Card trio

By Grace Tolman

 
I love, love, love the Crazy Daisy main kits. There’s enough products to give you a whole month’s worth of projects. Here’s what I made with my leftovers.

Yes, most of the items in these cards are leftovers from 5 layouts AND one album! You really can’t beat a kit like this!

For the cards, I used the MME journaling blocks as my main inspiration.
For the Sending Happy thoughts card (photo  below), I used the bike block. I think it’s soo cool and vintage. I kept the card simple as to not overpower that wonderful bike image. I also used the MME flocked diamond paper as background to add to the sophisticated look. The tape was used here too.

For the Only you card, I used a green background to make the rest of the neutral colors to pop. I added a purple ribbon (from my stash) to compliment the green.

For the Happy Halloween card, I used the bird MME block as my inspiration then added the Happy Halloween strip and Oct. 31 which was cut from a MME paper.

Hope this set inspired you to dig through those October main kits and make something today.

So, here’s the latest kit from Crazy Daisy Kits.

October 2010 Main Kit

And here’s a look at our October 2010 ”Dead Darlene Halloween” Mini Kit. Our fabulous friend Darlene loves, loves Halloween, so we asked her to design a “scary’ Halloween kit for us. This kit is adorable and features all of Darlene’s favorite spooky things:

If you haven’t gotten your October kits yet, you still have time. Kits ship on the 10th, so go ahead and get yours now!

So here are 4 things I’m currently search for or in need of:

1. Pumpkin costumes

My daughter decided a few weeks back that she wants to be a pumpkin for Halloween. She also decided that her little brother is going to be a pumpkin too. That means I need a pumpkin costume for a 6-year-old and an 18-month-old as well. Anyone know of some cute pumpkin costumes I can get for both of them?

2. A new camera bag.

I have been look for a new camera back ever since I got my new camera. The one I have isn’t big enough and frankly, it’s just not cute enough. I’ve been looking at the goodies from  Epiphanie Bags, as well as Joe Totes. I love both sites and am considering buying the orange bag for Joe Totes (picture above).

3. Cute AND Flattering Leggings.

I have always wanted to wear leggings, but I just don;t have the right body for it. Every year as the weather starts to cool off, I start dreaming of comfy leggings  joining my wardrobe. But I never add them, as I’m certain they won’t work for me. I think this year I’m going to try to break the cycle and get at least one pair of leggings. I want to wear them with some tall, flat boots and a longish sort of top. Any ideas where I can get cute and flattering leggings?

4. Motivation to diet and exercise

I was doing so well for so long … but I’ve fallen off the wagon. I think I’ve gain about 7 pounds in the last 6 weeks and I feel crummy. I’m too scared to get on the scale to see the “real” number, but I just know. I have allowed myself to indulge, indulge and indulge some more … without staying on my exercise plan. Even worse than my pants being tighter, I’m feeling sluggish. I don’t have time to be tired and sickly. I need more energy and pep in my step. Is there a place I can go and buy a cup of motivation? I need it.

“Being fully present is the best guarantee for a bright future.”

–Guy Finley

I read this quote last week and it has stuck with me. I actually can’t stop thinking about it, which is a sure sign that it was something I desperately needed to here. I really have a lot going on in my life. Probably too much. But there isn’t really anything I can take off my plate. In my quest for finding balance, enjoying my life and not feeling guilt … I have realized that I have have to be present. What does that mean for me? Well, I have started to compartmentalize my life. When I am working, I am working. I have been trying to block out very specific times where I dedicate myself completely to the work I have to get done. When I’m working, there is no play. There is no Facebooking. There is no distractions. I am fully present. This has been huge for me. I can accomplish so much more when I just ignore everything else in my life and work …. and I can do it in less time and with less heartache.

I’ve also applied this to my kids and family. When I’m done working I completely disconnect from work and turn all of my attention to my family. I have so enjoyed the time with my kids the last few weeks, as I’ve stopped checking email, blogging or doing anything that doesn’t have to do with them. I get on the floor. I roll around with my baby boy. I chase my big girl. I laugh. I feel so much less stress. I’m present and I enjoy it. And I’ve stopped feeling frustrated, because I’m not multi-tasking myself to death.

When I think about crafting, I think aout another area in my life that’s neglected and where I’m often not fully present. I had the awesome opportunity to attend Creative Escape last week with Jennifer, two of her cousins and another girlfriend from high school. We spent four days enjoying time together and being creative. I feel so recharged and ready to focus on doing things that make me happy and being present when I’m creating. I signed up for an online class fromJessica Sprague. Thanks to the class I took from Claudine Hellmuth Iknow know how I’m going to finish a painting I’ve been working on for months. I have already started on Christmas presents for my mom and my mother-in-law.

I feel like a whole new person. Isn’t it amazing what being fully present can do for you (or me in this case)? I challenge you to make a goal to be more present in your life. It’s not easy, but it’s so worth it.  

So, I’m typing on my new laptop that is finally working exactly the way I like it. it’s amazing how attached you can get to a particular computer after you’ve worked on it for a time. All my icons are in a certain place. Documents stored where I can find them. Links and bookmarks easy to access. I have tried to recreate my old machine and I have to say I’m SO grateful I have been backing up all of my files and have them living on external hard drives. What a relief when my old machine just started locking up, over heating and crashing. But backing up your files (photos, layouts, digi elements, etc) is a whole different topic and worthy of blog post all its own.

Anyway. Here are the August Kits. They are adorable if I do say so myself. And the Main and Mini are totally different, so you need them both!

August 2010 Main Kit

August 2010 Mini Kit

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Special offer:  For the month of August all subscribers get a free grab bag, so if you haven’t joined our club yet, now is the time to do it.

In honor of summer, our July 2010 Mini Kit features the super fab Basic Grey “Slice of Summer” mini album kit. Yep, this month you can get a mini book in the mini kit too! Isn’t that awesome?!

Create a special mini-album perfect for scrapping your special memories! This kit is a limited edition kit from Basic Grey … never to be offered again. Create as shown or add your own special touches. This album can EASILY be modified to showcase another topic (such as springtime memories or a day at the park).

Order yours now and it will ship with the main kits on July 10th.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend and a happy and safe Fourth of July.

Layouts from Katie Turner using the June 2010 Main Kit.

I have tried to make some time this last week to get some digital scrapbooking in … like every week of my life, it’s been a crazy busy week. But, each time I finish a digital page or any page for that matter, I feel like I just scaled the world’s largest mountain. Here are two of the layouts I have finished today. The first (above) features some photos I took in Rio last week. I don’t scrap about myself too much. I know, this is a bad thing. I want to be better about telling my story and not just the story of my family. So here’s a page featuring something I did ALL on my own.

The second page is about my son. He’s 14-months-old and is repeating some of the things we say. I said to him the other day, “The ducky says quack.” And he looked at me, smiled and said “quack.” It was so precious. All day I could say quack and he would repeat it. I tried to get a picture of Cooper holding his rubber duckies (his current favorite toys), but he wouldn’t sit still. So the photo for the page is of his duckies … gotta do with best with what you have, right?

Both pages use elements from house of 3 (overlays and frames); paper and embellishments from Basic Grey; and templates from 2 Peas in a Bucket. All three of these are some of my favorites when it comes to using, getting or creating scrapbooking pages.

My kids are at the pool. Thank goodness for great weather and an adventurous nanny.

I have had so much to do. And I have had meetings out the wazoo. But I can’t stop thinking about this blog, what i want to say and just being creative.

As I was trying to figure out what I wanted to blog about today, I stumbled on this video when I stopped at the Spark web site to see if there was anything new there. I’m sitting in a Starbucks right now and as I watched the video below, I had to fight back tears (mostly because I am in public, so I didn’t want to look like a crazy nut as I sobbed). It inspires me and makes me feel like though some times I have no idea what I’m doing, how I’ll get it all done or what’s next for me … being a mother to Shelby and Cooper makes me great.

I have been working on a piece of art. I have been working on it for more than a week now. I’m a little obsessed with it. I have a whole blog post planned about it, since I learned a valuable lesson during this whole process, but I’m not ready to share that lesson yet!  But until then, here’s a little peek at what I’m working on.

I have some big plans for the weekend. I really want to scrap and finish the art piece above. I want to do the House of 3 summer scrapbook challenge (three pages a week) and I was also thinking about singing up for May Flaum’s  class at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

Four things I want to try:

1. Layout a Day (LOAD)

Have you heard about Lain Ehmann’s Layout A Day challenge? Three times a year, she leads a month-long layout a day challenge (LOAD). As a writer I always heard “If you want to be a better writer, then you have to write.” Write more. Write about different things. Just write. When I became an editor, I told my reporters the same thing. I assume it works the same for crafting. The more you do it, you unleash your creative beast within. I want to unleash that best. In March I took an online class from Shimelle and it was the best month ever. I created more and was happier with my work than I have been in a long time. For me, I just need a little push and a challenge like this seems like the perfect answer.

2. Spanx Swim suit

Not to toot my own horn, but in the last year I’ve lost some weight. I had a baby, so that helps (you lose a lot of weight when you drop that baby!). But I also managed to lose all the extra weight I’ve put on from having two children, living a chaotic life and not caring if I was eating healthy (I adore ice cream more than just about anything). Since my son was born a year ago I have lost just over 60 pounds. Still with all that weight gone, I’m a little nervous about swimsuit season. Enter Spanx. Ever tried Spanx? Best invention ever. These body shapers suck everything in and make you look amazing. And they just came out with a swimsuit line.  I also like how modest they are. I’m not a skimpy bikini kind of girl. Never have been. Never will be. These suits are cute, modest and figure flattering. What could be better than that?

3. Auto Collage

I was listening to the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast on a flight the other day and Stephanie Howell mentioned FotoFusion by LumaPix. It’s photo editing software and the offer a scrapbooking specific solution. What made me curious to try it is that Stephanie mentioned that this particular software has an auto collage feature. You can select the 5 or 10 photos you want to use, click on auto collage and it will generate a photo collage for you. From there you can add digi background papers and embellishments … or just print out your collage and scrap it traditionally. I thought this would be a tool that would allow me to quickly scrap a lot of photos that I love, but no feel compelled to spend a lot of time on. This would allow me to spend more time on the stories I REALLY want to tell, but also find a home for some of the cute photos that I want to look back on year after year.

4. Under Eye Cream

I saw an ad the other day for this under eye cream. It says that it will take away my dark circles. I have had dark circles under my eyes for as long as I can remember.  Getting more sleep, eating right … all those things don’t help. I hear it’s genetic. Whatever it is, I’m tired of it. Id like to buy a wonder cream that takes ‘em away. Maybe this is it? Who knows, but for $59 it’s worth a try … if anyone knows of a cream that really works or a home remedy, send them my way. I’d love to get rid of these suckers.