Rather Plus Than Minus

I like that idea.  I like when things feel a little more plus than minus. 

That's how I've been feeling lately.  I have lots of great pluses going on in my life right now.  Getting the kids into the new school year, getting them set up with all sorts of new activities and friends.  Getting ready for the boy's birthday party in a few weeks.  Planning for a fall break vacation to Disneyland.  Awesome design teams to work with, fun challenges debuting.  Learning the ins and outs of how a digital scrapping magazine works and immersing myself in it.  Planning and creating and writing for the magazine.  So many pluses.  But all these pluses have been keeping me from YOU, both from posting new projects here and from visiting all my favorite blogs.  I apologize profusely!  I miss the creative sharing!!! 

I do have one layout to share with you today.  Scrap That Poetry's newest poetic inspiration for you is "Ode To the End of Summer" by Phillis McGinley. 

I was drawn to one line in particular in the poem...

I used the sketch that I made for the Sketchy Thursdays September Guest Design Team Challenge for this one as I really liked the sketch and figured I shouldn't let it pass me by just because I couldn't enter the challenge, lol.

And, while it's too late to enter a layout for this sketch, it's not too late to make something for this week's ST sketch (another by me, woohoo!).  You have until tonight at 10pm EST to enter for your chance to win something yummy from Your Memories Here. 

And speaking of chances to win something, the RAK for the aforementioned Scrap That Poetry challenge this time is a little something from me.  ;oD

We'd LOVE to have you come play along with us!  For many of us, we're entering into the twilight of summer, so why not scrap you own ode to it?

The first day of a month is always a busy one.  There are also AWESOME challenges happening over on The Pink Ninjas ("_________ need love, too") and Category Stories (an embarrassing fact about me...).  Please, please, pretty please check them out and play along!!!!!! 

As mentioned, I'm having a great time getting to know all the ins and outs of the digi magazine Scrapbook News and Review.  If you haven't checked it out, you are really missing something.  This publication is amazing.  Everything from layouts - both traditional and digi - to cards to mixed media to tutorials to product reviews to everything to do with paper crafting can be found in the pages of the magazine!   Every issue boasts over 400 layouts and paper crafts!!!  It just so happens that this month's issue contains 28 of my layouts and 6 cards.  Yes, you read those numbers right.  LOL.  See?  They just had to bring me on board so I'd stop bombarding their submissions box. 

And, did you know they have a very active and lively forum?  There's a ton of information and inspiration from both SNR staff and readers alike.  And guess what?  For the next few days, I'll be sharing some Tips of the Day.  Come check it out!   

Hope you're having a great week!

Heidi

Poe & Sunshine

Is it already August??!!!  Didn't we just start this year?  I always look at my son's birthday as the official start to the holiday season because it's non-stop birthdays, vacations, and holidays from there until January.  His birthday is just a little over a month away!  Aaaaaagh!!!!!!

OK, I'm a little slow on these two layouts.  Both went live yesterday, 8/1. 

The current Scrap That Poetry poem is "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe.  Such a beautiful poem of love.  My mom requested I create something special for my step-brother and his wife and this is what I came up with, using a picture from their wedding:

The frame is a crochet hoop.  I got the idea for this from the Big Picture Scrapbooking Claudine Hellmuth class I'm taking.  The coolest part...the background fabric...

It began life as some Prima patterned paper!!!!!  I transferred it to some of Claudine Hellmuth's sticky back canvas!!!!

As you can see, it lost a little brightness of color but still!!!  It's so cool, right?  I have so many more ideas for this technique!!!!

If you're familiar with the poem "Annabel Lee" you know it's quite a long one so I only extracted one part for this hanging.  And I took a little bit of creative license with it and changed it slightly.  The original line was, "Can ever dissever my soul from the soul, Of the beautiful Annabel Lee."  Well, of course neither of my subject's names were Annabel Lee (how incovenient, lol!) so I changed it to, "Can ever dissever my soul from thee."  Hey, it rhymes, right?  Hope Mr. Poe doesn't cringe!

I filled in the bookplate with a crackle medium to further the antique-iness of the piece.

Actually, truth be told I futzed with a couple things on this piece.  I cut and pasted the Prima pearl flourish to fit within the circle. And although I had the Jenni Bowlin cardstock butterflies on hand, I liked the pattern on the Prima packaging better for this piece so I traced the Jenni Bowlin butterfly and added my own pearls. 

One other thing I did on this piece that you can't see on the pictures is I painted on their pictures with acrylic paint.  I painted their cheeks, lips, and hair.  I also painted all her jewelry with pearlized paint. 

Being the first of the month,  I also have a Category Stories layout for you, too.  This month's prompt is "_________ is my sunshine."

I incorporated techniques from both the Claudine Hellmuth class AND a class I took last weekend at my LSS with Bethany Kartchner into this.  (BTW, I am so stinkin proud of the mini book I made in Bethany's class and will be sharing that just as soon as I get it filled with some pictures - which will hopefully be asap.)  I am star-struck at having met and played along with Bethany in person.  This woman is ooooooooozing creativity.  I've already signed up for her next class at my LSS which is an art journaling class (with my other amazingly creative friend, Julie, who imparted that she's a bit trepidatious about art journaling but I know she'll make something completely fabulous!).  If you happen to be in the Mesa, AZ area on 8/28, sign up for this class!  It's going to be so much messy fun!  Oh, you should've seen me in the class last week.  I was COVERED with paint...ask Julie.  I am NOT prissy when it comes to paint.  I think it's usually much easier applied by hand. 

First, the picture of my little rays of sunshine is a packing tape transfer (which is indirectly a techinique I learned from Claudine Hellmuth...I already knew the basics of the technique but refined it with her tips). 

~picture detail~
Bethany's class was all about getting messy with paint, mists, and oil pastels and I incorporated all three here!  The sun rays are misted and then accented with oil pastels. 

The sky is a faux woodgrain paint technique that gives a great streaky effect.  I also misted a bit in the sky, too, and topped it off with some painted clouds using a Heidi Swapp mask (which, truthfully, I wish I hadn't done but oh, well). 

The butterfly and alpha silhouettes are created with Heidi Swapp masks and oil pastels. 

~title detail~


Finally, I used an actual Jenni Bowlin butterfly this time, but sprayed it wish mist (thanks Diana for that idea!) and topped it with some Ranger Perfect Pearls (Claudine, again!). 

~butterfly detail~


I really hope you like my project and PLEASE come play along with us!!!  Just click on the links for each above!

I'm off to my craft room.  I'm in a creatin' mood now!

Heidi

They Meet & High School Crush

The new poem on Scrap That Poetry is "First Love" by John Clare.  Click HERE to see the poem. 

I chose to use the line, "...with love so sudden and so sweet" to complement these pics of the first meeting between my son and daughter.  She was 1-day-old here.  Awwwww. 

Almost everything on the layout, except for the felt flowers and the letter stickers, are Stampin' Up!, mostly from a really old scrapbooking kit they offered like 4 years ago. 

Just gotta make myself use up all those old supplies I've been collecting for years!  I think I'd never really used this kit before because it's so simple (not in a bad way) but it totally worked for not only the innocence and simplicity of this moment but also for this week's Sketchy Thursdays 2-page sketch:

Being that today is the 1st of the month I also have the next Category Stories challenge for you.  The prompt is "high school crush".  Gotta say this one stumped me.  I finally arrived here:

It says, "I learned in high school NOT to allow popular expectation to CRUSH individual creative expression." 

I never really let myself fit into any expected mold in high school.  I was an honor student but I changed my style from year to year to MY whim, not necessarily always looking like what the honor students were supposed to look like.  My junior year I went what was called "punk"at the time...I think it would be called "EMO" today.  I was friends with the honor students, the popular kids, the sporty kids, and the kids on the fringe.  I remember my French teacher took one look at me and decided I was obviously a trouble-making idiot the first day.  Boy did he get proven wrong!  Ha ha ha ha ha!  

I just like to do my own thing.  And sometimes that means SUPER messy stitching, painting, misting, border punching,  masking tape journaling on a declaration of individuality!  LOL.

So, has everyone seen Eclipse yet?  Yes, I was one of the crazy ones Tuesday evening at the "Twilogy".  8+ hours in a movie theatre commencing in the first showing of Eclipse at 12:01am!  But it was so much fun!!!!!!  It was so funny when we got out to see the parking lot PACKED and bustling at 2:30am...busier than a hot Friday night.  I think every girl in a 10 mile radius was there. 

I liked Eclipse.  Not loved, just liked.  It was better than New Moon, for sure.  I liked that there were a few funny moments.  But seriously...did Jacob lose some buffness in this one?  WTH???  And I think I just may be joining a new team...Team Jasper!  He had a larger roll in this one and didn't just look like the weirdo lurking in the background grimacing about the apparent stick up his butt.  Love his Southern accent!!!!  So, what did you think?

OK, go have a great day!!!   

1 Week In April

This month's prompt over on Category Stories is "A Week In The Life Of...".

We've had a jam-packed April.  This one week mid-month was no exception. 

Last Sunday we had the best dinner.  The kids made pasta with Daddy, we had a mesclun and radish salad from our new garden, and I made my Kick Ass Rotisserie Chicken (aptly named).  There was a basketball game for the boy, ballet for the girl.  Basketball practice occurs at twilight so I got some gorgeous sun-kissed pics.  The girl learned to ride her bike without training wheels.  There was goofy golf, fun time with Auntie K, dinner at Arriba with the family that yielded a parking lot surprise (a full-sized Stormtrooper statue sitting on the flatbed of a truck - weird!), and plenty of snuggling time for the kids.  It's a wonder I still manage to get them to school, let alone do anything else! 

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Category Stories Design Team made.  I love seeing how different our styles and interpretations are.  And if you play along with us you had a chance to win an awesome prize from Country Papercraft, an online and brick-and-mortar store in Australia.  Check out the Category Stories blog for all the details.

On a side note, I have two little rants:  1) OK, so yes, thank you for giving me 20  or so "e"'s in the alpha sticker set.  (I can't remember the manufacturer on this one...it's the black stickers I used above.)  But that set has 400 total letters so comparitively 20 "e"'s IS NOT ENOUGH!  and 2) Has anyone had trouble with the Cosmo Cricket tiny alphas?  They're not cut all the way through!  And it's not just one sheet.  It's been every single sheet I've gotten and I have 5 or 6!!!  Grrrrrr!  OK, back to our scheduled programming...

Have a great weekend!

Heidi

My World, My Garden

Oh, you know I luvs me some Thursday.  And this Thursday is extra special because not only do I have this week's Sketchy Thursdays layout but since it's the first day of the month, I also have the new Category Stories layout!!! 

This month's topic on Category Stories is "My World". 

Yes, that is a picture of my shower. 

My title concisely sums up why I chose my shower to illustrate "my world".   

Love that Studio Calico camera stamp!!

And to expand on that, my journaling says, "While my hands & body are on auto-pilot my mind is in overdrive." 

I get things done while I'm in the shower.  I make decisions.  I formulate lists. Some of my favorite layouts were born in this shower.  (Such as this one, LOL.) 

I wanted all my "thought bubbles" to appear ethereal, on the verge of coming into focus, so I wrote them on tape and then covered them with more tape.  (BTW, they say:  mull, what's for dinner?, layouts, Think, he said she said i should have said, wonder, to do lists.) 

Once again I must gush over the Ninja Addicts "Don't Get It Twisted" kit.  The only things on this layout not from that kit are my alpha stamps, the camera stamp, and the masking tape.  Even that PERFECT piece of flair "i make stuff up" was in there!!!! 

I wanted the ribbons and buttons above the pic and the papers on either side of it to look like a shower curtain. 

Oh, and I'm sure my whole layout pic looks a bit weird with the included clip board but I wanted to show the scalloped bottom edge of my paper. 

You may recognize the paper as the scalloped border on my "Risk" layout.  I thought it worked perfectly to reinforce the shower curtain theme so I left it as is.  Who says layouts MUST be square or 8-1/2 x 11???  They're more interesting this way, no? 

Come on over and play with the Storytellers on Category Stories!!! 
Details:  All items from the Ninja Addicts "Don't Get It Twisted" kit except - EK Success alpha stamps, Studio Calico camera stamp, StazOn & Stampin' Up! ink, Zig Millennium pen, masking tape. 

Today over on Sketchy Thursdays, not only do we have a new sketch for you, but a whole new Design Team unveiling!!!! 

Here's another shower epiphany.  I knew I wanted to make a layout about our newly planted garden venture and I knew I was going to use some of the adorable papers and stuff that are in the April kit from Torendi.  Earlier I'd been wowed by THIS LAYOUT by the fabulous Miss Mo.  Her misted grid is just beautiful.  And then it dawned on me (we're still in the shower here...)  how the seedlings we're sprouting are planted in little grid-like boxes and voila! 

April 2011 issue

Drug out my Walnut Ink spray for this bad boy.  I don't think that stuff's seen the light of day for a couple years! 

I made this kewl collage on Picnik.  It was so easy I'm sure you'll be seeing more collage photos from me in the future.   The large photo is that of all the seed packets we purchased.  The bottom left 2 pics are of some radish sprouts peeking through.  Woohoo!!!  The top right two pics are of the garden bed itself.  To give you an idea of how big it is, it spans the entire width of our regulation sized basketball half-court!  (Oops, didn't quite line up the cut off on the pics to keep it looking like one pic, which it was.)  The bottom right three pics are the sprout starter boxes.  I'm sad to report that today it was really windy out and we lost an entire box.  We ended up locating the box itself but there is no hide nor hair of its contents (which were cubano chile and leek sprouts).  Very mysterious.  At least if the dogs ate the sprouts I'd think there would've been traces of the dirt, but no.  Nothing.  Nowhere.  Nada.  Weird. 

So, I tried to make it look like there are sprouts in the dirt:

 

And how cute is this little tomato dude?  He's from the Torendi April kit, as well as the base kraft paper and the patterned papers. 

I love the red and white mesh patterned paper that's the flip side of the veggie paper.  I freehand cut out the title word "sprout".  I'm actually a bit impressed by how evenly sized the letters came out.  ;oD

OK, you simply MUST hop on over to the Sketchy Thursdays blog to check out what our new Design Team made for your inspiration (including the highly-contested April GDT winner).  Leave them all some McLovin.  And be sure to play along with us! Up for grabs is a great sampling of items from Kiki Art! 

Details:  Papers and feltie friend from the April Torendi kit, Walnut Ink spray, Picnik.com photo editing, thread, unknown trim. 

I'm so excited!  It's the first so the new Ninja Addicts kit is debuting today.  I'm dying to get my hands on that pretty girl because the sneak peeks have been mouthwatering!! 

OK, off to my son's K classroom for an undoubted morning of cutting, copying, correcting, assessing, being read to, and general adorableness!  I really have no idea how these teachers would present a remote glimmer of the same instruction and hands-on "ness" without the army of parents who volunteer so much time.  We are so lucky to have such an amazing school!!! 

Happy Thursday and I hope you aren't caught by the April Fool. 

Heidi

Wizards & Monsters

Wow!  I can't believe it's already March 1st! 

Today is officially my first day on the Category Stories Design Team.  We have a very cool prompt this month:  "__________ was one of her very best friends." 

As I note, "Yes.  I'm a nerd!" 

I'm guessing those of you who aren't Harry fans don't get the three rings...they're the Quiddich goals...it's a game played on broomsticks with 4 balls and...oh, you don't care!  As mentioned, yes, I'm a nerd. 

My journaling reads, "I read 29 books in 2009 - 21 were Harry Potter! Quiddich.  Butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks.  Accio Firebolt!  Expecto Patronum!  Severus Snape - Oh u no u ~heart~ him!  Invisibility cloak.  Don't make me go Avada Kadavra on your ass!  Yes.  I'm a nerd."  These are some of the things I wish I could do/see/have.  And, yes, I'm 1/2 way thru my 4th tour with Harry.  I just get to the end of the 7th book and feel like I'm losing a bff so I have to start over again.  And, no, it never gets old and yes, I discover new things everytime.  Yes.  I'm a nerd.  Haven't we established that yet??

The paper and fabric from which I cut the hearts are yummies from the Ninja Addicts "Don't Get It Twisted"  kit.  Of course I had to stitch - my "thang".  Harry is cut out of a box of valentines. 

Head on over to the Category Stories site to check out what the rest of the team made for your inspiration.  I love that we all had such different takes on the prompt.  And be sure to play along with us for your chance to win this amazing piece of art by Amy Lapi:

********************************

Today is also the first color challenge for March over on the Design Dollies.  LOVE this color combo:

Royal blue, sky blue, and lime green.

I couldn't believe I actually had the perfect piece of paper for this!!!  Every single piece on this layout except for the "Rawr!" letter stickers are from the Ninja Addicts "Mommy's Little Monster" kit. 

The Social Distortion song "Mommy's Little Monster" was an anthem to my teen years.  And I've been calling my son "Mommy's Little Monster" since day 1 so how perfect is this kit for us??!!!! 

Love the little Fimo dino made by Ninja Master Nely!  Too cute!  And the feltie dino montage made by Ninja Master Ally.  These chickies ROCK!  I also like that in this pic you get a sense of how cool and rainbow-y the ponchello is. 

Hop on over to the Dollies site to check out what the rest of the team made.  These girlies are so talented!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love being a part of this amazing group!

Hope you have a great Monday!

Heidi

I'm a Storyteller!

I'm so excited!!!  I am one of the newest Storytellers over on Category Stories!!!!!

Category Stories has AWESOME monthly prompts with great sponsors! 

I was lucky enough to be invited to be their February Guest Storyteller and THEN I was invited yesterday to be a part of the team!!  That's so cool!!

Come check out my fellow newbies, Jess (yes, that, Jess, Miss Ninja Thang!) and Lena Nielsen and leave them some love!! 

This month's prompt is "If I Had a Time Machine".  Come play along!

If I Had A Time Machine - Category Stories February GDT!!!

I'm so excited!  I'm the Guest Storyteller over on Category Stories this month!!!!  The prompt is:

If I had a time machine I'd give my kids the opportunity to meet and get to know their namesakes, my grandparents. 

Everything on this layout is from the Pink Ninja Addicts kit "Three Little Birds" except the stamps, microbeads, and thread.

March 2011 issue

Head on over to the Category Stories blog this month and show us what you'd do if you had a time machine.  You have all month to play along and one lucky winner will receive an awesome prize supplied by Bre from Category Stories!!

Have a great Monday!!

Heidi

My Bowl Is a Perfect Fit

I think I may have mentioned I have been recently inspired by many different sources (notably this one and this one) to give an art journal a go.   And these last couple months I've been neglecting some of the fun challenge blogs I love to play along with, including Category Stories.  They have such creative prompts and I simply just had to play along with this month's which is "Perfect Fit".  

Now, I could think of all sorts of lovey-dovey perfect fits for which I have oodles of photographs I could use but I really wanted to do something in the art journal so I racked my brain for picture-less representations of a perfect fit in my life and this is what I came up with...

This is a combo of oil pastels, watercolors, and stamping. 

The fishbowl (which is supposed to look like it's got its reflection under it, which now looking at it I realize doesn't work but that's a whole other story...) is done with oil pastels.  I remember loving to use oil pastels when I was a kid so when I purchased my art pad I also picked up a new set of them.  And my memory was not disappointed...they're like fingerpainting.  I'm probably "doing it wrong" but I've always liked applying them with my fingers for the most part.  Otherwise I feel like they make too sharp a line.  Actually, I tend to apply lots of medium (paint, Stickles, etc.) with my fingers.  I feel like I have more control than with a brush and it's just more fun that way!!!!  The little fish is a Basic Grey stamp. 

The journaling says, "My husband says I'm a goldfish.  No matter what it is...time...space...relationships...whatever, I expand to fit my allotment.  Maybe he's a little right...  But I say my bowl is a perfect fit." 

All the background area around the bowl is done with watercolors. 

I do concede maybe he's a little right sometimes.  I'm usually the last one to submit my layouts for my design team reveals and you could give me an empty Taj Majal and I'd fill that sucker to the hilt in no time at all, but I don't think I'll share with him that maybe he's right.  Nah!  We'll just keep that between us.  (You can keep a secret, right?)

Hope you liked my maiden foray into the world of art journaling.  I hope to keep it up because it is super fun!  (Like totalleeeee, ohmuhgawd!  Sheesh, when did I turn into a teenage girl??)  I am hoping to participate with the weekly prompts over on the Tyggereye Art Love blog.  This week's prompt is "under control".   Check it out!

- Heidi

p.s.  Torendi is back from CHA and they brought goodies!!!!!!!!  Jenn will be giving away various YUMMY CHA scores to Torendi followers at 125 followers, 150, 175, & 200!!!!  Check out this post to see all the swag.  Here's just a peek:

ALSO for all you BamPop! fanatics out there, all BamPop! in the Torendi store is ON SALE right now.  This includes some new arrivals!! (Of which I've already snapped some up, thank you very much!)  Woohoo!  A taste...

i is for ice cream stamp set

bots like us stamp set

I bid you go forth and shop Torendi!!!  ;oD

Life Lesson #42: Sometimes Mommy Laughs AT You

I know.  I know.  As mommies, we're supposed to protect our children, both physically and emotionally.  That we're to assure them we're always their champions.  That we are to teach them the "right" way to treat each other and that it's rude to laugh AT other people.    But come on!  Sometimes they do things that are just so positively, insanely hilarious that we can't help but laugh AT them.  Mommies are human, too!

Yes, this is my SON.  He did this himself. 

And one day this will be a cornerstone in my blackmail arsenal. 

I made this layout for this week's prompt on Spunky Scrappers: Confessions of a Real Mommy.  Be sure to head on over there to check out what the rest of the DT made.  Very "enlightening".  LOL!! 

Incidentally, there's an informal contest going on over there on Spunky...let's see who can bring in the most new members.  So, hey, if you feel so inclined, head on over and sign up.  Be sure to let them know on THIS POST that Heidi sent ya!  ;oD  Seriously, we have had and will have some great, SUPER FUN prompts for your scrapping inspiration.  You'll be glad you checked us out!

This layout also satisfies all the challenges from the first week on the Design Dollies site!  Three forms of bling, check!  (Rhinestones, mini mirrors, Ting A Ling Sparkles glitter glue.) 

Color combo, check! (Royal blue, white, black.)

Sketch, check!

Whew!

Head on over to check out the new Design Dollies website!  What an amazing amalgamation of talent!!  You'll love it.

Aaaaaaaand, I also incorporated the prompt on Category Stories:  Laugh.  I'm really enjoying their prompts.  I've played the last couple months and there's just something so non-confrontational about their prompts.  Somehow that doesn't sound like a compliment but it is.  It really is!!  Their prompts are just easy to slip into. 

(Incidentally, I also included the Pile It On 3D challenge but couldn't post it before that one closed.  Oh, well.  LOL!  I'm so addicted to combining challenges!)

I think I better go kiss my son.  I have a feeling I'm going to get it one of these days for sharing this pic.  LOL!

Have a great Monday!!

Heidi