Life's Trivialities

Right Now Layout / Pink Paislee

Selfies! You take a selfie, I take a selfie, well all take selfies! It's a rare occasion that I create a layout using a me selfie (as opposed to an us selfie, which, really ought to have another name, like usies). But I actually liked this picture as there aren't too many chins and thought, I need to document me too. So, here I am!

I used the oh so awesome Pink Paislee Cedar Lane collection for this layout. The colors are just perfect! Sublime! And it's fall! My favorite season, the season of "right now".

This picture is dated September and I tried to capture journaling retrospectively. It's personal life stuff, the not so fun stuff of life. Michael was informed that he was losing his job, the kids had just begun school and a new swim season, Michael was on the way to the UK to work for 3.5 weeks which was an incredible opportunity for him, etc.. I had a lot that I wanted to say and, yes, I could have hidden the journaling but, I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve. I am exposed with this raw emotion, out there for the world to read. It's real!

I've had fun playing with mixed media a tad more lately. Going a little deeper into mist splats, watercolor and other fun messy things. I think the arrival of my new eBrush has opened by braveness into "mess" on projects.  I'm trying...

LOVE, love, love those gold Thickers! As does everything. Not part of the Pink Paislee collection, they have some awesome silver and gold glitter words, but work so perfectly with this collection!

Have you snatched up any of this fantastic collection yet? Whatcha think? Love it as much as I do?

Shaving Time / American Crafts

I have a recent event share today. I have been making a conscious effort to document the bigger of the daily events in our lives so that when it comes time to journaling, I have the fresh memories to write about rather than recall.

Shaving Time! A bit of a play on words. Not only was it his first time shaving but it was an act done in anticipation of shaving time off of his personal bests. A week ago, Nikolas and I sat in the jacuzzi tub in our master bathroom and underwent a swimmers' rite of passage together. First the clippers - easy, not a problem. Then, the razor. Michael had bought him shaving cream and a razor but the razor wasn't quite what I was used to. We switched to a woman's razor which is really much better designed for leg hair removal. No knicks or chunks of skin removed along the way - I'd call that a success! Mind you, my back was pretty sore after the fact...

I love this American Crafts collection from Shimelle! The bright colors, as you know, are right up my alley. And they are a perfect compliment to the bright shirt that Nikolas is wearing. My laying the vellum over the right hand side of the page, I was able to mute them somewhat and let the bright light in the pictures shine.

I even convinced Nikolas to write on the page for me! It might just be two words and a lot of exclamation points but that's a start! All the exclamation points are there "because I had to fill the space, right Mum?" Silly boy!

Thanks for stopping in today! I hope you have had success in shaving time lately!

Learn Live Grow / Red, White & Blue

A couple of days ago, I mentioned creating a non-theme related layout from some of the Stars and Stripes simple kit from Simple Stories that I had remaining. I fully intend to do that, I even began this layout with those papers. But the stars that I originally had adorning the page had implications that don't apply... So, I had to wipe the slate clean and start again. This is the result;

I have a lot of red, white and blue scraps! With our team colors being red and blue, and swimming being one of the ways we spend most of our "free" time, there are a lot of swimming layouts in our albums. I like to coordinate the colors of my pictures with the colors in my layout. Either that or I go with complementary colors in order for the picture to stand out. This layout is entirely created from scraps other than the background pience.

The title of this layout, Learn, Live, Grow, is based upon a SN@P card from Simple Stories. The card itself didn't look right on the layout but I liked the message. A message that I hope applies to this situation, photographed here. There are really two themes to this layout; the occasion itself as Nikolas checks in with coach prior to his swim and the relationship between coach and swimmer. It wasn't the most positive experience for Nikolas, unfortunately. But I hope he learns from it and grows richer as a result.

That red, white and blue washi is a pull tab with some hidden journaling. Journaling about the relationship between coach and swimmer. It's a tad negative and not something the world need see. Probably not something Nikolas even need be aware of until later in life. Not every experience we document is positive but we hope to learn from these occasions and turn them into positive learning and how to deal with life's less rewarding moments. Let's face it, we all have them!

So while I shyed away from the plethora of stars and don't think he's a star coach, I do think Nikolas will be a star for the lessons learned from this experience. In time. He is still figuring out how he will remember this swim and the things his coach said to him. And thus the stars still exist, just in much smaller quantity and for entirely different reasons.

Do you attach meaning to the embellishments on your layouts or they just that, embellishment? Do you place certain things for particular reasons? I'd love to know. Sometimes I wonder why people put what they do on their layouts and there may or may not be a reason.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Monday that is! I tried getting onto the ol' blog yesterday to post this however TypePad was having some issues...

With Mia singing in the kids choir and the kids choir singing at Easter mass yesterday, I had an excuse to bring the dSLR to church with me. Being that we arrive 75 minutes early for mass, we had a lot of time to kill. We had to be there early for her but we arrived even earlier to secure seating in the sanctuary. Well, I have become my father's daughter... We were probably the third seated family in the sanctuary... Though, if I were truly my father's daughter, I would have been the first seated!

I also have an Easter related layout to share with you today! It's this year as well! It's been a rare occurence, scrapping this years' events. I am honored and blessed to have design teams to create for but one of the pit falls of that is that often times you are creating for the event/holiday before it happens thus having to use last years pictures. Being an "extra" project, I am able to scrap this years Egg-stravaganza!

Welcome Spring by Imaginisce is, of course, perfect for all your Easter memories and pages! I used various Project Life dies and the Imaginisce die cut journaling spots to create this layout.

The die cut spots are a tad smaller than the PL dies so a layered piece gives the visual appearance of the same or similiar sizing. The brighter colors of this collection matched the brighter hues of our eggs. We really had some vibrant eggs this year. It was fun pulling out the scrappy letters that I hadn't used in ages and punches to gussey up the eggs some.

Twinery Twine! No layout is complete without!

The top die cut journaling spot had lines that went the opposite direction for that for which I needed to use it so I created a window to frame the "easter" stamp and year. The window enabled me to use the stamp that ortherwise would have been too long to stamp.

That, ladies and gentleman is a family update with current pictures as well as a creative share! Two birds, one stone! Not bad. I hope you and yours had a wonderful Easter holiday for those of you that partake! I was happy to be home this year. The first Easter that we have been in our house for in a while. Most years we are on the road for Spring Break. This year it just so happened that the holiday fell to the end of our vacation rather than the beginning. Today, it's back to the usual routine!

 

Apologies

Hiya! Sorry for the brief hiatus. Things went a bit topsy turvy in my life but we're back to our regularly scheduled programming now. Well, we'll transition back there. My Gran passed away and she lives (I still can't put it in the past tense all the time...) in England. It was quick, it was sudden, it was the way she wanted to leave, without prolonged pain and suffering. I didn't have time to pre-post blogs before I left, I apologize! Leaving with an expired passport (thank God for dual citizenship!), making alternate plans for the kids as we no longer use after school care, getting scrappy assignments in on time, and planning to return on the same day that my husband was leaving, etc left me all a tad frazzled, never mind the long flight, wading through pages, piles, drawers and rooms of memories...

But! I'm back! A lot went on in my absence. Or, while I lived an alternate life, perhaps might be the better statement... Let's see!

I have two layouts in Scrapbook Generation's February edition of their Create magazine. I have a layout using a list on pages 186-187 and a double page spread on pages 206-207. You can see the full magazine via the link (just click on Create).

Debbie's article is about lists. I created this layout using my Pebbles roller stamp and a Project Life card. Dead easy! I really need to work on their back to school album...

The color combination of this layout really grabs me. I like it! Red, green yellow and black. Not a combination I recall having used before. I also usually tend to stick with the colors in my pictures as the palate that I create with so this was unusual for me.

I created this layout based upon Allison's 2 page sketch. I flipped it and turned her banners into tags instead. Cos that's the way I roll! My 40th birthday trip to Paris; an opportunity to recapture pictures lost on the first trip and see things I hadn't seen before. What an amazing city! Love Paris! AND, a picture of me!! One my sister took. Using my cell phone. My newly purchased iPhone.

What else?

I had a Valentine's layout up on the Pebbles blog. Be sure to stop by and see that in full detail HERE. Lots and lots of polka dots. A Valentine's day layout that is more boyish and less gushy. LOVE that Black Magic Core'dinations with a hint of red behind the black for the title! Here's a Lovely little preview for you;

Oh! And this Valentine's day layout up on the Imaginisce blog! You can see that full blog post HERE! Enjoy Amanda's lovely layout first and you'll find mine on the bottom as you scroll down the page.

Tomorrow! Valentine's day is tomorrow. Not even remotely ready... Sigh... What one gets for being out of the country and out of touch... Not that we make a big deal. If you know me you will know that it's known as St Hallmark's Day in this household. But I do try and do a little something to surprise the kids. Will have to see what my jet lagged brain can conjur up!

It's not perfect but I'm really beginning to get into the customizing one can do with hand coloring images and stamps! Especially now that I have Core'dinations 110lb weight SMOOTH paper to stamp upon! It's just perfect!

I can't think of anything else to share with you! Now that I'm back, there is surely more to come! Be sure to come visit soon!

Sea World Day 1

I cannot say that technology and I are on the greatest to terms right now... I should have loaded PSE on the laptop, as I had contemplated doing before we left home. But I thought, nah! I don't use the laptop at home, why eat up memory space with something I'll never use. I'll tell you why?!! Because Picasa is not user friendly if you don't use it on a regular basis. Especially not with files the size of mine... So. So this means that there aren't many pictures to share. Not until I recover from our incredibly tiring day, get some sleep and am a more patient creature.

Prior to our even departing home, the undercarriage of the Mummy Mobile slid from it's berth leaving the AC and other vitals exposed. The drive down here just made things worse. Michael spent the morning at the Honda dealership trying to amend the situation so that we weren't dragging our undercarriage cover nor damaging vital components.

The kids and I waited for the hotel shuttle to Sea World and began our day amongst sea creatures of all shapes and sizes. Along with people of all shapes and sizes! Honestly, we were a tad scatter brained. Neither child can mutually agree upon a decision (I swear it's to annoy the living day lights out of me...). The ONE thing we came to consensus upon was to ride the Sky Tower elevator to the top with vistas of Sea World and the Orlando surrounds. Good thing as the ride closed likely not long there after due to "high winds".

Michael joined us before long and we did all sorts of things. Fed sea lions, rode rides, ate lunch, saw the sea lion show (Platinum passes with reserved seating are SWEET!), saw the show with Shamu and friends (they weren't kidding when they said splash zone; thanks for the poncho Michael), picked oysters for pearls and selected special homes for them. It was quite the day! Mia unfortunately wasn't tall enough to ride the two rides she wanted to go on most. Nikolas wasn't thrilled about the prospect and even didn't seem all that pleased with me after our first go around on Manta but he tells me he'll do it again with me tomorrow... Our hotel is a SeaWorld affiliated hotel which gets us the benefit of free Quick Queue passes! Very handy to literally walk to the front of the line and not wait. As Michael and Mia won't ride two of the coasters, we could, in theory, ride twice with Quick Queue!!

We didn't stay too late at the park knowing that we can return at any time with our passes. We have special tours tomorrow and there was plenty left undone. The heat here isn't all that hot but it does take some adjusting given the lower temperatures at home.

You have one picture today. A picture of this little girl who SO loves sea creatures and anything animal. She is right at home here. Someday, she might be working down here with the animals. Wouldn't surprise me in the least. I had shared my poncho with her during the Shamu show; she had her head poking through the arm of the poncho. It covered us both just fine. Really all I wanted protected was my dSLR. Halfway through the show she decided that she wanted to sit without the poncho. She loved getting wet!

Tomorrow we return! And perhaps tomorrow I might be more patient and edit more pictures! Thanks for joining us for the recap!

Glimpse

Just a few snippets into my life. Today, Sunday, March 10th, 2013.

- It is indeed, 2013 not 2012. I am editing pictures today as I need new inspiration. I label my pictures year, month, date and a title. So it looks like this 13Feb10 (I happen to be editing Chinese New Year pictures at the moment). Only I have labeled all of this years pictures, those from 2013, with the year 2012. Sigh... I am still stuck in 2012.

- This is the Nikolas I love and would like to see more often! That smile is so incredibly infectious. Just makes my heart smile! He and Michael have been away this weekend. It's State Short Course Champs out in Blacksburg. A big weekend. A weekend that, in the past 2 years that he's swam, has been nothing but disappointing. Fortunately, we can have a celebration dinner tonight. Mia wants to have a dinner for her brother! Half of his events were good; good swims with time improvements. The other half, we'll just overlook those. And focus on this smile!!

- My fascination with the human body and movement has flared again. My personality is one of perfection. I don't have OCD but I really do like things a certain way. I need to know more. I know a lot. I've been practicing for... I can't do the math, a lot of years. I am not a complacent practioner who plods along, satisfied with what I know. There is always something more to learn. Another little tid bit or light bulb to light up. I live for those moments!

And now, I must really leave the computer to do laundry and feed the voracious monster that used to be my daughter! Hope your Sunday is a good one!

Amazing!

Not a scrappy related post today but some amazing art! While Ilona worked (it's hard work being a physician!!) I got the distinct pleasure of taking her sister and brother-in-law to the the Chihuly exhibit today. Something we have been busting to do, just never really made the time for. After some excitment with a dead minivan battery and the membership, we entered the special exhibit at our designated window. Wow!! My jaw just fell to the ground and dragged around from each installation to the next with the awe... Utterly amazing...

These two wooden boats full of glass sculpture were the first things we saw as we entered the exhibit! The bright colors, the reflections in the "water" mirrored below, the shimmer... Absolutely captivating!

This piece is called Neon Tumbleweed. After other parts of the exhibit one is able to see the backside of the exhibit.

Reeds on Logs. The width of this piece was near impossible to capture with the column that stood in the center of the display. Still stunning.

This piece was in the foyer and visible to both the paying and unpaying spectator. Difficult to capture as well as there were parades of people. The massive window behind it also made for some lighting challenges...

Mia and I have both decided that we need to return before the exhibit packs up and moves on. I love that this little girl of 6 years is in awe and inspired. I love that she wants to return and independently expressed that opinion.

Surprise!!

The third Saturday of every month I get the pleasure of hanging with my scrappy friends from 8am to midnight! There are about a dozen of us, plus or minus, that gather and come and go as meals must be had, kids demand our attention, etc.. We have been convening for two years now, two years since our local scrapbook store closed. An amazing group of ladies, each of us with our preference and skills!

Michael and the kids arranged a surprise visit this past Saturday! Kyla, who promised she wouldn't participate in such planning, had her fingers crossed behind her back (and will pay for her role in this) and aided and abetted in this affair. They not only paid the group a surprise visit but they brought with them balloons, a party headband, lunch, drinks and cupcakes!! I turned a lovely shade of red and tried to pretend the attention was being showered upon somebody else... It was a wonderful surprise and I truly am a lucky woman to have such a thoughtful husband and children! Thank you!! And thank you to my Phoenix Scrapper friend who enabled Michael to pull off such a feat and participated in celebrating my birthday! (Which, BTW, isn't for another 2 weeks but I will be out of town and detest surprises and usually have something sniffed out long before it ever happens!)

My lovely party hat headband!! And a few shades of the remaining red...

The organizers of my lovely surprise with the spread behind us!

Just in case you wanted to know how OLD I will be... Fondant in my favorite color Nikolas pointed out. It's scary what the boy knows about cupcakes... I think he's seen WAY too many episodes of Cupcake Wars!!

Saturday also happened to be the day of our second annual cookie exchange! I love the cookie exchange; you get to go home with a wide variety of baked delicacies rather than the millions of the same thing! We had fewer participants than last year but the smorgasboard of yummy goodness was just as delicious!! Thanks ladies for all your hard work! Or dollars well spent!!

I took in Chocolate Crinkle-Tops baked lovingly by myself and my cookie Elf. Mia donned her finest baking attire, the elf apron that Henry, our Elf on a Shelf, brought last year and her chef's hat from her birthday party that a friend kindly personalized for her. And a-baking we went! She and I have made these cookies together for as long as she's been around. Her first Christmas she sat in her bouncy seat while I conjured up my chocolate dreams!

So that, friends and family is a snippet of our lives over the past few days! I'm still working on our Christmas card... If I'm lucky, I'll get it printed by Christmas... Hopefully...

Just 'Cos

I was sifting and sorting through pictures today and re-discovered this. I found the most beautiful rag-a-muffin nestled in amongst all the wonderful memories of years past.

Have you ever wondered why we edit the pictures we do and why some are left to sit there? Sure, I edit with purpose, with an idea in mind. But why didn't THIS particular picture get edited?... The catch lights in Mia's eyes are spot on. Amazing. Sure, her hair is a mess, but it usually is. That's just the way she is, her natural beauty.

Just a quick and simple share today of my girl! The boys are leaving for a big swim meet this weekend so you will no doubt see pics of our "girls" weekend together!