{me}anderings . . .

the great scrapbook race!

 

february 1st is fast approaching, which means it's almost time for the great scrapbook race. we haven't had one since last february. essentially celeste smith, paula gilarde, and i race to see who can complete the most projects during a one month period. there is no prize - just the joy of being able to call yourself a winner and of course the thrill of completing a bunch of projects in one month.

typically, i call the rules calvin ball and make them up as i go. this time around we'd like to welcome you all to join us, so we're making the rules a little more concrete. layouts and projects of any size will count for one point each. cards and mini-album pages will count for a half point each.

you don't have to post your work, but we'd love to see some of it if you're playing along. we will be posting much of ours in the jbs mercantile flickr gallery . at the end of the month we'll have some random drawings . . . the more you post the more chances you will have to win!

sigh . . .

 
she is NOT the laundry fairy i requested.

in the news . . .

 
we got treats in the mail from aunt theresa yesterday.  we had to run to target quick like, because g's new gift card was burning a hole in his jammies.  lego ninjago in da howz!  cool, no?  and g's finally getting a few more lego skillz and can put together more than just the people on his own now.  yay!

it appears this week's southern snows may be fizzling.  it's probably a good thing.  we only have one snow day left and as much as i love snow days, i hate to make them up.  gotta hoard this last snow day since we have to make it to march 1st to be in the clear.  i sure don't want to miss any of my spring break!

speaking of hoarding, i've gotten addicted to confessions: animal hoarding on animal planet.  i can't remember to watch american idol or modern family or whatever other shows all the cool kids are watching, but i tune in for animal hoarders?  what does this say about me?  oh, and g's addicted to the three stooges on amc on sundays.  we're just odd.

we're also pretty excited about open season 3 and secretariat coming out tuesday.  i'll be dropping by redbox for secretariat, but we'll probably buy open season 3.  we love that series.  i think it's the redneck that runs through our veins.

it's going to be a good trn day tuesday too.  i can't remember who's coming out, but may will remind me.  :)

it's girl scout cookie pre-order time!  i've got dosidoes and tagalongs headed my way next month . . . mmm.  support scouting!

still no new lens, so still taking sucky photos.  hope may be in sight though.  found out friday that our school system is handing out a tiny raise.  and it's retroactive.  woot!  might just get that lens yet.  heck, might even get an iphone.  i know i'm living in a dream world, but hey.  fun to dream.

not sure what's going on in the world wide web this week.  i spent way too much time blogging and tweeting for jbs mercantile.  have you seen the new pretties?  good stuff!

that's it for tonight, but i finished some more journal your christmas/december daily pages this weekend.  planning on getting those posted tomorrow.  stay tuned . . .

snowflakes, snowbird, and snowlazies

 
here it is!  layout #10 with the january kits!  and i still have the mini-album cover in the works.  to go along with "snow in the south" i have a little snowflake motif article that went up at get it scrapped! today.  and coincidentally we're stalking snowbird once more.  pretty decent chance of a snow day again on friday.  crazy, i know.  course stalking snowbird makes me lazy, so i wasn't quite on task when i got home from school and thus had to stay up waaaaaaaay past my bedtime to get all my work done tonight.  so not cool.  better hit the sack.  florida girl is going to be crabby tomorrow.

in the news . . .

 
again we have version 2 of the news.  yes, i lost another post friday night.  you'd think i learned my lesson the last time, unless you know me quite well and then you're just shaking your head.  oh well.  i have even more to say now.  hope i don't bore you.  i think version 1 was quite witty, but i'm draggy tonight after staying up too late last night plus it's just harder to be witty in repeat mode.

this is a snapshot of my scrap area thursday night.  doesn't appear to be much scrapping going on, does there.  that's a period for a rhetorical question, lol.  have you seen these coke can bottles?  so cool.  i just can't get over how cool they are.

so yea.  we were out of school aaaaaaalll week.  love me some snowbird.  love living in the south.  laugh at us southerners all you want to.  i'll laugh right with you as i sit in front of my tiny space heater in my mary jane socks justa chillin' while the rest of the world braves the arctic blast to get to work.

i just blogged like four times over on the jbs inspiration blog.  and i added some super cute badges and whatnot that betsy's been making for me.  i just keep looking at the blog thinking how cute it is.  cute cute cute.  the new jbs line debuts there tomorrow.  it's really an exciting place right now.

yesterday's playdate got us hooked on klay's world.  "i like to sit on my pancakes."  demented.  and now we're clay playing fools.  yep.  we had to run by joann's after the chinese buffet today to get some clay to mold.  i also picked up the fiskars cloud punches that i've been coveting for ever so long.  my friends will be glad not to hear me bellyache anymore about how much i need them.  snagged the new somerset studio art journaling mag with dina wakley coverart too.  rock on dina!  i'm sure now i will be even more anxious to begin the art journaling play which is even more reason to crank out the last 12 days of the december daily.

speaking of art journaling, i think i need to add that category to my sidebar.  i found roben marie and christy tomlinson that i'd like to add there.  do you have any other good suggestions for me?

and speaking of the pretties.  debee campos has a new etsy shop.  i guarantee you will get lost in the lovliness.  so so lovely.  so so so.

if you're looking for some inspiraton and new ideas check out shannon tidwell's new class series, products you love every which way, at two peas in a bucket.  good stuff.

thinking we need to check out some redbox movies tomorrow.  maybe the sorcerer's apprentice.  gluestick said she thought we could handle it.  g's wanting to see dispicable me again and i'd like to see it as well since i didn't go when he saw it in the theater.  also wondering if open season three might be out.  we love the open season movies.  redneck humor works for us.

one more thing.  this sweet girl and her sweet baby are working on raising funds to find a cure for eb.  they'd love help with their auction if your heart wants to send anything their way.

goodness!  i almost forgot the biggest news of all!  baby scarlette weighs 3 pounds today!  hooray!

journal your christmas + december daily 12-19

 
i got another chunk done on my december daily/journal your christmas mini-album!  yay!  on the left is dd 12/our cub scout christmas party.  on the right is jyc 12/christmas past - that's my sweet little baby after a christmas party when he was 14 months old.  can i hear an "awwwwwww . . . "  i'm loving how doing jyc has me mixing in some "vintage" photos.

 
dd 13/throwing snowballs at mommy and jyc 13/this year's wrapping paper.

 
dd 14/cozy on the couch.  that's a bit of great grandma's quilt on the page.  it's getting a little old and pieces are starting to fall off.  jyc 14 on the right.  one of g's cmas lists.  he made several.  hee.

 
jyc 15.  this is version 2 of this spread.  i got frustrated because it was taking so long and i was tired so i forced it.  and then i tried to be okay with it, but i really hated it and ended up redoing it.  i'm glad i did because the first version had too many pictures and not enough story.  this version left enough room to journal what i wanted to.  these pics are from g's 2 year old cmas and it's all about our dear friends billy and melissa takingn such good care of us.  :)

 
jyc 16 on the left.  i will never purge my heidi swapp acrylic letters.  i love them so much and keep all the different colors mixed together in a glass jar.  so pretty.  dd 16 on the right.  the little frames were interior pieces from an old hallmark decorative frame that fell apart.  i kept the guts to scrap with.  love to reuse pieces like this.

 
jyc 17.  a spread all about my sweet friend bridgette.  the journaling for this page and the next one are inside that little file folder.

 
jyc 18/christmas dinner . . . YUM!  i cooked all that and i'm proud!  dd 18 on the right.  i wanted to see tangled, but i caved and took g to see yogi.  i'm glad i did as they had him there in the theater that day!  and can i say how thankful i am for cell phones and how glad i am that i finally got over having perfect photos.  so hard to find the motivation to bring the big camera everywhere and so frustrating to forget it or need it and just not have it.  the cell phone has made this kind of project so much easier.

 
dd 19.  christmas cookies!  they were a little too sweet for me, but g loved making them and eating them!  another reason i've loved pairing journal your christmas with december daily is i had something to say every day.  most days i did both, but many days i would merge the two if the topics matched or just do one or the other.  it's made it so much easier and more meaningful for me.

 
here is a peek at my finished to unfinished pages.  to say it's getting chunky would be an understatement.  no doubt.  i'm going to have to get creative with the binding for sure! 

jbs mercantile january updates . . .

 
the jbs mercantile january gallery has been updated.  i know, i was there, lol.  be sure to check out all the new pretties!  this is my 9th layout from the kit.  crazy, no?  even crazier, i've got a 10th layout 80% complete and a mini album cover almost done.  and i still want to do more!  this month is just that good.  hope to be back with at least one of those projects completed tomorrow.  i could have done it today if i'd really focused, but we all know i'm a little lacking in that arena.  :)

 
notice the snow in the background.  fitting for today.  snowbird flew!  and he's flying again tomorrow!  woohoo!  and i just realized . . . it is tomorrow.  :)

in the news . . .

 
i am currently gleefully stalking snowbird.  we woke up yesterday to an unexpected dusting.  just a  precursor of what is to come i am hoping.  weather.com has a 70% chance for real snowfall for us tonight and another likely system coming through tuesday.  woot! woot!  this is the little snowgirl we made on our christmas day snowfall.  my mother will be proud to see it.  florida girl doesn't really do snow.  her skin is way too thin.  so why am i stalking snowbird with such intent you ask?  why for the much beloved days off from school of course!

the gman is back at swim lessons.  i am happy to report that his freestyle and backstroke are right where we left them when we took a seven month hiatus in may.  my goal for him between now and june when our summer lazies set in once more is for him to add the breaststroke and butterfly to his arsenal of tricks.  go g go!

while wandering aimlessly on the net yesterday i stumbled upon a new blog that i like a lot.  karenika.  how serendipitous to find out later in the day that i will be teaching with her at masterful scrapbook design next month.  small scrappy world.  i am looking forward to it.  this month at msd is a winner too.  two of my favorite peeps are teaching there.  dina wakley and paula gilarde.  they are both wonderful and never disappoint.  you should really check it out.  seriously.  msd is a winner every month.  that debbie hodge is fabulous.

another good one i came across in my travels yesterday was julie kirk.  i found here while reading of shimelle's travels.  julie is wonderfully eclectic and eclectically wonderful.  shimelle is the aces too.  you know she is on the road for three months, right?  oh it sounds so so awesome.  one day when i grow up i will do this too.

i have signed up for julie fei-fan balzer's art journal every day challenge.  i am sad to report that i have yet to do any art journaling this month.  i have gotten four more pages done in my december daily and a rather artsy cover made for my 2011 monthly review mini though.  these shall have to suffice for art journaling until i get that december daily finished.  i must finish it soon.  i need that sense of accomplishment and i really have lots of other things i want and need to do.  fingers and toes crossed for a big snowstorm that keeps us home for a few days.  i think then i might make significant progress.

i am intrigued by anja wade's list making.  i think i want to make lists too.  maybe i will make lists in my art journal.  when i get it started that is.

rebecca sower has designed a charming set of acrylic stamps and all proceeds benefit the water project.  this is a win win.

oh! my dear friend lisa truesdell is now a garden girl!  yay gluestickgirl!

there's a jbs giveaway on the scrapbook trends blog!  it ends next friday, 1/14, so run right over!  january gallery updates are tomorrow night too.  i need to get busy on that!

hey . . . are any of you going to see "the rite" . . . ???  the commercials send chills down my spine.  i could only handle that genre of entertainment in my twenties and i'm just not there anymore.  i asked kelly purkey to go see it for me, but she said it was too hardcore for her too.  are any of you going to see it?  i'd love to live vicariously through you!

ok.  one last funny before i attempt to be productive.  yesterday i went to lunch with my bestie.  i ordered a coke per usual and when the chick brought it i took a big swallow per usual and then almost gagged NOT per usual.  oh it was horrible.  i thought there was soap residue on the glass.  i wiped off my tongue and then actually had to run outside to spit in the bushes it was that bad.  good thing it was a small and informal restaurant.  she brought me another glass.  i was much more hesitant with this one and took a tiny sip from a straw instead of a gulp from the rim as i prefer.  still it was baaaaaad.  i made melissa taste it from a fresh straw.  she said it was pepsi, albeit a poor mix.  PEPSI!  for real?!!!  i did not order pepsi, i ordered COKE.  but honestly i wouldn't have made that big a show if i'd thought it was just pepsi.  i still think they got the carbonation to syrup ratio wrong or something.  blech!!!!!!!  totally worth seven exclamation points.

happy day all!  and please do the snow dance for me!  :)

jbs mercantile january!

 
the kits are amazing this month!  i made EIGHT layouts with them!  i think i'm going to shoot for two more by the time gallery updates roll around so i can hit double digits.  this was the first one i made.  i've been scrapping some older christmas photos lately thanks to shimelle's class, so this one was out and begging to be scrapped.  love the layering.  i also included a few bits from last month's kit, the red lace paper, the green pins, and the studio calico pinwheel.  those were my favorite items last month, so i can't believe they didn't get used!

 
i used up the rest of that red lace on this one.  and that black print . . . omg. i think it's my fave paper ever.  i'm pretty sure i used it on every layout.  it's our exclusive paper this month, so it's only available in the main kit.

 
on this one i couldn't decide what size i wanted the picture to be, so i printed it in two sizes.  when i saw the two photos together, this design and title just kinda came to me, so i ended up using both.

 
more circles on this one.  what would i do without my martha stewart pink edged punch?  i applied a little gesso and then some jbs malted milk paint to the patterned paper then misted the whole thing with maya road silver.  sorry for the bad photo.  i really must get a new lens soon.

 
fun with the studio calico veneer frames on this one.  i inked them with my jbs brown sugar ink pad.  the jbs coredinations cardstock was sanded and then inked with jbs stick candy ink pad.  the price tag was leftover from last month too.  i saved it just for this photo.

 
this one was just thrown together with leftover pp strips.  easy peasy.  more misting with the silver i think.  and the pink paislee artisan elements photo corner was inked with jbs spice tin ink pad.

 
me at three.  more silver misting and a little masking tape action on the pink paper.  all the vintage paper you see is a new offering at jbs mercantile.  vintage paper packs!  oh my!

 
and i already posted this one as one of my faves from 2010.  silver misting yet again.  leftover flowers from previous months.  the artisan elements photo corners were also misted with the silver.  ok!  gotta run!  christmas vacation is officially over!