Baby Love

I've been posting a lot of pages of Tigger, so I think it's time to post one about Shadow. Shadow is (usually) camera-shy, so we don't have as many pictures of her (she hates the flash). I was inspired by a page I saw in Creating Keepsakes. It's on page 85 of the November 2009 issue. The 'inspiree' was Joscelyne Cutchens.



This page was created using a combination of products/designs. Most are from a new digital set from Little Dreamer called Paislee (but it's not out yet--I'll be posting more pages using the digital set soon with a link). The butterflies are my design (except for the wording on one of them). The buttons are from the free set called Bright Smiles by Michelle Underwood from www.twopeasinabucket.com. The curly font is called Cupcake from Little Dreamer.

Michelle Underwood Designs

About a month ago I saw a dream team call out on Michelle Underwood's blog. So of course I jumped at the chance. And then she sent me an email inviting me to be on her team. Whoohoo! I'm so excited! It was so hard to keep the news to myself, but she asked that I not tell anyone until today.

Here are some pages I created with her free kit from twopeas.

I feel so honored and blessed to be designing layouts for Michelle!

Shutterfly

Hello! It's almost tomorrow enough for me (haha) so I thought I would post this right now. Today I got an email from Shutterfly telling me they are having a sale and free shipping through November 4th. I'm *this close* to being done with the Arizona/Utah layouts, so I'm really motivated now to finish them up before the sale. It's 20% off hardcover 12x12 albums, so I'm hop-skipping-jumping to get 'er done!

The first and only time (so far) that I've had a photo book printed through Shutterfly was for our 2008 Alaskan vacation. I LOVE having the pages printed in the books because it condenses the pages down to having a 1/2 inch book instead of 3-4 inches in a regular album. I even packed the book with us on our Montana vacation this year to show our friends. It was great that it fit into our luggage with no problem! And if I lose it or I spill something on it, I can just order a new book. It's wonderful! This is now the reason of why I am torn about having my pages printed individually verses a photobook, or doing hybrid pages. Shutterfly just makes it so easy! And it's cheaper! I figured out that it was a lot cheaper doing it this way than having all of the pages printed individually and buying an album to put the pages in (not to mention page protectors). I was very pleased with the quality and customer service from Shutterfly. It was practically printed the same day I sent the order in and then I got it within 5 days...in the mail...to Alaska! Can't beat that!!


Here is the book cover. See that tail swishing around?

Yes, Tigger, I see you!

The one thing I have to keep in mind when designing pages is that I don't want anything too close to the edges because the binding could cut things off. No biggie though! Just a little pre-planning.

And if you would like, check out the whole book here. Enjoy!

Back 2 the Basics

It's not very often that I create a scrapbook page without pictures. Yesterday I had a lot on my heart & mind about the subject I wrote about on this page, so I thought I'd just make a page. I really want to focus on scrapbooking those things that I want to document. The journaling happened first and then the rest of the page came together. These are things I will look back on later in life and see how much I have changed/grown. Lizzy talked about that yesterday in her post. This was important for me to scrapbook/journal about right now. It was really fun and theraputic!

Hanging up my hat

The time is creeping closer to the date of my official resignation from Stampin' Up! Just a few minutes ago I was unpacking my bags from my last workshop. I will no longer need the extra catalogs. I will no longer have to plan for demonstrations. It feels weird, but it also feels good. I'm hanging up my hat and I'm ready for it!

We go through so many changes in our life. And through those changes WE change. We can fight the changes, or we can 'go with the flow'. Christmas is just around the corner and I keep on thinking about what I want our Christmas card design to be this year. But it's really strange because it's like I have no desire to stamp our Christmas cards. I'm thinking about designing our Christmas card digitally and having them printed. *eyes bugging out* Part of me thinks that's not allowed...that I *have* to stamp. But a bigger part of me is like BRING ON THE DIGITAL! What's happened to me? Haha!

Recently I posted the page I did called 'Goodbye Loft'. We should be moving into our new house in a few weeks. I have a room picked out for my creativity. I would say stamping, but after thinking about it for a long time, I think it will be the room that houses the computer AND my craft table. (I sure do hope the room is big enough!) Sometimes I even catch myself wondering how much I'll stamp in the future. I know I go through creative spurts, but lately I haven't been as interested in the stamping part of creativity. I've even thought of buying cards...GASP!

That's all I'll say for now.

P.S. The reason Tigger was trying to get my attention earlier was because there was no food in his bowl. Oops! And my hair turned out great! More on that later...

Where is the bridge?

Good morning! I thought I would share another layout from our southwestern vacation we took in the spring. I have used some of my own designs on this page. The picture orginally had a lot of dark greens in it, so I changed the photo to sephia (?) so it would work better. Me and colors! Ha!

I'm heading to a hair appointment this morning to get my hair highlighted and layers trimmed. It needs it desparately! The lady I first went to after we moved to Ketchikan recently moved to Washington. I found that out when I called to make an appointment. I'm so bummed because I really liked her! *frown* It's not often that you find someone who respects your wishes by showing you all on her own how much she actually trimmed in her fingers before proceeding to cut more. So I'm hoping I like the new lady. I've had a few scary stylists in my life, so I'm always hesitant. Ha!

When your cat sits RIGHT in front of the keyboard/screen, I think it means that he wants attention. *cough* I better get to that! Have a great day!

Climbing Bridges

I thought I would just jump in and post two pages today instead of just one. I started both of these pages a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't ready to work on them again until today. I love the freedom of leaving pages undone on the computer and then just coming back to them again later. No messes!

Credits here

I really like the 'tag' on this page with the title. It reminds me of a clothing tag. I surprised myself by using navy since I don't normally scrapbook with blue. I'm also thinking that the shirt I'm wearing in the pictures might need to be dyed pink, orange, or brown. Haha!

Credits here

Please click on the picture to see the bigger version of this. (I wish Blogger would make it easier to upload BIG pictures) I surprised myself again by using rainbows on this page. I think creating layouts for Little Dreamer has really helped me to use more embellishments on my pages.

All of the products are from Little Dreamer. I'll come back later and link these pages after I post them on the Little Dreamer gallery.

Goodbye Loft

Hello! It's been a few days since I've posted. My last stamping workshop was this past Saturday. I didn't think the projects I did were very impressive, but it was a really nice time to see everyone. They were so sweet to give me a card, a gift, and a 'goodbye' cake. I was really touched by all of that. (Thank you!) I didn't cry, but I probably could have. I'm really going to miss getting together with them to make Christmas cards this year. It just won't be the same without them.

I thought I would stick with the 'goodbye' theme from this weekend and share a page I created recently talking about packing up the loft. The loft is where I stamped, scrapbooked, and created all of those 'etc.' type things. I really miss it! So here's to that amazing place that will always have a special place in my heart:



{All products are from Little Dreamer}

Cool Cat

This page is busier than I normally like, but I think it's fun with all of the bright colors. I think it's perfect for the pictures since the sunglasses are so colorful. This page was created using only the
Kaleidoscope Collaboration from Little Dreamer.

This Saturday is my last stamping workshop. It's so weird to know I will be finished. But I'm ready! I have noticed a lot of other demonstrators have resigned. I wonder if Stampin' Up! shot themselves in the foot by trying to restrict what demonstrators put on their personal blog, email, etc.?? I'm curious to find out what happens in the future.

Knitting

Hello! Today Little Dreamer is having their $1 Wednesday, check out their blog for details! This page was created using a free template.



Have a great Wednesday!

Wednesday of Week in the Life

This is a page I created for the Week in the Life project using one of Tiffany Tillman's templates from Little Dreamer. I added a few more pictures to the template for the extra pictures I wanted to put on the page. I really enjoyed the rest of this project, but I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to for the last few days. Here are the credits.

Trouble & Love Song

Here's a couple of pages I created for Little Dreamer using their amazing products. I'm so glad I found my creative groove again! These pages were SO much fun to create! There are some pictures that I haven't scrapped yet from the beginning of the year, so I have been working on those.


This page makes me laugh thinking about these silly two siblings of mine. Credits for this page are here.

This is a page I've had in mind for quite some time. It's about a song that I've heard Katie sing along to. Whenever I hear the song I think of her. I just really like this page. Can you tell I miss my family? Credits for this page are here.

Sunday Muse

Have you ever had a time when you just don't feel like yourself? Have you ever felt like there's no more creativity left in you? Do you ever doubt why you are doing what you are doing? Do you ever sit back and ask, "Why?" There's been a little bit of all of that in my life recently. I've had to ask myself why I do what I do? What's the purpose? Why do I scrapbook? It's not just about scrapbooking, but about everything. Some people go through 'spring cleaning', but I think I'm 'fall cleaning' right now.

Last weekened I read an article from the Harvard Business Review. Quent subscribes to the magazine and I hardly read them, but one of the articles caught my attention. It was about information overload. Technology has changed the way we communicate. I'm thankful for it, but there are times when I really crave getting back to the basics of communication, and really getting back to the basics of life. And so the article really made me think about how I am spending my time. I also had to step back and ask myself why I have a blog and why I scrapbook. I've been thinking about these things for some time, but this article was really the motivation behind some of the changes I have been making.

I started this blog because I live far away from a lot of family and friends. I don't want to lug my scrapbook albums when I visit and because we live so far away, we don't get visitors very often. So I created this blog to share what I have been creating. I also created the blog to inspire and encourage others about their own creativity. Everyone has something in their life they are passionate about, whether it's eating healthy, taking care of animals, scrapbooking, or building bikes. I wanted to make this a place where people could come and be motivated to continue on their journey of creating and being true to their own style.

But I think I got lost in my own blog journey. I began to create so I could post. I love posting and sharing, but if I'm only creating just so I can update a blog, then I think there's something very wrong with that.

I really enjoy scrapbooking. I love capturing moments on camera and creating layouts that display those memories. Since last weekend I have been asking myself, "Why do I scrapbook? What's the purpose?" And with those questions came answers. And with those answers have come some positive things. In this past week, I have been journaling before even adding pictures to a page. I want to record the feelings of the events that have happened in my life. Recently I journaled about what it was like to go through the moving process, the emotions of that process, etc. And then later I included a beautiful picture that reflected that journaling...and you know what...I'll probably never post it. Ha! Some things are just too dear and personal to me. So I feel good knowing that I'm creating for ME again. Yeah!

I've also been having a hard time balancing the elements of creating. I feel like I have a lot of things on my creative palette right now. I'm so thankful for the elements I work with, but right now I'm trying to figure out how to use all of them without feeling overwhelmed. I'm starting to find my groove with it all, so I'm thankful for that!

There are always going to be those times when we don't feel like we are in the mood to create. And it's totally ok to take a break. It doesn't mean we are done with that hobby. It's good to step away...it's even quite refreshing! When I go through times like that, I give myself permission to spend my time doing other things instead (like knitting or reading). I'm learning to 'go with the flow' and to enjoy the different seasons of creating. Sometimes I feel like doing a hybrid page, sometimes I do a lot of stamping, and sometimes I even feel like creating a project that involves fabric. I'm learning that I cannot be an 'all or nothing' person when it comes to creativity. We are always learning and changing.

Whew, what a long post...I hope you are encouraged. Be true to your style and 'go with the flow'!

And...BE YOU! *smile*

Tree & Tigerlily

Hello! I hope you are all having a great weekend! I thought I would post some pages that I recently put in the gallery at Little Dreamer.


Here's another page using some childhood pictures. All supplies are from Little Dreamer. You can see the credits here.

I had this page in mind for quite awhile. When a friend of ours from Switerland was visiting us he called Tigger, Tigerlily. He said that's what they call the striped kitties in Switzerland. I thought it was so cute! I journaled about it on the page. Since the picture was taken in the winter time, I decided to include snowflakes on the page. Credits are here.

Respect and Love

Hello! Does this page look kinda 'retro'? It makes me feel like giggling. Ha! The quote on the page is from a sign I took a picture of where we took a walk on the day we took these pictures (that reminds me that I should stick the date somewhere on this page).



The grass, mushrooms, and circles are my own designs.
Fonts are 28 Days Later and Traveling Typewriter

Love Fall

Hello! I hope you are enjoying the fall season as much as I am. It's been SOOOO beautiful here the last few days! I'm pinching myself because it's been so unbelievably nice! See that blue sky in that picture below? WOW! I had to add clouds to the page because they were missing from the picture (*wink*). Ok, enough about the weather...

This is a page I have been working on and working on. Every few weeks I go through creative blocks. I was definitely dealing with that yesterday when I was working on this page. I started out using a whole different background paper. It was really pretty paper, but it was really, really busy. So this morning I transferred some things to a new document and started over. And I deleted the older page because it just wasn't working. I love the delete key! This is a page using my own designs, plus some from Little Dreamer.

This is part of the page I created for Day 2 of the Week in the Life project.

Week in the Life

Hello! I've been absent. Let's just say I've been re-evaluating some things. Maybe I'll talk more about that later.

This week I am doing the Week in the Life project. This project was originally started by Ali Edwards. All of the details for it are here. The first time I did this project was last year and I really enjoyed it. I'm a detail person, so I just love picking up all of the details in the photographs to show on these pages later. One of the reasons I love this project is because it's about every day life. Isn't that what life is made up of? The details? The little every day things? Sure is! I would love to do this project every year and look back and see how things have changed. I want my children to look through our scrapbooks and see what Dad and Mom did 'back in the day'. That will be so much fun!

Here I have included part of a page I created tonight using some of the pictures we took today.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Challenge

I am so excited to be joining in on this challenge. I'm glad they extended the date of the challenge because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to participate. From what I understand with the challenge we were to use part of a piece of mail for our creation. Since we don't get a lot of junk mail right now thanks to the mail forwarding system through the USPS, my choices were limited. But I did get a Knit Picks catalog and so that's what I used.

The ornament circles (underneath the buttons) were circles I punched out of the catalog. Super fun!

The tree shape was something I made. I'm not sure why I chose to do a Christmas card. Hmmm...

Woods

Hey everyone! Sorry that I skipped out on blogging yesterday. Maybe I'll post twice today just to make up for it.

This is a page I created this afternoon using all of my own designs except for the VP Portable Remington font and the Luv Song alpha that spells 'woods'. And Quent gets credit for the pictures! I'm having SOOO much fun creating my own designs. One day I'll put some of them together and make a kit...but that might be awhile from now. (Yes, that's silly me in that bottom right picture...hee!)

Winter

I tried scrapbooking these pictures a few times before, but I just was never in the mood to look or acknowledge pictures with snow in them. I think I got so burned out with Christmas/winter pages that I was just DONE with them. (Making mental note to scrap summer pictures in the winter) So when I saw these new awesome and amazing snowflakes on Little Dreamer, my heart skipped a beat and I was in winter wonderland all over again! (Ok, maybe that's going a little overboard)

Details are here.

I spent most of today working on learning design stuff. I made some more fun things. It's hilarious to me because I can't even draw stick-figures correctly, so that just goes to show that God has His hand in all of this with me.

Would you like to earn some free product from Little Dreamer? Click here for details.

1st Halloween & a tree

Details are here.

Here's another page I created for Little Dreamer. I'm having SO much fun with their kits. I love the challenge of using only their products to create a page. I don't know how to describe it, but it's really been great for me because it gives me some boundaries to work within. I don't have to dart around all of my digital folders trying to figure out what will look best. I just stay right inside my LD dreamland and I'm all set.

As I said in the description on Little Dreamer's gallery, I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but I love these pictures and the wonderful memories that accompany them. Fall is my favorite time of year and thinking back on Halloween makes me smile. And it was SO FUN creating a page with childhood photos! And I just love these colors together!

And this, my friends, is the beginning of my designing career. Haha! (the very, very beginning) I spent hours today working in Illustrator and out popped this design (yeah right...). It was frustrating at times, but by golly, when I finally figured out some things, I was jumping for joy! And yes, I already have a name picked out for my design work. Someday...someday... I have SO much to learn. And I thought Photoshop was huge...

Pumpkin card

Quent asked me to make a thank-you card for the friends we went on vacation with, and because it's fall, I thought it would be fun to make a fall-ish card. I just love this pumpkin!

A view of the dimension.

And this is what part of the floor in the livingroom looked like when I was trying to figure out projects for my next stamping workshop.

And this is what the table looked like. Don't worry, I won't be adding any coffee, soy sauce, maple syrup, or the 1,237 cans of beans that are on the table into the project. Let's just say that the apartment is small and I was running out of cupboard space. Anyway...so I make a big mess when I stamp. I miss my loft where I could just walk away from the mess for hours, days, months, etc. and no one would ever know it. I miss those days! Someday soon I will have my craft area back! Whoohoo!