Professional versus Amateur

I heard a commercial the other day....it was football related, I don't remember what the product was, but I remember the quote:

"Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong."

It really got me thinking about a lot of things in my life, dedication and determination. If I really and truly want to be successful at something, I need to give the kind of quality effort that football players give their game. This applies to not only my professional life, but also my creative life and my personal life.

A tangent thought is that I need to determine what endeavors I want to dedicate that sort of effort to. I enjoy doing a lot of things with my hands, mind and heart, but there is only so much of each and only so much time to dedicate to them.

It's Friday!

Yay!

It's all about submitting artwork to calls today. Last night I sent 2 layouts to a CK call, I have another one to go out today to a different CK call, I have several to send to a Paper Trends call, a design team that I'm considering applying for, and a book call where I just may deluge them with anything I think fits (because it's a pretty broad call). I can't get published if I don't create and submit!

As my term as a Guest Designer at Scrapbooker Online winds down, I can't help thinking about what is next in my life as a scrapbooker. I love SBO, and although there are many calls out there for web site design teams, I don't think I want to join another community based site. I love all my sistas! So, if SBO ever has a DT call, you betcha I'll be applying, but that's it. I'd love to join a manufacturer design team, but I need to get some publishing experience under my belt first.

Wooo!! Something Engineering-related to Post!

My proposal was accepted by a large instrumentation company for a pilot program that they are running. I will be receiving some fun hardware in the mail in a couple weeks, then I get 3 months to play around with it. Of course, now that I am working from home, my home will be my laboratory. Once I get my test program running, there may be random electronics in random parts of my house. ;)

I don't get paid to do this, but it is really cool hardware that is under development by a major company, so the experience and the contacts are valuble. Plus I love to play with hardware. :D

I've pushed the "Send" button....

My Ranger Ink DT application has been sent. I just love that feeling after I send in an application, or also with an engineering report or proposal, when I know my work is done. It's finished, and out of my hands. Now, the cleanup begins.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

I am back from CKU-M. I had a fabulous time. I got more swag than I know what to do with. I learned some totally cool things. I met awesome people (famous and not so famous). I drank a lot of wine. I have a messy scrap table.

Did you get one of my rolodex cards? If you did, please comment and say hi, and tell me where in the world you're from! I love all of the fun rolodex cards I received. Scrapbookers are artists, that is for sure.

And the lightbulb above my head started to glow...

Yesterday I had a scrapping revelation. I am a "simple scrapbooker". I've always liked the simple/graphic look, and Simple Scrapbooks has been my favorite mag, but I've always just tried different things. Yesterday I realized that all of my favorite layouts are simple and/or graphic. Layouts that I do in this style seem to come together faster and I 'futz' around with them less. I whipped out 2 layouts last night after these thoughts, and I totally love them both. (You'll have to wait till WAT to see them though!)

Part 2 of the revelation....I have been trying to work on my entry for the Ranger Ink Design Team call. I realized that lots of their products don't seem to mesh with "simple and/or graphic". There is lots of destressing and other techniques. As of last night I was considering dropping out of the race.

Part 3 of the revelation came this morning. Was it possible to make the Ranger products work with my scrapping style? I think I can. I have some new ideas that I'm totally psyched about. Wow, that lightbulb above my head got brighter. I totally love that "lightbulb" feeling.

Happy Birthday to Me

Another trip around the sun.

I got to sleep until about 9AM today. That is UNHEARD OF. Family over for pizza and carrot cake tonight. Yum. My big present is that I get to go to CKU-M later this week. 3 days of kid-free scrapping bliss with MFF. Yay!

One of our cats is missing. We didn't realize the back screen door on the slider was open, and they both got out. It rained all evening, so we didn't think they'd go far. One was huddled by the house, but we can't find the other. E is staying in the basement with the slider open in case he comes back. They are not outdoor cats, and we live far enough in the boonies that there are larger animals out there who would love to eat a nice juicy domestic house cat, so hopefully the little bugger gets hungry and comes home.

Week 2: Last Scrapper Standing

I totally love the Effer girls. Seriously. And I totally love this layout. If I don't move on to Week 3, I am submitting this high and low. Heck, even if I do move on I am submitting this high and low. Hayden is just the cutest little boy, isn't he????

The challenge for Week 2 was to use 13 photos in one layout. I think I counted my photos about 300 times to make sure I only had 13.

(photo removed 10/12/06, layout requested for publication, yay!)


















I never posted my Week 1 layout, so here it is. The challenge was to put the journaling on the photo.

It's 9:45 PM. Do you know where your mojo is?

just something fun for my challenge this week at Scrapbooker Online. Digi elements by Tia Bennett (New Growth kit).

I {heart} 7Gypsies

It's Wicked Awesome Thursday, and our wicked awesome sponsor for this month is 7Gypsies! We have a ton of really cool stuff to work with. Check it out HERE!

August Contest at Scrapbooker Online!

Scrapbooker Online’s Progressive August Layout Contest

www.scrapbookeronline.com

Thanks to the wonderful contributions and participation in our July contest we have decided to keep the ball rolling at SBO and offer another progressive layout contest for the month of August. But this one has a little twist involved. For anyone who attended our Cyber Crop in June and participated in my challenge you will understand the contest rules below.

The contest will run for 4 weeks. Each, MONDAY by Midnight EST, you will upload the assignment for the week. There will be a designated contest gallery for each week of the contest.

The contest judging will not occur until the end of the month but to be eligible you will need to upload your assignment each week. Due to the fact this is a progressive contest you can not miss a week because each week will build off of the past weeks work.

Each Tuesday at Noon, EST, I will post the assignment. You will have a week to complete it and upload to the gallery.

The final layouts will be judged on the following: Overall craftsmanship, creativity, and interesting use of embellishments, journaling, and how well you followed the directions. The SBO DT will be judging this contest.

This contest is going to take some thought ladies. Each week you will need to use what you have done in the past and build on it. But, you will not know what you are to do next, until the assignment is posted. You also can NOT add anything to your layout that is not in the assignments. Good luck let me know if you have any questions.

The first assignment will be posted this Tuesday, August 1st. The first deadline will be Monday, August 7th at Midnight EST.

It's Sunday.....

And although I don't work the regular week like I used to, there is still the same feeling of the weekend ending and the work week beginning. I have a Franklin Planner, and I try to spend time each Sunday reviewing goals and planning my week. And even though I'm not in the office anymore, I still fill up each day with tasks. The next thing I'd like to work on is putting more structure into my day. Right now we go as the wind takes us through our day, and I don't get as much accomplished as I'd like, whether its Mommy things or engineer things or scrappy things. Problem is I am not a morning person. That and Hayden has been waking up at 3AM the last few nights and wanting to babble and play.

Stay tuned for an all new Wicked Awesome Thursday at Scrapbooker Online this week. We have a new sponsor for August and I am so totally psyched to be working with this product. I want to go out and buy tons more of this stuff. I have a project in the works that will knock your socks off. It's already knocking my own socks off! Now I just need to finish it in time...

This week was all about blueberries. One day last week I picked six cups of them. It was so nice to have the big bowl of them in the kitchen. I could scoop a few each time I walked by, or dump a bunch on my cereal in the morning. Or have them with Cool Whip after dinner. It's all good.

Do YOU read my blog?

Just curious to see who comes here. If you are reading this, please leave a comment, even if you're just saying "Hi!".

:D

Bleck.

Yesterday the UPS man stopped at my house. I hadn't ordered anything, and when I saw him carrying a "pizza box", my only thought was that someone had sent me some 12x12 paper or something. Until I saw the return address. The layout that I sent in to be published (had been requested after I sent an e-version for review) was returned to me, with a note saying that although they appreciated my work, they had decided not to use the layout. Now I knew that there was always a chance it wouldn't be used, but this just stinks. It would have been my first publication. Apparently a LOT of people are getting their layout shipped back to them this week, an unusually large number it seems. We are banding together to see if we are going to get any sort of compensation for submitting our layouts. Many people paid a lot of money for postage to get it shipped. I managed to only have to pay regular priority, so I'm not out a lot of money, but it's very annoying.

So here's the layout, I can post it now. It's one of my favorites, and I didn't make it for the call, it just happened to fit for Easter.

It's Wicked AwesomeThursday

It's that day of the week at Scrapbooker Online where everything is Wicked Awesome! The DT sponsor for July is Crate Paper and this week the DT scraplifted our Wicked Awesome members. Here's my lift of Patty!


And as promised, here is my Effer Dare #36. Note that it's a lift of the same layout by Patty. Yeah, I forgot to use the Crate Paper the first time. Ah well, I love how both of them turned out.

Since I don't have enough to do in my life......

I am interested in applying for the Ranger Ink Design Team. This is another one of those "snowball's chance in heck" sorts of things, but who cares. This one would be really really fun. The hard part will be that several of their products I've never used. So I bought a few things this week to try out. I think I'll play around with some products for a while and make a decision by Aug. 1. That gives me a month to make my entries. I think I do my best work when I am applying for something. Not like a magazine call, but a competition. I've always been this way. I don't like to practice, but I love to compete. This time I think I'll practice by competing in a few other things before my entry is due.

The Effer Dares are having a challenge in August with some potentially awesome prizes. I have signed up. Yay! I did Dare #36, but I'm not going to post it until tomorrow, since it was something I did for Wicked Awesome Thursday at Scrapbooker Online. I've got a plan for Dare #34, just need some time to work on it.

Effer Dare #35

Effer Dares are good for your creative soul. Here is my #35.

It's Wicked Awesome Thursday...

...at Scrapbooker Online. Our line of the month is Crate Paper...boy is this paper yummy! It's got a great texture and I love the muted and distressed effects. Here's a couple of items from the Kate Collection:

Anticipation....

Okay, so a teeny bit nervous over here.

So I entered the Junkitz Designer Draft this year. Loved my entries. Didn't really expect to have any chance in HECK of getting chosen (they're picking 3 people, I bet they got hundreds of entries). So I read yesterday that they've finished the first round of judging and they've narrowed it down to 30 people. And, after some requests, Stacey at Junkitz says she'll post the names of the top 30 on her blog today.

And this after I was prepared to wait till July 14th to hear any news. Seriously, there are so many super talented people that I know applied. But there's that little tingle in the back of my brain saying, "wouldn't it be cool if you were picked? It would be so freaking awesome to create for Junkitz." I certainly won't be crushed if I am not picked. But...........

EDIT: Well, I didn't win. Didn't get top 30 either. Ah well, at least I can post my entries now, I didn't want to while the call was pending.

July!

July is the start of my tenure as a Guest Designer at Scrapbooker Online! I am so excited to be working with the DT and with Corey, who is also a Guest Designer for these three months. Corey is first up with the challenges in July, and she has some great ones. I'll be on deck with the challenges for August.

Only 12 more days until the Junkitz DT announcement! (Ya, like I have a chance in HECK of making that, but I looooove their stuff and I loooooove my entries). I also threw my hat into the ring for something else, a challenge type blog a la Effer Dares, we'll see what comes of it.

Hmm....these posts have been a whole lot of ART and not a whole lot of ENGINEERING. The problem with engineering is a lot of the things I work on are confidential in some way, so I can't just post about whatever I'm working on. Hm.....I'll have to think about this.