{me}anderings . . .

JBS Mercantile June Sneaks!

 
It's sneak day at JBS Mercantile!  Check the Inspiration Blog for another lovely sneak from Keisha!

wipeout . . .

 
is this a man thing?  i have to put myself in the proper sleeping environment and then make myself go to sleep.  i certainly can't fall asleep while watching a river monster marathon.  speaking of river monsters, g was super impressed when he found out his teacher watches it.  yea.  i bet she was super impressed to find out his mom lets him stay up till 10 on sunday nights to watch the new episodes.  oops.

p.s. i forgot to mention yesterday . . . i have another installment of my beach mini-album posted HERE and another new core'dinations layout posted HERE.

in the pursuit of happiness scrapped . . .

 
chelle came over yesterday and i got a lot of scrappies done!  this layout is based on a previous blog entry with the same title.  i REALLY have to get back to regular blogging.  it's so nice to just copy my journaling straight from my blog.  sigh.

 
this is one more layout with the may kits which brings my grand total up to seven with that month.  not bad!

 
i simply adore that yellow daisy paper.  i've now used it on four of those seven layouts and still have a 4x6 inch scrap of it that i'm hoarding.

 
please let me know if you have any questionsn about what i did on this one.  i'd be happy to answer them.  mainly i just started layout down bits from the kit that i liked with leftover scrap papers onto grey cardstock.  i then painted a thin layer of gesso over everything and when that was dry i went stitch happy with my sewing machine.  :)

 
i drove by this field between schools friday and thought it was so beautiful.  the kind of beautiful that filled me with happiness and well-being.  i almost kept driving, but i really wanted to remember.  so i turned around and snapped this photo.  here it is soocp (straight out of my cell phone).  not a stunning composition, but still breathtaking in my memory.

then i started rereading "the house on mango street" during my planning period.  i ended up reading the whole thing.  so good.  this chapter grabbed me . . .

Darius & the Clouds

"You can never have too much sky.  You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad.  Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky.  Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful.  Still, we take what we can get and make the best of it.

Darius, who doesn't like school, who is sometimes stupid and mostly a fool, said something wise today, though most days he says nothing.  Darius, who chases girls with firecrackers or a stick that touched a rat and thinks he's tough, today pointed up because the world was full of clouds, the kind like pillows.

You all see that cloud, that fat one there?  Darius said, See that?  Where?  That one next to the one that looks like popcorn.  That one there.  See that.  That's God, Darius said.  God? somebody little asked.  God, he said, and made it that simple."  - Sandra Cisneros

I hope something in your day has given you the kind of beauty that settles in your soul and makes you smile.  :)

happy mother's day!

 
thanks to my mom who gave me a sweet innocent childhood.  thanks to my sisters who helped raise me.  thanks to my neices who share their beautiful babies with the family.  thanks to chelle who sneakily left me a mother's day gift for this morning.  thanks to melissa who remembers every year.  thanks to all my friends who love their children so.  and thanks to my baby who made me a mother. 

 
i'm never in the picture, so i got creative with this mother's day layout.  (and look chelle, another rub-on ruined).

 
and if any of you are interested, i'll have a step-bystep on how i created this background on the jbs blog tomorrow.  :)

happy national scrapbook day!

 
how's your day been?  we've had a fine time here!  chelle came over with her triplets and popcorn maker and we've all been happy happy happy.  chelle and i are both working on our fourth layouts of the day and the four children have made a royal mess in every room in the house including the bathrooms and closets.  i think that's a fair trade-off for them letting us scrap.  this is one of the layouts i finished up today.  it's for a challenge at jbs for nsd.  there's a $25 prize involved!!!  oh! and jill has another challenge too!  :)

 
the supplies are all from the may jbs mercantile kits.  the sweet butterfly wings you see here are from the jbs butterfly stamp on vellum with ac aqua zing! heat embossing powder.

 
this one is from the foam stamp in the farmer's market add-on with chewing gum paint dabber on vellum.

 
the background is a crafter's workshop stencil that was in a previous kit.  lisa dickinson did this cool technique of misting (i used lemon drops and chewing gum) then outlining with a pencil (then i erased a bit).  love the look.  ok!  back to scrapping . . . :)

welcoming "haven" a new line from jbs . . .

 
 
i'm completely in love with this release . . . see more (plus new stamps) HERE.

cheery bright birthday bunting . . .

 
the jbs team has been workout out with ella publishing's spring training.  so fun!  today's challenge was to be inspired by others.  i chose to get my inspiration from shimelle laine and her love of bunting.  i enjoyed making this layout so much!  you can read more about it plus see my teamate's work on the jbs inspiration blog.  all the vintage bits are from my jbs may kits.  the fabric bits are leftovers from gluestickgirl's creations.  and grandma made the cake!  :)