My organized CHAOS...

Tonight

I'll be here @ Studio Calico buying this:

Their kits go on sale at midnight and I really must have that Taffeta add-on!!!  I love all the new GIRL FRIDAY from Cosmo Cricket!!!

Anyone else buying this yummy kit?

Have a great weekend

xo

I slammed my finger in the door today....

and wanted to curl up into a little ball and cry.

But we were late picking up my older son,

so there was no "curl up into a ball" time.

Just the crying.

And the bitterness.

And the desire to scream out every horrible curse word I could imagine or even make up.

I was in so much pain, I actually made up words...

but only said them inside my little head

because my 5 year old was holding my hand.

He kissed my booboo

and thought that his spit was magical.

He's so sweet.

I lied to him.

I told him his kiss was magic.

And that my finger no longer hurt.

But it did.

SPIT IS NOT MAGICAL!!!!

It has absolutely no healing power whatsoever!

I felt like a bad mom.

How many times had I kissed my son's booboo

and then

sent him on his merry little way.

Stop crying, I'd say.

You're fine.

Mommy kissed it.

It's all better.

I suck.

My son has smashed his fingers,

bonked his head,

done countless belly flops onto the sidewalk.

And I've kissed them

and shooed him away.

Now I know better.

This post is to all those moms out there,

me being one of them, heehee...

who thinks that their spit is magic.

I'm here to tell you

that IT IS NOT.

Go slam your finger in the door

or

hit your head on the corner of your coffee table.

Put your finger in your mouth.

I did.

I practically stuck my whole hand in there.

Does it feel better?

No.

It just stinks

like sour saliva.

So,

what I'm trying to say is

the next time your child gets hurt

skip the kiss.

Give them a frickin' hug, a pack of ice, and maybe a motrin or two.

Hope you guys are having a good evening.  Yes, my finger is better.  I had a beer and some snuggle time with my family.

xo

I finally finished a layout

this year.  Whew, I've had this mojo block for so long.  It feels good to actually finish something.

I used MME's Penny Lane and a few pieces of Basic Grey's porcelain and marrakech.

I used a lot of "paper crumpling" in this layout.  Here's my "rough draft".  If you compare them, you can see where I added elements and totally omitted things from the finished layout.

To my "rough draft",  I added

flowers, edged in creamy brown.

I curved the edges upward.

You can do this with your fingernail or stick the flower on the end of a pencil

 

(yes, I need a manicure and maybe a little lotion, heehee)

I added journaling and
creased and inked the "rainbow arches" .

The "arches" were made from this

cut in half, minus the journaling spot.

I added pp from BasicGrey that I crumpled

A few of you have asked me about gluing the crumpled paper to your layout.  You have to make sure you put adhesive on the wrinkles that matter to you.  Does that make sense?  If you want a particular crease "to keep", it has to have adhesive on it so that it sticks permanently to your layout.   

Otherwise, if you flatten it with your hand, it will disappear.  Another trick to emphasizing the crease is to run your fingernail up and down it, kinda pinching it with your nail.  You can also add a touch of creamy brown ink to the raised edge of your crease or instead of allowing your crease to "stand upright", push it down so it lays either to the left or right.  Anyway, that's how I work my creases.  

Oh, and a note on crinkling photos...I only crinkled/crumpled the "dead space"

You can see in this photo that my son is "untouched". ( I held the photo at an angle to create shadows, so you could see this clearly)

And then instead of gluing the crinkled photo directly to my layout, I glued it onto a scrap piece of cardstock and trimmed around it.

Remember that photo paper is thicker and less pliable than pp and cardstock.  It takes more adhesive for a photo to stay put when you are trying to create your crinkles.

My poor butterfly was looking pretty sad, so I punched a few circles in his wings and added stick-pin antennae.

I think that's pretty much it for that layout.

Here's what's currently on my work space in "rough draft" form

and a few close-ups

 

 

It's more MME paper with a little bit of old Sass, some Amy Butler, and a little bit of October Afternoon.  I'll post the finished version when it's done.

Hope you had a great weekend.  I can't believe tomorrow's Monday....man, I can't wait till Summer...

xo

I finished Greta's class...

well Day 1 at least.  Greta created a groovy Birthday calendar.  I decided to make an inspiration journal instead.

 I was playing with a new CK font that I purchased and printed the word "inspire".  I liked how it looked and "Voila", an inspiration journal was born.

  What I really liked about Greta's class (found here) is that it allowed me to play and get messy and use materials that I'm not totally comfortable with.  I've used acrylics, gesso and gel medium once before when I took a class with Traci Bautista.  And I've seen Celine Navarro use it in her work.  The one thing that I've never done before is use a pizza cutter to apply gesso.

  
I thought that was pretty cool.  The only other person I've seen use this technique is Celine Navarro.  If you have a pizza cutter, you have to try it.  As silly as it sounds, it's really a lot of fun and adds a nice touch to your work.

I also added stamps from Fancy Panty, Autumn Leaves, and Christine Adolph (Stampington & Company).
  

I also tie-dyed paper towels, a technique I learned in Traci Bautista's workshop...
  

and used them to create my own patterned paper
 
which I put inside of my journal


I added ribbon and strips of fabric and added iridescent flakes to the gesso
 
Oh and I forgot to mention, that instead of gluing my papers down flat, I creased them.  So my base paper looks like this
 

Well, that's all I have for today.  I'm so excited.  My night is cleared for some much needed blog-stalking :)

xo

You guys are too funny

Thanks for all of the comments, emails, and Facebook adds generated by my last post.  I'm not a hater and I'm not caught up in the number of friends that I have on facebook.  I also have nonBFFs who I stalk...Claudine Hellmuth, Vicki Boutin, Celine Navarro...  I'm just one of their groupies, heehee.

Anyway, I just thought that "Deleter-girl" was being mean and I don't really like meanies.

Well today's my husband's birthday so this is going to be a really short post.  I have to make a pancake birthday cake for him

before he gets up...thank goodness he sleeps in! 

So I just wanted to share this picture with you, my son's latest purchase from Tarzhay:
  
He's not much into smiling these days.

I really admire him for being confident enough to have his own sense of style.  First the long hair, then these shoes

and now the hat.

I think he's pretty groovy.

Today, I'm also taking a class with Greta Adams over on Noel Mignon's site and making this

well, hopefully something similar to it.  The class starts today.  I think you can still sign up if you're interested.

UPDATE:  Okay, I've started the class .  It's a lot of fun. 

I started to add doodling

 

 

and some gesso. 

  

I'll finish up tomorrow and keep you posted.  Greta has a second class tomorrow.  I'm sure it'll be as fun as this one!

Gosh my feet, ankles, and knees are so sore.  I've been dealing with this for a year now and haven't been able to figure it out.  If any of you have any clue as to what the heck is going on with my joints, shoot me an email or leave a comment. 

Have a great day!!!

xo

I apparently owe someone an apology...

because I found myself

deleted

from her facebook profile.

*gasp*

Not "gasp" because we're no longer "friends"

but "gasp" because

SERIOUSLY?

the pettiness of high school extends even to Facebook?

I felt like she'd passed me a note saying

Remember these notes from elementary school?

So I didn't have time to comment on her blog

or

return the etiquette of leaving a comment on her facebook profile.

But honestly, hasn't SHE been reading MY blog?

Remember the poop pictures?  I've had the "ickies".

I haven't been stalking anyone until just recently.

Why didn't she just leave me a comment or send me an email asking me WTF?...like the rest of you did.   i love you guys, by the way.

Again, I'm not upset because my little face is not on her friends list.   

I just find it funny that in her group of 400+ "friends" she has little heads that belong to my sister, my PRESCHOOL coworkers,  my PRESCHOOL coworker's sister, my scrappy chic's husband's cousin....(you get the point)...

and other people who she doesn't even know that she pulled off of MY profile...people that shot ME an email, asking me who the heck she was before adding her as a friend.

  I guess it's like having an acquaintance show up to a party you've thrown for all of your closest friends, and you not being there.  So this person that you barely know is now partying with all of your friends, and you're somehow locked in the garage.  Does that make sense? 

And she's the one who requested me as a friend. 

She requested me,

stole my friends (heehee),

then deleted me, heeheehee....

Nice.

Again, I'm not miffed that she deleted me. 

It's her page. 

I just find it funny that she's chosen Facebook as a means to make a STATEMENT, versus shooting me an email and saying WTF?...And despite this silliness, she's still on my blogroll (I'm too lazy to delete her, heehee).  That reminds me. I need to update that sucker.

Okay, before anyone else deletes me....here's my public apology:

I'M SORRY for not returning comments/emails.  I LOVE MY BLOG READERS!

 I am trying to get my booty in gear and return emails and comments.  It's been tough.  Keep sending me emails cursing me out. 

And if you've already "friended" me on Facebook, for goodness sakes,

leave my little head alone, heehee!...do not delete it!

Okay, enough of that.  Just a little facebook humor.

Well, I've sent out all the RAKS.  Thanks for playing. 

I've been doing a little scrapping and currently working on this

 

Have you ever crumpled a photo?  I liked using it on these photos where I had "dead" space.

The layout is still a WORK IN PROGRESS and not glued down yet....and far from being finished.   I'm still moving things around...and have to add the details.  My poor butterfly has no antennae...there's no journaling...blah, blah, blah. 

Well, I'm off to my son's Valentine's Day party.  I'll see you guys soon.

and remember,

be kind to your little Facebook heads.  Just say NO to deleting, teehee...

xo

Yikes, it's already Sunday,

and I told you I'd draw a few names for my giveaways on Saturday.  So sorry.  I just got back from my 3 day crop at Scrapbook Central...and I'm totally exhausted.

I've decided to give away one more thing, since I'm a day late.  Sorry I don't have any upcoming CHA new release stuff to give you, but I AM parting with two of my favorite paper lines from Pink Paislee...Vintage Moon and Pop Fashion. 

Okay, the winners (and what you've won) are:

has won this SC kit

has won this SC kit

has won this Pink Paislee kit with this stamp set
 

and

has won this Pink Paislee stuff
 

 
   

   


JessicaMae, Ady, Jessica Griffin, and CJ Johnson--please end me your mailing address so I can pop your goodies into the mail!




I'll be back soon with some layouts I'm working on...Grrrrr, my typepad account is messing up.  I can't get rid of the stupid underline!!!!

xo