Those Tasks!

One Little Word's challenge was Simplicity last week. I felt drawn to the tissue technique shown on the blog as well. I am a Mod Podge lover, have been since the 70's! (Did you notice how the label for Mod Podge is dated? Love it!) The layout captured quite a bit, my love for Simplicity patterns, the photos of the outfits I did sew (really not much of a seamstress), and little Sarah. I have not done a 12x12 in awhile.

I'm working reorganizing my scrap area & it's going very slow. I have to deep clean & rethink concepts in organization. It presently isn't this bad, I just wanted to track my snail paced progress, and reveal how bad it has gotten for me. Tasking is a very serious business!

Blessings

*My sister-in-law Kathy married at her sister's home, a lovely summer's wedding. Kathy & Dick, believing in love.

*And Sarah Teresa turned 26 on July 15th. 26! Twenty-six years of a force to be reckoned with! Had to scrap two Sarah pages, yeah! Remember the Fine Young Cannibals singing, She Drives Me Crazy, perfect title for a Sarah-page. Love my babygirl. {She's On the Go, she's creative and emotional, she's a force to be reckoned with, She Drives Me Crazy.}

*A One Word page: Stop which reads {& Breathe~simple advice for myself}.

*My Circle Journal is moving about Corona! KayLyn's book is on Family History, preferably a woman, and I had to feature my sister Ivy Jeanne.

*All this creative time because my scraptable is cleared off! Make room for creative time! Enjoy!

You Asked About Inspiration

Lesley asked me what presently inspires me, and what first comes to mind is: Why your enthusiasm of course! You inspire me to stay on task, not just with the shopping because, the blind leads the blind in that department, but the never ending drive to be artful. New stuff, delicious! Girlfriends we must do a "paint chipboard night", if I have an obscene amount of unpainted chipboards, others do as well, am I right on that?

My new Summer Hat. Picked up for some serious sunblock because I plan to beach comb my way across the shores of Maui in October. Again, need more shell supply.

Twosies & Randomness w/ Scrapbooking

Twosies, like Onsies--ha ha:

Two new layouts. Notice I do not scrap chronologically so the first is of Sarah @ Two years old & my No-no. . .Oh how I love my kidlings! And scrapping them is a delight!

Two no-brainer books read: The Man from Stone Creek by Linda Lael Miller & The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn. Two talented authors, the first a western & second noted as "Truly our contemporary Jane Austen"; and I enjoyed these two reads very much! In the two years I think I've read all sixteen of Julia Quinn's books!

Two All Star Games played in Norco for Luke, the 9/10 year old division, Corona American Little League. They won the first game 11-4, got slammed the 2nd, 14-0 and we have the third game this evening. Very long baseball season this year!

Notes on Randomness w/ Scrapbooking: I am incorporating this process, I call the idea of using "randomness" while scrapbooking. Two of my favorite scrapbooking designers Jamie Waters at watersfive.typepad.com & Anja Wade of http://cocoadaisy.com/ share that commonality of scrapping randomly. It's a sense of style I'd like to incorporate in my own work. But guess what? It's not that easy to do! Maybe I've learned to scrap in the classic style using strong straight edges--but I am looking to change all that. I think scrapping randomly is part of my personality so, you'll be seeing some strange concocted pages I think. I go over and over Jamie & Anja's work and am careful to observe the aspects of what I am excited about. . . Part of being random is just becoming comfortable with 'placement'.

Five New Pages

I am determined to crack open those drawers of mine and blow off the dust & use my stuff. At the rate I am purchasing coupled with the output of work my stuff will be outdated. . .I'll be Queen of the Scrap Ratpacks. I may be that already because try as I may, I cannot get the organizing done in my scrap space=build up of supplies=I-don't-know-what-I have=no work.

Because I want to keep it Real, I journaled on the top L layout: "I'm ignoring the smirks on the faces of Frank & Luke, but there's definitely a

strain of composure on mine. The boys were bickering, we could hardly get a family photo done while Sarah was visiting. Wish me luck & stamina these next ten years! Oh, happy day."

And that priceless photo of Luke under the diving board: "You are sweet Luke. I don't want you to worry about things you cannot control in life. What you can control is more important anyway."

I am so happy to put on my Hawaiian music & Scrap On!

Boys of Summer

Yesterday's trip to Huntington Beach proved perfect. Once you travel the distance via the 91, the beach feels like an oasis. Thanks Diane for trekking there for our first beach day & helping to keep an eye on those boys in the ocean. {First taste of strips, cheese & salsa from Jack's was as good as it always is each summer!}

Go Layout & Shell Frame

I LOVE THE IDEA of onelittleword.blogspot.com; the first challenge word to scrap being "Go". Even though the site has debuted and they have featured "Stop" & "My". . .I've only just begun. My page reads, "Go with flight! It's in a boy's DNA & I daresay, a boy thing! {Cousin Mike, Frank & Noah poolside, Stringer's} 2006." I'm determined to take art challenges whenever possible.

Next pictured, is my first very large square "Chunky Shell Frame", a project I recently completed. It takes a hefty stash of shells to do a project of this size. All of my shells are handpicked off the shores of the island I hail from, Maui. My artist sister Jeanne (most of my family still reside on Maui) introduced crafting with shells and she has taken the designing of the frames to a new level. She decided to make use of chunky pieces of shells, thus a new twist to the craft. The colorful texture is irresistible! It's truly a cycle of beauty & fullness, and I think I will have to feature my shell crafting adventure in detail soon. Crafting with shells: beachcombing, conversations, washing, sorting. . .to the actual craft project. . .is a blessing, and we know where all good things come from . . .it's similar to scrapbooking! We take bits & pieces of life and we create a message we'd like to preserve and marvel at.

The first Circle Journal arrived on my doorstep yesterday! Next, a layout of today's beach day at Huntington Beach or photos & CJ--oh my!

Thanking Lorin

Because I need to practice blogging skills, I thought I'd thank Lorin for his help (when I bungle he calmly reviews the problem) by featuring his creativeness.

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank; people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa

Lorin used pen and ink on this drawing and was inspired by a photograph of Mother Teresa in a crowd in India, it was on the cover of National Review.

It's A Learning Thing

No wonder

I'm not a computer geek, it drives me

crazy.

I did have to bribe my hubby with Good & Plenty candy to help me with my first lesson. He survived without strangling me!

So, here's a couple of current projects. I did do my page yesterday on my new favorite format the ever easy 9x9 scrap page! Could not wait to use Jenni Bowlin's felt bird I ordered. Forgive me for my less than stellar photo images, the journaling reads: My Dad always said to me as a child--The Early Bird gets the Worm. Therefore, here we are 'early birds' at H'poko shelling: me, Sarah & Jeanne. I have evolved to scrapping so that it works with my lifestyle: a fast mind b

oggling pace. I'm on a mission to express a clear point of view in a freestyle manner. I love it.

And you see my other craft obsession. My shell frames, which Sarah and Jeanne love to craft with as well. (Jeanne is responsible for this blessing as she opened this door to me!) I have another large shell project that should be wrapped up in just a day or so, can't wait to post that!

Thanks so much for the wonderful comments on my blog, it keeps me smiling & some of you just crack me up. Have a great weekend, and let's get going on those projects ladies!

P.S. Hope you can see my tiny profile photo which is of my Circle Journal I created for a art project that six artist friends & I kicked off this month. Appropriate for today, Something New.

My First Entry

June 22, 2007 6:52 a.m.

Greetings to my family & friends! My first entry! I'm feeling awkward but as if on a brink of yet another adventure in what I hope is an artful expression. I looked into responding to a call to be on a design team, dismayed to discover a designer's blog is part of a resume (of sorts). Therein lies the bigger picture. It was tough naming my blog! In the end I chose wording from my sister's discussion on how the two of us seem to scurry about being busy and add in our lives our handmade gifts. Jeanne, my sister calls our creative giving, soulful gifting. I think that is sweetness personified don't you?

I have plans today to scrap a page on one of my father's favorite sayings: The Early Bird Gets the Worm. Hated this as a child but love it as a artful adult! Hope to post it later, with banner, etc.; wish me luck because I am an inept computer user. I'll have to call Lesley or Lisa for help.

It's going to be a stellar day. . .first blog entry, giggle*, thanks for peeking into my world!