please forgive me, dear friends! i will get this LO up, eventually! email to follow shortly... xo - W

MAMA-HOOD

Finally, I'm posting a layout! I think I still need to do the one 'about me'? I had fun creating this layout. The photo and supplies have been ready for weeks but life takes over, inspiration hits a hiatus...and here we are. :)

I used all the supplies from Studio Calico's Cotillion kit with the exception of the Thickers and tiny butterflies. The colors and patterns in the kit weren't really my cup of tea but I took it as a challenge and used it. And if you know me, butterflies are not my thing (Right, Jenny?! :)). The Heidi Swapp butterfly rub-on was cut-off because when I took it out of the package the bottom right part permanently stuck to the backing paper it was packaged with...so as Ali E. says "go with the flow"...so I put it on anyway.

I liked how it turned out. There's something to say about 'butterflies and babies'. This is a photo of Joey taken during his first week home. The photo is fuzzy because it was taken on D's cellphone...this photo makes me so happy! I miss these days!

Mama & Me

I LOVE this challenge. It sparked so many ideas and triggered so many memories. I could create a million layouts on motherhood. There are SO many stories to capture it. My grandmother, my mother, and me as a mother are all weaved into one. I see a common thread among all of us. It's neat!

I'm still working on another layout with me as a mother. Oh, what a journey it has been! No one can ever fully prep you. Now I know the true meaning of "a mother's instinct." It really comes from within. It's so natural, wrong or right. Thanks for the opportunity, Jenny! It gave me a chance to reflect on things.

Challenge #6 - On Motherhood

Has it really been a month since we've last blogged or scrapped?! That's ok - that means we were out enjoying every minute of our summer and spending quality time with our families :) Since we took a break from scrapping, I'm going to make our next challenge very easy.

Back history on how I came up with this challenge. In a recent discussion with my mom, I was surprised to find out that she knows how to fix a leaky faucet & change a broken garage door. All because she was forced to learn when she was a Navy mom and raising us 3 kids by herself. She told me of the frustrations and challenges she had being a single mom for years at at time.

It got me thinking. How cool would it be to record our reflections on motherhood. You could scrap about your own mom, a mother figure or being a mom yourself.

Here is mine:

Journaling reads: "Half the time I don't know what I'm doing. At times I get so frustrated. Sometimes I doubt myself. A few times I have cried. But when I get one of these smiles, totally worth it. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Sept 2009"

Self Portrait Challenge

A Letter to Myself

This picture was taken at Heaven Sent in North Park. I'm drinking a Mexican hot chocolate!

These are actual mini scrabble tiles purchased from a junk bin at Paper Tales.

I just love the image of the little girl.

Materials:

• stamps by Technique Tuesday: Main Street lowercase letters
• Notebook card stock paper
• chipboard stickers by Cosmo Cricket: Early Bird
• Journal cards by Jenny Bowlin & Cosmo Cricket: Earth Love Elements
• red brad by Basic Grey
• chartreuse velvet ribbon

Dear Scrap Sisters,

I really enjoyed this challenge. Although, it took me awhile to get started. Every time Farley took a photo of me, I kept saying , "I'm too fat or too ugly. I need make-up." I know I'm my worst critic. So, I took Wena's advice and had Hubs snap a blurry photo. Fabulous idea! The laugh lines and wrinkles disappeared along with any other imperfections I pick at. Plus, I was over thinking the whole thing--the layout, the photo of myself , and what kind of journaling would I do.

But one night, this idea came to me. I was browsing through old journal entries from years ago. Just a mix of feelings and emotions. Silly. Melancholy. Angry. Joyful. And I noticed some of them were in letter form. I used to always write to myself or God or my sister. After that, it came very easy to me.

Thanks again for this reflective challenge and always giving me endless amounts of inspiration.

Forever yours,

Jeanette

challenge #5: self portrait:

life at 35 hi gals...i created the darn challenge, it's about time i finish it! if this looks mighty familiar to you, trust me, it is. it's a direct lift of stephanie howell's. ain't no shame in my game (as she would say)! i initially had doubts about lifting a LO for this specific challenge, but i remembered some advice a wise friend once told me, "your kids will never know you lifted it". and you know what? she's right. these LO's are created to capture a moment, a memory; and when we're long gone, i doubt it will matter :)
this was harder than i thought it would be. i had to think long & hard about this challenge: about what i wanted to accomplish, what "story" i wanted to tell, about what message i wanted to convey. i wanted to capture the NOW. after days of racking my brain, i decided the journaling was the most important aspect to me. hence, the lift. content, however, my own words (whew!) ...
i'm a new fan of the ali e. style of "self portrait". every scrapper seems to have one; so i decided to try one on for size since solo pictures are rare for me. i took about 30 shots, and this one worked -- blemishes & all. i used sc's 'documentary' kit (with pieces from add on's 2 & 3). i tried to make the rip strip flower, but to be honest with you - it was too darn hard & i just wanted to finish! maybe i'll add it on when i can find some time...

can't wait to see you all...thank you, thank you, for the constant inspiration! love, love, love you gals!

xo - W

p.s. the picture is crooked on purpose. i wanted to make sure the image "fit" the page moreso than the photo (does that make any sense?) . . . do i ever? :)

Self Portrait Challenge

Vince took this picture of me when we were at Sea World a few weeks ago. I have no idea what I was doing. I remember we were both waiting for Jeb and Olivia to finish an Elmo ride and Vince was taking pictures of them. So I was really delighted when I saw this on the camera. I didn't photoshop any bit of this picture. I love the over exposure and the half face picture. And when I saw this digital brush from Ali Edwards, I knew what I wanted to do with it. Really simple layout. I just misted over an old flower mask I had with turquoise and bits of gold. Added a butterfly from Making Memories. And then I printed the journaling on fabric photo paper. xoxo Jenny

happy birthday jen!

it's a crappy pic i took with my phone, so i will post a better one when i have the chance. just wanted to get this on here today so i could share. thought about making a card, but i felt she would appreciate this more, especially since she got me into scrapping in the first place :) it was {lovingly} lifted from stephanie howell (my new favorite scrapper). j - hope your day is full of happiness, relaxation, reflection & love! here's to many, many more!

love you - W

challenge #5:

self actualization in one page :)

well, not really...

summertime is so much fun & i know we've all filled our schedules with beach, park, pool & movie days. i've decided to make this one easy -

scrap a self portrait

a lot of times we scrap about our kids (mostly), our hubbys (sometimes), but do we ever scrap about "me"? for me the answer would be: out of forty one pages i have only 1 of just myself; that would be .02%. so gals - reflect, ponder, and relish in - YOU...this should be easy, right? :)

challenge #4: color + plastic sleeves:

mellow yellow

plastic sleeve is from close to my heart. i put the embellishments right on top of the page vs. inside the sleeve

jb cream rub-ons from this june's SC add-on kit #2 luckily i still had some yellow lullaby thickers left, that "e" is actually a "c" :)

the cork letters are mm (clearance from michael's!)

thanks to r - he did all the collages for me!
*note to self: LEARN PSE!
man, oh man, this challenge took me forever! i first started with brown, wanting to work around the "happy scrapping" cake photo; then i changed to red b/c of one of emma's project red jackets. i was going to attempt to be clever by doing things "red" -- well "read", inspi(red), da(red), yeah --lame idea. i finally decided to go with yellow & center it around one of our many trips to disneyland. this was fun, but a bit stressful (as usual, lol).

can you tell i'm struggling with trying not to be 'matchy'? i guess that's something i'll learn with time. i went with the polka-dot yellow paper b/c it reminded me of minnie mouse's red polka-dot skirt :)

xo - W

Challenge #4

What is Orange...According to Fiona

I think I was on the same wave length as Abby when I first started this layout. I definitely wanted to document Fiona's current interests so that I could look back at it years from now. The funny thing is that most of the things she loves or is into at the moment are actually ORANGE! And being the warm and sunny personality she is, well, the color speaks for itself.

I wish I could have taken pictures of all the different ideas and possible layouts I played around with. I kept switching the sleeves around, taking them off, putting them back on, and even removing some. It drove me nuts. Partly because it started looking very similar to my previous layout. And I didn't want that. So, I had to change it up a bit. Since Fiona had so many things she liked that were ORANGE, I thought a collage would work best. Although I only used four sleeves, I used it for journaling and fun rub-ons of some of her favorite animals.

Oh yeah, gotta give props to the Hubs for helping me out with the collage. He's such a good sport.


Thanks again ladies for the positive and insightful critiques. You are all so sweet.

Love, Nette

Challenge #4



I am a pink girl at heart. So I wanted to scrap a color that I don't normally use. And lately I've been really digging the color teal. And when I found this flower headband in Illinois, I knew what color I wanted to do. I didn't have a baseball card holder so instead I cut up a portion of a slide protector. I love the square shape of it.




Another thing I did was print the photo on fabric paper. I bought fabric paper years ago with the plans of printing text on it and using it for journaling strips. Well, 5 years later I rediscovered the unopened box and was thrilled to find it. Not sure if you could see it but there is texture to the photo. Click on the photo for a close up and you could see the texture. And for some odd reason, my hair looks orange! Yikes! I promise in real person it is really a carmel color :)



This was fun! Thanks Nette! I scrapped a bunch of pages while in Illinois. I'm too lazy to post the layouts twice so I'll post on my blog.

Aww...finally I finished a challenge (#4). I have this crazy, neighborhood garage sale that I've been preparing for. I tore my house apart! :( So amidst all of the chaos, here is what I came up with. Nette, seriously this was a challenge for me because I couldn't just do ALL one color -- in this case it was blue. But I needed contrast of some sort...so this is my take on it.

I used 'business card holders' instead of baseball sleeves. I journaled behind the photo using 7Gypsie's number metal tags to help pull out the photo. This is also a page I've done in the past called "Its So Joey"...I did that last year, so I figure why not do it again for milestone purposes. I had fun putting this together. Thanks for the challenge...

Off to the garage I go!! Have a great weekend gals!

xo,

AS

This is the past layout I did with the same title.

Challenge # 4!

It's a two-fer: Color & Plastic Sleeves

Directions:

Use a baseball card sleeve or any sleeve that you own for this layout. Choose a COLOR and capture it through photos, paper, stationary, or any household random items. You can even narrow it down to a specific topic, or create a theme to it. Use your imagination!

For example, What is GREEN? Here are some ideas. Various topics may include: green things related to Fiona, green things around the house, green things you come across, green things found in summer, or green foods you love ( hey, that sounds like fun!)... Whatever floats your boat! Just Have Fun!

With love,
Nette

Challenge # 3 My Favorite Things

The grommets really hold it together!

Just zooming in on each mini layout!

I love the element of surprise on the inside.

Whew! I'm finally done! It took me a while to finish this one. I couldn't quite finish the layout entirely until school was completely over. The last few days were draining. But now that I'm on vacation mode, I'm recharged and ready to seize the summer days ahead.

Anyhow, this layout started out pretty simple. I just wanted to "knock it out "by using the baseball card sleeves to highlight favorite patterned papers. Then, all of a sudden each rectangle became a "mini layout" in itself. So, the simple idea got more complicated and if that wasn't enough, I wanted to add more to it. I was not completely satisfied with the look of it. For me, it needed a little bit more " Umph!" So, I ended up using these gold grommets to attach it to a 12x12 cardstock. The grommets were heavy and solid enough to hold the plastic sleeve and cardstock together. Once I did that, it all came together. It's kinda busy looking, I think. But That's just me. A busy bee! Enjoy!

ps. I journaled a list of my favorite things on the inside.
Just a general list of things...
buttons & brads
rub-ons & stickers
anything chipboard
borders & ribbon
mists, paint, & ink
patterned paper
transparencies
hole punches

Merci Beaucoup,
Nette

Such a Classic Tool

I know I'm a little behind on the challenge. But I'm just waiting for school to be completely over. And I do believe, it's my turn to come up with the new challenge. So sorry gals, I'm not quite ready. If anyone is itching to do a new challenge, feel free. Don't worry I'll think of something sooner or later.

But I had to share my delight in this amazing vintage typewriter I bought over the weekend. Such a classic tool. I love how it's all metal construction. And the keys feel heavy as I press down on them.

I remember taking typing in high school. How funny! I'm so ready to play around with it and incorporate scrapping and card making.

challenge #3: a few of my favorite things:

xoxo

here's my take... i just LOVE this month's SC kit, the paper is fabulous...

this was the only way i could think to add all the ones i love!one of my favorite techniques, i used adhesive foam to pop up the calendar (the one i won in the jb class :) this is when i started scrapping, can you believe it's only been 4 months?

lili bee...

...and pink paislee - you know i love rub-ons!
almost all my LO's have brads and buttons. and my favorite kit, of course, not just SC, but SC add-on kits!

so to spell it out i've tried to include most of my {favorites}: SC, jenni bowlin, cosmo cricket, october afternoon, sassafras lass & collage press paper, basic grey letters (which believe it or not i prefer to thickers), brads, twine, the threading water punch, black & white photos... there's also some stuff you can't really see: the basic grey opaline gems & cosmo cricket chipboard stickers. i wanted to add more...mist, ribbon, more hambly rub-ons, etc...but it started looking really gaudy, heh heh. i had to really hold back! oh! and naturally a LO wouldn't be considered mine unless there is a small flaw. if you look at the bottom right hand corner, you see where part of a rub-on rubbed off...i couldn't get it off. sigh. oh well...this was fun!

xo - W

Challenge #3 - my favorite scrap stuff




I did this layout a few weeks ago about my favorite scrap stuff. I definitely agree with Abby on this one - scrap your favorites now because it will change and it is so much fun to look back and see what is different and what is the same! This was a real easy layout to put together. I used the SC "story time" stamp to house all the products I am loving. I just took the names of the companies from the packaging.

Products that I love that haven't changed in a few years are Making Memories, Heidi Swapp, Jenni Bowlin, thickers, ledger paper, flowers, buttons, butterflies. What didn't make the list? I use to always use companies like KI paper, SEI, old Basic Grey; eyelets, decorative scissors and lots of cutsie computer fonts for all my journaling. Things that are new: sewing on paper, mists, ribbon & the biggest change of all is joining Studio Calicio. I've always resisting joining kit clubs because I thought I didn't need to since we have good scrap stores here but I'm so happy that Abby convinced me to join :)

A little note...

(click on note to enlarge)

"Your Favorites"...Just for Fun-Challenge #3

So, this is an old 6x12 layout! The idea behind this was putting all my "Favorites" on one layout. Favorites meaning manufacturers, types of embellishments, photo pieces, photo ideas, etc. In this layout, I cut up different strips of paper; paper reflecting my favorite manufacturers. The number strip is 7Gypsies -- love their adhesive ribbon + the manufacturer. I had a love for brads from Making Memories, the "@" is Thickers Chipboard, the photo ideas: the index photos and the "self-portraits"...you get the idea!

What I love about this challenge the most is...since Wena + Nette are fairly new to this hobby, it'll be nice to reflect back on this layout to see what were your favorites in the "beginning". A couple of years from now...or even 1-year from now...your favorites "may" be the same or not. I know, looking back at this layout, mine has changed. Jenny, has yours? :)

When creating this layout, don't forget to use techniques too; for example, Maya Mist! :) I am 2 layouts behind. Nope, haven't created one for this challenge yet...but I will.

Enjoy!!!

So NOT Challenge-Related...

Hello Ladies!! So, I'm waaay behind on doing the challenges. I know, I know. Nette, go ahead and post your challenge. I had so much going on this past weekend...my head is about to burst. I think I'm a little over my head on projects! This past weekend, I was introduced to these very, very cute boutique-y fabric stores. Umm, yes, I have a sewing project. I have all the materials...I just need to wash the fabric + iron + cut the pattern out. I also had a 2-hour tutorial by one of my scrap-girlfriends who went completely digital...in scrapbooking that is. And since D gave me some Adobe products for our anniversary, I felt the need to utilize them...:) So, of course, I have to share, right? 

Here's my very first take on digital scrapbooking -- critiques welcomed! :) No worries, I'm not turning my back on paper + glue but this just brings me back when I did CAD work when I was once earning a "live" paycheck. Tee-hee! 

Enjoy,

as

Edited: For some reason, the layout won't enlarge when

 you click on it. I don't know why that is?? If you do, let me know and I'll change it. xo

challenge #2: cutting up patterned paper:
like papa, like son

here's what i started with

here's the end result

i really wanted to title it "like father, like son", but i was running low on the thickers, lol. i had to cut up a 'g' to make that 'o'

i bought the orange felt embellishments @ the scrapbook expo with j, they are SO thick!


i love this stamp! it's not a very good shot, but i used adhesive squares to pop it up

...and SO, once again, this was difficult for me (i didn't scraplift). clearly i didn't use THAT much paper, but i did cut it up :) it's actually 2 pieces i cut up then pasted together. i don't know why...the paper actually came that way, lol. did i say i hate being the rookie (how long do i get to use that one)? i think my biggest challenge is not so much the actual layout or placement of the images or paper, but the embellishing part. and colors...i am really trying to get away from being too "matchy". i guess it's something i will learn with time. i haven't scrapped in a few days and i think my mind is on closing out the end of the school year. thank goodness my SC kit is on it's way...did i mention i bought all (yes all) 3 add-on kits? i need to get back into the groove! :)

cheers! W