{me}anderings . . .

quickie

i have a layout up on the american crafts blog today.

and i wanted to remind you that the shimelle class giveaway is open till tomorrow morning.  

kit bowling revisited

i'm quite certain that i aleady told you i used to keep all my kit bits in this jenni bowlin yardsale bowl.  i have since added the botanic garden pot for the tinier embellies.  i now use this bowl for my past month saves.  things i didn't use, but think i might want to keep to enhance a future kit.  you know i like my embellies.  a girl just can't have too many to work with.

i know too that i shared how the gluestick told me i could enhance my kit bowling by buying this tray from target.  she was so right.  love my red target tray.  also love my liberty of london embellie bowl.  got that idea from sweet stephanie who is oh so hip on the new vintage trends (what an awesome oxymoron).  notice the mess my system has gotten into with a few months of neglect.  i cleared it out a little when i made that mini i posted yesterday.  you can see it needed to be cleared out again.  way out of control.  i went through it all purging lots of stuff.  i'll be going to visit my sis the high school art teacher on a limited budget soon and she appreciates my scraps.  i highly suggest that you all find someone who appreciates your scraps.  purging is so liberating and it feels so good to give to a worthy cause.

 
this is what my kit world looks like today.  much happier.  there's a peek of the mini i hope to share with you tomorrow.  i just need to bust out my antiquated eyelet setter to make holes for the jump rings.  alas i could find no cropodile today.  sherri was busy and jenni has lost hers, but i digress.  also notice the little chip houses.  that mini album is progressing nicely as well and should make an appearance on thursday.  the section behind the big yellow tag in the white bowl is full of packaging scraps i'm saving for another hodgepodge mini.  see i told you!  mini mania going on here.  :) 

mini album mania!

the contest is still open below (i am enjoying reading your summer memories)!

so i think i'm hitting a mini-album phase in my scrappy life.  i made one last week and have two more almost finished this week.  wowzas!  i actually did this album back in january (or february), but never photographed it.  it was made mostly with the december kit and a few bits and pieces leftover from previous kits.

i've found that jbs coredinations cardstock makes for a fabulously elegant cover.  (the cardstock is available by the sheet or by the pad in the general store at jbs mercantile).

i kept the pages super simple.  i knew it was going to be a fat one since i wanted to include all our honduras trip.  it ended up having 21 pages (covered front and back)!

it is mostly lots of pictures with small scraps of patterned paper and label stickers (nice and flat) . . .

 
  room for lots of journaling and a few small pretties scattered here and there.

the best part is i got finished super quick so the little guy could enjoy it before the trip became a distant memory.

 i'm pretty sure i have a mini-album related post for every day this week.  come and see me again tomorrow!  :)

summer class giveaway!

 
aaaaaaaaaaaahhh summer . . . how i love you.  and summer scrapbooking . . . the very best scrapbooking of all.  i have more time to enjoy it, and i think the little everyday moments of summer are oh so special.  i love capturing summer.  i love how these sweet times with family and friends bring back memories of my own childhood.  i love pouring those thoughts and emotions into my page.  i love sharing these pages with my community.

for me, summer scrapbooking is all about the little details. skinny little boy shoulders and sunlight glistening on thier blonde heads.  a backdrop of water droplets.  the oranges, reds, and yellows of summer heat.  the clear blue of the summer sky.  brilliantly shining rhinestones and vintage flowers.

come enjoy summer with us in shimelle laine's new online class "love your pictures, love your pages" starting monday, july 5th.   i have one spot to giveaway in this delightful class.  leave a comment here sharing one of your favorite moments of summer and i'll draw a winner next thursday morning.  hope to see you in sweet shimelle's class!

 

Scrap Happy!

So I've finally found my summer scrappy groove and I've even found the time to make some just for fun layouts.  It was actually a bit intimidating at first since I've gotten so used to working with kits or all American Crafts.  Dealing with my entire stash felt overwhelming even though I've purged it quite a bit over the last year or so.  I've settled into a nice system though.  I start out with something new . . . in this case the blue Fancy Pants background paper from Dear Staci, more of those sweet yellow JBS embelished butterflies, and the hot off the mail truck October Afternoon from my TwoPeas order.  Then I go to my stash and find some coordinating pieces.  I've got some really old stuff on here . . . Fontwerks paper, Love Elsie chipboard buttons, and Scenic Route stickers.  Really old is relative, of course. 

I learned a new trick while working on this layout that I am just delighted with and will be doing again very soon.  Like tomorrow probably.  To make the leaves I first punched out circles, folded them in half, and trimmed off a bit to make them more elongated.  then I decided to stitch down the centers, because you know I like the details.  I sewed them consecutively to save time and thread.  I almost didn't want to cut them apart!  Don't they looks so charming all strung together like that?  Love it, love it, love it!

Ok.  Back tomorrow with another scrappy share and a super fun giveaway!  See you then!  :)  

doing cartwheels while eating humble pie . . .

 
 the bad news is that i am still only halfway through that last list i posted.  the good news is i have reversed the no mojo trend and tackled all the scrappies!  this is one i just finished today for the very first challenge up at cartwheels in my mind.  have you been there yet?  it's a new ezine that is the brainchild of my colorful, creative, and fun friend cheryl.  i am enjoying it a great deal.

dear staci played in the challenge with me and wants me to post my journaling here so she can read it, so here it is . . . my mom named me after doris laquire, one of her best friends.  i grew up knowing my name belonged to an older generation, but it didn't bother me.  i've never really been the trendy type.  i did find it humorous that my name was a popular one for the chicken buses in honduras.  i saw my name emblazoned in bright colors on many of the buses there and it always got a good laugh out of me to see it.  since i had the little guy i have finally gotten a popular name.  the toddler crowd always assumes i am "dora" and so think my name is way cool.  it's kinda fun to be cool amongst the toddler crowd.  actually the nickname is rather fitting as i am a bit of an explorer myself.

now on to the winners!  email me with your mailing addresses at [email protected] and i will get some prizes in the mail!  (luckily the post office is still on my to do list).

the winners are: 

1. amy coose
2. kathy r
3. rita timmons
4. charmi
5. karen lee

come  back tomorrow for another scrappy share!  and then another giveaway saturday!  :)

a contest! with prizes! enter here!

i guess you've noticed i'm a fairly unproductive person unless i find creative ways to challenge myself.  read through all my ramblings today and you'll find a little contest with rewards just for YOU.  or just skip to the end for the contest.  :)

back to my ramblings . . .

these cards are an example of one of my little personal challenges.  i was playing another round of calvinball with celeste and paula and decided i would make the contest more fun and pad my numbers by seeing how much i could create with one month of jbs mercantile kits.  i used the february papercrafting, project, and add-on kits.  i ended up making 10 layouts and 20 cards with just that one month!  way to stretch those scraps, no?

another little personal challenge i do to motivate my lazy tail to get on the treadmill is to try to log a marathon (26 miles) in a week.  i think this might be my week!  i started out with 4 miles on sunday.  that's an excellent start!

 
the public to do lists have been working well for me this week.  with your permission i'll continue them for the rest of this week.  i need you as my cheering section to get this place under control before the summer lazies set back in again.  here's today's list:

1. focus on the phone
2. eradicate emails
3. journal with jenni
4. pack for the post office
5. declutter the closet
6. tie tickets
7. wither at the y
8. stamp out the stamping layout
9. jump on jbs july
10. master the me page

so far i've gotten 9/10 on the first two days of my public to-doing.  not too shabby!  sadly, it's the scrappy goal that's fallen by the wayside each day.  i've made today's list light on the mundane chores and heavy on the scrappies in hopes of reversing that trend.  i need more creations to share here!

so if you're still reading.  here's your chance to win.  leave a comment below suggesting a catchy title cleverly explaining what the following items have in common.  if you read my list from yesterday it definitely has something to do with one of those items . . .

pencils, bendaroos, fishing lures, bottle caps, toothpicks, halloween candy, sequins, beads, foam shapes, cashews, popcorn, sunflower seeds, google eyes, leaves, clothing tags, legos, john deer fences, lizards, dinosaur bones, spongebob game pieces, bionicles, safety pins, micro cars, crayons, markers, buttons, brads, and $1.01.

 
so leave me a comment telling me where that red list above came from.  and please don't judge me too harshly when you figure it out.  out of sight out of mind you know.  heh.  i've got 3 padded envelopes stuffed with jbs tickets and 2 more mystery envelopes that i don't even remember what they contain.  so that's 5 prizes for 5 winners!  comment away!

clean sweep!

the good news!  i got 9/10 bullet points taken care of yesterday!  the sad news.  i chose cleaning bathrooms over scrapping.  sigh.  hope the mojo returns soon.  but look!  a clean dresser!  i can see my armadillos again!   happy happy!  and since public accountability seems to be working well right now, here's today's list:

1. tie tickets
2. tint toenails
3. freshen floors
4. wither at the ymca
5. decompress drawers
6. clean couch
7. galvanize the gman
8. get groceries
9. tidy toys
10. jump on jbs july
11. list leftover (from yesterday)

keeping it real

 

i am so sure this never happens to anyone else out there.  obviously i'm not gonna lie.  it happens to me quite often.  it is my fondest wish to get the back room where the door remains permanently closed under control this summer.  one horizontal surface at a time.  not much progress has been made so far.  i've had a severe case of the summer lazies.  today is the last day of week three of my eight week summer vacation.  today i am laying the smack down on my sorry tail.  here is my list of goals week three day seven.  back later with a report.  better get a move on!

1. dehoard dresser
2. burnish back bathroom
3. beautify bedding
4. stamp out stamping layout
5. capture the kit
6. erradicate dt emails
7. farm fish out to redneck zoo
8. flea felines
9. validate a vacuum
10. gallop on the greenway

baby acorn. mama oak.

 
the gman had to do an end of the year project for "halls of learning" at school.  the kinder kids made posters about something they studied based on their assigned letter.  the gman got f.  i was sure he'd do fish, but he surprised me by choosing frogs.  my mommy heart was fairly bursting with pride watching him draw his detailed little nature scene and explaining to me all his little scenarios.

i encouraged him to add marker to it so it would be more visually appealing.  then i got distracted by a phone call.  when i got back i found blood red ink raining down from the skies.  "nature has to take its course!" the gman says.  his papa would be proud.  i could only hope his teacher would be proud as i was worried the violence  took it up to a pg13 rating not necessarily appropriate for the kindergarten wing.  (if you click on the picture you can get a bigger more readable image).

a few days later i scrapbooked this.  just for the fun of it.  the gman helping his papa clean fish.  i cackled with glee as i splattered maya mist "fish guts" all over the finished page. 

then i realized.  the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?  :)