Can I tell you how much that I have missed sharing my scrapbooking pages with you all? Because I totally have. There’s just nothing like getting to share what you love with others, now is there.
This week I got to work with products from several different Sweet Shoppe designers, and best of all – with their 2014 Mystery Grab Bag, a promotion that the store hasn’t done in several years!
Like most people who do creative things (is there anyway to not make that opening sound pretentious…?) Pinterest has become my go-to destination to look for a little inspiration. I mean, hello, isn’t that what the site is for? Actually, I have no idea what the site’s real primary function is – that’s just what I use it for.
Last week I got this weird bug in me to clean and rearrange my living room. Call it spring cleaning if you like – I won’t – but the nice weather after the never ending winter had me feeling inspired. After all the cleaning and rearranging was done I realized that there was one sore part left – under the tv. While the pumpkins had all been taken down long before, our fall banner had ended up carrying on from the time we put it up to now. (Hey, the kids liked it, and I never got around to making a winter banner) So the day after the cleaning and rearranging I decided it was time for us to make a new spring banner to replace it.
Continue reading to see the supplies, get directions, and see our banner!
I was going to blog yesterday, but instead I spent a good chunk of my morning doing this instead:
I am, like, so totally and completely in love with that. In case you can’t tell, it’s Zach. I did it based on a current favorite picture that I have of him. Only in the picture he has an awesome mustache as well. You can see it at the bottom of the post. But no, in love. I keep coming back and staring at it. It captures him so well. And he loves, loves, loves it too. As I was drawing it he would offer the occasional bit of advice, and he was tickled that I remembered to add his curl between his eyes (he trained it to lay that way). His only request was that I please NOT make him look girly, what with the freckles and the hair and the lashes. He said his lips (which are really light and thin) made it look girly, so I left those off, but kept the lines I did for the boy’s super dry lips.
I did all of that to make this:
And that I made for the March 2nd Think Outside the Box challenge at Sweet Shoppe Designs. I used Studio Basic’s Go To Elements: Art Journal #3 and Beyond Basics Paper Pack #1 digital scrapbooking packs to create the page. I did the drawing, the hair coloring, and the writing all with my tablet and in Art Rage.
And here is the drawing with the original photo.
As a birthday present to myself I got myself a copy of “Knit a Monster Nursery” by Rebecca Danger. No, I’m not pregnant and secretly hiding the news and letting my purchases hint at it. I’ve been eyeing this lady’s monsters for a long while now, and this was the only one of her pattern books the store had. If you’ve never seen her cute creations you should totally go check her out, and then you will understand why I didn’t care that it was a baby geared book.
I was so excited and just didn’t know where to start first. Ryan solved that by telling me a little after his birthday that he really wanted me to make him a monster after I had told him that it was his turn to have something made next. So I sat down with him and we went through the book, looking at all of the patterns and deciding if he wanted a monster someTHING or an actual monster. He ended up picking out the striped mini-monster (from the monster mobile) as the one that he had to have. To make it a little bigger than the one in the book I went up several needle sizes and double stranded the yarn.
Bella gets a new hat every fall. This year she wanted a long, squishy, warm hat. (Her words) So, I made her a long, squishy, warm hat. Keep reading for directions.
In case you were unaware – Bella is a crafting fiend. No really. The girl absolutely loves to get her craft on. I decided that once or twice a month I would post and share our crafts that we have done each moth, along with some very basic steps on how you can do them as well. A lot of them are pretty basic and can be done with stuff you already have around the house, and some I got from Pinterest. Now, they aren’t all Halloween (or even fall) themed, but most are, and the others could probably be mixed up some to make them fall themed.
Last year we went all out and bought the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse Kit and planted pumpkins, squash, okra, carrots, and um, something else. We got all organic seeds and the big boys and I spent an evening getting it all set up. Then we babied it, and watched it, and watered it, and followed the directions to a tee.
Then we noticed the only thing that survived and prospered to planting time was the squash and pumpkins. But that was fine – we could live with that. Then we got these nasty black caterpillars that came and ate all our poor baby plants. To put it mildly, we weren’t too happy with how our little foray into gardening went, and it just reminded us why the only plants we have are our hardy bushes and azaleas out in our front bed.
A few weeks ago Bella found some seed packets that somehow ended up in one of the drawers in the kids’ dresser and ever since she has been begging us to plant them and make a vegetable garden. It’s all the girl talked about for days and days. But we really didn’t want to spend a ton of money on it again in case those nasty caterpillars came back. We had just finished a large container of eggs and it just so happened to be a biodegradable container – so we picked up some dirt this weekend and decided to plant us some veggies.
Of course Ryan has to be difficult.
Our house came down with a stomach bug last week. Everyone got sick. It was… gross. Ryan however did not. Ryan, who has the constitution of an ox, generally does not catch most sickies that the rest of us get, so I figured we were all good now.
Oh no. Ryan just wanted his own sick time it seems. I got called Wednesday afternoon to come and get him from school. He had already thrown up twice, and then he threw up two more times while I was waiting on him. The nurse told him just to leave all his stuff in his class, she’d rather he didn’t walk all the way back across the school to get it. Got the boy home – no more pukes, or sick feelings AT ALL. Yet, since he got sent home for throwing up he couldn’t go back yesterday. Yesterday, with a bored Ryan, was a very, very long day.
Inspired by this pin:
After Pablo Picasso's "Hands with Bouquet" – Artrageous Afternoon
Bella and I were scrolling through Pinterest one day last week when we saw that pin and Bella decided that she just had to make it. Well, I couldn’t help her do a craft for ME so we decided to make it for my mom from her and Mason. Here’s our spin on it.
We stuck with supplies that we had sitting around the house. For the hands/arms we used brown paper bags and colored pencils. They’re held down with double sided tape and some Elmer’s Craft Bond glue. The background is glossy heavy picture printer paper painted with the only three paint colors I could find (yellow, white, and red). The flowers were made from scraps of silver wrapping paper and pink tissue paper glued down to circles of cardstock. Then they got a coating of gold and clear glitter spray paint. (The background also got a coating of clear glitter spray paint) The stems of the flowers were made with green plaid washi tape I had laying around. The frame had been sitting packed away forever. The flowers are held down with hot glue on the background and where they meet with the frame.
My mom loved it and said that it is very “Bella-esque.”
Feel free to pin this: http://pinterest.com/pin/177540410282910837/
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Ryan is seven and a boy – like uberboy. The no-fear, fights playground equipment, stupid stunt doing, rowdy, super hyper, dirty, gross smelling boy.
And he likes to knit.
To the haters out there – you’re just jealous of his mad skills.
A few weeks back, as I was sitting and working on getting this guy knitted (still working on that…) Ryan came up to me and asked me if I would show him how to knit. I was slightly skeptical at first, I mean the boy has major ADHD issues and he wants to knit? Uh huh… sure. But I figured there was no harm in trying to teach him if he seemed interested. I mean, this is the same boy that I have taught to do digital scrapbooking. And paper scrapbooking. What can I say, my dude likes to get his craft on.
Back to him learning to knit.
I grabbed a slightly large set of needles, let him pick out some yarn, and we sat down and got down to the business of learning to knit. It took a couple “Ryan, stop. Look at what I’m doing. Ryan, focus please or I’m going back to my knitting.” but we eventually got a good groove going. I showed him how to cast on, undid the stitches, put my hands over his and guided him through casting on, undid those, then let him cast on on his own. Then we did the same with learning a regular stitch. By row three he was on a roll. By last week he had mastered the task of watching tv as he sat knitting. Little dude picked it up with a speed and ease that just astounded me… and left me feeling slightly jealous since I still remember my first few months stumbling through learning. Don’t get me wrong, that boy drops at least one or two stitches each time he sits and knits, but I always pick them up for him, and tonight he managed to fix one on his own. He gets frustrated sometimes with it, and he can only do a garter stitch since I haven’t gone over purling with him yet. But he rocks that garter like it ain’t nobody’s business.
Sunday, as he was sitting knitting and watching a movie I asked him how he’s doing it. Normally my boy has trouble just sitting through a 30 minute tv show, and here he was sitting knitting and watching a movie. He wasn’t fidgeting. Or talking non-stop. Or playing with toys as he “watched.” Or terrorizing everyone. He was just sitting there quietly working and watching the movie. I was in awe. He told me the knitting helps him sit and watch the movie. He didn’t expand on it any, so the best I could figure was that the constant moving of his hands, plus the split attention, was helping him keep his ADHD in check.
So I did what any curious mom would do; I hit up Google. Apparently there is quite a bit out there about how knitting helps people and kids with ADHD. This was my favorite thing I read on it:
"Some teachers in mainstream schools and colleges are using knitting to enable them to teach pupils with ADHD and kinesthetic learners … . Knitting appears to occupy the brain sufficiently to lessen or stop hyperactive or disruptive behaviour whilst at the same time enabling the pupil to take in information and to learn.”
from In Education from Stitchlinks.com
How about that? Turns out Ryan was on to something.
If you’re interested in reading up on ADHD and knitting check out any of these links:
Right now Ryan is working bit by bit on a scarf for his teacher. He’s doing it in 4-6 row color blocks (I’m not letting him go over one block in a sitting) using size 13 needles and yarn from my rather large yarn stash. If you want to follow along on his journey you can watch his progress in pictures on my project for it on Ravelry.
What I’ve got so far. We’re only two days in, and actually, so far, having actual paper to work with makes it easier to get things done. And looking at the pile o’ Christmas crap on my table helps with the motivating too since I’m actually not too fond of looking at Christmas crap.
And the photos to be printed off and to go in the slot for day 1 (front has a 2x6 slot and a 6x4, back is two 6x4s)
And just one 4x4 picture for today.
(frame from Karah Fredrick’s Too Excite to Sleep @ The Lilypad, gold letters from Document Christmas The Collection by Mari Koegelenberg and Studio Basic @ Sweet Shoppe, font is Darcy Baldwin’s DJB Holly Go Lightly @ Sweet Shoppe)
I only spent 12 hours working on it Saturday, not counting all the unknown hours over the past few weeks thinking up set ups, trying to take group pictures, starting and rejecting ideas. Seriously. I spend way too much time every year on these stupid things.
*drum roll please*
Now, allow me to introduce our 2012 Christmas Card!
You can find the picture that I used of the kidlets here. Yes, I did cheat and I drew Mason smiling instead of in the middle of a fit. Told you I’d learn to cope with that picture. And this card is also rocking my very own handwriting! The neat version of it too! See here’s the original of it:
I like it enough that I’m thinking of doing one out of a compilation of our attempts at a family picture. We try for one every Thanksgiving and every Easter. They’re always a fail, but at least they’re a cute fail. The kids have some awesome expressions in them this year… just none all together, so I think a silly drawing of it for my room would be perfect.
I’ve been asked several times now how I did the drawing, and how I’ve been doing my handwriting (which is also on show here and here). Well… it’s all tracing. I open the picture in ArtRage, and then I use the Ink Pen tool with the smoothing set to 30-40%. That way it cleans up all my lines as I go. When I first bought the program was one of my failed attempt at designing digital scrapbooking kits and when I quit I figured, well, at least it didn’t cost that much. I use it now all the time for drawing (like the stuff here) and for writing. I also do the coloring in on that program also. I use a combination of all the different tools for that. I don’t trace for all of my drawing, my Christmas Card was only the second time I’d ever tried drawing that way.
Anyway, that’s our Christmas Card, and I’m linking it up to The Paper Mama’s 2012 Holiday Photo Contest.
Now, I need to get back to catching up to my creative team work, and finishing up the templates for December.
It’s almost Thanksgiving, the real most wonderful time of the year. I get to see family and eat a ton and a half. Most importantly… I don’t have to buy anyone anything to do it!
Yay!
I’ve actually already had two other Thanksgivings (basically) so far. I have a feeling by next week that I am going to be so turkey-ed out. As of now, I’m not… we’re even having turkey and dumplings for dinner tonight to kill off the rest of the leftover turkey from Saturday.
Saturday’s Thanksgiving with my brothers, my older brother’s roommate, and their friend.
I’ve been referring to it as the Bachelor Thanksgiving. And I promise, my living room is clean, it’s just that taking pictures facing my cluttered desk, bookshelf, and craft table is never a good idea.
Last night we went to the church’s annual Thanksgiving dinner with my sister and step-father.
Today Ryan, Bella, and I have been getting our paper scrapbooking craftiness on. I’ve finally gotten together the Christmasy stuff for my Document December prep (and a few other basics – you know seeing as how I usually use my computer for scrapbooking) so this morning I sat down to start. Yes, I know, it’s not December yet, but I’ve been told getting your stuff together early helps with actually keeping up with it, so I’m trying. (Me actually trying this again is also her fault, so if I fail again it is indirectly her fault as well, lol) As I did my prep work Bella and Ryan made their own scrapbook pages with some other paper scrapbooking stuff I found laying about the house. For some reason people keep buying me it…
No, I’m not sharing my progress on mine yet. When/If I ever finish all the base pages I’ll share it. But start looking for this one posts about it:
For once… it’s not ((all)) scrapbooking related.
Made for a friend…
Made for a sibling….
Made to go over Mason’s bed…
Hey… that Monster Puppy looks awfully familiar…
My Parents Day Out class tie dyed shirts yesterday. I had just about 1/2 a bottle of each color leftover so I brought them home to use up instead of tossing the leftover. So we all did shirts too. (Well, the boys did – Bella and I already had in class) Bella and I did some prefolds. And I did a cute halter I have that had a stain on it.
My poor back yard cement area will probably never be the same again.
And after two tie dye sessions I don’t think my poor hands will either.
But I’d say it was worth it.
Oh… and lastly, my black and white for this week.
linking it up: here, here, here, and here (though Heidi’s isn’t up… lol)
You just gotta laugh because sometimes life just sucks and wants to throw poo on your hair, and then it wants to rub in the poo, and then plop a little more on.
Life can be a real (insert your choice of profanity term here).
Last week was VBS ((and Zach’s birthday)). We find out Monday a bug is going around some of the kids that also go to PDO and the workers. I think “Crap.” As any mom of many will tell you, when you have more than say 2 kids, stomach bugs take for.ever. to leave your house. Yeah… no. Zach didn’t get it. Ryan didn’t get it. Bella didn’t get it. Neither did John or me.
Mason got the stomach bug.
The world can be going to hades, but when you have a sick baby you are trapped in a never ending nightmare of poop vomit-spit up-gushing nastiness and exhaustion. At least Bella had finally learned to puke in the toilet. Mason learned to puke on me.
Lets factor in this crazy-frustrating mood the big boys have been in. Bella’s clinginess and *I think* growing pains attitude and I am going nuts.
Not-kid related life-poo:
John’s has had two incredibly bad pay checks one right after another.
The overstressing and fighting and bickering between us over money.
Oh, and the who knows who is to fault over the whole insurance debacle.
Hi, my name is Trish. Would you like to trade spots with me for a week?
I just want a week to sit, read, scrap, and do absolutely freaking nothing.
To cheer myself I sit here and think snooty stupid things like:
And I have fun playing with the pictures I took of Bella playing outside yesterday with her umbrella and the sprinkler. (Cause I know how to actually DO those spiffy edits in Photoshop. lol)
They ain’t perfect, but hey I never claimed to be a photographer – just someone who can work Photoshop.
Now mind you, I don’t actually have any beef with Instagram or my friends who use it. ((Well except when they ask me what I app I use on my pictures…. or what app I used to create my scrapbook pages. – For reals. lol)) It’s fun and I’m sure a heck of a lot easier than Photoshop. I’m just perverse and playing in Photoshop makes me happy. Also, when I’m feeling “woe-is-me” I like to listen to crappy happy music, or rap, or musicals, play in Photoshop, and think of random stupid things to laugh about – like my thoughts on Instagram.
The boys got out of school on May 24th so this was their first week home. Yeah… they haven’t been too bad, but Bella with them is like oh my gosh. She’s driving us all C R A Z Y.
(last day of school)
(taking advantage of them all being around. lol)
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I was up at the church for 5ish hours working. At least for the summer (hopefully into the fall as well) I’ll be acting as the primary teacher for the 2-3 year olds PDO class. I’ve been spending a ton of time getting the class ready, planning the lessons, and other such stuffs.
(main bulletin board in my class)
I haven’t added any Mason and Monster Puppy pictures recently, but I have been taking them. I’ll do a wrap up with them all at 12 weeks, but here is a preview of this week’s.
