{me}anderings . . .

the best day ever . . .

g and i had such a lovely day today.  we spent the morning with out cub scout pack riding in the christmas parade.  we just love our cub scout peeps so much.  i can't even tell you how blessed we are to be in with such a wonderful group of people.

the theme of the parade this year was "toy soldiers: remembering our troops."  now i don't really mean to equate myself with the grinch, but i felt my heart swell to three times its size while riding through town.  everyone was so happy.  and so happy to be there TOGETHER.  we waved at people; they waved at us.  merry christmases were liberally sprinkled about.  and what really got to me was the beautiful mixture of skin tones.  we live in a surprisingly diverse little country community.  someone had passed out tiny american flags and they were being waved by so many different nationalities.  i can tell you i was tearing up quite a bit behind my shades.  america the beautiful.

we then spent the afternoon at vintagefest.  first g swam with jenni's boys in the holiday inn pool.  then they watched home alone 2 and played their dses while i shopped and videoed jenni for the upcoming issue of the jbs mercantile gazette.  i am SO delighted with my vintage purchases!  this is what i got . . . a 7.5x12 inch ledger with mostly empty pages - i'm thinking to use this as some sort of hybrid project life/(art) journal . . . a 4x6 inch memo binder - i'll use some of the pages for journaling spots throughout the year and then use some plus the binder for my 2012 journal your christmas/december daiy . . . a 1948 boy scout handbook - WAY excited about this!  i get fascinated by studying history through books written in different time periods - planning on giving this to our cubmaster for christmas . . . an itty bitty 1970 calendar - my birth year!  - it says "girl talk" and i've got march (my birth month) showing and am thinking to add a baby picture of myself . . . then the (new) snowflake bowl is full of ephemera . . . i went through and found numbers 1-31 for my journal your christmas album plus some other christmas bits.  happiness.

then we went to buffalo wild wings for wings and celery and were then talked into a round of key lime pie and fudge cake.  what?  it was such an awesome day we totally deserved to end it with delicious!  now we're at home and i'm hoping to get a few christmas memories recorded. 

hope you've had some special moments this weekend too.  :)

jbs mercantile december gallery . . .

the december gallery is live!  the kits this month are ALL fabulous!  this one was made with the little Artisan Add-on (except for the two tin pins from the main kit and a bit of lemon drops mist).  mentally i was going in a totally different direction with this one, but it kept fighting with me and this is what i finally ended up with.  i like it!  the october afternoon rubons are awesomesauce btw.  you all know i am rubon impaired and look!  i got SIX on here without one single misshap.  these are some good rubons!  i think i will tackle my Antiquarian Add-on next as the colors in it are swoonworthy.  :)

journal your christmas 2011!

yay!  journal your christmas 2011 is here!  i got my first email in my inbox this evening and i'm so excited to get started tomorrow.  i loved doing this class last year.  i've been debating what i was going to do this year and i've decided to go 100% with journal your christmas (last year i did both journal your christmas and december daily which was way fun too).  this year i really want to focus on the journaling with an emphasis on getting my memories and traditions from my own childhood down.  i'll be using mostly photos from years past, but i'm sure i'll throw in a handful of photos from this year as well.

this is the beginnings of the title page and what will be the front cover.  the foundation of my book this year is an old piano lesson book.  i actually remember learning from this book!  so funny.  and how ironic that i swore this year's book would be much smaller (last year's was 9x9 on the largest pages).  this year's book measures 9x12.  ack!  but i am only doing one page per day instead of last year's two page spread plus i am saving lots more room for the journaling so i think that will help.

i'm VERY excited about the format of this book as it's a completely new style for me.  i usually end up doing the book rings, but i wanted to get away from that and try something new.  for this book i am pulling the pages out of the old lesson book and then rejoining them two at a time with book binding tape (a cloth tape for durability).  in the middle there you can see the book binding tape joining the first page with the back page of the book.  the gutter between these two pages is about a half inch wide.  when i get to the two middle pages of the book i will have to make the gutter much smaller.  maybe an eighth of an inch wide.  the gutter will get progressively smaller with each pair of pages i join until i get to the middle two pages.  this is so the right edge of the book will be somewhat aligned.  i'll try to explain this concept again when i get closer to completion of the book.

right now i'm keeping all the pages loose until i decide which page i want to do on which day.  i got about 8 pages made the first day i worked on it.  i hope to get the foundation of most of them done this weekend.  in the first stages i just wanted to get the patterned paper and journaling spot down and then i'll go back each day and add more stuff.  the plan is to stick with mostly paper and stickers this year so the book will lay flatter than last year's (not that i don't love the fat book style!  i'm just going for different).

i had also toyed with the idea of going with all neutrals on the backgrounds, but you can see i strayed from that idea already.  i started digging in my scraps from last year and just couldn't resist all the pretty colors.  this is a fun way to use scraps, that's for sure!

i wanted sewing on both sides of my pages.  i'm accomplishing that by sewing one side directly to my background paper.  the other side i am sewing smaller pieces onto a larger piece of patterned paper and then attaching that large paper to the background with terrifically tacky tape (i'm using the tape as i wanted it to be very durable).  by the time i inherited the piano book it only had 13 pages left in it which equates to 26 days in december.  i'm doing all 31 days of december plus a title page, so i needed 16 pages total.  i dug in my paper stash and found two sheets of hambly paper and a very old piece of crate paper; all of these were of a medium weight flexible paper that was similar to the feel of the piano book.  in other words, not too thin, but not so thick as to be stiff next to the piano pages.

here you can see one of the piano pages before i put anything on that side.  if you look at the pages i've started so far, you can see little glimpses of the music notes peeking through.  also, some pages had fun borders that i tried to work into my designs.

here is day 31 and the title page again.  this is the backside of the one page that i've already joined.  i covered the gutter on this side with 7 gypsies paper tape.  since i already had the book binding tape on the other side for durability, this side is just cosmetic so to speak, so the paper tape is fine.  when i get the whole thing done i'm going to stitch all the pages together with a needle and thread.  sounds like fun, right?  i'll keep you posted on how it's all working out!  :)

we have a winner!

Thanks for all your lovely comments!  We have a winner!  Amy, please email me at [email protected] .  :)

What a beautiful layout! Thanks for sharing and the chance to win. :)

Posted by: Amy Baldwin | November 28, 2011 at 04:23 PM

jbs mercantile cyber monday blog hop! and prizes!

jbs mercantile is hosting a cyber monday blog hop!  so fun!  i have several things to share with you today, but first i wanted to mention that there are prizes!  we're giving away a $10 gift card plus jenni's new e-book "home for the holidays" (kit not included) to 15 lucky winners!  leave a comment here to be entered to win and then swing by the jbs inspiration blog to see where the 14 other winning locations are.

so this is my peek layout with the december jbs mercantile papercrafting kit that goes on sale wednesday at midnight CST.  i LOVE it.  it's full of kraft.  i could go on, but i'll stop there.  ha.  i did a fun hand cut title for this one, complete with a backwards "n".  oops.  i could have recut it, but what the hey.  i left it and called it creative license.  i also wanted to mention the paper stacking, a great idea i picked up from shimelle's pretty paper party.  anxious to do a few more of the tricks from that class when i get the chance.

here's a close-up of this month's exclusive stamp.  there's a sad faced smiley stamp too.  i think the pair would be so perfect for christmas projects with a "naughty or nice" theme.  i have to mention too that the background is version two.  version one was a total bomb and i had to rip my photo mat and title off it and start over.  luckily jenni's vintage paper pack came to the rescue.  whew.

the next thing i need to tell you about is jenni's new one-of-a-kind shop.  there's going to be a mad rush on these items as they're all literally ONE-of-a-kind there.  each design team member is previewing something you'll find in the shop tonight/monday morning at midnight CST.  i chose this bird book as i adore vintage nature stuff.  all the pages are this lovely.  i kinda want it for myself.

there's something for everyone in the shop.  you'll find everything from victorian baby shoes and photo albums to french books and lunch pails.  seriously varied and unique stuff.

so now's the time to get hopping (and midnight's the time to get shopping).  after you check the jbs inspiration blog, you can also stop by the blogs of the designers listed below.  and don't forget to leave a comment here for a chance to win too!  drawing closes at 8pm CST tomorrow, Monday 2/28.

mindy miller http://mysecretheart.typepad.com/my_secret_heart/

leah farquharson http://amusing-to-create.blogspot.com/

briana johnson http://mypaperlust.blogspot.com/

megan klauer http://meganklauerdesign.blogspot.com/

jenni bowlin http://jennibowlin.blogspot.com/

lisa dickinson http://lisadickinson.typepad.com/gettin_by/

betsy sammarco http://justapharmgirl.blogspot.com/

jill sprott http://wordplaywordwork.blogspot.com/

waleska neris http://myorganizedmess.typepad.com/talking_to_myself/

becky novacek http://www.beckynovacekphotography.com/

shimelle laine http://www.shimelle.com/

get inspired! get it scrapped! and get organized!

i found one more layout from my guest spot at october's masterful scrapbook design with debbie hodge.  the topic was "the times" and it really made me think and scrapbook some topics that i probably wouldn't have done without debbie's prompting.  she's so good for making me stretch and grow.  i'll be guesting again in december and the topic then is "the scrapbook page canvas."  believe me when i say i am all over this one!  even more exciting news for you . . . all four of my classes are on sale at get it scrapped!  the three product pizzazz classes are very helpful in mastering design priciples and then room with a a view is class that challenges you to get inspiration from your own home.  there's also a GREAT deal on a bundle of 11 classes (this includes my four plus 7 more from other teachers). 

i also wanted to give you a heads up on a jbs blog hop that's happening tomorrow at high noon CST.  jenni has some amazing fun new things in store for you and they'll all hit the shelves sunday at midnight CST.  come back tomorrow to learn more about the fun.

and i am proud to report that i've finally begun using the dumpster diving shelf.  i am ashamed to admit, however, that upon filling said shelves i found out that i haven't put layouts away since july of 2009.  oops!  i've made progress though.  i'm up to october of 201o now and about to go slot a few more as we speak . . .

jbs garland + a bonus layout

I have instructions and detail shots for creating this ornament and layout up on the jbs inspo blog today! 

year in review bingo card mini-album

i've been working on this one all year as each jbs mercantile kit has had an exclusive 5x7 monthly bingo card in it.  i used these as the foundation of a year long mini-album.  i followed the same format all the way through.  each right side was the bingo card with a strip of pp at the bottom and an extra few bits.  on the left side i cut a 5x7 piece of pp with a 5x3.5 piece of pp for the pocket.  I stitched some sort of ruffle or border to the top of the pocket piece and then stitched it onto the 5x7 piece on three sides.  my intention is to use tags for journaling and stick ephemera in that pocket and then put a favorite photo on the right.  i think it's going to be a great christmas present for someone.  :)

sorry for the less than stellar photos again.  but sheesh.  if i don't take photos on the weekend it's really a no go for me.  it's been overcast a lot lately and paired w the early darkness anyway, there's really not been sufficient light when i get home from school at 4:00.  i'm not exaggerating when i say it was pitch black by 4:45 today.  i feel like i'm living in alaska!  only warmer (thank goodness).  florida girl can't take much chilly willy weather.

tomorrow at 3:15 starts thanksgiving break!  woot!  we've got a 5 day weekend ahead.  woot!  woot!

do you like random?  i like random.  i think i'm going to fill up the rest of this post with random.  if i can think up enough of it.  i'll give'er a go.

so angel hasn't been getting his homework done.  he's a junior in high school.  he's old enough to be getting his homework done.  his math teacher and i have been pestering him for several weeks now.  tomorrow's the last day she'll accept the late assignments and he still didn't have it done today.  i pulled him out of history class and made him call his mama on his own cell phone.  then i chatted w her.  "angel no esta haciendo sus tareas.  falta ocho y no va a passar este clase si no los hacen . . . "  then i made angel talk to his mama.  it was hilarious.  i laughed about it all day long.  but he'd better have his homework tomorrow dang it.

yesterday the gman asked if animals could survive after they'd been frozen.  i made the mistake of telling him that i though flies and cockroaches might be able to.  now he wants to conduct one of his little science experiments.  not in my freezer!  but i must confess to a little curiosity now.  hmmm.  maybe next time w go to grandma's house.  we can use her freezer then.  there are more cockroaches in florida anyway.

my very own angel baby is currently sitting on the couch in his boxers and holding a ziploc full of ice cubes to his forehead bc i won't turn on the ac.  in november?  seriousyly?  no.  he is such a delicate flower.

i've been listening to green day, the lemonheads, and bare naked ladies in the car lately bc i caught one of our biology students drawing green day covers in class.  it really amazed me that they were still popular.  gosh it's been a while.  and they're still popular.  then i realized it was kinda like me listening to my older brother's music when i was a kid.  then i felt old.  but hey.  i've got a cd player in my car now.  i know i know.  the rest of the world has moved on to the ipod thing.

i heard sons of the pioneers at the district cub scout meeting.  a little "riders in the sky."  yea baby.  my he's older than me but the younger brother and i used to sing "cigareets and whuskey and wild wild women" at the top of our lungs when we were kids.  good stuff.  boxcar willie anyone?  "cawliga" a little julio iglesius?  "changing changing ever changing like the waves upon the sand . . . "

i listen to country music.  why in the world did someone think this was weird recently?  do i not seem the type.  i think i seem the type.  the band perry.  seriously good stuff.  taylor can do no wrong.  lady a, rascal flatts, zack brown band.  yeppers.  i blame it on g.  or maybe my southern roots.

today when i left the house i had no glaring zits on my chin.  after first block i went to the bathroom and noticed the mother of all zits on my chin.  where in the heck did that come from?  after second block i got in the car to head to school #2 and happened to glance in the mirror.  the mega zit was gone without a trace.  i felt like i was in an episode of the twilight zone.

i am contemplating project life.  are you contemplating project life?  do you do project life?  maybe i should just contemplate life.  maybe i should just clean my house.  dust bunnies are us.

wella wella wella.  almost an hr past our bedtime.  eh.  who cares.  thanksgiving starts tomorrow.  rock on!  peace out.  :)

i've been Productive with a capital P!

i'm really rather shocked by how much i got done this weekend.  and i didn't even get started till saturday as i worked the gate at the high school football game friday night (go golden bears! we're playing in the state semi-finals this weekend!).  so chelle came over saturday morning and g had a playdate as one of his besties spent the night friday night (our first time having a sleepover at our place).  i was just a busy beaver all day long with chelle's encouragement (i like company when i scrap) and somehow managed to keep my momentum today.

this is what i got done:

1. december daily cover, binding, and christmas card page
2. october daily binding plus pages 4-13
3. calendar bingo card mini cover, binding, and sept-dec
4. unfinished october kit page
5. jbs christmas garland ornament
6. new page inspired by the christmas garland ornament

there will be lots of scrappy shares this week!  the page here is the one i finished from my october kit.  i think it's mostly the october artisan add-on actually.  it was originally intended for shimelle's pretty paper party, but got benched for something else.  i love the way it turned out.  i wanted the papers on it to look as chaotic as my dining room table.  yes, it looks like that quite often.  not today though.  i somehow managed to clean up between projects.  i am just out of control.  ha.

i've got a playdate at chelle's house scheduled for wednesday then a five day weekend.  woot! 

this is what i hope to accomplish the rest of the week:

1. finish dec daily.  only lacks the year in review page.  need to get pics printed for that.
2. finish oct daily.  days 14-31.  also need to get pics printed for that.
3. finish shimelle's learn something new every day mini.  days 19-30.
4. 4 cub scout thank you cards (by tuesday evening).
5. dig into the december jbs mercantile kit.  yum!
6. foundation for my 2011 journal your christmas/december daily.

and i just have to share these photos from this morning.  isn't my angel baby so adorable?  this is him when he finally woke up at 11:00 this morning.  i think he had sleepover hangover.

have you ever seen such amazing pillow tracks?  i laughed and laughed and laughed.  :)

the missing pages . . .

here are the missing pages i promised.  i think i mentioned that i only have 2 days, the cover, and binding left to do on my journal your christmas/december daily.  getting so close.  woot!  and just in the nick of time!  pun intended.  :)

i also have 12 days to go in september's learn something new every day . . .

and i ummm sorta have 27 pages to do in an october daily i started just before i got the blahs.

and i have this monthly bingo card mini that i've been doing all year.  4 mos and the cover plus binding to go there . . .

i have a 12x12 sleeve that i've been filling with this and that with the intent to make g a mini about this school year . . .

i just found a page i started with the september kit back in . . . oh september . . .

my december jbs kit goodies have landed . . .

and, well, i couldn't resist a little scrappy purchase at the lss this week.  isn't it nice to have so many delightful options?  ha.  :)