and of course there was a red car

I have so much on my mind to talk about today! I've decided to mostly just stay in my head re-living the memories and stories (at least for today) and maybe even scrapping some of them. I had an amazing trip.

Just some quick highlights I'm riding the high of right now:
Seeing friends old and new, meeting people...complete strangers as well as so many women I look up to in the scrapping world. Seeing a booth with a whole chunk of it dedicated to my paper (so amazing...can't wait for the real thing). Laughing til my cheeks were sore. Talking to my boys on the phone and missing them hard. Seeing my pages up and on display. Red wine and steak. Starbucks lines. Sore feet. Crying. Scrapshopping for the first time in what feels like months (has it been months!?) American microbrewery beer. Taking a class. In-n-Out Burger. Claim Jumper. CVS. Jaxon leaving me a message about having a loose tooth (I know Kirsten can relate to feeling like our children were growing up while we were away). Saying hello, saying goodbye, hugs. Taking mad photos. Not ever getting a walk signal except for once. Delayed flights and an unexpected detour to Phoenix. Lazar, Fontwerks, Hambly, Amy Butler, 7Gypsies, Elsie's KI Line, My Mind's Eye, Making Memories kraft papers, Scenic Route, Narratives paper, American Crafts, Lil' Davis, Heidi Swapp. Really, the list is endless. The Boardwalk. Newport Beach. Oh, the beach.

I think I'm inspired to do some scrapping now.

one sleep left!

I have approximately 24 hours to be ready for my trip. Totally excited to hang out with my girls in Cali-forn-i-a. And 4.5 days off work. And 5 days thinking about basically nothing but scrapbooking and girl time. Hello!? So excited. I still have layouts to finish and a suitcase to pack. But I do have a v. fine list, compiled over the last several days.

There are Blue Jays playing outside my window. That is so cool.

dangit

only one. she's the one. the g1.
missing her huge tonight.
love my g1.
xog2

journalling on the right

Is that about being right-handed? Hmmmm. I'm going to need to think about this and possible insigate a little self-challenge moment to make a page that's "left-heavy". Just a little something I'm pondering from a design perspective. It's going to be interesting to be away from my straight-laced, rules-based, ever-so graphic-y job for like...6+ days and just be having fun. Letting loose. Thinkin' left. Woo! Look out!

i want to

Play and make art all day. Really though, is that too much to ask?

rainbow scrappage

I got bizzy this weekend!!! I had a blast playing with my new papers. The fact that I can make a rainbow of pages is like icing on the cake. And there is zero other news.

purple is not my colour.

I love when Friday comes. Time for a weekend, time to relax and enjoy life just a little bit more.

I wanted to push myself a bit for this week's dare. I worked with purple. Honestly, I see purple stuff that I love. But I just can't do it. I don't know what it is! I loved my inspiration piece for this dare, I love the paper. But I don't like my page. I can't seem to do good things with purple. Or things that I'm satisfied with anyway. But whatever...live, learn, experience, try again, make mistakes, keep on going. Right?

I'll be mad-playing this weekend, getting ready for CHA next week. Will definitely share some scrap lovage soon!

Here's the purple I spoke for for this week's dare, sponsored by my homeslice LSW:

and the inspo (so cute):

i'm alive!

seriously just feeling semi-human again......i'm such a wimp i HATE being sick. the fact that i feel like i lost about 5 days at this present point in time in my life is also super irritating. i no longer have 2 weeks to get ready for my trip, but one. sweet baby jesus...please keep me well. and energized and motivated and with cooperative husband and child and creative and organized.

i done 'bin tagged. christina...oh christina...you're lucky i love you. viral webgames make my eyes roll and my head throb. but i'll suck it up and consider it some good clean fun.

Reveal 5 things little-known things about me...
1. When I was about 10 I left my retainer in a napkin and threw it away after lunch at school. My dad made me go with him into the dumpster out back to try to find it. Yuck man!
2. My work keyboard has a lot of crap in it. I guess I should maybe not eat over it.
3. A chunk of my ear is missing because when I was little (5...?) I fell onto a metal pump in the playground. I vaguely remember looking like a wounded soldier for a while.
4. I need a pedicure. Bad.
5. I'd love to visit India.

I can't wait to go home today and play. Weeeeeeee!

sick

and miserable.
flu.
:(
back soon, i hope!

weekend.love.

ahhhh. sleeping in. i used to love sleeping in, pre-child. the sleepover worked out quite well, and we had a great dinner out. and i didn't take my camera. go figure. i'm so out of the habit of taking my camera everywhere right now. it's freezing out, and there is no light. i miss having the inspiration of new photos, though, so i've got to start remembering!

jaxon did wake up about 3am and rhi said they had a conversation for about an hour. in ella's bed. huh. whatever floats your boat.

rhi cut my bangs on thursday. uhm. at first we thought it was a big disaster. now i think it might be ok. i've washed my hair and they actually looked kinda cute yesterday and are still ok today. i think it just might have been in shock at first. my hair, that is. we'll see if it continues to be moody or cooperative.

alright. scrappy time.

typewriter gets a workout

I love it.
Jaxon loves it.
Dren has even shown an interest.
The typewriter is loud, proud, and on display.
It looks cool, and it works.

It was interesting putting my layout through it after adhering the photo and getting it somewhat smunched up. But since the writing is about how I'm a messy girl anyway, I figured I would just bend it the other way and smooth out some of the crease-ness and go for it. It will be experimental, just like the topic of this page was. I'm definitely going to start this experiment on a regular basis. Asking someone what their favourite thing about you is. Your husband might tell you something predictable. Your kids might say something funny. Your friends (depending on how well you know them) might say something surprising or just really nice (hopefully, if they want to keep you as a friend). I loved this because it's interesting as an experiment and it's self-affirming, and that always feels good. Affirmations people. Important stuff.



Me & my babe have a date tonight. We're going out for dinner downtown, gonna drink coffees and window shop Robson St. I might make him play Monopoly, or maybe even kick his ass at Tetris on the XBox. That would be fun. And Jaxon? He's staying over at my sister's for the first time ever. Wish us luck that we don't see him until tomorrow. As much as I'll miss him and all.

Reading this about my paper makes me really really happy.

Happy Friday my loves!

Oh, and PS (that's K's phrase but I'm thieving it from her because I love it and I think she loves me enough to let me)...I played with my paper last night for the first time ever. It's bizarre and thrilling all at the same time. Can't wait to share more.

Guess what I dug out yesterday? This old typewriter.
And it made me joyful.
And wanting to create stuff.
Immediately.
So I did.



In other news, it snowed today. Love it.
I'm feeling crazy creative lately. Love that too.

happy

thank you for your wonderful, kind, and encouraging comments. yay!
i know the paper will be available online @ lazar...you can order online or encourage your LSS to order a bunch!
all the nice stuff has me feeling really happy today, and PLUS it's friday so double-yay.

AND the DARES are back after a two week vacay for the holidays. it was REALLY nice to take the break, but man...it's SO good to be back too. i love doing these pages weekly.

back to work. 2 hours and 22 minutes to go.

xoxoxo

ok.....phew............

Here we go!!!
I get to share something that I've been SO busy with for a couple of months. It's kind of amazing how much of my creative energy this took, but I loved doing it.

I have designed two lines (6 sheets each) of paper for paperWERX (the paper division of Lazar Studiowerx) and they're going to debut at the end of this month at winter CHA! It was awesome to work with a local company and I feel like it's such a good fit. Christina is an amazing artist with several lines of hand-painted papers, and that was so up my alley. I hope to get some stamps done too before the show, but for now I get to share sneaks of the paper!!!!! I really really hope that you scrapbookers and fellow artists like it...let me know what you think!

This is CELLULAR:

and here is ORGANIC:

PS...I know the images are a bit small.....you should see it close up. There is so much texture and detail........how will I cut it up?