Purple Hair, Don't Care

Do not adjust your computer screens, what you have seen has not been photoshopped...

I got my hair did done last week and went with violet ombre!

…and five inches off…oh yeah, and she straightened it, but only temporarily.

I blame roller derby.

and a random person on Instagram that posted this about a month back…

I saw it and thought, "YEAH! It is!"

I've always wanted "cool" hair. As a curly haired, full faced chick my options for switching things up are fairly limited. I can't do bangs (although I do believe have a forehead fivehead that begs for them)… cute crops are out (unless I want to look like a cha-cha-chia!)… straight is fun and changes my look BIG time but I don't have the patience or $ to make that happen every day, or at all, really.

Anyway.

I figured why not do something totally different that could actually work on me?! I don't know why it took something like seeing a post on Instagram to make me feel like I suddenly had permission to do this, but it did. I don't have a boss My kids are technically my bosses and they don't mind one bit that I have a whacky hair color.. in fact, I think it endeared our 5 year old to me even more (and luckily she has yet to ask if she can have purple hair too).. 

So that's whats going on with me. It's been quite a month. Lots of highs, bigger lows. But purple hair makes me smile, so thats a win.

(The bruise on my arm is from derby.. I need to have tshirts made to explain so people stop giving Hottie dirty looks when we're out together. Poor guy, his wife has purple hair and is covered in bruises. #imakeeper)

…and here is a final, slightly more edited shot… I think I might go even brighter next time. :)

12

Today is my Nakiah's 12th birthday. Wow. 12. Can't believe it. We're up to all kinds of birthday planning shenanigans that I know he'll love like Olive Garden dinner and Godzilla on IMAX but I wanted to share a page I made about him this week… since it was the last one he spent as an eleven year old. (weird.)

Making this page also gave me a little light bulb about a project I want to do for each of my kiddos from now on so I'll get cracking on that and share with you soon. :) Time to party.

Liebster Award

Thanks for the kind words about my Great Grams. She has been on my mind a lot this week and I plan on celebrating her life in a very special way with my kids this weekend…. I know she'd love that and me carrying on with life and being happy…

with that in mind here is the post I originally planned….

I've been nominated by Lynn from Small Town Scrapbooker for a Liebster Award.

The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less that 200 followers.  Is is a way to bring attention to these blogs and build the blogging community.  The meaning of Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

It's easy!  Here are the rules:

• Thanks the blogger who nominated you and answer the 10 questions he/she asks of you.
• Nominate 10 bloggers (with less than 200 followers) for the award and link to them in my post.
• Ask these 10 bloggers 10 questions of your own.
• Let the nominated bloggers know they have been nominated.

(These are the requirements for the peoples whom I nominate as well)

Cool, right? So here are the questions that Lynn asked me to answer:

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Controlling time… Freezing time and time traveling. That way I could get a bunch of stuff done but still have all week to play and I could go and visit friends and loved ones from any time, at any….time. 

What did you want to be when you grow up? An artist or astronaut

How many times do you get to create in a month? Oh gosh, a lot. Just about 5 times a week depending on how much creative mojo I'm feeling.

What is under your bed? My sanity. j/k. Nothing. Our mattress is temporarily on a box spring on the floor.

What is your favorite quote? "Comparison is the thief of joy," said by Theodore Roosevelt, has really been resonating with me lately.

Where would you love to travel? Everywhere! I crave travel but my rotten kids keep me at home! My top 5 must sees are Italy, New Zealand, France, Fiji, and Ireland.

Who, in scrappy blog land, would you like to meet? I went to CHA one year and managed to find the courage to introduce myself to several of my scrappy heroes but one person I didn't get the chance to meet was Maggie Holmes. I am such a fangirl though, I'd probably just be a blabbering mess. She would probably walk away shaking her head and wondering why I laugh so loudly at my own jokes.

What is your favorite season? I love spring and fall equally, because the weather is mild and the scenery is beautiful during those times.

How long have you been blogging? Since 2011… I had to go back and check. Has it really been that long? How did I just now figure out what I'm doing… sorta?

What would you tell your 13 year old self? Oh man, that is a great question… I would tell myself to "enjoy life.. relax a bit… don't rush things, don't worry so much... you're going to be awesome! ..and take good care of yourself, develop those habits now so that later in life you don't struggle so much with it…. and stop washing your hair every single day for gods sake… that's why it's so frizzy!!… also, DO NOT let your friend cut it in the 11th grade, even though she seems really good at cutting hair.. this will not apply to yours!" 

Answering those questions was a ton of fun, thanks Lynn. I can't wait to read the answers to mine and get to know my fellow bloggers more! Ok so let's be honest, this is work. It takes some time to answer the ?'s, and chose some bloggers, and set up links and all that. But just do it! It's a great way to expand our readers and point them in the direction of some other cool blogs that are flying under the radar right now… Let's connect and learn about each other, I am so into this!

I chose:

Melissa from A Bit of Scrappy Goodness

Laurie from Laurie Appleby-Williams (check out her epic ceramic cells!)

Becki from Every Picture Has A Story To Tell

Karen from Being Karen

Julie from Calle Lilly Cafe

Taunya from Daisies Girl

Madeline from Paper Gumbo

Diana from Scrappy Wonder Women

Jennifer from Jennifer Grace Creates

Tracey from 3 Obsessions

Here are my questions for you ladies:

-What's your favorite dance move?

-Describe your ideal day.

-State one thing you love about yourself.

-How many photos are saved on your computer? (Be honest) ;)

-What are you wearing… right now. 

-What's your tv guilty pleasure? That show that you don't want to admit that you watch.

-If you could have any job what would it be?

-What is one thing you'd change about yourself and why don't you change it?

-What was the last nice thing you did for yourself?

-Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us.

100

I had a post planned for a couple of days ago but then I received a call from my Mom telling me that my Great Grandma Waack had passed. I've been trying to figure out exactly what to write about her and the thing is, I just can't…. I don't even know where to begin. Nothing I could write would do this woman justice.

How do you find the words to encapsulate someone who lived so many years on this planet? How do you express your gratitude for what you have learned from them?

My Grandma was 100 years old. One hundred. Can you imagine? She lived on her own up until three weeks before she died. It's amazing. I can't even begin to comprehend the amount of things she experienced in her lifetime. The Great Depression, countless wars, the birth of penicillin, first man on the moon, women's rights, Y2K, 9/11, the age of technology, the list goes on and on.. doesn't it just boggle your mind to think about the changes she witnessed?

When I think about the scope of a lifetime that's lasted for a century I am simply astounded. But the reality is she lead a very simple life. She never had more than she needed and she never wanted more than she had. Grandma Waack was a strong, clever, calm woman. She was easy to be around. She always had a tender smile on her face and a story to tell. She loved nothing more than to play a game of marbles (which she would always win, and poke fun at you if you took too long to take your turn) and cook a good meal for her family. She loved to have visitors and sit and chit chat the day away and when she hugged you you could feel how dang strong she was. Like an ox.

I'll never forget a visit I had with her when Nakiah was a baby. I put him down on the ground and began to worry that he would break these pretty figurines that she had displayed down low.. I mentioned something to her and she climbed effortlessly onto the ground with him and began to play… she said, "don't worry, those are just silly things… it's not every day I get to play with my great grandson, he can break whatever he wants… but watch, he won't touch a thing." She was ninety years old at the time and there she was rolling around wrestling with him, and teasing him, just the way I did!  She managed to keep him so entertained that he didn't even notice the breakable things in the room.

When we visited her with new great grandkids she would just hold them as long as she could and stare into their faces with a tear in her eye. She'd giggle if they fussed and blame it on her deep voice scaring them. She was especially excited during our last visit because she was able to get several five generation photos taken and they made it into the paper. She loved stuff like that…. "the perks of being a Great Grandma," she'd say.

Though I am sad that it was time for her to leave this Earth, and that I can't be with my family for her funeral, I'm comforted by the fact that she lived a full, happy life. …and I could not be prouder to be her Great Granddaughter. I'm passing the strong-as-an-ox qualities down to my own kids, may we all live to see 100 years.

Me Series: May

This month is all about overachieving.. at least in the scrappy sense. For some reason I am super burned out on most other aspects of life but the scrapbooking is full steam ahead. I'm already done with all of my AC assignments and last months project life. As with everything this has an eb and flow so I will take what I can get and be happy about it! Maybe next month I'll burn out with scrapping and become super amazing at parenting (but who are we kidding, probably not.). ;)

 Since I'm right on top of my duties this month I've even gone ahead and completed my ME page…

The colors on this layout are a bit of a departure for me since I typically gravitate toward bright, vivid ones... but it works and I'm happy with how they came together. I'm having fun with the freedom of these pages. I just print out a photo and start sifting through my plethora of supplies until I find something that suits my fancy and go from there. It's a cool excuse to finally use up random bits that have been in my stash for like, forever, like these black cloud accents and die cuts. 

If you want to see some of the other pages I've made for this series, or read more about why I'm doing it, here are some links...

APRIL//MARCH//FEBRUARY//JANUARY

Wow! That's a whole lot of me!! 5 months worth! And in the next couple of days you'll hear even more about me because I've been nominated for the Liebster Award and I'll share all about what that is! (please come back, I promise it's not just about me.. but other awesome people too.) :)

Happy Birthday Mr. Snicklefritz

Forgot to post on here about Fritz's first birthday! He shares the day with Hottie, May 2nd. Can't believe he's one… but also, can he hurry up and turn 5 already so we can just fast forward through all of the puppy problems and teenage dog phase? 

It wasn't much of a special day for him.. except that he was able to successfully thwart my attempts at capturing a photo of him in a birthday hat…. he had other ideas...

One thing about this silly pup is he always has a great big smile. It's the cutest….

See what I mean?...

He's pretty much only serious about bones...

Aha! ONE photo with the hat! I'll call it a win! 

and I'll leave you with this image from our first week with him….. oh the cuteness. I can't even handle it…. puppy photos get me every time!

#SUMMERTIME

Who's ready for Summer? After a Winter (are seasons supposed to be capitalized? I have no idea. oh well.) like we had I'm sure everyone would just kill me if they knew I was kinda dreading it. Although I'm looking forward to more sunshine, slurpees, time in the water, etc… I'm not looking forward to the kids home all day (sorry kids), the heat (I have a feeling it gets ridiculously humid here), and the bugs.

BUT! I am looking forward to vacations (please! can we schedule a vacation, or two?!) and I usually take some pretty cool photos during Summer (ok. now I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to capitalize seasons. huh.)... so I always have a lot to scrap.

Anyway. blah blah blabbering today. What I really meant to say is that it's #SUMMER week on the American Crafts Blog and you can check out two of my projects that were posted there yesterday. There's also a cool giveaway going on (they just LOVE to give stuff away!). I'm loving all of the bright, vibrant colors of this line, right up my alley… here are my projects...

aaaaaand. I promise I'll write about my roller derby bout. I was kinda hoping that I'd have some photos to share but I guess it takes awhile for them to be edited….. so I'll hold out a bit longer. I can tell you it was an AWESOME game. I had so much fun and am even more in love with the sport than I was before! ah. so FUN. 

NSD Blog Hop Winner, and it's (a)Bout Time!

First off, I chose a winner for my American Crafts National Scrapbook Day blog hop giveaway!

I use this random integer thingie that I noticed most bloggers who give random prizes use…

and out of 95 comments it randomly chose number five!

The winner is…..

TineMay 3, 2014 at 6:11 AM

Very cute with the frames!

Woohoo for prizes! So Lerato Tine please email me with your address at elizgardner@me.com and I will send your prize on it's way! Here's some of what's included…

If you haven't already participated in the American Crafts NSD blog hop you still have one more day to leave a comment for a chance to win an amazing prize over there. Click here to read about it.

and in other news…..

TOMORROW IS MY FIRST EVER ROLLER DERBY BOUT!

Wow. It's crazy. After being involved in derby for the past year and actively skating in contact for 7 months of that time it's finally here! I AM SO RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED (I'm totally shouting)! ..kinda nervous too. I'll let you know how it goes!

You Are So Loved

Grandmas funeral was yesterday. I spent a lot of time reflecting about how lucky I was to spend time with her as a child and the reasons that I was so drawn to her. If I stop and think about it there are a lot of things in my life and personality that could be traced back to her. That makes me smile, she was just the coolest person. Anyway. There are times after someone passes when you'd swear you can feel them there with you… little moments when you feel their undeniable presence… I've had those feelings about her already and I'm sure I will again in the future.

Thanks to all those who left nice comments regarding my post about her. You all know I don't like to take it on down to Bummertown, but I also promised to keep it real and it feels good to actually share what's going on with me and not just all of the shiny happy stuff. Glad you're on board with that.

So. Switching gears a bit now. Grandma Cookie wouldn't want me to sit around and feel sorry for myself so as much as I'm still thinking about her it's time to move forward and back to reality. So I thought I'd share a little project I made for my sisters birthday recently. Like I've said before I do a pretty crappy job of connecting with people from afar, but my big sis is the exception. She's my BFF so it's easier for me to reach out. I know she's been struggling lately so I wanted to make something special for her that will remind her everyday that she is loved…

and you want to know the best part? (Ear muffs, Steph.) Total cost: $6. Time: 20 min.

I grabbed a plain mug from the Dollar Tree and a Painters Opaque Marker from Walmart. After sketching out what I wanted the script to look like I penciled it onto the actual mug to use as a guide. Then I traced it with the painters pen, donzo.

Here's what it looked like before...

Some things to note: 

-I'm not in love with the thickness of the writing. I wish I would have chosen a pen with a fine tip that way I could have done some variations on the lettering.. more like my sketch in the background. 

-It's important to be prepared to work l-r, top to bottom in one fluid motion so that you aren's smearing the fresh ink with your hand. 

-The quality of this pen is questionable. I'm not all that confident that she'll be able to throw it in the dishwasher like I wanted.. I'll have to test some pens out and report when I find one that is washable. So maybe it would be better as a pen holder for a desk than an everyday mug.. but hey, it's the thought that counts… either way she can look at it everyday in her office and know that she is loved.

…I also considered making one that said, "breathe"… since she needs to be reminded to do that too. ;) (Love you sis. You too Emily! Hey, you want a crappy mug from the dollar store that I expect you to use but you can't wash too? Oh man. I'm a terrible sister.)

The Importance of a Photograph

I want to take a bit of time today to share my thoughts about the importance of a photograph….

Last night my Grandma passed away. I'm so sad and distraught and I wish I could be there to spend time with my family and say goodbye properly. That is maybe the hardest part. She was one of my favorite people on the planet. Feisty and outspoken and made the best damn chocolate chip cookies you'd ever taste… and as a kid she'd hand me a spoon and let me eat all the dough I wanted… literally a plate full, "go sick kid, your Dad's not here." She'd also call us "rotten kids" whenever we asked her to stop smoking and say, "if you don't like it you can get the hell out of my house…" Sounds funny now, from an adult perspective… but I adored her and the fact that she would say that to me as a kid. She didn't take any crap from anybody. She was unlike anyone I had ever met before. To this day whenever I describe my kids as "rotten" I think of her and it's all out of fondness and love, with a slight smile on my face, just like the one she had.

One of the most difficult parts about living so far away from any family is the distance… obviously that goes without saying. I miss seeing everyone, really knowing them. I have a really hard time connecting to people who are not right in front of me… it's sad, because these connections mean the world to me. It's something I really need to work on. It's magnified during a loss.

I want nothing more than to go and be there with my family and talk about Grandma Cookie and reminisce about the old days and how magnificent I always thought she was. How she is the sole reason I have never in my life tried a cigarette, because she smoked so much and it was the one and only thing I didn't like about her. How she was such a shining example of a woman telling you exactly what she expected of you and held you to it, none of this shy and delicate flower business. No tip-toeing around. You knew exactly where you stood with her. How even with all of that tough exterior stuff it was clear that she had a soft spot for her kids and grandkids.

I have vivid memories of sitting next to her at her old piano and looking down at her crooked fingers while she taught me to play a little song… Old Rugged Cross was what it was and she sat there patiently with me while I figured out the tune… I told her I didn't think I could play because I didn't know how and she reassured me that I just had to learn the specific notes and practice them.. I didn't have to know how to play piano, I could start by finding the basic notes of any songs I wanted. She taught me to crochet, even though she was left handed and I am right. She saw my determination to learn and figured out that if she sat me down in front of her I could mirror what she did. She made many blankets for us throughout the years. I will treasure these always.

So I can't be there for her funeral. It tears at my heart. But today I found myself digging through old boxes of photographs and I found comfort in them. I don't have many. I've never lived close to my family in South Dakota and since adulthood my visits with them have been few and far between… but
I do have some pictures and today I am pouring over them.

I think this is something that's very common when you lose someone. What is the first thing you actively do? Go through photographs. This is something you can hold onto. A photograph triggers a memory… captures a relationship… reminds us of a personality. Even the backgrounds of these snapshots, like Grandma's chair or the front porch that is seared into my memory... These are pieces of her frozen in time and I can hold them in my hands when I get sad and think of her. Never underestimate the power of a photograph. You may not realize it at the time, but they could end up being that one thing that you can cling to after a loss and hold onto forever.

American Crafts National Scrapbook Day Blog Hop

National Scrapbook Day is a thing?! Yes! An excuse to scrapbook all day long, enter challenges, connect with fellow scrappers? Yes! Maybe it should be a monthly thing? Yes! ;) The American Crafts Design Team had to get in on the action, of course. If you're here on the hop you've probably heard that we've decided to celebrate by coming up with our own challenges. So fun! Yes? I love a good challenge.

Mine is to create a traditional scrapbook page using a Project Life card. Here's what I came up with…

In the interest of celebrating all things scrappy and all of you scrappy people I decided to offer a giveaway. To enter you just need to become a follower of this blog and write a comment about what your favorite day to celebrate is… Mothers Day, Secretary Day, Chocolate Appreciation Day. I plan to give away a large assortment of Project Life cards as well as some Studio Calico stamps and a few other surprises! 

Next on the hop the talented Gina Lideros

Happy Scrapbooking!

Me Series: April

Just a quick post today to share my Me Series: April layout since, you know, it's May. You can see the other ones here: JAN // FEB // MARCH // and read about why I'm doing these. 

 Here it is….

(This photo is still less than ideal, quality wise… but I said I would share so here ya go.)

The background was created by splattering spoonfuls of egg coloring dye onto the card stock and letting in run around the page.

Ok! That's it! Back to Evareaux's 5th birthday. Diving into Care Bears, My Little Ponies, balloons and streamers galore! --Then we're are going to surprise her with a family trip to a local trampoline park. She's going to be SO excited… jumping is her favorite activity and the fact that there is an actual place full of trampolines might make her head explode! Birthdays are the best, right?