November is almost over....

sheesh, that means 2006 is almost over.

My baby boy turned one this past Sunday! He's getting so big, he's pulling himself up on everything now, and he's got the big-boy car seat now instead of the carrier, facing forward!

I think I've decided I am going to make my Christmas cards this year. I have an idea for the design, I just need to sit down and make them. *sigh* That means I need to drag out the card list and update it, since I want to have a clearer number of how many cards I need to send, rather than me just buying more boxes of cards like previous years. I may buy a box anyways, just in case. heh.

My Poor Blog....

...has been quite neglected. There is plenty of good reason for this, at least in my mind. In my defense, I've actually been writing in my physical journal, which I feel more comfortable doing fo personal things.

I've been working on my "professional self" (and by this I mean my scrapbooking self, my engineering self is another story), and to those ends I've been clarifying some goals. I have some ideas I want to percolate for a while, so posts here may be few and far between, unless I feel the itch to type to you, my unknown audience.

Fiskateer #476 reporting for duty!

I received my wicked cool Fiskateers welcome pack today. Those gals rock. If you love Fiskars products, check out the Fiskateers link in the right margin ------------------> When a group sends you a printed welcome book that begs to be cut apart and used for scrapping, it can't be all bad. :D

Let the Purging Begin

I've finally moved all of my craft supplies into the attic. They are in a big pile, but they are in the attic, and no longer in my bedroom closet. So, the next step is to inventory and purge. Once I clean things out, I can work on organizing and decorating.

One thing I can say, I have a lot of yarn!

The magic hours...

It's that precious slice of time....after the kiddos are in bed, and before I need to go to sleep, it's my time, time to create.

Now my creativity could be art or engineering, depending on my mood (or my deadlines), but tonight, it was all about art. I had an idea this afternoon for a layout for a magazine call I had read about. I did some prep work earlier, but tonight I really got working on it, and am super happy with the results (and as an added bonus, another layout done for the Hawaii album!).

I love this time of night, it's so quiet and there's nothing to interrupt me. Sometimes I don't even play music or turn on the TV, I just create and enjoy the silence.

Slice of Life - 30 October 2006

(from the Simple Scrapbooks "Scrapbook Shortcuts with Quizzes and Questions")

1. The last person I sent a card to: The last card I sent in the mail was to Patrizzia, along with a page that I scrapped for her, that was a couple weeks ago. I've given two cards with gifts in the last few days, one to my friend Monika at her baby shower, and one to Sophia for her baptism.

2. What I ate for lunch today: leftover Papa John's pizza and cheese sticks

3. Something I just learned: I can't think of anything right now.

4. My favorite song this year: Anything by Jet, the Killers, or from the Backyardigans.

5. The last book I read: I am terrible at reading books in series, one at a time. I think I'm currently working on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (by Stephen Covey), The Big Picture (by Stacy Julian) and a few other things.

6. What I'm wearing right now: A teal blue v-neck t-shirt with jeans and green striped socks.

7. The last phone call I made: Hmm....maybe CVS to renew prescriptions? I don't talk on the phone much.

8. Inside, I don't feel very different from when I was: 18. Seriously, I don't.

9. The last restaurant I ate at was: Friendly's, tonight for dinner.

10. My favorite TV show is: CSI (the original)

Babies

I'm going to a baby shower tonight for an old high school friend of mine, who is carrying twins! The engineer in me says having twins is far more efficient, but the mom in me says "dear God, please give this woman as much help as you can!" I cannot even IMAGINE carrying, birthing or raising two kids in parallel.....two in series is hard enough! These are her first kids, so she will not have to take care of an older kid at the same time. Here's the card I made for her for the shower. The stamp of the pregnant lady was a total impulse buy at Michael's. $1 is too cheap to pass up for a cute stamp like this!

So much for my creative funk...

I've made a few layouts over the last few weeks that I totally LOVE. Some of them I've posted in my gallery, others I'm holding onto, at least for now. It helps so much when I stick to a certain "formula": awesome paper, a few embellishments and some snarky journaling. Okay, it's not always snarky, but some is fun. I finished a layout yesterday, of which Perrin is the subject, and the journaling is from his point of view. Sort of. I think it's pretty funny, but I haven't scanned it yet, and I think it may be one of those layouts I hold onto for a while. I also managed to use up some older supplies, so that is a good thing. Seriously, I think the only thing I need to buy for a long while is adhesive, and even that is questionable.

I have also started scrapbooking our Hawaii pictures, it's only been 6 years since we were there. I even have an album for them! Okay, so there are 3 layouts in there so far, and 2 of them are technically about the same subject. It will be a long process, but as long as there is Basic Grey Hang Ten paper available, I have all the time in the world to work on it.

I just sent Hayden off to Scrapbook Trends!

Okay, not really Hayden himself, but one of my very favorite layouts, and Hayden is in it! This will be my very first publication (the MM non-pub doesn't count). I have recently started using Scrap Submit for my submissions, and although it has its quirks, it's so easy to submit things. We'll see if this helps my luck any.

Only 4 months until the CK Hall of Fame entries are due! I'm really excited about this. This time last year I had never heard of CK, but my growth has been amazing. I love this artform and I love the people I have met through it. I will be entering HOF. I'm even going to get started now, and not wait until the last minute.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Since my GDT term at Scrapbooker Online came to an end at the end of September, I've been in sort of a creative funk. I haven't scrapped a single layout in the last week. Now, creativity as a whole isn't an issue, I made a digi layout, an altered item, and today I've made 5 cards. It was nice having the DT challenges to think about, so that I had at least a general direction to go on while scrapping. I just got Ali Edwards book "A Designer's Eye for Scrapbooking" and I am really enjoying it. I am thinking of doing a little scraplifting from there to get back into the groove.

Right now Hayden is having a "conversation" with himself in the mirror. That kid is freakin cute.

Growing Up - digi

This layout was created mainly with Angela Spangler's new kit from Everyday Digital Scrapbooking and the first thing that grabbed me was the color. This color is so yummy! It's a free download, check it out. Actually everything in this layout is free. :D

Elements:
PP, ribbons: Angela Spangler "Blue" kit - Everyday Digital Scrapbooking
Black star: Chris Ford "Future Rock Star" kit - twopeasinabucket.com
Teal star: Gina Cabrera "Lucky Star" kit - DigitalDesignEssentials.com
Font: Teen - dafont.com
Notebook Paper - Tia Bennett "New Growth" kit - DesignerDigitals.com

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).