the moments in between

eight is enough

 

 

when i got the email asking me to contribute to this book, i had to read it a few times before i sunk in.  EIGHT?  just eight items??? i went to some of my pages and counted how many items... and um, there were just a SMIDGE more than eight on most of them. i don't use big sheets of patterned paper, but i do mix and match paper and embellishments all over the place.  AND that eight had to count punches???  at that point, i needed to go take a few deep breaths.  LOL.

after much (and i do mean MUCH) consideration, i picked my eight.  my favorite pinked circle stamp was at the top of the list, but i went back and forth on the other items until i felt like i had a good mix. i chose mist as my "free" color item because i knew i could use it for backgrounds AND stamping - but i limited myself to two colors - lemon and cherry.

when it came time to do the pages, i packed 10 sets of photos, a bunch of cardstock, and my eight items.  and a fair amount of anxiety.  lol.  but do you know what??  it really wasn't that bad.  i made do.  i found ways to substitute for my must have tools w/ a little creativity.  and i love what i made.

now, i don't think i'll be limiting myself QUITE so much in the future, but it has definitely caused me to look at my supplies in a different light. it's made me more willing to let go of supplies i don't *love*.  it's made me more careful about what i buy. it's made me experiment with what i DO have.

here's the 1st page i made for the book... you'll have to buy a copy to see the rest. =)  you'll also get lots of supply stretching tips and our thoughts on how we made each of our pages. and don't forget the coupon code that i shared here. ;)

 

i need to say a big thank you to studio calico & ella publishing for letting me be a part of this. thank you for getting me out of my comfort zone.  i can't wait to hear the feedback on this book - when i looked through it, i was amazed at the diversity of the projects given how limited we all were.  and i'm hoping that a few of you will take the eight is enough challenge at the end of the book!!

class giveaway

it may be wednesday - but i'm just starting my week.  alex and ben were off school monday and tuesday, so it's back to life as usual today.  well, life as usually with a two year old that has a cold - thank goodness there are new episodes of curious george.

but - in much more exciting news - my sweet & talented friend kelly purkey has asked if i'd like to giveaway a spot in her beginnings class to one of my readers. here's the info she sent me about her class :

Beginnings is a five day class that will help you go through the process of starting with a single inspiration piece and finding ways to use it to create a complete layout.  Each day we will cover a different dose of inspiration...

• Photos
• Products
• Color Schemes
• Found Items
• Magazine + Books

Starting March 1st, I'll deliver a PDF and video to your email inbox full of tips, ideas, samples, and steps.  All of the layouts will be brand new, never before seen pages created just for the class.  There will also be a separate blog where you can ask questions and start discussions or share tips with others in the class.  By sending the information through email, you'll be able to print off the PDFs and move through the class at your own pace.

******
sounds good, yes?? i love the concept behind this class - figuring out how to start a page can be one of the hardest parts of the process! to enter to win a spot, just leave me a comment.  i'll do a random drawing the morning of saturday, feb 20th and announce the winner. good luck!!

fabric on the brain

after the insane amount of scrapping i did in january, i'm starting february with a bit of a break. this a) preserves my sanity and b) gives me a chance to clean my desk. both good causes, yes? ;)  i'm using this break to get caught up on a quilting bee that i'm in - first up is making wonky log cabin squares for becca.  happy happy.

my month is coming up and i still have no clue what i want to have the group do for my squares.. so i've been bookmarking lots of quilts on tumblr to try and figure out what i want.  i'm in love with those two stacked strip quilts on the end, and pondering how i could turn them into squares. lots to think about. and fabric to order.  sounds like a good to do list for a snowy day. =)

my other goal for today is to eat normal food... i'm feeling quite a bit better, but still a bit shakey after 2 days of eating mostly toast and granola bars.  i started today w/ a bagel - so far, so good.

regrouping

as i said yesterday - i've been scrapping like crazy.  and have more to do.  when i get into weeks like this, when there are more deadlines than hours, i have to break it into sections.  and between each set of projects i clean my desk. it helps me put everything i've finished behind me, and put my focus to what needs to be done. if i didn't do it, i'd probably go insane. and i'd definitely lose my adhesive somewhere in the mess.  because i am a MESSY scrapper.

and then i take a little time to regroup.  i browse my favorite blogs.  i flip through my folder of magazine pages that i've torn out as inspiration pieces.  i visit my new favorite place, tumblr. you can see my tumblr page here - i've started using it as a place to collect bits of inspiration i want to draw from later.  i've been tagging things - scrap inspiration, house inspiration, recipes, tutorials, kid quotes. (it keeps them out of my bookmarks and makes them easier to find later!)

i've got my clean desk. i've flipped through pretty pics.  i've got a diet coke.  now, i've got to get back to work. =)

brainstorming (and a plea for help!!)

so.  the countdown to the second annual bagel handmade christmas is in the single digits (it's monday) and have i started my gifts? no. am i even sure what i'm making?  well, um...  no.  i have some ideas. one stands out right now but i'm not sure if it's *right*.  i've been flipping through books, going through the top 100 tutorials of 09 (thanks for the link, kelly), and randomly web searching - but nothing is really jumping out.  got any favorite sewing tutorials to share???  it needs to be easy-ish - i need to make six - but still awesome, because these girls rock.

thanks for any links you can share - or even just commiseration. non procrastinators need not comment. ;)

the littlest

seriously had to get that sweetness onto a page.  love that boy. the hanging hearts were inspired by a color me pretty post over at decor8.  so many of those posts have sent me straight to my desk, and i'm sad to see that there won't be any new ones until march.  i guess i'll just have to dig into the archives. the paper and fabrips are all home front by studio calico, and the hearts and border punch are fiskars.

the boys had a friend over this afternoon - i snapped this silly little pic as i walked past to go photograph my page.  they are way into bakugan these days. the amount of information in their noggins about these crazy little balls just blows my mind.

i can't believe that tomorrow night is new year's eve.  we don't have any exciting plans - i'm not much of a night person, and prefer to stay out of the way of the crazies.  we're going to let alex and ben stay up as long as they make it, and then camp out in the living room under the christmas tree.  i'm kicking around some one little word ideas in my head, trying to find the right one. we're planning a library trip, because alex was complaining about not having anything to read when he headed up to bed (me and the bigs read together each night, and then they get 20 min to read in bed before lights out).  and i'll definitely be back at my desk, as i have a couple assignments to tie up before the year is over.

i hope you all have a wonderful new year's eve - however you spend it. =)

just 2 days...

...till winter break.  how did that happen?  i am SO not ready.

my christmas shopping is mostly done. there's just a few odds and ends that need to be picked up - and it's stuff i'm going to need to do some evening, without any kids. there's a ton of wrapping & tag making, and i haven't even thought about cards.  and there are still piles of books about from the bookshelf that got displaced to make way for the tree - which still doesn't have ornaments. it'll all happen, somehow, right?  well, the parts that matter, at least.

i've got a few projects to share..  the first is this layout.

 

i did this for the kids book inspiration challenge that kelly and i hosted on the studio calico blog last week.  my inspiration piece was this page from the incredible book eating boy by oliver jeffers :

i'm a big jeffers fan - all of his books + illustrations are amazing, but this book is my favorite.  there's brilliant use of color and pattern, and i love how he's overlayed many of his illustrations over ledger and graph papers.  I used Maya Mist over patterned paper to create a layered effect on my page, and used a colorblocking pattern similar to the page shown.  I also adapted his title for my page. =)  I used Studio Calico's Over the Rainbow kit + add-ons for this (love this kit - it's full of fun brights, and the spirograph stamp is one of my faves), plus turquoise, lemon, avocado and brown mist.

 

i've spent the last couple days working on these blocks for the quilting bee i'm doing..  and cursing half square triangles.  love the first block, did NOT love making it.  i decided to go simpler for block #2 and found a good tutorial on wonky pinwheels - now THESE, i could make all day.  so, that'stwo new techniques learned, and  i even survived. =)

 

i did this page (+ a sketch and how-tos) for a winter break downloadable lesson for fiskarscrafts.com - there were 4 more contributers to the article, so lots of ideas to check out. =)

finally - sneak peeks went live for the january studio calico kit - whodunit.  LOVE this kit.  LOVE.  there is grey herringbone,need i say more?  the color scheme is just beautiful. i got two of the add-ons - colonel mustard and in the billiard room.  but with all the craziness around here, i've yet to touch it.  that's on the list for today - i hope to have some sneaks to share with you soon.

happy thursday, everyone! sam and i are staying in our jammies - lots to get done around the house. =)

sneaks + links

the sneaks for orchestra, studio calico's december kit, went live last night. i love the the kit and add-ons aren't too themey - so far i've scrapped amusement park photos & some pics of sam playing in the leaves. i *do* plan to do some holiday pages, i just haven't gotten there yet. =)

here's the two peeks i had in the slideshow :

 

this one features orchestra - and the sc exclusive paper that i am in LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE with.  i need about 5 more sheets!

 

this one uses the first add-on, strings. this was my fave of the three - i loved the colors.

and some link love :

the peeps behind peek-a-boo barn (aka sam's favorite iphone app) have released a new version - peek-a-boo wild 

the bigs and i have been reading the mysterious benedict society books together. *love* them. well written, interesting stories. they're good read along books at their ages - i'd say ben is probably a smidge on the young side at 6, he stopped me to ask what words meant a couple times a night - and alex is rereading them on his own now. we're waiting for our turn w/ the third from the library, because i'm too OCD to buy a hardcover when we have the first two in paperback. ;)

i cam across this vintage christmas journal at evalicious - isn't it gorgeous?  i'd be tempted to buy it, but i kinda doubt it would print the pics and put them in it itself, so i'm leaning against it at this point. ;)

oodles of inspiration here at nora griffin's blog - i love this flickr collage she put together.  so many gorgeous colors and details.

rebecca sower's fabric journals knock my socks off.  LOVE. i'm linking a post that has a collage of a bunch of them, but if you browse her blog archives you'll find even more.  did i mention LOVE?

hope you're having a wonderful weekend. =)

party time!

the fabulous miss shimelle is having a party this weekend to kick off her new 2peas class, go to press. aaaaaaaaaaand -

 

i got to use some of the printables that are available exclusively through her class - and they are all too cute!  the designs come as a pdf file ready to just be printed on whatever you choose, but i ended up opening the pdf is photoshop elements and playing around with it a bit.  i combined bits of the printable i was using with erica hernandez's found circles brushes to make pages for a quick 4x4 mini to hold photos of my favorite simple pleasures of summer.

to make the cover, i started with a 4x4 sheet of cardstock, then layered unbleached cotton on either side of the cardstock and stitched around the edges.  i stamped the cover with a coffee stain stamp from studio calico and added a strip of patterned paper from jenni bowlin studio and a chipboard heart from heidi swapp. i just bound the album w/ two binder rings.  super simple.

 

here's the intro page :

 

and the inside pages :

 

 

i used my favorite hero arts stamps to label each page and the scallop sentiment punch from fiskars as an accent alongside each photo.

i worked with just one of the 20 sheets that will be part of her class - and from what i've seen from the other party guests, every sheet looks fabulous.  and with the option to print them out as is or alter them a bit in photoshop, i imagine you can get tons of mileage out of each one.

if you go to shimelle's blog  you'll find tons of links to other VIP guests for the party, and each one has a new project using the printables.  go forth and be inspired. =)

i wish...

        

for an extra day in every week so all the crazy ideas in my head have room to grow.  i don't know what it is lately, there are just so many things (scrapping, sewing, house projects) swirling around in my head and i'm finding it hard to concentrate at timies. i'm just making a lot of notes and hoping to hold on to as much inspiration as possible.

speaking of inspiration, i am head over heels in love with kelli rae roberts' house. love the entry she created.  might have to do something like that there.  hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

(the pic is a little bean plant - ben brought home seeds they had sprouted at school.  it's growing *so* fast - this picture was taken a couple days ago and it's much bigger already)