Paper Mixing Bowl #3

Ooh, almost forgot to post this one.  Coming in under the wire!

From The Paper Mixing Bowl, whose challenge blog I LOVE!  I'm not so much of a cook, more an eater myself.  But these "recipes" are a blast to put together.  This is my first try at their challenges and it was a lot of fun trying to make all the pieces come together.  I don't love how the scan came out, the top of the page looks wobbly when it's really straight, so I was going to take a picture instead, but I don't have time!  ah, excuses excuses!  Without further ado...

Color-Me-Scrappy #4

REFRESHED!

Had my weekly visit to Archiver's (aka, scrapbook wonderland) with my scrapfriend, Star (see her blog here).  Hoowhee, did I need it; about an hour before heading there, my son and I had the following conversation:

Nugget: (upset that it was time to turn off the TV and go to school) "But this is MY TV, mama."
Me: "oh!  You bought this TV for yourself?"
Nugget: "no..."
Me: "well, then it's our family's TV and it's time to turn it off and go to school"
Nugget: "I'm sick of this crap, mama."
Me: "What did you say?"
Nugget: (looking at me with most innocent face EVER) "I didn't say nothing, mama."
*pause*
Nugget: "I said I'm sick of clapping mama."

Yes, he's 3 going on 13.

Anyway, if you want to find me on Thursdays, I'm usually in Archiver's cropping room, chatting and munching chips with the other Thursday regulars, getting our craft on.  I used to get all stressed out about how many pages I got done during these visits, and having something to show for my time, staying on top of things, to try to feel less guilty about having a day off, but now, I just enjoy my time.  If I get two pages done, oh well, I still enjoyed myself.  I have other hobbies that, as much as I enjoy them, drive me semi-crazy (cake decorating: basically me and my entire kitchen covered in powdered sugar, totally pissed that I can't get the fondant to lay flat at the bottom of the cake).  Scrapbooking is my zen hobby.  Well, as zen as I get, anyway.

This week's page is for Color-Me-Scrappy.  I've participated in each of their challenges, and I think their format is pretty cool.  It's really amazed me how much inspiration you can draw from just a few swatches of color!

The colors this time around were perfect for our annual visit to the strawberry farm earlier this month.  So, two birds one stone, I guess: a challenge entry and a page for the Nugget's scrapbook!

Begin-a-Blog

Let's start off this blog in a lovely cliche way... a quote!

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step"  - Lao Tzu

oooh, or how about this one:  "There is a woman at the beginning of all great things." - Alphonse de Lamartine

One step... check.  One woman...check.  I think we can begin.

I had a very loose idea in my head for a layout from pictures I took at the Got to Be NC Festival a couple weeks ago.  The pictures had such a great sense of motion and whimsy, I was really looking forward to scrapping them out.  Then I saw a call from Scrapstreet looking for "Sweetly Simple" layouts that "showcase a minimalist style."  Put it together, and I came up with:

I'm really enthusiastic about this layout, although getting a good picture was a challenge.  First I used the Truly Amazing Scanner at Archiver's, but for the first time ever, it didn't give me a good image.  It picked up a lot of the watermarking on the page, and you couldn't see the birds at all.  So then I had to fuss with my camera and iPhoto, and in the end, maybe the colors aren't perfectly true, but I got it on the web! 

Yes, that is The Nugget's (my son) first ride on a carnival swing.  And yes, the Barbecue at the Fair was to die for.