Keeping Play Time In Your Heart

Good Saturday Morning! How does this fine...gray...leafless day find you? I'm probably a little too giddy to steal some blogging time while my son puts together some puzzles with one of my Aunts. Family has come to visit and I've become third fiddle. Normally, my presence is requested for a vast amount of the day; and no one else will do. This weekend, however, he has "new" people to play with and has no desire to play with me. I'm torn.... LOL

I digress. I'll make the most of it by sharing a page I created yesterday. It was inspired by this week's sketch at Sketches In Thyme:


Fun one, in my opinion. So fun, that I've also decided to dive into the sketch of the week at Creative Scrappers, from where this one originates. It's just about finished and I hope to share it soon.

For now, here's my take on the sketch above:


Last weekend, we joined my brother for dinner. My son was so happy to see that the one puzzle he played with last time we were over had multiplied into three! He was in heaven and simply HAD to put them all together immediately. Unfortunately, dinner was also ready. He informed us that he just was not going to come to dinner yet because (and with a solemn face and a hand over his heart) he had playtime in his heart. I stifled a laugh and my husband and I gave him a few more minutes to fill his heart before we insisted he fill his stomach. Unfortunately, I didn't get the exact moment on film, but I tried my best to get a picture of him with his puzzle anyhow. Not the best, but it's what I had.

Since then, I've thought about and used his phrase several times. How cool (and smart) is it to recognize that we all could use more playtime in our hearts? More time running around the slides and rock walls. More time running through the leaves. More time putting puzzles together and helping baby dinosaurs get back to, and rescue, their Potato Head mothers from wicked traps. More reasons to laugh and sing and dance and jump.

More time playing when putting together something as simple as a scrapbook page. I've been wanting to try a new technique for a couple months now; water distressing. Essentially, you get the edges of the paper wet and scrunch them up to create perma-crumpled edges. Turns out, it's pretty easy; fairly quick and another reason to get dirty with ink. Why was I refusing to play for so long?


It does plump up the page a bit, too. I think next time I'll use the technique on a larger background piece so I don't have to worry about bending or warping my photo. Foam dots are helping support it, but still.

I've been afraid of getting it wrong and refused to play around with it. I'm also quite hesitant to use something so simple and fun as the stickers you see here. They are a mix of the stickers that coordinate with the Oliver line from Basic Grey (shown here along with a polka dot page from their Jovial line) and some pieces from Sassafras Lass. I tried playing more with some by popping them up with foam, too.


It appears puzzle time is nearly over; as is my post. I hope you had a chance to enjoy today. Here's wishing you a playful weekend in which you enjoy everything that life has to offer. For now, I'm going to prep for a trip to Target.... Maybe Hobby Lobby, too. THAT's where I find playtime in my heart.