Diving In--Simon Says Stamp & Show Button Challenge

So here it is...my first attempt at a public challenge:

Going back to the whole "Marjie's Fault" thing...she pointed me to a wonderful source of inspiration and fun:  Simon Says Stamp & Show.  Of course, it's more fun if you participate, so after lurking for a few weeks, I figured I should join the fun.  This weeks' challenge is to use buttons in your project....right up my alley!

Gotta admit that this turned out nothing like I had pictured or sketched--but those versions were FAR too busy and a wee bit schizo!  I'm not 100% happy with my "Happiness" plaque. (!????!!)  (Too empty, too weird, too esoteric?) Sentiments are hard too read, too.  *sigh*  But not bad for a first shot, me thinks.

Since it's all in the details:  paper and tag from Close to My Heart, Notebook; bicycle & birdcage stamps from TPC; bird stamps from Close to My Heart, Free Spirit; sentiments Wendy Vecchi; flourish rub-ons from Basic Grey and Kaiser Craft. Buttons are from my stash.  Everything was distressed with Antique Linen and Tea Dye.  Embossing was all done in clear.  Birds are stamped in CTMH Outdoor Denim and layered with Glossy Accents.

Be kind...

I blame Marjie!!

Yes. It's ALL her fault! Yeah, so what if I got her started on scrapbooking all those years ago...she has taken it to an all new level. (Really--you should have seen the layout she did of her boys in their favorite jammies! She SCANNED the jammies, then made paper pieced paper dolls from the matching scanned printed paper! All back when I was still in my "Fast Formulas" phase!) Talk about upping the ante.

Anyway, this talented gal, Marjie, has gotten hooked on other kinds of paper crafting, including stamping. I love the look of all the distressed vintage craftiness from artists like Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi, though my style tends to be rather different. However, the spark keeps striking, so after quite some time of enjoying her amazing talents, I've felt inspired to give stamping a "go." Here are a couple of my first baby attempts:

New Home Card

This is my VERY first try, once I received my very first set of Wendy Vecchi stamps in the mail. 'Homemade Art' provided the house stamp and the included Wendy idea sheet gave me the idea for the layered papers and textures. Other stamps are from Autumn Leaves and Close to My Heart. Other embellishments from Prima and Amuse. The photo shows front & back of the postcard sized "congrats on your new home" card, happily mailed off to the intended recipient!

Laundry Tag

I've been holding on to this laundry paper from Cosmo Crickets Boyfriend collection for awhile now. Seemed appropriate, given the massive quantities of laundry this family produces on a daily basis. ;-) Hadn't come up with a project yet, but I have a small shadow-box type wall hanging with this sentiment on it and it struck me that it might be fun for a tag. Not 100% sure I like the way the dial came out, but hey, not so bad for a newbie. (Any ideas?) Curly-q stamp from Recollections is embossed with Tim's Distressed Embossing powder in Peeled Paint; I used Tea Dye distressed ink around the edges and on the dial. Oh, and a Tim Holtz game spinner, too! A little Glossy Accents for fun, and VOILA!

Heart-Head Tag

This last one (for today!), was inspired by a quote on my "Wild Words from Wild Women" desk calendar. I printed the quote really small and glued it to the back of one of Tim's raffle tickets--"The head never rules the heart, but just becomes its partner in crime." (Mignon McLaughlin) Wendy Vecchi's 'A Form of Art' provided the mannequin and the background stamps; the winged heart is from Close to my Heart. I discovered Sheer Shimmer Spritz by Tsukneko on a trip to AC Moore yesterday, so had to break it out and mist a little Sparkle on. (Had to hold myself back...I do love my bling!) Background and edges are done with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo by Tim Holtz. A little more Glossy Accents--can't get enough of that stuff!--and we're good to go.

Sure had a lot of fun diving into this! This process is a little more on the self-indulgent than my usual scrapping efforts, but I think it's a fun way to let a little more "me" out to play. Now, off to sign up for some of the challenges...

Finally had a chance...

to upload a few pictures of my latest scrapping creations. Steph and I were fortunate enough to enjoy another wonderful weekend with Harbor Scrapbooking. For me, it was more productive than usual--I finished 21 pages, plus added finishing touches to a few other leftover pages. YAY me!!

Last Spring, our fabulous Close to my Heart rep (shout out to Kelly Rizzo!) introduced us both to Flip Flaps; we made some adorable mini-albums with the 4 x 6 size. Since then, CTMH has come out with 'em in different sizes. I spent a lot of time playing with them...and falling in love with the way I can use the various sizes to maximize the number of pics on a single two page layout. I'm really happy with how those pages came together, though they don't photograph well. *sigh*

You can check out the pages here: Fun with Flip Flaps (can't seem to get the slideshow thingie working right now, DRAT!!)

It was nice to mix it up with those techniques, since I was really focused on finishing several years' worth of kid sports. Can I confess that I'm STILL basketballed out? So glad the season is over!! (for now, anyway!)

Can't wait 'til November's crop! My goal is take a whole new set of pictures with me on that trip...which, of course, means I have to finish the batch I've got printed and ready. Hmmm...guess that means I'll have to spend more time scrapping...such a hardship, truly.

It's not perfect....

In the way of so many of us, I tend to obsess about Christmas. About making it just the perfect blend of family traditions and “us.” About spending QUALITY time together. About doing things the “right” way—cookies from scratch, punch in the percolator, beautifully wrapped gifts with bows “just so.” You get the gist of it, right?

I’m a first born and female. Oh…and a Scorpio (if you buy into that stuff). Toss that in a salad bowl and you get a rules-oriented perfectionist--who just happens to live in a large, busy (read “chaotic”) household. Not always a comfortable fit for me, but mostly, I’ve adapted to my surroundings and I thrive in the Zoo Crew Zone.

Except at the holidays.

Now, I’ve never aspired to a perfectly symmetrical Christmas tree thematically decorated with lights & tinsel perfectly spaced. I love our crazy family trees, selected with quite serious care (but strikingly different, random criteria) by Zoo Crew inhabitants and decorated enthusiastically by those same creatures. No two years will our trees ever look the same…and I’m good with that. But I DO like to inject a little tradition into the moments when we decorate the tree…Daddy always puts the seashell ornament we received as a wedding present on the tree. Mommy always places Santa & his Sleigh toward the top. And every child receives a new ornament to add to their growing collections that will move onward and outward when it’s time. And I like to remind the kids where some of our special ornaments came from or when they came to us.

Sometimes said children don’t seem to respect these tiny traditions. Or chaos breaks out with a mob at the ornament box. Things break. Feelings get hurt—usually mine.

You should know that both chaos and breakage are no strangers to my household. But why can I deal with it more calmly at other times? Why do I cry at Christmas?

This weekend, as we were muddling through a strange Saturday morning and preparing to decorate our tree, we watched the movie Santa Clause 3. Toward the end of the movie, Santa says “You know, you don’t have to be perfect to be a family…you just have to be together.”

I think I’m going to focus on the togetherness and try harder not to aim for near-perfection.

I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

I'm starting to get the "fearfully" part....what's up with the old lady whiskers?

SHEESH.

I mean, WHERE do they come from?

and, WHY do they grow faster than any other hair on my body? One day, nothing...the next a big ol' black one an inch & a half long.

WHAT's the deal here?

Post-40 gravity is bad enough...but I have to be hairy too?

*sigh*