Gwen

On a roll!

Just popping in with another layout. This was for another Studio Calico NSD challenge - this time to use stamps to create your own background paper. I really like how this one turned out, but the weather here has been kind of dank lately, so I didn't get good lighting on the photos (what's new?)

The pictures aren't that dark and grainy in real life. These are from Easter... and my favorite thing? Facial expressions are priceless. Especially the top one with Eraleigh and Aubrey looking askance at William while he fussed. You can really see their personalities here. Such cuties!

I'm also taking the Pop off the Page 2 class this month (more like following along really... lol) and was inspired to add some of that layering to the page. I really like this look but don't usually do it, but I think it turned out well.

And here, I tried to get a picture of how I did the stamping. I used several different sets and did lots of layering. I'll have to do this again - it was fun.

That's it for now... I'm off to play. I'm taking Julie Balzer's Gelli plate class online and just got a new brayer so I can really experiment. And tomorrow, I'm back at the scrapbook store in Westbrook to try a Zentangle class! Should be fun :D If it's going to be a rainy weekend, it might a well be a crafty one too!

Your eyes do not deceive you.

Not only two posts in a week, two posts with layouts.

I'm still doing some of the challenges from NSD at Studio Calico and last night I did one to use stencils without mists. So, I pulled out my recently acquired mono / Gelli printing skills (I use the term "skills" very loosely. lol.) and used the Studio Calico Sundrifter stencil with acrylic plates to make some cool background paper. And to go with that paper, I could only use photos from the Muse show last month.

The monoprint is the one with the blue and gold. I added some silver Inka Gold rubon waxy stuff and some red liquid pearls.

I added some brads, sequins, and metallic puffy stickers from the stash, along with a glitter and washi tape border.

This was fun. Maybe I'll actually start doing layouts again. Who knows?

Aside from that, I've been in serious Instagram withdrawl over the last 2 days. I can see my feed, but every time I try and post a photo it crashes. What's up with that? Last 2 app updates = epic fail. Anyway. Off to play a little more and finish the laundry.

April's Project Life pages

I've been using National Scrapbook Day to do a little scrapping. April's project life is done! And I even started May!

So without further ado, here are the pages for last month... plus one that I decided to add to the end of March. Not really that many, but it all evens out.

(I didn't realize that the "O" had fallen off before the photo until I was editing these. I found it and stuck it back in after I took pictures, but I'm too lazy to re-do it. But it's there!)

I also did a layout for 2 of the challenges at Studio Calico - one to use buttons, and one was to use 5 patterned papers on the layout.

The lighting was bad when I took the pictures last night, but you get the idea. A few close-ups:

That's it for now! I'd like to do more of the challenges, but with this and the mixed media night I went to on Thursday, I may have hit my limit for now. lol. We'll see, I guess!

Project Life - March

Finished another month! I'm on a roll. Although I have a lot of photos for April, so I'll probably get a bit behind again over the next few weeks, but this is the most caught up I've been in a long time! (Ignoring the fact that I haven't finished my book with August-November of 2012 yet. Take the wins where you can get them!)

So with that, here are the Project Life pages for March:

I really love doing this format (6x8). I love that I can be creative where I want or just use photos and journaling cards. I love being able to just stick in inserts, and not feeling like I have to be tied to a certain layout or number of pages per week... I used a lot of space here for Easter weekend and I don't think I would have doing the 2-page 12x12 spread for each week. I'm glad I found something that works really well for me.

And now, I may start printing photos for April before the month is even over. Getting crazy over here!

Project Life - February

I know. Not only two posts in a month, two posts in a week. Getting crazy here. (And probably won't post again until mid-May. lol.)

Discovered that my cold came with a double dose of pink eye... been house-bound since Saturday, with the exception of a trip to the doctor. But I'm contagion free as of today and should be back in the office tomorrow. Good thing! I hate working on my laptop without my mouse (#firstworldproblems) and tomorrow's the Muse concert, so it's a good thing my body's cooperating on timing! But let's face it. I would have risked giving half of New England pink eye to be at that show. lol. Glad it won't come to that.

In the meantime, I finished most of February's Project Life pages over the weekend... put the finishing touches on the last ones last night.

Without further ado:

During the month, I found a quote on Instagram that I loved, so I took a screenshot and saved it in my photo stream and then printed it to go on the back of my journaling. Also included a big envelope to hold the Valentine's cards and notes.

During February, I also signed up and put down the deposit for my next trip - I'm headed out on a 3 week adventure to South-East Asia early next year and so I included the travel package they sent with the trip overview and information and added a little journaling to the envelope.

Last page is just some random, everyday shots of little things. (I adore that letterpress card from Kelly Purkey on the left... I almost didn't use it but decided to fight my hoarding instincts for once.)

That's it! Thinking I might start editing and printing photos for March tonight. We'll see... that might be too much productivity in such a short time period.

Catching up

It's time for my monthly blog post! lol. I've had a terrible time keeping up - I've been busy or traveling or sick or whatever, so I've decided to not worry about it and just pop in to update when I can.

Last week I was able to fly down to Virginia for the weekend to visit the family for Easter. It was a quick trip, but I was so glad to go - I haven't been home for Easter for 7-8 years, and I haven't ever been able to spend it with the kids, so this was really fun. We hunted eggs and played and watched movies and everything. And you know I've been able to go home a lot when I didn't even go to Wegman's! Anyway, here's one of my favorite photos from the weekend:

We had a little hug fest. I was mobbed. It was cute.

This week I've been busy at work and sick on top of it - I don't know if I caught it before I went home or got it while I was there or on the plane or some combination, but I'm feeling better... hoping it goes away quickly so I'll be ready to go see Muse next weekend! In the meantime, I've been listening to General Conference this weekend. We don't get it on TV here in Connecticut (at least not on cable), so I've been watching the sessions on my computer in my scrap room. While listening, I've started catching up on this year's Project Life. I'm doing a paper version this year, working in a 6x8 album. The one for the first part of the year is a Simple Stories album and page protectors. Supplies are mostly from Studio Calico kits with some Seafoam, some digital Midnight PL kits, and some Kelly Purkey from Simon Says Stamp.

Title page:

I decided not to try and do weekly this year. It was too much last year and I moved away from it at the end of the summer when moving to CT and starting the new job got to be too much. I like this a lot better - I'm doing it kind of like I do my travel journals - just sticking stuff in the binder and using the divided page protectors. I'm liking it so far.

Here are the pages for January:

I also managed to get all of the February photos printed and put into pages. I'm working on adding the journaling and doing a little embellishing. I might have to stop after that... I wouldn't want to do anything crazy like get caught up. lol.

Better late than never!

It seems like things have just been non-stop crazy lately. I've been super busy at work with no energy when I get home to do much of anything... and just no real desire to head into the craft room. But today after church I suddenly felt the desire to come in and do something, so I did it while I was still feeling it. I decided to go ahead and finish my 28 Days of Love album. I figured, so what that it's St. Patrick's Day and I haven't touched it for weeks? Let's get 'er done.

Here are the last layouts from the book... for all but 2 of them, I was having a hard time with the prompts, so I just made up my own:

(And the inside of day 26, which just happens to show the next trip that I've signed up for!)

And for the last one, I had to use a photo of a Muse concert since I'm getting really excited to go see them again next month.

That's it! The finished book... I think some larger rings are in order:

And a few other things that have been going on in the last few weeks...

About 2 weeks ago I got a package in the mail from my cousin Jen's little girl, Savannah - she sent me a Flat Stanley so he could have an adventure in Connecticut and go back to California to tell her class all about it. So last week, I took him out to see some of the sites.

Hanging at the Town Green after a very pretty snow (since he's from California, I had to make him a coat, gloves, hat, and scarf!)

Then we went over to Stony Creek to visit the beach and see the Thimble Islands out in the sound. The sun was very bright and it was beautiful!

Stanley and I also went to Bishop's Orchards to shop for local maple syrup / apple syrup / apple cider. I was able to send him back to California with some photos, a story about where he stayed, and some maple sugar candies for Savannah and her brothers. I hope the class enjoys hearing about his adventure!

And meanwhile, I saw this hopeful sign in my yard earlier this week:

And finally, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I made a fun little treat for my Laurels - rainbows in a cup (Starburst jelly beans) complete with clouds (marshmallows) and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (Rolos). They loved them!

That's it! Now I'm off for dinner... I cooked up some corned beef and potatoes with cauliflower (I like it better than cabbage) and some Irish Soda Bread (which I didn't bake... why bother when I can buy it? lol.) It's been smelling delicious all afternoon :)

Later!

(P.S.... I'm a total blog slacker, but I do post on Instagram several times a week for those who are interested.)

28 Days of Love... quick update

So I'm trying not to get a full 14 days behind this time... lol. So I did a few more pages in my album. I also realized that I skipped a layout last week.

There weren't any Bright Ideas class challenges on these pages, so just 28 Days challenges. Left was someone I didn't know 10 years ago (photo and journaling on a tag that pulls out of the pocket) and on the right was something I do every day (I picked "go to work" which I'm sure seems weird, but it's totally true!)

Now for the 4 catch-up pages (I'm still a few behind, but it's better than nothing!)

Days 15-16:

On the left, the prompt was someone I spend time with - I picked my nieces. They're hysterical and so fun. For the Bright Ideas challenge, it was to create texture - I used gold mica paste and modeling paste with a mask to add a little texture to the background, plus used the sketch from the challenge.

The right side was "my favorite color" (turquoise / sapphire / peacock blue) so I used a picture showing how often I use it in my house. The Bright Ideas challenge was around using grids.

Then days 17-18:

The left was "something I listen to" and for the Bright Ideas challenge, I used a mask and the same stamp repeated over and over. I really like the effect - I'll have to do that again! The right side was "I love happy mail" so I used a photo of the stack of boxes that came from UPS after they were able to get back through after the blizzard (3 of those were household items from Amazon. Not really too fun, but after a blizzard it was all exciting!) The Bright Ideas challenge was to use a large photo (on a 4x4 page that wasn't hard) and I used the class sketch.

And meanwhile... it's been a crazy-busy week at work. We've been in scrum training all week. While I've done it before at previous jobs, it's brand new to most everyone else I work with. The trainer we brought in was very good and this was a lot more fun than what I've done before, I also learned a lot - filled in a few holes. We got to play with Legos a lot to practice the sprint process. Eventually, we built an entire Lego Skate Park. It was lots of fun.

Last night we went to BAR in New Haven for a group dinner - yummy salad and pizza and just a fun evening hanging out. Tonight after we finished training, our little team went to this awesome Indian restaurant that's just a few blocks from my house (Darbar). I've wanted to go for a while and I'm glad we did - it was delicious!

I had chicken Korma - medium spice. It was very good...

Of course, Ryan decided he wanted to go spicy, so he ordered the Chicken Vindaloo Spicy - the server was like, that's very hot. Are you sure? And he was. So I had my camera ready for his first taste...

(I really enjoy that Ryan hams it up for the camera.)

He was so disappointed... he even felt a little jipped... it wasn't that spicy! We all tried it, and I don't think it was any spicier than mine. But we all loved our food and had a good time. It was nice to unwind after 3 straight days of intense training. I'm looking forward to getting back to normal tomorrow :)

In honor of Valentine's Day...

I thought I'd post the first half of my album for Alissa's 28 Days of Love challenge. You know, since we're half-way through the month and I haven't posted a single thing. Doh.

So, here's the album - I ended up getting this awesome 4"x4" acrylic album by Jamaica Makes with "love" engraved on the front. I thought it would be perfect for this project, and I liked the idea of the small size. Less intimidating!

It's total coincidence that my title page shows through the back with perfect spacing like that. But I'm thrilled that it did!

I'm also taking the Bright Ideas class at Studio Calico this month, and totally loving it. I decided to use the challenges to help me do the pages for this album, and it's really been great to inspire me. Otherwise I'm sure I'd still be looking at an empty album. lol.

So above, days 1 and 2, and the challenges were left: I love someplace I stood / using map products on the layout, and right: I love technology / making your own polka dots.

Day 3: I made this one up since I haven't been texting anyone lately, and the Bright Ideas challenge was an ad inspiration layout. Day 4: I love someplace I go / color pop.

Day 5: I love someone I take pictures of / stitched title and day 6: I love something I drink (Turkish apple tea!) / multi-tasking page elements (journaling text within a shape as a page accent).

Day 9: I love someone far away / using only washi tape for pattern and day 10: I love something new / string art (I based this off an inspiration piece on Pinterest that I've had pinned forever that I just love. It was fun!)

The above two days didn't have Bright Ideas challenges - we only get those on weekdays so there aren't enough to do them every day, so I skipped them on these. Day 11: I love where I eat dinner (changed it from lunch) and day 12: I love something old (my antique piano that I learned to play on and have since hauled around the country and still play pretty regularly.)

And finally, yesterday's prompt was I love someone I work with - I don't have pictures of everyone, but this one from a night out a few months ago is still a favorite. No Bright Ideas challenge for that one, but for today's prompt - I love my valentine(s), the challenge was to do a watercolor resist with letters or words.

So that's it! Now that I'm caught up, I'm sure I'll fall behind again starting tomorrow. lol.

And before I go, a few photos from last weekend's blizzard...

Spot the cars! It was about 30" - up to mid-thigh on me, drifted higher in places. Not fun to shovel. 3.5 hours of shoveling later (plus what my downstairs neighbor did) and it looked like this:

Then it rained all day Monday making the roads even more of a mess, so I didn't go back into work until Tuesday. And this is what it looked like as I walked in (after it shrunk from the rain).

My parking area at the house is a mud pit - I need to try and dig out the other gravel spot so we all have room. And, it's supposed to snow again this weekend. Please no... there's no place to put it! lol.

How does this not make you smile?

I'm taking a new class at Studio Calico called Bright Ideas with lots of great ideas and challenges and I actually managed to do one! This one was to make your own stencil and use it on the layout so I made a stencil with some some of the cut files from the class and then used the sketch for the challenge.

I used this picture that Nicole sent of Adorable-Niece-Aubrey> I laugh every time I see it.

The lighting for the picture was terrible as usual... it looks lots better in person.

Hopefully this weekend I can start and catch up on my 28 Days of Love album... assuming I have power after the main part of this blizzard hits tonight :-P