Weekend creativity

Attended another crop last weekend. I tend to talk more than I crop but I did manage to get a few things done.

I have more layouts that were started and just need to be finished. More on those later. You can find most of these in my gallery.

Cards: I used Carries ribbon flower tutorial on these.

One of the new Prima stamps and tags.

My one finished layout. Woohoo!

Finished one mini album and started another one:

Also, stopped my Michaels to get some ribbon for a Make n Take next month and had to pick these paper pads up. I've been eyeing them for a while now. I got them both for 50% off and the best part was, when the diecut paper pack didn't ring up at the register, the girl didn't check out the price on the rack, she just rang up the other paper pack again. So I got the $7.99 pack for $5.99!

For Cori and Mandy

They've been wanting to see what I've been up too at the crops. Here they are! I still have more pictures to take and another 2 crops this weekend. I'll need to clear space on my camera to finish taking pictures. maybe when I get tired of creating at the crops, I can take a break and get pictures.

Layouts

Cards

I used a lot of my scraps for these cards. I met someone at a crop who thought I was crazy to throw away scraps. I challeneged myself to use as many of them as I could. Now I just need to figure out what holidays/special occasions these are for and add the sayings.

My new challenge for myself is to use the scraps to make cards as soon as I finish the layouts. I tried this with the new Pink Paislee papers after making the one layout.

Oh and the new Prima came in. Love it! I'm taking these papers with me to the crops this weekend hoping I can find at least one picture to use them with!

If you blink. you might miss it

life that is. February came and went and now here we are - halfway through March.

It seems that we are always on the go.

It started off with my grandfathers 80th birthday.

I like to spike Nicks hair.

Nick gave Great Grandpa a pair of baby skates for his birthday so he can learn how to skate.

We go to the park almost every day and Rascal gets to come along. Nick put himself in charge of walking Rascal now so I just follow behind with the camera!

So glad that Target has the Summer stuff out on shelves now. We finally got a replacement bubble gun to blow bubbles. Dad threw the bubble bottle away last year so we've been on the hunt for a new one. :)

We made a cake and licked the beaters.

Rascal got to go to Petsmart and ride in the cart - a favorite activity of his.

We drove down to Carlsbad to see a friend. She pointed out a sushi place that I don't think I can eat at!

Saw the Flower Fields.

Rode behind a tractor.

And mastered the remote.

And its only March 16th!!! Somewhere in there, I managed to make a lot of cards AND some layouts. I'm resizing them for the gallery and the blog.

In the midst of creative fury....

I took a break!

To watch my Kings play. The Kings who suddenly decided to play decent hockey.

Plus, it was against Vancouver so I got to see my Jason Labarbera - only during warmups though.

We didn't take Nick this time so it was a nice evening out for me and mom. Normally we take him but we decided to have him sit this one out. The little Kings fan. So, just mom and I. In our seats. Making fun of players. Coaching from 206 and making fun of the idiot fans around us.

One couple sat and talked the entire game. And no, not about hockey. About everything else. Why go? Why pay that money? Go to a coffee place and talk about the economy, your kids cold, missing homework. Oh, there was the occasional question from the female asking why something occured on the ice. The male could barely answer that. He wasn't watching the game so he had no idea what had actually happened and secondly, his explanations were quite funny.

The Vancouver goaltender left the net on a delayed penalty and the woman shrieked 'whats he doing?' The male says 'I don't know but he should get a penalty for it'. You know, it almost sounded like I was at a Ducks game. Their fans say stupid things like that.

The Kings had the lead the entire game. Early in the 3rd period, with a 2 goal lead, the male states that the Kings need to pick up their game if they plan on catching Vancouver. Yeah, okay. They also need to score more. It would be more exciting. No, sir. Those one goal games are pretty exciting. It could go either way. See , this is the NEW NHL. The NEW and supposedly improved NHL. With cheerleaders, wait, sorry. Ice Girls. Exagerated scoring and no talent hacks trying to take someones head off with their stick. And all the while, I hear the people around me drooling over Alexander Frolov. Why, I ask myself? Why Frolov. Or Froloaf - so named because he 'loafs' in the corners waiting for the puck to come to him. And then he tries to wow everyone with his patented wrap-around. The same wrap-around that hasn't resulted in a goal in at least 3 seasons. He skates like he has bricks on his feet instead of skates. This is supposed to be our hot ticket Russian star player. The one who's going to be the face of the franchise. Hey, if you want the face of the franchise to be some monkeys butt, by all means - do it.

I'm a little jaded lately because the GM keeps trading away any decent players we have that CAN score goals. He has this master plan to rebuild the team and at a recent Season Ticket holder event, he showed us this glorious spreadsheet with the current holes. (I love spreadsheets so of course, I professed my love for him AND his SS's.) Then he started trading away the youngsters. The ones he claimed you have to get when they're yung'ins and 'mold' them into the players you need them to be. Yes, he said 'mold'. So, they've been molding some of these 'yung'ins' for a few seasons and then he trades them. Wha'? Wait a sec. I thought you said we had to mold them. Brand them with the Kings logo. So why trade?

Off my soap box. Just to recap though, he traded away a goal scorer/sniper which this team so badly needs this season. How is that kid doing? 7th in the leasgue in goals. 13th in points. The last time I checked he was sitting at 34 goals, 33 assists for 67 points.

And where is Froloaf sitting? 27 goals, 25 assists for 52 points. So much for Russian Superstar.....

Anyway, a few pictures from the game taken with my Blackberry.

Opening Faceoff

Kings fan celebrate goal #3

Kings on the attack

Composition Books

I'm back with the composition book idea. I've been collecting ideas from places like 2 Peas, Studio Calico and a million sketch sites for the last 4 years. 4 Years of ideas.

And I print them out. So much wasted paper and ink. BUT, I'm recycling them and now have a huge stack of note paper on my desk. I cut each sheet into 4 squares and am using them for notes and other things around the room.

So 8 big binders later, I've consolidated into 2 composition notebooks. I like these because they are small and portable. I've filled them mostly with sketches so I can take them with me to crops. I recently joined a new group in my area - something that was much needed - and am attending local crops at least 2 times a month. So I need to be packed and ready in the least bit of time. Instead of hunting through thousands of ideas to put a page kit together, I now put the papers, embellishments and pictures I want to use in a Cropper Hopper folder and thats my page kit. I can chose the layout or ideas when I get to the crop. Saves me SO much time.

Funny story, I went to my first official crop with this group a few weekends ago. Because I haven't done this in several years, I had the hardest time getting ready. The tools were all thrown in my little organizer. It was the page layouts I had issues with. I was up until 3 am trying to get stuff together. 3 am. The crop started at 9. I lasted from 10-7 that day and I'm very proud of myself.

But I learned something. I learned how to pack for these things. Now I'm armed and ready for the crops on 3/14, 3/20, 3/21 and 3/28. Yep, I have 4 crops scheduled this month. And I plan on getting a lot done.

Not to mention all of the new product that just happens to be showing up each week at the store.

Oy vey!

So, where do I get my sketches and ideas? From the magazines. The Page Maps section of CK is always fun. You get the sketch AND a layout idea to show you how to use that sketch. They each have their own page in the new idea books. Inspired Blueprints is another great sight.

Pencil Lines
2S4U - great card site

So many great sites out there!

Creative binge

So, after a very long time with no creative mojo, I found it. Have I said that recently? :)

I've been focusing on layouts that require a lot of detail. I missed this part of the craft - the details. So after spending a lot of time reorganizing my room and trying to get the 8 folders (yes 8 - 3 ring binders) of ideas under control I was able to sit down and create more.

I've been saving layouts from magazines, online sites and sketches. I threw out most of the layouts and kept the card ideas (need to use those scraps!) and the sketches. I am slowly consolidating those into a composition notebook. Its a heck of a lot more portable than those huge binders. But more on that later.

Here are just a few of the things I've created lately. I've done a lot more, but I'm really bad about taking pictures. We've had a lot of cloudy days so the lighting is off.

More on the composition notebooks later this week. You can see more pictures of these layouts in my gallery.

I've been.....

in my room creating. For the first time in a long time too. And I think all the creativity is pent up inside just waiting to get out.

I have a stack of layouts and cards that need to be photographed. I do them a couple at a time to stretch it out. Plus I hate trying to get the perfect shot of something and then editing, resizing, uploading and then doing it all again.

So here is a link to whats I've managed to photograph this week. More to come.

March
February

Finally updated

I finally updated my gallery.

Just a few of the things I've been working on. Thanks to a great Yahoo group I found and some new friends - I found my passion for the hobby again AND some of my mojo.

I'm using the Card Kit June created for Valentines Day to make my own cards. I altered her designs a little. Some I kept the same. I'm going to stick these in my husbands lunch on occasion just because.

Been addicted to Martha Stewart lately and I found all kinds of templates to download from her site. Also loving her punches. I've added several of her border punches and shapes punches as well as some Fiskars border punches to my collection.

Can't wait til I get my shipment of the new Fiskars border punches for the store. I've had my eye on a few of them.

Confessions....

I used to scrap all the time. Now its a job. Not a hobby. A Job.

I took a break. Instead of forcing myself to create, which is never good, I took a break.

I worked on the business a little, went to CHA, hockey games, played with my son - anything except trying to create.

And now I think I'm ready to create again. Its funny how having this business has killed some of the passion I have for this hobby.

But, after talking to some friends and joining a local group, I think I'm ready to get back into it.

I have my bags packed and sketches kitted. I'm ready.

My Mojo Is BACK!

So glad for that. I hate sitting here in my room with all of this new product and a stack of pictures and I just can't put them together. Nothing motivates me, nothing inspires me.

Well, I found it last night. I had a couple of different layouts/projects going at a time. Here are a few I finished.

Home Sweet Home layout - New Websters Pages

Guitar Tab binder for my husband - made this so he would clean up the 3,000 Guitar magazines we have. He said he was saving them for the tablature in the back. Well, not he can tear those out and store them in here. I filled it with clear plastic page protectors. Chipboard guitar is from Riff Raff Designs. I bought this a couple of years ago and never used it. Riff Raff will be one of the new manufacturers I bring into the store this month. No, the guitar does not come painted like that. I copied a famous Eddie Van Halen guitar that my husband drools over. Hey, if I had an extra $25,000 laying around, he would have the limited edition one they released.

My Little Monster - design inspired by Carries Sketch. Finally used my coveted October Afternoon Night Light papers.And thats all I have before CHA. I'm packed and ready to go. Excited? No, of course not? Who me?

Where oh where.....

has my mojo gone?

The only time I feel creative is when I can't be.

But I found it. Tonight. All of a sudden, it was there. And now I'm working on several layouts at a time.

I had a huge stack of pictures from Scrapbook Pictures that arrived a couple of weeks ago and they've been sitting. Just sitting there. Looking for the right paper and embellishments.

And tonight, they met.

I've been working so furiously tonight that there are Stickles, Pixie Stix glitter, Tim Holtz distressing inks and little scraps of paper everywhere.

I think it might be seeing all of the Sneak Peeks of the new stuff coming out. And CHA is only days away.

I'm also loving sketches right now. So versatile.

Carries sketch is calling my name. And Inspired Blueprints is always full of fun sketches.

Anyone looking for baby skates? I've been on the hunt for some in my sons size. SOOO hard to find and I finally turned to this site. Double blades but thats good enough for him to start on. AND THEN we can get him his first pair of hockey skates. But they just don't come that small and its way past time to get him on the ice!!

New Ribbon winners

So I heard from one of the ribbon winners and she'll be getting her ribbon. But the second winner never contacted me so I have another bag of ribbon to give away. And after sorting it out for the winners, I had enough for a THIRD bag so I'm drawing two winners today.

Post # 3 and Post #17

#3 -
Jingle said...
I am so jealous that you bought the Flip! I want one! LOL! Your ribbon stash looks wonderful!
1/08/2009 11:20 AM
Blogger is not wanting to upload photos today so I can't put the Random.org print screens here for you.

#7 -
C Trimble said...
I LOVE using ribbon on my layouts! THanks for the chance to win!
1/10/2009 8:40 AM

So shoot me an email at admin@yourscrapbookstash.com with your mailing address and I'll get your ribbon out to you this week!