THE QUEEN OF QUIRK

off to sacramento

Flying from Phoenix to Sacramento today to see my best friend! I think it's so sad that we've let 10 years go by without seeing each other. Thank goodness for the telephone, though!
I was going through some old photos before I left England and found this one...so funny. I think it's totally obvious we graduated HS in '98. I kinda love/hate my outfit...that whole sweater vest/untucked dress shirt thing I had going on. :)

I'll be happy to have a much more updated photo of the two of us! :)
I hope everyone is having a great day! :)

outta here

While Colin is in between jobs, we have 3 weeks of down time in which we don't have to submit a stupid form 30 days out in order to take a vacation. We will not miss his old company one bit, lemme tell ya.

The downside of this 3 week time frame is that it will be a while before we can take a sizable vacation again. Possibly another year will go by before he will be able to. So, with that in mind we're both taking trips to see our friends and hang out. The trips are separate, though, so that we can both have some much needed adult time with our friends. I will be visiting this fabulous chick and this lovely lady. And I get a few days with my best friend from high school whom I haven't seen in 10 years. Yes. TEN years. The last time I saw Erica, I had no babies, Colin and I weren't even dating, and the biggest things on our minds were boys and seeing the world.

Times have definitely changed and I am so excited to meet her family. And so excited to have some grown-up girly time in the hot sun (gonna be in Scottsdale & Sacramento) and possibly some spa and mani-pedi action.

I just love traveling by myself...I am a completely different person and I love the quiet and solitude that comes with being on your own. With a house full of craziness, it's nice to get away and enjoy my own company. :)

i hate the dentist

I really do. But since I had a ridiculously lax attitude towards dental care when I was a kid, I now suffer greatly at the hands of dentists and endodontists who smile at you but then stick needles in your mouth and try to break your jaw open.
sigh...
I know it's my fault, but do they really have to make dental work so painful? Why can't they just give me a general anesthetic?

Today I'm having a lovely root canal and I am so not looking forward to it. I'm thinking of the 5 (yes FIVE!!!) fillings I just had replaced last week and I think...the root canal will be even more painful. Yippee.
So, everyone go and brush your teeth extra well today and don't forget to floss!
:)

Wish me luck!! :)

2 weeks already?

Where have the last 2 weeks gone!??! I've had my head in the sand while working on way too many projects and assignments at once, I guess!
I can't wait to spill the beans on a couple of them. I am always amazed at what I'm asked to do sometimes. I get to work with some amazing people! :)
I hope everyone is happy and healthy!
I've gotta get back to work because I have to finish today so we can go on a road trip tomorrow, have the house clean and dinner cooked for guests on Sunday, get my luggage packed on Monday and be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Tuesday for a very early flight out of Heathrow.
Happy Friday!
Thank goodness we're having some lovely weather!! :)

3d art

I just love a good, simple &, beautiful idea.

FRAMED FLOWERS

Absolutely LOVED this idea when I saw it on HappyMundane. I love that you could put practically anything on the shelf. I have to admit, though, the vase of flowers is especially appealing.

I don't actually have the magazine and didn't want to steal the image from the HM blog so I'll just direct you over there.

getting more from your patterned paper

I'm introducing a new feature on the blog that I hope will become a monthly deal. :) I adore patterned paper. I love creating it and I love scrapping with it. I've learned, though, that not everyone is like me and some people are overwhelmed by the thought of using really bold papers in their layouts. I love that if you narrow your focus to just one or two papers you can really stretch your kits and make some really different (and yet still beautifully coordinating) looks. I've asked some my friends to help me illustrate some different ways you can use patterned papers and I've also asked for their thoughts on how they like to highlight really bold designs and make them work for them.

Sometimes patterned papers can seem intimidating. In digital, we rarely have the luxury of buying our paper sheet by sheet so often we "come home" with way more than we need. Our paper collections grow and we end up spending more money sometimes because we buy an entire pack just for a few pieces of paper that we really like. Not every paper has to be a scene-stealer and not every bold paper has to dominate a layout. Let's try and get the most out of our paper! I've found that if you start looking at your paper stash in terms of individual pieces of paper rather than collections, you can get more use out of them. You can start seeing them for their uniqueness and you can also stretch your stash and make better use of your hard earned (and spent!) cash! :)

My scrapping buddies and I want to share a few tricks we employ when using really bold patterns. Today we're focusing on 2 papers from my Caldera kit, the blue stripe/dot and the red stripe/dot.

From me:

 

layout credits: Caldera kit, scrap canvas 5, flower from La Vie en Rose kit (not yet released)

"One of my favorite tricks for an instantly bold and graphic (yet deliciously simple!) layout is to use one fabulous solid and one really dramatic pattern. In small doses, the patterned paper really helps to focus your eye on the one spot where you want it to go. A tiny bit more in an opposite corner helps to balance the design as well as give the eye a bit more to take in while wandering around the page."

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From Gennifer (genuinepea):

"Sometimes, with a great photo, keeping it simple is key. A boldly patterned paper can really set the mood of your page, giving it energy and life. To avoid overpowering things, I like to keep it in small doses, since a little goes a long way."

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From Jenn (Jennstar):

layout credits: Caldera kit, Feltabet by Miss Mint (date), Boo to You by Gina Cabrera (staple & J), Sugar Sugar by Zoe Pearn (ric rac), scroll work by Mindy Terasawa (color challenge), font is Loved by the King

I love using bright colors and fun patterns on my layouts. Using them as a "splash" of visual interest ensures that I'm not taking away from my photos and that my layouts are not too busy. I think it's a great way to produce layouts that have a very fun and inviting appearance and begs the viewer to sit a while longer and flip though our memories.

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From Shimelle:

layout credits: caldera kit, totally framed vol. 1

"I love busy patterns with high contrast, but I also love to use a grouping of smaller photos on a page.  I have to be careful that the bold papers don't overtake the pictures!  The key for me comes in balancing them with a paper that is more neutral, so the two red Caldera papers are balanced by the grey fishnet pattern in between.  Instead of a plain old rectangle of patterned paper (like I would tend to do on my paper layouts -- because it's quick!), I used a digital file folder as a clipping mask to add a little extra fun to the focus of the page."

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From Michelle (rynonutmom):

layout credits: Caldera kit

From Jan:

"I love the way Michelle's layout highlights the amazing colors of her photo. By keeping her color choices down to 2, she's managed to create an energetic, yet not too busy layout. That's hard to achieve using 5 patterned papers!"

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Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you've enjoyed our little bit of sharing and scrapping! Thank you so much to the lovely ladies who helped me put this segment together. I'm very grateful to you for taking time out of your busy days for this! Happy scrapping everyone! :)

join the party!

The fabulous Shimelle is hosting a fun party over on her blog to celebrate her new class Stress Free Scrapbooking #01: Go To Press!
I was lucky enough to get to play along and get my hands on some of her fabulous printables that are exclusive to her class! I worked with the "music" themed sheet and I have to say I'm kinda in love with tthe printables and this layout.

layout credits: thickers, amercan crafts paper, lily bee design paper, making memories stickers, basic grey paper

Anyone who knows my scrapping at all knows that I am kind of all over the place. I think I'm more of a hit-and-run scrapper. If it's not in my line of sight, it's probably not going to make it into my layout. It's gotten even worse now that I paper scrap so rarely and my supplies are very thin on the ground. I think, though, since I've learned to only buy the stuff I absolutely love (as opposed to going with trends) my stash is much more user friendly and my layouts still reflect my style no matter how limited my supplies are. That's always nice to find out. :)

So, since my theme was music, I chose to highlight my ever-growing CD collection. I am a sucker for music. I love to sing, I love to dance, and I love jamming out on RockBand. So, this is my little tribute to one of my most favorite things in the world. I just love Shimelle's word art and graphics. So much fun. I was looking around for an extra bit of blue for the page to tie in Shimelle's stuff and I came across an old Barbie mini puzzle board. I chopped that sucker up and used part of the frame as a big bracket. I also wanted something to mark the edge of the photo on the top, but couldn't find anything. So, I broke out my Sharpie and just started drawing random lines. I kinda like the way they turned out. I might have to play with that in digi and see if I can come up with a fun element pack. :)

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to play along and get scrapping with Shimelle. She's amazing! :)

the garden is blooming 8.01

There are some lovely new projects up in the Garden at 2Ps! Here are my 2 pages. :)

layout credits: a day in the life, more than words, more than words solids, totally framed vol.1

layout credits: bare branches paper pack, bella paper, bess swatches, apricot avenue, feeling bookish alpha, more than words solids, so you think you know me kit
Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day! :)