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.