ATC for you and me.

Whoever said that smaller is easier than larger may not have been talking about scrapbooking. Case in point, ATC cards. I joined a swap that Jenn at Studio Calico was hosting. I have never done ATCs, so I thought it would be a nice change in pace and signed up to do two. I have never been so challenged in my life. My brain is definitely stuck on 12 x 12 format. LOL! I will admit it was a lot of fun, but I did not get the idea above during waking hours. It came to me in a dream. I know...weird as heck. When I woke up I realized with great sadness that I am more creative when sleeping than I am awake. What.ev.er. Now I have to give credit to my friend, Dawn. She makes beautiful layouts and cards. I always notice the cool paper flowers she makes, so I copied her. This is perfect, because one of my swap mates is Jonnelle, who is a friend of Dawn's. I didn't plan it to goes like this, but it makes me happy that it turned out that way.

BOO TO YOU DUDES!

Anyway...before I lose your attention I wanted to wish you all a safe and spooky Halloween. I hope your bagful of candy doesn't develop any holes. That would stink. I should know...it happened to me. All that work to come home to find I left a trail of candy behind me. Losing candy wasn't too bad...the bad part was leaving the trail for all the ghosts, monsters and cheerleaders to find their way to my home and to me. ARGGGGHHHH!

Today is Your Birthday.

Happiest birthday wishes are being sent today to Ki and Diana. I even did a rare thing and made a couple of cards for them. Not too elaborate, but I like them. Diana and Ki I hope your day is a blast!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Speaking of making cards, while it is a rarity for me to make them now...a few years ago that is all I made. I kind of came to the world of scrapbooking through rubber stamping - which means I got bored making cards and moved on to scrapbooking and before that I got sick of cross stitching to move to stamping. I still shudder to think that I could be retired now if I had never bought all those wood mounted stamps. I have drawers upon drawers of stamps I can't part with and never use. Makes me sick (not really). My cards back then were pretty elaborate. I layered, glitterized, embossed, colored, bowed, etc. I know...it is just shocking. I used to be the Christine Middlecamp of the rubber stamping world. Well, her style...not her popularity.

FALL FUN

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with fall fun!

The Real Deal?

The real deal? OK...it's true. What you see is what you get. I don't pretend to be anything other than what I am and...well, that's it. As they say...love me or leave me. LOL! I did this layout for Anne's Do A Layout About You challenge. The deadline is October 25, is still plenty of time to join in if you are interested. Almost every photo I have taken of myself in 2008 is on this baby. Yes...it seems that I am into taking photos of myself. It's a little embarrassing and I would be worried, but in previous years there are none. Basically, 2008 seems to be the year I grew an ego or maybe it is just a good hair year. Who knows. If it continues into 2009, I will seek help from a professional. LOL!

ATC

My next project is ATC cards. I joined an ATC swap led by Jenn. I have never done ATCs before, so I am excited to see how it goes. Anyone have any advice for doing ATC cards? As usual, I can use all the help I can get. TIA!

Non-scrap related...I am tired today. Boo hoo. LOL! I went out last night with my friend and godson for dinner. I made him pose for a photo as usual. The photo is here, if you are interested in seeing it. Dave's nineteen and attending the University of MN in the CBS program. No, that wouldn't be the television network. Although that would be pretty cool. It's the College of Biological Sciences. He's one of those smarty pants and it is true he gets all that from me. Don't tell his mom and dad. :o) Last night he tried to teach his mom and I about DNA testing. After that discussion I am quite sure he doesn't get his intelligence from me, but I am still going to pretend. I love listening to him. How eager and happy he is at this moment of time. Life is good for him and I get a giddy joy in seeing that. The future is bright.

Challenging.

I haven't scrapped in over a week and decided I needed motivation. Checked out a few challenge blogs and found a couple I haven't tried before. Made notes, packed my rolling scrap case and off to my cousin's house I went. Below are the two layouts I did for the challenges.

This layout, Be You, was for the eyelet challege on Scrap Your Crap. You had to use at least fifteen eyelets. I could have used thousands and I still would have had plenty of eyelets left to last me another fifty years or 1200 layouts, whichever came first. Anyway...my friend, Liz - a.k.a Karen, is a Crazy Crap Scrapper for Scrap Your Crap. You need to check out her blog, especially her Ew to New projects. She is crazy creative. Crazy I say. Oh and she designs blogs, blinkies and banners for blogs, so if you need one check out her blog and email her. Cool.

GOOD HUMOR

GOOD

This layout, Good Humor, was titled that because I wanted ice cream at the time. Well, also because Jake cracks me up endlessly. The layout was done for The Dares color challenge. Use one color and stick to it. So I did and had no trouble doing so. The less thinking I have to do, the better.

GOOD

I would highly recommend trying out a challege site, if you are ever stuck and need a nudge. Why not try? There are a ton of challenge sites out there, but here are a few to get you started:

GOOD

Scrap Your Crap

The Dares

Journaler's Junction

Method Playground

Scrapping the Music

How Much is Too Much

The Design Experiment

Journaling Junkie

Pencil Lines

GOOD

I would love if you would share any challenge sites you have checked out and liked. I need all the help I can get!

This Photo.

My friend, Stephanie, held a challenge at Studio Calico this past week. Of course, as usual I was pushing the deadline and finished shortly before it was due last night. It's a good thing the bonfire we were going to have last night was cancelled due to overwhelming tiredness. Yep...I have surrounded myself with old fuddy duddies. I was raring to go despite spending the day wandering around the apple orchard picking apples, raspberries and pumpkins. Well, maybe raring to go is an optimistic phrase. I was actually ready to plop down in a chair in front of a fire with a metal stick in hand and a marshmallow adhered to the end. That's not too raring. Anyway...perhaps next weekend. Back to the layout. The challenge was in regard to journaling - write something real and in your own writing. So real it is, because I only think I am all that only .04% of the time. I know gasp. Last night when I finished this I went through SC gallery and read other's submissions. I was so impressed. Some tackled very difficult and painful topics. I am so proud of them for getting their stories down on paper and then putting it out for all to see. My layout compared to theirs is fluff, but it's a start.

NO PUMPKINS TODAY

Today I was going to go pumpkin picking, but alas it is raining. I love rain and storms, so I am not too disappointed. I have an excuse not to be working on closing up the pool and cutting back my gardens. I can scrap, watch movies and bake Apple Crisp. Life is good...as always. Enjoy your Sunday!

Binding It All and Keeping Ones Fingers

My friend, Greta, posted a Bind-it-All challenge on the message board of Studio Calico. It seems there are a lot of people out there that have this contraption and don't use it. I fall into this category. The dang thing is scary and it eats fingers. No lie. Here is my entry and before you start thinking that I am all that - know I am not. I found the directions to do this on the WWW. Right here. Giving credit where credit is due. That's an important rule in life.

THAT IS THE LAW

I have two things to share that are non-related to scrapping, but with potential of becoming a layout subject. Number one: My godson, Dave, has been chosen to play two songs on stage tonight at the Weezer concert. Yeah I know...awesome. I can barely breathe I am so excited. If you don't know Weezer, here's a couple of YouTube videos for you to check out. My favorite Weezer song Say it Ain't So and one you just may recognize Buddy Holly. Number two (and not as exciting as number one): I am spending my Saturday at a local apple orchard. Going to pick apples and eat treats. I even plan on bribing the hay ride operator into letting me drive the tractor. Chances are low he/she will let me, but you never know. I hope your plans for the weekend are fun and if there is a hay ride involved, I hope you get to be the driver.