Where did April go? That month flew by. I can really only tell you one major thing that it was filled with, my 20 year anniversary. My husband and I have been TOGETHER for 20 years. NO, not married but together. That to me says a lot. I take this anniversary way more seriously then our wedding anniversary. I knew when we met that we would be together forever. Yep. I think we are well on our way.
4 kids does not make that journey very easy either. I love my children. They are my heart and soul. BUT they do make me wanna rip my hair out of my head. Why just the other day I found my 11 and 9 year old swimming in my bath tub. Oooo cute you say? Yes they had bathing suites on and yes it would've been picture worthy until you found out in order to "swim" in said bath tub they shoved toilet paper down the drain. I was livid! I mean I live in a very old house (built in 1939 to be exact) and the pipes are utterly junk. Always getting backed up. I had just gotten said pipes some what clear. OOOOoooo nooo they didn't! I could not believe that these 2 had done this. I mean come on! I expect it from a 4 year old but not a 9 and 11 year old?! REALLY!!! Grrr. Needless to say they are grounded. I think they realize what they did was insane and will never do it again... Or so I hope.
Lots of wonderful things in my life... For one I am alive. No seriously. So many people leaving their families way to soon. It truly is sad. Children left without parents. Parents left with a hole in their heart from a lost child. I am thankful I am here to breath, to hug, to kiss, to love. It can all be gone in a heart beat. Sometimes we all need reminding of that. Stress, work, bills, kids, all get in the way and make us forget this simple thing. It's good to be alive.
I need to make more time. More time to do things I love. Play with my kids. Take photos. Love my husband. Relax. Go on trips. Sometimes I have plenty of time. It just ends up getting a way from me. I will sit on the couch watch tv and tell myself, in a few minutes I will do (insert said procrastination here). Minutes tick away and before I know it its time for bed. HMPH!!! Yes must put that on my list of things to stop doing. I say this often. It's hard to teach a old dog new tricks.
I stopped creating there a few days. I must tell you it really drained my mojo. I have found that even if I only create 10 minutes of the day, it keeps it flowing. I had a hard time getting started back up. Not till NSD did I start making again. At first not so much...Then I just kept going and going and going. Loved each page a little more then the last. The first was lack luster. By the end I was diggin it. You really should try this! Here are some of my NSD creations.
Oh I also had Studio Calico to push me along. Loved the sketches.
Note: I am in love with the Maggie Holmes line... In case you couldn't tell. Haha!
I sometimes forget to post things here or there... SO I posted a few older layouts to 2peas today and seen they pinned 2 to their board! Super neat...Then I found out one is a featured project! What!! Super cool. Totally made my night.
Lastly loving all my IG friends. I think IG has to be my fav "sharing" site. Ever.
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The next installment in the lost art of blogging. Haha! Dying with so many social media outlets. I mean they are instant gratification, wouldn't you say? It is so much easier to share things without having to actually SHARE things. I am seriously the queen. I do not write handwritten letters, nor email. I hate talking on the phone anymore. Please just text me. Yeah I am one of THOSE. I will try harder. To share. To have a real voice. I love my phone. I need to learn to put it down and do something that I wouldn't normally do. Maybe just one day a week. I will try. Whittle my social networking down. Or manage my time better. Yes THAT really needs to happen. HAHA!
Anyway have many many pages to share with you! I am sure if you follow me anywhere else (there is that social media thing again) you have seen these. Maybe you dont. For that reason, here we go.
Beware it is a lot of eye candy! Haha!
First up is the page I did for the Pop Off The Page 2 class. Challenge. I lifted JJ. I really love her style. She has been inspiring me since the sis days. Yeah I have been doing this a LONG time. HA!
My beautiful daughter Raven. My daughter raven. She is 17. She sometimes feels life is hard, unfair, maybe it's not worth it. Teens go through this. She is beautiful to me. I tell her it isn't as bad as it seems. Life is beautiful even with all the heartache and sadness. She will be 18 in a few months. It's been a long (seemed short) journey to this chapter, but it's been worth every bump. She is my first born. I am looking forward to what life brings us next.
Me and the girls at cha. This is for the scrapjacked that went up last month. You still have till the 15th to play. Why not do so?!
Used lots of Whisker Graphics for this page. It is for the DT. I love those glassine bags. I layered bags on top of bags. Divine twine was used to stitch the tag.
All these next ones are made with the March Studio Calico kits. That whole lot inspired me. I love the Neverland kit.
So many different techniques. This one I cut my quote with my cameo. Layed down washi tape, misted then pulled up my washi tape. Laid down my quote and traced it with my gold pen. Viola. Title created. This was quite by accident. Haha!
For this one I cut that file (one of my fav) and I really wanted to make it pretty but subtle. I layered my washi tape sticky side up. Different colors. I then sprinkled it with glitter. Bam. Instant sparkle. Of course I used a transparent glitter so my washi would show through.
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my cameo? Well I do. This one has a few cut files on it. The title, the frame, the butterflies. LOVE! I also like to cut my files a head of time so I usually do so in a nuteral cardstock. This one was a shimmery white, it didn't match the colors and I wanted it to pop. I misted it with the mister huey and now it looks awesome. Haha! I love how it turned out.
Last one for now. I misted a few doilies and then cut them up. I put them together with some staples and made my own pie chart. I also made my own frame for this page by cutting some cardstock by hand. Lastly I used glue and glitter on my clothes pins, spots and heart.
That is all for now. Today is NSD and I actually have it off. Not going to go anywhere. Sit at home and make something pretty. How bout you?
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Sometimes I am not sure how to start out these blog posts. I feel like I say the same thing over and over. In high school I use to be able to put my feelings on paper. I could write better then I spoke. Not true any longer. I dont know why that is. Am I out of practice? Yes. Am I lazy? Could be... I dont know the one main reason but I do know it comes a lot harder now then it did a long time ago. I do think that my feelings are better expressed in my pages. They arent as deep as my past writings but they do have lots of feeling.
Speaking of feeling, I just started a this is me album. I must tell you I thought it to be a bit selfish. I wanted to do one but I just couldnt justify it. I kept telling myself that no one would want to read a book about me. No one would care. My kids know me. Then I REALLY thought about it. I thought about MY mom and grandma and great grandma. I wished I had knew things about them. Little things. Big things. Things. I finally had justified it. Commence the book making!
If you know me, you know I love making mini books. There is just something about filling them with odds and ends that bring so much gratification. I love using anything and everything. I also love making my own base. I have bought my fair share of pre-made books but always get way more satisfaction in a handmade one.
Of course I had inspiration in making said book. The THIS IS ME class over at SC. Lexi came up with some awesome prompts and it has really got me thinking. I am really in love with doing this book. Ok enough of me talking about it here is the cover and a few pages.
The cover is denim and gold. It is made of chipboard and I just covered it in denim fabric I had laying around. I cut the chevron v from same said fabric and glued that down. Then I took some gold glitter ribbon and glued down a chevron v. Clustered a sc tag, Jenni Bowlin circle, vintage butterfly button and some leaves.
My title page...
My first two pages...Me.
This book is gonna be huge. LOL! Hopefully I stick to this and finish it.
I also got a really cool present from my hubby.
Canon Selphy cp900. This will help me in my scrappin journey. Love it.
For all my horror fan friends...
Went and saw Evil Dead on premier night. Yes I love horror. And I LOVED IT. Must see.
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I have had the best time making myself be creative everyday. Trying to use my stuff right after I buy it or within a few weeks has been a challenge but honestly it has been freeing. I have given away so much of things I have bought because I buy so much (or am given) and would only find time to create once a week or so. It was heartbreaking to give away so much of it and honestly I would end up hanging on to it for years. There as a point in time that I thought I needed at least 2 of every paper. No more.
I do still find myself, every once in a while, wanting to pick up 2 of a pp. I talk myself out of it. I just remember all the piles of paper or junk I have given away and it makes me put that extra bit right back. It has taken a good many years to get to this point but I am so happy with myself that I have made this leap. Yes I was a hoarder. Ok, ok, I am still a hoarder. Or some sort of one. LOL!
All this making myself use the things I buy has lead to MANY layouts. Creative bits. The more I create the more I want to create. Seriously. Once felt like a chore now feels like a hobby again. It makes me happy. Makes me feel free. I love making stuff. I have become passionate bout my art again. Yes art. I love finding new ways to use my paper and stuff. I try to change what I do no matter how small. Here are a few of the things I've done.
The new Scrapjacked is up. This ALWAYS gets me wanting to create. I feel like we jack the best of the best. Who wouldnt want a reason to lift the fabulous? Most of the thinking is done for you. You can jack a little of what makes them great or a lot. We scrapjacked the awesome Janna Werner. She is a fab artist and person. I got to work with her on the Hambly dt and she is not only talented but sweet as can be. Come play! Me and the man on valentines day this year. WE had a wonderful date weekend. I enjoyed every minute of it.
The next few are from the March Studio Calico kit and add ons. I must admit I got the kits in the mail and thought to myself, what was I thinking!
Then I started to play and oh man I am really inspired. Even this boyish Hook add on. LOVE it. I rarely do such boyish layouts but I like the way this one came out. This is my sweet aeden tooting the new years horn this year.
Wet feet. Me, Aeden, and Aria had played in the sprinklers and to document that I took a pic of our wet grassy feet. They really enjoyed that mom played in the sprinklers with them just like a big kid. I love memories like this. Aside from using the SC kits for this I also used some washi tape from a past kit. Made the feather with it. Not to mention that adorable foxy flair from Pandaeight. I have "known" Martha since the SIS days and she is a sweet talented lady. We should all buy handmade soo please go support. I also have been using wire on my layouts. I had a lot of it and wanted to use it instead of tossing it. I like it. Yes I have a huge grin on my face. Yes I am pleased with myself. HAHA!
Lastly a page that I love. Not because I think it looks beautiful but because of the pictures. Well actually I guess I should love every page...anyway, this one is of my daughter and I. We always go to see the Twilight movies at midnight. We stand in the cold waiting in a HUGE line for hours, laughing joking and freezing our butts off!! I love it! This page is simple, light and totally showcases these photos. The photos are the star of the page or at least I think so. Oh and I must say thank you Studio Calico because I would have NEVER used those rub-ons. They are super cute but I feel like rub-ons are more trouble then they are worth. I may have changed my mind.
May. hehe!
Well that is all I shall share for now but believe me I have much more!
Thanks for stopping by and if you decide you would like to join me in my creative endeavor leave me a comment letting me know! I will try to leave you love and support you in whatever way I can. 15 mins a day keeps the mojoless away! *wink*
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