Lost in the Shuffle

I scrolled down through the blog a couple of days ago and saw a sneak peek of two layouts that never got posted.  They were originally created for Cord Scrapbook Studio, but I don't think they ever got posted.

I had been given the Enchanted line from Authentique.  It's meant to be a Halloween line, but I thought that it had a sort of rock'n'roll edge.  So I decided to use it on this layout about Maggie and I going to see Mike Doughty at the Beachland Ballroom.  The layout is loosely based on Page Maps sketch:

I said loosely. And I meant it.
Here's the other layout that I made that never got used:

This is using the Pink Paisley "Portfolio" line.  And it's based on the Page Map sketch:

That's a little less "loose."

I loved the day that Kerig and I took a ride on the choo choo.  Truth be told, the train ride was a little bit of a let down, but walking around taking pictures - and even taking pictures ON the train was fun.  The volunteer conductor kept giving me looks, but when we talked he was more trying to figure out my gear.  Fair enough.

Alrighty then.  Not much to add there.  I'm actually staying in Mentor this weekend.  I have a metric shit ton of homework to do, but I hope to sneak in an hour or two of fun time.  I still have my USP to photograph, and thay'll be up on Monday for sure.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you and yours have a Happy Easter or a lovely Passover.

Total Copy Cat

Wow.  There's a throwback.  When was the last time you thought of the phrase "copy cat."  It's been a while for me, but there it is.

At any rate...  One of the things that catches my eye on Pinterest (aside from colorful alcoholic drinks and incredibly rich food)(and I don't even really drink alcohol...) is font compilations. And every time I see one that I like, my decision to repin is based on its Silhouetteworthiness.  Stop looking at me like that.  Like I'm the first blogger to make up a word. Puh-lease.

So I decided to make my own. :)  And these are 100% Silhouetteworthy.

1. gentle redhead
2. mouth breather
3. SNF Lollihop (Oops.  This one is actually $4.  That's pretty close to free, right??)
4. Chickabiddies
5. LaurenScript
6. Bebas Neue
7. Flowerchild
8. Heartbreaker
9. Intrepid
10. CluffHmkBold

So, a couple of notes. Most of these are super easy for the Silhouette, they're generally thick enough to work with easily.  Intrepid is the thinnest, and I use that  for negative space, like in a tag.  Chickabiddies is just a dingbat font, but they're such cute faces.  I don't know why, but the girl I used in the poster is my mathgrrrl alter-ego. I just used the SNF Lollihop today.  I love it.  It welded together really well after a little scootching around.  Did you know that you can ungroup a word and move around each individual letter? You can, and that's VERY useful to know!

And: Impact.  I use Impact. A. Lot. And I don't care that it's obvious.  I didn't put it on the list because it's obvious, but it's not just obvious...it's classic.

Last note: The link for Bebas Neue?  Has the word 'penultimate' - which is one of my most favorite words.  Don't look at me like that.  Like I'm the first blogger to admit to having favorite words. AND, it has "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" which is the most awesometastic quote that my mother used on me two weeks before sending me off to an all girls college school, imploring me not to be a lesbian.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Thanks, Mom.

So that's that! Thanks for stopping by!  I'll have an USP up on the 1st...it's already done and everything...I just need to photograph it.  Hope to see you then.

Hi. My fingers are inky.

Hi. It's nice to see you.  :)

So a couple of weeks ago I was creeping around Pinterest and came across a "I figured out how to cut my own handwriting on my Cameo" pin.  Now, I've done that the hard way - write something with a sharpie, scan it in, go into photoshop and bump up the contrast, blah blah blah.  So I thought I had figured it alllllll out. And then a couple of days later I actually READ the pinner's post (doh!) and they were using their iPad.  Huh. Well.  I don't have one of those and I ain't gettin' one of those! Harumph. I got a little pissy, I'll admit.  

But then I was all like "So?  That doesn't mean there isn't a way for me to do it, too!" I mean, that lady figured out what worked for her, I just needed to figure out what works for me.  So I poked around the Google Play store and found Sketchpad Pro for Tablets, which works on my Kindle Fire.  I'm not going to say that the program is free (it's not: $4.99) or super intuitive, but it's manageable on both fronts.  I've been practicing getting the hang of writing and doodling with my stylus and yesterday I doodled the über creative hi talk bubble you see above.  I know. Don't hate. The genius, it just comes to me.  

Oh shut up.  I know it's basic, and verging on overdone. And I could have saved $4.00 and purchased something similar from the Silhouette store.  But that's not the point. I'm making this stuff my bi....uh, I'm really mastering the technology.  That's the ticket!  

And I do have a real sense of accomplishment, because it's not quite as easy as I thought it was.  There's a little cleaning up to be done, so manipulation of edit points.  And it is rough.  But I like that. 

So yeah. Anyway.  Big deal.  I doodled something and cut it out.  Now what?  Well, I have that kid who probably wouldn't mind some mail, right?  So I made a card:

It's...uh...messy. And there's no real purpose to any of the stuff on there.  And I don't care. :)  And since it'll have a $20 bill in there, neither will she.  

Thanks for stopping by!  See you soon!

Ugly Sketch 1-15: Skyline Chili

Welcome to the 6th installment of what has become my own personal sanity project.  After a fairly relaxing start to the year - from an obligation/school standpoint at least - things have begun to ramp up a bit.  I'm taking an abstract algebra class as an independent study - not the easiest stuff to wrap my brain around, but so far I haven't been overwhelmed at the amount of work to do for it.  This past week I started my last education class (Methods of Teaching Pk-12) as an 8 week online class.  As is always the case, the condensed nature of online classes makes the pace hectic, at best.  But it's a cool class and I'm learning a lot that I'll be able to put to use, so I'm really happy to be doing the work.

This project has made more tuned into the first and fifteenth of the month - I can feel them approaching and I keep the sketch in mind on my commute and in the shower - those precious moments where I get to chose my thoughts.  So I had a vague notion that I was going to do a layout about Skyline chili, but I got sick and was in high gear for school.  Next thing I know it's the 14th and I'm wondering if I can make it happen.  

Obviously, I squeezed it in:

I had an Archiver's coupon and dragged Kerig into the store last Saturday.  I had a wee little shopping spree. Like, the Hambly transparency paper, the patterned 6x6 paper, all the Studio Calico wood veneers (omg, my biggest weakness these days), some of the washi tape and the brads.  Hey, at least I used the stuff.  I'm pretty good at buying stuff and deciding that it's so special that I have to save it for something really important.  I have not yet determined what constitues "important" in paper crafting.  

I was also a semi-bed girl and bought some dies at SimonSaysStamp.  These little, teeny, tiny little hearts said they really wanted to live with me.  And so did the sentiment strips.  And in the name of full disclosure, so did these little text bubbles (but I didn't use these here).  

Old and new here - that manila name/year thing is old - I have no idea where it came from.  But that metal "k"? Holy cow.  That's circa 2003 or 2004 from when Making Memories pushed embellishments into high gear. 

So there she is.  Yay me.  I'm not Monday morning quarterbacking this one. I like it. 

Here's the sketch that I'll be using for April 1st:

You know, if you ever feel like playing along, I'd love to have you and see what you do.  Leave a link in the comments.  It would make me super happy. :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Have an awesome St. Patrick's Day! 

Call me...maybe

subtitled: my dalliances with crack.

I slept way more than usual on Sunday.  Apparently, I stored up some extra energy that needed to be expelled. Today.

Ian had truck problems yesterday, and he asked me to take him to work this morning.  At 6:30. Whew.  I'm not a big fan of the 6:30.  When I got home I laid in bed and scrolled through Pinterest until my left hand fell asleep.  I got up, showered and went to Sam's Club.  $300 later, I came home, put everything away, started on the laundry and made some egg salad.  I had some lunch, made a little decoration for my cell phone case and then did my taxes.  When it came time to print my copies I decided the time had come to hook up my new wireless laser printer. [Can I just tell you? I don't know why I waited so long! We print a ton of stuff for school, most of it black and white, and yet I'm shelling out tons of money on color ink cartridges.  What a racket that is!  So long, Epson, I'll hit you up when I need color prints, till then pfffft!]  More laundry, more printer installation (the kid's computer), more food prep, more laundry, dinner, took Ted to his speed and agility workout, helped Molly with her homework, goofed off, picked Ted up, stopped at Dairy Queen for buy-one-get-one-for-99¢ Blizzards, came home and...PLAYED.

While I was poking around on Pinterest this morning I started searching for Silhouette boards to follow.  There were a bunch of tutorials for using the trace tool.  I know how to use it, I just haven't ever felt the urge to. But it got me thinking: what am I missing? What amazing things are there that I'm not tracing?? I decided to type "png" into the google machine and click on the images tab. Lots of stuff came up but nothing that really screamed "TRACE ME!"  Well, not until I got to the android dude.  He screamed "TRACE ME! LOVE ME!" because he is, indeed, perfectly traceable and perfectly lovable.  And you know what? He'd make a cool "call me" card.  So I made a little speech bubble and voilà:

I'll send it to Maggie.  Of course "kids these days" don't bother checking their mailboxes, so she'll get it sometime in May.  :P

I'm starting to feel it though.  I think it's time to veg out to a little Watch What Happens Live and then head to bed.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ugly Sketch 1-15:5 Happy March!

March isn't my favorite month, but any month that features the beginning of spring, has a holiday centered around drinking beer and features the color green prominently is a-ok by me.  I live in Cleveland, so I don't kid myself that we're done with snow or that spring will show up anywhere other than on the calendar. But, you know, we'll baby step our way away from the worst, most scary part of the year and soon enough we'll find ourselves inching our way towards the best, most lovely months of the year.  So: Hello, March! I'm happy to see you!

But on to the bidness at hand, yo.

Remember this?

This was my launching off point for my layout this time around.  And here's what it ended up being:

Once again, I'm looking at the jpg version a couple days after completing the layout having a total "Monday morning quarterback" moment - I wish I had done this, this and this differently.  I suppose I wouldn't change that much, but I would definitely bulk up the layering at the top of the zig-zag strip more.  And I think that was my original intent.  I must have seen something shiny and forgotten to add those extra two layers that I had in my mind.  Oh well.

I used to be a better journaler.  I didn't understand why people had such a hard time with it.  These same people who said "I can't journal" would sit next to you and tell you all about their pictures, pointing, getting animated, clearly excited by the stories they had to tell about them.  And yet here I am, with crappy, surface-y journaling.  But if you sat next to me on the sofa, I'd probably start his curiosity about my cameras, but I would probably mention how much it means to me that this kid comes and sits with me for 15 or 20 minutes at time, telling me about his day, asking questions, telling me about what happened in history or what the coach said at speed and agility, or asks me about my day...or even just hangs out quietly.  At the end of the day, when I've thrown in the towel on studying, when the kitchen is cleaned up and the laundry is folded, I'll head up into my bedroom, put my feet up, poke around the internet and put on whichever Real Housewives show is on that night.  Bedtime for Ted and Molly is at 9 o'clock (still - why they don't protest this, I don't know...), and somewhere around 8:40 Ted will come in and flop on my bed so that he can see my computer and the t.v. and make fun of the Housewives (fair enough) or talk to me about whatever I'm looking at.  I think it's cool that Ted likes to tinker - and frankly I should do a page on all the things he's fixed around here, or how I know he'll be a great dad and his yard will always be impeccable - but to me, the story that I want to tell, that maybe I'm afraid of jinxing (hell, I'm tearing up just writing about it here) is how much I love this kid and how much his daily visits are the highlight of my days.

And there's one other thing.

Those hands. Ted is 14.  He shaves. He's taller than I am.  He lifts weights and has muscles.  His body is turning into a man's, and it's strange and awesome to see.  But those hands - they still look like a boy's hands.  There's something still round and soft and childlike about them.  And I don't know why, but that makes me tear up a little, too.  I just want to pop the plastic off the front of the clock and put my finger on the second hand to make it stop.  Now.  Right now.  This is where I want to stop time and just have these kids, like this, right now, forever.  This is a good place.  And those pudgy little fingers are the reminder.  They are the last vestige of his childhood.

Ok.  I have to move on.  Seriously, I'm at work, bawling about Ted's fat fingers and how he's growing up.  I must look like a psycho nut job to my boss.  :P

And here's the sketch for next time:

Once again, I don't have pictures or a theme/topic in mind, although I suppose my sub conscience is suggesting this be some kind of lovey-dovey relationship kind of page.  We'll see.













Thanks for stopping by.  It should be interesting how the next couple of weeks pan out - I start another class on Thursday so I'm assuming my work load is going to quadruple. :P  But come hell or high water, I'll have a layout up on the 15th.  I like this forced break too much back-burner it, even (especially) when I'm busy.

See you soon(ish)!

Ugly Sketch 1-15: 4 Winter

I feel tremendous pressure to have a catchy first line with all the spelling, grammar and punctuation correct.  You see, this first line (as well as the first image) gets posted on my Facebook timeline as soon as I hit the "Publish" button.  While the rest of the post can fade away in anonymity, that first line (and image) might actually get seen.  That's a lot of pressure.

At any rate, it's the 15th of the month and I've got my Ugly Sketch layout to share:

It's funny how looking at the jpg version of these adds a new perspective.  This is true to the sketch, yes, but seeing it now, I'd like to have something to ground the three journaling blobs.  Or maybe just moving that bottom one up would help.  Hmmm.  

And here's the original sketch for comparison:

I'll be honest. This is an awful sketch. You don't have to be a really great scrapbooker to see that. But it's a start, right?  I'm sort of impressed with how well the actual layout turned out in spite of the sketch. 

And yet, still...those arrows still bug me.

Here's the sketch for March 1st:

I think this sketch has better bones.  :)

I used a stylus that we sell for drawing this - made it SO much easier to control.  Trying to do this with just my chubby finger made me question my fine motor skills.  This isn't exactly high art here, but at least it wasn't as frustrating as last month's was.

That border isn't supposed to be crooked, but I like it.  Expect to see that tilt exaggerated in the actual layout.

Last night Ted (my 14 year old) found out I have a blog.  It's not that I was hiding it, but I usually work on it late at night or occasionally from work between customers.  So he was scrolling through quickly, and asked with the most sincere incredulity "Mom, you wrote all that?!" and when I nodded yes he said laughingly "You're such a nerd!"  I love my kids. :P

So in the interest of staying wordy and nerdy, I have one more thing to add today.

Same layout, taken with two different cameras. The reason I'm putting them side by side and showing them to you is I wanted to talk a minute about barrel distortion.  The picture on the left was taken with a Nikon P7000, which is a top of the line point and shoot camera.  It retailed for $500.  It's my "pocket" camera - although nothing I own has pockets big enough for it, it's only a pocket camera when compared to my D7000.  And honestly, I love this camera.  The color in the left hand picture is actually truer than the colors in the picture on the right.  But what I wanted to point out was the way the picture on the left bows out in the middle.  It the photography world, that's referred to as barrel distortion, and you can see why - the sheet of cardstock here has a distinct whiskey barrel shape to it.  The distortion exists in most non-telephoto lenses, to some degree or another, at some focal lengths.  In more 'real world' shooting instances you'd have a harder time noticing it, but trying to take pictures of something that is very straight and rectangular - it's hard to hide that imperfection.  But look at the picture on the right.  I'm at work today, and I threw my P7000 in my bag to take this picture here (my store has really beautiful natural light), but I just couldn't get the layout to flatten out in Photoshop.  So I decided to reshoot it with one of the store's cameras.  I picked up the D600 because it has the Tamron 24-70 lens on it.  To be honest, I'm not in love with the D600 - it has one feature that just makes me batty.  But I am in love with the Tamron 24-70 lens, and this shot shows why.  Look at how straight those edges are!  Both shots are straight out of the camera with the exception of levels correction (to correct the exposure) and cropped in as you see here - but no attempt was made to 'fix' the barrel distortion on either.  I think that the one on the right is fantastic.

And here's an interesting tidbit. I have no idea how these images look to you (dear reader) color-wise. I just calibrated my monitor less than a week ago.  (That's a lie. My personal IT and manfriend calibrated it less than a week ago, while performing many magic tricks that healed my computer of several deadly diseases)  As I sit here and look at the images above, I'm not overly impressed with the color on either.  The one on the right appears to be too blue, the one on the left appears too green.  In both cases I did a custom white balance reading before taking the pictures - I'm kind of a stickler about that.  So that neither color is what I think it should be - that's very disappointing to me.  I turned my computer so that my fellow coworker (and fellow camera nerd) and explained my findings to her. She responded with "I think the one on the right is truer to the real life colors."  When I adjusted my monitor for her viewing angle she said "Oh, yeah, now I see the blue green difference!"  But when I turned it back and changed the angle for me, I put it at yet a different angle, wherein the one  on the right looked amazingly accurate. This digital stuff is tricky!

BTW, that Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 lens?  A bargain at $1200.  

love u.

Have you noticed? Today is Valentine's Day.  It's everywhere.  Love and hearts and pink and red and flowers and chocolate and all things romance.

I'm not with m'honey today.  He's sort of busy today. :)  And that's a good thing.  But I did mail him a card - which is CRAZY, because I am horrible about actually putting things in the mail. But I digress.

It's simple.  It's guy friendly. It's graphic. 

I love the scripty love word.  Love.

And the inside? I like that.  I made it - which isn't rocket science or anything.  But I'm not super creative, so the idea of putting those words with the arrow and welding together feels like whoa, I'm a design genius. :P  Not really, but I like to pretend.

And now, I have to dash.  It's Ian's (my oldest) birthday, and dinner is just about ready.  Thanks for stopping by.  Check back in the next day or two for the ugly sketch layout.

Laters!

Music Videos...against my better judgement

Maggie asked for a mix CD for Christmas.  I can't adequately express how cool it is to have a teenager say that they like your offbeat taste in music so much that they want it (period) or enough to make it a Christmas gift. The one I made for her is my favorite ever (that I've made) and it went over very well - Maggie really liked it, too, which of course made me very happy.

In honor of the Grammy's tonight I'm going to share as many of the videos here as I can.  I haven't watched them all.  This maybe a bad idea.  But I have seen some, and they're catchy, funny, well made...so we'll hope for the best on the others.

Disclaimer: This is a mix made for a 19 year old.  There's some inappropriate language...namely a bunch of f-bombs.  Oops.  Turn back now if that offends.


Skylar Grey: C'mon Let Me Ride

Sam and the Womp: Bom Bom 

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: Thrift Shop

The Avett Brothers: Kick Drum Heart

Philip Philips: Home

Mumford and Sons: I Will Wait

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: Same Love

The White Stripes: My Doorbell

Stephen Lynch: Beelz

Chrisette Michele: Best of Me

Imagine Dragons: It's Time

Flo Rida: I Cry

Pop Danthology 2012

Passion Pit: Take a Walk

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: Home

This isn't the exact order.  And boy, I do believe that matters.  But alas, &%$# iTunes jumbled up as soon as I burned it.  Goofy iTunes.  At any rate,  I hope you heard a song or two you liked.  Or at the very least,  you don't think less of me for my goofy taste in music that might have some naughty language in it. 

Thanks for stopping by.  It's the 10th, so I'll have an ugly sketch-inspired layout for you at the end of the week.  Laters!

What I see

There she is.  Ugly Sketch 1-15: 2-1. This isn't my favorite so far.  I think there's something about doing layouts about men that requires that you reign it in, no frou-frou, colors have to be muted, embellishments kept to a minimum.  I think that part of my issue here is what you don't see - we were shooting at Squire's Castle and we were up to our knees in snow.  So for a solid hour I was dinking around with white background paper, light blue patterned paper, snow flakes...and none of that looked right with the picture.  For the second hour, I got sucked into watching The Unite States of Tara on Netflix, so solving the pressing what-paper-to-use dilemma faded off into the distance.  Eventually I snapped to and came up with the combo you see here.  The weird misting on the bottom is my nod to the wintry mix you don't see in the picture.  The next dilemma was the title.  I had already set myself on "What I see" but for some reason I was stuck on cursive.  And not just a handwriting type script, but scroll-y and flowing and formal.  Yeah. That did not work. I finally occurred to me that I needed to bring it down a notch.  I need to find some good, but casual handwriting cursive fonts.  And then I need a way to organize them, so I'm not wasting so much time looking for what I've got in mind.  If you have suggestions for that, or want to point me in the direction of a blog post or pin that could help me with that, by all means, leave me a comment.

Boy. These things just keep getting uglier and uglier. Yikes.

The thought here is that the three squares are Instagram shots.  The rectangles are corresponding journalling boxes, and the arrows are way to connect which picture goes with which box.

I might need to look into a way of making these a little less ugly and a little more accurate at conveying what I'm thinking.  But to be honest, this is meant to be quick and dirty, I'm not looking for a book deal, just something that keeps me scrapping a little here and there.



Looks like I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Unless I manage to do something share worthy before then.  I've kind of got a hankering to do a mustard stain t-shirt...haven't been able to shake that thought. Maybe one of these days...

Looking outside.

I'm having a hard time lately. January has been one long, unwelcome emoticoaster ride. And I want off.  I've had some highs, but mostly I've had some low-low lows.

But here's the one thing that you can count on: when you look outside yourself and do something nice for someone else, it boosts you.  There's no denying - making someone else smile makes you smile.  Scheming to make someone smile puts a spring in your step for days.

Maggie is off at school. Valentine's Day is coming, and it seems the proper thing to do is to send off a little package full of love.  As luck would have it, Maggie sent me a text last week saying "Um, can you send me the spare car key?" Perfect! Now I have a deadline and an excuse.  I'd already begun gathering the supplies, but it's no fun saying "I'm sending you a surprise package, so check your  mailbox."  (Problem with kids these days is that they don't get snail mail, so there's no reason to check their mailboxes.)  So yay! "I'm sending the key, but also a pair of socks and gloves that you left here" - perfect upgrade from envelope-with-key to an actual package.

I made a mobile out of cardstock.  There's no good picture of it, because it was flipping impossible.  But, here's a little show and tell, maybe it'll make sense.

This is the ring that everything hangs from.  It's just two concentric circles with holes in it for the string to tie into.   If you look closely one of those circles is an oval.  Here's why.  I cut out six of these circles and used spray adhesive to stack them together.  When you do this, paper becomes very stiff and stable - perfect for bearing a little weight.  The oval is so that when I stack them all together I can line it up properly and get it exact.

From there I cut loads and loads of hearts and keys and "I♥u"s and "love" words from red, black, white and pink. The keys, i♥u and love were all at the bottoms of the mobile.  I cut them a bunch of times each and stacked them with spray adhesive so make them good and strong.  I tied the string around them and then layered hearts up the strings in randomly and tied the other end of the string onto the mobile's ring.  From there, I added some string to the top for hanging.  To be honest, that was the only hard part - I'm not certain I tied it perfectly straight, so it hangs a wee bit wonky, but it's okay.

So there's the best shot I could get, complete with the cheesy late 80's wallpaper that's in my scraproom.  Don't hate.  ;)

The string is from a massive thing of baker's twine I got from Crate and Barrel years ago.  It's going to last me a hundred years. Bonus: it cost $8.99.  Random craft score there!

It's become a fun tradition for the kids to find a little Valentine treat on the morning of the 14th.  I absolutely adore the fun Valentine's things at Target.  So I usually pick up some tumblers or bowls to fill with candy.  Maggie won't be here this year, so her cup had to be mummified in plastic wrap to hold everything in place.  Down at the bottom there's a big Hershey's Kiss, then it's layered with holiday M&Ms, Hershey's hearts, kisses and conversation hearts, topped with more kisses.  And a big box of Red Hots and a bag of Twizzlers Pull'n'Peels, just for good measure.  I sincerely hope this candy lasts for a long time, otherwise I'll have to send her new jeans to celebrate St. Patty's Day.





All I know is this: as crappy as my week was, making that mobile and packing up these treats and standing in line at the post office made me HAPPY.  And getting a "YOU ROCK" text today along with a picture of the mobile hanging in her dorm - perfect bliss.

Ugly Sketch 1-15 Project: 2

So pleased to have stuck with it.  Yes, I realize I did a layout, it's not like I'm dieting and exercising or even pinching pennies any more than usual.  So to say "I've stuck with it" elicits an eye roll even from me.  But it's winter and I feel blaaaaah, and sometimes on my day off I just want to stay in bed all day and even something as enjoyable as cutting and pasting cardstock is more than I want to do.

The photos on this are "3x5" - which are actually 3.5x5.  On an 8.5x11 layout, that means that the areas to the right of the top photo and to the left of the bottom photo are exactly 3.5 square.  I thought that would be kind of cool, because there are tons of square shapes in the Silhouette store.  At least I thought.  And of the ones that I found, some weren't theme appropriate and some wouldn't have cut right when sized that small.  So instead of having a huge selection like I thought, I had maybe 10 or so to chose from.  I'm not in love with the combination that I have here -- I've used the leaf one before and loved it, but the chunkiness of it juxtaposed with the more delicate fishtail lace - if just doesn't feel like it jives to me.  And in retrospect I might have cut that fishtail lace in one of two other colors and used the negative pieces to fill a couple of random holes on this, just to make it a little more modern and funky feeling.

I do love the title though, which is straight from the Silhouette store with no alterations except sizing it down to fit my needs.  It's funky and fresh and very Molly who declares way-too-many-things as being "awesome."  I also like that I was able to use the awesome word in the journaling - I think it lends a little cohesion to the page.

Not quite where I stand on the bird, which actually has a thematic tie in to the day (although, it's not mentioned or seen on the page at all), but the beak gets lost on the picture and it seems a little "out there."  But I'm not fussing with it at this point, just doing the 'what-if' post mortem, which is probably better suited to exams and hands of euchre and not scrapbook pages.

The only other take-away that I have is that I wasn't (am not) fond of the way the photos are positioned here.  It took a fair amount of will power to stick to the essence of the sketch.  And it's a sketch, it's not like I have to be literal about it, but by the same token, if I monkey with it too much I'm not doing what I set out to do - which is to save time and emotional effort in the layout process.  I'm just trying to eliminate one set of choices so as to make the scrapbooking process less cumbersome.

Here's the sketch I'll be cursing for February 1st:

My intention is to use a panoramic-y sort of picture on the page.  Do I have a panoramic-y picture in mind?  Nope.  Heck, I'm not even certain I have a picture that's suited to that kind of crop.  But we'll see.  And I'll wrestle it into submission one way or the other.

Thanks for stopping by.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

No. This is NOT going to turn into a a recipe blog.

Last year I stumbled on this recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip that was amazing.  It's a feat of simplicity and yet horribly addicting.  I bookmarked it. I pinned it. I revisited it several times.

And then it was gone.

**POOF**

And I'm not going to lie.  It sort of caused me to panic. I spent a couple of hours searching other recipes and every one just seemed a little off.  As luck would have it, the manfriend had a print out of the recipe on his fridge from last year.

Let's hear it for pack rats! ☺

And since the original link has vanished, I'm just going to put it in here, where I know it'll be safe. I hope.

Ingredients:
8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
2 to 3 whole chicken breast

Directions:
Boil chicken; cool; shred
Heat oven to 350º
In baking dish, stir cream cheese til smooth.
Mix in ranch dressing, Frank's and cheese.
Stir in Chicken
Bake 20 minutes.

Stir and serve with bagel chips, pretzel chips, celery...whatever strikes your fancy.

ETA: So far I've made this with frozen chicken tenders (cooked and shredded), canned chicken and today I made it with a rotisserie chicken.  By far, I prefer the chicken tenders or rotisserie chicken over the canned chicken.  The rotisserie chicken was easier, but it's hard to resist the lure of eating the skin, which is pretty awful for you.  I doubled the recipe and used two full chickens today and that's just too much meat.  So I think if you're going to use a rotisserie chicken, maybe use 3/4 of the white meat...and maybe up the ranch and mozzarella to make the texture just right.  But as far as "mistakes" go, this is still pretty darned tasty!

Ugly Sketch 1-15 Project: 1

There is something triumphant in saying "I'm going to do this" (whatever this may be) and then (*gasp*) actually doing it.

Guess what? I actually did it.
(*gasp*)

<=== So this is the first sketch in the Ugly Sketch 1-15 Project.  

Pretty ugly, huh?  I prefer to think of it as...rough.

But who cares, right? Not like I'm getting graded or anything.

It's just a launching off point.  And frankly, I'm really pleased with where I landed, and I'm not going to lie - it was fun. There was nothing that was pulling me on this but me.  Not a supply list or a time line, just a self made sketch.  It was a blast.

I'm posting a little early.  Not quite certain what my New Year's plans are yet.  And it just doesn't seem to be a big deal to let the proverbial cat out of the bag a couple days early. 

And because it was so fun doing this one, I've already come up with the Ugly Sketch for the 15th (which may or may not be posted on the 15th, but hopefully somewhere close to the 15th):

First, let me just say how much I hate blogger: GAH! I hate blogger! I'd accuse it of being the least friendly user interface EVER, but that's just not true. Plus, it's flipping free, so I can't go exaggerating about it.  But I do not like it, Sam I am!

Ok, that said, there's the Ugly Sketch 1-15 for January 15th.  Do I have something in mind for it? Nope. Does that concern me? Not at all.  Will it be a masterpiece when I'm done with it? You bet your life it will be! ;)

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you in a week or (more likely) two. ☺

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Ugly Sketch 1-15 Project

I've known for a long time that I love to scrapbook, but I don't because of a few factors.  Time is always a factor, for me and just about everyone I know.  It lacks urgency, and by that I mean it takes a backseat to everything else that is of higher priority or less "hard".  So schoolwork always trumps scrapbooking because it's higher up the priority food chain, but Real Housewives tends to win because watching t.v. requires less effort.  I really wish I had a t.v. in my scrap area.  Sigh...  And the last really big factor is: I'm overwhelmed.  I have too much stuff and I don't know where to begin.  Too many choices just leads me to paralysis.  Even when I'm really itching to scrap, I tend to sit down at my table and fuss around for an hour or two and then walk away because - with so many decisions to make, I hadn't gotten anywhere.

I've also known for a long time that scrapbooking (or papercrafting in general) adds a balance to my life that I really need.  Somehow playing with paper and the hum of my Silhouette allows me to shift focus from my inside shit storm to nothing but calm and pretty and happy memories.  And so when I'm "too busy" to scrapbook I miss it, and I'm probably a bit bitchier without it, too.

This morning I was playing with my phone. I was writing myself a note about some last minute Christmas items that I needed to address.  I've had the phone for a while, but the note feature is something that I haven't used much - it just hasn't seemed as intuitive as what I was used to.  But Shazam! It's actually pretty cool.

I'm getting to a point. Really.

Recently I've been questioning why I bother with this blog.  If I don't write regularly, it seems sort of pointless.  But then I realize how much enjoyment I get from scrolling through the pages. I like having a portable reference.  It's like a mobile, public picture diary.  I don't want to give it up, but it's not a high priority item.  What it needs, it occurred to me, is a project. A reason to post.

Hmmm.
Too many choices.
But wanting to scrap.
A note feature on the phone.
Needing a project.

Introducing (insert sad drum roll here): The Ugly Sketch 1-15 Project

See why I call it ugly? It's ug.ly. But that's ok. It also took about 30 seconds to do.  And if it were pretty it would have taken longer, and then I'd quit. And you don't need pretty for a sketch, right? It's just a launching off point.  

I have no photos in mind, no products or theme...But already I've made decisions.  It's 8.5x11.  It has two smaller photos.  It has some journaling.  But from there, I have wiggle room.  I like a little room for flexibility.

And the 1-15 part? I will post a layout on the first and fifteen of the month.  I'm not answering to anyone but me, but by saying this right now, I've made a commitment.  Now, granted, a commitment to myself is going to be the first one to be ditched if things get bad, but the hope is there.  And two layouts a month seems doable.  And because these aren't for others, it's not like they have to be masterpieces.  I'm excited to have a reason and a direction and not a whole lot of pressure.  I hope this will be fun.  Because dear sweet baby Jesus, I need a little fun right about now. 

Check back.  I'll have something for you on 1-1-13.

100th 3rd

When I first moved to Ohio, several things baffled me.  I don't know why, but I've been thinking about it for a while now.  And I've been thinking that I'd really like to make a layout about some of the weird differences there are in the different places I've lived.  That thought is brewing.

Close to the top of the list will be Fifth Third Bank.  You don't have to be Math Girl to know that that just doesn't makes sense.  It took me a while to settle in, and since I'm not one to socialize it took me several months before I was finally able to ask someone about the bank's name without looking like a blithering idiot.  Turns out it came from the bank mergers of the Fifth National Bank of Cincinnati and the Third National Bank of Cincinnati.  I guess that makes sense, but 12½ years later it still makes me screw up my face when I drive past their branches.

So 100th 3rd?  Well, today is a semi big day around here.  This is my 100th post and the third anniversary of my blog.  I suppose that it's not really that big of a deal, but it is to me, sort of.  I started this blog when my life was in the midst of some big changes.  In the June of 2009 my ex-husband lots his job.  The economy was still in the throes of what no one wanted to label a recession.  He was unemployed for a total of 11 months.  In September he came to me and asked if I would move into his house with our kids so he could move in with his brother in Pennsylvania and work at his hedge fund company.  He had hopes that he could learn a new line of work, get out of the manufacturing industry and tread water until selling his house made more sense.  Naturally, the idea of getting to be the full time mom to my kids was something I jumped at. But the rest? Uh...no.  Live in my ex-husband's house? Weird. At best.  My nearly 100 mile daily round trip commute to a job that I didn't like? Expensive.  And heading into winter? With my crappy car? Dangerous. And little things like the fact that I had just signed a one year lease with my apartment complex and they wouldn't let me out.  And of course, there's also a relationship to consider.  How crappy a girlfriend are you when you say "Listen. Really dig you. But I'm gonna move into my ex-husband's house"?  As luck would have it, that may have been a mixed blessing for a number of reasons.  But that it is a whole other, really long, way too personal post. That's not going to happen.  But it has a happy ending, so the details aren't that important...

But I said yes and I moved. And I felt like a stranger with my kids for quite some time.  It's not that I didn't see them a lot when they lived with their dad, it's just that they had an entirely different routine at Dad's house than at Mom's apartment. And they were at "home" - I was the one in a strange land.  And dear God, did it feel strange.  Which is weird - it was filled with furniture and kitchenware and linens that I had purchased, but was no longer "mine." I felt like I was trespassing. I had to ask where things were, and I confined myself to my bedroom, the kitchen and the laundry room.

As luck would have it, I scored a new job, back in the camera industry - back where I felt comfortable and in my element.  It was closer to home - 20 miles away.  The boss was (is) fantastic. Accommodating, understanding, flexible.  I couldn't ask for a better work situation than what I have right now.  Lest I ever sound disgruntled, please know: I am not.  I feel lucky and blessed every day.  Oh please. Not every day....but most days. ;)

It took some time, everything settled into place.  I'd be lying if I said there weren't times that things still feel...weird.  Like, it's hard to explain this.  So a lot of time, I avoid talking about personal things with people who aren't already in "the know."  But on the whole, it's been wonderful.  I love that the kids are always HOME.  I leave on the weekends and spend time with Kerig, and Dad comes home - no more packing them up and disrupting their schedules.  I like cooking for them, and - oddly - doing their laundry and sending them to school in clothes that haven't been sitting crumpled in a laundry basket for a week.  I like over-seeing their homework, and even dishing out chores. I love being the mom, and I take that role seriously.  When I left, I asked their dad to keep them - he made more money, he had a 9 to 5, Monday thru Friday job. I didn't. It was in their best interest. But getting this chance to be with them has been a blessing.  For me, and I think, for them.

So this blog has seen me through a lot.  I started this shortly after I moved in his house. After the kids went to bed I'd be in my room.  Computer, internet, books...and still very bored.  I needed some kind of creative "thing" and I needed to give my head something to do.  I've been a fair weather friend, to be sure. But in my defense, it's been quite a ride. I've added more to my plate, and given my brain plenty to keep it occupied.  I've branched out in the house, and taken over the dining room and made it my scrap room.  But the blog has been a creative outlet, a way to share, a source of free therapy, a way to communicate my undying love for my Silhouette...

So...Happy Anniversary to me!

And because no blog post is complete without a picture, he's a REALLY old picture of Kerig and I.  Thanks, friend, for always being there for me, for graciously taking the back seat when necessary and being my rock. I think you're the best.

Snapshot of Today.

A post about absolutely nothing.

Gas: $3.14 (in Parma, but the average seems more like $3.30 in the area.)
Car: Nissan Rogue...Superblack.
Phone: Samsung Galaxy SIII.
Ringer: R. Kelly's Remix to Ignition.  Heard three times, including a wrong number at 12:38 am.
Alarm set for: 7:45
Commute: 25.4 miles/Half hour.
Work Day: 9:15-5:25, including teaching a Nikon class.
In-between: Calc homework: setting up and evaluating triple iterated integrals.
Listening to: NPR.  Election talk, Hurricane Sandy aftermath.  "On Taking Pictures" podcast.
Dinner: Brown Bag Burger (Voted best burger in Ohio by Kerig and Caroline)
Cost: $18.58
After dinner errand: Target for a light bulb for over the range.
Also: Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies with little bits of candy cane in the chocolate. Jury's still out.
Waiting for: Louis C.K. on Saturday Night Live
Fantasizing about: Having time to read a book without guilt.
Missing: My kid.
Wearing: big comfy Lakeland hoodie.
Weather: High: 44º, Low: 35º Grey, cloudy, occasional drizzle
Other points of note: 3 days til presidential election.  President Obama visited Mentor High School.
Picture:

(no actual tongue contact made. Surprise.)

Happy Halloween!

The manfriend said "You need to update your blog."

My response: "I know. But I'll just whine about school, and who wants to read that?"

Well, I'm going to update, and I'm going to address school, but I'm not going to whine about it. This time.  ;)

Things are...going.  Last week I had a doozy of a day.  I really bombed a quiz.  Like 10% bomb.  Ouch.  (Mind you, I'm not whining, just telling the story)  I handed in a nearly blank quiz sheet and spent the rest of the class silently wiping away tears of humiliation and stress and worry. After class I went home, cried some more (not so silently)(let's hear it for time and place appropriateness!) and then dug in.  Problem was, I had deprioritized that class to make room for a final in another.  I thought I understood a little, when it turns out I barely understood at all.  I was really scared that I had gotten myself so far behind that I was going to have a really difficult time catching up.  But here's what I like about me  (sometimes*): I decided to think about how I would help my kids in this situation, and then try to follow that advice. So while wallowing in my pity party and worrying that I'd never catch up, I decided that I was going to try to figure out what it was that I didn't understand.  If I could articulate what I didn't understand, at least I could walk into my professor's office with my head held high and say "I've tried to figure this out, but I can't make it click.  Would you mind explaining to me how to do xyz."  Because that's what I'd tell my kids to do.  (if in fact, their genius mother couldn't help them :P  ).  I spent the afternoon working homework problems, and getting one wrong after the next, but really paying attention to what it was that I was having issues with.  And then trying to think critically about it...instead of giving in to the urge to throw up my hands, give up, and take a nap.  And oh, how I love to take a nap!  Turns out that in trying to pinpoint what my issues were, I actually figured out what the heck I was doing wrong.  I decided that I would visit my professor the next morning anyway, and ask for clarification on a couple of more difficult problems.  It wouldn't hurt to have him shed some insight on those problems, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to show him "hey, I'm trying."  I spent a good portion of the weekend trying to get caught up entirely, and back to feeling good.  And Mother Nature/Sweet Baby Jesus were on my side, closing school on Tuesday (the next time that class met) due to the storm, which gave me a whole extra day to get right with calculus without piling on more stuff.  (Sometimes I think that's the hardest part - we move at a crazy fast pace, and if something doesn't 'click' into place right away, there's no pause before we move on to the next topic.)  So the purdy notecard is my "fresh start."  I'm making a new effort to take better notes, to make a card like that for each section we cover (to make homework easier, but also to help when exam time rolls around.)  And can I tell you? I have center of mass down cold.  See? I'm not whining.  This is my triumphant post about how a humbling experience turned into feeling all "Yay!" again. Yay!

This is a scrapbook/crafty/Silhouette-y/Cameo-y type of blog though, so I should also show:

Going back to my roots in uber-simplicity, and featuring American Crafts Pumkin Patch.  I have a couple of pictures from this day that I really love, and yet I haven't told the story about getting her ears pierced.  But this wasn't the time - this is just that smile... No cheese, not forced, not fake.  That's 100% real, honest, happy.  And that's all that needed to be said.  

I do have some other stuff in the wings. 

Like:

  And:

Oh! And I wanted to share one more thing.  I take my writing implements VERY seriously. I find something I like and I stick to it and I love it to death.  So I buy my Bic Round Stics by the case, and guard my GraphGear1000 by Pentel with my life. I like my Sharpies sharp and in every shade for notes to the kids and coworkers - they say "Hey, I'm in a fun color, but don't tell her you didn't see me!" And for my notecards (like above)  I am absolutely, positively head over heals in love with: 

Which can be found at Amazon: Staedtler Triplus Fineliner felt tip pens.  Love them. A lot.

And with that, I'm going to sign off.  I hope everyone is safe and dry! Thanks for stopping by!