Hello! Remember me??

It's been almost exactly a month since my last post.  And very likely it'll be a month again before my next post.  This student teaching thing has been quite an eye opener.  And I'll leave it at that.  I'm a little more than half way through, and I hope one day soon things will sort of go back to normal around here.  For a little bit, at least.

Meanwhile, I've had a couple of layouts up on the Silhouette blog and another one over on Kerri Bradford's blog.  Want to talk about intimidating?  Imagine having a layout sandwiched between Nichol Magouirk and Laura Vegas.  Holy cow - they are both so amazingly talented in ways that I will never hold a candle to. So yes.  Honored. And humbled.  See:

They say comparison is the thief of joy, and if I sit here and compare this to Nichol and Laura, sure, this pales.  But taken on its own, I love how happy this is.  I love the colors and the photos and the random memories of December.  That's a win. Right?? Right!

Next up, a recent trip to the zoo:

I love gray.  I love the way colors pop off it, but it's not as harsh as black or as stark as white. (um: duh. Hello, you can call me Captain Obvious) but the yellow here makes me happy.  And so do the different title treatments.  And I got some of the Silhouette vellum and it's beautifully thick.  It prints wonderfully.  Photo credit: Kerig.  I brought my camera.  Would have been nice if the battery were charged.  After all these years of being the sole photographer, it's really nice to have Kerig and his mad skillz around. 

This is up on the Silhouette blog today and I really like it.  A lot.  And it looks better in real life.  For the background, I used Silhouette stencil to cut out this polka dot lace, then poured a little glue on top of it and used an old gift card to smear the glue into the dots.  I sprinkled it with white glitter and then very patiently waited a full day for it to dry.  (This is HUGE for me.  I have absolutely no restraint when it comes to waiting for things to dry)  I really do love the way it turned out, although, in retrospect I wouldn't use the glue that I used - I would have used Nori paste which is thicker and wouldn't have soaked the paper.  That said, I'm perfectly okay with the imperfection.  The idea was to mimic the bottom picture of the streetlights through the slushy window.  

I'm also very pleased with the title.  (yay me! :P) I had such a lovely evening on this particular night and yet had no pictures.  Well, aside from these two, which really aren't the point.  But hopefully the title and odd pictures will compel you to read the journaling.  And maybe not YOU you, but you know...um, my kids and stuff. I guess.  Oh, and I'm pleased with the shape of the journaling block and the way it looks on that vellum.  That's good stuff!

And now might be a good time to mention that I've officially told Silhouette that I'm not trying out for the next Design Team.  I've had SO MUCH FUN doing this and they are a fun, supportive and generous company.  And I'd LOVE to do it again in heartbeat under different circumstances.  But this school thing: Oy!  And the fact of the matter is, I'm hoping to turn this into a "real" teaching position in the fall.  And if I'm struggling like this now, I can't imagine what it would be like to have my own classroom AND try to have other commitments.  It just seems like a bad idea and horribly unfair.  I will, however, continue to be in love with the company and all their very cool products and share that love here.  

If you're considering trying out: GO FOR IT! It's a wonderful experience for sure!

I hope that you are finding Spring and vice versa.  I know I could do with a few more 50º afternoons and a few less 0º mornings!