We are all beginners

One of the things that my coaching training has taught me is that we are all beginners. This means, that even though I have scrapped for what feels like my whole life, I can always learn more, see things from a fresh perspective or simply just enjoy being a student. This season (crazy virus and my first job transition in nearly a decade) reminds me that this is the perfect opportunity to take a class doing something that I love.  Just so happens that someone I have followed for ages was offering a class. Usually I hem and haw on signing up but not this time - I read the description and clicked yes.

Shimelle is a favorite and I’m thrilled to have the chance to take this class at this exact moment in time. Since this is a paid class, I won’t show her content, but will share the pages I make.

So excited to share my first one. Yet again, I pulled out the stack of unused Hip Kit Club products and started. Here’s my take for lesson one:

Hope you are using this time to enjoy a slower pace and a hobby that you love that maybe you’ve been putting off due to time constraints.

I’ve also been loving listening to The Feel Good Effect by Robyn Conley Downs podcast lately. Happy to be spending some time on things that fill my cup.

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.

November Hip Kits - Layouts Completed

Ya'll - I have finally found my kit.  I took a hiatus for a bit from the kit club life since my last kit morphed into something that wasn't really me anymore (which is fine, but I needed to let go).  I waiting a long time and then I researched and looked at kits till I was cross eyed and I finally decided to give Hip Kits a go.  I am in love.

The November kit was pure magic and let me tell you, for me to say that takes a lot - I haven't scrapped a Christmas layout in like a decade - I don't know why or what has me so averse to the idea, but this kit was themed Christmas and I decided to accept the challenge and just do it.  I scrapped photos from this year, from the 70's, the 80's and the 90's.  I went nuts - in a good way.  I did add in a few things from my stash and also pulled in the leftovers from the October kit (especially the blue alphas you see a few pieces of paper) and that made me really happy to use it and make it work.

The result - 16 pages.  yes, 16.  And they are all journaled and dated.  I used some sketches and some ideas from the internet but most are completely my own.  Lots of double spreads which are my jam.

Here goes -

Ah, the 90's and big sweaters and leggings, oh wait that's back in style.  Hid the journaling in the photo holder.  And yes, I included both of the photos, cause, why not?  What else am I going to do with it?

Fast forward to the 2000's to me taking my own children to the mall.  This layout captures the stress and joy of being the mom in the Santa photo world.

This double captures just the highlights of a Christmas from little traditions to just the general things I saw that year that I wanted to remember.  Love that hot cocoa smile.

Back to 2009 and the perspective from Santa's camera.  And yes, I had them do separate photos of each kiddo as well as one of them together.  Cause I like to remember that they are siblings and also individuals - that's just me.  

 I have had these two photos sitting around for about 6 years and now they are on a page - yay!  My trouble - the blue of the school uniforms always makes them hard to scrap. These letters combined with the pink fresh studio paper was perfect.  The pink tree paper was a scrap from the thank you note layout.  Worked perfectly to frame these cute photos.

Here is that layout - I used a tree shape to mimic them sitting under the tree. And that snowman - perfect for this layout.  It is not a photo but actually an extra thank you card that I had made that year for the kids to write their thank you notes.  Every now and then, I get things done on time!  The snowflake mask has been in my stash for years - finally it has been used!  I also pulled all of the presents from the stickers and embellishments to add some impact to this page.  

Back to the 70's - and great old school Santa photos.  I just had to include the photo holder - it was just too fabulous not to keep.  1973-1976.  Lots of plaid, tears and hideous Santa chairs.

This was actually the first page I made with the November kit.  I used the sketch that is shown below the layout. This documents an actual snow that happened in Houston this year.  Goodness, we have had more than our fair share of crazy weather this year.  Between Harvey and then a snow storm and an ice storm I am done with weather.  I am ready for summer and sunshine.  

That little Christmas kitty stocking inspired this whole layout. Elsie is always taking or having me take photos of Wooley, he's a big part of our home life so I guess he deserves a page.  Glad I had a prompt to make that happen.  

This was a copy of a layout from Mercy Tiara - it was just too cute so I couldn't help myself. I added the snowflakes for a little more embellishment on the page.

 The last of my childhood Christmas photos are now scrapped.  As the layout indicates, these are the last two photos we have with Santa.  I fussy cut the ornament from the cover of the photo holder cause yet again, it was just too 80's fabulous not to include.

Here is a page about this year!  I used the sketch that was posted on the The Hip Kit blog.  Perfect for these instagram photos.  This page reminds me that I need to take more photos - just little everyday moment photos.  I enjoy these a lot.

Tip - I tape the sketch I use to the back of the layout to help me remember where I got the inspiration.  

Determined to use the supplies from the kit and not put them away until next year, I decided to make some cards with the left over embellishments and scraps of paper.  I had to pull some cardstock from my stash but it worked great.  I know I will be happy when Christmas rolls around next year and I have this little stash of cards.  Why don't I did this more often?  

 Here's my "kill a kit" photo.  This is what was left over when I finished.  Just a few letter stickers, NO chipboard or puffy stickers left, just a few enamel dots and a few small scraps of paper.  I am thrilled that I have basically nothing to add to my stash after this kit was killed.  The scraps are all going in the trash except the one piece of paper that is about 6 x 12.  I will keep the leftover letters just in case I can use them.

Layout Share

Here's what I have been working on recently. Since quitting my kit club, I'm just working on using my supplies and enjoying making pages. I have been watching a lot of videos and have even considered taking a class to push myself a little. But for now I am just gonna keep doing what I am doing. Scrapping.

Really wanted to make a page about each kid to capture them right now. Here's Elsie's. She beamed when she read it. Scrapbook page for the win.

This page came together quickly with two photos and the ephemera. Glad to have this one in the book. 

This is another page for the college album. Just two random photos of our suite gift exchange. 

Another college page. The gnomes seemed to work for Scott - he's from Montana. Why not?

So that's it for now. I have a few more layouts ready to get started. Till next time. 

October Simple Scrapper Layouts

This is my last month as a guest designer on the Simple Scrapper team.  It has really been a fun adventure and I am still so honored to have been included.  Here is the last layout I created for the team. It was created by taking two sketches and placing them together to make a two page spread.  I loved being pushed to use a big photo and also to think about the story of the day as not just another back to school layout, but something deeper and more significant.  

Each month, Simple Scrapper posts prompts and sketches for its members.  If you need a jump start, swift kick in the scrappy pants or just continuing encouragement and ideas, then this membership is totally for you!  

A few random thoughts - the front door photo continues to be a must (first day and last day of school).  Snapped this quick photo of Elsie's classmates and moms walking in the rain - I wanted to remember it was raining when I did the journaling, but the photo ended up making it on the page.

I got some grief for pausing at the bottom of the stairs to take a photo as I was walking out from dropping Elsie off at her room, but it was totally worth it.  Love that it captured the essence of what this year means for her - its a huge step - she's growing up.