Hiatus

I guess you could say I'm on a scrapping hiatus. We have been soooo busy and I have so many other things to work on. Some of them are SBR, but they aren't my stuff. I'll try to share some things along the way to keep it interesting.

I am definitely taking the opportunity to focus on getting more comfortable with my camera and manual settings. Here are a few nature shots from this past weekend.



I am also working on setting up a shop at etsy.com. It seems like it will be a pretty good venue to share some of my stuff with the world. I have so many things I like to play with, and I've been thinking about my goals a lot lately, but I'll save all that for another post--when I have time to breathe!

Keep your eyes opened. I'll be sharing my shop when I get more than one item in it!!

Just another storyboard

Well I guess these aren't technically storyboards, but that's what i'll call them. I think this stuff is totally fun, and I think PSE has just been bumped a bit higher on my wish list. Like that means something. Now I should probably have one of these printed to see how they come out. I can't wait to be able to do borders and stuff!

Playing around

with Photoshop. Playing enough to realize that the version I have won't do a lot of basic things that I need it to--like save a document as a jpeg instead of a PS format. Grrrr. It's so old. I better start saving for PSE 4.0 because only professionals and people with much more money than me should buy PS. I'm not sure I'm loving the font choices on this, but it works.


Anyway, I was playing around trying to get used to the format and learning how to do some things, and this is the firs "creation" I came up with. You know, if you go to an actual photographer and have them do one of these and buy a print, it costs a fortune. Hence the reason I want to learn to do it myself.

You know, my mom would always look at clothes and stuf like that that we wanted, and her reply would alway be we can MAKE that. Now, I know I inherited some of that, but my latest experience came because we are in the process of putting together a photo directory for our church. We went in and had our photos taken, then we moved to a special room where they proceded to tempt us to buy prints. This was when I had my own I can DO that moment. The guy had taken some relatively cute photos of Jonathan, and we considered buying some to pass out to all the grands, but wait! It was something like $80 for 2 5 X 7s. This was when I remembered that I have a good chunk of change invested in a camera that I finally know how to use. Uuummmm...no thanks. I'm just not a real studio portrait lover, so we decided to hold off.

Oh, but since we did have a $20 off since big J is staff, the grands can be expecting our first ever family portrait (that I do not like by the way) in a more modest size coming their way in the future.

Welcome

to my [messy] space. This is my desk on a typical day when I have been working on something. I recently posted photos of my ribbon and embellishment storage in my 2 Peas gallery to add to the photos of my space, but they don't show the nature of the beast that is creativity. I am a puller and a piler.

I like to see all my stuff, or I'll forget about it. Then when I work, I pull out everything I think might go well with the theme or look I'm going for and sometimes some things I want to use up or new stuff to try. It's amazing what kind of mess this makes--and I don't even have a ton of stuff. My stash is measly compared to many paper addicts. I only have 1 CH paper holder full of patterned paper and cardstock. That's not counting the old stuff that I may never use and the little bit of 8 1/2 x 11 cs that I have. Even though I don't have a lot of stuff in my stash, it still expands and spreads when I work. It starts to look like this.

Then I find it hard to start something when it looks like this, so I 'll wait a while. Then I'll finally clean it up, and then I'll be able to scrap again. That's my process.

In the photo, you can see some of my candy jars of ribbon and thread on the shelves and the jars of buttons. The little tins from T are used for supplies I use often and things I want to have in front of my face. The drawers hold all sorts of embellishments and ink pads. Some things are in tiny spice tins inside the drawers--things like jump rings and such. The magnetic storage is a bunch of wedding favor tins with magnets attached to the backs on a magnetic dry erase board I found on clearance at T!!

The binder holds most of my letters and rub ons that are on sheets inside of page protectors. My yummy paper and cardstock holder is to the right of the lamp on my desk. And, finally a bunch of my most used pens and supplies are in the top drawers of the desk. And there you have it--my system. It's not fabulous, but it works for me right now!

Maybe he's going to be an artist...

Today we're hanging out. I'm trying to get my thoughts and to do list organized, and he is playing, playing, playing. Right now he's coloring Spiderman with some bath crayons my brother gave him.

I made a promise. Last night he was digging in my cabinet. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was looking for the blanket. I finally realized he was talking about the vinyl tablecloth I keep under there. He said, "Yes. Paint finger." It was like 10:00, so I promised him he could do it sometime today. Well, he doesn't forget anything. So he got to paint finger earlier. He's also reminding me about the batteries I forgot to get at WM yesterday. Why couldn't he remind me at the store before we were checking out?

Sharing some recent stuff

I've seriously been neglecting my blog--and my scrapping. I've been busy with life and doing some reading and studying. You just have to make time for other things first sometimes.

Here are a few recent layouts. I absolutely love the first one. I'm hoping the mojo that got it going last night is here to stay for a while!

Some pretty flowers

For our field trip in our photography class we first stopped by the highway where they have planted a field of flowers. After that we went to Battle Park and took some water photos and stuff. The only thing is I switched to RAW in the middle and now I can only open and view the RAW format because I don't have an editing program that can open the NEF format. Arrrgghhh!

Anyway, I like the first ones better anyway. Here are some of my favorites.

I've been meaning to share...

...my second digital layout. I did this one without Photoshop, too. It's simple, but I love these elements. They are from the New Growth kit by Tia Bennett. It was a free download for the SS Digital 5 book. The photo is one from my shoot with my sister and her fiance.

A first attempt and a redo...

I made my first attempt at anything digital this weekend, and I made a brand new list of reasons why I need Photoshop. You just can't effectively use digital elements in any of the programs I have. They are too limiting. I had found some freebies to download, and I decided to play around with them to make a mother's day e-card for my mom and MIL. Anyway, it's simple, but it's a start.




I can't say I will ever be able to cross over completely to digital since I am such a tactile paper and paste lover, but I do think there is a lot of inspiration that can be gained from playing with digital. Plus, you can always print elements out and use them on a paper page.

Now for the redo. If any of you actually follow my blog, you might recall the train wreck of a layout that I posted a while back. You can actually see that post here. Well, when I ordered the NSD goodies, I made sure to include a sheet of the paper I needed to fix the wreck. It isn't exactly like it started out, but I am loving the new much more than the original. The journaling is still crooked because I didn't feel like redoing that part. Check out the new and improved version!!

YUM!

clean house. good mail. sleeping little one. good stuff.

We have been crazy busy the last week or so. We had friends from church over last night for dinner, and I barely rescued our house from total disaster before they got here. It was BAD. We had a yard sale last Saturday which required cleaning out the attic. Not good.

And this past Saturday was also National Scrapbook Day. I didn't really get to take part in any festivities (except for chatting a little with the Junkitz girls), but I did take advantage of some sales to order some goodies. I always want to get a good amount at one time since I don't have a LSS, and I want to save on shipping. Mr. Postman brought me all of these goodies today.



Oh, and I got a GC code for http://www.downmemorylaneco.com/ from Laura for the Fontwerks Birthday bash!! Too bad those George stamps were sold out before I could snatch them up. I hope they restock soon!!

Now, I actually have some time, and I'm not sure where to start. Oh, and I'm out of photo paper, so I can't print any pics here. It feels good to be caught up and have my call list out, though.

In other news. I was able to order the 50mm f/1.8 after my birthday last week, and it came on Monday. I've been a bit too busy to play with it a lot, but I did get some OK shots. I can tell there is definitely going to be a big learning curve when it comes to the really low apertures, but I'm loving it already!

A First

Well today was the first time I actually tried to take real photos of someone besides Jonathan or Jerry Bear. I took some photos for my sister and her fiance. I did all of the shoot in manual so YAY for that! I posted a few of my favorite shots in my gallery, so tatke a look and give me some feedback if you're interested. I'm very green at all of this, so I know I have a long way to go. I just have to decide what I need to focus on first. I think getting faster with the manual controls may be at the top of the list, but I need to be thinking about composition stuff too. I'm pretty happy with some of the results, and I just wanted to share.

Oh , and she'll kill me for putting that one up there because she didn't like those!

Cherry Arte Goodness

I am in *L*O*V*E* with these papers,but I have just about used up all of my stash. I definitely want to get my hands on some of the new stuff. It's even prettier. In the past I have put off submitting DT applications until the last possible minute, partly because I am a chronic procrastinator, but mostly because I would sit around and analyze things way too much. I decided a while back that I wasn't going to enter any more of these things unless it was one that really got my mojo going, and I felt comfortable with. Well, this one just fell together with little effort and lots of FUN!! So I held onto it for a little while, and I finally just hit send. Now I want to share what I have been working on--what has kept me away from my new scenic route papers. *GASP* You know it's serious now. I ended up with 5 layouts and 2 projects to choose from not counting the ones I had already submitted for their gallery, but I'll just share the ones that made the cut.

These are papers from the Bolded line.



These papers are from the Basic Blue. I should have gone over with more stitching, but my sewing machine gets offended when I use it for paper. Grrr...




These are from the Boys Boys line. I love how the band-aid pops in this one!

This last one is a mini book that I made using those little plastic thingies made for holding IDs and badges. I made the covers out of chipboard and put it all together with binder rings. You've gotta love office supplies!!

A Happy and a Train Wreck

First, the good news. I will be a guest designer for the month of May at www.expressionsbythemonth.com It is a faith-based monthly kit club, and I am so excited to have this challenge!

Now for my train wreck. I am just spilling it all here and now by showing everyone how scrapping can get ugly! I am actually pretty disappointed in this because I L*O*V*E*D the original design. Lesson: make sure you order extra sheets of paper just in case--and have extra letter stickers on hand. Anyway, I will have to hunt down the supplies, but I am determined to recreate my original design since I couldn't save the layout.



The original design had just the photo, buttons and journaling block on the whole sheet of AC paper. The title was similar but with black AC letters directly on the background. Anyway, somehow I screwed up the title and managed to make a hole in the background paper, so I tried to save it. That's when I realized that the photo was stuck down crooked and I had already glued the bittons down. Ugh.... It's kind of disappointing, too because I wanted the layout for this photo to be pretty simple, and continuing to add schtuff didn't help that. In the end, I didn't even bother to make the journaling straignt. Well, you win some...you lose some.

Share Day

I guess I have a lot to say and not much all at the same time. I decided I won't bore anyone, but I did want to post some of what I was able to get done with no kiddo last week.

Here's a fun Junkitz one. It's not quite as funny when you can't read the shirt, but the shirt he has on in the photo says, "My grandparents' don't spoil me. They're just very accommodating."


The next one is my layout for 1 Peter chapter 5. I sort of skipped chapter 3. I have a LO idea and everything. I just haven't been able to get the photo I want yet. I have another idea for chapter 5, but I think I'll put it in my art journal. I think it will involve a poppet-like me and an abstract lion.


Here's some more fun Cherry Arte. I put these papers away for a while, but I need to get a move on now because the DT applications are due at the end of April. It's a long shot, but I'm jumping in anyway.























Well, that's pretty much what I have done this week. I really need to go through my stuff again next week and pull out some stuff to get rid of. I hope I'll have my secret bunny package to post the goodies soon.

Superstar K

The time is coming for the secret bunny festivities to get in full swing! I am taking the chance of posting this here assuming that my secret bunny doesn't wander to my blog. I am still thinking of a fun way to send her out to follow clues to reveal my identity.

Anyway, I had picked up this little shadow box to try out some stuff for J's room. I thought about it, and I decided to make a Superstar K for my secret bunny. It will be delivered to her along with her goodies very soon, so if any of you figure out who she is, don't tell! Sssshhhhh!

I used white acrylic paint to paint the box and the striped Christina Cole to cover the outside edges. Can you tell I've found a renewed love of that little slab?

I hand cut the K out of chipboard, traced it onto the circle paper and cut out the shape. I adhered the paper to the front of the chipboard and sanded the edges. I added the word Superstar with AL rubons.

I drew the star out on the back side of the cardstock and then cut it out. I swiped the edges with white paint. I matted the green HS cardstock on top of a white piece and then adhered the star with mini pop dots. I drew another star with the silver glitter Keepsake Colors paint from Plaid and let it dry.

I adhered the K on top of all of this with more mini pop dots, and added some rhinestones to the corners. I had to slide it all through a slit in the top of the box and then slide the glass panel back in. It took a little while to do all of this because of all the painting and adhering with gel medium, but I like how it turned out.

1 Peter 3

Just posting my page from my challenge for 1 Peter chapter 3. I chose to base it closely on verses 3 and 4. I had a bit of a time with this one. It started out simple, and then it really evolved.
Since I have been able to spend more time this week actually scrapping, I have realized how SLOW I am. What seems like a simple page that would not take very long ends up taking hours. It really is quite rediculous. I'm starting to think more about the overall designs, though, and thinking about some of the principles in the Design Secrets book. It has been very helpful, and I totally recommend it.

I went on an adventure today to find an adhesive eraser. To make a long story short, I didn't find one anywhere in town. The joys of not having a LSS... At least a really kind pea is sending me one in a RAK. Yay!! Thanks Tina!

This page...

...was for a challenge over at the Making Memories blog. The challenge was to use MM foam stamps, the color green, and the title I must confess _______. or a similar title. I had fun doing the challenge, but for some reason, the page isn't one of my favorites. I'm not sure what happened.

I have now used my MM foam stamps twice in one week which is almost as many times as I have used them in the past. I am sure a simple update in my storage has helped with that. Who knew that piling all of 3 of the alphabets I own plus some of the designs and the CI alphabet in one tup would lead to NEVER using them? All I did to fix the problem was to take a huge zipper bag for each set and put two sets per small shoe box container. They are clear so I can see which sets are in each container and the different alphabets are separated. Now if I could just find that I-dot that I'm missing.

This week has gone well as far as schedule goes. I am still behind on a few things because I didn't exactly start the week on schedule (I didn't actually finish the schedule till Tuesday.), but Friday is a free day. I'll get caught up tommorrow! It has helped me to have more time to actually scrap since it is scheduled in. Hence the 2 layouts so far this week. Hopefully, I can keep it up.

I Want to DO This

I've had all of this stuff rolling around in my head, and I hope I don't seem too whiny in this post, but I really want to DO this designer thing. You see I had a mentor. I say HAD because over time I just heard from her less and less. It took me a little longer than it should have on an assignment or two because life got in the way, so at first I thought I just wasn't putting enough into it.

I e-mailed my mentor to ask her to let me know if there was something more I should be doing or if I could change some things to make it more convenient for her. You see, she was a winner of a certain big contest that just announced new winners recently, so I just thought she was getting busier with that stuff than she had anticipated. I sent layouts to be critiqued...it dwindled down to no response. I thought she just didn't have time to mentor anymore. Well, I would have been totally fine with thinking that, but I recently saw a post on a message board saying that she had been an awesome mentor for someone else during a recent process.

Now, I'm going to go back and delete any reference I ever made to my mentor because this is totally not a post about how she was a horrible person or even a bad mentor. What I have been thinking about is how I can be a better mentee. Did I do something wrong? Was I difficult to work with? Was I just not learning? Grrr... You see what I mean about thoughts rolling around now?

All this is to really say I want to DO this. I want a mentor. I want a mentor who will be excited to work with me and who will work me. I want a mentor who has a good eye for design principles. I think design is more important than individual style any day. I want a guide and a teacher and a sounding board. Now my problem is how to go about doing this. I could post a wanted thread a Two Peas, but then no one would want to admit they are good enough to be a mentor, and then there would be lots of "me toos" and in the end someone would post that I should find someone I'd like to work with and e-mail them directly. Can you tell this has been done before?

There are just so many talented ladies out there, and I know many of them do have a lot on their plates. I guess I just have to suck it up and start making a list, and try to decide who to contact. I just wish there were a way to know who is really interested and eager to work with someone like me.

Now comes the part where I assume someone is still reading my blabbing and as if you all have any ideas? I've really been thinking this through, so I'm sort of just getting some thoughts out in type right now. I'll post if I get any bright ideas--you do the same-k-?

1 Peter 2

I'm still behind in my own challenge. Here is my page for 1 Peter chapter 2. This was a hard one to do because I wanted a relevant photo, and I just didn't have any photos of living stones. I ended up digging out a photo of myself and using verse 19 as a starting point for a prayer. I'm not sure I like the yellow part of the title, but i was having a hard time matching up paint and not using too much blue.

Can I just talk about HOF for a moment? I have to admit that I have never actually followed the process before. I was never watching the pub board during all the excitement. This year it was as if I became drained emotionally AND I DIDN'T EVEN ENTER. I am so ADD to start with, and the deadline comes at such a bad time of year for us. Plus, I know I am nowhere near the league of the HOF winners. It's an amazingly talented group. Anyway, all that to say that I'm almost sad I didn't enter. Then I wouldn't feel so silly for getting all caught up in it. And I am so proud of the inspiring Wilna Furstenburg! It was exciting to see her name on the list, and I am sooooo happy for her!!

I think it's safe

I'm thinking I 'm ok to post my latest layout here. It's actually for submission for the BH sketch, so I'm not posting it in my gallery just yet. I picked up a copy of BHG Scrapbooks Etc. Design Secrets, and I am really lovin' it. It makes me want to pull out a few more design books. I've always had a hard time translating principles into my work, but I think it's getting easier.



I got my first goodies from my secret bunny today, and I'm excited. I got a nice little package with some AC Uptown blue ribbons and some Tazo Wild Sweet Orange tea. Mmmmmmm... I was thinking I will send my chick all of her goodies at one time. I need to be making a list since I'll probably be ordering most of it. For now, I am just keeping an eye on her blog!

1 Peter 1

It took me a while to get started on my challenge. I read the chapter over and over, but we had so much going on at church last week that I never had time to sit down and work on it. I took this opportunity to do a somewhat simple layout and to practice the swirlies from squillen's blog tutorial.

I had some fun with the hand lettering and rhinestones!

It's not quite publication...

...but Cherry Arte did respond to my contact e-mail and they offered to put my layouts in the gallery. It's the closest I've ever been to being published. They are supposed to be announcing details about their design team search later this month. I'm sure that will be big, so I'll savor my short time in the gallery for now!

Once again I will admit...

I don't alter. I just have enough stuff lying around my house as it is. I do, however, have a basket of stuff just in case. I was putting together some work for a DT call, and I decided it was about time to work up something that is a little more fresh. It's definitely different from anything I've ever done, and as you can see, I still need to work on my photography.

Anyway, I ended up altering one of those AOL CD boxes that comes in the mail. I'm glad I kept it. Now I just have to figure out where to put it.



You can see more photos of this project here.

I also have to admit that I haven't officially started my challenge yet. We have been so busy that I haven't done anything besides the altering thing. I think I'm going to post my challenge on the 2 Peas General board Monday. Then it will be a weekly thing. It seems like there ay be a lot of people interested.

It's a Go

I had actually been brainstorming before my last post about doing some sort of scripture challenge at 2 Peas. In the end, this is what I came up with. Anyone can play along, and I can't wait to see all the art!

1 Peter Scripture Challenge:

* I am going to read through one chapter of 1Peter each week. Part of my goal in this is to memorize key verses and to really allow the overall truths to sink in. (That means it will take 5 weeks to read through the whole book)

* I will do at least 1 layout a week. (I'm reserving the right to do more.)

* The layouts I do will be inspired by the chapter I am reading that week. I may use a few key verses for journaling, journal about how the truths apply in my life, make prayers about how I want the truths to affect my friends or family or myself, or just begin with an idea that comes from reading the chapter. (It's all about making what I'm reading naturally overflow and inspire the work.)

* I will not worry about what anyone will think of the design or the photos or anything that normally might hold me back. Well, if anyone else wants to join me just let me know. It's just a step I need to take. If you choose to do it with another selection of scripture, then that's ok too! Just let us see your work.

There will be a weekly thread for anyone playing along to post their work. I am aiming to have the first one done by Monday, March 6.

Let's have fun!

Rethinking it all

Lately I know everyone has been talking about "changes" in the industry. Who knows what that really means. I have been thinking about changes, too. Only I have been thinking about why I first started scrapbooking and what I wanted it to be all about. Now--I"m not going to sit here and say that my scrapping has been totally kidnapped by the "designer" aspect. I mean, I've never been published and I'm not on any DTs. I try but I certainly haven't been taking over by success.

However, my work has evolved over time, and I do think the whole call/contest thing has influenced that change. I check out what Stacey has to say often, and this post of hers reminded me of why I do this. I want my pages to be a reflection of Him. My work is not for "the industry" to love and to praise. It's to be a peek into our lives for those to come. I want it to reflect Him to Jonathan when he looks back one day. I want him to know that the aim of everything we did was to glorify God. Do my pages show that now? Sometimes, but not nearly enough. The call of "the industry" has watered down that message on my pages, and I don't want to give in to it any more.

Will I still submit to calls? Probably. Would I feel differently if I had been "discovered" and was getting assignments? Maybe.

I was totally inspired by a page I saw by Wilna in a magazine maybe a year or so ago--before I ever started the whole submitting game. I remember squinting to read every bit of handwritten journaling she had on that page, and when I had decoded it all, I thought, "That's how I want to do this." Not long after that, I think my work started evolving through submissions. I tucked Wilna's version of scrapbooking away somewhere in the back of my mind where the cobwebs live. Lately I've been thinking about how I need to return to that. I need to reflect Him in a part of my life that takes up so much time. I just happened upon Wilna's gallery and found her blog last week--around the same time as reading Stacey's blog entry. I was also thinking already about how God would want me to glorify Him even through my hobbies.

Anyway, all this babbling to show a LO I did last night. It's a start in the direction I want my work to head. I've also been reading and rereading First Peter (a new stratetgy to get it to sink in) and I think I am going to scrap it--well how it applies to my life and the people in my life. Hmmm...I feel a challenge coming on.

If you made it this far, thanks for enduring my thinking in type. I hope you'll notice changes in my work to come.

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 ~