..:: currently ::..

Currently I am...

seeing freshly fallen snow.

hearing the Silhouette Cameo (it's loud!) work overtime on projects for myself and a project for a friend.

smelling fresh baked cookies more often lately.  Bea loves the whole process and I love doing it with her.

touching paper, paint and glue.

loving it.

reaching my monthly Pinterest Challenge and Layout Mission two months in a row.

anticipating what would be Mikaela's third birthday coming up soon.

wishing she were here to celebrate it.

knowing something that I cannot tell yet!

overwhelmed (in a good way) with all the good fortune that has come my way lately.

excited about my first DT reveal tomorrow!!!

sneaking in a peek of the first Scrap Your Story Challenge (goes live tomorrow at 8am CST)!

:: announcing ::

I am a Design Team member at Scrap Your Story -- a new challenge blog!  You can see the official announcement here.  I encourage you to head on over there to check them out but the idea is: each Friday a new challenge will be announced and "due" the following Thursday at 11:59 PM (CST).  The challenges will rotate between a challenge that asks you to use something specific, base your LO on a theme, use a sketch, or use a particular technique. The rules are posted here.The first challenge will be announced this Friday, March 1st -- please join us and tell your friends!

project life :: week 4 & a new challenge blog

Holy busy week, Batman! This Project Life thing is fun!

week four :: page one

I apologize ahead of time::  for some reason many of my photos on this post are quite wonky! I took the photos while there was still light, and by the time I had a chance to check them out and see that they were wonky -- it was too late to reshoot!  

week four :: page two

Guess what?  I have an insert this week (it's becoming a habit).  This week I just needed an 8.5x11 insert for some err...uh....paper.... I got a speeding ticket.  Ugh. In our community we have these traffic cameras that catch ya -- and they caught me!  Bad part was, I didn't even know I was speeding!  Argh!  Oh well, I haven't had a ticket in a zillion years, so I suppose I was due??

The other side of the insert is a print out of this blogpost and several instagram photos of other blogposts -- to document the fact that although I had a very busy week this week, I still posted on the blog four times -- no wonder I got that speeding ticket, right?

Insert close up (back)

I love my quote this week!  And B.  Oh B.  Why won't you ever keep your clothes on!?!

Favorite pocket this week:: these cards!  I cut some cards to the right size and put them in B's art area.  Then all I had to do was wait until she made something for me.  YAY!  I will do this again.

 Favorite Story for Week 4 :: Hiding and eating candy

New Challenge Blog :: With a giveaway!  If you look to the right...there are a few new buttons on my sidebar.  One that I would like to highlight today is a new challenge blog -- Scrap Your Story Challenges.  I stumbled across the blog yesterday, and it looks exciting! Their first challenge will go live on March 1st, but you should check it out now because they have a giveaway that could be yours! 

Coming soon :: I have several Project Life pages to share and of course a layout or two.  Let's not forget that lovely new Silhouette Cameo -- I have several things to share involving that....
And one more thing....I have an announcement that I am bursting to share.......oh so many fun things ahead!  :-)

Later taters!

:: another goal ::

I shared a couple of goals with you in this post and this post, and how they link to my one little word in this post.  I have another quick one to share with you today!

In 2011 I set out to get better at taking photographs. The biggest action step that I took toward that goal was to join a 365 group on flickr.  Although I didn't complete the 365, I did take a lot of pictures and I watched my photographs get better over time. So I consider that a success, not a failure.  This continued in 2012, and I added a few lenses to my arsenal along the way (thank you, honey!).

Now, I want to step outside my comfort zone once again and learn a few more things in the areas of taking and editing the photos.  To accomplish this I've purchased a few books and magazines to get me started, and visited several websites. Here were the things I started working on in January:

• taught myself how to make a banner in Photoshop (FUN)
• experimented with black and white photos
• used manual mode more often (will be upping this now that I feel more comfortable with it)
• experimented with contrast -- specifically during processing, mostly black and white photos
• more selfies and "in the process of ____" photos (like while cooking, for example)

A few results:

It's difficult to believe we are already over halfway through February!  Coming soon: project life share (still lovin' it) and Silhouette Cameo fun (plus a few little projects I'm working on)!

:: remember today ::

Last week we had a snow day.  I took a zillion pics.  I grabbed my favorite one and scrapped it -- it's the first photo that I took 2013 that I used for a layout (not counting Project Life).

Journaling reads : "After Snowball fights and sledding in FRESH SNOW, you must have HOT CHOCOLATE!"  I took this journaling straight from a post that I posted to Flickr.  I'm not sure if you can tell or not from the pic, but my favorite part is how I cut a journaling card in half and put one part on top of the photo and the other part at the bottom for the date stamp. Then used an exacto-knife to cut the banner out (it's actually part of the journaling card) and stamped "sweet love" across the top of the card.

For this layout I used my January Scrapbook Circle kit (and a few items from a past kit or two), some flair from A Flair for Buttons, Studio AE January Stamp, and a few little tidbits from my stash. This is the first time that I have participated and submitted something to CSI (Color Stories Inspiration). This is the case file:

I used the colors, of course.  My pieces of evidence are hearts, diecuts and punches.  For the testimony I added a heart to my journaling spot.

Another first for me, I did a little distressing (I used the edge of my scissors) around the edges of my photo mat.

 For a little dimension, I added pop dots to one side of my journaling strips.

I'm pretty happy with the final product.  Pretty simple, but I like it!

Coming soon :  Project life share, and an update on goals (new and ongoing).

:: hello ::

Hello blog, I've missed you this week.  Here's what I've been up to:

Snuggling with my sick girl.  Took her to the doctor on Monday, diagnosis: virus.  Have to wait it out!

I have had a little scrappy time:

Still running a fever, so back to the doctor for more tests on Thursday (still a "virus", but at least we know what it's NOT)

She didn't look this brave for long.  :-)

 Found this :

And finally, last night, I drank wine really fast, and bought a Cameo!  It will be here by Monday!

Coming soon:  Layout share, Project Life update and another goal share!

:: OLW Blog Hop ::

Welcome to the first One Little Word blog hop of 2013! 

Did you come from Janet's place?  You are in the right place! Thank you for viewing my part of the world for a bit! 
Feel free to look around -- but orange colored glasses are required!
A complete list of participating blogs are listed at the bottom of this post. 

A little more than a week ago I shared my 2013 One Little Word, and how it found me, in this post.  My word is present, but it's really more like two words, be present.  This is my second year participating in Ali's class at Big Picture Classes and I am completely hooked.  Last year my life was...interrupted...and although my 2012 word, balance, stayed with me all year (and will always be a part of me), I didn't participate in the class with the prompts as much as I'd hoped. I am excited as I begin again (aren't new beginnings like magic?) and I am hopeful that I will continue to participate in the class and with this blog hop all year!  I hope you play along, too!

I started a flickr group to share photos related to our words.  Wanna join?  Here's a link.  You should totally join.  All the cool kids are doin' it (OK, right now it's just me, but I'm hoping for other cool kids). ;-)

OK.  Now...to the photos -- when I hop to all these blogs, I always want to see the photos!

I didn't really feel right just starting, so I decided that I needed a title page. I resized a photo (that I took with my iPhone) to 7.5 x 10.5, added a banner and Ali's title card in photoshop, and printed it on my home printer (I'm pretty much doing all my printing at home right now, just for the convenience of it!).  I learned that I LOVE big pictures. OK, I admit, I think I already knew that, but now I know it for realz. Then I cut it up, rounded the corners and voila!  I may add some flair or something to it, I haven't decided.  I might just call 'er done.

two page spread for the prompt (names blurred for privacy)

Wow.  This was a difficult prompt. I didn't put numbers or dates on mine because I feel like I'm going to do them all, all the time, I'm an over achiever like that, yo!  BUT, I do like the idea of having a focus each month.  This month I was mostly just trying to survive, and think about my word, and make a conscience effort to listen, to others as well as myself.  That's not going away, the listening thing.  I know that I'm more of a talker than a listener.  :-)  So this is one that I will need to always focus on! To be present, one must be a listener.

process photo

For the main prompt, I used blue and orange StazOn ink to stamp "be present" on the cards (on both white and a light kraft color).  Then I used a fine print, blue sharpie and wrote on each card. The writing is basically the action or intention, I'm not sure what to call it.  For me, these words are the ways I need to "be present", if that makes sense.

I filled the rest of the spots with fun papers from my stash. This month much of it is Amy Tangerine.  I added some alphas, washi, and some other fun.

I printed Ali's title card on vellum, as well as a sample that I got from Shelley Haganman at A Flair for Buttons.  She is doing some custom flair for me related to my word and I borrowed one of the .jpg examples that she sent (with permission), printed it on vellum and put it over some of the Amy Tangerine paper. Both pieces of vellum are stapled with the Tiny Attacher.  I am not sure I am finished.  I might put some of the flair that I get on that top left card, or I might replace it with a self portrait.  I haven't decided yet!

I put a little wood veneer camera on this card (Studio Calico paper), but it wasn't quite right.  Then I added a little brad in the middle and I love it (it might be my favorite card)!

blogpost insert front

Finally I printed out most of this blog post on that same light Kraft card stock (front and back) and added a 6x12 insert.

blogpost insert back

Pretty simple, but I'm happy with the result.

One last thing...I am using the same binder that I used last year.  To separate the years I added a divider.

I used some plain (thick) transparency, painted it and added stickers for the year.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my process.  Please continue hopping!  Next stop...Ruth's place!

Here is the complete list of bloggers participating today -- give 'em some love!

Lee

Cheri

Lisa

Lynn

Nikki

Kathryn

Missus Wookie:

Veronica

Eydie

Karen

Kelly

Melanie

Valerie

Marya

Nupur

Angela

Janet

Dona <----- That's me!

Ruth

Naomi

Pam

Kara

Clare

Margareta

Tricia

Jacqueline