I survived Tuesday

Tuesday is always my long day. I teach a full day and the kids have activities both before and after school. Added to that, it is always the big 5th grade homework day. Even a normal Tuesday has me collapsing at the end of the day--usually around 7:30.

This week I have the added whammy of Drew traveling and final exams. And then I needed to race fit in a quick 15 minutes in the grocery store with both kids in Tae Kwon Do gear.

I am not ashamed to say that Ronald McDonald cooked dinner. I have no guilt over it at all.

What makes me happy? The next FIVE weeks are my semester break. Yes, 5 weeks of no teaching and all day to enjoy.

What scares me? Starting in January, Tuesday gets longer. The only day I could get the kids into swim lessons was, you guessed it, Tuesday. From 7-8pm. After all of the other activities.

Go ahead and faint with me. Until then, I will focus on today's mantra: just keep going and you will survive.

I love this pretty picture:


It really symbolizes my Tuesday. I can live through it. Goodnight, Tuesday.

Have to spill

ScrapStreet's Showroom column for the January issue features the fun stamps from Stamps of Life by Stephanie Barnard. I had the best weekend playing with them! So much fun that I have some left over after turning in my article and I am not done yet! Normally, I would wait until after the issue is out to show, but a little peek cannot hurt, right?

Digital Stamps: Stamps of Life Back2Basics, Cardstock: Coredinations, Ribbon: Offray, Markers: Copic, Tools: Cuttlebug, Fiskers border punch.

I printed the stamps in just an outline and colored them with my beloved Copics. Next, I used embossing powder for shine. Popping them with foam off of the Swiss Dots background makes for a great mixture of textures. Where did I start? With the ribbon. I have had this in my stash for awhile and it never quite matched any papers. I was able to color everything to match it instead. Fun!

coloring is good for you!

Honest. It is. There is a reason why we give kids some crayons and paper. Ok, so promoting hand eye coordination and fine motor skills can be offered as rational, but it is just plain fun, too. A little bit of coloring and I feel less stressed. I can make something pretty and have complete control over it even if everything else is swirling around me. ahhh.

I am having a bigger problem figuring out how to make cards with my pretties. I prefer a 4in x 4in square card. I think it comes from scrapping 12x12 solo pages for so long--I think in a square. However, my new stamps are bigger. They want 5x7 cards. They need to go big. I have to give them what they want. After all, is this deer not the cutest thing you have ever seen?

Merry Christmas. Paper: Crate Paper, Pink Paislee, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Stamp: Whiff of Joy, Markers: Copic, Other: Raffia.

I am going to take a batch of stamped images and my copics with me to school this week. Watching students take finals will be far less stressful with my magic markers at hand.

Just a bit of hello

I was thrilled to receive an "open before Christmas" present today with a bunch of stamps perfect for coloring. I have stamps. Honest. After all, what self respecting scrapper doesn't? However, most of my stamps are not the color me type. They are more patterns and words.

I have found a few digi stamp sites since my copic obsession started, but had not purchased any rubber stamp pretties as of yet. Now I have a new batch just begging me to play!

Hi. Paper: Crate Paper, Ribbon: Offray, Stamps: Stamping Bella, The Stamps of Life (digital), Markers: Copic, Tools: Scor-it.

Have a happy, stampy day!

My day off

Ahh, Friday. Freezing cold temps and not a single meeting to attend--what's a girl to do? Stay home and scrap! The week was absolutely crazy. Drew is out of town and the kids had their full complement of activities. It was the last week of the semester, so I had more than enough grading to do in between reviewing for finals. I did not have time to scrap, but I did make a little time to color each evening.

I used Kazan's sketch 41 from 2s4u--flipped a bit--for this one. I even pulled out the machine for a little stitching. It has been way too long since I did that!

You. Paper, Diecuts: Crate Paper, Chipboard: Heidi Swapp, Stamp: Whiff of Joy, Markers: Copic, Tools: Sewing Machine, Scor-it, Distresser.

Happy Friday, friends!

It's Complicated

I love movies. In college, I worked at the "slightly late" theater on campus. A perfect job since I could eat candy and watch movies for free after working the concessions before the film. What could be better?

As an English major, films were often part of our writing assignments. We would read a Shakespearean play and then watch a number of movies based on the same play. Some of the best papers I wrote were analysis and comparison among film and the written word. I did learn--quickly--that I prefer my own imagination. The movies based on books are never quite as good as the way I saw them in my mind.

As momhood set in, movies became a dvd habit. Very seldom did we make it to a grown up movie on the big screen. Why? When they were tiny babies, it was money and time. As they got a bit older, there was the joy of watching them watch movies. It is so real to them that you just cannot resist. But over the last year or so, my patience for their movies waned. I desperately want the time I spent watching "Kung Fu Panda" back. There was actual pain in watching that one.

Earlier this fall, Zack started first grade and I took the plunge. I went to see a movie in the middle of the day all by myself. No one else wanted to see "Julie and Julia" so I grabbed my Jr. Mints and headed in all alone. And, I liked it. The movie and the experience.

I still prefer to see a movie with friends, but I am ok with heading out on my own and then discussing it with friends later. What I noticed about the last batch--except for J&J--is that I am older than the movies. The romantic comedies seem to all happen to women BELOW 30. The movies with vibrant "women of an age" with central romantic roles are few and far between.

Which is why "It's Complicated" is on my holiday must see list. Check out this screen shot:


Cheating with your ex-husband on the young tootsie that cheated on you with him? Ok, it sounds a bit twisted, but fun.

Of course, "Princess and the Frog" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakuel" made the family must see list. I definitely deserve a bit of complication after surviving both of those!

Quick Trip

The first real snow of the season started yesterday morning, bright and early. Allie and Zack eagerly bundled up for a few minutes of play before the bus arrived. Unfortunately, Allie could barely fit her feet into her old boots. In early October, she tried them on and they fit, but 2 months later it is a different story.

We had a tiny shopping window today while Zack was at scouts. 15 minutes in and out at Target. Luckily, she fell in love with these in an instant.

Her size? Woman's 7. Eeeek! I sense a growth spurt about to happen. She was a 5.5 at the beginning of the school season. The good news is that I am an 8.5 making it not much longer before I can double my shoe collection.

caught us

You never know where Zack will pop up with his camera. He loves taking pictures. Every so often, he will bring me his camera filled with pictures for me to upload. He sits patiently and goes through shot after shot. He is ruthless with his eye, deleting those that do not please him. "I can always take more, mom," he tells me. He selects ones to print and keeps them in his room. Of course, I am allowed to print extras to scrap.

Zack is seven.

My kids amaze me all the time. Being a mom is the greatest gift. Well, on the days that it is not being the hardest work. It is definitely the most profound dichotomy of my life.

These shots are from sometime in early November. Allie and I got the mail and found a magazine for each of us. We plopped right down on the front steps to read and Zack appeared a bit later to capture the moment.

He is happy to take a couple of candid shots and then his bossy side pops up. Turn your head. Chin up. Now, over the shoulder. I love some of the creative things he comes up with like peeking over our magazines.

I forgot all about it until he brought me the camera today. How cute it turned out! I am already searching my brain for a title. Suggestions?

Hi Elf!

I am having such fun with these darling Instyle stamps. I love when companies with really cute art make digital stamps available. Being able to have them instantly, resize them, print them again and again--all such selling points for me. I love the anime art eyes and cannot get enough of these stamps. Darling!

I created this card for the sketch on the Club Anime blog. I cropped the little elf into a head shot and used my spellbinders for a frame. I love the subtlety of the cuttlebug embossing on the white.

Santa Was Here. Paper, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Ribbon: Offray, Stamp: Instyle.com, Markers: Copic, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, Pearls: Kaisercraft, Tools: Cuttlebug, Spellbinders, Scor-it.

Just downloaded a new stamp and I have coloring to do. Happy Monday!

Ready for some football

Ok, so our Steelers are torturing us right now. I have no excuses. Theories, certainly, but valid reasons escape me for such a horrible losing streak. Still, at our house we dress for the occasion.

Sundays are football days. We toss in some homework and some laundry, but all around football. What did we do before we could pause the games? Or before the magical NFL Sunday Ticket allowed us to see them all? Or before fantasy football gave us a reason to watch them all so energetically? Fortunately, we do not have to remember--we are soooooo spoiled.

Today, my Steelers lost. But my Saints won. Yes, I adopted the lovable Saints during my undergrad years. Tulane played in the Superdome and tickets for the Saints were not hard to come by. Of course, they were more commonly called the Aints in those days before they had EVER seen the playoffs. It definitely looks like it is their year. And it is easy to root for them when Brees is leading my fantasy team. Such the hero.

And the translation for my non football scrappy friends: yada yada yada cute picture yada yada yada picture. Love yall!

Happy Card

I was in the Christmas card mood with red and green doodads out. I organize my goodies by color tray and somehow apples jumped out at me instead of anything holiday. I had such fun playing with the bright and the bold. I used Laura's sketch 40 from 2s4u. I swear the sketches get cuter every week over there! And the newest design team members are all super talented.

Love You. Paper: October Afternoon, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, Ribbon: Offray, Pin: JoAnn's, Alphabet: American Crafts, Sticker: Making Memories, Tools: Scor-it, Spellbinders, Cuttlebug.

I have to say that this particular green paper--this card and the one from yest--is my favorite of the week. How can I have owned this one for months and somehow not have used it? It is such a yummy shade of green.

copic obsession

My copic obsession is new. And fabulous. For those who have not yet discovered copics, they are a marker. But they are so much more. They are refillable, blendable, more like paint brushes already loaded with the perfect amount of color than a maker. There is even an airbrush system that works with the markers. Can you say Christmas present? I can!

I picked up my first few copics on sale at Hobby Lobby before I discovered they are marking them up WAY too much. I found an online store that delivers quickly and charges less everywhere else. I am in love. I have spent countless hours on youtube watching videos and wander through blogs.

Today was my day off. No work, no committees, no meetings, no playdates--just a me day. I slept in. I colored. I bubbled. I ate cookie dough. ahhhhh.

My blog hopping led me to Too Cute For Words a challenge blog featuring Instyle Stamps. I headed over and picked up my first couple of anime digital stamps. Excellent customer service! I created this for their color challenge--use brown, coral, and kiwi.

Paper, Stickers is BasicGrey, Journal Spot: Jillibean Soup, Bling: Kaisercraft. I used my copics on just about everything. I love how darling the journal spot is after it is colored!

Here are the copics used:

I can not wait to get back to my desk to color more!

lots of love

I love a cute window card! Normally I just do a basic with the window, but this mouse was just too cute to make share a space. I decided to go with the trifold. How darling is he?

The paper is October Afternoon. I used photoshop to color the mouse's holiday bag and hat the exact color of the paper green. Really easy to do with software.

Almost ready to show off my very first copic coloring. I am definitely having a ton of fun doing my copic homework.

smooches!

12 Days of Christmas

The nature of teaching college means I have a lovely holiday break. Four to six weeks of no classes. Oh, sure, I have classes to design and meetings to attend, but I have a long span of not teaching. I fill the time. Absolutely. I scrapbook. I read. I chatter with friends. I still have kids and a husband and a house.

But.

I always have this feeling that I missed the joy of Christmas. The month of December flies by with a ton of things that have to be done--especially final exam torture--but not much that gets to be fun. And then I have all the time in the world in January, but the holidays are gone.

What's a gal to do? Make a plan, of course. Tonight the family sat down and decided on 12 things to do to celebrate Christmas together. I know some of yall may be able to do the entire Advent countdown, but I have a traveling husband and an insane schedule so 12 is my number.

Each family member picked 3 items to add to the list. Drew shocked me when his first pick was to see Chipmunks Squeakquel on Christmas Day. Really, husband? He also picked a trip to the mall. Clearly, I do not know this man as well as I thought. Of course, when he added "just to look, not to shop" I knew he was back. Giggle.

We are all excited about the list and can't wait to kick off the holiday season. 12 days and counting . . .

Digital Delights

Happy December! I am so excited to share the new issue with y'all. It is our 49th issue--the very first one of year FIVE. How is that possible? Recently the staff took a look back at issue one and had quite a giggle. We have certainly come a long way, babies.

Here is our current cover (and link in):


This month our fabulous Showroom sponsor is Digital Delights by Louby Lou. These digital stamps are so freaking cute! I am happy to blame designer/owner Wendy for creating designs so cute that I could totally justify buying copic markers. A LOT of copic markers. I did not have them before I completed the article, but I am a coloring fool now!

I am so proud of the creativity of all of our designers. Take a peek here to see the 24 different items we created together.

Personally, I made more than the three that made it into the issue. We did have to pick and choose. The first item I made was the wine bag. I took one look at this girl and knew I had to make her in felt. She is just the perfect little santa gal:



My favorite of the images on first glance was the turtle. I have colored him a half dozen times with my copics now practicing to shade and highlight well. I am certain I will have him looking fabulous soon! For this layout, I used my photoshop to color him and printed him on a transparency over and over as a border. Too cute!


This card was also colored in photoshop and then glittered a bit by me. I tried a bunch of different ribbons for the reins, but liked the glitter best.

I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to play with digital stamping. As a hybrid scrapper, these are my new favorite scrapping toys. Have you stamped today?