What I did on my Summer vacation:

Panicked.

Yesterday was one of those days where my professor talked and I listened...and for as much as I understood, he might as well have been speaking in Portuguese. Ok, maybe it wasn't quite THAT bad.  But it wasn't that good, either. And then he assigned the homework, which looked a little like this:

Chapter 5.8, page 398
ODDS:
19-33
45-73
79-99
105-109

Chapter 6.2, page 420
ODDS:
21-27
33-41
57-61

And then, for good measure, a worksheet.
Oh! And don't forget to study for the quiz.  You know...the QUIZ...the one we start every blessed class with.  His favorite phrase is "...I'll take a point off for every time you make that mistake." I'm convinced it's entirely possible to get a negative score on his tests.

Anyway, yesterday. Holy cow.  By the time 11:00 rolled around last night, I was done.  And by "done" I don't mean "finished my homework." Rather, I mean, I was done trying.  I was throwing in the towel. I woke up this morning with a lump in my stomach. This is the day that it all unravels.  This is the day that the gig is up.  You're not smart enough. You're not strong enough.  You're not dedicated enough. You're a sham. Just like before.

What a crappy way to start the day.

Plus, I hadn't even studied for the quiz.  Most of the time, in a math class, a quiz is "do these three problems."  With Mr. I-Will-Whip-Your-Sorry-Ass-Into-Shape-and-You-Will-EARN-Whatever-Grade-You-Receive it means memorization of definitions, theorems, and formulas. It's a page worth of regurgitation.  Math? Not (generally) a problem. Regurgitation? Sort of an problem.

My big issue yesterday is that we were doing something based on something I learned in 11th grade.  For those who don't know me personally, 11th grade was 1984. Holy SHITBALLS.  (excuse my language, but I deserve credit for holding that in until now) Normally when a teacher is working on something relatively obscure, like, say, hyperbolic trig functions, a teacher might elect to do a brief ten minute refresher.  No.  Not Mr. Damn-The-Calculus-Torpedoes-Full-Speed-Ahead.

Despite the self-loathing mantras I started the day with, I am smart enough to "plug-and-chug."  A mathematical term meaning "just plug the damn numbers into the formula and get the friggen answer already."  It's common practice for people who don't actually know (or want to know) the theories and concepts behind the math.  So I was able to - painstakingly - get through about 70% of the homework.

But 70% isn't really good enough in a class that meets for an hour and 45 minutes Monday through Thursday.  I suppose it would be fully acceptable on Thursday, but if you pull that 70% crap on Monday you are seriously putting yourself behind the eight ball for the rest of the week.  This guy moves fast and if you don't get what we talked about yesterday, you might be building your flimsy house of cards on a sandy beach in a windstorm, if you get my drift. Which is partially why I woke up with nothing kind to say to myself this morning.  "You're fucked" was kind of as nice as I could muster.

But the heavens smiled on me today.  He hadn't even taught the whole chapter yesterday.  And during our break I mentioned that I hadn't been in a trig class since 1984 (which, by the way, is a critical error when surrounded by a bunch of 19 year olds. There was a faint ripple of "1984??"s heard in the room after I said it. What an ego booster.  Because I'm taking that as they all had no clue that I was ...well...as old as I am.  Guess that cat's out of the bag now, eh?) Anyway, I mentioned the 1984 thing and that I couldn't really remember what it all meant and the professor didn't really say anything.  But then after he covered one or two things, he offered us an impromptu extra credit assignment.  In the course of telling us what he wanted us to do, he fully unfolded the concepts that I hadn't understood.   He drew and labeled graphs, reminded us what things meant, worked some parallel problems.

Gratitude is one of those things that has been ingrained in me from a million years ago.  I don't know if it's from years of "Say 'thank you.'" or the format of the way I pray, but good doesn't go unnoticed.  I am so grateful for the way he dropped back and punted.  That he changed up his lesson to quietly accommodate the old lady and did in a way that wouldn't bore the other students, and would even throw a life raft to some other students.  Despite my panic today, I'm doing well in the class.  I don't "need" extra credit, per se.  However, doing the exercise will reinforce what I had long ago forgotten.  That he didn't throw me under the bus for the other students to see or ignore my issues, for that I am extremely grateful.

Oh, and that homework up there^^^?  For the first time ever, he reposted it and told us to finish it up.

Whew.

And so I came home with a HUGE weight off my shoulders.  Today would not be the day it all unraveled.  Or the day the gig was up.  I might revisit the sham thing, but I can let go of it today.

And then I allowed myself to work on some design team stuff.  Oh how wonderful it is to "have" to scrapbook.  To be able to switch gears, switch from left brain to right brain is such a relief sometimes.  And how grateful am I to have this opportunity to have this balancing agent in my life? ETERNALLY.

And the Instagram shot at the top of the post? That's the sneak peek.  But you knew that already.  ;)

Do you know about Plum District?

It's the same basic concept as GroupOn and LivingSocial, but with more of a mom/Mormon-y bent.  I'm asking because they have a deal where you get $50 worth of Silhouette stuff for $30.  You can't use it on the machines, gift cards or downloadable shapes.  HOWEVER, if you're kind of thinking about buying the Designer Edition of the software, or maybe you want to try some vinyl or rhinestone packs, it would be perfect.  I used mine for the software...I'm hoping to quit my day job.  ;)  Just kidding.

I'm not trying to get mine for free or anything, just sharing the love.  :)

Here's a linky-poo to see the offer. (I hope)

Memorial Day Sneak Peak

Blah Blah Blah.
This is the third version of this because apparently I thought you needed the blow by blow of my weekend, but really, what you need to know boils down to this:

1. I was actually at my house for the weekend.  (normally I am not)
2. Due to the holiday (Thank you to all who have served, past and present) I had the day off.
3. I cleaned and purged my scrap room.  There will be some really kick ass trash at 8860 this Thursday.
4. I have scrapped 3 layouts SO FAR this weekend.  I'm hoping to squeeze in one more before bed.
5. I have a sneak peak:

6. I think I failed to mention that I recently took a class called A CUT ABOVE offered at OnlineCardClasses.com.  I simply can't say enough good things about this class.  The class is about die cutting, both traditional and Silhouette, with a card slant.  I had hoped that it would get me past my card making issues, but sadly, it didn't, but the techniques and products and how-tos were fantastic.
7, I think I also failed to mention that I recently took Kerri Bradford's "Oh the places you'll go" class.  Which is kind of alie, because, truth be told, I'm only about half way through it.  I have learned a metric shit ton about the Cameo software.  That's saying a lot, because I really thought I knew a ton to start with.  She's got some really fabulous examples and goes through the software in a goal-oriented way, so you aren't just learning how to do something, but why it's handy to know it.  I've put so much of it to use already.  Such a time saver.  Both classes are self paced, so if you have a little extra money to spend on yourself (don't we all??) these are really good investments.
8.  I think I said something about attempting to do another layout tonight, so I think I should wrap this up.
9. Thanks for stopping by.
10.  Nine is such a dopey way to end a list blog entry.  Who would do that? Not me!

UPDATE: That 4th page? LOLOLOLOL

As close as I come to decorating...

I would like you all to think that I live in an austere, dust-free environment.

Sadly, I do not.

However, I do aspire to that and because that's how I'd like to live, I have made the conscious decision to keep tchotchkes to a bare minimum. It's not that I don't like knickknacks, but I don't like dusting and I don't like dust.  So keeping the trinkets at bay helps - at least a little - to keep things a little less...yucky.

A couple of years ago I made a little banner for my apartment door.  It was a fun little Saturday night project with my girls and it came together so effortlessly - which is NOT how things usually work for me.

I have to say: coming home to this on my door made me happy for an entire month.

I have moved and no longer live in the cute apartment with the cute door.  The home I live in now has a front door that wouldn't keep this dry.  Also, no one would ever see it.  Except the guy who stopped by today looking for donations for St. Mary's Church...but that's neither here nor there.  However, the door that leads into the garage is both dry and viewed daily.  And in desperate need of some "spruce."  So the banner thing has sort of grown.  there's a "Luv U" banner and a "JOY" banner for Christmas.  But if you think about it, that means that the door has something seasonally appropriate October through February.  Only the Luv U banner stays up until October.  Because heck, I Luv U...or them, that is. This brings Molly great distress though, and I have been told more than once that I needed to fix that.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I'll get around to it.

Ok. Disclaimer: the door to the garage is too ugly to actually show. :P  So this is a section of the living room wall. This is the Saturdays collection from Little Yellow Bicycle.  And the fun the patriotic colors and patterns begged to be made into a summer banner.  This'll last us from Memorial Day through Labor Day.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Molly!  :P

Another Sneak Peek

Today is the deadline, and it made a nice little whoooooshing sound as it whizzed by.  It's been quite the couple of weeks and the calendar doesn't have as many holes in it as it usually does.  I sort of thought because I was scrapping under a lot of pressure that I'd end up hating whatever I made today.  Nope.  I get to use Bella Blvd and it's impossible to play with those colors and not love the result. :)

See what I did there? Talked about all the happy colors and then showed mostly text?  That's called creating suspense baby. :P

Stay tuned...

Let's change gears.

I still have one more thing from the Simple Stories "Fabulous" line, but I thought I'd change things up and move on to Little Yellow Bicycle's "Saturday" line.

This is another one with a very country aesthetic and it has a really patriotic feel to it as well. I promise to never lie to you - I respect you too much.  And since I already said country isn't my thing, I can't back peddle.  So here's the bottom line:  I probably would never buy this line on my own.  However, that said, it was pretty fun to take a little vacation while playing with this line.  I think because we have such strong images of Americana and country porches and patriotic buntings and picnics and fourth of July celebrations - that all made it a very easy line to scrap with.  And it's funny that I would frame it that way and then show you a layout that uses pictures that has nothing to do with any of those things and was taken in January:

But do you see what I mean about the patriotic bunting?  Okay, maybe it's a stretch, but it was the launching-off point for this layout.

I think that sometimes it's really hard to separate layouts from pictures.  I really like this layout, but I don't know if it's because I like the colors, the flow, the title treatment or because I'm so in love with these photos of Molly and Reba.

Molly is the ultimate tom boy when it comes to her hair and wardrobe - she just doesn't want to fuss with that stuff and consequently she keeps her beautiful hair pulled into a ponytail and uses a black headband to catch the strays.  Every. Blessed. Day.  I had my lights set up for another project one day and when she came home from school I sent her straight to the showers and then blew dry her (beautiful) hair.  I really just wanted some decent pictures of her, but we were working on the stairs, which are just opposite the kitchen entryway.  The entryway has a baby gate that keeps Reba penned into the kitchen/dining/family room area.  Why? Because she sheds like crazy and likes to eat lady's underwear, so she's just not welcome in the rest of the house.  Here's the thing about Reba: she gets really jealous when more than one family member is on the other side of that gate.  Heaven forbid Ted comes into my scrap area to talk to me at night - Reba will bark and whine and whack her tail against the wall until we pay attention to her.  So on this day she was up to her old tricks and eventually I gave in and let her out.  Oh, and the other thing about Reba is that she won't look into the camera.  She's just smart enough to have wised up about my flash and lights and will keep her head turned and her nose up in a very aloof pose.  And while this wasn't supposed to be - nor is it - a layout about the dog, I like the way interacting with the dog really relaxed Molly and showed one of her many good points (see journaling strip above. ☺)

Here's a tiny tip for portrait photography:
The key to a good portrait is a relaxed subject.  It's your job as the person behind the camera to help them relax.  Think about what makes you tense when someone is taking your picture...and solve those problems for your subject.  Don't just hide behind the lens - talk to them. Make a crack if you can, and if you have to adjust your camera tell them you need a minute.  Most people don't mind waiting, but they don't want to hold that "picture pose" longer than they need to.  And here's what I started this to say: Most people don't know what to do with their hands and feel self conscious about them...you know...just hanging there all dead fish-like.  ;)  Even if their hands aren't going to be in the shot, giving them something to hold - even just a glass or a bottle of water - solves a problem and helps them relax.  The whole upper body becomes more natural once the hands have a purpose.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Oh! And if you're regular in these parts, I'm happy to report that I got a 91% on my calc final and an 84% on my modern geometry final, and A's in both classes.  w00t!!  And now I get to relax (sort of) until the summer session starts on May 21st.

Just plain CUTE

Have I mentioned I'm really not a card maker?
Have I mentioned I'm not actually much of a card giver?
My heart is as big as Montana, but I suck in that particular regard.

Maybe if I have a stack of cute little cards ready to go, that will change?
We'll see.

This is using the Fabulous line from Simple Stories.  Have I mentioned I ♥♥♥ those birdies? Oh, boy do I!

I love making round cards.  You know how you think you've invented something and then you start to see it everywhere and realize that you didn't, you just came to the realization at the same time as a bunch of other people?  I think that's the way it is for me and circle cards.  I swear I never saw them before I made my first one a couple of years ago, but I see them enough to know I wasn't the inventor.  But I like to pretend I did.  I think it's fun, and just different enough, and yet totally easy.  I made my by cutting "conjoined" circles on my Cameo, but before I figured out how to do that I'd just fold my cardstock and run it through my Revolution on a circle die, with the fold just inside the blade.

What do you think about that envelope?  I think it's kinda cute!  I cut it from regular old printer paper, because I didn't want any extra bulk and it's not like I'm concerned about how long it'll hang around...it's a card...it'll be in the trash two weeks from now. :P

So that's today's "That's that."  Brought to you by Cord Camera Scrapbook Studio.

Creative Procrastination :)

I have a Modern Geometry final tomorrow and I really should be trying to make sense of my notes and some really complex processes.  But yeah...I need a break.

So I thought I'd share one of the things that I made for Scrapbook Studio.  I was asked to play with Simple Stories "Fabulous."  It is unrealistic to think that I will love all the lines that I'm asked to play with, and some I won't even like.  This one fell into the "not love" category.  Because I'm prone to over-thinking just about everything I tried to pinpoint what the sticking point was for this line.  Turns out that the creamy base is what holds me back from loving this - and most of the Simple Stories lines.  But every person who, like me, would prefer a white base, there's probably an equal number (if not more), who think the cream is easier to work with.

The funny thing is, I decided to just forge ahead with the white backgrounds.  Maybe it's wrong but it worked for me.  I'm pleased with the results.

Here's the layout I made with it:

That's my daughter Maggie (on the outside) and her BFF Tessa. I took their senior portraits and these are a couple that we did together.  Converting the pics to black and white made it a easier to with the line - their clothes didn't match the papers, but I think the line has a fun, young feel that perfectly matches these girls.

What??!  That technique again?  What am I trying to pull?

Yep.  I love it.  And in real life it's even neater looking.

And while may not have loved the line, these little birds? I'd spring for a whole sheet of them.  I think they're absolutely adorable!

And we've seen this done a gajillion times, but it's actually a first for me.  But definitely not a last.  Two stickers layered on top of each other the top one bent up and powdered (to make the sticker not sticky) and held in place with a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher staple.  By the way, if you haven't sprung for one of those, you need to.  Part embellishment, part problem solver, part adhesive alternative. All cool. ;)






So that's that for today.  I really need to get back to pretending to study.  Those Betrami-Poincare thingees aren't going to solve themselves.  Sweet baby Jesus, I really dislike this class.  But come this time tomorrow it'll be nothing more than an unpleasant memory. :P

Thanks for stopping by!

'Tis the season!

(To rack your brains for fun/appropriate/affordable teacher gifts)

It's that time of year to express our thanks to the teachers that put up with educate our rambunctious darling children.  I kid, I kid with the crossed out words - I actually think my kids are pretty swell.  However, I've chaperoned enough field trips to know that those kids exist.  And if my kid were that kid my end-of-the-year teacher gift would be a Sam's Club sized bottle of Advil.

Fortunately, having well behaved kids allows me to get a little more creative with my gift giving:

I know a lot of people poo-poo practical gifts.  I am not one of them.  I would rather give you a really nice pizza cutter that gets used once a week and saves you frustration than give you a ceramic tchotchke that you have to dust.

  Molly recently brought home a note from school saying that the kids had pretty much consumed all their consumables.  I.e., they were all out of pencils and crayons and glue sticks, and hey, wouldn't it be nice if you sent some more in, cuz hey, it is their education that we're talking about here.

That got me to thinking about how much teachers need to share with kids.  And how, I imagine, it's less "sharing" than "giving."

So my gift isn't fun.  It's not a Starbucks gift card.  It's not premium chocolate.  It's not a bottle of OPI nail polish with a clever note attached saying "Hey, you really nailed it this year!"  (hmmmm)  But it's practical.  And it will get used.  And it's pretty derned cute.









I mean seriously.  Check them out:

I guess maybe it's the math-nerd in me, but these black Dixon Ticonderoga pencils are fabulous.  They write well, sure, but they're so sleek.  I hear I look 10 pounds slimmer when I write with them.  ;)

At any rate, this is just a juice can wrapped in Lily Bee Design paper, with a chunky eyelet border cut from (more) Lily Bee Design paper, using the Cameo. (I didn't really need to mention that, did I?)  The tops of the pencils are wrapped in yet more LBD paper, but they're only a little bigger than an inch long.  I thing the 6x6 pad of paper would be perfect for getting a nice variety.  Because I know better than to trust adhesive on a curved surface like that, the colorful baker's twine from WeRMemoryKeepers is doing double duty - looking cute AND holding the paper in place/down.  Oh wait! It's doing triple duty! It's also holding the little tags down.  They were mass cut on the Cameo and have V stickers from the LBD alpha letter sticker sheet.  I'm not going to lie: I'm glad the teacher getting this is Ms. Vidmar and not Ms. Smith, Ms. Thompson, or Ms. Martin.  I don't mind giving up all my Vs, but for any of those other names we might have to exploring a stamping options. ;)

And in the interest of full disclosure, the picture shown above isn't complete.  The label wouldn't stay put. I tried wrapping it in twine for a could of days - I hoped to let the adhesive 'set', and maybe make the paper less resistant to the curve, but it just didn't work.  No biggie though.  I used my Crop-o-Dile to make some small holes at the widest part of the label and added some small brads.  Now I feel confident that the label is there to stay.

I'm really pleased with the way this came together.  It wasn't a speedy project - it probably took an hour and a half to wrap the pencils, but in the end I think it was worth it.  It's cute and practical and I know it'll get used.

I'm not making them for all the teachers though.  So I better start hunting down some new ideas.  Got any thoughts to help a sister out? ;)

Handmade, Part I

This past month I had the great pleasure of being assigned three different lines to create with for Scrapbook Studio.  Lest that sound like sarcasm: it is not.  Apparently, I am the dweebie girl who loved school so much that using the word assignment gets me all a-tither.  So getting three lines to work with was, in a word, AWESOME.  I'll share as I can, and I can't until they get posted at Scrapbook Studio's blog.  I suppose you could bypass my blog and just check out the projects there, but I'll have a couple of extra views and talk a little about the process and hurdles of the layout process. So yeah, maybe you just want to check out their blog, instead. :P

And while I'm plugging for them, I feel compelled to mention: If you are even remotely considering a Cameo purchase, NOW IS THE TIME.  I don't know how long it will last, but right now it's on sale for $269.99.  I am not a fan of paying full price for anything, but in all honesty, I think the Cameo is so worth it that I would...except why would you if you could get it on sale.  It rarely happens, so I'd hop on that while the hopping is good.

If, on the other hand, you already have a Cameo and just want to get your dander up, I'll direct you to episode 110 of Paperclipping Roundtable: Clash of the Die Cutting Machines. I left a comment, and let me just say that it took a couple of delete-and-rewrites before I managed to get the tone in the general neighborhood of civil.  I don't know why, but hearing people say not-nice things about the Cameo really upsets me. :P

So anyway, back to me. One of the lines that I had the pleasure of playing with was Lilybee Designs "Handmade".  The line has that old country feel that makes you think of spring quilts that your grandmother would make.  Reds, pale blues, pinks, yellows and a couple of pale linens.  I don't have a country aesthetic, but it's impossible to not love this particular combination of colors and prints.

Here's the layout I made with it:

First: I don't know what happened.  I used to HATE white backgrounds and for some reason I've done a couple 180 on that.  I love them. I think the white versatile and clean.  And I love that the Handmade collection has a white base.  Makes using it on white that much easier.  The collection pack has a whole bunch of heavy weight double sided patterned papers, as well as Lilybee's signature little alphas (Yay! Adore those!) and then a sheet of fun cardstock stickers with the banners that I used here.  I'm guilty of loving banners.  I know they're ubiquitous, but I don't care.  Love, plain and simple.

Of course, there's lots of Cameo love going on here: the pretty blue border on the left side, the tab, the journaling banner on the bottom, and the title:

Yes, I'm going to unapologetically beat this technique to death.  And every time I show it I'll give Nichol Magouirk credit.  I have been using one color all stacked up just for height, but I'm digging this variation using two colors.  Makes me so happy to see that color peeking out.  :)

And then here's the card I made using the line:

First, I accidentally left the Cameo off my supply list when I sent this to my design team boss. OOPS.  But I did use it - the perfectly perfect red scalloped square and the adorable fish-tail banners are both from the Silhouette store, cut on the Cameo.  And of course the adorable Lilybee letter stickers.  I love that you get SO MANY letters and such a variety of fun colors.  Those sticker sheets are such a fantastic value.  And again: the colors and designs of the paper are just so darned happy.  The card is so simple and the easy shapes and colors carry the day.

So that's that for today.  I've got one more project to share from this line.  Let's just say I'm saving the best for last.

So humor me here: What's your feeling on base cardstock colors?  Do you tend to reach for the same thing over and over?  Do you hate black or white?  Or do you use patterned paper as a base?  And if you use patterned paper as a base, do you have cardstock underneath as fortification, or do you just trust the page protectors to do their job?

Manaña...

Tomorrow I will do a real blog post.  Fo shizzle.

In the meantime, here's a sneaky of what's on the table today:

I ♥ days off where I get to play!

Testing 1,2,3 Testing 1,2,3

I was poking around on the world wide web today and I came across another top ten list for sprucing up your blog.  The very first bullet point was "use a light background."  And then she went on to say "I won't look around a dark blog - it hurts my eyes."  And then she backed it with studies.  Hmmm.  I guess I can take a hint.  Or a kick in the pants.  So white.  Boring, but clean.  With a couple of my favorite colors to make ME happy when I visit.

So this is a test post and I really don't have anything new that I can share.  I contemplated sharing something very, very old, but that got ruled out.  Not from embarrassment, but from the sheer pain in the neck-ness of photographing or scanning 12x12 layouts.

However, I did download the Instagram FOR ANDROID app yesterday.  And yes, that's yelling.  Don't even get me started on the whole thing.  I have one word for you: Sneetches.  Ok, that's too vague.  I love the Dr. Suess book The Sneetches - you remember it, right?  There are the Star Belly Sneetches and the Plain Belly Sneetches.  Of course the Star Belly Sneetches are the cool ones! Duh!  And one day a man comes to town with a machine that will put stars on the bellies of the plain belly Sneetches.  And OF COURSE once the Plain Belly Sneetches have access to stars, stars instantly fall out of vogue.  The man re-jiggers his machine and makes it a star-off machine.  And then (of course) all the Sneetches are running through his star-off/star-on machine, throwing all their money at the man until they're broke and exhausted and no one can remember who was cool to start and who wasn't.  And I'll leave it at that...  ;)

So anyway, I loaded Instagram yesterday and suddenly everything needs to be photographed.

Like this cute and rusty Bug.  Which is cute enough already, but the little smiley painted on the window pushes it right over the top. CUTE.

And then we dyed Easter eggs today.  I am 43 years old and I don't think that I have ever ONCE dyed a good looking Easter egg.  I think every good looking egg I've ever seen must have been PhotoShopped.  Even the pictures I saw in 1979.  I don't think dying a good looking egg is even possible.  Aren't Easter eggs supposed to be pastel colored?  And no...the jewel tones are not an effect.

Did you notice the weird spot on that red one? (Ted said it looked like a buckeye. And damned if that's not an accurate assessment).  Well, we had 12 cups that were deep enough for the eggs, but that wasn't enough colors according to Molly.  The little Pyrex condiment dishes really aren't deep enough and that's what happens when the egg isn't fully dunked.

Maggie, the overachiever and artist that she is, looked at that wonky pale spot and said "That would look cool with a silhouette in it."  Um. Ok. I guess?  Well, no need to guess:

And can't everyone have a thought like that then pick up a fine point Sharpie and freehand Victorian woman's silhouette on an egg?  Hell, I couldn't even do the ovals she did around the lady's head.  Oh, and there's a matching Victorian man, too.  You'll just have to take my word on that.

Okay.  That's the end of my mic check.  Let me know if you like it.  If you hate it, pretend you didn't stop by. :P

The Game Day Chili project

So last week I shared the page and card I made using the Jillibean Soup Game Day Chili collection and mentioned that there was one other item left.  Well, once again I'm at work with not enough customers to keep me busy.  Thank goodness these slow periods come only occasionally...otherwise I'd have to spit polish my resume.

By the way, I wonder what my non-scrapping Facebook friends think when these weird, non-scrappy titles show up in their newsfeeds.  Yeah.  Nothing to see here, folks. Look away.

So anyway...

One of the things that I was asked to play with was a Maya Road acrylic ATC stand.  It came with four teeny, tiny little pieces of chipboard.  I thought about the different possibilities, but I have to admit: I tend to like my pictures BIG.  That's probably been one of the biggest challenges I faced when I switched to 8½x11, and these tiny pages weren't going to do.  So I started thinking.  Calendar? Not enough pages.  (Although, you could so easily add extra pages to this format) Luckily, the next thing that popped into my head was a keeper.  Ted plays travel baseball and I do take a lot of pictures, but there's other stuff I want to remember: names and numbers of his teammates, who they played and the final scores, and then Ted's highlights: home runs, good pitching, getting the game ball, that kind of thing.  The format is small, but I created a little pocket for each page and used my Cameo to cut tiny little tabbed pages that I can fill out and tuck in the pocket.  I know I'll need a couple of pages for each pocket, so they're cut and ready to go.

I'm really pleased with the way the project turned out and Ted  seemed to think it was a neat idea.  The Game Day Chili was the perfect line for this - sporty, fun, graphic, and not over-powering.

So here are some pictures:

So this is the cover.  I love the "for the record" title - it's just straight from the Silhouette store.  The Game Day Chili is kraft cardstock based, so I just flipped it over and cut it out using the plain side for easy readability.  I cut out 4 or 5 and stacked them all together to give it height.  Darn that Nichol Magouirk for getting me hooked on this technique.  I truly love it, but of course I'm going through paper like crazy and putting extra wear and tear on my blades and mats, but that's OK! It's worth it.  The L'Oreal of scrap techniques, I tell you!

Again, love the title, but this time it's Kerri Bradford: Studio from The Ol' Ballgame collection.  I love her work - it's so clean and graphic and she really prides herself on giving you a ton of options to play with.    Again, multiple layers for some dimension.  The pocket was cut from the blank side of the GDC (as I like to call it when I get tired from typing Game Day Chili over and over again).  I traced the curve of the chipboard page and cut it out carefully and adhered using Red Line Tape.  That stuff is pretty amazing.  Just make sure you're only sticking where you want something to stick for-ev-er.  Here's a secret: I don't actually cut any better than anyone else does.  The way to have that curve be just right is to take a sanding block to the edges to work out any of the hard edges and make the two sides become one.  I guess I should have mentioned that I adhered that stripe strip before I did the sanding.  But you knew that, right? ;)

Whereas I will unabashed proclaim my love for the other two titles, that will not be happening here.  I guess it's okay looks-wise (I can say this, since I just put it together using fonts on my computer) but this is the title that took about a day and a half and caused me to lose several fists-full of hair. That was the day my Cameo was acting up.  The title is fine, but every time I look at this I know my blood pressure will spike a little bit.

Not much to say here.  35 is Ted's number, so this is the page that I intend to record his hot-shot-ness.  Let's all hope this page doesn't end up blank at the end of the season. :P  This is Ted's first year on the A team and I'm worried that he's gone from big fish/little pond to normal fish/big pond.  That's the mother in me though.  He'll be fine.  It's me I'm worried about.  ;)

One other point of note.  The chipboard that came in the kit was standard grey.  I covered it in black cardstock (again, by tracing, cutting and sanding) and then used a Staz On ink pad to black up the edges.  I don't like the middles not matching.

I think this came out really neat.  It's one of my most favorite things that I've made in a while.  Up there with the owl treat boxes and the bird ornaments.  I shouldn't play favorites, but I do.  ;)

Thanks for stopping by!  I have three lines that I'm working on for April, so I'll have more to share later.  But of course, it'll be a while.  ;)

I finally get to share!

So way back in mid-February, I told you I was picked for the Cord Camera & Scrapbook Studio Design Team.  I also told you that I thought that meant that I'd be posting more often.  Ha ha ha ha.  I'm so funny. :P  No, actually, I probably will be, but I have to wait for my schtuff to be posted on the Scrapbook Studio Blog before I could share it here.  And of course that makes sense.  But boy, I've been chomping at the bit to show you what I made.

I got assigned Jillibean Soup Game Day Chili - which is right up my alley - it's kraft cardstock based, with a sports theme.  It's versatile enough for just about any sport and the colors are slightly muted primaries.  Since Ted's uniforms are all a bright, bright shade of red that are impossible to match, I like that this line doesn't clash with it.

I must admit that I had a little anxiety about whether it was "ok" to pair the kraft color with white and then I had a weird moment of clarity that said "if YOU like it, that's all that matters."  So I used the white with the kraft. I win! :P

I love the star paper - that is so versatile.  In an industry that loves pink and flowers and swirls and glitter, boy-friendly papers are to be cherished.  Could I use this line for girls? Absolutely! But I will always be glad to see new and fresh and fun and funky, especially when it works for boys.

Here's the card I made.  Here's my confession on this one: I do not consider myself a card maker.  Corollary confession: I am TERRIBLE at sending cards.  I want to.  In general, at least. I think about it inopportune times, like when I'm the shower: "I should make a thank you card for so-n-so."  And then by the time I'm dried and dressed the thought is long gone. Part of why I'm not a  card maker is because I'm not a stamper.  (I'm not a stamper because (A) I'm not good at it and (B) I am NOT going any where near that slippery slope.  I'm already broke from buying all these scrapbook supplies!)  At any rate, I'm always a little self-conscious about the cards I create.  Because they aren't stamped I feel like maybe I'm cheating, or they're some how not "real."  Yeah, I know in my head that that's a load of BS, but whatever.   However, for a coach, I like it.  Manly, themed, grungy, and direct.  And man-o-man, I love the dumb splatters across the bottom.  I just want to dribble October Afternoon Inkers on everything!

Alright, I'm actually blogging from work.  (Shhhh!)  I have one other project to share, but I'll have to show you that another day. Stay tuned though, because it was my favorite thing from this line.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Or so I've been told.

I cannot believe that I'm still chugging away on this mini book from our trip to RIT last August.  The last time I posted about this book was October 14th, and even that was the most boring thing ever written about  scrapbooking.  No, seriously, go look for yourself.  At least it's short.  And the funny thing is, it actually relates to what I'm sharing today.

This is embarrassing. I sell cameras for a living. I *know* photography. Grrrr.  The beautiful matte finish of the pictures does not capture well.  Sadly, my lovely pizza shot looks dull and grainy.  Alas, it's just the paper finish.

See that library card? See how it's mounted on the black index file folder tabbed whichamajig?  That was the subject of the most boring post ever.  But you know what? I dig it.  The book is still a work in progress and as such it isn't on the book rings yet.  Once it's all put together it'll be its own little page.  What's shown here is the journaling for the next page.

Here's the other side, (the journaling about lunch) shown with the next page.

That is not my favorite picture of Maggie, but it was a HOT weekend.  We all looked a little wilted. She just documented.  Sorry Maggie. :P  

The weekend we went my camera was off in repair.  I had decided while it was gone that I was going to sell it when it came back and, knowing that, I had ordered the D7000.  I had the highest of hopes that my new camera would arrive in time for our trip.  You  know when it showed up? Literally as we were walking into the registration area. That's when I got a text from my boss saying it had arrived. GAH!  For the trip I had a little Fuji Instax Mini camera.  Maggie had the Fuji I had given her for Christmas and Kerig had his camera.  These are the pictures that Maggie took when she was roaming around the campus on her own on Friday evening.  I was really surprised at how similar a lot of our shots were - the campus is huge and I thought I had gotten the "behind the scenes" tour with my former-RIT student/personal tour guide.  These are the pictures that Maggie took.

And these are the pictures I took. :P  One really neat thing about the Fuji Instax camera is the cute little photos.  One really frustrating thing about the Fuji Instax is that the cute little photos aren't very flexible when trying to cram five on a mini book page.  So I made me a pocket!  Take that, cute little Fuji Instax photos!  Besides, turns out my film got a little heat damaged and all the colors are somewhat muted.  But I like the pocket. Right?

Right?

The first "spread."

And the second.

I am not patting myself on the back.
But that's so dern cute.














I'm really close to being done this project and I'm so happy that I can end it on a happy note.

Thanks for stopping by!

Change paper size is code for "Shape up...OR ELSE."

I've never hidden my love for my Silhouettes, and now my Cameo.  But as with all true love, there occasionally exists some strife, dare I say turmoil.  Oh heck let's call it what it was: sheer, outright, hair-pulling frustration.

A week ago Thursday I was working on a project in which I was cutting a word out multiple times so that they could be stacked one upon the next to create quite a bit of height.  Only problem was it wasn't coming out right.  It seemed that the cut wasn't going all the way through the cardstock.  The word was quite small - about 2 inches long and a half inch high - I wondered if it was just too small? But no, I've done this before with great success.  I slowed down the machine's speed to 1 and turned my blade from 5 to 7. I tried again with the new settings and the paper was shredded. Hmm.  Well, maybe seven was too deep, so I changed the blade to 6.  Same results.  It was towards the end of the day and I had been using it heavily, so I decided to shut everything down and let it rest.  I seem to remember that this kind of end-of-a-hard-work-day the machine gets funky but after some time off it works fine.  I liken it to all the times the computer is being weird and rebooting it solves the problems.

And so I let it rest until Tuesday.  But I have a deadline, so it kind of NEEDS to work.  Sadly, my Cameo really didn't care about my deadline. The same kinds of problems persisted.  The good news is, I had just gotten a back up blade and mat.  Not because I thought I needed them just yet, but because when you need a new one, you NEED a new one and I wanted to have one ready.  It didn't seem that the blade or the mat was the issue, but a brand new blade and mat would take out some variables - maybe, with luck, that's all it would take.  Only, no luck.  I spent literally six hours methodically changing the blade depth, the speed (I don't think that running the machine at 1 will actually cause the paper to shred or not cut through, but I tried it just in case), double cut on and off, I changed the size of my word, I tried white cardstock instead of the black, I uninstalled and re-installed the software three times...to no avail.  I wrote to the customer service email and outlined my problem and they  suggested that perhaps my new blade was defective and I could send it back and they'd send me a new one. The problem with that was, I was swapped the old blade back in and they were both doing the same thing.  And worse yet,  the machine had begun making "errant cuts" - with every "send cut" I did, there would be some random cut, either inside the word or outside, that wasn't part of the design. At the end of six hours I had less hair and less cardstock, but I didn't have a Cameo that was working properly.

I'll be honest: I was exhausted and irritated, frustrated, mad, and because it was a gift, I was also sad.  I reached out to some folks and it was suggested that I call Silhouette America's customer support number.  I couldn't imagine what they'd be able to do over the phone, but it was worth a try.  I wasn't home again during the hours that the customer service people were in until Friday so the call would have to wait a bit.

One thing that I can say about myself is that I can be a little bit of a pit bull if there's a problem I want to solve.  I will bite ahold and not let go until I'm satisfied that I've tried everything.  That said, I decided to sit down with the machine again on Thursday night.  Once again I uninstalled and re-installed the software. I unplugged the Cameo entirely and let it sit while I rebooted my computer. Once everything was up and running again I reset my preferences to what I had previously called "normal" and tried making a cut.  Hmm.  Modified success.  The cut was clean (for the most part - I was back to using the original bade, which now definitely needs to be replaced) and there were no errant cuts, but the entire thing was shifted to the right by one inch.  I suppose I should be happy with that and just accept it.  But truly, that's NOT right.  That's not what my software sent to the machine - or at least, that shouldn't be what the software sent. But I cut what I needed for the project and would call customer service in the morning.

On Friday I made the call. I explained my issue and the rep began the infuriating process of asking inane questions.  I know why they do this, in fact, I have to do it too when someone presents me with a broken camera.  I'm certain I've offended many a camera user by testing their batteries, but it needs to be done. And yet, my patience had long since left the building and I am embarrassed to admit that I wasn't especially pleasant with the woman.  She asked how I was lining up the mat when inserting it into the machine.  I told her it was a solid inch off and that I wasn't loading the mat an inch wrong.  AND, I had been using the machine pretty heavily since I got it for Christmas and I hadn't had this issue before. (snotty!) She asked if I was using 12x12 inch cardstock. I told her sometimes, but not now.  She asked if  I had told the software what size paper I was using.  I told her that I didn't even know how to do that. And -again- snottily pointed out that I had been putting small pieces of paper through with no issues prior to this. I then heard my tone of voice and I was pretty much mortified. This woman was trying to help me.  And it certainly wasn't her fault that the machine was acting up.  And of course she had to start at the beginning - she doesn't know what I've tried.  I apologized for being so defensive (because really, I wasn't blaming her for the issue, I was feeling like I was being called a moron for not knowing how to work the machine) and I asked her to walk me through the process.

Just in case you're interested, this is what she's talking about.  I've circled the icon on top that gets you into the page setting and the big oval is the paper setting size (even though it's not really marked as such). The oval has the presets, but just under that is where you can tell it what odd-ball size you're using.  And as long as my mat is new, I'll sent even inch by inch size scraps in there.  I'm cheap, and I'm not cutting into full size sheets unless I really need to.

Having walked me through that I told her I'd give it a try and call back if it didn't work.  From her response, I think that she was thinking she'd wait with me while I tried it, but honestly, I *knew* this wasn't the issue and I recognized that even thought I'd apologized I was still carrying my snotty attitude and I needed to calm down.

So I got off the phone, set the paper size to 5x7 and sent a design to cut.

And that gosh darn cut was perfectly crisp and EXACTLY where it was supposed to be with no errant cuts or other issues.  And THAT, my friends, is how Silhouette America keeps its machines in check "change paper size" is code for "You'd better shape up  OR ELSE."

I spent the rest of the day trying to stump the machine, to no avail.  Unless *I* did something wrong (like send patterned paper through with the blade set to 5) everything came out perfectly.

(I should note that one of the things that I did to try to stump it was set the paper size back to 12x12 and sent a smaller sheet through.  It worked without a hitch.)

I realize that this is a hideously long post, but believe me I tried to keep it short.  Heck, I didn't even tell you about how I tried to hook up my Silhouette SD (which was in fine working order when I set it aside in favor of the Cameo) and the display was showing what looked like Hebrew characters.  But I will say this: I learned a lesson.  Don't write. Call.  Don't wait. Call.  There's someone there whose entire job is to iron out our frustrations.  But it's my job to not let those frustrations grow into an unmanageable emotional mess.

Oh.  You know what else I didn't mention? That I caved in and bought a sewing machine.  Damn that Karen Grunberg.  ;)

Washi goes practical

"We need volunteers."  Every mother's favorite sentence. ;)

Instead of going through the whole back story I will just say:

Washi tape is the perfect stuff to hold down die cuts for sending through the printer.  Yes, I still used some Dotto to hold it down. But since I was making 35 copies of these I had to run the template through 7 times. And Hello. I'm cheap and didn't want to reapply that much Dotto.  To me, Dotto is sticky gold - I don't mind the investment, but I'm going to be careful how I use it. ;)  And it's not like Washi tape is cheap, but I think it's unlikely I'm going to burn through that roll any time soon.  I think I've only used like 3 inches so far, so I figured using another inch and a half would be okay. Plus, I found out that it's just the right amount of tacky - I could tape down the banner pieces, run it through the printer, easily remove the die cuts and then stick the next set down.  Made the process super easy.

Here's what it looks like after those 5 are removed:

And I have to admit, seeing the Washi tape cut all tiny like that inspires me to want to use it.  I've mostly seen it in larger chunks, and I've tried that but somehow it feels forced on my pages.  I think these tiny snippets look like something I could pull off.  I'll let you know...

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee! (that's my excited noise)

But I'll be honest, I only make that noise on the inside.  But my insides have been squealing "Eeeeeeeeeeee" since Monday afternoon when I got the email saying that I had been chosen to be on Scrapbook Studio's inaugural Design Team.  I think that's so cool and I can hardly wait to get started!

Given this news, I might be around a little more often.  I'm filled with good intentions, so I have high hopes for creating more and sharing more.  And definitely blathering more.  But probably with cleaner language. ;)

And while I'm here I wanted to share the army of owl Valentine treats that Molly and I made for her class:

I showed the empty box prototype a while back and said I was going to frou-frou it up.  I don't think I managed "frou-frou", but I am pleased with the addition of the conversation bubble, which is adhered to a Tootsie Pop.  And heck, to 5th graders, the candy is the critical embellishment. By the way, if you ever want to make these, they're readily available in the Silhouette store, but my advice is cut and assemble and FILL one before committing to the whole project.  I would have gone broke had I gone with the original size box.  It wasn't that much bigger, but somehow filling it took a lot more candy.

Speaking of candy, if you're ever in the Cleveland area, carve out an hour to visit b.a.Sweeties.  It's not pretty by any means, but it sure is fun to walk through the store and see all the candy from our childhood.   Because they sell a lot of candy loose, I was able to buy just what I needed - lots of pre-wrapped pink, purple and red candies.  I put Zotts in there.  Remember those?  They were the hard candies with the fizzy center?  I hope the kids enjoyed those, they're my favorite!

Alrighty. To tell the truth, I really need to get going.  I have an oral presentation tomorrow in my modern geometry class, and I've been procrastinating preparing the PowerPoint.  I will be so happy tomorrow at 10:30 when this whole massive project is done!

Thanks for stopping by! And don't forget to add Cord's Scrapbook Studio Blog to your bookmarks.  It's always been a good read, but I think it just got even more exciting.

And now it's PERMANANT

I think my mojo is backpacking across Europe.  It seems to have been gone for an awfully long time.  Today I decided that I was going to scrap something, ANYTHING, with or without it.  I printed out some pictures.  That only sucked away took about two hours.

Aside: I cannot say enough good things about Inkpress PhotoChrome Luster paper. Fantastic stuff. Professional looking, the same weight and feel as traditional photofinishing paper.  Gorgeous. And as an added bonus, it's less expensive than Epson paper.

Which leads me to: I recently picked up some fancy Epson paper.  It was heavy weight with a lovely luster finish.  And maybe if I weren't a scrapbooker I'd think it was perfect.  Certainly it wouldn't sag and buckle in a frame like lighter weight paper would.  But I am a scrapbooker and it was a barrel-full frustration and it looked like poo when I cut it.  I'm sticking with my Inkpress from here on out.

So anyway, I spent a better part of the day sitting at my scraptable doing a whole lot of nothing.  Ted came in and out several times and when I finally had something  going we had a little exchange:

Ted: "Oh no. You're scrapping Shoreline Singers?"
Me: "Uh. Yeah. What's the matter with that?"
Ted: "Now it'll be permanent."

So there you have it.

Nothing amazing. But like I said, my mojo is on a drinking spree in Dusseldorf, so this was the best I could really expect.  And I'll let you in on a little secret. This is actually Shoreline Singers v2.0.  The first time around I worked from the top down and decided to do the journalling on the bottom after the big picture, the title and the borders were down.  But I'm an adventurous gal. So I wrote it up, did a couple of test prints to make sure everything was lined up correctly and then crammed 3 to 4 layers of cardstock and photopaper back into the printer. Yeah. Not my wisest move.  But in fairness, I've had Epson printers that I could shove all kinds of things into.  Apparently my R1900 is a little more delicate.  And what happened was that it pulled it in a little and then spun its wheels a bit, then laid the print down right at the top across the hounds tooth and the the title. It actually looked kinda cool, and I was able to send it through so that it printed on the bottom.  But *I* knew that it was a mistake. So I redid it.

The fonts are Katfish LET and Impact for the title and AvantGarde BK for the journalling.

Thanks for stopping by.  And if you see my mojo, tell it I'm missing it...

Hello again old friend!

Been a while, huh? I'd say I missed you, but honestly? No time for that! December in retail is rough. December in retail while finishing up my first math class in over 20 years? Even more fun!  But in reality, as busy as it was, it was the best December I've had in eons.

So I shared that bird ornament that I made.  I wanted to show the final product.  Ted is selling Malley's chocolate bars for his Shoreline Singers trip. I have literally cases of these chocolate bars so I figured I'd use the opportunity to unload a few. Or 26. ;)  So here's the what Ted and Molly handed off to their teachers for Christmas:

I don't know what my problem was the night I took the picture (although, the fact that it was like 1 a.m. might explain it), but that is one crappy ass picture!  Ugh. Very uneven exposure.  But it'll have to do, because it's the only thing left of this project. So it's two Malley's bars (Crunch, to be specific, because the  pink labels of the Pretzel bars would have been just wretched), wrapped in a little kraft paper, a wide satin ribbon tied in a simple knot, and the ornament tied to that.

Look at all those birdies!

Riddle me this: Why didn't I make one for myself?? Silly me!

So moving right along!  What's up next?  Two things: Valentines Day and Layout A Day. These two concepts don't really jive together all that well.  While I haven't actually signed up for LOAD yet, if I do I need to kick out any Valentine's goodies sooner rather than later.

Oh! And guess what? The World's Most Wonderful Boyfriend (it's in all caps because it's official) got his lucky girlfriend a BRAND. NEW. CAMEO.  Did you hear the Bob Barker Price is Right announcer voice? If you don't you should reread that last sentence with the proper inflection.  Go ahead. I'll wait.

So yeah. New Cameo.  Woo Hoo!   But I have to admit - sort of feeling a little pressure.  Like "here's this amazing tool! Make AMAZING THINGS! HURRY! NOW!"  Only wow, I think that pressure is sitting on my creative mojo.  It'll come back, but I probably have to stop yelling at it and wait for it to ease back into the room.

In the meantime, I'm kinda jazzed about this:

There's nothing actually creative about this. It's even done in the same color scheme shown in the Silhouette library.  And - shhhh, don't tell the manfriend, but it didn't even require the larger format of the Cameo.   It's not finished yet, I need to add a tag with a Valentine greeting to it, and maybe a handle.  BUT, I think it's adorable. I asked Molly what she thought of it and she liked it, so I'm going to make a ton of them for Valentine's.  I'll stop at b.a.Sweeties  and pick up pink and red and white candies to fill it.  I think it'll be great.  I'm excited about it...  Stay tuned.  This is just the first draft, I'm hoping to tweak it a bit to bring on full on adorable.

Hoping to see you again soon.