All Scrapping and No Posting!

That's how I feel right now, hence the lack of posting this past weekend. 

It was an exciting weekend for sure.  We went to Body Pump class Saturday morning and Costco Saturday afternoon!  I can hardly stand the excitement in our lives, lol.  In fact, I was going to round out the excitement by going shopping at Target on Sunday, but scrapbooking called! lol.  I was extremely pleased to find that my favorite drink, Moscato d'Asti, was back on the shelves of the Costco wine store.  It's slightly fizzy, quite sweet, low in alcohol, just the way I like it.  :)

Almost ten months ago, I went on a scrapbooking retreat and bought this WRMK's 72 degrees and sunny collection and created this layout there.  This is now published in Scrapbook Trends October 2010 issue in the Rubon section of the magazine.  I am posting this now to cheer myself up as it is far from 72 degrees outside even though it is currently sunny :) 

I also have a video to share :)  Every summer, I find myself buying all kinds of fun t-shirts with lots of awesome graphic designs.  Last summer, I had this idea of altering white t-shirts with mist.  While it was not a groundbreaking new idea, I was relieved that it went smoothly when I finally executed the process successfully "on camera."  I used the new Shimmerz products Coloringz that you can find here. I have since washed this shirt, and the colors and design remain perfectly fine.  I didn't do any heat treatment whatsoever in advance.  I would however, mist a little more just to saturate the colors deeper. 

Thank you for visiting and leaving your lovely comments. I will be back in full force later this week with projects galore! :)  Did somebody say JBS? :)

And here is my video! 

The Color Room 47

The parent-teacher conference came and went. I am still wondering where she fits into the landscape of academia.  Of course, it's a different scene from how I grew up.  People were measured against each other. I always knew where I stood in terms of academic performance, it's posted on the blackboard at all times as a constant reminder.  For some, it's the board of glory, for others, ever the shame.

"As you know, she is very chatty..."  I heard First Born's teacher telling us.  As quickly as I became upset with my child, I had a major DEJA VU.  The last time I heard that particular criticism... I was the student.  My teacher and parents gave me those disapproving looks.  Yep, ever the shortcoming that plagued me so...  "If only JJ could focus more, she would do so much better!"  Ah yes, ever that fine line between A and A-, focus... and stop talking! 

I never did stop talking, but I did find that singular focus, however that's for another day and another layout, one that I hope I can share soon.  Meanwhile...

Let this Color Room palette blow your mind as it did mine! I have Midnight Rooster's November Main Kit Whippoorwill to thank for the pairing of the Studio Calico arrow paper and the Basic Grey Wander paper.  It is a killer combo, so striking!  There is a first time for everything, yes, indeed a double pager for a Color Room layout.  And for me, it's my chef d'oeuvre for the moment. I personally love this one to pieces!

That serendipidous conference at Philadelphia brought me together with Aubree and Michelle.  They are my ever supportive scrapbooking cohorts, always there to celebrate my small victories and to snap me out of my "woe is me" state.  To my ridiculous sine wave of scrapbooking emotions, they are my f(x) = c.  To you, my friends, and because you first looked for me by my shoes...

There Is a Grand Canyon in Yellowstone!

Remember a while ago, I discovered and went gaga over Sweet Peach Crop Shop and bought three kits at one time?  Well, I am slowly and steadfastly working on using the kits.  Here is my second layout using their December kit.  It is a double-pager so it must count as two layouts right? lol.  At the end of it all, I look at it and think to myself, my goodness, it's so simple and almost boring!  But seriously, this took me four nights of tinkering to achieve!  To me, double-page, multi-photos with 4x6 photos layouts are quite the challenge to design.  Interestingly enough, up until four years ago, that's all I ever did.  Now I need lots of practice to get better with it.

Here is a close up of the banner using Maya Road's chipboard pieces.  I painted the scalloped banners with Shimmerz Pearlz in Espresso, and covered the top piece with Basic Grey papers.

Tonight, we go to First Born's school conference.  I am a little nervous about it, not entirely sure why.  She is by all accounts an extremely intelligent child whom we expect to excel at school.  Maybe once she gets older and grades are actually being handed out, it will be more measurable and understandable.  Meanwhile, there's the whole social aspect of school that is even less controllable and/or understandable.  She recently attended her first Peer Mediation session as apparently she and her BFF had some "major" issues with another student in her class.  It went well enough as the next day when I inquired about the relationship, it was "very good." This is only first grade yet...

The Rest of the Rooster

The weekend is almost over and I have hardly paid attention to the little blog!  I don't know about your neck of the woods, but we are still getting our 12 - 18 inches of snow as I type!  That's what I call CRAZY! 

Speaking of that... so is this little girl!  She was trying to see through the tiny holes in the Ritz crackers!  CRAZY! 

She went to a friend's birthday party at the local YMCA on Saturday.  Crazy amounts of fun was had by all including me who took advantage and went to a Body Pump class! :)

Other than a delightful dinner with Christine Saturday evening, both the food and the company, I have scrapbooked nonstop this weekend. It feels exhilarting and exhausting at the same time! I'm going right back to it when I finish typing here. This is going to be a late night but I'm taking tomorrow off because First Born's school is out, again, for like the 7th time this year! However, given the snow dumping we are getting, I am relieved to not have to drive in it tomorrow!

Good night!!

Put on Shades!

Because we have a gloriously bright palette for you!  If you are like me and said "whoa, my eyes, my eyes..." just check out the Color Room DT inspiration here, I'm seriously blown away! 

I started this layout late last night and it came together so quickly thanks to Lydell's sketch!  The background is a 2007 Me and My Big Ideas paper, perfect for the palette no?  Jump for joy on stash reduction! Yay yay yay!  Furthermore, I have so many printed photos from that one day in June 2009 when we visited the Sculpture Garden, this layout also serves as a photo reduction for me :) 

GCD butterflies with a button and a JBS butterfly pin.  Oh some seriously fun products to use! Well, that's really it from me. Since I'm in serious lack of materials on this post, I will tell you a joke my First Born told me.

Question: How does an alien count to 23?

Answer: One finger at a time!

FUNNY girl :)

Midnight Rooster is Mad for Pink

The February kit by Midnight Rooster is named Mad for Pink.  I did not know ahead of the time the name of the kit, but clearly, the products and the theme carried through as I actually finally scrapped this photo of First Born with her pink balloon.  I thought the sheet of Glitz paper with that apple/pear yellowish green color juxtaposes so well against the pink!  The grungy edge matches the mood of the photo and conveys the feeling of this photograph: slightly dreamy... 

I adore these balloons out of the polka dot paper! I cut them using the Birthday Bash cartridge.  It is obviously my most favorite cartridge at this point, since I am reaching for it constantly!  I also added a few shimmering spritz to spruce up the edge of the balloons, very cute :)

This next layout is from the same kit: Mad for Pink, though there isn't a lot of pink on this one. She built this small fortress and then decorated the tops with fruit loops :)  ah... tropical cruise... ah... warm weather...  We've had a bit of warmer weather lately: 40's this week!! It really does feel like a heat wave after weeks of single digits! Still, it's nothing like the tropical beach in Roatan, but at least I have my memories :)

Valentine...

A very quick post to wish you a happy Valentine's Day. Cute or romantic, which do you prefer? :)  Thank you for stopping by and your kind words of encouragement!  Have a great day!

More WIP Feb Projects

I recently acquired this punch from Michael's, and I put it to use immediately on a layout using Work In Progress' February kit.  How glorious is that filigree heart?  What more am I going to do with it? LOL.  I mentioned how versatile this kit is, my previous post included layouts that look completely different from this one :)

This photo was taken by First Born almost 11 months ago.  A part of me wishes for an early spring like we got last year, but that early spring did result in early cherry blossoms killed by a frost in April.  We just can't win against the weather here :) 

WIP's February's kit contains a sheet of paper called Flour Sack from October Afternoon that looks like batched-together ribbons, so an idea came to me and I created this layout. Since the sheet of paper looks like ribbons, I might as well cut them out as if ribbons :)

Here is a pictorial tutorial how I did the ribbons. I know I could use scissors, but I'm way too lazy for two snips! lol.

Here is a close-up look at the faux ribbons' edges. I used Helmar Zapdots to give a few of them some added dimension.  I also intermingled a few pieces of real ribbons into the mix, just to add to the texture of the page.  Overall, this was a page of experimenting with an idea and I like the end result and I will probably implement this again on another page in the future :)

It's almost Valentine's Day and we have nothing for someone who celebrates a birthday on that day. She really could have helped the matter by coming into the world the day she was due. As such, she will suffer a lifetime of competing interest of V day or B day... sigh... 

Pretty Pretty Palette 45

It's Thursday and Color Room time! How is this new palette for pretty, eh?

A pretty palette deserves some pretty pictures.  She is just too cute for my eyes.  After a day of craziness at Daycare, her hair is a mess, her cheeks are dirty, but oh so so lovely she is to me.  This layout is based on Lydell's sketch here.  And remember my comment about embellishment for the sake of embellishing? Yeah, case and point here: the chair, lol.  It is the most perfect match to the magenta in the palette! lol.

Doing these color challenges is a completely different design process for me.  I start with the gathering of supplies and raiding of embellishments as opposed to starting with photos on hand. It does create a huge mess as I always pull out way more stuff than I end up using on my page, but I enjoy the process because it's so different for me.

I used a Crafter's Workshop Brocade template and misted the background using Shimmerz in Grape Escape.  How awesome is that template?! I hope I have some more ideas on using this beauty!!  Any suggestions?

I hope you join us with this pretty palette at the Color Room.  I am off to Body Pump :) 

Artist

Today I am sharing a favorite layout in the most recent Creating Keepsakes Feb 2011 issue.  It is a favorite because this was an ordinary day, and these were not-so-good photos (low light), but together they represent who I am as a scrapbooker: photos and journaling.  My memories of that day and those moments are solidified with these photos and my own words.  Best of all,  I didn't have to keep her masterpiece drawing of Daddy, because I know I will always have it on "film." :)

Having the editors appreciate a project that perhaps isn't any "design-team-worthy" but is full of meaning to me makes this publication that much more precious.

Here's a bit about myself and my scrapping. I can always tell when I am delighted with a project, I pull out my 7Gypsies rubbings and start to add to the page here and there, in a completely unplanned and un-designed fashion.  I'm in a good mood and I'm ready to part with some of my most treasured and beloved rubbings... rub a little here, rub a little there, lol, yep, that's me :) And you can see the rubbings on this page :)  It is a little bit, out of control, but please don't tell the editors :)

Lastly, this layout was done when I had just joined the My Favorite Things Scraps and Arts team (now dissolved).  I was exploring using my favorite Pure Innocence gal on scrapbook pages.  This particular stamp is not in stock, but you can check out the rest of the PI stamps here.

Tonight is my DD's school's annual Achievement Fair.  She did a wonderful project with some help from DH and me.  I look forward to taking pictures of her in front of her display and scrapping them.  It'll be like this one again, not exactly quality photos, but quality memories :)

As seen in the Feb 2011issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

WIP Loves OA and So Do I

It's February, and I am officially sick of this winter and I'm ready for some lovely Afternoons in October! :)  Well, Trish must have read my mind, check out the current kit at WIP.  Let's face it, you mention October Afternoon, my knees go weak.  Can this Campfire line be cuter? (confession: i say this just about every oa line...)  I am a complete and utter sucker for cute animals.  If there is one thing I have learned in the last year: an embellishment is an embellishment.  It may have nothing to do with my page, it just embellishes, lol.  Well, in this case, I think the wilderness animals embellish my Yellowstone photos quite appropriately!

I added this little owl onto a couple of chipboards from American Crafts. I figured that he needs a house even if he lives in the wilderness :)  I can't help it, and I must say it, how cute is he?!

I also made this card for a co-worker who just welcomed a second son into his family. I am unofficially the card maker for my team at work.  It's almost a little embarrassing to be the crazy crafty lady, lol, but I mostly don't mind.  I do think people will complain about this card as it is quite 3-d, it won't be easy for the folks to sign, oh well :)

It looks like this kit is still in stock, rush on over to WIP and get yours!! It's an extremely versatile kit, you'll see a completely different look of a layout from me sometimes next week.

That's it folks, it's Superbowl Sunday and I've been scrapping relatively madly.  But now the BIG GAME is almost on, I must take leave and go park in front of the TV to see the last game for a long long long while (even without the labor agreement problems!!).

More CHA photos...

How about more CHA photos?  Check out these adorable Fancy Pants chipboard birdies...

I'm moving into this Neighborhood with the Crate birdies!!!

Well, with all these plans with my adopted birdies, I think I will move into this birdie house using the Twig Line by Little Yellow Bicycle.  Does this line ever rock my little world!  I think my birdies and I will be very very happy there!

New templates from Crafter's Workshop.  Seriously, amazing stuff. I can't wait to try them!! 

New thickers...  the only kind of thicker I wanna get in my life.

If you love banners like I do... oh HELLO Fancy these Pants! 

 Sassafras Foldies!!  They are so so pretty!!

Jenni Bowlin Studio, oh sweetness me, can you hear me, can you hear me calling, can you hear me calling you?

Righto then, that wraps up my CHA photos.  It's Superbowl weekend!  I'll be watching the big game and cheering for no one in particular :)

with CHA behind me

I just want to buy buy buy!

The grand plan was to do CHA with Christine.  We even joked about how we were going to jump on our hotel beds and having a pillow fight!  But it was not to be.  I missed out some serious photo opportunities with her!

But...just like I told her... don't you worry about me!  I had a wonderful time at CHA!  As always, the people are the best part of going to the show.  Already, I can't wait to see everyone again! I have so many photos but after a couple of days of not posting because I can't decide what to post, here are just a few of them.

Crate Paper hit it out of the ballpark and then some miles beyond!  They also got me the badge to enter the show, so I got so many compliments on Crate Paper when people looked at my badge :)  Yeah, all I gots to say is BUY BUY BUY, and get out of my line! lol.

October Afternoon, gulp, what can I say?  Love at first sight, at second sight, at third sight, until no sight? Love.

Cosmo Cricket, I found you babe!  I need you babe!  I got you babe! Give it to me babe! 

Sassafras, love love love!!  Foldies are their innovative new product.  Why do the fussy cutting and 3-d popping when it's all done for you? I can't wait to BUY BUY BUY, lol. 

 Maya Road, take me, take me on your road please!  I'll hitchhike to find your road!! 

It's Chinese New Year Eve, the Rabbit Year is upon us!  To those of you who celebrate, though I do not myself, lol...
祝福您：新年大吉，一如既往，二人同心，三口之家，四季欢唱，五福临门，六六顺意，七喜来财，八方鸿运，九九吉祥，十分美满!