Serious Play

Layout :: New Years 2012

So, here is my first layout of the year!

 

As part of my One Little Word for this year (PURSUE), I uploaded this layout to Studio Calico for their Sunday Sketch contest. I didn't win. It is based on votes. But that doesn't matter. It was the challenge that made me create a layout and I like that.

The idea is that each week they present a layout sketch for you to scraplift, but you have the freedom to make it your own. It really pushed by creativity and made me reah for the things that I love on a layout.

 

I started by cutting a grid with my Silhouette Cameo. To add dimension, I elevated the grid on pop dots.
 
 

After printing out a few of my Instagram shots, I slipped them under the grid. In one of the boxes I used my date stamp, which I love, to represent the change from one year to the next.

 

Finally, I embossed a few snowflakes with gold glitter. Can you tell I am not quite ready to let go of the gold bling that was this past Christmas?

 

Totally happy with this layout.

And because I am PURSUing this year, I am going to take on the challenge this week again!

Want to vote for me?


 

A Few Layouts

So, I am back to making a few layouts!

 

I know that it has been a while. Life has been very full for the past few months. We are all back to school, I am coaching varsity girls volleyball as well as working full time.

Somehow I always think I can manage it, but then when I see that I have only blogged a handful of times this month, I realize that some things have got to give...

But I am back! We have a vacation planned for next week and then I should be able to get back into the swing of things (translation: scrapbooking and crafting will be part of my life again).

 

The above layout is one for my hubby. He doesn't like to get his pic taken, but I snagged this one in late summer when we were eating outside in the backyard. I used mostly HeyDay papers from Studio Calico (from the 6x6 pack). The title letters are American Crafts. And the little wooden button is one of many that my Dad cut and drilled for me after scrounging a few sticks along the river near my parents' house. You will be seeing more of these...

 

This layout is all about the hours and miles that I logged this summer out running. This particular data is depicting solely my latest race back in September. I am proud of myself for the time that I put in even though I did not want to get up early on my summer break and even though it was stinking hot on some runs and even though there were days where I was breathing in mouthfuls of bugs as I ran along the trails.

I am proud that I completed three races this past spring, early summer and early fall. I have never done that before. Now I can say that I have!

Once again, this layout uses papers from Hey Day. The little manila tag along the right side contains hidden journaling that can be read when pulled out.

 

I like how both of these layouts turned out. However, I do apologize for the terrible colouring of the photos. I have hit that time of year again, when the natural daylight has vanished before I get home from work. So any photos I take are now done with indoor lighting, which I admit is not great. Any advice...?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Layout :: First Job

So, here is another layout using neon colours!

 

I do apologize for the terrible photo of this layout. I probably took about 20 shots and spent over 30 minutes trying to edit various ones to get the right colouring. I don't know if it was the lighting (although I took the shots over a period of a day and in different locations) or if it is just that neons are tricky colours for my camera to make sense of??

Anyway, as you can see here, the background paper looks like it has a pink hue, but I used a white page. And, imagine the pink and green triangles as the typical neon colour, even though they look weird here.

If anyone has suggestions as to how they go about photographing their layouts for posting to a blog, I'd be all ears. Often it takes me longer to edit the shots than it does to create the layout!

 

 

 

Layout :: Father's Day 2012

So, I am loving this neon washi tape from Heidi Swapp!

 

I have seen a lot of neon on Pinterest lately. It is showing up in fashion, home decor, nail polish...and now scrapbooking!

I began this layout by painting over a doily with yellow paint, then peeled the doily off to reveal the imprint. It turned out to be quite bright and that led me to want to work with the neon colours. 

A very simple layout, but my first with neons.

There will be more to come for sure!

 

 

Celebrate Layout

So, I am playing catch up on a lot of recent happenings. 

 

Summer has me outdoors, but I still hear the call of my papers and photos. Every once in a while I steel away to my craft room for some scrappin.

This one is of my daughter's graduation back a month ago. I still love looking back on these photos. It isn't difficult to choose one (or two or three) to scrap. I love them all.

 

I started with a little sunburst using a variety of pastel coloured papers.

 

I kept the embellishments simple...a few flags and mini banner, a doily, some lacy tape and a few rhinestones.

 

Such a wonderful day spent together. Memories were gathered that I will tuck away and bring out when I see this photo again!

 

 

Class of 2012

So, my oldest daughter graduated from high school last weekend.

 

Hard to believe we are here already. Just this week she was remarking how she remembers coming to school for her first day of kindergarten. She has attended the same school for all her schooling, except grade 9 in which I homeschooled her. Having had nothing but a positive experience, this ending is bitter sweet. Wanting to grow up, but wanting to hold on to what has been so good.

Now, it is on to bigger and better things...she is off to university in the fall, enroled in Commerce. At this point, she is not convinced that she will like Accounting, but is taking the next step anyway. This is when it gets tough being a parent. I am no more sure than her of what to expect. It is very possible that despite my encouragement to go ahead, she may not like it at all!

Since I work at the same school as my girls have been attending all these years, we have been fortunate to travel to and from school together. Some of our very best conversations have happened in the car. Now we will be short one passenger, as this one will be taking the c-train to university.

Lucky for me she will still be in the same city though, and under my roof...for now.

 

Together Forever

So, I finally found some time to do a scrapbook layout again.

 

Now that my half marathon race is over, I am looking forward to spending more time in my craft room again. This doesn't mean I am finished with running. I am going to continue to run 3, 4 and 5 miles throughout the week but the running is not going to rule my evenings anymore! If I cannot squeeze it in, I'm not gonna sweat it. And if I feel more like scrapbooking than running, I'm gonna do it!

My daughter took this Instagram shot of my husband and I the other weekend when we were in the mountains. I love it. I don't have many shots of us, other than the ones I take at arms length when he will let me.

 

But this one is particularly special after this week...

I think I have mentioned that my husband is a firefighter, or 'an ordinary everyday hero' as he likes to put it. As such, he works shift work with two days on followed by two nights on, then four days off. I can't say that I like the night shifts at all, but on the day shifts he is home when the girls and I are getting home from school and in time for supper.

However, this past week, one of my fears as a firefighter's wife surfaced. 

When Sean works a day shift his shift ends at 5pm and typically he is home between 5:30 and 6pm. On those days, I make supper and try to have it ready when he comes home so that we can all eat together. But this night he wasn't home at 6. Or 6:30.

Now, there is the odd occasion when they are out at a call when it is shift-change. In that case he finishes out the call and texts me to say he will be late. But at 7pm I still had not heard from him. This is when the fear began to rise in my heart.

I am not a worrier. I don't stress over things I cannot control. I do not get all panicky and lose all common sense. But this night felt strange. I must admit that swirling in my mind were all the possibilities of what could have happened knowing the dangers that he faces each time he is on the job. At 7:30 I texted him a simple message to ask where he was and was he okay? No response.

I started to wonder what would be my line of action. Do I call the fire department or his fire hall? Do I call the hospitals? Will someone come to my doorstep like I see on the movies? Would I call his parents first, or mine?

I tried to tell myself everything was alright and that there was a perfectly good explanation for the lateness. I kept thinking I saw the garage door open. I kept telling myself to breathe. And I prayed.

At 8pm I heard the familiar 'woohoo' that I programmed into my iPhone to alert me of a text message. With anticipation, I read the text message and indeed it was from my husband. Relief flooded over me. He was safe and on his way home. He had been tied up at a fire all this time and could not contact me.

 

For this reason, the photo above is one that I hold dear now. My prayer is that we will always be side-by-side as we walk through life and that even though he faces danger on the job, my God will always bring him home to me... forever.

 

 

 

Half Marathon Training :: LO

So, I am training for a half marathon.

 

My cousin, Richelle, posted on Facebook at the beginning of the month that she was running in a half marathon. I totally admired her for it. I have always wanted to run a marathon.

I texted her, "Oh, next time let me know and I will do it with you."

She replied with, "It's not until May, you still have time to train and join me."

That made me stop. I didn't even know what a half marathon involved.

So, I looked it up...13 miles!

I can't do that much. I haven't run long distance in a very long time. But I love running. And I have always wanted to do it. And I am not getting any younger...

So I said yes...at least, I will train towards it and let Richelle know in a few weeks if I will do it.

Well, this week I finally registered, so it's official.

I am training to run in a half marathon in May.

 

NOTE: Sorry for the terrible pic of the LO. It was taken in my hallway at 9pm, just to get posted for today! 

 

 

 

Layout :: Wondering

So, this layout comes on the heels of my OLW post last week.

 

This is where I am right now. It consumes my thoughts.

So good to hear in the comments that there are others out there who can relate.

 

For this layout, I used map paper from an atlas for the lettering. I opened Photoshop and typed the Blackout font to spell the word wondering, then reversed the letters (mirror image) before printing them on the back of my map paper. I do not have a Silhouette Cameo machine, so I cut my letters by hand. I like how they blend in a bit to the background.

I have seen so much confetti in the blogland lately, that I decided to try my own take on it. I trimmed two pockets from baseball card page protector, filled them with confetti punched from scrap paper and then used a zigzag stitch with my sewing machine to tack it closed. I like how they just sort of float around in the pockets.

Both of the pics are taken with Instagram.

 

 

 

Torn Layout

So, the title of this layout says it all.

 

I am torn.

I love so much about the phase of life we are in right now...and yet, we are so close to entering the next phase in our lives. 

I am loving what is today, but drawn by what is possible for tomorrow.