When’s Octover? I’m ready for November!

October is always a full month for me and this year is no exception. Two weekends out of town and a myriad of activities so far and it’s only the 16th. Whew - just need to hang on a little longer through two scout meetings, the school fair and Halloween and not to mention what feels like an activity every singe evening.  In the craft room, the tables I put up are still full from my kit sorting and I’m determined not to let all of that work go to waste - so they are patiently waiting for November or a free night when I actually have the energy to do something other than crash on the couch. But hey, how would we appreciate Thanksgiving without a crazy October. Here’s a few pages to tide you over.

This one was made quite a while ago in answer to a challenge to use a song title.  This was Elsie's last school dance performance - the fifth grade sword dance.  And while she performs this dance regularly now for competitions, this was the last time she ever danced with her class. It was a cool moment and the end of an era.  So happy to have that moment captured.  This reminds me of why I still love my "big" camera.  You just can;t get shots like this with the iphone from as far away as I was sitting. 

Another one of Elsie - presentation for school created with a single photo I was emailed from the teacher.  Love that I got a peek into her day.  I added more embellishments that usual to this page and it's kinda making me happy.  I am usually a simple is better girl, but it was such fun to just keep adding.  Besides, I finally used that Hambly owl I had been hoarding for ages.  Ya! 

When your girlfriend convinces you to do something silly - you get a page about The Donut Dash.  I tried to capture the sugar sweet fun of this day with the paper and embellishments. The grid pattern design was from a sketch that was online.  Need to remember that some of my happiest pages come from challenges and random prompts from people I follow. 

So that's it for now.  Hope you enjoyed these pages.  I am going to grab some sketches and look for a challenge or two to have in my pocket for the next time I have a little time to craft.  What are you working on next? 

How to get started again

Let’s go back to a few weeks ago - just want to share the process of restarting for anyone who needs this encouragement. After getting a wild hair and making the layout featured in the last post, I decided it was time to get back to scrapping. So I searched my calendar for a way to make it happen. I found an upcoming weekend when my kids would be with their dad and I didn’t have massive commitments. I pondered going away for a retreat, but couldn’t justify the drive to even the closet one I could find - about 7 hours there and back plus packing and unpacking time - so I settled for an at home retreat. I will say, it wasn't the most effective weekend, I got distracted at home - errands, laundry, drop by visits, cooking - you know the drill - there’s always something, but I will also say I got started and that was worth it.

Step one was to clean up the space and make it workable for the weekend. I am lucky enough to have an office/craft space, but it was a mess. I don’t know about you, but I have several landing spots for memorabilia and things that need to be filed or kept so I decided to start there. I sorted out things that could easily get tossed, filed or categorized. Then I put up two large folding tables that I purchased at Sam’s - lifetime brand 6ft tables that fold in half for storage and also have three height adjustments (I like the standing height). And then I starting pulling things out - all of the unused kits I had piled up, half finished layouts from when I had to quickly store the contents of this room before having the floor replaced last December (yes it’s been 10 months since I touched a layout!) and anything else I found. I then sorted supplies, utilizing the dining room table and was ready to scrap. 

I was lucky enough to have some partially completed layouts as a jumping off point, which means I had very few decisions to make and could get back to adhering paper to paper and adding embellishments - which is my favorite part. After a few of these got done I was already feeling like I was back to my crafty self so I started making new layout selections. Personally, I don’t mind having several layouts going at the same time at different stages so I can pay attention to my energy levels and do what works for my current state. 

So there you have it. That’s how I got back at this craft that I’ve loved for nearly 30 years. Here are the partially completed layouts that were the first to get completed. I will be back with more layouts that just needed to be photographed and then the newest ones after that. 

Happy crafting! 

Choose Happy - this was a selfie from an event that I went to where a mentor of mine was being honored.  I decided to take advantage of a fairly good photo to keep my positive self talk going.

I will admit that my daughter is currently in 7th grade, but this layout was too cute not to finish.  The teapot is a mother's day card from her to me.  Yes, I saved the place cards and no, I am not ashamed.

Dress up holiday parties make for the best pages!  Three generations captured here.  I had already fussy cut these flowers but found an entire package of daises that went perfectly - yes, I used all of them - cause why not?

Concert time!  I took a ton of photos at this concert and I am so glad I did.  The layout was a little boring when I started, but a package of stars, some words and way to many clear accent stickers later, it was feeling a lot more festive.    

Here's a close up of the word and sticker fun.  I tucked those paint mark stickers all over the place and I love them - I had no idea how I was going to use them before this layout got restarted. 

Another confession, I stuffed some confetti from the show in my pocket and yes, it is on the layout, again, don't care. 

This layout was complete - only needed to be adhered and journaled.  And then I found butterflies and all was right with the world.

I struggled with this layout some - but once I just gave up and started sticking things down it worked.  Funny how when you make a commitment and then start working around whatever you committed to things seem to just work, 

So there you have it.  Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to share what you are working on or a layout that has you stuck.  

You can always come home again . . .

They say, you can’t go home. But I don’t believe them. Creative pursuits, while places of great joy, also need some joy to thrive or at least a hint of joy to spark more. What do you do when you just don’t have any joy?  Sometimes you take a break. You go dancing. You sulk. You watch movies. You read. You don’t beat yourself up the entire time. And eventually your creative soul begs for a release from the cave. And you walk out and just start.

And so I have. And I must admit it was jerky, but not painfully so. But I just stuck with what I knew - I printed a large photo - in this case a selfie I liked  - along with some quotes I have recently saved from Instagram and Facebook that have been inspiring and then I pulled out a kit (thank goodness for hip kits!) and simply used what was in front of me.  And here is the result - Create your own Sunshine . . .

Is it perfect?  No, but it is done and done is better than perfect. So there you have it. It’s a start and I am itching for more. And that, my creative friends, feels really good.

Hope y’all are all doing whatever brings you joy.