Bits&Pieces

soaked in inspiration

I sat with small traces of drool at the corners of my lips yesterday gazing at Ali's New Zealand album, using the latest CK Kit of the Month. But it wasn't just the drool factor, it was a little trip down memory lane. Thoughts of my own experiences in New Zealand and Australia from just over a year ago reminded me I really should document a bit more than I have. I made a small chipboard album, but really… I need to make me one using that kit. Totally.

I really do hope to get back to New Zealand someday. And not just to scoop up small traces of dirt from Neil's hometown of Te Awamutu. My colleagues Stacy Julian, Wendy Smedley and Renee Pearson are all getting do just this in November (well, they're going to New Zealand, but probably not stalking around Te Awamutu!), as all are going down under as part of Stacy and Friends, brought to you by those amazing Kiwis collectively known as Kiwiscraps. 

If given my druthers, (I know, it's such grandma word, isn't it?) I would be on a 13-hour flight down to partake as a student. Seriously. If you Aussies and Kiwis have the means to go to this event, by all means, DO. Stacy has the ability to absolutely change your scrapbooking viewpoints and leave you dripping with insane amounts of inspiration. That's right—Stacy (and Friends Wendy, Renee and Nic Howard) will leave you soaked in inspiration. And not just because they'll usually find ways to make you cry. But oh…it's a good kind of cry!

And speaking of partaking as a student, I'm pretty stoked to be a student myself at Miss Donna Downey's upcoming Inspired. Artist Workshop. event. For me, the coolest part of being a student is getting WAY outside of my comfort zone, and doing stuff that quite honestly may freak me out, but will definitely open up my creative brain channels that tend to get a bit set in their ways. So bring on the heat embossing people. I am so READY.

And tonight, i'm hoping to loosen up those creative channels as it's my scrap night with my girls, Margie, Vicki and Shelley (minus our fourth, Dana : ( )... but really, it's usually not about the creativity anyway. Just the soup. And copious amounts of wine.

Happy weekends to all.

we have a winner(s)

Yes, I (Dan) did peruse each and every of the 169 posts. I had eight semi-finalists and then narrowed down to three finalists who I think are all deserving. Why are they all deserving? Because they each gave something to me or spoke to me. And when you live in a house with Cathy, Aidan and Cole, I don't think it's asking too much for it to occasionally be about ME.

Relly is a winner for passing on to me the artofthemix.org link.

Brek spoke to me by calling out Grandpaboy. R.I.P. Bob Stinson.

Briohny for giving me a couple more ideas for another idea (Lisa Says, Candy's Room, Caroline, No) or two (the colour mix could be done with just blue).

____________________

Okay, now it's back to me, Cathy. And yes, Dan was being amiable to the Australian winner to spell the word 'colour.' Ah…he never ceases to be inclusive.

I had NO idea he planned to read all comments. I just thought the old print 'em and cut 'em up and put 'em in a paper bag would work. Nope. Not for Dan. Not for my thoughtful, no-shortcuts kind of guy.

So, winners…(i'm only missing Briohny's contact info, so if you read this, please post your email for me!), and I will get  your mixes and your alphabet related goods in the mail as soon as I can get to the post office.

men and their mixes

[the entry time is up. dan is working on picking the winner. and i had no idea he was going to read all comments. that Dan! back later with a winner!]

What is it with men making their mixes anyway?

Many moons ago, Dan wooed me with mixed tapes. Sigh. Those were the days. When they consisted of a collection of painstakingly chosen songs gathered together on an actual cassette tape. I still remember the first mixed tape  I ever got from him. The third or fourth track in was "Blind Love" by Tom Waits. If I'd had any doubts up until that point that he liked me, well… track 4 pretty much put those fears to rest.

Over the years, he's continued to make mixes for me, although the modern ones now show up on shiny CDs, and usually around special holidays, like Valentine's Day. Or Arbor Day.

One year, my Valentine's mix started with Barry White and ended with Ben Folds' "The Luckiest" and left me in a sobbing heap at my computer, where I sat and listened while toiling away at my job. Although I surely felt loved.

He still makes mixes, but not just for me. I love that he makes mixes for other people, including, but not limited to: himself, his friend, Christopher, and our kids.

His latest mix is called "Alphabet." Yes, as you would guess… song titles covering A to Z. Take a peek:

It's harder than it looks. I thought the only song we had that started with "X" was by Madonner.

I've been promising Dan that I'll listen to it during the day, and I've meant well enough. It seems I'll start it, and about half way through the Roddy Frame contribution, I'll be damned if Neil doesn't win out and I clamor for my Finn fix. So much for the Alphabet mix.

I told him there really were a lot of Finn-related songs he could have chosen that would have added so much to this collection of his. Probably one for each letter. Except X. And possibly Z. Okay, so it might be a stretch to cover the entire alphabet in Finn, but I think I just planned my weekend, people.

I love when that happens so early in the week!

But in the spirit of mixes everywhere, I challenge you to make your own Alphabet mix. Then make a page about it. The blast it through your boom box on the street where you live and drive everyone crazy.

Then, leave your name if you want to win a copy of Dan's…and a few alphabet-related scrapbooking goodies tossed in for good measure. I'll have Dan draw a winner by tomorrow.

Fall, Food and Foo

I like fall.

I like food.

I like Foo Fighters.

It's only 58 degrees. I think it's here. Fall. Seriously. I am tingly. I like fall that much.

My new issue of Everyday Food arrived in the mail, and tell me that Chicken Pot Pie doesn't look like the Bomb. I'm going to calculate the points later today and see if it will fit into my master plan, and by 'plan' i mean the Weight Watchers "Oh, come on now…20 points is VERY filling" Diet to the Stars. If not that, the Spice Rubbed Chicken and Hominy Saute is lookin' might fine. God, I ADORE hominy.

I just downloaded Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace from the iTunes store, because I didn't have enough so called 'patience' to wait 'til I could drive to a store that sells CDs. Dave is looking good these days. Possibly a titch too much rock star skanky for my taste, but those tastes are all skewed during the Month of Neil. (I know, i've posted this link before. Did I mention my OCD?)

For September, I like my men slight and Kiwi. Sorry, Dan. If you talk with an accent you might get luckier.

Happy Foos-day to all.

presenting Lego, Boy, Le Crueset still life

Yesterday, Cole created a full-on production of "Annie" in Lego. And no, not the cute red headed little imp from Broadway; it was a Star Wars musical about Ani, aka Anakin Skyewalker. And yes, while I was cleaning my microwave, I did overhear him singing, "My, my, this here Anakin guy…"

What I wouldn't give to have that kind of imagination back.

Doing an online chat tonight at Rhubarb Roots at 7 p.m C.S.T. Come, join in the fun.

ladies and gentlemen…the Revolution

Please, someone out there…tell me you know exactly the part in Purple Rain when that dude walks out onto the stage and says, with nary a glimmer of personality: Ladies and Gentlemen…the Revolution. Anyone? (Besides you, Mr. Bubby.) Anyone?

I saw that movie in the first few days of its release back in 1984. I went to see it at the Everett Mall—alone—because I couldn't find a single friend who wanted to go with me.

And yes…when Tiny P went over and kissed Wendy Melvoin on the cheek during the finale, I wept for the universal bonds of friendship and forgiveness.

Anyhoo…this leads to my post today, about my new cool scrapbooking toy. Ladies and Gentlemen…the Revolution.

So I just got this last week, and have been having a fabulously good time, making letters from cardstock and such (and using it with my other Quickutz dies, like my favorite font, Studio) but what you have to know is this: every time I pull it out of my cabinet, I say, just like that dude in the movie: Ladies and Gentlemen…the Revolution. And it makes it RIDICULOUSLY more fun to use.

I love that. I love the fact that my life has been so saturated with various media input, that I can pull stuff like that out of my ass (and by "ass" of course I mean the deepest recesses of my dazzling intellect) at the drop of a hat.

And speaking of those types of things… Dan reads the comments on the blog here, and we had a good laugh about O.J. being in some kind of trouble (it never gets old, sorry, Juice.) And Dan wanted to know how one of my readers would know about that little inside-joke of ours, to which I replied, "Well…if you had READ my 2nd book, you might have come across a layout about Dan-isms.…if you had READ it."

(It's a little sore spot in our house. Okay, in MY house, meaning, my soul. He hasn't really read it. I thought about withholding favors at one point. But that's a story for another day.)

So I tell him: "Ya, I  also wrote about what you say, whenver I'm starting to tell you the reasons behind why I have to go and run so many errands...blah, blah, blah, and then you cut me off and say—"

And he says, "You mean the thing about stirring the sauce, delivering the guns, and going to the airport?"

And I'm like, "What?"

And he's like, "You know, our little 'Goodfellas' riff, you know at the end, when he's all hopped up on coke?"

And I'm like, "OH YEAH…I LOVE that one. But, um.... NO."

So what I'm trying to say, is not only do I love referencing all the media that has at one point or another, come streaming into my world…but you should know that most of my deepest relationships are solidly based them, too.

Wow…the therapy IS working!

So I decided to do some photo back-ups yesterday, while working, because it takes a goodly chunk of time to burn dvds, and when I got to my iPhoto library for the month of August, what you see above equals the photos that I took and chose to save. Now I  know there were a handful of shots I took for my blog, that I uploaded to my laptop, but what you see here represents the Photos from My Life for August 2007.

I'm sorry…do I have a fever?

I knew I'd been choosing not to take pictures on a regular basis, I just had no idea that my PDT (Photo Desensitization Therapy) was working quite this good.

Part of me is thinking, So the only that happened in August was this hair? And the other part of me is thinking, DUUUUUUDE! You are SO above camera enslavement!

Then I remembered, I didn't even take a single shot of the kids on the first day of school. Not a single shot. What's next? Letting a day pass without listening to Neil? (Okay, that's getting a bit carried away. Sorry.)

I knew something felt fishy. Like, there was no way I only took three photos for the month of August. And guess what? I actually took 369 of the little suckers, but I had my Smart Album set to record only the shots taken between August 1 and August 2. Le voila.

And my point to all of this: I am an idiot. But a very likable one, most days, or so MANY reliable sources keep telling me.

 

IN OTHER  NEWS:

1. Beth Ann, you posted yesterday, and yes… Dan and I got a fairly good chuckle reviving the following phrase: Is O.J. in some kind of trouble?

2. It IS Brandi in the post from yesterday. She'll be here through Sunday. Try the veal!

3. I posted the  baby album calendar template download in yesterday's post as well. It's mind-numbingly simple. But hey, that's what I do, and I do it well. Numb minds with my simplicity.

4. No further news items at this time.

can you identify what's in the circle?

We're bringin' ___________ back, yeah.

(Okay, it's only for a week. But hey, I take what I can get, as long as the responsibility factor  remains low and the age quotient high.)

Oh, and someone posted to have the template from that baby album. If you post your email here, I'll send you the pdf!

 

[edit: i wasn't expecting more requests.... this is really old, from an issue of Simple, a while back. It's just a blank calendar. so…if this is what you're seeking, feel free:)
Download SS_9x9_calendar_template.pdf

 

hey! where's my mint?

So while I was in Utah last week, or the week before a friend emailed me a link to this story that ran in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Writer Linda Fantin reports on Utah retailers (and the consumers in general) overall lack of enthusiasm for Martha's line, but goes on to write:

"Scrapbooking already has its divas—Lisa Bearnson, Becky Higgins, Shelli Gardner, Cathy Zielske—women who made a mint off scrapbooking and became celebrities in the process, not the other way around. They inspire us not because of some cult of personality, but because they are innovative designers and ordinary people. We relate to them. Through their hall-of-fame scrapbook pages, we've seen their kids go to the zoo, graduate from preschool and look pensively while their mothers recount five favorite things about being 5."

I was actually flattered by it, to be grouped with Lisa and Becky, mostly because they really are industry trailblazers. Putting the whole celebrity thing aside for a moment, the fact that where no scrapbook magazine existed, Lisa put pretty much everything she had out on the line to start one up, along with co-founder Don Lambson. Think about it: would you risk everything you had on an idea? I love that. Personally? I'm not a risk taker. Nor did I marry one. I really admire the whole maverick mentality. And if you do the math, I  have a job because Lisa did just that. Thanks, Lisa!

And then Becky…well, she's an icon and her contributions speak for themselves, and continue to do so. The entire sketches thing is brilliant. I was paging through her new Sketches Book last night thinking: what a great friggin' resource for scrapbookers. Seriously. She stays true to her timeless style, and on top of it, she's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Genuinely.

Me? I just make pages with very few things on them and tell good stories. (The key here is that I believe they are good stories, and when I revisit them, they stand up.) For me, scrapbooking is about pleasing yourself first and foremost, and defining that pleasure keeps you coming back for more. Just like an ordinary addict. And I SO roll that way.

The only thing I was curious about when I read the above passage was where the hell is my mint?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. If I somehow missed it along the way, I could really use it about now. My 17-year-old Honda Civic probably won't make it through another Minnesota winter.

going with what you know

So I get this nice little package with some of the new Love, Elsie Jack and Abby Collection (edited to add: the rub-ons that spell Crowded, the patterned paper, the house and the chipboard letters, are all from Love,Elsie. And i for one, do, in fact, love Elsie!), and what do I see repeated in various places? Little houses… and i'm thinking of Crowded Houses. Huh? Yes? Getting that one? And it turned out to be the perfect little embellishments for my layout about the show (click to see it bigger! and thanks to Jen for supplying me with the visual data for this page!):

This is the first page I've made in a long, long time that's just for me—not for an assignment, or my column at Simple. And it's funny how you kind of gravitate towards what makes you the most comfortable. Type. Linearity. Common margins. Simple bits of repeating colors, papers etc. It's the kind of page that does exactly what I need it to do. For me. As a scrapbooker. It tells a story that I want to remember, in a way that makes complete and total sense. To me. Know what I'm sayin'?

I read with great interest a post over at Stacy Julian's blog in which she asked: If you could change one thing about scrapbooking (and/or our industry in general) that would allow more people to embrace and enjoy this amazing hobby, what would it be?

It definitely reminds you there are a lot of voices, and ideas, and passions, and angles that we all bring to this hobby. And that honestly, there are room for all of them. Every single one. Those just like you, who do it the way you do it. And those like me, who can't tilt a photo to save my life.

And speaking of room for voices, I'm going to ask every single person who reads this blog and also reads or subscribes to Simple Scrapbooks, to participate in our just launched Reader Survey.

Why? Well the first and most important thing of all: we want to know what you want. And we mean it.

Secondly, it's tied into a fun sweepstakes for all of those who answer the questions. Something to the effect of winning a year's supply scrapbooking goodness (365 sheets of cardstock, 365 feet of adhesive and ribbon, to name a few!)… just for answering a series of questions.

I know you people have opinions, and we would like to hear them.

 

Every single one.