Forgotten Crafts

Have you ever noticed...

It can be next to impossible to scrapbook, when there are 3 hungry cats on your desk/layout and 1 hungry pug under your feet.

They have no concept of being in the creative ZONE. And I was finally in the ZONE for the first time in a month. They just broke it.

Well, ok, that and the fact that I determined finally that the ONE thing I need to really make this layout work....is a craft knife. And I have one too! No need to go to the store! However, the craft knife is buried deep in the craft drawer that contains the remains of my former fascination with soap making. I haven't made decorative soaps in over 5 years.

Methinks I need to clean out that drawer. I want that knife.

Am I the only one with a drawer full of supplies for a forgotten craft? Am I the only one that still has hungry pets?

Episode #3 - Shopping!

In episode #3, I talk about about what I've been doing lately, my laziness in printing my own pictures to scrapbook, and where I like to shop. A few links to the websites of the places mentioned in the podcast:

Cedar Point

Amazon.com

Joann's

Hobby Lobby

Michael's

Archiver's

Special shout out to Amy Jane and Beemerboomer, who left me 5 star reviews on iTunes. Thank you SOOOOO much!

Enjoy the podcast!

Episode #2 Give Me a Shove

Well, episode #2 finally made it to the podcast. I talk a bit about the technical difficulties I've had with the podcast, as well as about what's new with me. I also discuss my tendency to scrapbook the way I program. I like to look for a book, magazine, or sketch to give me a shove in the right direction and get me started.

The book I mentioned in the podcast is "The Joy of Scrapbooking" by Kerry Arquette, Andrea Zocchi, and Darlene D'Agostino.

And of course, as promised, here's the cute enormous buttons I picked up at the store. They are manufactured by Blumenthal Lansing Company. I so can't wait to use them!

Cadillac Tent

Camping has always been a big thing in my family. We camped alot when I was a kid. Most of it was RV camping, though I did camp a handful of times in a tent. When Hubby and I got married, I knew I wanted to go camping. I also knew an RV was WAY out of the picture for is. It was tenting or nothing. I created a layout to chronicle our first camping trip, with our new tent....our HUGE new tent.

Cadillac Tent is so named, because it's ENORMOUS. Hubby can fully stand up in the center of that thing. It was more like a house than a tent. (Well, except for the canvass walls.)

My color and cardstock choices were practically primary colors. Camping like this just seemed all retro to me. So I went with colors that screamed 70s to me. The buttons were kinda wooden-looking to me, which made me think of trees. We were camping in the woods, after all.

Supplies: I believe the cardstock is all DCWV. The buttons...are buttons. The dragonfly punch was a Whale punch. Circles were punched from a Marvy Giga punch (I love that thing). The alphas are foam Thickers, which I then covered liberally with Stickles. It came out with a neat effect, but took a very long time to dry. I had to hide the layout in a plastic box to protect it from cats bent on making a mess.

Episde #1 Start At the Very Beginning

I've done it! I've started a podcast! (And it really worked this time!)

So this is episode #1. As such, it's really an introduction to the world. I talk about my interests...my pets...and why I love to scrapbook. My goal for this podcast is to produce a new episode every few weeks, and to chat about the ins and outs of scrapbooking, and why we love it so much.

Hope you all come along for the ride! (and hope the technical parts are way less bumpy than they've been so far. Whew!)

Technical Difficulties

I've been absent due to some technical difficulties. (Ok, that, and I've been on vacation.)

I'm trying to set up a podcast. I think it'll be alot of fun. I want to use this blog to hold the all important show notes, as well as my normal fun scrapbooking posts. However, I've been having trouble setting that all up. Recording was a breeze. Figuring out the ins and outs of hosting sites and getting the file into iTunes...that's been a bear. In classic Noelle form, I bought several books. (Got a good deal on the one. A Borders employee handed me a coupon sheet, with one that was $10 off 1 computer book. Made my $25 book $15 instead. Not bad.)

Anyways...so the podcast show notes post for Episode one, keeps appearing and disappearing, as I monkey with the whole setup. Don't mind me...I'll let you know when I've finally got this thing licked! I'm a programmer by trade, after all. This can't be THAT hard. (bangs head on desk)

Four Generations

I did the above photo tonight. My grandma passed away last week. I was tasked with going through albums and gathering photos of her for the funeral home. They made them into a photo collage DVD that was played during the calling hours. So while selecting and scanning, I came across this photo that I'd never seen before. My grandpa apparently took it.

This picture struck me for 2 reasons: First, I knew my great-grandma had died when I was about a year old, but I'd never seen a picture of her and I together before. (I am the baby, in case you couldn't tell.) Second, great-grandma was suffering from Alzheimers at the time. My grandma had Dimentia when she passed, with is a skip frmo Alzheimers. And honestly...a couple weeks ago, when someone at her nursing home asked her how old she was and she said "23"....she might have already crossed that line into Alzheimers. (she was in her late 80s.)

I thought printing out this picture and scrapbooking it would be a fitting tribute. And since the photo is circa 1970s, I was going with all 70s kitch mod colors. Or trying to, at least. I remember that teal being on alot of vinyl chairs when I was a kid.

So. Supplies. Yeah. Ok, the cardstock is DCWV. The alphas are from Sotheby's. The metal embelly is from Making Memories, as is the epoxy button by the title. The flowered paper was a new paper pack from a company I've not used before, and thus can't remember the name. (Seriously, I should take notes.) The remaining scrap strips and the ribbon were scrap donations from an online scrap swap I participated in. Consequently, I have no idea who made those.

A Scrapbook, of Sorts

I spent today working on a scrapbook, of sorts. It didn't involve any paper, adhesive, or scissors. But it involved alot of photos. 48 to be exact.

My brother turned 30 last week. Because my sister and her husband were scheduled to drive in from New Jersey for a cousin's wedding this weekend, we opted to celebrate my brother's birthday today instead of on the actual day. As it was, he had his evening college classes on his birthday anyways. So he really was fine with the suggestion.

The scrapbook came into the picture yesterday. My mother asked me if I could put together a digital slide show of photos of my brother from the last 30 years. I had just figured out how to set this up with my Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 in the last week. (After a year, I finally took the time to learn the software.) So I said, sure, no problem. I'd create the slideshow in no-time.

My mother provided me with a collection of pictures that she had located. I had a photo album of my grandparents' that had alot of early pictures. I also had the photo CDs for both my sister's wedding as well as my own. I also had the addresses of his Facebook and Myspace pages.

So having gathered my sources, I set to work around lunchtime today. I scanned and edited photo after photo. I would like here to point out, that some cameras just really did a crappy job with pictures. The Minolta Disk camera I had in the late 80s, took really fuzzy pictures. They scan poorly. But what can you do?

Ultimately, I scanned around 30 photos and had another 18 that where on the wedding CDs, or had already been scanned into my computer at some time in the recent past. I then ordered them all in my Adobe Photoshop slideshow project. I downloaded songs from iTunes (picked from his Favorites list on his Myspace page) and I convered them to wave files. Then I not only added them to the slideshow, but I set the photos to start off the "intro" slide on music cues. (That talent was honed on 9 years of violin training.) All in all, it was pretty nifty amd only took me maybe 2 hours most to set up.

Then came the hard part. I had to save it to a CD or DVD in a format that could be read by a TV or another computer. My first attempts at this with other slideshows in the last week, ended up with low resolution slideshows. Apparently Adobe's default format is pretty crappy on the resolution. It took me another 2 hours of trying formats and then letting my PC have 30min to spool to a file, before I got something that worked.

Ultimately, my brother thought it was funny. My mother loved it. My sister thought it was cool. And I? I myself, am jazzed to use this new skill to setup family heritage photo slideshows for viewing each Christmas. I can't wait to get started!

Finding Photo Subjects

I subscribe to several scrapbooking magazines. (Gives me something to read on lunch.) I've also invested in a number of scrapbooking books on various topics. As I flip through page after page of scrapbooking layouts, I'm struck by one thing. These people have perfect photos. Not only seemingly perfect photos, but photos of all these events, from the mundane to the monumental.

I'll tell you right now, that's not what I have in my collection of photos. When I go places, I try to remember to take my camera. Sometimes, I'll get to where we're going and take a whole bunch of pictures. But more often than not, I won't pull my camera out at all. Or, worse yet, I will forget to bring my camera in the first place.

Honestly, ultimately what I end up with is a ton of pictures of my cats, many of which have bad lighting, are out of focus, or both. I rarely end up with pictures of people. I'm not even sure why that is. Perhaps it's an unconscious extension of my natural aversion to having my own picture taken. (My wedding day was torture, in that respect. Cameras EVERYWHERE, all pointed at ME!) Perhaps I just don't want to subject other people to what I perceive as torture.

Or maybe I'm just lazy and forgetful. I would lean towards laziness when it comes to having the camera present but not taking any pictures. I once came back from a trip to Disney World with 5 pictures. Admittedly, I was with my parents and my dad snappeda thousand pictures, I swear. But still. 5 pictures? From Disney World? Who cares if I had been there 5 times before? Laziness.

So my struggle with photos then, is not that I can't organize them. (I have an effective system that works for me.) Rather it's that I don't have pictures that are good enough, or of a wide enough variety to effectively scrapbook at times. (Hmmm...47 layouts of cats in various sleeping poses, anyone?)

Well I will tell you this. It is still early Spring in. I have a new purse, with a new wallet, that means I now have room to carry around my camera, if I so choose. I have a wedding coming up this week. I sent in the applications for our 2009 zoo memberships. I have a trip in a few weeks to visit my sister in NJ. And I'm mentally planning several camping trips and trips to visit other area zoos. I will vow now...to take my camera...and take pictures. I will take pictures of people I love and places I visit. I will get up the courage to ask other people to take my picture with these people and at these places. And I will utimately end up with a vast collection of subjects for my Scrapbooking enjoyment!

Helping a Fellow Scrapbooker

I haven't done a whole lot of scrapbooking in the last week or so. I finally started on the Birthday minibook, which will list all the birthdays for Hubby's family. But I've only done the cover. That's because I spent some of my scrapbook time mesing around on the computer. (Read: Procrastination) And why is that? Because I am anal and have to start my projects at the beginning. That means the cover. The cover...was chipboard. And to glue paper onto chipboard, I had to use Zipdry, an adhesive I've never used before. I hate weird glues. It worked, the cover is great, but I'd rather post a little more than the cover. So we'll see how far I get this week.

Anyways. So since I wasn't scrapbooking for myself, I thought I'd help enable a friend to scrapbook. My friend B, who is one of the people who got me into scrapbooking, is having a baby. She had a baby shower a few weeks ago, and I got to go. It was alot of fun, but...I didn't know anyone there except her. And there were ALOT of people there. Not one of my favorite positions to be in.

What did I do? Well, I occupied myself with taking pictures. I took pictures of EVERYTHING. Decorations, gifts, games, food. When it came time for the opening of the massive amount of gifts, I positioned myself opposite B, and I snapped away. They're not the best photos. But then, sometimes the photos that best tell the story aren't the best photos on their own.

When all was said and done, I had 100 photos. 100! I couldn't believe I took that many photos. And then I was faced with downloading them from my camera and burning them to a CD. I'm a programmer, so I'm not technically challenged. BUT, I've never actually sat down and taken the time to learn how to use my copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements. I was able to do some of that. I didn't make a fancy slide show for her, since the objective was to get her photos on a CD for future scrapbooking purposes. But I did see some of the possibilities. Now my mind is swirling with my own future photo projects.

It's fun to work on our own scrapbook projects. But sometimes it's even more fun to enable a friend to work on their own scrapbooking projects. And the more friends I find who scrapbook...the better!

All About the Hat

This layout was one that I actually had half-planned in my head before our honeymoon was over. I had the title and photos in mind, because I thought they were cute and kitchy.

What happened...is I burned my scalp at Disney World. Come on, I'm a pastey blond programmer. I don't get sun. I was wearing my hair in a pony tail day after day, and my scalp burnt at the demarcation between my bangs and my pulled-back hair. Owie. And this was the end of DAY 2. So as we were leaving the Magic Kingdom that evening, we stopped in at the hat store on Main Street, and hubby bought me my first baseball cap. I don't wear hats, so he had to adjust it for me. He got himself a new had too. I snapped a picture of us while waiting for the bus back to the resort.

The saying on my hat, says "Mood subject to change without notice." And it shows a picture of a grumpy Tinkerbell. The saying...is me to a T.

Design-wise, I picked up the layout from the Scrapbooks ETC. magazine Pagemaps edition. I used alot of bright apple-greens to play to the green of Tinkerbell's dress, as well as the green of half the text on the hat. I loved that I was able to find a Tinkerbell embellishment that pretty well matched the grumpy Tinkerbell on the hat itself.

Supplies: Oi...cardstock is DCWV, but I don't know what any of the other items are. This was done along time ago, so I don't have the rest of the supply packaging to even look at.

And just so you know....Hubby is still teasing me about wearing the hat. Not that I burnt my scalp. No, he thinks it's funny that the hat was so low on my brow...because of my pony tail. The rest of the trip, the hat keeps sitting farther and farther back on my head, as I put my pony tail a little lower each day. Like I said before...I don't wear hats!

The Girls

Ok, as promised...a picture of the layout I did last week. What do you think? The photos are of my sister and I. We were about 5 and 3 respectively. Back then, my mom liked to dress us alike. So we both have on the same sundress. They were made of patchwork fabric that contained blue, yellow, green, and orange. (Wonder if Mom still has those dresses.)

So, design-wise, I was totally trying to recreate the dresses with the paper choices. Using multiple patterned paper on one page is a big deal for me, as it's way out of my comfort zone. I picked the orange out as the background, and then did the blue, green, and yellow as alternating blocks. I used rub-ons to make it look all stitched together. I think it came out kinda quilty. (What do you think, Zegi and Sara, my quilting afficiandos?)

For the embellishments, I just liked the green buttons. I was trying to work out a visual triangle with the green jewel at the center of the flower. I was also trying my hand at layering embellishments. So the flower is actually 2 flower embelly's stacked, with a jewel on top.

I'm not to keen on the way the journalling looks. It almost fades into the background. I picked up a Marvy Giga Circle Punch from Michael's a couple weeks ago (with a c.o.u.p.o.n. Me likee c.o.u.p.o.n.s. Almost as much as g.i.f.t.c.a.r.d.s.) The cicle from the punch is just slightly too small to cover it. I might punch a circle, cut in half, and place that over the journalling...with the same words written on it...anyways. I could just figure out a way to also cover the little bit of the old journalling that would still show. We'll see. I'm still thinking on that one.

Supplies used: Cardstock = DCWV. Patterned paper....crap, I didn't write it down again. Rub-ons were Heidi Grace, I think. The flowers are from DCWV. Buttons from The Paper Studio. Text from...um....I think Memory Makers, but I could be wrong. I know, I said I'd be better at keeping tack. At least I have no plans on being published. ;)

Finding Subjects - Or, Where Have I Been

This past week and a half has been a flurry of Birthday celebrations. The Hubby had a Birthday. My mom had a Birthday. There was shopping, wrapping, cake buying, dinners, family get togethers...and little time for much else.

So that's where I've been pretty much. I did manage to get some scrapbooking in. I finished a cute layout with photos of my sister and I when we were preschool-age. I did a funky little psuedo-quilt out of paper and rub-ons. It came out well, but I haven't had time to photograph it to share with you! I'm hoping to get that done this week.

I also started work on a layout about hubby and our World of Warcraft gaming lifestyle. The plan is to submit that to the monthly challenge over on Paperclipping.com. But we'll have to see if I can get it done on Wednesday night.

I spent all afternoon yesterday at a baby shower. That's where the "finding subjects" comes from. You know, I had one of the coolest bridal showers ever back in April 2008. But we were all so busy with the party, that no one ended up taking many pictures of the decorations, snacks, people, etc. So I don't have a whole lot to scrapbook from the event. So yesterday, when I got to my friend's baby shower, and knowing my friend is a big scrapbooker....I snuck around taking all sorts of pics. I snapped photos of the cute decorations, the brightly wrapped packages, the cake, even the flowers that her hubby sent her. And then at gift time, I positioned myself opposite her, so I could take all kinds of pictures. I wanted to get her alot of pics to work with.

Well, when it was all over....I had 100 pictures. 100 PICTURES! Holy Shnikes! It was good because most people were taking pictures of her opening just their gift. I got them all...as well as candids of people talking and laughing. But the down side, is that I have to pull them all off my camera and burn them to a CD. That's going to take awhile. Oi. But I know she'll appreciate it.

So that all said....if I don't post much this week, you'll know I'm sitting her downloading, editing, and saving pictures for her CD.

My Pseudo Heritage Project

I'm calling it Psuedo, because the pictures are supporting the "journaling", which isn't my own words. The story is this: My grandpa died in September 2007. When my mom was going through Grandpa's sock drawer, looking for black socks to send to the funeral home, she found an old letter. It turned out the letter was from Grandpa to Grandma, when he was in the army in WWII and they weren't yet married. The letter details a 7 day trip...or furlough? R&R?...that he took to Rio de Janiero. Grandpa was stationed in Brazil in WWII. The letter was a fascinating look at my grandpa in his early 20s. I learned alot about him, and yet he made statements that were SOOOO grandpa.

My sister typed a copy of the letter, complete with Grandpa's typoes, into the computer so we could print copies for everyone. But as I read the letter, I realized I'd seen some of the photos he talked about his friend taking. I had a box of photos I had spirited away from my grandparents' house a few weeks before. (Sounds worse than it is. My mom told me to take them since I'm the genealogist.) So I decided to combine the letter and photos into a scrapbook.

This is the first page of the letter. I had no idea where Grandpa had been stationed. So I managed to print a map from the web that showed the city the base was in, the first city he flew to, and his final destination of Rio.

This is another page from the letter. My grandpa is the man in the photo on the front left. I hand wrote the captioning from the back of the photo onto the page below the picture. I was trying to make it seem like Grandpa had actually created the scrapbook.

I like this page, as the picture is of a really neat old building. All the background paper I used, is supposed to be reminiscent of old wallpaper. Normally I hate shabby shiek. (sp?) I just dislike old-looking stuff.

This page, I just was so proud of myself to pair up Grandpa talking about buying a snazzy suit, with a picture of him in the suit.

I haven't finished the album. Grandpa's letter ended up being 16 printer pages of multiple sections. I split the letter up into small sections because I scrapbooked in 8x8. I've scrapbooked about 15 scrapbook pages and estimate I have about 15 more to go. Oi. But Grandpa LOVED to travel. My grandparents went on vacations with us EVERY SUMMER. This album is just so him.

Girlfriend Time

I watching Paperclipping Live tonight, and the host, Noell, had her friend Dedra on. They worked on scrapbooks together. The show ran long and there was alot of chatting and giggling. But it got me thinking. What is it about crafting, that makes it so much fun to do in a group? People gravitate to group crops and scrapbooking stores, sewing classes, tutorials, and in the information age, to the web. And they craft in groups.

Crafting in a group is different than crafting by yourself. Granted, alot more progress overall is made when when crafting solo. There's less distraction. But when groups give you that instant feedback. You can hold up your project and have others go "Oh now that is so cool." Or you can get help deciding how to fix a problem or figure out a certain technique. That support and encouragment can be invaluable to your overall creativity.

There's also the giggle factor. Face it, places a bunch of female friends in a room, and what do you end up with? Giggles. LOTS of giggles. And silliness. I think that's the part I love most. The camraderie is priceless. When I've spent time crafting with people, I always spend more time laughing than actually crafting. It's a great stress reliever.

Ultimately, this need to craft in a group is what's lead me to implement "Craft Day." Craft Day at my house, is a Saturday afternoon, when a group of friends get together and craft. I called it Craft Day because some of us scrapbook, some quilt, some cross-stitch, some bead, etc, etc. The list could go on. We have food, laughter, and fun....until everyone feels like leaving. It's one of the best ways to spend a Saturday afternoon, I think.

Lacking Motivation

Does it count as crafter's block if I just don't have the motivation to go upstairs and do it? I think it does. I'm just pooped. It's been a super busy week, and my mojo has been sapped.

Most evenings this week have been go-go-go. Or at least, they've seemed like it. Monday was the one day we stayed home. Tuesday I had Weight Watchers, after which I raced home, exercised, had dinner, and got into my jammies to watch Paperclipping Live. (www.paperclipping.com) But did I get to watch the online scrapbooking show in peace? Noooo. Bugsy couldn't understand why he had to share my laptop with the laptop. So I sat up more and gave him room to lay on the couch next to me. That worked, until Joey decided HE was going to lay there. Cats. Oi. So I got the dog onto the other side of me, where he laid until his butt gland released all over the afghan. BLAH. So I put everything on the floor and changed over the laundry so I could wash the afghan.

Wednesday we had to make the 45min trek up to have dinner with the inlaws. Hubby's uncle was visiting, and Hubby's dad had free tickets for us to see the Cleveland International Auto Show. So we had to go get those. My MIL, whom is a pretty good cook, and regularly kills my weight watchers diet...bought pizza. Well, actually, she informed us that since it was Ash Wednesday and they couldn't eat meat, they were getting a cheese pizza, a veggie pizza, and cheesey bread. Now, any of you who know me, know I think that whole "can't eat meat" religious thing is S.T.U.P.I.D. But whatever. They're Catholic, I'm not, so it's their thing. And they didn't put me in a position to say "sorry...I don't like/eat fish." (Hubby doesn't either.) I actually enjoy veggie pizza. Or rather, I actually enjoyed TOO MUCH veggie pizza. ;)

So on Thursday then, we had to go out and buy a laptop case for the new laptop. Neither of us had thought to get one when we bought the laptop last Sunday. So off we went. Cases for 17in laptops are fairly scarce, it turns out. Target had none. We had to shell out $55 at Staples for one that didn't remind me of a work briefcase.

Friday....Friday we went to the Cleveland Auto Show. It was dealer employee night, the night before it opens to the general public. How my FIL gets tickets to this, I don't know. But was free. We spent several hours at that. (I want a new Honda CR-V. I love the one I have. Now I want a new one.) After treking around the auto show, we went home, and I had to spend the night dog-sitting at my parents house. Actually, I'm spending the WEEKEND dog-sitting. But during the day I'm just going over every 3 hours or so to let them out.

So I have no time. No energy. I slept on a couch last night with chinese crested dogs piling on me. My back hurts. And I have cleaning to do. THAT would be my crafter's block. Right this very second, I'd rather sit and aimlessly kill computer monsters than try to figure out how to place colored paper and stickers to enhance my photos.

Sometimes....real life just takes out the creativity, you know?

Snippets by Lain Ehmann

My first book review!

I have been following Lain Ehmann's podcast and blog since....well ok, since the beginning of January, when my bff Kelley started her own podcast and got me hooked on podcasts. So I haven't been a fan long, but it only took one listen for me to become completely hooked on Lain's ScrapHappy podcast. So I was just over-the-top excited when I heard she had a book coming out.

My copy of "Snippets: Mostly True Tales from the Lighter Side of Scrapbooking" came in the mail on Tuesday of this week. After doing a little happy dance around the kitchen (which my hubby watched with one of those bemused I-can't-believe-I-married-her looks on his face), I then proceeded to rip open the package and slip the book into my work bag. After all, a girl needs something to read on her lunch break.

The book is hardbound but small, pretty much pocket-sized, with an adorable little elastic strap to keep it closed. The book also has an attached ribbon bookmark. The cats haven't yet discovered the strap or ribbon, and I will do everything I can to protect them.

It took me two days of lunch breaks to read the entire book. I loved it. The book is a collection of lighthearted essays covering various topics, that, while specific to scrapbooking, could also cover fans of any number of hobbies. Topics ranged from musings on how much therapy the children of scrapbookers need after constantly being subjected to having the most important and most embarassing moments plastered on paper and that submitted to all sorts of online sites and magazines for the world to see....to hiding bags of newly purchased scrapbooking supplies in the garage so your husband doesn't see them....to the mystery of how no one needs anything from you, until the moment you sit down to work on your scrapbook project...to digging through other people's newspaper recylables looking for unused craft store coupons...to wondering why your shoulder hurts, and then evaluating the contents of your enormous purse...to getting all geeked out and asking your favorite scrapbooking celebrity for an autograph.

Overall the book was highly enertaining. There were several times I stopped myself from spitting out pop as I started to laugh. I found this to be an excellent reliever of stress in the middle of my busy work day.

So that all said....I give the book a thumbs up, and recommend you pick up a copy for yourself!

Sail On Silver Girl

I managed to get a little scrapbooking done on my craft night this week. One of the websites I frequent, has a monthly challenge. You're supposed to pick one or more of the topics discussed on the site in the past month, and utilize them in your scrapbook page. So this was my submission:

The topic from the challenge that I choose to cover, is a page inspired by song lyrics. "Sail on Silver girl" is the first line of the third chorus of "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel. It was the song that went through my head alot after Chalimar died. She was a grey tortishell, or what they call a blue-cream tortie. So she was very silver in color, with lots of pale orange splotches in her fur. When I saw I could use song lyrics, I knew I had to do a page about Chalimar's death.

The supplies: The black cardstock is from DCWV. The red heart paper is from The Paper Studio. The silver letters are from Colorbok. And the large flower rubon was by Heidi Swapp.

The journaling reads:

"My Dearest Chalimar, I asked you not to leave me. After loosing Annie in October, I couldn't bare it. December 2, 2008 you broke free of this existence. Not a whisper of illness and then boom! CANCER. You left this world on your own terms, and I didn't get to say goodbye. I truly believe you went beacuse our Annie needed you more than I did. But I will miss you and will forever feel cheated. 10 years was not enough time. But sail on, my baby. Your time has come to shine."

Missed Photographic Opportunities

Sometimes I could just kick myself. I know an event is coming up that will give me the perfect opportunity to take a ton of pictures. And I expect that at least some of these pictures will make an excellent blog. What happens? I choke.

This past weekend was the annual Ice Festival in town. I have always thought it was so cool that they had an ice festival with ice sculpting competitions in the center of town. You wouldn't believe the beautiful works of art these artists can create with a block of ice, a power saw, and some various chisels and what not. And it's all beautiful ice.

I was actually surprised by the arrival of the festival this year. Usually there are signs posted long before the festival, announcing the dates. This year, the first inkling I had the festival was here, was when I drove through the center of town on Saturday morning, and saw them setting up for it. No matter, I figured we could factor it into our weekend plans. I mentioned it to the husband, and we were set to go.

Friday was too busy after work. Saturday was Valentine's Day. We headed out for our afternoon activities. I had considered stopping by on our way home, but didn't for two reasons. First, there was a ton of traffic around the center of town, due to the festival. Second, I had forgotten my camera anyways. So we headed home.

Then Sunday...we forgot. COMPLETELY forgot. I didn't even remember the festival was going on until I drove through town on my way to work this morning. OOPS!

Sigh. I have missed the festival for the past few years, either by forgetting, or by the weather being so crappy that I'd just rather not venture out. But this time I'm so annoyed. I wanted to scrapbook it! Now I can't! Grrr. You wouldn't BELIEVE how many times I've done something like this in the past. So now...I'm kicking myself. I really have to be a bit better at the picture taking.

The Real Craft Loft

I've got the whole Craft Loft set up! I've even Scrapbooked in it! So without further adieu, a tour...of the Craft Loft....


The desk is all set up, with places for just about everything. There's papers in cubes, papers in paper files, stickers, rub-ons, embellishments. Even my various scrapbook bags have a spot under the desk. The green decorative screen is positioned to keep curious kitties from walking the railing. (No idea why they keep trying to do that.)

We also have my desktop. My mother-in-law gave me the really cool desk caddy from Making Memories to hold all my supplies. It even rotates! My Ott-Light came finaly from Jo-Ann's. Fed-Ex had to ship it all over Ohio and PA from MI before getting it to me. Why? Because they could.

But finally, no craft area in this house would be complete, without accepting the inevitable "helper". So I just went with it and created a cube Just. For. Them.

Kieran Tanner W., Quality Control Officer.

And that, my crafty blog friends, is where I scrap.

The Birthday Book

I came up with this really cool idea yesterday. A Birthday Book. What, pray tell, do I mean by that? Let me explain...

So yesterday, the husband and I drove out to visit my inlaws for dinner. (Spaghetti...my weekness.) As we were sitting around chatting after dinner, Gram informed us that it was hubby's cousin's 7th birthday. My mother-in-law lamented that she had been meaning to take a calendar and fill in all the birthdays for the coming year, but had not gotten around to the task yet.

Light-bulb goes off in my head.

On the drive home, I was thinking about this. (It's a bit of a drive.) I suddenly had visions of a mini-book, with 1 page per month, filled with the birthdays for that month. My mother-in-law could flip through it at will, or hang it on the wall near her desk, and just change each month. Because it wouldn't be an actual calendar, it could be used year after year. It could also be set aside and pulled out only as the reference for filling an actual calendar each year. Honestly, how many times have you sat down to fill birthdays into a calendar and had to call another family member to be reminded when someone's birthday was? If you're like me....ok, if you're like me you have them saved to your palm pilot and YOU are the one everyone calls for the reminders. So maybe that's not a good example.

Anyways, this is an original idea...for me...because of the simple fact that I never wanted to do a mini-book before. I couldn't see a use for them. I prefer working in 12x12 size, so mini just doesn't fit that preference. But now that I've got an idea, I'm rarin' to go.

Where this leaves me now, is in a forced planning stage. I know my style. 70% of me is ready to go to the store and start buying month/holiday/themed paper and embellishments. Admittedly, I don't have much in the way of themes. However, the 30% of my logical side is reigning me in. First of all, I have no idea how I'd like to do each page. I'd hate myself afterwards, if I rushed out and bought all that product, only to realize once I did some planning, that I couldn't use half of it for the project. I also am well aware that I have used up most of my alotted fun money for this pay. That won't be replenished until I get paid this Friday.

And then there is the small problem of birthdays. I don't KNOW any of the birthdays for my husband's extended family. Heck, I can't seem to remember my inlaws' birthdays, as it is. So to fix that, I have a set of printed out "questionaires." They already know I am my family's "genealogist", and had expressed interest in the past, in having me do some of their research. So, I'll start. I'll get my birthdays, and then the project is ON baby!

Updates will come....as I figure out how to do this!

Tree of Life

The Tree of Life layout is another layout from my Honeymoon scrapbook. The subject of the photos, of course, is the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida. I am quite proud of myself over this layout, because it is one of 2 layout concepts that I actually was thinking about while we were on our honeymoon. I thought it would be so cool to do a layout of pictures of all the carvings of the tree. So to acheive that, the Husband and I took alot of pictures of the carvings on the tree.

I ultimately scraplifted the design from Scrapbooks Etc. Page Planner (a magazine I love so much, it is becoming dog-eared. I may need to scope out another copy from Joann's.) I changed the size of the smaller photos, because I couldn't get them all into the grid at exactly the same size. But I figured it ot so that the left and right column photos are the same size, and the center photos are a slightly smaller size. I scraplifted the design because I am just not good yet with coming up with cohesive designs. In my defense, I am a programmer, not an artist. And I'm a perfectionist to boot, so I dislike having the pages all look crappy because I went with my own ideas of designs. So I am learning by copying, which is allowed.

As far as the paper choices, as always I used DCWV. (I shop at Joann's. It's easiest to buy a big book of DCWV when they're half-price. I like half-price.) I choose wood paper to emphasize the whole "tree" idea. Yes, I know it's really made of steel and what not, but it's supposed to evoke a giant tree. And it does a darn good job. I used the lighter letter stickers that look like they're burnt wood. I had those left over from my sister's wedding scrapbook. The brightly colored fall leaves paper in the background was chosen for theme and color. Had I used green, I thought that was too blah with the overwhelming amount of brown. The oranges and yellows just seemed like the right pop of color.

The important thing with any layout I do, is do *I* like it. And that's really all that matters in the end, right?

Crafter's Block, Or, Where I've Been

I've been a little AWOL the last few days, suffering from a bit of Crafter's Block. But I have a good reason.

My crafting desk has been purchased!

We travelled to Ikea in Pittsburgh on Saturday and bought the desk. (We bought many other items, too. I love Ikea.) My husband assembled the desk for me on Sunday. It was cute, because I hadn't asked him to assemble it yet. He claimed that if he didn't assemble it right away, he wouldn't get around to it for weeks. Perhaps he was a little tired of the stack of scrapbooking supplies on the kitchen table?

The problem with assembling the desk, was that we had to empty the loft first. I had a decorative queen anne style desk, that for various reasons was residing in the loft instead of the family room where it was supposed to be. There was also a bookcase and the dreaded elliptical machine. (That machine and I have a love-hate relationship. It loves me, I hate it.)

So, we emptied the loft, husband assembled the desk, and I helped by making him some lunch and snapping his picture from time to time. (For scrapbooking purposes, of course.) Once the desk was assembled, we had to figure out how to get the rest of the furniture back in there. Sadly, only the tv and the elliptical made it back. Everything else is currently in the spare room. Oh how I wish the condo had a basement.

I have spent every day since, trying to get the desk set up. I hadn't realized how large my scrapbooking stash was. Amazingly, I had most of my stash stored in a rolling laptop case that broke my back if I tried to lift it. Now I know why. I managed to get most everything put away, purchased more storage containers for use in the desk cubes, etc, etc. It's alot of work. I'm trying to figure out a system that works for me. I'm also trying to figure out better ways of storing things like papers and stickers. Some storage containers I already have, won't fit in the cubes. (SOMEBODY should have measured rather than assumed.) Luckily, Hobby Lobby is having a 40% off sale on plastic storage containers. (Yay me!)

I'm having fun figureing out how to organize my desk. I'll post photos in a few days. I had to order a craft light for the desk, as the loft only has strategically placed overhead lights. The craft light should arrive sometime in the next couple days. Not having a good place to craft, and having a huge ordeal to get my supplies out, is really a huge contributor to Crafter's Block. But now, I can't wait to get all set up and back to scrapbooking!

An Atypical Scrapper

What is a typical scrapper?

Before I started scrapbooking, it seemed to me that most people who were into scrapbooking, fit into the following categories:

Female
Mom or Grandma
Stay-at-home
middle to late middle age

I never felt like I fit into any of those categories. Well, ok, I'm female, but that was about it. I'm not a mom, and consequently not a grandma. I'm not even sure I'm ever going to want to BE a mom. But that's another topic for a later time. I'm not stay-at-home in my profession. And I wasn't middle aged. It seemed like anytime someone mentioned scrapbooking, it was the "Mommy and Me" set. You know, the women who had tupperware parties all the time.

That's not me.

I now have to add middle age to the categories I fit, because my birthday last month kinda made that fact undeniable anymore. But other than that, I think I come off as an atypical scrapper. My topics of choice are activities with myself and my new husband, as well as our large brood of furry animals. If I make a layout that's baby or childhood themed, it's most definintely in reference to the pets. They are my babies, after all.

When I got started in scrapbooking, the person who gave me the biggest encouragement, was a good friend. She actually, fit the categories the same as I did. No kids, job outside the home, pets, hubby. Of course, she's pregnant now, so she's moving into the mom category. But at the time, she was just like me. I remember thinking, "well heck, if she can scrapbook, then I guess it's not exclusive to just moms and grandmas." That inspired me to take the plunge and try it out.

Am I atypical, though? I think so. But then, I just dropped alot of money to get myself a crafting desk. I also have a growing stash of scrapbooking supplies, as well as ideas. Maybe I'm not that atypical after all.

Snow Photo to Scrapbook

This is definitely a photo I'll have to scrapbook. We got about a foot of snow in Ohio on Jan 28th 2009. It snowed so badly that I ended up working from home that day. Once the plow had been through our complex, there were massive piles of snow everywhere. What's a little pug-dog to do when he really has to GO? Whatever could he be thinking in this picture?

Gators with Capes

This page I love. Not just because I think it's a really good page. I scrap-lifted the design from the Scrapbooks Etc. Page Planner. And honestly, for a techy person who's trying to get in touch with their creative side, that is the BEST way to learn. If I'm learning something new, first thing I do is grab a book on the subject.

No, the biggest reason I love the layout is because of the inside joke between hubby and I, and because I ADORE Fantasia. Favorite Disney movie of ALL TIME. I made hubby watch it before we went on our honeymoon, to prepare us for Disney-Fication. This photo was also taken our very first day at Disney, the day after our wedding. Oh how I want to go back!

Supplies...ugh. I'm telling you, when I post old ones, I just don't know. Other than, of course, that the paper is DCWV, because that's what I have the most of. I choose the solid lime green paper, to echo the color of my shirt in the photo. The blue water paper was to bring out the blue in the gators, as well as play into the fact that these were part of the swimming pool decorations. The jewelled flower is from Stickabilities, I think. I placed that there, to balance out the title and journaling at the opposite corner. Journaling reads:

My favorite Disney movie is FANTASIA, which was the theme for the hotel pool. The walkway to the pool had these adorable statues of Fantasia's characters. The funny thing, was just weeks before, Dave and I thought we should create a World of Warcraft guild called "Gators with Capes"!

Princess Aurora

This is one of the layouts from my honeymoon album. The layout photo was taken during yesterday's cat-infested photo-shoot. Fun times. It wasn't straight. None of them are.

So, the color in the photo is bad. Really, the colors are really pretty powdered blue and pink. (Keep in mind, I hate pink.) I've taken a picture of this layout twice, and I'm not doing it again.

So...supplies. The blue paper is from DCWV. The pink patterned paper with crowns, is from Archiver's but I don't know the manufacturer. The princess embellishment came from JoAnn's, I think. The journalling reads:

Aurora: "Did your handsome prince slay a dragon for you?"

Noelle: "Why as a matter of fact, he did!"

[Explanation: Hubby is an avid computer gamer, as am I. Hence the dragon slaying.]

The Make-Do-Girl's Guide to Photographing Layouts (With Cats)

Step 1 - Find a day when there is some amount of daylight coming down from the sky. If this is the dead of Winter, a snow day home early from work will do.

Step 2 - Open window blinds as far as they will go. Turn on all lights in room, as 1 room with 1 large porch door, will not emit enough light in the Dead of WINTER.

Step 3 - Set up photo "studio" with large plastic box (used to keep kittens from eating baked goods) as object to hold layouts up vertically.

Step 4 - Attach camera to bendable Joby tripod. Adjust legs so camera will actually stand upright.

Step 5 - Position layout against plastic box in front of camera.

Step 6 - Turn on camera. Turn off flash, set to close-up mode, set 2 second timer to outlast button-pressing-jiggles. Adjust camera repeatedly in an attempt to get uncooperating Joby into the correct somewhat straight position.

Step 7 - Remove curious cat from between camera and Layout.

Step 8 - Take photos. Take 2 photos to heighten chances of a useable photo.

Step 9 - Take a third photo after forgetting to set 2 second timer resulting in blurry second photo.

Step 10 - Switch to next layout.

Step 11 - Chase away kittens from coffee table setup.

Step 12 - Repeat steps 8 - 10.

Step 13 - Retrieve camera from floor where it landed when knocked over by kittens who HAD to orally investigate camera strap.

Step 14 - Stomp into kitchen and feed cats and dog 40 minutes early, to keep them busy for awhile.

Step 15 - Hurriedly repeat steps 8 - 10 before animals finish eating.

And THAT is how a Make-Do-Girl takes layout photographs in the Dead of Winter, during a snowstorm, with 3 curious cats and a dog who just wants to be loved.

Joseph Benjamin "Joey" Cat.

Public Enemy Number 1

Letting Go

I was going to post some honeymoon scrapbook pages, but the camera didn't focus right on them. I'm still working out the logistics of photographing my layouts. I watched a video from Paperclipping.com, on how to photograph them, but that won't work for me. It's the dead of winter, so there is no daylight hours for me on weekdays. Ugh. So I'm still working on that aspect.

So instead, I'm posting a layout that...I didn't know if I was ready to post. I'm still not ready to even create a layout for the inevitable follow-up event, of actually saying goodbye. Nor can I do the subsequent layout for my cat Chalimar. 2 cats...passed away...within 6 weeks of each other. They were my life. The grief sapped my crafting mojo and I'm fighting to get it back.

So here is the layout I did, when I found out my prescious Annie had cancer. I know the paper is all DCWV, because that's pretty much all I have in solid colors. The letter stickers...cut off the logo on the product months ago. (My attempt at fitting it into a smaller storage area.) The single butterfly, flying free...not sure on that anymore either. I made this page in September 2008, so it's hard to remember. I just remember...how sick she was. The journaling reads:

* It’s not something I ever wanted to do. I realized
it was part of being a pet owner. But it just seemed
so far away. Cats are supposed to live a long time.
And believe me, Annie, you have always been
such a character, that I figured you would be with
me for a very, VERY long time.
* You have been my life since the day I brought
you home. You and me, the deaf girls team. No
matter how crappy my day was, you just cared that
I came home, fed you, and spent some time playing
with your favorite ball of yarn. If you couldn’t find
me, you would wander through the house yowelling
until I came running. You trained me well.
* In 2006, when they told me you had diabetes, I
learned how to care for you. I dealt with my fear of
needles so I could inject you. I adjusted my life to
fit in your care. I took you to specialists and paid
whatever I had to, to make you well. I was on top
of the disease at all times.
* And that’s what makes this so hard. I want to call
someone, throw money at something, and buy what
I need to make you OK. But I can’t. There’s no cure
for cancer. The hardest thing I’ll ever have to do, is
watch you slowly slip away from me. I can soften
your food, cuddle you while you eat, add water to
make sure you drink, give you your insulin, and
wipe your eye and nose as they leak from the
tumor pressure. But that’s it. There’s nothing more.
* I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do this. It
feels like failure. I don’t want to let you go. I can’t
let you go. Because I don’t know how I’ll be able
to go on. How can I live with a broken heart?

Feline Interference

Ever tried to scrapbook with kittens around? We have 2 kittens who moved in with us in November. Elly, the black kitty, loves paper. And I mean LOVES paper. I caught her walking off with sales receipts a week or 2 after moving in, and I thought...uh oh. This is NOT good.

Sure enough, I was in trouble. Last night was the first time I had settled in to really scrapbook in almost 3 months. Elly not only tried to steal every bit of paper from my trimmer, but she also climbed all over my entire workspace. I had to remove her to trim paper. Then I had to remove her to glue. Remove her to tape. Remove her to piece paper. Remove her to journal. Remove her because I turned away to dig in my sticker stash and she climbed over everything to get into my rolling scrapbook case!!

Oi! But the best...I had put tape on the back of a ribbon to place on my page. Cats + ribbons = Disaster. And I knew this. Still...I'm carefully trying to line up the ribbon into juuuuust the right spot...when WHAM! Elly's paw smacked it down right in the middle of my page! So now...I should put on the page layout "Design by Elune P. Cat."

Where Do You Craft?

I read these magazines about scrapbooking, and they give the impression that EVERYONE has this fabulous craft space. Everyone, that is, except me. I'd never even given thought to having a scrapbooking desk before Christmas 2007, when a friend of mine received a scrapbooking desk from her husband for Christmas. But she had been scrapbooking for a long time, and her sister was a Creative Memories consultant. So she probably had good use for a desk.

Still...a craft desk? Or even a space in my house dedicated just for crafting? That's an interesting idea. I grew up working on crafts where-ever. I cross-stitched in front of the tv. Worked on school projects at the kitchen table. We had 5 people in our house when I was growing up. There was no room for a dedicated craft place.

That was then. My mom now has a table in a corner of her familyroom, where she does alot of sewing. After retirement, my aunt started up her own embroidery business and set up shop in her basement. I have another friend who recently was able to take an entire room and set it up for crafting. Granted, that room had been her the bedroom of her recently passed father. I know she'd have rather had her dad here. But she still was able to repurpose the room for her special area.

Where does that leave me? To date, I have been scrapbooking at the kitchen table. On the nights I want to scrapbook, I have to drag all my containers of supplies out to the table. They take up half the table, and we eat at the other half. Since it's just hubby and myself, it's not that big of a deal. I can even leave them there over time. But when company is coming over, I have to drag everything back into the computer room, where everything is stacked in somewhat neat stacks on the floor. I started out with everything in a nice drawer in my "craft center" in the closet. The stash quickly outgrew the storage space.

I'm on the verge of changing all this. A few months ago, I found a desk in the latest Ikea magazine that I think will be perfect. (I'm an Ikea junkie.) It will have a bookshelf of 16 cubes, with a nice-sized desk part attached. We're going to reorganize the loft in our condo, to fit the desk, the elliptical, and the large craft-drawer unit that I've had for years (also an Ikea find, but from their kitchen section. I bought it for extra kitchen storage in my apartment and made it craft storage once I moved into my condo.)

I am so jazzed to get this set up. I have no idea how it's all going to fit in that loft. It's a nice sized loft, but we're still going to have to do some arranging. The hubby will have to figure out how to run cable to the tv up there too. Because not only do I like to watch tv while I'm exercising, but I love to watch tv while scrapbooking, too. But that's another chat all together.

We're tentatively making the trip to Ikea next Saturday. So once I have the desk, and have the whole loft set up, I'll post some pics!

Oh Boy

When I saw this paper at JoAnn's, the denim just screamed "Little Boy." Since I had decided to do an ongoing scrapbook for my cats, I knew I'd have to do a page devoted to my only "little" male cat at the time. (1 year later, alot has changed in my house pet-wise.) My "little" boy is now a 3 year old 14lb HUGE male cat. (With full claws.) And I adore him from tip to tail.

The journaling reads:

Kieran Tanner. I brought you home from Kitten Krazy in June 2005, and promptly locked you in the spare bedroom for 2 months. You were covered in Ringworm, poor baby. You hate closed doors now. You always have to know where I am. You're very much my little boy. I just call out "Kier-Kier!" and you come running. You're also a handful, clawing the couch, wrestling with Annie. It's why Daddy calls you "Orangie McBad." Just when I've about had it with you, you cuddle up against my face in bed, purring away, and all is forgiven. You are my baby boy, my Snickerdoodle. And I love you with all my heart.

I cropped and printed the 3 photos of Kieran from kittenhood to adult, on my PC with Microsoft Picture It! 2000. I have been to lazy, to date, to put in the effort to learn my new copy of Adobe Photoshop, which was intended to replace Picture It. Anyways, I happened to find these stitched denim letter stickers in a clearance bin at Hobby Lobby. The paw prints are from a cat themed sticker sheet. The rest, the writing and the "stitched" flower were done with a white scrapbooking gel pen.

Scaredy Cat

This page was created to celebrate my weird relationship with my then 9 year old cat, Chalimar. The journaling reads:

You were so mighty when

You came to live with me.

But slowly, over 9 years, your

World has shrunk to where

You'd rather not leave

the spare bedroom.

People say Torties in

general are odd, but

You're just my Chalimar,

and I love you.

The black background paper and the pink and white daisy paper were both standard open-stock cardstock from Hobby Lobby. (Not sure what brand they sell. I'll have to research that.) The red sparkly letter stickers, I believe, might be from Stickability. The journaling card came from Creative Memories. I do know that. I promise that pages I make going forward, I will note down the makers of the various supplies. To get started, these are images of pages I've created since I started scrapbooking in mid-2007.

Geek'd Out Moment

I need a moment.

Blaaaah!

Ok. Just all geeked out. 2 weeks ago I actually checked out podcasts. I started listening to ScrapHappy by Lain Ehmann. I'm adicted. I've downloaded all her podcast episodes that are on iTunes. I just love it!

So the magazine she works for, Simple Scrapbooks, is closing up shop. I have been reading that magazine for a year but hadn't picked up on any of the editors' names. She's a contributing editor there. When I heard the magazine was closing, I opted to email her and tell her how much I love her podcast and hope she'll keep it going.

She emailed me back! I didn't expect a response. But she emailed me back!

Now I just have to go off and be all geeked out for a little bit longer.

Honeymoon Album Update

Do you know, I've only finished one scrapbooking project in the year and a half that I've been scrapbooking? That successful project completion was my sister's wedding album. The reason that one was finished, is because I had set a deadline for myself. It was her Christmas present in 2007.

In general, though, I like scrapbooking without a deadline. My whole workday is filled with deadlines. Scrapbooking is my release. It's supposed to be fun. Therefore, no DEADLINES.

So the biggest project I have going on right now, is my Honeymoon album. We honeymooned in Walt Disney World Resort from May 11th - May 17th 2008. I LOVE Disney World. It was my 6th or 7the trip there, lifetime. But it was my hubby's first trip. He was a Disney fan in general before. Now he's totally hooked on the resort. We can't wait to plan our next trip there.

Since it was our honeymoon, we were able to participate in the brand new Disney Honeymoon registry. That was so cool, because we registered for items and experiences within the resort. Our wedding guests were able to purchase increments of these items. Then we just redeemed everything while we were there. It was like having $800 of trip spending money. At DISNEY. One of the souveniers we brought home, was the empty scrapbook album. I didn't want to shell out the money for their paper and embellishments, if I knew I could get ones I liked better at home. But the album, with its Cinderella's Castle medalion, was to good to pass up.

Another pro-scrapbooking perk of staying at Disney that we utilized was the Disney Photopass. The way this works, is Disney Photopass photographers were stationed throughout the parks. You have them take your picture in front of various Disney landmarks, and they scan a card you're given, to log all the digital pictures to one online account. At the end of our trip, we were able to purchase a CD of all the pictures we had taken. That worked ot SO well, because Hubby and I are both extremely shy about asking others to take our picture. This was so easy, we were able to walk away with 24 photos of the 2 of us from all over the resort.

I am approximately 2 pages away from being completed. But I am stuck. While at Disney, I was stalking Snow White, to have our picture taken with her. (Hubby humored me.) I envisioned this fabulous scrapbook page containing 2 pictures: one of Hubby and I with Snow White on our Honeymoon, the other of me with Snow White at age 4. I know the age 4 photo exists, as a slide. I am currently after my dad to locate that slide and digitize it for me. (He has the gadget to digitize his slides.) To date, he hasn't located the picture yet. But I have faith!

I'll post pictures from this scrapbook in my periodic layout posts as time progresses. :)

Where Does Craftiness Come From?

"Crafting is one part imagination, one part skill, and one part leap of faith to just TRY it" ~ Me

So I said that on the header to my main page. And I do believe that is the recipe for craftiness. So many people think they aren't crafty at all. "Oh I could never do that!" they lament. "I don't have a crafty bone in my body." In reality, they may have the wrong perspective, and simply be missing one of the parts of the recipe.

Let's look at part 1: Imagination. Imagination is something we learn as a kid. Something we cultivate. Some parents and teachers encourage it, others don't. But without imagination, there are no ideas. Albert Einstein wouldn't have made much of himself if he hadn't thought what the bus he was on would be like if it travelled at the speed of light. It's these ideas that make the world go round.

When it comse to crafting, you just have to come up with a vision of how you might like the project to look. My first scrapbooking project was my sister's wedding album, aka Christmas Gift 2007. That was a big chore. But I had an idea. I could envision a page of pictures of bridal shower gift opening, just hanging together in the perfect layout. I had no idea what I was doing. That almost lead me to stop before I'd even begun. But I couldn't get the idea out of my head.

My quest to learn how to scrapbook, lead me to locate part 2: The Skill. Being a knowledge junkie anyways, and a techy by profession and schooling, I turned to the one place I knew I could find the skills. I bought a book. "The Joy of Scrapbooking" by Kerry Arquette, Andrea Zocchi, and Darlene D'Agostino. It's a HUGE hardbound book, that I carried to work with me for a week. I read it cover to cover and was hooked. I learned about layouts and what supplies I might need to get started. Once I bought all the supplies, I was ready to go.

And then...what? Wait? Nothing happens.

That brings us to part 3: The Leap of Faith. Sometimes you have to just jump in and try it. Let go of the need for the project to be perfect. (That is difficult for a perfectionist such as myself to admit.) You can have all the coolest ideas in the world. You can break the bank buying books on the subject. You can spend hours in class studying the craft. But at some point you just have to TRY it. Let go...and be crafty.

For my part, I made HUGE mistakes with my sister's wedding scrapbook. Some of the pictures were fabulous. Some I did just to get them done. I didn't necessarily glue things down right. Some of the photo edges were very rough, because I used my engineering major hubby's old paper trimmer from college. Sometimes pictures just disappeared into the background instead of being enhanced by it. And sometimes...every so often...I hit a fabulous page that I just adored.

And you know what? My sister LOVED it. Not only loved it, but cried when she opened the gift. And showed it to her and her husband's friends when they returned home from Christmas. And that, I think itself, was enough to validate my idea as good, my newly aquired skillset as adequate, and it justified the leap of faith.

Flower Girl

My first foray into the world of Scrapbooking, was fueled by my desire to create a scrapbook album of all the pictures taken by family and friends at my sister's wedding. This page, "Flower Girl" was one of my favorites.

Supplies used: Solid pink paper came from a DCMV solids paper pack. The red rose patterned paper was from a wedding album scrapbook kit I had purchased to get started. The title sticker was from a sheet of wedding word stickers. There were a few silver twirly embellishment stickers I added as well. Note to self, keep better track of supplies for posts. ;)

Over all, I thought my placement of the photos, with one large focal shot and 2 smaller supporting shots, was pretty artsy. At least it was for me. I spend my days parked in front of a computer writing code. This paper and adhesive thing is very different for me. (I also didn't think until well after I gave the album to my sister, that I should have taken the pages out of the page protectors to photograph them properly. Learning...learning.)

Thankful

I have this insane need to get other people's opinions on my scrapbook layouts. I'm not sure why that is. I've never had this need to put myself "out there" before. In fact, I have a Far Side comic hanging in my cube at work, that says it all. It shows a line of adventurers treking through the jungle. The first guy is hanging upside down from a trap he stepped in. The next in line says to guy #3 "See, that's why I don't walk in front." That...in a nutshell...is a big part of my philosophy on life.

And yet, I need opinions on my layouts. So when I saw my local scrapbook store was having an online blog challenge, I jumped at the chance to enter. The challenge was to make a page that showed what you are thankful for, in honor of Thanksgiving.



Being a huge animal lover, and having adopted 3 new pets in 2008, I of course had to scrapbook my pets. Since I'm also newly married, I had to include the hubby. So in 2008, what I was thankful for was my new family, "My Sweeties."

The supplies used: The patterned and solid paper came from the DCWV's fall paper pack. The tiny maple leaf punchouts were from a punchout I purchased at Archiver's. Not sure who made that. The title I created on my PC with a desktop publisher. I printed it to scrapbooking sticker-type paper, and then cut it to the size I wanted.

The layout was made all the more special in that 2 weeks after I submitted the image, the grey cat in the picture died unexpectedly from cancer. It was an inadvertant memorial to my beautiful Chalimar.

Welcome + Mission

Welcome to Noelle's Craft Loft! I have spent many moons looking for a place where I felt comfortable chatting about my love of Scrapbooking and Crafting on the web. To date, I have been largely unsuccessful in my quest. Therefore, I decided to carve out my own little blog niche.

My mission, then, which I am hereby accepting, is to fill this blog with talk about crafts. Scrapbooking will be the specific topic of choice. But that is not to the exclusion of all others. My experience is that most crafters are not confined to just one method of creativity. While I currently focus primarily on Scrapbooking, I am a long-time cross-stitcher. I've also dabbled in decorative soap and candy making. (No worries, I used different molds for each.) I even have a long untapped knowledge of stained glass crafting. Now THERE is one you don't hear about every day.

So then, what is it I really intend to do on this blog? I've got a variety of ideas. I'd like to, of course, gush about my current projects. I'm craving opinions on my scrapbook layouts. However other topics I'm contemplating: product reviews, new project ideas, how-tos (if I come up with any), funnies, updates on my group craft days. If this page really gets hopping, it might be fun to have some craft challenges, play games, and have give-aways. But that would be farther down the road, I'm sure.

One last note: The Name. The name has a very simple explanation. I'm Noelle. In my home, my aspired-to crafting space, is to outfit the loft into a craft area. Hence the name, "Craft Loft". As yet, though, I don't have that space set up. It's in progress.

So with all that said, Welcome Welcome! I look forward to crafting with you!