Perfectly imperfect!

Alright ladies, game on!
I actually rose to the challenge and completed my page! Can you believe it? I can't!

You will need to view it on my Picasa page because I am Mac illiterate and can't figure out how to change the file type to import the pictures here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/JSchelin/Challenge1

My challenge color is pink. I don't get to use pink very often because I am usually making pages about my son (he doesn't look so good in pink). I happened to find this paper that had all these wonderful words that described ME. I printed a picture that I actually like of myself in color, then resized and made that same picture a sepia tone and blurred the edges to add a little artsy flavor (thought about Sharon as I was working on that). I formed the pictures into a sort of corner frame to frame the larger color picture.

I circled a number of the words that were already on the paper, that I really felt described ME.

Then I added "MOM" which was a premade sticker, "wife" I cut out using the Cricut, cutting each letter 5 times and stuck them all together to make the word pop. The last thing I did was write additional words to describe ME on my title letters. One of my favorites is "perfectly imperfect"...Why? Because I don't care about perfection...and if you really look closely at my page you would see that I didn't try to cover up the mishaps that happened when cutting out letters.

Hope you like it. It's perfectly imperfect and I love it!

Oh, and I had to add a blue flower just because blue is my favorite color! :)

Nichole's challenge

Hey folks! I did my scrapbook challenge last night! Here's my finished page!





I used this goofy picture of me 3 times. I was going to go for 4 in a photo strip style, but my printer wouldn't print these any smaller without pixelating them for some reason. I think if you click the image it'll open bigger in a new page. The color I barely use was the teal in the background!

For details on this layout go here.

I can't wait to see the other layouts!

something new

I am desperately avoiding blogging on the other blog, so I'm finding other things to distract me. It isn't that I don't like blogging about myself and my munchkin, rather that I've not blogged in so long about anything of any consequence, I feel there is so much to catch up on. It feels akward to just start up new from now, and skip all the other stuff. Psh.

So the girls and I have been tossing around ideas about how we're going to keep our creative jazz up in spite of my moving away. (I know, girls. I'm the totally inspiring one. you don't have to say it!) I truly miss having face time with my friends from the north, and find it very chore-ish to scrap now as opposed to fun.

Before I moved, in preparation for the impending doom, we thought perhaps a round robin of some sort would be cool. As far as I know, a 6x6 round robin "book of friends" is still a valid and possible idea. At any rate, I think it would be awesome to do.

Well, I found this AWESOME site called How Much is Too Much. This little blog poses a new challenge every week, allowing a week for completion. The purpose of HMITM is to get scrappers to use the supplies they've been saving up. I think anybody can participate, all they require is that you post your image on a link at two peas (another site I wish I had a limitless amount of money to spend at!).

While I want to participate in at least one HMITM challenge, just to do it, I think a challenge group of our own is in need. So, after talking and talking with the girls but not really doing anything (summer is SO busy, I think now we're starting to see some time free up for us) I implemented a new challenge for us! Yay!

Of course, we can each make up our own challenges as we go, but I made the first one to get the ball rolling.

The challenge for this month is this:

Create a layout of any size using the same photo multiple times AND

Use a color you don't normally use/favor as your main color element!

I give the girls a month or so to do this, as I know they have other things to work on and commit themselves to.

So gals, if you're reading this, GET MOVING on that layout! And start turning your brain wheels about a challenge idea you may have!

Thank U

It appears I'm the only one posting at this here blog...which is fine. I know the other fabulous gals are constantly turning out great works of art, whether scrapbooky, altered, or other. And I'm aware I promised pictures of my friend album. Those will be added soon, I promise.

For now, here is the latest thing I crafted. A thank you card for my mom, in the form of art that she can hang/display as a reminder of my everlasting debt to her for everything she's done for me and mine.




It looks a little gray on the left because it was raised a bit from the scanning surface. The metal/enamel heart is thick enough alone, and I fixed it to the page with a foam dot, just for added thickness. ;)

supplies: velvet ribbon, lace, enamel heart, fabric "mom" tag, "mom" brad, sticky gemstones, acrylic stamps, inks, large eyelet (green bullseye looking one), hat pin, rub-ons (bird, white heart near "rock"), patterned papers.

Sharon gave me this card with a lovely matching envelope when I first met her. love!

a gift from the heart

*pictures to be added

So, if it isn't obvious to those who read my other blog, I've moved. Yes, so long MA, hello VA! I miss Massachusetts already, and I can't say enough great things about the people I met and fell in love with while there.

Before I left, my bestest closest gal pals (Sharon and Adrienne included) threw a birthday/going away dinner party for me. There was tons of good food (at the Melting Pot! yum!), good drinks, good laughs, and presents!

The best present of all was a big shocker, something I really didn't expect. Yes, I sort of expected scrapbooking supplies from a group of girls who identify themselves as scrappers. But the album they made me was gorgeous, and by far my favorite gift ever.

Each gal made a page (or pages) about us and our friendship. Adrienne included pictures of the kids and DJ. Sharon included pics of Shay, and each girl included pics of themselves, and pics of us together up to no good. They each wrote a message on the front page, and each page glows with the personality of my friends.

Being here in this new place is exciting and daunting at the same time. I'm in unfamiliar territory except for the few times I visited Joe when he was in A school here. But the album my friends made me is a quick and lovely way to remember I'm not alone, not truly.

Thanks girls. It means so much to me. (and I'm still waiting for pages from a couple of you!)

Decisions, decisions

So many pictures, so little time.....

I'm sitting here wondering what in the heck I'm going to do with so many pictures. At a new friend's place - cropper extraordinaire Adrienne. Luckily, she's got a layout book on-hand.

I loved looking through all the different possibilities. As well as the finished works inspired by them.

This series was shot by my husband. He captured our daugther helping herself to dessert (without permission) He was so proud of it. I was glad she wasn't doing something more serious, like mixing chemicals.

The layout book showed me I could use all the photos by telling a story. Novel idea, right? Then I used the layout instructions as a guideline. I coordinated my page around the colors in Shayna's shirt. And used my new nifty page ripper thingy for the yellow bars on top and bottom. The layout was just a template, bald if you will. So after the initial strategy, I was on my own.

So I dove in with some tools and material and created embellishment on an ice cream cone. I happily snacked away on scones while I came up with this ditty. I'm most proud of it:

Then I used scraps within reach to embellish the rest of the page (see memories, below) Okay, I was too lazy to get up and walk across the room to my kit. Eating ice cream isn't necessarily a "treasured memory", but it sure looks good!

Good enough to eat.

Scrapping circles around Nichole

On Nichole's last post:

I always feel more creative when working with the HBIC. She has the tunes, the memorized words to go with it, the heart-shaped scones. And I don't go anywhere without the promise of coffee and some sort of flavored cream served upside it.

I schlepped my eclectic assortment 'o goodies with me in the drizzle. No plans in mind. Just a bunch of photos shoved in a page-holder awaiting a new destiny. I dove right in while Nichole calculated her every move with a piece she had in mind. I can't be that focused. Not at that hour. And not with that much caffiene.

Below is part of page-one for my Fall 2006 album. There's a lot to look at so I'm posting this in segments .

I took my time selecting pictures for this album. I want to keep it out on display. This reminds me of a childhood friend who carried around a photo album in her car. I always loved that. She'd frequently whip it out to show off her latest endeavors. She was so disciplined, keeping all those photos in chronological order.

Well, I'm not quite as disciplined. Not even as organized. Which is why I'm just now going back to FALL of last year. Husband turned me onto photography as a hobby and I wanted to showcase some of the pictures I took with my new digi cam. I look forward to Fall each year. Last fall held some special memories for me, so I want to ensure I preserve them.

The series above was taken in a nearby field where sunflowers grow for a short period of time each year. I always wanted to photograph them. But never got my act together in time. Finally one day, without warning, I make my husband pull the car over and I force everyone into family portrait mode.

I used raised dots to give dimension and flow to the grouping. Chipboard, stickers, and metal embellishments weave throughout.

Below is another page for the fall album.

Who doesn't love Halloween? A friend of mine in Georgia sent me tons of her cast-off scrap ware. When I came across the diamond pattern, I knew I'd be using it for Halloween.

Now, although Shayna's passion is Pirates of the Caribbean, she took a sharp right turn at the last minute and decided on a witch costume. Never mind that she'd had the Pirate's costume since her birthday in July. By October, it was all about the witch.

On purpose, I put the main picture off-center. It's more interesting to look at than a dead-centered picture. Or at least that's how I was feeling at the time. The small squares are actually origami picture frames that I made with opposing paper squares.

My aunt gave the origami book to Shay as a gift. I've seen the use of origami roses in scrap booking. But I wanted to do something a little different. And also, I thought the colors would help fill the negative space and give a lift to the eye/design. I have many, many more Halloween prints to come and can't wait to work on them.