wax paper, reopened it and pressed it onto glued paper.
3. Put more glue on and brushed it around for an even layer.
4. Put patterned paper on and brushed glue all over that.
5. Let dry, forever and ever (I'm not sure how long it took) AND cleaned my brush.
6. Ran it through the Big Shot in the swirls Cuttlebug folder.
7. Sanded the swirls.
8. Inked embossed swirls with Close to Cocoa ink; wiped excess ink off.
9. Sanded again
10. Inked with Kiwi Kiss ink; wiped off excess
11. Sanded again
12. Inked with Baja Breeze; wiped off excess ink
13. Sanded swirls for the last time
14. Sanded the edges (distress everything!)
15. Adhered ribbon bow.
16. Made birthday tag, distressed it and adhered it to card.
17. Added bright pink flower with rhinestone brad. (I love how the pink pops out)
18. Added the whole thing to a card base since this was just a one sheet deal.

This technique just might show up at one of my club workshops.

Saturday's Workshop Cards

The first club stamping workshop of the year was a success! It was so much fun being around my friends and stamping away!

I apologize for the not-so-good photo. This card looks a little different than the actual card that was made, but this is the general idea.

Winter Wonderland-Hybrid

This is what was created in Photoshop. I resized it to print on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of photo paper. It was at this point when I realized how nice it would be to have a 12x12 printer...but one must do the best with what they have.

I found that cutting out the scalloped circle was a challenge.

When I was distressing the sides of the green cardstock paper I remembered how much I love to touch and feel the paper. Hybrid scrapbooking seems ideal for me. We shall see what this week's hybrid challenge does.

After doing so much digital scrapbooking, I have to say it's hard to come back to traditional only because traditional scrapbooking doesn't let you just hit the delete key. One thing I LOVE about digital scrapbooking is fonts and titles. So if I include the journaling and title right on my printed parts, then I'll be set in that area. This has definitely been a challenge.

Rhinestone centers were added to each of the snowflakes. I also stamped a couple of flourishes (SU! Boroque Motifs (sp?)) behind the circle.

Edit: I forgot to mention that this page idea came from Michelle and Jana.

Love

Here's another hybrid page...well, sorta. If printed journaling and a few word brushes on 2 photos counts. I think it does! Haha! This page went through my transformations before reaching this final outcome.


This page definitely needs the title "Love", but I chopped off that printed word (it was near the journaling). So maybe later I'll add the word back onto the back, probably more toward the top. This page was orginally going to have a different background, but I was too impatient to wait for some glue to dry, so when I looked through my patterned paper and saw this pretty blue background, I thought I'd go for it! And I'm so glad I did. The first thing I did was inked the edges of the paper with So Saffron SU! ink. Everything else followed.

The hearts are die-cuts from a retired hearts Sizzix die. Years ago I was really obsessed with heart shapes and now I see that obsession is slowly making it's way back into my heart (I mean, my life). Maybe it's all of the Valentine's preperation that's drawing me back to the pretty shape. The yellow heart was embossed with the swiss dots Cuttlebug embossing folder and then inked with Baja Breeze SU! ink. The red heart is SU! Ski Slope patterned paper.

This week...

This week I am going to make (force myself to create) hybrid pages. (no laughing)

Why?

Because I still love, love, love, love, LOVE the touch and feel of paper. I WANT to make a mess. I want to paint, tape, sponge, and glue things.

But I also want to work with digital stuff, too.

Traditional + Digital = Hybrid

I'm gearing up for it...and that (above) is what I have printed.


Tomorrow I will share pics of the cards we made at the stamping workshop today.

So until then...

Color Inspiration #39

I did a digital scrapbook page for the color inspiration this time. This color combination is not my favorite, but I survived. Ha! The green is too bright for my taste. I used to really like this color on cards I made years ago. I tried to use the least amount of this color on this page. I may print this one out and put it on some Kraft-colored 12x12 paper and call it good.

Christmas Joy

This is probably the 4th attempt to scrapbook these pictures. Honestly, I'm tired of Christmas pages...but I really want to check 2008 off my scrapbooking list. (No, I really don't have a list) I LOVE to scrapbook and I really enjoy it, but sometimes I see myself just wanting to finish pages just for the sake of finishing them. But I'm done with this page. Whew! Ha!

Another muse...

I've talked a lot about the importance of being yourself. Recently, I have had the opportunity to understand why that is so important.

When I'm not myself, it's because I have put a mask on and I'm in a sense "playing pretend". When I'm playing pretend, no one knows the real me, no one can touch the real me, no one can hurt the real me, no one can reject the real me.

When I live to please others in an unhealthy, unbalanced way, I'm not being myself. When I'm always saying "yes" to them when I really want to say "no" then I'm still wearing that mask, I'm still playing pretend.

Life isn't playing pretend. Life is real. And you are the only YOU! There's no one else like you...isn't that awesome?!

Recently I heard someone basically say that they were only going to love this other person only if they met their condition. It really broke my heart. At the same time it made me look at myself and wonder if I'm still playing pretend in some areas. Am I hiding the real me? Am I still afraid of being rejected? Am I trying hard to please someone just so I will receive their acceptance?

There is someone in my life that I have always wanted their acceptance. It has brought many tears and heartaches. But you know what? I don't think I'll ever receive their full acceptance because there are parts of me that they cannot accept. But that doesn't mean I should stop being me. I have to let go of wanting their acceptance. It doesn't really matter anyway.

That's why I've tried so hard to be perfect (at least that's one of the reasons). I think that if I am perfect and say the right things at the right times, then they will have no excuse to not accept me. But if someone cannot love me despite my imperfections and not living up to their conditions, then that's their choice. I cannot make anyone love me...I can only be myself.

There are going to be those people in life who will do things we don't like or understand...but we can love them anyway. It's not easy (not at all), but it can be done. If God says we are to love our enemies, then I think everyone else is possible to love, too. Ha!

Being myself means that I will do things that others may not like. And some of those may try to cut me out of their life, control me, or do other hurtful things, but it's important for me to continue being me.

No one defines my worth...no one! Christ defines my worth. I am who I am because of Him.

Stop and think about those people who you feel so comfortable being around. They love you no matter what. They don't judge you or make you feel like you have to change. Isn't it amazing!?!! We feel like we can relax, be ourselves, and we aren't afraid of hiding our imperfections. That's how it should be ALL of the time! And we can because we have that choice.

BE yourself, it's the best person you can be!

Yesterday's Page

This is one of those pages that I'm not sure if I quite like. It's simple, which is fine, but it's not my favorite page. I've been feeling pretty BLAH the last couple of days, and it affects my creativity...majorly. It's a good thing I already have the projects planned for a stamping workshop this weekend.

I finally got the February Creating Keepsakes magazine in the mail, so I'm going to look through that now and maybe get some inspiration.

Also, I wanted to share a site that will interest you digital scrapbookers. Enjoy!

Tuesday Pages

This is probably all the scrapbooking I'll do for today...time for tea!

A Journey Begins

This isn't just a new scrapbook album journey, but also to show the journey that began on our 2008 summer vacation. You will remember when I started these pages a few months back. Because I felt "boxed in" with the pages/templates I set up, I no longer felt excited about scrapbooking our vacation pictures. The other day I delete ALL of the pre-made pages and started fresh. I think having those preset pages would have worked a lot better for a mini-album, but not a regular ole album. I feel that our vacations are super special memories and I want to record them that way.


Lots of journaling here. I did all of the journaling for our trip months ago. I'll probably use most of what I already have, but add here and there, too. I want the journaling and pictures to be the main theme of this album.

This page was hard for me for some reason. I like this one, but the one below is what I first started with...

I like this page, but I knew that it wasn't going to fit with the final look/theme of the album since I'm looking for a more worn, grunge, weathered look for my pages. The layout of this page (minus the strip on the side) was a template. But I feel that there are too many pictures on the page and my eyes fly around and are distracted. Ha! I felt that less is better for this particular page, so that's why I only ended up with 3 on the final outcome (which is pictured above this page). I wasn't particularily excited about these first pictures from our trip anyway...especially compared with the pictures we took later on in our trip.

Photoshop CS4 has this new feature in the adjustments called "Vibrance" and I LOVE, love, LOVE it!! It's like magic! I've always wanted more vibrant pictures and this tool definitely grants my wish for that.

Decoration

This decoration was totally inspired by Dawn. I don't have this Raspberry Fizz Mix Paper Collection (yet) from Papertrey Ink, but I found a place on their site where you can print off a sample sheet of their papers, so that's what I did for this project.

I'm really into "hot pink" right now, which is odd for me! I think I've had a fetish for it for a few months now though because whenever I would see pink paper I would gasp, and I would *crave* having some fun pink patterned paper. Maybe purple is next? Nah...

I apologize for the not-so-good pictures. It's late in the day and the light is gone, so I did the best.


My goal is to have framed handmade decor like this for every season/holiday. Here is what I did for Thanksgiving/fall and for Christmas.

There is Kraft-colored paper around this decor, but when I put it in the frame, it would cover it up. So what I did was adhered the decor to the front of the frame onto the glass with painter's tape (the blue tape that looks like masking tape). So far it's holding up. Ha!

I printed off a scripture and put it on the tag I made. It's all about love!

Confessions of a Perfectionist

A few days ago I talked about reading that book, Martha to the Max, about being a perfectionist. It was at the moment of reading that book that I realized most of what I have been struggling with lately has been because of trying to do everything so perfect. This realization has honestly brought freedom. The truth sets us free! And that's definitely what God is doing in my life, taking those shackles of perfectionism off of me. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I'm growing!

For the past 3 days I have:

• enjoyed "tea-time" in the afternoon (this is amazing for a lot of reasons, one being that I don't normally even *like* tea, and two, because I actually look forward to just sitting and reading during this time)

• relaxed in my house-keeping (let's just say I let things "pile up" and sit around longer than I normally would--and I really didn't care. I made up my mind that if someone came over and saw the mess, that I didn't have to give them a reason for my mess)

• have spent less time on the computer (this means I'm not procrastinating. I often find myself wasting time on the computer because of feeling like a discouraged perfectionist)

The other day I was thinking about what I was like as a child. I have some memories of being a young perfectionist:

• When I was in 5th grade I organized the clothes in my closet by color and brand. I had a handy-dandy notebook where I wrote each brand of clothing and what order they went in. It was SO hard keeping up with this organization system, but I was able to do it for some time. This was something I thought of all on my own. My parents were divorced at this point and I lived with my mom...and my mom is NOTHING like this.

• When I was old enough to know how to read Berenstain Bear books, (probably at least 5), I read the one about the Messy Room. It was my favorite one because at the end of the story the little bears cleaned up their room and had these super cool storage containers in their closet labeled with what was supposed to go inside. At that young of an age I thought that was a fabulous idea! And for many years I dreamed of my dad building a storage/organizational unit for my closet (never happened).

• You could often find me organizing my mom's kitchen counter. I liked to separate everything into piles...and then I would get in trouble later for "losing" stuff. *cough*

• I reorganized my crayon box by color.

I really think this is just part of my personality. It doesn't make me wrong. Even though I have found some freedom in this area of my life doesn't mean I'm going to get rid of my organization system and all of the ways that I do things. God has made me this way for a reason and He wants me to flourish in this "gift", not have it control me.

It's not always fun living this way...when I CHOOSE to be a perfectionist-freak, I get tense and I get so stressed that it starts to affect my health. The holidays were nice, but I think I could honestly say I didn't enjoy them so much. It's actually kind of comical to remember how I acted. I would want everything to be perfect. For three days in a row we had a dinner at our home. I needed help, but when I was asked if I needed help, I would act like I had it all together. Why? Because I thought that if I didn't do it myself it wouldn't turn out right...it wouldn't be perfect. Ugh! So guess what Christina did? She pushed herself to the limit in trying to make everything perfect, and after the last of the 3 days and meals were over, she collapsed in exhaustion and had a cold. So not worth it!! And I really feel so bad for those who were around me during this time because I don't think I was much fun to be around. I feel like I totally lost focus of what the whole point of the holidays are. I wasn't doing/living "the one thing".

Tonight we are having company for dinner...and I'm going to relax. I'm going to make a mess and not care! And I'm going to let those around me help me and I'm not going to care if they don't do it MY way. It may be easier said than done, but I'm going to aim high.

Thank You!

I made some more thank you cards. I think I may make a lightbox to help with taking pictures. Not that I'm trying to be perfect or anything. *wink*


The glare shows the pretty shimmer on this card.