The Help

I have a pile of printed Instagrams on my desk (hot tip: Walmart does them fairly cheap!) just begging to be scrapped. I keep pulling out my favorites and putting them on top.. and these two photos make me smile every time.

He was driving me bonkers that day... kid would not get out of my grill! I had a bunch of assignments on deadline but every time I sat down to work he would climb up beside me to try to "help." Funny how something that was so super annoying at the time can be this cute, happy memory in retrospect. He looks adorable in the photos, but I remember counting down the minutes to nap time that day... and feeling like a bad Mom for turning on the TV in an effort to distract him, and then being disappointed when it didn't work.

I wonder whats making me crazy right now that I will actually miss down the road? Toys everywhere? Drawn out night time tuck-ins? Endless puppy energy? A bottomless pit of laundry? Crumbs everywhere? One thing I know I won't miss is stepping on legos... cuz ouch. I digress. Here's a page...

Project Life: The Rest of 2014

Today I'm taking some time to do a quick couple of January PL spreads. I figured why not share the rest of 2014. Why, you ask? Because this is a scrapbook blog, for goodness sake, I say! I mean, I've shown you every other detail of my pages. Why cheat you of the boring entirety of the year? 

Here's Thanksgiving week. We had visitors so it was an extra busy one (I left the house AND put on real clothes, ya'll!)...

That blank card is for my thoughts on my family finally seeing me play roller derby. I need to print those photos. :)

On busier weeks I always do an insert for the extra stuff. This on is front and back of Thanksgiving Day...

A little blank spot for my journaling about the holiday. I've since filled it in...

One of the harder weeks this year. Trying to live life to the fullest, but mourning a friend.

In the pocket below I've written about my friend and teammate, Rage. Her funeral was really hard. It was important to me to remember the abundance of love and heartbreak that was in the room.. but it felt right to keep the words in a pocket where they can be more private...

Still obsessed w/ these trees. I was going to do a dying tutorial. Anyone still want that or should I wait until next holiday season when it's relevant again?

Another insert for Christmas Eve and Day...

I hope you liked seeing more of 2014 than you bargained for. I'm sure I'll overshare my PL pages in 2015 too... so there's that to look forward to. See you back here tomorrow for a special project, and a shorter post, yay!

Paper Camellia February Sneaks

You all know how much I love my Paper Camellia kits. I am so excited about being on the design team. I swear, just when you think no grouping of supplies could get any better, your mailman arrives (and rings the doorbell, and the dog goes cray, and the baby gets woken up after a 20 min nap. It's fine, I'm fine. I have a glorious kit now). Ria hits it out of the park every time. The February kit rocked my socks off, guys. Fo reals... like, where are my socks? My feet are cold. (that darn dog probably ate them. uh oh.)

But, seriously. I was able to make six (you heard me, SIX!) layouts. Plus, a pocket page spread. AND I still have supplies left over. Overachiever, you say? What's she trying to prove anyway, you wonder? I say, nay! It's the kit! It's just that good! I sat down the day it arrived and with a few wiggles of my nose, poof! The pages were done. (bet you didn't know I was a witch, huh.)

Anywho.. I'm sharing some sneaks today, but be sure to come back on February 1st for the full reveal ... and more hearts than you can even count. (Ok, you could probably count them all up if you really wanted to.. I mean, you're smart people, you know how to count.)

Ok! Now I have to go do laundry so I have some socks to wear. Sheesh! Who's in charge of laundry around here?? I'm very busy scrapbooking, and then Instagramming about scrapping, and then blogging about it. These socks aren't going to wash themselves, people!

Rainbows Forever

Evareaux is on a huge rainbow kick. Rainbows and pony's make up 75% of her life right now. Who could blame her? They are just so happy. So I decided to be a cool Mom and paint an accent wall in her room accordingly. Here's how it turned out...

I wanted the colors to sort of match up with that triangle blanket and am so happy with the way it looks! She even helped me a bit in the process...

That "Be Happy" mirror melts me. I found it at Marc's (a low end grocery store) for $2.50. Can you believe that?! I have a lot of other plans for this rainbow room, but for now she loves it.

and since I'm still a kid at heart I decided to use the same colors for my own accent wall in my office. Why not? I had the paint already. I originally planned on doing a ton of triangles. Something more like this...

except covering the entire space. I sketched it out and fully intended on doing this (I sketch like a total pro, ya'll)...

But then I got the first three lines of tape up, stepped back, and thought... hey, that's pretty dang cool just like that! I'm pleased with the way it turned out and as a bonus I didn't have to tape off a gillion triangles and worry about the paint seeping or stuff being uneven. Winning. The paint is even more vibrant in person, if you can believe that.

Here's a typical day in the office (filters tone down the bright paint a lot). Stacks of scrap crap. Sewing machine on the floor. A super adult coffee mug. A little bugger swiping my favorite pens... so that's where they all go!...

Be back soon. It's nap time (the best time!) so I need to get to work in that very professional and grown up rainbow office of mine. ;)

Shine

Popping in quickly to share a quick layout I made using bits and pieces of extra kits. I'm a big believer in using up every last bit. Why not? Just wait until you see what I did to use the entire February Paper Camellia Kit plus add-on kit. I made 6 layouts and a pocket page spread! aca-scuseme?! Yes, you heard right. I can't wait to share. Until then, here's this simple gem....

I hope you have a fantastic weekend. We are headed to Frozen on Ice tomorrow which is very fitting because I fell like being here in the CLE area we actually live in Frozen. I have to hunt down that Ice Queen and kill her.. .errrr, beg her to stop. Then I'll probably play some derby and scrap a little in between wiping bottoms and shoveling snow... living the dream, people. TGIF. :)

Me Series: 2014 (aka: the good, the bad, and the filtered)

Thanks for all of the comments on my last post about being a big time nerd.... sounds like I'm not alone. :) Today I wanted to wrap up my Me Series with you all. If you've been following along you know that I started this series in January of 2014. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about then get out of here, you're not welcome. Just kidding. You can click this link and read if you are so inclined.)

So the goal was to make a page focused on myself each month.. how I was feeling on that very moment... random stuff about me. Little month to month time capsules I guess. I wanted to get myself in the albums and I wanted my story in there too... even if it was just little snippets. All 12 months of 2014 are accounted for, and I'm proud of that.

2014 was one of the most challenging years of my life. I struggled big time with depression, a huge move, kids changing schools, waiting for our house to sell, a horrific rental house, family drama,  a roller derby injury, losing relatives & a friend,.. the list goes on. But no matter how down in the dumps I felt, or how much I really just wanted to pack it in and call it a day, I scrapped. I scrapped it all... the good the bad and the ugly... ok, not that much ugly (they make filters for that)... but if you take a look back at my past year of Project Life and Me Series pages you will see it's all in there.. not just the happy, warm and fuzzy stuff... but all of the other life stuff too. 

I think that's important... to include the full picture. One of the reasons I love scrapping so much is that it can be really healing. Documenting my story along with my families made me focus on what was happening, examine how I could make it better, think about what needed to happen, and also, it allowed me to take notice the good stuff. That was hard for me with the depression cloud looming.. but scrapping helped. I acknowledged the crappy stuff (because ignoring it makes it seem even worse) and allowed myself to feel good about the good. 

Can you tell I am in therapy? Haha. Just kidding. I mean, I am in therapy... but you can't really tell by this post so far.. I sound like a ramble-y lunatic. (my bio should say: Nerdy, ramble-y lunatic who is also depressed.. who doesn't know what to write about on her blog right now so she's probably just typing whatever comes out and hitting "publish." Also, she's not sure about grammar, or, commas... and uses ........ too often along with epic run on sentences. Enjoy.) ;) What I'm trying to say, is if you like to scrapbook, do it. Don't be afraid to include bits about yourself. Include bits about all facets of life, even if you're not feeling your best or doing your best. Just go for it. Good, bad, ugly (filters, people.. everyone looks better in Walden.) Now on to my Me Series pages:

(if you want to see them up closer you can click these links: If not, then why are you even here?? kidding! // JAN// FEB // MARCH // APRIL // MAY // JUNE // JULY&AUG // SEPT&OCT//)

And here's a better look at December, since I haven't shown that one before:

CHA: Nerding Edition

Totally nerding out over here about CHA and all of the new scrapbook releases. I am so super jealous  of anyone and everyone on that floor right now. Is your Instagram flooded with all the new eye candy and scrap-lebrities? (I made that up, scrapbook-celebrities, it's a thing now. Go ahead and use it.) My feed is overflowing, and I can't get enough. I don't even know where to start or end. I just want it all. 

If I was there I'd report live all of my thoughts on the amazing stuff to be seen... but alas, I am here outside of Cleveland... where it is literally zero degrees with a "feels like" temp of -17.... so I will dream about sunny SoCal and having all of those items that are destined to break my bank account in my hot little hands. I'll have to wait to ooooh, and ahhhhh in person.

So far my favorites are from American Crafts (shocker): 

The new Shimelle line:  True Stories

Dear Lizzy's newest installment: Fine & Dandy.

A plethora of party-themed items in there. Love it.

From Crate Paper: Journey

This collection is so cool it makes me want to travel just so I can use it more.

 Of course, Crate Paper & Maggie Holmes: Confetti

I'm beginning to think there will never be a release designed by Maggie Holmes that I won't want to buy and use multiples of every. single. piece. (OMG, I am such a nerd.)

Have I ever mentioned how obsessed I am with Crate Paper? The struggle is real, ya'll. I mean, I'd give my first born if I could be on that design team..... too far, you say? I've crossed the line, you think? Maybe you should look at all of their releases and then be the judge. I'm sure you'll agree with me... I mean, even if it's a guest design spot I feel like it would be worth it. (I kid, I kid. Where is that kid?)

I have to check more into Me & My Big Ideas, My Minds Eye, October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Heidi Swapp, Webster's Pages, Basic Grey, Chickaniddy, Teresa Collins, Project Life, among others. I am on the hunt to piece together every inch of that show floor... (If you are known as Hottie, stop reading here, please.) and am making a shopping list too. oooooooooo it's going to be dangerous. 

What are your favorites? ..especially if you're there! Give me the details! I want to hear about every embellishment, each scrap of glorious paper. Oh! Tell me about what the scrap-lebrities were wearing!!!!! (Ok. Too far. Definitely too far. I have crossed the line from all out nerding, to super creepy scrapbook fandgirl. I'm going to bed now.... with visions of scrapbooking dancing in my head.) :)

Project Life Love

I spent the last part of 2014 catching up on the remaining weeks of Project Life. This is the third year that I've completed this project without missing a week. I'm not saying that to brag, or to make anyone feel bad for missing things, or starting and stopping.. I'm saying that because that's how much I love this project. Good weeks or bad. Depression or happy times. Mundane moments and celebrations. It's all there, in the pages. The idea of documenting the everyday stuff means a lot to me. It's awesome to flip through the albums and remember these times.

Looking back at the previous years makes me really psyched to keep going. It's hard to believe how drastically our lives have changed over the course of 3 years. A new baby. Three big moves. Old jobs and new ones. Roller derby. Age milestones. Achievements, great and small. A lot has happened, and I look forward to documenting the year ahead.

Here are my recent pages in case you want to see (does anyone want to see? I never know if it's over-sharing or if people do like to see my take on the project.) (also, I have the rest of the year done so I can share that soon too, if you want.)...

Left. (I'm finding that my pink hair is making me want to include more photos of myself.) 

Right.

Left

Right. (using a candy box for a pocket.)

Left. (paint swatches for a pocket.)

Right. (I have to write my thoughts about Aidan's 18th bday on that card still. 18!)

Left.

Right.

On the night of this Black & Blue bout (see above) one of my friends was in a serious car accident that resulted in her death weeks later. On my next PL post I want to talk a little bit about scrapping through the hard times and my thoughts on including those in the story.... also, how I cope with documenting things a month after they happen and how I keep things straight.