No Scrapping Today.

Big Frown.  It's not that I don't want to, I do.  It's just that it's about 90 degrees in my scrappy place and let's face it, with the MS I cannot be in 90 degree spaces at all.  It's the pain that wraps around my abdomen to my back, the pain in my legs and feet intensify, I become fairly blind, and exhausted.  My eyes are going fast now - the neuropathy I suppose - so please pray I don't go blind; I'd rather stop walking than lose my sight.  This disease is wearing me down, exacerbated by stress and depression.  And the cure for stress and depression - scrapbooking of course.  It's a horrible cycle: need to scrapbook to make the illness better, can't scrapbook because of the illness.  But then, I am so very fortunate.  It could be much much worse.  We endure a lot of pain and illness in this house, but I'm still walking and occasionally driving.  So I thank God every morning that I can get out of bed, for coffee, that my parents are alive, that my kids are okay, there is still a lovely planet for me to live on, and that I can still glue precious photos to pretty paper... seriously, that's the list as I walk from the bed to the bathroom and then outside with my coffee after checking on everyone.  Then often it's back to bed, but life is short so I remember to be grateful.

So here I sit in a dark room on my white comforter (why does white feel cooler even in a dark room?) with the fan blowing on me wishing I could scrapbook.  Instead I'm stalking... stalking blogs, message boards, whatever I can find.  Trying to watch Dr. Who but have to stop so JC can play Xbox - kids, geez.

But surprise, I do have a couple of layouts to share.  This one is of GiGi and her boyfriend.  Unfortunately it didn't get scrapped until a few days after they broke up...ROFL!!!  But she really liked him so he deserves a place in the book.  Besides, the reason she broke up with him is something I want us both to always remember.  It seems that Boyfriend was getting way too possessive: telling her who she could talk to, wanting to erase the contacts on her phone, threatening guys who said they liked her Instagram pix, and then wanting her to check in with him every 45 mins or so.  She handled the rest pretty well, just telling him he needed to back off cause he wasn't her dad; but when the demand for a 'check-in' came up, she had enough.  She told me that she was glad that her family put curfews on her and made her check in several times whenever she wasn't home because it shows we care and so many parents don't seem to at all; but, she's only 15 and not about to let some boy tell her how to live her life or have the same demands her parents have - or worse.  We've instilled that whenever she makes a decision to do things with other friends she should always consider a boyfriend's feelings on the matter (like parties where he doesn't know the people etc) because high school boyfriends are the training grounds for how you want adult relationships to be.  But I have to say that I'm very proud of her attitude in this situation - his possessiveness seemed unhealthy - and believe that this was a seriously good training ground for how she does and doesn't want adult relationships to be.  Anyway, that's the end of that story... I just thought I'd share as you guys get to live so much of her life through my layouts that you're kind of an audience to her growing up.  So here's the layout:

Wow...just thought about that twice - you watching her grow up through my layouts.  And boy has she ever - that little preteen we started out with together has grown up to be a beautiful 5'9" young lady - well I am her Nonna so I can say beautiful.

Anyway, another blurry picture... it's kind of scary because when I pulled it up on my computer it looked perfectly fine.  (When GiGi gets home from her dad's I'm going to try to get her to photograph some of my layouts; at 15 her hand is much steadier and her eye much truer.) But I am really proud of this layout; it's kind of a throwback to the ones I was making before I took my long break.  I'm using the twine, lots of my wood stash, mist and tape - and of course, flair.  I so often forget that I have all this (and what to do with it) so it was great to get a layout going that uses some of this stuff up. And yes, I'm still using those bright papers; I started to do this layout using some DearLizzy, but changed my mind when I thumbed through and found the Heidi Swapp stripe for the background. I'll admit it, I am just kind of stuck on the bright stuff, it's just so cheery that it makes me smile just to cut it.

Then I also made this one this past week for the Shimelle weekend I missed.  I used this sketch:

The background is Echo Park, letters October Afternoon, hearts are Pebbles and I think everything else is Maggie Holmes FleaMarket for Crate Paper.  The reason that it's titled The Harry Potter Bookmark is because I move that bookmark from book to book and that is the text when I Instagram these photos.

Okay that's enough for right now.  I may be blogging two or three times a day, so don't be surprised - getting caught up for all I missed I guess, or preparing for when I go down again.  But bear with me and if you get tired of it, I understand.  Good thing is it will all still be here if you change your mind! LOL.

I've been checking you guys out.  Furry Pig has been busy busy busy.  But I miss Cynthia and her beautiful photographs - where are you????  My reading list has gotten zapped at some point so please leave a comment or email me with your blog address so I can fix that up.

I hope you all are fine and healthy and scrappy.  You know I love you guys.

Stay Safe and Scrap On!

“Dance above the surface of the world. Let your thoughts lift you into creativity that is not hampered by opinion.” - Red Haircrow

Just a Few...

more scrapbook layouts I've been working on (of course in my world nothing is ever finished!).  These are Bella Blvd and Echo Park.  Hope you like them.

And then one from this sketch from Shimelle's weekend:

You can't say I didn't warn you about taking photos of layouts lately. 

Hope you are finding time and energy to do some scrapping too.

Stay Safe and Scrap On.

“The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”  - Robert Henri

Finding My Style PLUS All Things Summer!

You have joined me for classes, workshops, and long scrappy weekends.  I so appreciate the awesome company - I have been so lucky.  But during all these forums I have continually searched for my own style.  I will be the first to admit that during this journey over the past few years, I have done a fine job of tuning my style to that of my scrappy hero, Shimelle.  And while I thank her for her instruction and inspiration from the bottom of my heart (and yes, still my scrappy hero), I think I have finally come into my own... and thank goodness as it's only taken 15 years.  So a few of the techniques/items that I think make up my style:

• I love pretty patterned paper! And so I almost always use it as my background.  But I am not one to layer those background papers but rather I like to showcase them: building upon them and letting them have an opportunity to shine through.
• I love a diversity of embellishments.  But I don't like too many.  I don't feel a necessity to use a lot to make a statement if I use really bold papers. 
• I believe in the rule of three though often I prefer a single embellishment cluster.
• Some things recur, especially wood.
• I love to stick within a single collection.  Now that I say that, I should clarify that it really depends on the line.  For instance, I have a large tray on my desk that has almost all my summer collections' stuff so I can mix all that up for layouts.  But for lines like DL Daydreamer, MH Flea Market, etc. I usually just stick with things from that same collection.
• I really like using title/journaling cards on layouts.  
• I'm a plain, old-fashioned scrapbooker.  While I appreciate all the Mixed Media artistics that are around: I've even tried art-journaling to get my feet wet.  But when it comes down to it, I'm just basically a paper and stickers girl.  I'm so okay with that.

Now that being said, I reserve the right to change my style at any point or deviate on any occasion.  There are no hard and fast rules to how one scrapbooks - no right and wrongs - no expectations.  But I have thought about this a bit, especially while watching those scrappy videos.  It was a great revelation, a moment of exhilaration, to discover that while I still love other peoples style and believe they are utterly IT girls, I have my own little style developed - I am my own person, not just a copycat scrapper.  WooHoo!!!

Now, on to more of that style emerging...

In case you don't remember, I LOVE! scrapbooking summer pix.  I think this season presents some of the happiest feeling supplies scrapbooking has to offer.  Last year it was the Fancy Pants What a Wonderful Day and Simple Stories I {heart} Summer.  This year the list is a bit longer:

American Crafts - #Summer
Simple Stories - Good Day Sunshine
Bo Bunny - Lemonade Stand
Bella Blvd (Everything)
Echo Park (whatever works)

These lines are working perfectly together.  And boy am I ever using them up! Not only for summer photos but for so many more of GiGi's layouts.  I can't wait to show you how this year's album is coming together...but not today.  Today I want to show the first of this years that I am contributing to the A Cherry On Top (ACOT) challenge.

See what I mean - all this bright cheeriness makes me feel so much better!

And if you're looking for a spot to 'meet' some nice ladies, get a challenge on or ten (with prizes), play fun games, view a gallery, or purchase a few supplies with discounts, don't forget to check out A Cherry on Top... and tell them I sent ya!

Okay, I hope everyone is well and basking in the rays of sunshiny scrappiness!  Love you guys!

Stay Safe and Scrap On!

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” - Frederich Nietzche

End of an Era...

So sorry I haven't been around - yet again - but as usual there has been a lot of bed-time/kid-time/parent-time involved.  I have had moments of scrappiness, but alas getting photos of these layouts is actually harder than creating them.
I hope everyone has received their cards by now (and thanks so much Cynthia for the lovely thank you).  So sorry (yet again) for the delay as there was a total breakdown around our household that involved my having to come home quickly one day and relying on someone else to get the job done. (thank you Ruth for the heads up that prompted my going out to mom's car (which I am never ever in) to find the forgotten packages).
So on to it.  There will be no layouts today as this is a little heads up for those of you who haven't heard the big news... TwoPeasinaBucket is closing.  Now to tell you honestly, I have one and a half regrets about this:
1/2 regret is that I was all pumped to purchase some of the exclusive embellishments come first of the month.
One very BIG regret is that our girl Shimelle works for 2Ps - and they are the sponsor/venue for Glitter Girl.  I am so hoping that Shimelle is okay through all of this, especially with the new little one on board.  I am happy that she has found a designing home with American Crafts (can't wait for that line to come out next month!!!!), but also hope that she maintains control of Glitter Girl so that we may continue to reference past installments as well as continues to bring us more of our sparkly friend in the future.  In the meantime, I really wish she would update her class access so that I can figure out if there's anything I missed and didn't mean to - namely, the one in January!

TwoPeas has been around 15 years and it was the first place I went when I was able to make a major scrapping purchase again after the dark days.  It is also the only place my mom knows to shop for my gifts.  But I must admit that I definitely saw this coming after the first of this year.  It was around February I think that my orders started to take over a week to ship vs the usual 3-day turnaround from order placement to receipt.  Then the customer service 'ticket' was abandoned in lieu of sending emails (and Matt was sooooo awesome about answering any and every question!!!).  Then when I emailed for 3-months straight about a defective Dear Lizzy wood piece that I had received and never ever even once heard back from them - nothing.  (Interjection:  Please see * below) And then just to top all my hate off, no warning... no warning whatsoever.  I was on the site a few days ago looking up if they had those SC hearts back in yet and not a signal.  Then today an email with the news arrives (stamped June 25, 2014 at 1:09 pm) and, whoa!!! the Message Boards are missing.  (Guess they didn't want to see all that booing and hissing!.. or maybe let anyone know what the future held for our video series that we watch every.single.day. on YouTube!) Oh, Oh, Oh... and those 'exclusive' embellies that I had in my cart a week ago - gone!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every lousy flair and coffee cup wood veneer... gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, though my heart is heavy for our girl Shimelle, it is with a big "GOOD RIDDANCE!" that I say goodbye to Two Peas in a Bucket.  Makes me proud to be a "Cherry".

Now... after I've gotten all that off my chest, let me just say that at the same time I am very sad to see 2Ps leave.  After Archives and Creative Memories, it's just frightening that another one has bitten the dust.  I want to think that the reason is because of divorce or some other more personal reason rather than just low sales in which case I am sorry for those involved.  However, the facts of our poor customer service and the way in which they have 'closed the doors' may say a lot about why sales had diminished if that were the case.  I hope so.  I am terrified that the days may come when I still have an overpowering urge to cut up pretty paper and glue down darling diecuts just to find that there are no more available.

*Oh and as for that interjection:  One more reason that American Crafts remains my favorite all-around company.  They have the most awesome customer service ever.  And while they couldn't fix my bad piece of wood, they made up for my total headache with an entire set of wood veneers from the line of my choice - promptly.  God love Jenna with whom I carried on an email conversation at least 1-2 times per day for over a week and was uber sweet all the time!

Okay, now that I've spouted off, I'll bid you goodbye for today. Let me know if you didn't receive the cards yet as that would just be crazy at this point.  I will be back later showing off some scrappiness as I went to doctor yesterday and received another injection that seems to be allowing me to sit up for a couple of hours a day and I have the best help in with my folks.

I hope everyone is oh so well and scrappy and having a beautiful (and cool if possible) summer.

Stay Safe and Scrap On!

“The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses.” - Edith Sodergan

A Case for Hoarding...

Oh such a dirty word!!!! Yet, I freely admit my guilt!  I have things in my 'stash' that range in age from one-month to 15-years old! Why??? I am always asking myself that question, and the answer is so very hard to explain.  Some things I believe will make their way back into fashion (think vellum, corrugated paper, slides - but truly you can just laugh out loud here); mostly I just can't bear to throw anything away that I so lovingly purchased at any time during this 15 year party.

I consider anything 3-years or older as part of my hoarding.  We've discussed stash before - I have a stash of wood, flair, etc. that is probably larger than I will use before they too go out of fashion.  But it won't matter, as this post is about to illustrate.  Honestly, I don't feel anything ever goes out of fashion in my scrap supplies... I don't believe in fashionable when it comes to nearly anything (as my closet can attest too!).  Fads, yes.  But if you really, really loved anything once, you probably still do in some way.  Oh my, I digress.

So in my never-ending quest to use my supplies (mostly so I have room for new stuff!), I have made it an issue to think back to my hoarding stash before going to my new things whenever I make a layout this year.  Of course, this isn't always going to work.  But for sure, I have more than enough accumulated 'holiday' embellishments that it's worth a shot!

However, before I get on to the examples, I want to just mention a few things.  I have completed about 40-50 layouts since the beginning of the year.  No, I don't plan on bombarding you all at one time with these atrocities.  Rather I plan to show a few examples along the way to illustrate a point.  So sometimes you may see a layout more than once, please just go with it.   Okay... on to a few layouts showing how I've been finding and using my immense hoard:

On this layout I used those lovely snowflake rhinestones that I've had for at least 7 years, the Martha Stewart snowflake punch I've probably had just as long, as well as my vellum paper and some little pearlescent white paint I've had for 10 years or more.  Yet they all look lovely with the Crate Paper and 2Ps items, eh?!

You'd be surprised at how old some of these elements are - for instance the black thickers are several years old.  The heart flair is at least 3-4 years old (the other is a button from a jeweler that I've had about 8-years).  Then there's that Anna Griffin laser-cut XOXOXO paper that I have used almost every Valentines day for years and years.  Oh and lest I forget, the lips brad that poses as the dot over the i... that brad is at least 12-14 years old. Whew!

This layout is one I stole from Shimelle - putting everything practically straight on one side to showcase a lovely paper - and wow! do I love this Maggie Holmes paper!  While many of the embellishments are new (Crate Paper and Flea Market), its the hearts themselves that classify as hoarded - all American Crafts foam and vellum and from a 3+ year-old package.

Last layout today!  It was a total surprise when I remembered that I had that gold 'foiled' paper that makes up the scallops... I've had that 8.5x11 paper for 10+ years.  Then I found the large crown die (actually a CuttleKids set) that I bought at almost the same time I got my Cuttlebug (6-7 years) so used the small crown EKS punch (purchased in a set with a heart on clearance) to create all of those out of some glitter paper.  WooHoo... actual uses for those things I got and then threw in the drawer!  Everything else on this page (except letters of course) is Maggie Holmes to include the Project Life cards (left blank for GiGi to document).  

So needless to say, I've very proud of using my hoarded supplies... which now actually makes them 'stash'.   I hope not everyone is as bad as I am, but if you are or just keep things for a little longer than the '6-months' rule, hope this encourages you to pull them out and put them on layouts.  Well, at least to have absolutely '0' guilt over hoarding/stashing all those purchases... they probably could come in very handy!

Also, just noticed this upon previewing the post... All these layouts use Project Life cards! Oh, I know, you're thinking, "Not that 'Warm Me Up' one".  Well actually that's one-half of a 2-page layout that you'll be seeing soon (remember I told you some would reappear later).

Okay, now go get scrappy!

Stay Safe and Scrap On!

P.S.  While I appreciate the great comments, I only received 2 addresses via my email - really you guys don't want a freebie?  

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Obsessions...No.1

For many months, even before my hiatus in the winter, I have been more than slightly obsessed with Title/Journaling cards.  At first it was merely the cut-apart sheets that came with each collection.  But lately my obsession has moved on to include Project Life cards.  And noooooo, I'm not a Project Lifer!

Sometime in the winter, I had obtained some divided page protectors (I believe it was in response to a Shimelle weekend challenge that I was unable to fulfull).  Other than transferring and completing a page that was half-done with an 8.5x11 protector that came from somewhere in the office (?????), these protectors sat on my desk for some months.  Then, quite a while before any of the 2013 Christmas photos made it to my desk, I used a few to complete last years layouts - specifically 2-page layouts.  At that time I mostly used cut-up 12x12 paper with a few 3x4s from cut-apart sheets.  It was really quite fun and I promise that you will see these in the near future - but as that's not what this post is about, let's move on.

My obsession with cut-apart sheets grew... then, alas, manufacturers started creating Project Life cards that coordinated with their more popular paper lines.  And so, I took the plunge and purchased a few (DL Polka-Dot Party & MH Flea Market were purchased at Hobby Lobby while the DL Daydreamer was ordered online).  They are awesome and once I used a few, I was surely obsessed (you'll see my first layout later, but as this post is not about that - well, etc.).  These 'mini-kits' come in a lovely little box like this:

While shopping the Project Life section at Hobby Lobby, I found these even smaller packages of Project Life cards:

and guess what???? many of them coordinate with other paper lines... i.e. the 'Winter' mini-kit matches the Crate Paper's Bundled Up, the 'Love' kit matches Crate Paper's Fourteen, the 'Celebration' kit matches Crate Paper's Party Day, etc.!!!  Oh, heavenly!  Most of these mini-kits come with two each 3x4 cards/1-2 each of 4x6.  Of course the boxed versions have a few more cards than the other packages.  These are the perfect size for me, I like 2 of each card as I really don't want that many redundant cards in my album.  Also, if I screw up on the patterned side of a card (have done that already) I can just cut a new one from a 6x6 pad.

So, even though I love some of the themes/colors of the large Project Life kits, I just cannot buy one as they usually contain several of each card - even with my obsession, this is totally too much for just me!!!

Now, on to the main point of this post.  I recently purchased a WeRMemoryKeepers kit of 3x4 & 4x6 cards at a very good sale price.  It is of the "Capture" line.  Once I had opened it, I found that, even though a relatively small looking kit, it had several of each card - many more than my 'two' rule.  So here's the deal, I have a few sets of 3x4/4x6 cards I would like to give away rather than just letting them sit here in a box somewhere.  Therefore, if you would like a set of these, send your name and address to me at: tjthenonna@gmail.com.  (Even if you're across the pond, still go for it if you're interested.)  It's first come, first serve of course as there are only a few sets each of which consists of approximately 63 cards - 2 ea of 24-3x4 and 1 ea of 15-4x6.  As each card is different on the front and back, they are really very versatile.

Okay, that's it for today.  It's really cold here in Florida today after a night of severe thunderstorms and flash floods, so I'm going to wrap up and put on a movie.  I hope everyone else is super crafty.

Stay Safe and Scrap On!

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” - Friedrich Neitzsche

Life Scrapped...

This isn't about a great technique, new paper, and especially not about actually getting a good photo of my layout.  This is about scrapping life... something I just can't stress enough - at least once in a while.

Even if you don't have anyone you think will ever be interested in your stories, there may come a time when you are.   Not everyone has a wealth of memories and certainly the older we get the less we remember.  It seems everyday I lose more of my own memories.  I don't know if it's caused by age (though I hope at 52 that's not an issue), my illness or stress - probably a combination of everything.  But whatever the cause, I am constantly reminded how I don't remember so much... and it makes me so very very sad.  I hope this never happens to anyone, but it can.  This is one of the reasons that I scrapbook the kids so much; why there are annual albums of the main events and layouts of just everyday stuff... not just for them but because I can't remember much of anyone's childhood.

It is because of this that I grab whatever memories I can.  When I came across this photo, it reminded me of so many things that happened in 1987.  Such a horrid year - nights in the ER in horrible pain, a hysterectomy at the age of 25, and four months later finding the lump in my breast.  But there were sweet and funny moments as well - my daughter getting up at 6am to set up the Monopoly board and then waiting hours for me to get around to playing, Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house with the entire family, all my aunts gathering in my grandma's tiny kitchen just feet away from the men folk to feel my breast, my step-dad talking me into reconciling with my dad when I wasn't about it at all.  I felt that it was imperative, for my own sake, to get everything down while I remembered it.  Also, I may stumble upon other photos that were taken that year, but this is the one that reminds me of everything.

This is an original photo which I am oh so happy to use and get out of the boxes; but I did scan it - and may use it again if a story calls for such a photo.  Plus, it's the first layout since getting back to my desk that I've really mixed it up with the paper lines - I used Crate Paper DIY Shop, Maggie Holmes Flea Market, Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party, MME Find Your Wings and October Afternoon Woodlands Park... most of which came from my scrap basket!!! I also mixed it up with the embellishments and stamped on the layout!!  This is definitely a WooHoo layout all the way around.  But what makes it one of my favorite layouts definitely isn't because of any of that - it certainly isn't the prettiest layout I've ever put in an album... it's one of my favorite layouts because every time I look through my album I will see that little 8-year old girl with her Monopoly board.

I hope everyone is well and remembering to grab those glimpses every chance they get.

Stay Safe and Scrap On!

“The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.” - Geoffrey Chaucer