Sue, email me your mailing address so I can get you a RAK for playing along last month! I'm busy thinking about what our next challenge should be....

I'm very excited that our first challenge has inspired Sue to create this gorgeous layout! Sue bought this beautiful "Boho Chic" paper last summer from Hobby Lobby but even though she loved it she hasn't had an opportunity to use it. For this challenge she decided to do something just for herself using paper she loves. She even got inspired to step out of her box and play around with a style that isn't her typical one. I'm so glad she did because look at this result!

Thanks for playing and sharing your inspiration with us!

Am I a Stylish Blogger?

Someone (thanks Sue!) thinks so! I was the lucky recipient of the Stylish Blogger award and am proud to display the award over there on the right sidebar. As a requirement of receiving the award I must do two things. First, I must tell you eight things about myself.

1. I'm a CA girl and the longer I live in MI, the more I miss the CA weather. (Were it not mid-winter this might not have made #1 on my list.)
   
2. Paper crafting is where I spend most of my creative time, but I'm a wannabe writer and mixed media artist as well.
3. I love watching ghost/haunting shows on television. Guilty pleasures, anyone?
4. I'm a San Francisco Giants fan (see item #1) and therefore have been a very happy girl since November 1, 2010.
5. I prefer to eat organically whenever possible.
6. I'm something of a homebody...homeschool my children and homebirthed three of the five.
7. Red Vines are real licorice (#5 does not apply here) and Twizzlers are just wannabes.
8. I love to read and panic a little if I get stuck somewhere without a book.

The second requirement is to choose eight more stylish bloggers to share this award with. In no particular order I'd like to share with you:

1. If It's Groovy
2. Scrap a Little
3. Scrapping the Guys
4. The Scrappiness in Me
5. Crop Chocolate Designs
6. This Little Scrapper
7. Be Present Be Real
8. Made Fresh Daily

Go ahead and check them out; you won't be disappointed!

I was a little under the weather last week and then have had my dd, dsil and dgd visiting this week, but rest assured...there are more creative postings coming soon!!

I am about to embark on a semi-scrappy adventure and thought you might want to come along for the ride. This is NOT scrapbooking per se...but it will have a lot of overlap of supplies AND I think it will be very inspirational.

That's where I thought you might come in.

See, as much as I am a verbally-oriented person, I've always...well, just plain sucked at keeping a journal. I've tried. Oh, have I tried. But really...yeah, I've just sucked at keeping it up. So this time I'm trying something a little different. I'm going to do some art journaling. (This is the book I bought but a bit of browsing amazon or a bit of googling will show you, oh, a gazillion or so approaches: Journal Spilling: Mixed Media Techniques for Free Expression.) Now, I understand this is NOT scrapbooking and may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I do believe that we can all use some of these concepts and practices as a springboard to become better, more creative scrappers.

So, my first challenge to you (taken from the book above) is this, a step in letting go of your inhibitions:

1. Start with a blank piece of paper, any color. Grab anything random, don't overthink.
2. Quickly (again, don't overthink this) grab ten or so of your scrap papers.
3. Tear these into smaller peices.
4. Drop them onto your background paper.
5. DO NOT MOVE THEM!
6. Glue them where they landed.
   
7. Grab some paint (crayons, markers, whatever.)
8. Scribble or brush all over the page. (DON'T TRY TO BE ARTISTIC OR CREATIVE, JUST SCRIBBLE!)
9. If you have thoughts running through your head, right them down. Wherever.
   
10. BE DONE!

If you like what you came up with, let it dry and use it as a background paper. Or cut it up and use it as you wish. Maybe it will show up somewhere on the monthly challenge layout? Or heck, crumple it up and throw it away.

But be inspired by the process.

Let me know what you think of the exercise. I'd love it if you share with us your results as well! (Link over on the right, as always.) Here is what I came up with in my art journal.

As promised, here is the layout I made with this month's challenge in mind. I first chose these papers simply because I loved them but had been hanging on to them with nothing in mind. Once I put my mind to it the perfect pictures of my daughter at her choir concert were right under my nose!

I can't wait to see what papers you've been hanging on to and what you do with them!

Amazing clip from Tim Holtz's booth at CHA

You know that thing we are talking about for this month's challenge? The thing where you buy something because you fall in love with it but don't have any specific project in mind for it? I just realized I did it again.

The other night I was having a little pity party...nothing major but I decided on some online retail therapy.

But would you look at this??



If you go here you can see every beautiful stinkin' page.

Now to figure out what to do with it.

I'm seriously thinking about just framing some of it.