Week in the Life: Tuesday's Words and Photos

Number of photos for Tuesday: 102, DSLR, point and shoot, iphone

Second day - I thought I didn't take too many pictures, but I surprised myself when I counted them up at the end.  A lot of similar shots, so for Wednesday I'm trying to take 1-3 shots of something and move on to the next thing.  The best shots are when you don't try.

Today was another cold and miserable day - it's hard to get moving on days like these.  But I managed to get some work done and then got home to do my typical Tuesday routine: watch RuPaul's Drag Race and paint my nails.  Jason came home from Frisbee all sweaty, so while he showered I got some quick scrapping in.

As we were getting ready to go out for dinner, I noticed a crap-ton of silvery gray hairs on my head (very depressing).  Jason kindly offered to pluck them out for me.  We ate delicious hot dogs for dinner and then went to bed early.  Love sitting in bed writing down my thoughts for the day!

Observations: I notice how I get sucked into certain things for hours at a time - have to learn to set limits and move on to the next thing.

Overheard: "I'll take the quickest shower that's ever been showered." - Jason, because I had a mad hankerin' for a hot dog and he was disgustingly sweaty.

Two people told me I look like I should be on a boat (wearing boat shoes, white pants, and a blue sweater will do that.)

"There are no calories if you eat it standing up!" Overheard while eating cheesecake for a coworker's birthday.

Gratitude:  I listen to NPR every drive to and from work, and there were some depressing stories on yesterday.  Seriously made me thankful for pretty much everything I have.

Favorite moment: The craziness that happened on the latest RuPaul episode.  Seriously nuts.

 

 

Week in the Life: Monday's Words and Photos

Number of photos for Monday: 119, point and shoot, iphone

So my first Week in the Life started out with snow.  At the end of April.  After an 80 degree day on Friday.  I'm interpreting this optimistically.

I'm worried that since I spend most of my weekdays in a cubicle that my pictures won't vary too much day to day.  I'll just have to focus and make an effort to take pictures at home.

Today was a normal, ordinary day - left Jason sleeping in bed, got to work, had my oatmeal and coffee and tackled emails and paperwork.  Stopped to get groceries after work and made dinner while Jason cleaned.  Hung out for a bit until Jason tucked me in (who doesn't like a good tucking in?).

Observations: I'm feeling stressed at work and look forward to going home, but as soon as I go home, the time flies by too quickly!  I have to make sure I focus on work at work and home at home.

Overheard: "You look pretty today." - Jason, half asleep.

Love the last word in business.

My boss letting me know he trusts my gut feeling - confidence booster!

Gratitude:  I'm thankful for a boyfriend who greets me everyday with kind words and a smile - something to look forward to coming home.

Favorite moment: After a hard day, I come home to Jason saying he missed me during the day. Awwww.

Here are some pictures from dawn til dusk:

On to Tuesday!

Pinspiration

I'm actually impressed that I don't get sucked into Pinterest more than I do.  But I do get on pinning streaks, and they usually are to my Scrapbooking Inspiration board.  This layout was a combination of a sketch used for PSL and this one that I pinned from Kelly Purkey:

I got full use out of my Corner Chomper here!  I love cutting pictures up into sections - I thik the results always look cool.

This is me and my BFF Sal on one of our many wine tours together - my buddy Alex takes the greatest pictures, doesn't he?

Paper:: Club Scap: Scholarship, Solstice/Stamp:: Smash Date Stamp/Embellies:: Tape: Club Scap Navajo, 7 Gypsies, Smash Tabs, bling and stickers from stash/Tools:: Tiny Attacher, Corner Chomper

Blast from the past

I'm almost done with the album for my mom's Mother's Day present.  I usually plan out albums from start to finish, but this one I just did pages based on what pictures I liked.  So I don't think it is as cohesive or chronological as my other albums are, but it's kind of nice to get out of my comfort zone.  I get to do some creative things there.

This was another layout based on a Club Scrap PSL sketch.  I think the white photo mats are meant for vertical pictures, but I didn't have any and they worked perfectly for horizontal photos cut into square photos - hello faux polaroids!

I stamped "I like to smile.  Smiling's my favorite." on the top photo with white StazOn.  It was my first time using the white StazOn and I don't think I put enough ink on the pad...but I like the idea.  Unfortunately my photo skills suck and the window's reflection is on the photo and you can really see this, but I'm too lazy to get another picture.

Paper:: Club Scrap: Aurora Borealis, Comics, Expressions/Stamp:: Club Scrap: Full Circle, Smash Date Stamp/Thickers:: Dear Lizzy/Embellies:: Club Scrap: Comfort Zone, Tim Holtz Memo Pins, Smash Clips, BoBunny bling

So, I have a blog, apparently...

Yeah, that gung-ho New Year resolution to blog?  Didn't quite pan out as expected.  Or maybe it did, since I haven't posted in several months...

So let's try this again.

I've been scrapbooking - really!  I participated in Club Scrap's Pro Scrapbookers League a few weeks ago - nothing like some healthy competition (and prizes) to get your creative juices flowing.

I went on a scrapbooking retreat with some friends of mine a few weeks ago and I love doing that!  We get to scrap and drink and inspire each other and enable (that new tool?  Of course you need that!  Buy it!).  I think this layout I did during that weekend was my favorite one I accomplished over the 7 weeks of PSL.

The challenge during the last week of PSL was to use 6 of their sketches for the basis of our layouts.  This was one of them - and I used it a couple of times!  I love the white space in the upper left corner - perfect for adding fun backgrounds.

I have a lot of my old baby pictures, so I'm making an album for my mom for Mother's Day.  Wasn't I cute?

All the papers are Club Scrap (Aurora Borealis and Comics), the paint is Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence, the chicken wire stamp is Club Scrap (Easter Chicks), and the flowers, brads, and bling are from my stash.

Weekly Chronicles - Week 2: Reflections

My good friend and personal scrapbooking enabler (everyone needs one of those) Marie encouraged me to participate in Club Scrap's Weekly Chronicles.  I didn't complete the first week (yet), but the second week's theme was "Reflections".  I really loved seeing everyone's interpretation of the theme and I am always so impressed and inspired that so many people are willing to share so much of their lives via scrapbooking.  It makes me try to really think about what I'm scrapping and how I journal.  I'm trying to move away from just describing what is in the pictures (Here is me in Summer of 2011 stuffing my face) to what I was actually thinking and feeling at that moment (Here is me in Summer of 2011 stuffing my face and LOVING IT.)

But seriously.  I decided to reflect on one of my New Year's resolutions/goals of making more of an effort in keeping in touch with friends.  Not just those who live far away, but we have some friends that live literally across the street that we do not see as often as I would like.

The layout is based on the one on the blog hop on Scrapbook Challenges.  I am filling up my Google Reader with a ton of blogs, and I love discovering new blogs via hops.  More blogs to read = less time I have to clean.  So sad.

I added the vellum "pockets" next to the photos and created a little tag with notes about my friends that I can slide out and read.

Overall, I like this LO.  If I had to change anything, I would make sure the horizontal line of pictures spanning the two pages was matched up and I would rethink the oval/heart embellishment on the first page.  Other than that, I love the paper, the color scheme, and the punched border.  And the pictures and memories of all my wonderful friends, of course.

V-Day Cards

I've never really been one to send cards very often, but along with my crafty New Year's Resolution, I also set a goal of staying in closer contact with family and friends.  I love how easy it is to keep up with friends through Facebook and email, but getting a message electronically doesn't really evoke the same excitement as receiving something in the mail.  So I am hoping to combine my goals of being creative and staying in touch with people by making cards more often and sending them along instead of stacking them up on my desk.

So here are my first two attempts at Valentine's Day cards.  This first one has my lovely beginner efforts at coloring with Copics.  Not perfect, but I love how these markers make whatever you color look pretty dang good.  I based this card off of this one from Prairie Paper & Ink.  I also spent an inordinate amount of time watching her series of card making videos instead of cleaning, but that's besides the point:

My favorite thing about this card is the bear.  Because it is So Stinkin' Cute.

Again, not amazing cards, but as a lot of people who do any sort of craft know, when you give a handmade card or gift, if the recipient isn't a scrapbooker or knitter or whatever, you will get the "YOU MADE THAT?" spiel.  And that is always a good spiel to get.