My favorite picture.  Hmm.  I have so many.  I really do.  They are all of Sean and John.  But I decided to go with one of them sledding last year in Tahoe.  John was unemployed, we went to Disneyland, we went to Tahoe.  We spent money.  We had such a good time.  I was so happy to have my boys in a “vacation” type mode.  Knowing that John would be working shortly…  And life would go back to normal.  Ugg.

So, I picked on of the Studio Calico kits that I’ve not touched since it arrived, and got started.

I’m beyond ecstatic.  I kept trying to add more, and the more I tried to add, the more over worked it seemed.  So, here we are…  My boys.

I will say that I’m dieting like a fiend.  I’m down 10.2, and the scale said nice things to me this morning.  I’ve been tired of this weight for a long time.  I can’t believe I let myself put it back on after Sean.  I was just so upset that I wasn’t going to be a stay at home mom.  I can’t say that I’m not still upset about it.  But, I am punishing myself with the weight.  No one else.  So, look forward to seeing less of me, soon. 

The prompt for today focused on food.  Wouldn’t you know it?  I have been working on an Easter LO with the left overs from my design team box for, oh well, a week or so.  I had put it away, figuring that I would finish it up after LOAD.  HA. 

Once again, Lain and I are thinking about the same thing at the same time.  I had pictures of Sean eating a peanut butter egg.  PERFECT!  By 9pm I was done with my LO, and I was ready for the next challenge.  Of course, I couldn’t find what I wanted to work with…  That’s another story. 

So…  Here we are, Easter 2010.  If I remember correctly, I skipped Easter this year. 

This is the We R Memory Keepers Cotton Tail collection.  My favorite CKSuccess punch, and some assorted ribbons and brads.  I also used the new Tim Holtz Sizzix die of the chocolate bunny back there.  If you want exacts…  email me.

Here is what I submitted this month:

I’m hoping that they liked it.  I always feel like I’m letting them down.  They give me all this ribbon…  I never use ribbon.  I’m learning to use it, but I feel like it could be used better some other ways.

It’s January 25, one week from today LOAD starts.  When I first tried LOAD last year, last February to be exact, I was scared.  I was sure that creating 28 layouts was well outside of my ability.  I was full of doubts and honestly…  I was so EXCITED.  I so wanted a new challenge.  I wanted to feel like all these papers, embellishments and tools weren’t just sitting around my desk gathering dust.  Which they do, sometimes. 

How thrilled I was when I finished my first layout.  Thrilled.  Beyond thrilled.  As the days past, the pages kept coming.  I felt my creative drive growing… Weekends came and I tried to do MORE.  By the end of the 28 days, I had my 28 layouts (and a few extra).  The only thing that bothered me was… 

Taking pictures at night.

Seriously. 

The creativeness was awesome.  I’ve done better work during LOAD than I normally do. 

The community, well, it’s inspiring.  Beyond inspiring.  I found myself wanting to scraplift my counterparts work.  Wait, I did!  I did scraplift their work…  And they were flattered.

The prompts are so thoughtful.  There were days where I felt like I was taking the same path at Lain.  I’d work on a layout and the next day, the ideas I had in my head about my current layout were part of the prompt!  It was awesome. 

The challenge of getting 28 layouts done in one month, well, it was so empowering.  Everyday I would walk into work and show off what I had done the night before.  I was proud. 

Taking pictures of my work at 10:30 pm PST, well, that was a pain.  A BIG pain.  That is why in the next LOAD, I decided not to care, and post them in the morning.  No one cared.  No one.  The point always was to complete layouts.  Not to time yourself.  So, I decided that while that 12 midnight time is important, I didn’t care if I actually took a picture of what I did.  I was accountable, to myself, which is what LOAD is all about, to me.

So, if you haven’t tried LOAD, you should.  It gives you so much power.  It’s incredible the power you have when you are doing LOAD.  You are in control of your memories, control of your creativity and in control of your time.  Maximize all those things, with LOAD.  I hope I see you there.

WAIT…  LOAD, February 2012, 29 days of creative fun and play…  with Lain.  And Gwen.  Hope to see you, and your hard work on the boards.

Being on the design team at Scrapbook Island has been a blessing.  It really has.  I love that I’m making scrapping friends, but more than that, I feel like I’m really challenging myself.  I get products that maybe I would never have purchased, and I’m making fun things with them.  For November, I received the BoBunny Snowfall Collection.

Every page had glitter.  I never use glitter.  I get really confused with it, and think that it’s too blingey.  So…  It was really a challenge.  I had a hard time cutting the glitter so that I could use the back sides of the paper.

But look at how cute it turned out.  I am so pleased.  One thing that I have to remember is that I’m in control of how big images are.  I don’t have to use all 4x6 pictures.  I can use 1x1 if I want.  It was so fun working with those little spaces and thinking about where I would put an embellishment versus where I would put a photo.

Here is my December peek…  Echo Park Seasons Greetings and some flowers to help me push outside of my box.  I’m already thinking of the new Sizzix Bigz Die with Textured Impressions Stocking and some red glitter paper and flowers!  I can’t wait to share with you!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and boy do I have a ton to share.

I’ve been chosen to be on the design team at my LSS, Scrapbook Island.  Let me tell you that I have been swamped since I started.

But, I digress…  What I really would like to show you is the UBER cute make and take I taught last weekend.  It’s an accordion minibook that I made, inspired by Amy Heller.  Originally, I had a different back, but Laurie and I worked together and here we are, with a LYB house and a whole lot of Diamond Dust. 
I love the front.  The clock is so cute, and the saying from Echo Park is awesome.  I love the little bit of sparkle from the Perfect Pearls…  And that Tim Holtz spinner works like a dream here…

The back is also so much fun!  The LYB pins are so cute, and you know, that Fa-La-La-La-La-La is awesome!  Just a bit of bling for the trees to light up the night sky.

I’m going to share my instructions with you.  If you are interested in making this, Scrapbook Island can help you out.  They are selling my kit at the store for $5.  Go pick it up and give this fun project a try!

This weeks challenge was to do a LO in 30 minutes. I so missed the mark.  I mean really, even knowing exactly what I wanted to use after picking out the photo, I still preened the hell out of it.  I couldn’t decide what color letters I wanted to use.  Then I decided that I needed to use the washi tape.  Then I decided that I needed a car.  Then I decided that it needed brads…  The list goes on and on.  Let me just say that I am not a 30 minute LO kind of girl.  It always takes me 2 hours.  Always.  I get so frustrated at all day crops when I only get 7 LO’s done.  I think to myself, here I am, uninterrupted, and I can’t even get out 10 LO’s.  I should be able to, but then I think I should go over to the store and find the perfect embellishment…  Or better yet, I need to go to the drug store and get more candy.  What a mess I am.

Anyway.  I found this picture.  It is so Sean.  As much as he says “one thing at a time,” he never does one thing at a time.  Never.  So in this picture, he is on the phone in the Cozy Coupe.  I thought to myself, how funny would it be to use the actual California Vehicle Code in my LO.  I think it worked out well.

Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye.  Cardstock: Bazzil.  Letters: Jilli Bean Soup, My Minds Eye.  Brads: Basic Grey.  Car Embellishment: My Minds Eye.  Chip Board: Maya Road.  Paint: Ranger.  Ink: Ranger.  Other: HP white paper, Zig Pens, Washi Tape, unknown button.

Upcoming:  I took 2 Tim Holtz classes at Scrapbook Island over the weekend.  Can’t wait to show you the projects! 

This week at the Mother LOAD we were working on using products that we really like.  Many of us apparently horde the products that we love.  I do not have that problem.  I buy 2, 3, 5 copies of things I love.  That way I’ve got another when I’m ready to use it again.

How I got started with this LO was…  I first decided that I was going to do a Christmas LO.  I love Christmas, and have quite the Christmas stash.  Then I picked my newest favorite Christmas picture.  Sean screaming bloody murder with Santa.  I wanted this picture, I knew what it was going to be after last year, and I didn’t care.  I wanted a picture of Sean with Santa.  Then I found this pretty blue polka dot paper and thought WOW!  This looks great with my picture, and wouldn’t it look great with the snowflake overlay from Hambly that I have?  It did.  Then I went through my embellishments and started shopping.  I remembered what May Flaum told me about clustering…  I picked out that awesome Santa playing card, the peace card from the Paper Source and the holly and I was on my way.  I just love how it turned out.  The sun makes the background look weird, but in person it is exactly what I wanted.  The Santa is so perfect, I wanted everything to kind of feel perfect too.

Supply list to come…