Originality in Jeopardy. As Always.

I took two months off from scrapping.  Purposely. I didn't seriously do it purposely.  That just makes this lapse of creativity seem artistic and not what it really was.  Burnout.  The past two weeks I have been getting back into the swing.  I've been signing up for a few challenges and that has helped put the motivation back into me.  Then came today.  I spent a lot of time thinking this is original (to me) only to find out that I'm a lifter of my own layouts.  Note to self....quit making the same layout and quit cutting out titles with the same font.  Now what to do with the third similar layout laying on my desk.  Oh well....at least I am using up my piles of scrap supplies that have been accumulating dust.  

Layout done for Gillian's challenge of using only the main Studio Calico kit. The timing was perfect for Dave's new job and the release of The Lorax movie.  I wanted to keep the layout "adult" with a touch of Dr. Seuss.  The Crate Paper - Story Teller Legend paper, which moments before I deemed the ugliest paper ever, made the perfect Seuss trees.  Lesson learned....never diss a piece of ugly paper in public. At least before you contemplate options.

This layout was done for the 2/26/11 Sunday Sketch at Studio Calico. The photo is blurry. That's Jake.  He's always moving, so in this instance blurry was good.  OK...it's true, but even if he never moved I would have still used the photo.  Everyone knows that getting a photo of a teen is a rarity.  You use what you get or you retire from scrapbooking.

That's it for now. Thanks for looking. I'm now off to ride my bike that gets me nowhere, a.k.a. the stationary bike. It seems I'm in my "let's get healthy" mode.  Again.  Sigh.   

It's Tasty.

The most exciting thing to happen here lately is the discovery of a shop called Yogurt Lab.  Basically, it's a self-service frozen yogurt shop. With sixteen flavors to choose from - one being a lowfat nutella - and "a million" toppings, my stomach, heart and mind are in love all at the same time. As the words on the wall say....it's tasty.  Well, it is so much more, but sadly, being this excited about food goes to show you not much is going on around here.If you live in the Minneapolis area, check them out.  They are on the northwest corner of Lake Calhoun right behind Whole Foods.

Another tasty tidbit taking over my life lately is Blake Shelton.  Helllllooooo.  Where have I been?  It was hard, but I finally peeled my eyes off of him and The Voice to do a tiny bit of scrapping.  The Project Life title page that has been on my desk since January is now done. Don't you hate when the vision in your head is so much better than the actual result?  Well, that's what happened, but I'll survive. Blake will help me through it.  HA!

Since I was on a scrapping roll, I joined in on a scrap challenge at Studio Calico.  You scrap the person above you on the thread.  I was lucky to be able to have Tara LeClaire's gallery to choose from.  I fell in love with her, All the ways I love you, layout. Here's my take, which turns out to be very similar to her original. You know what they say...when you have a good thing....  It was a good thing, so I stuck with it. So let it be known, I had no creativity in this at all.  The design is all Tara's. Thank you, Tara, for the inspiration.

Sorry about the quality of the photo.  The grey snowy weather is a pain in the butt for good photos.

And an up close look at the photo on the layout.  What a ham.  I'm sure her mind is screaming this is tasty.  While it is, she had yet to taste frozen yogurt from the Lab and she is far too young to appreciate Blake Shelton's kind of tasty.  Whew about that. 

Let's Pretend....

Oh yes, let's pretend that during the month of January I actually did something creative. Something more creative than lounging on a couch watching re-run after re-run of Sheldon Cooper diving in and out of a ball pit yelling BAZINGA.  Good Lord, I love that man, but he does have some alien-esque mojo going on that makes time evaporate as you watch him.

 

In all seriousness, after a frenetic month (also known as December) of finishing Project Life 2011 and December Daily 2011, I've been going through scrap burn out.  Hence, my magnetization to the couch. I have been playing around with my Silhouette - not the Cameo.  The one I bought a year ago and used sporadically until the Cameo frenzy hit and I thought hey, that machine is kind of cool. Maybe I should dust it off and use it. Therefore, I have been. A bit here and there.

Now that it is February enough is enough.  It's time to undo the force exerted between those magnetic poles (a.k.a. me and the couch) and move to action.  So here goes.  My goals for February:

1. Complete the title page for the 2012 Project Life that I started in early January and has now collected enough dust to deem it almost damaged beyond repair.
2. Get up to date with PL2012 cards before I am once again four months behind and playing catch up like in 2011.  That sucked.  I need to remember that.
3. Non-scrapwise, move the exercise bike out from hiding. I'm fooling no one into thinking it is a nightstand/iPad holder. On the same line of thought, eat better.  Jeans can only stretch so far.  I am at that limit. Ugh.

They are very do-able to a normal person.  I am not normal.  However, I'll try. 

Before closing, Em and I have been making play dough lately.  I found a link via Pinterest on using Kool-Aid to make it.  Perfect, since her dad does not allow regular Play-Doh into the house. He seriously cannot handle the smell of Play-Doh. Wimp. The recipe here:  Kool-Aid Play Dough turned out great.  Soft, squishy and smells divine.  Enough to placate the olfactory repulsion of anyone. Bazinga!

2012 Creative Goals and Such

Bring out the party hats.  I finished the 2012 Project Life in the nick of time.  If a month ago you would have asked if I would even finish, I would have said not a chance in purgatory.  I was months behind, burned out and doing it wrong according to the laws of Becky Higgins and other PL do-ers.  But in the last month I pushed myself, got over my feeling that doing it the way I was doing it was wrong and I caught up.  On January 1, 2012 at approximately 2:00AM, I completed the December 31 layout.  Quite a feat as I had been partaking in a few cocktails and attempting the worm dance a few hours earlier.  Note to all:  If one is over the age of 35, it's safe to say one is too old and out of shape to do the worm dance.  And to be truthful I was videoing the worm dancing. I never could do that dance.  Even when I was 18 and in relatively good shape.

My other project was the December Daily.  I'm behind, but back at it.  I'm currently up to Day 10. I hope to finish by next weekend.Here's the most recent one I photographed.  Seriously proud of this one.  It's like I revisited my earlier years' sticker sneeze layouts and reconfigured it for 2011 by using brads. Ummm....I'm being sarcastic. Not too impressed with this one, but it is done and I'm not re-doing.  Call me stubborn.

So with all the positive advance in the 2011 projects, I got cocky and said let's set goals for 2012.  What was I thinking?  So creatively for 2012 I will be:

1. Doing Project Life again.  My way or Becky's way. I'm already a day behind.  HA!
2. Not doing a December Daily. This will probably change on November 30th.
3. Continuing with the Photo A Day. This will be year 4. It's no longer a challenge.  It's just life. But I would like to challenge myself to use my iPhone less and "real" camera more.

Here's the photo(s) for Day 1:

For being nine years old she is so mature.  She knows the ins and outs of Caribou; Is able to wear a messenger bag with ease. When I was her age I was still making mud pies and wearing fuzzy footed pajamas with a flap in the back.

  

She's mature and yet....still nine years old.  :o)

I on the other hang am immature.  Grrrrrr.....Happy 2012!