Hey kid, underpants, and WELCOME!

First up, if you're visiting from The Paperclipping Roundtable: Welcome! I'm so happy to have you visit! I've dusted, there's cold diet Pepsi in the fridge...feel free to poke around. Stay as long as you'd like.  ;)

If you're curious about the infamous underpants layout, here's a link.  And I'd like to take a minute and say this: I do respect the decision to ask me to modify this.  While I consider this totally acceptable and appropriate, I do understand that everyone has their own boundary and businesses have to think about their brand perception, their core audience and they have to be mindful of not upsetting what has been carefully built.  That said, I like the layout, and I think the story is sort of funny...

Next up: layout share.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I give this about a 4. I suppose it's not awful, but it was going to be so much cooler in my head.  I had rare and really annoying technical difficulties with my my Cameo software. The speech bubbles were going to be print-and-cuts, and the word kid was going to fit perfectly in the bubble.  I don't know if you can tell but not a darn one of them fits properly. And ohmygosh it's driving me crazy. Not crazy enough to cut it a twelfth time.  This was a layout that sat on my desk for over a week because of a busy schedule, and after a while I had to borrow Lain Ehmann's mantra "Done is better than perfect" and glue it all down.

And this is the part where I whine about the lack of royal blue patterned papers (preferably B side prints, just in case any one with that kind of power happens to read this) and how I'd really love non-cheesy, non-juvenile sports-friendly embellishments.

Whew. Had to get that out of my system.

Again.  ;)

And lastly:



I mentioned that I was doing the 100happydays.com project on the Paperclipping Roundtable.  I can't say enough good things about it.  But off the top of my head, I can say:
1. Free
2. No pressure
3. Therapeutic
It's like a visual gratitude journal - it's just about recognizing something good every day. And when you're actively looking for good stuff it's funny how much good stuff actually shows up on your door step.

And with that, I have to go.  That softball game took it out of me!  Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Take Two.

Last night I sat down and wrote a big ol' post but when I hit preview there was nothing there.  I hit back and there was nothing there, either. YIKES.  Oh well.  So let's try this again.

I mentioned in my last post that there was a layout I did a couple of weeks ago but never photographed, so let's do that one first:

Molly got her hair cut a month or so ago.  In the past haircuts have been about trimming off the yucky stuff at the bottom but keeping it long and ponytail friendly.  Not this time! While it still has to be ponytail friendly (softball season is almost here, after all!), but this time it was about style. Long layers, side swept bangs and enough product to make the bottom spike-y with a badass punk rock feel.  Molly is going through (what I hope is) a phase - listening to music that no one likes, eye balling Doc Martens and asking for a pierced lip for her birthday -- "It's the only thing I want!"  Yeah, well, it's among the many things you're NOT getting.  So the slightly punk hairdo was the easiest to accommodate option of her "I need to express myself" desires.

I like all the fun colors, and I think that patterned paper is semi-perfect for teenage girls.  They all embrace "peace" and the peace sign.  But I'm old enough to remember the original peace culture.  So it's hard for me to wrap my head around the idea of using "peace" paper (which recalls hippies) on a page where the kid listens to metal and wants to pierce her face.  But if I let go of the 70s connotation....yeah, it's perfect. :P

Can you tell I had just gotten sequins?  There are certain trends that I have a hard time with (I struggle with twine and never quite got ribbon), but flair and sequins?  Those I like!

Next, I've got a couple of layouts from this week.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think sport pages are very challenging.  And when I finish one that I like, that feels serious and manly and does Ted's effort justice, well, then I'm happy.  And I'm happy.

The title for this actually came from a text I sent him after this game.  I know how he is after his team loses - he's quiet and thoughtful.  It might look grumpy from the outside, but I know he's running game reels of every play that could have gone better.  I respect that reflection, he's not dwelling or wallowing, he's learning.  I love that.  But this game. Wow.  It was a playoff game and both teams were playing very, very well.  He pitched the entire game, which I think is incredible, but even more so when you factor in that he's a freshman on the varsity team.  That's a lot of pressure.  He's up against a lot of talent.  And to hold that team to 3 runs?  That's impressive.  So I sent him a text telling how impressed I was and how with experiences like these he was going to be a beast in his junior and senior years.  Once the pictures were printed I knew what the title should be.

But know what the title will say and how it should look are two entirely different things. My first instinct with titles is always to go to the Silhouette.  Always. So I went to the software, wrote out the word beast and scrolled through my font options.  When I came to the stencil font it clicked: use the Silhouette stencil material and spray mist to create a title that looks stamped on.  The stencil material is easy to use, and I just squirted a couple shots of spray mist into a plastic container and used a cotton ball to dab it on.  I really love the way it turned out - it's masculine and really seems to fit the mood of the layout.

And last:

After my stencil success on the beast layout, I decided to try the stencil material again.  So I used this 6x8 hexagon design, ungrouped it and started deleting hexagons all willy-nilly like.   And I really like the matte medium people are using.  But...I never know what to buy...and then when I see the price my cheap side takes over.  So I McGyver'd it.  I used my Nori paste (which I love and use for my wood veneers) - put a spoonful into a plastic container, spritzed it with powder blue Mr. Huey, gave it a good stir and smooshed it into the stencil with an old gift card.  I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I sprinkled a tiny bit of blue glitter on the design while it was still wet.  I'd love it if some real matte medium would show up on my doorstep, but in the meantime, I'm pleased with my homemade version.

When Molly was a toddler she was always on the move UP.  We'd have to pull her down from precarious positions constantly.  We couldn't turn our back on her for a second.  So she was dubbed Mountain Goat Molly.  Eventually she was re-dubbed Coinslot Molly because she couldn't keep her pants up and we were constantly eyeballing her butt crack.  Hopefully there won't be a "Coinslot Molly" page in our futures. ;)

Anyway, on Mother's Day we went for a walk around downtown Cleveland.  This was a go-to activity back when I was super poor, and this was our first time doing this with Kerig.  We had a great time and found a whole bunch of new places.  This was taken at the Sailors and Soldiers monument.  While the rest of us were walking around looking UP at all the sculptures and reading the plaques, Molly had perched herself up on this ledge.  She was definitely waiting to be photographed.  And she even suggested the title. Sort of.  She seemed to recall that we called her monkey, but that was easily fixed. ;)

So that's it for today! I hope you have a happy  Friday!  Thanks (as always) for stopping by.

Good Times here

So, this is how my day started:


At first I was like "Huh??" then I was like "What??"

Apparently one of our customers had a little problem turning off her car and sort of bumped into our front door.  I had the day off yesterday (I miss all the fun) so imagine my "What the ...???" reaction when I pulled into the parking lot this morning.

The day took several more interesting turns, but those are 'get you in trouble' details that shouldn't be posted on a blog.  But I will say this: I hope that after I am gone, only flattering pictures of me are shared.  I have to imagine that we are all - at some level - a little vain.  I would think that if we could ask those that we've lost "Can I/Should I share this image of you that paints you in a light that is less than flattering?" the answer would be "No."  I would hope that we wouldn't even ask.  I'd thought it was common sense, until recently.

Can you tell that what I've seen has had an affect on me?

Let's shake it off:

These pictures are 2 years old!  I am not at all "up to date" in my scrapping, but I've just sort of swept all the old stuff out of the way and I've mostly been playing with new pictures.  So this is a fun surprise for me.  These may not be the best pictures, but I do love them.  First, I have really enjoyed going to minor league baseball games - the park is intimate with not a bad seat in the house; it's super affordable; and I love watching these kids trying to break into the big leagues.  Right now they're underdogs, and I can get behind that.  Second, I love that the three of them have so much fun together and that they all want to go to these games.

I'm wrestling with some thoughts lately.  I feel like my pages are all starting to look the same.  They're not, but I think that part of my issue is that on an 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock there's only so many ways of arranging elements.  It's crowded, yo.  A suppose the white cardstock that I use constantly doesn't help, either.  But it's just so much easier to lay down a sheet of white cardstock and say "This is what I'm using" than labor over color choices for an hour.  It's exhausting and not in a fun way.  Now there's the layering, and even though you dig through scraps and baubles to find new stuff every time, it sort of feels the same just because it's there.

So part of that wrestle is thinking "Maybe I should switch back to 12x12?"  I only switched to 8.5x11 because I was doing Layout a Day and I wanted the ease of flopping the layout on a scanner bed, because I couldn't commit to taking decent pictures at 11:58 p.m.  But now I don't feel pressed to record a layout the minute I first decide it's finished.  I wonder if that bigger piece of real estate would solve all my problems and make me a truly happy person?  No.  Just kidding.  But I do wonder about the space, and how it would give me more wiggle room.

But that's about where it ends, because I'm just not willing to give up the things that I like about 8.5x11:
The albums aren't enormous.
I can computer journal right on my page.  (Not that I exercise this option a lot, but it's nice to know it's there)
The scraps. Oh, I love me some good scraps.
I don't have to feel guilty about only using one picture on a page.  And I do that alot.

And, I have to believe that it's more economical.  Here's why:  a 12x12 layout has an extra 50 square inches of space.  Even if I didn't embellish more because there's a bigger space to cover, the cardstock would still cost more just because it's bigger.  But the fact of the matter is I would embellish more - I may be comfortable with white space, but I still feel a certain amount of the page has to be used lest it look awkward.  So using a bigger piece of cardstock would cost me more just because I'd motor through supplies faster.

Oh.  That would mean I could justify shopping more.

Might have to rethink this...