Sneak Peak

So... ScrapbooksPlus does this really cool thing each week. On Wednesdays {which is also coupon day} they have a layout featured in the store that has been designed by one of the talented members of the SBP team. The papers, etc., that you will need to complete this 2 page layout are available in the store for purchase. The best part about this is that there is a FREE embellishment as well as instructions included with the purchase of the papers to complete the project. Since the instructions are included you can just stop in, grab the papers {they are all together right by the door} and get you FREE element and instructions and be on your way. There is no need to stay to use the crop room and complete the project... although you can! This Wednesday I just happen to be the designer of the layout... so you get a sneak peak which is only cheating a little bit;)

SBP Design Team~May's page map

I loved the page map one of the designers on my design team came up with for this month's assignment. I loved it so much I didn't want to stray far from the original. Now that I look at it though I wish I had gone ahead and added a place for more journaling. The journaling that I did do doesn't really explain what happened.

I was taking the Karen Russell Photographer's Workshop at the time and chose my son to be my subject for that week's assignment. Instead of taking all pictures from the same position she and other photographers say to change your perspective by climbing up high, getting down low and walking around your subject to see just what other point of view you can capture. In an effort to change my POV during this shoot I got down on the ground to photograph my son. I guess he wasn't used to this because he came over to me and laid down in front of me on the ground and started looking at me through the camera he made with his hand. I got some of the sweetest pictures as he looked at me through his "camera," then looked at me with a sweet little sideways glance and then finally sat there picking the grass with his head resting in his hand out of boredom. I guess he thought I was doing something really fun there laying on my tummy in our yard but in the end discovered it must just be one of those weird things grownups think is fun but really isn't.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!

Mine started off on the wrong foot. I got up early this morning for a bike ride followed by a run. About 15 minutes before I was going to meet my friends I was pumping up my tire and got a hole in the tube, ugh! Well... I ran to my one friend's house and she didn't know how to change the tire so I waited for the other girls and they didn't know either. They are all Iron Girls and have never changed a tire and I am new to this and have now had my second flat. I was starting to think that maybe cycling just isn't my thing.
We all made our way back to my house and gathered in my garage and the four of us Mamas started our Mother's Day learning how to change a tire. It took us about 15 minutes. After that it was smooth sailing, or actually smooth biking then running... no sailing. We were able to get 13 miles in on the bike and another 2 miles on a run. Then I went back out for another 3.1 by myself. Now I'm spending a little quality time in my studio listening to music... These Are The Days by the 10,000 Maniacs.I get a lot of emails about my studio. I have gotten a few questions in the past month about this cabinet in the corner, the one all the way to the right. I picked it up at Ikea. Originally I bought it for our Living Room/Dining Room in our first town house. When we moved into our current home that cabinet and the kitchen island from our first house ended up {quite on purpose} in my studio.
I love this cabinet. It has two large drawers in the bottom. I have one full of all of the school days things from embellishments to lettering to photos. The other drawer has all of the Christmas album things in it. That way when I want to work on my Christmas album I have everything in the same spot. I can just pull out what I need and when I need to work on another project I can just slip everything back into the drawer. Since both my Christmas album and my school days albums are my two ongoing themed projects it works really well to keep everything together.
I keep my printer and my silhouette tucked away in the cabinet, each on it's own shelf. It is so nice having them right at my finger tips. And since they are in a cabinet they are protected from dust. On the other shelves I store my acrylic stamp binders, my xyrons and refills, modge podge, deco file folders, and page protectors. I also use the space on top to hold my magazines and a couple of storage boxes. I love this cabinet because it really utilizes the space in my studio. It is actually a fairly small room but I have 10 foot ceilings so there is plenty of space going up the wall that I miss out on because I don't have cabinets. If I was absolutely sure I would always have my studio on the main level in my home I would look into installing cabinets or at least putting in some good shelving around the top of the walls. But every once in a while I think about one day moving it down to the basement where my kids toys are. Its a giant room with great lighting and 2 huge closets... oh the fun I could have if I would just switch these rooms.

Long Time No Blog

So I managed to make it through all of April without updating my blog. Time seems to be flying by faster than ever. The other day I was trying to figure out why I have been so busy!?! Then it hit me, I am starting 10 new things at once. I am becoming a swimmer and a cyclist in an effort to diversify my workouts so that I will be able to run even when I'm an old lady. I recently got a Silhouette die cut machine and have been very busy trying to learn to use it. And I am trying to find a good anatomy class I can take while I'm waiting for my Pilates certification courses to begin in the Fall. Starting all these new things at once has taken up so much of my time that my blog went unwritten. Well, I'm back! And even though I have not been blogging I have been designing lots of new layouts. Here are a few of my favorites.


The story behind this one is that I went into Aubrey's room and found these Iron Men sitting on the chaise {one in a mini skirt} so I had to take a photo. As it turns out Aubrey wanted to play dollhouse and Cullen would only play if they used Iron Man instead of Aubrey's dolls. They compromised:)
This layout was fun. I used a script stamp to alter the solid colored background paper and the photo mat was made by soaking the salmon color paper in water and then crinkling it and drying it with my heat gun. I love the effect. The little journaling card is tucked behind the photo. It says:

The two of you are so active... its no wonder that my favorite time of day is when you are ASLEEP

The journaling on this one is really sweet. I love the photos of my little boy with all those CURLS!

I swore I would always remember what a little devil you were at 2 years old. I promised myself that I would not forget the panic and worry you caused me. I used to say that the two little curls on either side of your forehead were there to cover your horns. I vowed I would always remember how difficult you were... but I look at these photos of you and I cannot recall why I would have ever thought those thing about you.