I'm seeing stars

As you can see I might be bordering on obsession lately. I'm not even sure how this happened. Stars just pop into my head. Maybe I'm just having the same idea over and over. Don't worry, I still have one more star LO rolling around up there and an unopened package of HS ghost stars too. Do you ever find yourself in a shape rut? I think this is a first for me.

The Star of the show LO here is the first one from a stack of the new Cherry Arte papers I just got today. I am loving the funkiness and non-matchy matchyness (that MUST be a word) of their papers. Now that's a DT I would love to find myself on!

The second LO is one that I am hoping will be publishable. I feel pretty safe posting it here because--let's face it (A) only like 2 people read this blog and (B) I have yet to get a call back on a submission.

Anyway, I think they are fun, and I wanted to share. Now you are all seeing stars!

Did someone say blogs?

I saw this blog challenge on a message board, and I thought it would be good for me to share. It was to list 10 blogs that you visit regularly. I do have quite a few that I like to visit for laughs and inspiration.

So....in no particular order, here they are:

1. Ali Edwards
2. Cathy Zielske
3. Tara Whitney
4. Elsie Flannigan
5. Jenni Bowlin
6. Kelli Crowe
7. Stacey Kingman
8. Lisa Truesdell
9. Danielle Thompson
10. Maria Grace Abuzman

Join me in gleaning inspiration from these ladies!! Especially check out kellicrowe. She's a riot!!

I love this page...

...about my dad. This picture definitely makes me think about how fun it is to watch him play with my son.

My Latest Creation

This was fun because I never get to play with pink. I'm kind of surprised I even had enough papers to do a real project. If it had been a normal size, I definitely would not! It was also a challenge because the tin is one of those tiny little sliding gift card holders from WM. I even had to take the page that is on the lid out of the book because it wouldn't close!

I like doing these little tin albums because I can just play around and see how it turns out. I think I let myself have a little more fun on this one than I have in the past. I just didn't worry so much, and as you can see, I fell in love with making white dots on black cardstock!

Finally...a project.

It's been slow going since the new year. I had a major cleaning session in my scrap and craft room/playroom/office --not that you would really be able to tell right now. I took the time to clean out the scary closet and to actually get rid of some stuff (just crafts stuff at this point). It's amazing how much space you can free up just by consolidating. I bought 1 set of 8 1/2x 11 plastic drawers and one magazine file, and the rest was pretty much rearranging.

I do still need to go through my scrap supplies and give some away, but I haven't been able to bring myself to that point yet. I have several goals rolling around in my head in regards to scrapping, but I haven't thought through things enough to actually write them out. I should probably do that. I'm just happy to be able to share an actual layout with you. I'm pretty happy with this one. I've been doing a lot of thinking about my style and I hope it will begin to shine through in my work. I also hope it will get me somewhere, but that's another story.

On another note, I did finally get a new camera!! I am sooo excited to get some better photos. Now my problem is going to be that I like too many of them. Not that I'm all that good right now, but it's such an improvement over my piddly camera I was using. I have a lot to learn, and half of the photography section of the local library is sittin on the floor in the den right now. I so wish I could take a class. I learn so much better through discussion and hands-on work. You can see some of my first photos (in auto of course) on the LO here. I have been able to start figuring out the manual stuff too, and it's not so bad. It is going to be great to have inspiring photos to scrap!!

Just to post

There isn't so much creativity flowing right now. We're trying to get back into the swing of things this week.

I just wanted to post these lyrics because this song hits me every time I hear it.

This Fathomless Love

Lord, what moved Your heart to love lowly man
before any star could herald Your praise?
And why did You come, abasing Yourself,
veiled in a robe of frail human clay?
Why would You, the pure, give Your life for the vile,
the innocent seeking the guilty, to be reconciled?

I can't comprehend this fathomless love.
I'm gripped and amazed at what You have done.
Why would the adored become the despised,
to bear all the furious wrath that was mine?
How awesome this mystery
of Your fathomless love
for me.

Why would You adopt and take as Your own
those who had crushed Your one precious Son?
Why mercy and grace towards Your enemies?
Your name they have cursed and Your throne they have shunned.
Oh, how could you choose to show kindness to these?
The ones who would mock You and hate You, the ones just like me?

words by Steve & Vikki Cook

This song is from Sovereign Grace ministries. They have some great stuff. You should check it out.

Here are some pics

of the tin album. It is a winter theme, and the snowflake was already on the top of the tin. I made a little money on the advent calendar for Crystal's new camera fund, so I might try to sell this too.







I know the photos are pretty small, but hopefully you can get the idea.

A Little Something

Well I am happy to say that my house is mostly clean, and I have been able to work on a little project some the last few days. I finished it this morning while my house was being trashed by the little fellow again. It's amazing how much damage he can do in a short time!

I made an altered tin album from a gift card tin I picked up at WM and left over pp from last year that I got at WM. My sister picked it up for something I can't really remember, and then we didn't really use it. In the end this album was soooo cheap. Hmmmm...It looks like WM should pay me to help them push their scrap stuff.

Anyway, I need to fix some photos to post. I'll try to get those up here soon. I'm so happy to be on my way to being on a real schedule! That's a good thing since there are some call deadlines approaching, and I have to finish some knitting stuff before Saturday! We'll see how long it lasts.

Discipline.Order.Organization

Whatever you call it, I need it. Things always seem to get incredibly crazy this time of year. I am almost done--yes I said done--with gifts. Even though I have that part under control, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels.

I think there are several factors that are contributing to the craziness. I just started volunteering one day a week, and that has tossed our general schedule up a bit. Since all of our family is out of town, the holidays mean either visitors or trips. That means either less time at home to get regular things done or more time spent trying to make things presentable for guests. Add to all this the fact that holidays are busy times for churches, and as a pastor you don't really get to skip church functions--not usually for visiting family or for the sake of sanity.

Anyway, I am determined. I WILL make a schedule. I WILL purge toys before Christmas. I WILL get all gifts out of the way ASAP. I WILL find my desk again (This could be the most difficult of tasks.) I WILL make time to record some of the holiday memories we are making.

Alright, here is the part of my rambling where I plead for any of you out there in cyber space to share how you stay sane and still get in some scrapping and creating. LMK what works for you. I have to keep some things going or this blog wil be dead soon.

~ C ~

My latest Project

This one is headed a little more in the paper direction. I can't take credit for the original idea because I saw it somewhere else. It actually took way longer to make than I had expected. I had intentions to make 3 as I went along, but I gave up pretty early on that idea.



It's a magnetic advent calendar. Each piece is numbered and has a magnet on the back, so they can be stored on the back side of the cookie sheet until you need it. Each day you put another piece on the front until the last one that says Christmas Day! How fun is that? This one is actually on ebay in an effort to start my savings for an XT. I'd love to be able to take advantage of the rebate they have right now. We'll see how well that all goes.

Some Photos

These are some samples for an assignment that is waaaay overdue. I just though I'd share some of them that turned out OK. Going through this process made me realize how few really sunny days we have had around here. It also made me want a new camer reaaaally bad. I want to have more control.



















Enjoy!

A finished Project

Here are some of the finished things I have been working on. This is a fun scarf and hat. It's not really a Christmas gift like some of the other things I have been working on, but I'll probably give it to someone.



I don't know really why I haven't been in a paper mood of late. The yarn thing seems so much more fun--and less stressful. Plus I can knock out some gifts along the way! I'll try to share more of what I have been up to lately.

This is why I have been away...

It's not that I've forsaken my love of paper. This time of year just always gets me going on gifts and ideas for the holidays. And this year I happen to be headed more in the yarn direction than the paper direction. I won't stay away long!

Baaaad Blogger!

This whole month is going to end up being one big blur. Things have been crazy around here. Then once October is over the holidays will be coming soon. Arrrgghh.

I have got to get back into a scrapping mode, though. I miss it when I can't squeeze it in. I did want to share my latest LO. Hopefully it will be seen again.



I squeaked it out for a call that ended yesterday. I'm not sure the style really fit the mag it was for, but I couldn't not submit to this one. I had hoped to get several more done, but time just ran out.

Can I just say how happy I am that I don't feel the pressure to computer journal anymore? I hated feeling like I was tied to the computer when I was scrapping. I'm loving my pens again!!

Wooooo hoooo!

I finally got rid of that pesky title. It took a lot of guessing and changing things around. I now feel free somehow! I'll quit avoiding my blog now--promise!

Just a few pics from our recent beach trip. It was cloudy, and I haven't played with any of them.







I'm totally prepared for upcoming summer/water/beach calls! Those pics are always my favorites!

A Place to Play

Sometimes I have ideas that I want to experiment and play with, but I don't want to risk jumping in and putting them on a page. I'm definitely feeling like I need to get out of the box lately, and I've seen so much about art journals. I thought it would be a great place to mess around. Besides I had one of those spiral bound books from the Target dollar section lying around. I think it's going to be just right. I had fun playing with my new Christina Cole slab to decorate the outside. I hope I have this much fun creating on the inside.

Here is a peek at the outside cover.



It's a little funky for me, but that's what this experiment is all about! I'm hoping I'll stumble across some creativity that I didn't know was there.

OK...so I messed it up.

I had a nice new banner all made up, and then I couldn't figure out how to get the original title off. I destroyed all the formatting, but it never went away. Anyway, I just put the old background back up and it will have to do for a while--until I can learn more and be able to fix it all pretty. Ugh!

I finally did it...

I can be the Queen of procrastination at times! I have had a frame that I picked up to make a project for J's Grandpa since well before Father's Day. Well that came and went, and their visit in September came and went. I have just now found the inspiration or even the motivation to get it done.



The frame is a matted 8x10 shadow box. I like these because they give you freedom to put dimensional stuff on the project. Even though I'm not usually a really bumpy scrapper, it's hard to make projects flat enough to fit in a traditional frame. I had to take the glass out of the one I made for Grandma, and I'm liking this much better.

The papers are Chatterbox rec room. The journaling says A Grandpa is an important person in the life of a boy! The pic was taken when they were here in September. MIL actually took the pic. I never got any good ones because my camera stinks at indoor shooting. (another plug to get a new camera!) That was one of the reasons for procrastinating for so long. Now I'm free to move on to other things.

Going Vertical

It seems like vertical is good lately. I know vertical paper storage has transformed the way I store paper, and it has given me tons of extra space. With a 2-year-old, I need a way to keep photos, embellishments, and tools out of the reach of little hands. I have seen so many pics of cute rooms with tons of shelves and stuff. I have 2 issues though:
1. My budget is tight.
2. We rent our house, so I can't exactly do a shelving makeover.

I think I have found a solution!!



I already had this huge printer cart in my room for storage and counter space. I found these neat stacking bookshelves at Wally World on clearance, so we stacked them on top of the cabinet to make vertical shelves. Yay!! It may not be chic, but it serves the purpose. It's going to give me lots of extra room. Now I just have to dig in and clean out he closet in here. I may get organized after all!

A Little Something

This isn't brand new, but it is fairly recent. It was my response to a challenge from my mentor. The challenge was to create a layout using no words - no title, journaling, etc. The layout was still supposed to convey a thought or idea.

This was a fun challenge because it made me think about how I choose products and how the overall design of my page can convey an idea. I am certainly enjoying my assignments.

So here it is!