Kickin' It with Flair and Tim Holtz

This week's review team work involved Flair's Holly Jolly collection.


A few weeks ago I got my hands on Tim Holtz's new Grungeboard. Can you say YUMMY?? The first layout above uses Grungeboard swirls which I painted blue and then inked lightly with white Staz-On. The wings in the following layout were also made with Grungeboard which I inked lightly and then rubbed with metallic chalk.


My next projects involve Spellbinders Dies. You can see one of them above with my "Coffee" sign. Cute, no? Hopefully I'll get my Christmas cards started along with a few gifts this week!

PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE - November 16

I just posted this week's photography challenge at ScrapFriends. It is all about your Thanksgiving feast. Hope you can join me!

OLW Favorite!

Well, I didn't win BUT my Pure Delight layout below made it to the OLW blog favorites for this week's word! 95 entries, 24 favorites, 1 winner. I'll take that. ;)

THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Recovering

I was sick this past weekend--sore throat, body aches, fever, congestion and a cough. It wasn't pretty. I did as little as possible as I could, took naps both Saturday and Sunday and did some reading and movie watching.

I was too sick to join in our family outing to Aldo Leopold Nature Conservancy for "Families on the Frontier." There they gathered wood, built a bonfire and learned how to make butter by hand, and then cooked apples over the fire to make applesauce and finally biscuits. The kids had an awesome time and learned a lot too. Wish I had some pictures. They brought me back a plate with small cups of applesauce and butter and a piece of a biscuit. YUM!

I went to work on Monday though I wasn't sure I could make it. I didn't have a temperature and did feel somewhat better. I did make it all day long and in the afternoon started to feel even better. I kept it quiet for dinner and ordered a pizza and the kids and I watched Sky High and I read a little bit.

Tuesday I felt even better which is good because there was a lot to do. I've been busy at work and should be busy at home too. I had neglected laundry and dishes over the weekend so I needed to catch up. We ate, went grocery shopping, then after groceries were put away I did scrapping for an hour or so, came back upstairs where Hubby had planned to give me a massage. Here he had everything set up, the lights off, candles lit all around the room and soothing music playing. He gave me a great massage!

Last night I had planned to do some scrapping but I was so tired I fell asleep on the couch right after the kids went to bed. Guess I needed some sleep! Now tonight's the night for scrapping---I hope! I have another Prima Paintables layout just about finished.

I really, REALLY need to weed out my scrapbooking supplies. I have too much that I know I won't use. Maybe I'll list a few things here when I get organized.

I've been working on getting organized this week. Why doesn't it ever look like I've made progress? Anyway, I'm working on the dreaded Christmas gift lists for the kids too. I am not ready to think about Christmas or any other holiday at the moment for that matter! Are you?

Prima Paintables

This week I am working with the new Prima Paintables. LOVE 'em! Here is what I worked on last night.

THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Inhale, now Exhale...Deep Breaths

I had a very hectic morning trying to get ready for work. I only got about one minute to style my hair. I didn't have time to make our bed or clean the cat litter. Meanwhile, the kids and Hubby left and put Milo in his cage until I was done in the bathroom, and he proceeds to bark and bark and bark some more. It is something we're trying to stop but this morning I had no time to even do that. All of the rushing within 20 minutes got my anxiety level up and I could feel my body shaking and my jaw tightening.

I have some great meds for this but I always like to try to resolve it on my own first. I did what my therapist had shown me some time ago. I inhaled deeply, held my breath for 5 seconds and then exhaled completely several times. I started feeling like I was going through birthing class again!

The breathing didn't really help but it did keep me from becoming even more anxious than I already was. My mind was racing this morning, too. I have a million thoughts, things I want to do, see, share and create. while I'm on my way to work. Not a whole lot I can do with it all when I'm walking down the street! So, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts with you today.

Halloween - It was very quiet this year, but the kids enjoyed handing out candy to the other trick-or-treaters. I bought my kids a decorated jack-o-lantern cookie to mark the occasion. My thoughts turned to my sister several times. at first I thought that this was the first Halloween since she's been gone, but no, it's already been a year and a half - damn! I know she loved this holiday and it would have been great to celebrate with her.

Scrapbooking Style - My thoughts have been about purging and consolidating my scrapping supplies and my style. I am going to focus my energies on a few specific companies that I love and would like to work with in the future. I haven't decided on which companies yet, although Scenic Route and Rusty Pickle are two of them. I'll probably choose 5 or 6 manufacturer's to devote my talent to. (This may change over time, but it is my starting off point.) Reason being, I want to create my own style. If I am trying a little of everything I'm not giving my best to any one thing. I want to incorporate stamping into my layouts. I have also decided to incorporate a symbol into each of my layouts from now on. I have been thinking about this for some time. Right now birds are hot, but I don't want to do what everyone else is doing. I thought a heart would be perfect. It's classic and meaningful to each and every page that I create with love. Look for the hearts. They won't always be easy to find.

Writer's Voice - It occurred to me that my vent yesterday might sound harsh and it got me thinking how you perceive my personality from my writing. There are a few people I keep in touch with whose writing style is so bouncy and happy and those that are great at incorporating symbolism and senses into their writing. What do you see from mine? Feel free to comment anonymously.

Artistic Vision - I've talked about this with my friend Sherry quite often over the past year. Does an artist always have highs and lows, racing thoughts, focused intensity on their craft? As you can see that my thoughts from this morning in the span of about 15 minutes can be quite overwhelming. I just want to act on all of them immediately. I feel crazy sometimes and picture Einstein with his wild hair. I feel like that right now. Wheee.....it's a brilliant ride!