Never A Dull Moment

Good Monday morning!  Surprise, surprise, I have another layout to share!  I am trying really hard to get back into the swing of things.  The Powers That Be might have helped a little.  Much of last week was spent dealing with weather-related headaches.  The most comfortable room in the house (the cool basement) also happens to be where I craft. Awesome coincidence!  Anyway, on with the share, yes?

The photo is from Mother's Day this year.  I've held off from scrapping it because I couldn't decide on design.  I've loved multiple sketches that in the past two months, but none screamed out to be matched with this page.  Colors have been tricky, too.  Also, my printer was bratty and made this far too blue. I still might not have gotten the color choice right, but it was high time I got this photo taken care of.  THAT was enough struggle for me.

Confession of a Challenge Junkie:  I've relied on inspiration from other people for so long -- give me a sketch to follow; tell me what colors to use; tell me what elements to use -- that I stopped trusting myself.  I learned a BIG problem with that in the past few weeks.  While I LOVE participating in challenges, and likely will continue to do so, I will actually STRESS about fulfilling them; all of them.  I will stress over esthetics, time management, and rules to the point that my blood pressure spikes even more than some stupid chemo drug can manage and then I'm physically worse off than I would have been otherwise.  Then nothing is fun, nor relaxing.  Screw that, right?  Agreed.  So, while I am looking forward to seeing what fresh challenges await in August, I am going to practice chilling out and seeing what I can make all on my own.  On that  note, how about some close ups?

First off, this is how it all started.  I wasn't sure if I really liked it (or if anyone else would, either), so I posted this in the Facebook group, NicoleJones911.  I then got loads of great ideas from others.  Thank you so much, ladies, if you happen to stop by!

One of the big changes I made was to create a lot of torn layers.  It's such an easy thing to do -- tear paper -- but I have hesitated to do so for... over a year.  I know! So, I did it.  I also happened to pull out this little airplane while I was grabbing tiny bottle of sequins.  Yep!  Aint no party like a sequin party!

Initially, I was just going to use the layers of torn paper below the photo.  Unfortunately, that headache I mentioned earlier also meant that all of the patterns and colors were too much for my eyes. It was fun to create but painful and distracting; so I layered some vellum overthe top.  Instantly, I was able to concentrate on the photo again. As for the journaling, I kinda wanted to add some interest and attention to the area, so I used up roughly half a sheet of alpha stickers.  I really like the alphas from MME, but I can see how it will be wise, going forward, to buy two packages of the ones I like.  They played it well by NOT supplying enough vowels.  OR I can play it my way and stop giving them money because I kinda think that's a shady thing to do.

Back to the page, I had originally intended to put the title on top of the vellum, but the shiny gold Thickers just weren't working for me.  Also, I discovered a card that had my desired title, "Never A Dull Moment" that won the day.  Instead, I snagged a coordinating photo frame, attached left-over strips from the cream cardstock and worked on adding journaling.

Basically, "See the vellum hearts that I cut out by hand?"  This was the awe-inspiring moment in the FaceBook conversation that started a complete overhaul.  One member of the group suggested I trade out the stars in the circle for hearts; to match the bockeh in the photo.  Then it became vellum hearts.  It's possible that the was also thinking that I should ditch the circles and stars altogether, but I just couldn't do it.

More vellum hearts and a stray, clear, sequin.  It amused me so it got it's own photo.

I still feel like I want to add more to the page, but I'm making myself stop.  It's supposed to have a light feel with the vellum. It could be counter productive to add more, right?  Also, in this moment, I've getting 104 comments in the background about Minecraft.  I'm a distracted human being.  As always, I will work on posting this page to my galleries at A Cherry On Top and Scrapbook(dot)com in the next day or so.  There, you can find links to all the of the products I've used.... or at least as many as I can find on those sites.

Thank you for stopping by!

Why Momma Needs Her Coffee

Good Tuesday Morning!  I started my day THUPER DEE DUPER early; like 2:30 AM early.  I'm having my twelfth or thirteenth scan today.  I'm thuper dee duper thpecial, so I also get extra steps in the preparation process. I am telling you, at this rate, I need a punch card or something.  I should get the next one free!


I digress, this wasn't my focus this morning.  Nor were the teleporting ants that are trying to take over my living spaces.  Seriously, I was JUST staring at that hugs blank wall and nothing was there.  HOW did an ant show up smack in the middle of it?!  If I stop blogging again, assume that those lil buggers carted me off to the looney bin for good.

Smell the flower (inhale)
Blow out the candle (exhale)
Repeat until the heebie jeebies stop.











Hi!  Howareya?  Welcome to my world!  Anyone care to talk about the Tooth Fairy?  Maybe pet rocks with their very own "robot" bodies?  Pet rocks might be a good idea.  The Tooth Fairy is still letting her story unfold.  These rocks, however, are living the dream, compared to the rocks I kept as a kid.  Seriously!  Check it!

So, yes.  The Boy still thinks there is a treasure map hiding somewhere within this rock.  Still, it needed a face.  Actually, it needed two faces.  It's an emotionally complex creature, as you can see.

And the robot suit!  I LOVE this suit.  He spent an hour carefully crafting it....after we tried to use oversized pipe cleaners with pitiful results.  This, however, he thought about and made completely independent of the DH and I.

Then, things got interesting.  Rocky needed a friend.  Meet Raquelle..  Her robot suit is in progress because I can't focus for longer than twenty minutes when building with Lego.  She might get hair before she gets a body.  Still, she and Rocky are getting along quite nicely.  I look forward to learning about (or participating in) their adventures for weeks (or months) to come.

As for my own adventures, I've got a couple of scrappy pages in progress right now.  One is a submission for Scrap the Boys.  The other has been inspired by the most recent sketch by Creative Scrappers.  With paper, I'm a happy camper.  Otherwise, I'm now officially tired and looking forward to a post-scan nap.

Getting My Groove Back

Good Monday Morning!

Happy Day After Mother's Day!

A Glorious Four Weeks Before Summer Vacation!  It's really glorious, either way you slice it.  For some, there are four glorious weeks of peace at home, before the wee ones hunker down and take over.  For others, there are ONLY four weeks standing between them and more time with their little angels.  No matter which camp you fall in with, enjoy them!

Want to know a secret?  It's really Friday.  I'm doing one of those pre-writes because a few technical ramblings are trying to become real thoughts.

1)  Woohoo!  I'm doing it!  I'm actually managing to post *something* each week.  This is awesome.  I just might be able to pull off a reasonable return afterall.



2)  Wow, I've got a lot of learning to do!  This one actually comes with sub-ramblings.  Yes, I said that.
**I have been cleaning up my blog subscriptions slowly but surely over the past few weeks.

**Some of my favorites stopped blogging approximately when I did.

**Some are still blogging strong, but my style and tastes have changed.

**I see that there are a few new ways to connect with readers -- subscription preferences.  I've added options to follow by email and have begun to explore Bloglovin.  Both options are to the right, if you prefer them more than the old Google subscription.

**I ditched Disqus.  I just felt like it.  As a result, I lost the only two comments I've received in the past few weeks.  That sucked.

** I REALLY want to learn how some people worked out those handy tabs at the top of their blogs.  I crave organization and blog tabs would make me ever so happy.



3)  It appears that I still love a good challenge, but it's harder for me to keep deadlines straight, so I'm working on adding a calendar to the right.  In this moment, it's a green tab that one can click, see what challenges piqued my interest, and perhaps join the fun.  If you are inspired by any you see on the list, you're welcome.  For now, understand that I know it looks unfinished.  I *just* started working on it today.  I haven't even added links to the challenge pages.

4) Periodically, I'm going to add a post about parenting.  I just like writing my thoughts in essay form.  If I think it might be worthwhile to share; or spark a conversation, I'm going to do so.

5)  Apparently, towels don't fold themselves, no matter how many times you train them.  How sad!

Talk About Rocks and Hard Places!

I can't decide if I'm:

A) The meanest mom ever, OR

B) A very loving mother who wants her child to feel inspired by possibility every single day.

See, there's this rock.

Much like his Momma, The Boy has a thing for collecting rocks.  Yesterday, he acquired this beauty somewhere at school.  He shared it with a classmate during recess and she returned it safely to him at the end of that break.  Cute, sweet, he's sharing and learning to trust others.  But the story doesn't end there.

The Boy and Classmate share some passion for adventure and possibility.  Upon her suggestion, he has been trying to find the treasure map secretly encoded on the surface of this rock for the past fifteen minutes.  He's carefully breathed on it.  He's given it a good bath.  He's held it up to the morning light.  I only see some really cool lines, but he thinks it might be part of the path for the treasure map.

At my core, I'm melting right now.  This is a magical age when anything can happen.  If you just believe hard enough, your dreams can come true.  It's wide-eyed wonder because everything clicks and there's SO much to learn and I just want him to be happy and optimistic and amazing forever.  It breaks my heart a little to know that at some point, solid realities will intervene and the magic won't be awe-inspiring.  He'll have to grow up; and worse, so will I.

That's not to say that I'm not mostly a grown up now.  I get the bills paid.  I get the people fed.  I keep CPS from knocking on our door.  I still seek out magic at every turn.  I pray for miracles and am truly thankful for ALL of my blessings.  Still, there's this one thing that NO ONE ever told me about parenting.  As he grows, I grow.  He has to learn how to survive and thrive as a human being -- the good and the bad -- and I have to let him.  I have to learn how to sit on my hands and watch the heartache develop and crush him.  I have to let him learn how to deal with it.  I can be there as support; to let him know that he's not alone, but he has to discover and develop the skills himself.

In this moment, I see that I have two options:

A) Start verbalizing (repeatedly, because he LOVES magic as much as I do) that it's just a rock; but we can find scientific reasons to love it, still. OR

B) While he's sleeping, I can try to paint a treasure map on this bugger and see what happens next.  Maybe we'll hunt for treasure in the backyard, because the map just happens to match it.  Maybe we find something amazing and have a memory of love to keep him going when he's a parent someday far from now.

I haven't decided, but it's going to be weighing heavy on my head and heart; even after I decide.