Right On Target!

Best Friends for Life

 This week my dad was in town and booked us for a few nights in the Silver Chalet condos up on Crystal Mountain, just past Greentree, WA. My brother and I used to go on ski trips once a year with Ed, but once our older brother started his family, and I had my two girls, we now congregate in the summer months. Summer's a beautiful time of year in the Pacific Northwest, but we're talking over 5 years of no snow filled adventures with the dudes in my life!
I managed to entice my long time best friend Jen into coming up to stay and watch the kids, hoping that with her along, I'd find it easier to sneak up the mountain for a couple runs on my antiquated snowboard. They are the same boots, bindings, and short board I started sliding on in 2001, and you know what they say, if it ain't broke, there's no need for an upgrade! Well, they also might suggest that if it takes you a good five years to learn to ride the front edge of the board, you may want to stick with what you know lol.

Sweet & Sunny Shopping

Well, you know I wasn't planning to be up there for three days with no supplies, and I was up into the wee hours scrappin away. I love how these leftovers from an Embellish It Valentine's kit were versatile enough to be used with my fall pictures of Sunday waiting with me in Target customer service. She is such a little cutie. I crack up during each of our photo shoots; whenever I ask her to smile, she sticks her tongue over her top lip. Not sure where she picked that trick up but it's hilarious! I'll add tiny letters to complete my title, "Target of my Love." This was like, our first trip to go shopping together alone. So Sweet.

I'm a cutie and I know it

So did I ever get up the mountain? Well despite my friend being called back work, yes I did get the chance to ride a couple runs with my bro, who still kindly waits patiently at each turn so he knows I'm okay and still behind him. What a gentleman. Almost makes up for the countless snowballs and ice chunks he hurled at us throughout the week! Imagine how I felt when I learned that prior to this trip he had never been around for a bed time observation. He even got a chance to babysit Sunday for the first time, pulling her around in a sled until she slept like a little pink popsicle at the base of the kiddie lift.

Aww, relief- now get these boots off!

Rainier and I signed up for a mother-daughter ski lesson- what an experience! I have never attempted it but last year I found a good deal on some old fashioned skis at the goodwill. Roxy boots that fit perfectly made me feel quite stylish- until the instructor advised me that the skis were actually too small and that she would not want me to go down from any higher than the bunny slope. Fine with me! Riding down with my oldest between my legs was exhilarating enough, I certainly did not feel the need to add any levels of danger to our thrilling descents. She had been up last year with her dad, who actually does know how to ski, so really she taught me a thing or two. I was so proud to see her trying, not giving up, and relishing the thrill of learning alongside me. And was she afraid of the chair lift? oh no, not at all! Wow, another great example and source of strength for her height hesitant mommy.

Beauty is more than skin deep

I finished out the weeks craftings with a reflective page titled, "Embracing my no blush flush." Funny thing is that in this picture, I probably have quite a bit of makeup on, but I wrote about how I've learned to embrace my pregnancy-induced rosatia as this physical reminder of my greatest accomplishment; my Rainier. She helped shape my destiny and focused my attentions of living as the woman I know I can be. Not a day goes by that she doesn't somehow inspire me to love at another level, and I wouldn't change that for any degree of beauty. On the flip side of that inspiration is what she learns from me; hopefully that God made us each perfectly, and that natural beauty comes from the inside!
So what imperfections have you learned to accept? Or do you have a funny mountainside story? Click on that comment link below this post to share!

 

The littlest entrepreneur

WA State Cinderella Preliminary Pageant Bound! 

I've been nearly bursting with pride this last week as Rainier put her energy and efforts into not just creating a dazzling variety of sticker laden cards, but took them another step and sold nearly everyone of those darling handcrafted gems.
Last month she and Sunday  competed in the Miss Puget Sound Pajama Pageant (find a highlight video in my YouTube channels listings). My normally shy girl loved the experience so much that before it had even started, she was asking to do another...hmmm my wallet can't really support that habit!
She thoughtfully proposed selling her own handmade cards "just like ma" and has hardly been able to meet the demand, whipping up 2-5 cards a day. I guess I am most excited that she was able to achieve a goal like this at such a young age, as well as learn that valuable lesson of hard work=dream can come true. Not all of us have the opportunity to grow up with that kind of monetary confidence gained!
She did in fact meet her goal and will be participating in the Washington State Cinderella Pageant Preliminaries October 12th. I'm taking the camcorder along and hope to capture and publish another video for those unable to attend. Maybe some family will be able to learn more about pageants as well from those... I did a lot of searching online myself, trying to get a gist of what we could all expect from the events.
I guess I have been a little surprised by the adult reactions related to hearing that I'm "putting" my kids in pageants. It's kind of like direct-marketing myths; someone who knows someone had a bad experience/remember what happened to Benet?/those are just popularity contest and promote self loathing. Those are pretty standard responses, and there were a few more vehement responses as well. To me, over the head of my 3 year old.  After she's asked with all the confidence she can muster if they'd like to buy a card...
Honestly? I don't want any of those experiences in our lives. It's all too easy to fall into the societal commercial imagery of what girls "need," I.e. clothes, makeup, and a husband! In our house we emphasize confidence, how beautiful a winning attitude often is, and above all, enjoying the experience whether or not we win (or a man is there to watch us).
To me it's just like ballet or football in that there is hard work/practice, uniforms, and photos of the recital/tournament/ stage debut of course. Hopefully I'm Mom enough to guide my little blossoms with enough love that they will navigate the winds of adversity with grace and the desire to do their best and give God the rest :^) Who knows, with all the scrapping I'll need to do as they grow, I may need to call on Rainie's entrepreneurial talents to raise a little money for moms paper and sticker collection -er, supply!

L O V E

Love is in the air, and lately I've been thinking of, well, things I love! Specifically, "things" I feel like I need. Things, that aren't really things at all; like my family, cuddles and snuggles, creative time and space, good nutritious food, healthy communication... all the important stuff that gets me through life in as effervescent state as is possible. But "the greatest of these... is Love."

It's all I really need.
 

Everyone knows that Valentine's is the perfect occasion for getting a loved one a little something, like chocolate, or perhaps a beautiful card, maybe dinner out at a fancy restaurant, or my dream: A DIAMOND :-o
However, there are a few people out there who look at this special day more as a marketing gimmick than as an opportunity to make it magical. Those kind of people believe in spoiling everyday, not waiting for holiday occasions, and I'm lucky enough to live with a guy like that.

My sweetie has always been great at making dreams come true. He is usually willing to pick me up a box of chocolate - it fuels my creativity- when he's at the store. He loves to spend an hour or more gazing into my eyes as we dine on an exquisitely prepared entrée while dining out. However! He is completely against the purchase of diamonds because of the hardship their extraction places on miners in impoverished countries. What a Bummer for me!

Enter... my new favorite website to wish list on! The considerate folks at BrilliantEarth.com offer Beyond Conflict Free diamonds, meaning, not only are they considered conflict free, mined ethically and with respect for people, but for the environment as well! According to their website, they even track their diamonds from the source to the store, ensuring they arrive without being entangled in the corruptive practices that can profit from these valuable stones. Brilliant Earth even goes so far as to incorporate recycled and reclaimed gold, silver, and platinum. Wow, I think that's an awesome way to create beauty out of what someone else can't use anymore.

Hmmm... maybe I'll just casually place honey's name on their mailing list...

Here's how I created my Valentine's layout:

 I find it easiest to mix and match patterns and colors when I'm using papers that are all from the same collection. I'm in LOVE with the SEI Alpine wood grain patterns and color tones, so I knew that a few of these tones and wooden textures would form the neutral base of my page. I had this idea of highlighting the "O" and using a heart shape instead. I found a cute double heart on the cut apart sheet, which gave me some more ideas about the colors and embellishment choices to come.

  I also envisioned polaroid style frames around my new Posterboard alphabet stamps by Close To My Heart. Stamped in Chocolate ink on this cream and red grid two or three times to get that dark solid outline, and then shifted the stamp slightly without re-inking to achieve the shadow effect. Then I used my square punch to create identical openings in three brown, kraft flocked rectangles.

I ended up with a lot of these little strips of paper and thought it would be cute to staple them all together and do ... something with them! My staples didn't quite work the way I envisioned, though, and I'd love for you to comment with a use for my little whatever it could be.

To highlight my heart shape even more I framed it in red gingham, and backed it with a square of red. There was a line border pattern going around the red square, and only one line of the box shows... and that is just fine to me! I fussy cut with my exact-o knife around the outside of the heart shape and popped up the outside border with two sizes of dimensional adhesive; thin at the top and bottom, and thicker pop-dots on the sides. I thought it would look more dimensional that it did, so maybe if you try this yourself, either leave off the thin top and bottom dots, or double up the side pops.

Once my polaroid style frames were adhered atop stamped-letter-topped grids, I considered how I would dress them up. Some of my ideas included tying twine around the edge or bottoms, or adding enamel dots or brads, but in the end I added some red chipboard arrows on top of a sticker that I cut into three edge pieces and stuck to the left of each letter. From what was left in the middle of the sticker, I punched two hearts and placed them at the bottom right of my heart's polaroid.

For contrast to all the warm colors, I added some silver Mr. Huey's ink to the background, and then layered silver ribbon, dots, and hearts stickers to each of  my framed groupings. A double dose of hand cut hearts and a peach woodgrain in between put the focus on "L O V E," and left me a little room for my handwritten title add on, "it's all I need."

It's true. Despite all the things I want (chocolate, more washi tape, and yes, Diamonds) and feel I need; time with friends, being surrounded by family, having a creative escape daily, it all boils down to the fact that without Love, I'd be lost.


Check out the upcoming March edition of Die Cut Crazy to see even more fun ways to use the heart shape, Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy a Happy Valentine's!

I love you, Law!

Sketched Translation

Just thought I'd give you a glimpse into my creative process with a look at how I translate sketches into scrapbook pages. This page by Becky Higgins is more simple with colors and linear alignment than my style tends to be, but I was still able to use her layout as inspiration to create my Winter Wonderland Sledding, double page layout last weekend.

Just like Becky, I added a photo strip to the right and journaling on the right. There are a few other similarities, can you find them?

Turning to sketches for inspiration makes it even easier for me to capture the memories I want in my albums. Give it a try; the next time you're thumbing through a magazine, and pause to admire an article, advertisement, or other design, try incorporating some of those ideas into your own creation!


P.S. Do sentiment stickers count as letters?! Cause suddenly I'm not doing so well with my February product challenge :-)

Get Your Christmas Gifting On!

Hooray!
The latest editions of DieCutCrazy Magazine are available and chocked full of a massive amount of inspiration for you! As if that weren't fun enough, the magazine is also giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to one of my favorite web sites, TwoPeasInABucket.com
All you have to do is use this sketch to create something fabulous, email it to DieCutCrazyMag@gmail.com, and you could win!

Tonight is our Close To My Heart group's Holiday Party and I'll be crafting within a whirlwind tornado of paper so I' can bring something to share with my artistic friends. I have learned so much from each and every lady there over the last four years, they are all so fun to be around too. Isn't it wonderful how the different paths and avenues we walk in our life allow us to encounter people we may not have had the pleasure of meeting or spending time with otherwise? In the spirit of the holidays, I've been reflecting on the friends I've made through working at the bank, through selling PartyLite, though visiting the library's StoryHour, attending (albeit very irregularly) church, my arts and crafting companions... there is a saying that "friends are family you CHOOSE," and that's a great way to categorize these invaluable influences.
 Remember, YOUR creation could be featured in the January 2014 edtition :-) Good Luck, and Happy Crafting!