Memory Makers with Michele Skinner

2. because there has to be a 2 after a 1

2007-09-05T10:41:18.8673750-04:00

so i never quite got around to filling you in on gasc and the week between that and cha. well, so goes my life these days.

suffice it to day, spending a week in chicago and michigan with catherine ranks in my top five things to do. we had a blast ... laughed all day every day. such a great break for normal life.

thanks, catherine!! meeting you and bonding as we have has been the greatest gift this year as a master has given me!!

pix, of course, are here ---> pix

gasc was, in a word, amazing. cath and i had a blast wandering around the crop on the first night, meeting scrappers and seeing what they were creating. such nice women! and teaching the next two days was an experience i'm so grateful to have had.

i used to work for a scrapbook store and always sort of avoided teaching classes. i'm so not a teacher type. but when the opportunity arose to do stuff for gasc, i jumped (why, i have no idea). as the weekend approached i was sick with nerves. what if people hate the classes? what if i suck as a teacher? what if i forget stuff? what if what if what if? well, turns out nothing bad happened. the students were totally receptive to the projects and playing. and the journaling classes, which were created from the premise of the book i'm currently writing for memory makers, went so well. better than i anticipated. the class was so open and sharing about their writing. it was a pleasure. and my TAs were all the best!!

and now my life revolves around getting back into the normalcy of the school year, marc traveling non-stop, the probability of moving to indiana next year, and writing the aforementioned book.

i'm so sad to see our year as master end, but i'm so excited to hand over the reigns to such an amazing new group! i can't wait to meet you guys at cha in january!!! wear the crown well and do us proud!

i'll leave you with two recent favorite photos ... just because i can! ha ha

i've had a few people ask me if i'm going to write a photography article. if anyone still reads this and wants to see something like that, let me know. i'll see what i can do. until then, though, enjoy my kids! (hey ... it's still my blog. i can brag on them all i want! ;o) )

1. cha

2007-08-07T15:24:01.2652500-04:00

i'll get to gasc later ... my file server is down while my geek (husband) works on it, so i can't get to other pix at the moment.

but first - and waaaaaayyy belatedly - cha. a friggin' BLAST!!! even more so than anaheim, if that's possible. the only thing missing was our lovely ronee, but we finally got to meet lisa, too, so there you go. yin with the yang.

all the new product coming out is just gorgeous. see here for pix of my favorites. sneak peeks that rock my socks, though:

oh, wait ... that last one isn't product ... what the heck? ;o)

thanks again to christine and greg and eliza and beth and justin and everyone who was a part of cha. it was the best time. and hey - how can you knock staying in a hotel where freggy krueger and jason vorhees party?? seriously!

nothin' more fun than a horror convention, i promise you that. (oh - that's freddy, in the blazer. who would have thought he'd wear that?!)

all accounted for

2007-08-03T12:24:53.8590000-04:00

i've received many emails so i thought it best to just post here and on my personal blog ...

we are all home and okay. the bridge collapse in minneapolis didn't affect us personally, though marc's sales partner's wife crossed it less than five minutes before the tragedy occurred.

this is a stretch that we've driven many, many times in our 10 years in the cities, and i've never felt unsafe on any minnesota road. this situation is so very sad, and my thoughts and prayers are with those families whose lives have been affected.

thanks to all who have inquired about the safety of my family. it means a lot to me to know people care.

one year ago today ...

2007-07-31T21:39:25.9840000-04:00

i was exhausted ... having stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish my layouts for the memory makers masters contest - an entry that i didn't even decide to do until less than 48 hours before deadline. after a little sleep, first thing the next morning i double-checked that the entry was complete and hauled the thing off to the post office, attached delivery confirmation, and off it went.

and i promptly forgot about it.

when the phone rang in september, i was vaguely aware calls had started but it hadn't really registered to me that i might be a part of that.

because that day in july, one year ago today, i literally thought, "well, that was fun. now i can say i once entered a contest."

i had no idea that i was about to be thrust into one of the most amazing, whirlwind, inspiring, exhausting, blessed years of my life. i've created projects that i'm so in love with (unfortunately, most won't be shared until the "ask the masters" and "601 pages" books come out), i've made friends that i'll love the rest of my life, i've traveled to a place i never planned to see (california), i've become a teacher, and now it looks like my one life-wish is coming true: i'm writing a book about a subject near and dear to my heart. not sure how much more i can share about that, but trust me: it'll be awesome.

yes, this year has been amazing. and after meeting in anaheim for cha-winter, catherine, ronee, crystal, katrina and i all agreed that memory makers would have to pry us away from our titles. and in chicago two weeks ago, we again told the powers-that-be that maybe they should just keep us and avoid having to train a new group. really, wouldn't that be more efficient?

we've seen the magazine go from that unfortunate december issue to what it is now - a magazine people once again love and praise and look forward to receiving. and we have to think that being a part of that is something special and amazing. we feel like we have a little ownership over the future of memory makers.

so to christine and holly and patty and beth and mr pyle and greg and katie and our handler and tom todd and anyone else with whom we may have crossed paths this year - be warned: we love you and aren't ready to break up!! (hee hee) and to all you designers out there who are biting nails right now, i want to say good luck, and prepare to fall madly in love with the next year of your life.

(oh - and cha and gasc were truly amazing. will post more - including pix - as soon as possible.)

a li'l peekie-pie

2007-07-11T15:26:08.1348845-04:00

so, gasc is coming up. and i'm just NOW getting all my stuff from sponsors and getting samples created. a little late, i realize that.

with any luck, the wait will be worth it.

here's a peek at the project for the decorative garland class, sponsored by the always amazing people at cosmo cricket:

i just hope the class is fun and the people who attend will love their projects!!

now i'm off to work on the samples for the technique tuesday scalloped border tiles, using gorgeous baby/spring-inspired lines from sonburn and paper salon!!

cheers!

here's to wishes coming true!

2007-07-03T15:01:07.5371250-04:00

for years i collected pink scrap supplies. even when henry was an only child and there was no sign of a sibling - girl or otherwise - on the horizon. i just always hoped i'd one day get to scrap pink.

well, i think the time has come:

my daughter, at two years and three months of age, has decided that girly stuff is IT. she loves princesses. she loves strawberry shortcake. she loves to feed her babies and tuck in her teddy bears.

where this came from, i have no idea. i've dressed her in greens and oranges and yellows since day one simply because *i'm* not a pink girl. but somehow the little girl-ness in her has emerged. with a vengeance.

she loves to catch bugs, get dirty, and wear her nemo jammies, so i'll get to continue scrapping her pages in colors that i, personally, prefer. but there's a part of me that's so happy to start pulling out that much loved, much wished-to-use pink stuff.

summer is officially here

2007-06-25T12:23:17.1886250-04:00

june is almost over, and though henry's been out of school just under three weeks, it feels like summer is in full swing.

he ended the year really well, and was sad to leave his teacher and friends. mrs geisler has been phenomenal for henry, and i'm so glad we switched schools last year. it was totally worth the stress and hassle that we endured last summer. and it turns out we were right on the money about how a more progressive school would help henry: at the end of kindergarten, he was reading at a second grade level. now he's knocking on the door of fifth grade reading. he's currently plowing through the lemony snicket series at warp speed. makes his english-major mommy very proud, indeed.

the night before school was out i realized i hadn't made a teacher gift for mrs g, so i gathered together a couple of patterns of paper, a couple types of hambly, some scenic route chipboard, light blue doodlebug paper frills, and a few other tidbtits. what resulted was actually fairly sweet, i think, even though the pix of it sort of stink because i was in a major hurry to not be late on the last day of school ... :

she loved it, which is all that really counts.

since then, marc went to california for a week to take his first class/test in a series of five for his red hat architect certification. (a fairly stringent series ... there are only about 70 people who hold this certification in the world, and my man passed with a 94% ... yay, marc!!) then we had a week of semi-normalcy ... the kids swam in the blow-up pool, we went to the park, we hung out. and last week marc went fishing in the boundary waters with my dad, uncle, and brother-in-law, while my mom and sister and i, along with the kiddos, headed to the north shore for three days of relaxing and hiking and seeing the sights. neither mom nor becca had ever been up there so it was a huge joy to show them one of my favorite places. ironically, my last technique layout as a master features a photo of the north shore. keep an eye out for it in the november/december issue!

i'll leave you with a few photos (and a few more, if you're interest in gorgeous scenery has been piqued!!) of the loveliness that is northern minnesota. i need to get my scrap on soon ... there are some shots i can't wait to play with!!

feelin' scrappy

2007-06-04T12:44:49.6241250-04:00

i've taken a little scrap-break lately ... needed to get my stuff cleaned up and reorganized after a couple of months of project on top of project and the manic accumulation of new stuff. i can't think when i can't find work space, so it became urgent to do a little supply reduction surgery.

i spent three nights going through pretty much everything i own and creating kits to sell at my local scrapbook store's annual garage sale ... if you're in the minneapolis area the weekend of june 30th, stop buy and look for some amazing deals!! quite honestly, a major chunk of my stuff will be donated to a scrapbook-in-the-classroom organization. if my stuff can help teachers and kids, i'm all for it.

and seriously ... look at all the stuff i had to go through - and this is just the paper! at least 50% of what you see here will be leaving my basement. streamlining is one of my favorite things to do!! and honestly, reducing what i have to choose from makes me scrap so much more easily and quickly ... looking through what i own, honestly seeing it and deciding whether i really love it or will ever use it, refamiliarizing myself with what i have and where i have it ... it's a great way to jump start creativity and enthusiasm for playing with products.

in other scrappy news, i recently was the guest designer for my friend kirsten hegman's amazing monthly kit club, those were the days. what an awesome, awesome kit she sent my way!! new fontwerks papers, gorgeous hambly stuff, fun little bits of this and that ... so cool. here are the projects i made for her:

and this little mini-album project makes me so excited ... the north shore of minnesota is one of my very favorite places to go, and i'm heading up again in two weeks with my mom, my sister, and the kiddos while our menfolk are in the boundary waters fishing and living without running water and electricity for a week. i think our week sounds better.

now that my area is cleaned up and purged, i'm ready to start scrapping again!! i've rediscovered some amazing papers that i can't wait to play with, i have renewed energy, and i've amassed way too many great photos lately. time to get busy!!

are you kidding me??

2007-05-30T10:25:07.7216532-04:00

we're less than a month away from the halfway mark of 2007?? nuh-uh. no way. i don't believe it. didn't i just get the holiday decorations put away? where have the last five months gone?

i know i've done some scrapping ... i seem to recall sweating deadlines and creating under pure adrenaline and caffiene. i'm pretty sure i've taken care on my kids ... they seem healthy and clean and dressed. i might have spent a moment or two with marc ... his head is cleanly shaven and his clothes for work are clean, and those things don't happen by themselves. and there are three new pairs of dress flip flops in the entryway ... at some point i must have snapped and bought new shoes. and i know our bedroom isn't purple anymore, for the first time in two years ... that little project isn't a product of elves, as far as i'm aware.

but seriously ... june?? already?

somewhere in the past couple of months i think i agreed to work on a column, and i might have sent in a book proposal. but i may have dreamed that both are now in progress ... i can't believe i actually agreed to them because i KNOW what my immediate future holds. i'm entering a phase that includes summer break, marc traveling an insanse amount (he'll be home for eight days in june. eight.), my own travels to chicago for cha and michigan to teach at gasc and winnipeg to teach at canada scrapbook crop for kids, having the bathrooms renovated, and a possible/probable move to carmel, indiana. so there's no WAY i would willingly take on more work, right?

i think i'm in denial. about what day it is. what month it is. what i have on my "to do" list. how little help i'll have around the house. how my daily child-to-mommy ratio will double next week.

maybe i'll just sit back and sip some iced tea and flip through martha stewart and watch the kids run through the sprinkler while marc grills dinner and the cleaning ladies make sure my house is perfect.

and then i'll go watch those silly pigs fly.

i was so sad to think of my masters year winding down, but i have a feeling the next eight months will be even busier. on one hand i'm beyond thrilled to continue working for f+w/memory makers ... i love this company!! on the other hand, i'm a little nervous. but when it rains, it pours, right? and there are definitely pots on gold at the end of the rainbow ... i'll be writing, which is what i love and is my life-plan anyway, and the thought of living in the same state as our families for the first time in eleven years is exciting, and seeing the kind of house we can afford in indiana for what we pay in minneapolis is exhilirating. and summer brings lots of fun for the kids, which is always good for photo ops. so if i look on the bright side, it's all good. just all compacted into a much shorter, sooner timeframe than expected.

we should always be careful what we wish for. i think that's, like, the moral of this little story. because it sure as heck doesn't have a point.

ha ha.

breathing for a moment ...

2007-05-02T15:53:03.5927500-04:00

spring is all around, projects are in full swing, summer is approaching quickly, but i wanted to take a moment to just BREATHE.

when i was a little girl, we would visit my great-aunt and great-uncle (technically, i think they were great-greats to me) at their farm in rochester, indiana. while there, we would walk down the road to my great-great-grandparents' house. it is a small white house on a large yard, overlooking a field. there is a footprint where a barn used to be, and a creaky swing on the cement front porch, where i played for hours as a child. i can still close my eyes and smell the musty scent of the cement, the soft pungency on the spirea bushes that surround the porch, hear the wind whistling through the screens behind me, hear cows lowing somewhere in the distance. when i think of a peaceful place, i immediately think of this house. my grandma now lives there and i truly wish i could visit more often.

one thing i always loved about that house was a large lilac bush in the side yard near. i remember sitting in it's shade and stringing hundreds of little blossoms on thread to create a garland. i would pick sprigs and walk around for hours while holding them to my nose so i could smell only the sweetness of the flowers. and i vowed that when i grew up, i would have a house surrounded by lilacs. and peonies, but i don't have any so that part of the story will have to wait for another time.

i've been a homeowner for ten years now, two different houses in two vastly different parts of the city. at my old house there was a huge, neglected lilac in the back corner of the yard that had overgrown itself into a tree and hung out over the alley. i could barely reach any flowers because they were so high, but i could still smell them on the breeze occasionally.

at my current house, there are two small lilac trees in the front yard by the garage. they are spindly little things, a little too leggy from lack of pruning by the previous owners, but the most fragrant flowers grow on them. i love these little trees. last year they produced one flower. one. it was miserable. but this year it's covered, and every day i check the progress of the flowers. this weekend i will cut an armful and bring them in the house to enjoy for the duration of their brief life.

lilacs are home to me. they are as connected to my childhood as anything else. the scent takes me to a happy place in an instant.

what does that for you? is it a smell? a season? a song? find it, close your eyes and let it take you to a place you love, and then write it down. make a page to celebrate it. give yourself a reason to just breathe for a few moments and go where the memories take you.

against my better judment ...

2007-04-16T14:14:16.8397925-04:00

i'm going to be teaching four classes in winnipeg at the canada scrapbooking crop for kids fundraiser for the canada children's hospital.

bwahahaha. i'm scared to death. what was i thinking?!

just a sneakie-poo at two of the classes (the other two are currently in progress, but i'll post them soon):

the first class is a transparency class, using transparencies from hambly screen prints and ki memories. we'll be using paints and other embellishments to personalize transparencies.

the second class is a calendar organizer that you can keep close - in your purse, in your desk drawer, etc. - so that you have important dates and birthdays at hand.

if you're gonna be in winnipeg in october, stop in! take my class! just please don't heckle me ... i'm very new at this whole thing.

10 random thoughts from 4.4.07

2007-04-05T01:00:10.4621774-04:00

1. have you seen the new heidi grace lines?? holy heck. i love heidi grace, but she's totally outdone herself this time around. can't wait to play!!
2. love my printer. if you are ever offered a printer that will give you a 13"x19" photo, take it!!
3. i ran out of body wash the other day but was heading to the mall, not target, so i popped into the body shop and grabbed some almond shower gel stuff. um, hello ... where have i been?? this stuff smells amazing and my skin is so soft! so much for all these "moisture" this and "shea butter" that ... i still itched. but almond body wash? yes. no itchies.
4. merry maids = my new best friends.
5. taxes suck. last quarter's compenstation check was taxed at about 30%. this quarter's, which was more than twice the last one, was taxed at nearly 50%. what the heck is that about?? so much for buying a new fancy lens and a fridge.
6. ... but hello gorgeous dresser from restoration hardware, new lamps and bedding, new paint, new carpet, and new bedroom after two and a half years of waiting and living without furniture but with horrid purple paint on the walls!! (and hello to the four lovely ladderback dining room chairs from pottery barn that appeared on my doorstep today, just in time to replace the hand-me-down chairs we've had for 10 years that no longer support the body weight of anyone in this family.)
7. my parents, sister and brother-in-law will be here in 28 hours ... and i'm taking my sister to my salon to get her hair chopped off for locks of love. so very cool. and yes, my camera will be handy.
8. marc just found out his travel schedule is increasing dramatically at work from now on. on one hand, more money and frequent flier miles. on the other hand, insanity and vodka. decisions, decisions ...
9. henry gets to play a tree in his first school play in two weeks. a tree, people. can't wait to see what kinds of faces he pulls while holding up construction paper branches.
10. it's now 4.5.07. nighty night.

entering a new era ...

2007-03-24T12:36:45.8327226-04:00

the new era is two-fold:

1. i'm now altering things. on purpose. haven't really done that before. maybe it's this masters thing ... like, i feel i should spread my wings and earn my title a little bit. whatever the reason, i saw these arrow heart measuring cups at target in the dollar spot in february and my immediate reaction was not, "oh, look at the cute measuring cups!" but rather, "ooh ... i could cover these with patterned paper and fill them with photos and hang them on my wall!"

i blame donna downey and her amazingly cute muffin tins.

2. right this very moment marc is at microcenter buying me a .... dadadadadadadadadadadad (that's a drum roll sound, in case you were wondering) ... a large format printer!! oh yes ... within the hour i will be printing out photos in 13x9 all by myself. no more orders. no more waiting. just saying, "image size 13x9? okay! don't mind if i do!!"

sigh. i'm in love already and it isn't even here yet.

he's promised me i get all day today to work on projects (i won't mention the fact that it's 11:30 and i still haven't started. my excuse is that i'm waiting for that printer ...) since he's going to be traveling for work for the next 10 days. oh, and it's henry's spring break this week. translation: i'll get nothing done if i don't do it today. so you can understand my eagerness to have a new toy to light a creative spark. printing on 12x12 cardstock ... sigh ... something i've only dreamed about for the past six years!!

here's to new eras and the joy they bring!!

reverse mojo

2007-03-12T15:34:23.3179502-04:00

do you ever have the problem where your head is full of ideas, but the actual act of printing photos, finding supplies, doing the work just exhausts you?

that's where i am right now.

the little notebook that lives by my computer is quickly filling up with ideas that i've been jotting down, but the thought of actually scrapping is so unappealing right now. maybe it's spring fever. maybe i'm overwhelmed by the idea of having three classes and their samples created by april 1st for the canada crop for kids in manitoba (i'll be teaching!! will you be there?). i think a lot of it is the apprehension of henry's spring break running from march 30th through april 6th, and marc will be gone from march 28 - april 4 on a work trip. and then my family will be up on april 6th for easter.

yup. that's what's wearing me out the most.

who can scrap with stress on top of stress?! not i, said the pie.

but at least i have ideas written down, so the next time my energy returns i won't have to worry about my mojo being MIA!!

found some happy ...

2007-03-01T16:10:52.7498212-05:00

in the form of a major winter storm. a blizzard, if you will.

this was marc at about 11:30 this morning, heading out for a lunch meeting:

about an hour later, this was the view from my desk:

and an hour or so after that? this:

sigh. love, love, love love snow. especially lots of it. especially all-day-long lots of it.

henry has a snow day, which is rare in minneapolis. he'll probably have one again tomorrow, too. so he's doing the jammies-on-the-couch-catching-up-with-tivo'd-shows day while i scrap. as soon as harper wakes up, out we'll go to sled in the backyard and build snow things.

happy. again.

sorry, but i'm in a funk.

2007-02-21T14:49:29.7326988-05:00

maybe this isn't the blog to do this, but i'm feeling blue and my creativity is suffering. i've battled depression my entire life - was medicated for two years after henry was born becuase i'd finally reached a breaking point - and it always ebbs and flows. right now i feel it knocking on the door again and that in itself makes me even more sad. i don't want it back. i want it to leave me alone. i want to just enjoy my life and my family and my time as a master.

seems a little odd to lump scrapbooking in with motherhood and marriage and life in general, but at this point i've made a commitment to memory makers and i want to be as professional and reliable as i can. cuz that's who i am.

over the six years that i've scrapbooked, i rarely submitted anything. on a whim i would send something in, and occasionally i'd have a project picked up, but for me getting published wasn't the point. then, for whatever reason, last year i decided to enter masters. a friend sort of dared me, and, well, the rest is history. what i want from this year is vague ... i don't think i'm good enough to have long-term success in this business. truthfully, i don't think that's even what i want. but right now i love it. i love the opportunity. if it leads to other things, awesome. if not, okay. i have other things to do. writing is still there. photography is still there. i'm better at those. i like them more. scrapbooking is just a way to bridge them.

but right now the blues are making it very hard to scrap. or take photos. or shower. life is crazy: harper's having issues (she's almost two ... it was bound to happen), henry's not getting enough of my time and attention and that isn't fair to him, and marc is so busy with his new job and it's such an unpredictable schedule that we're always up in the air. i'm unhappy right now that my life is getting only half the attention it deserves.

this morning was bad, and i had a very vivid vision of dropping everything and just driving away to escape. but unfortunately, all our family is 600 miles away so there's nowhere to drop the kids off. and i'm too responsible to do anything without first checking with marc to see if he can have time off.

i can't even run away without cross-referencing every to-do list first. it's pathetic.

but it all just feels like things are coming to a head and i need to do something soon to find my equilibrium again. why am i telling you this? (well, the three of you who read this blog? lol) i have no idea. maybe because this is a void. ha ha maybe because others out there struggle with feelings of inadequacy and thoughts that your best will never be good enough, no matter what that refers to. misery loves company, right?

okay. sorry to be a downer. here ... i scrapped a page a few days ago that actually makes me smile. these kids ... man. they test me continually, but they are both pretty great. and i do love that i scrapbook and am able to capture these small moments and memories. the small moments are the things that have meaning and will be important in the long run. no matter how blue i feel or how often, there are always these two faces at the end of the day to bring me back home.

scrapbooking as therapy ... hmm. not cheaper than a doctor, but maybe more honest?

i'd say i'm glad to be back ...

2007-02-02T21:13:59.5396069-05:00

but to tell you the truth, i had so much fun in california at cha that i miss it!! i miss the girls, i miss the fun, i miss it all!! i haven't laughed so hard or so much in a really long time. and my fellow masters? can i just say i'm in love with each and every single one?? oh my.

catherine, who was my roommate, (have you met catherine? wait ... sorry ... maybe that's only funny to us.) made the whole weekend so much more fun than it would have been had i stayed by myself. we laughed ourselves to sleep every night, and walking with her every day was eye-opening. the girl knows everyone. on day 1 i met her at the bar, sitting with donna. downey. seriously. then we'd go to the show and everyone would stop her and say hi - heidi swapp, emily falconbridge, various industry types and all levels of scrappers. i was totally impressed.

then there's crystal and ronee, who arrived a little later and added a whole new level of hilarity. ronee is a total darryl hannah lookalike and is as honest as they come. crystal is the most comfortable person in her own skin that i've ever met. by the end of day two the four of us were having dinner, drinking several drinks, and laughing uncontrollably ... and somehow ended up in donna's bathtub. along with donna and ikuko, from ck japan, who was donna's roommate and as funny as hell.

and katrina - ahh!! a kindred spirit if ever i met one! adore this girl! i'm so going to vermont to hang out with her as soon as possible.

we really didn't get to spend too much time with hillary, who arrived late and left early and was sooo busy in between times with design team stuff, but the times we did talk i had so much fun. she has such an interesting life and family ... next time, hillary!! we'll talk more!

cha itself ... wow. exhausting and yet so energizing and inspiring. i didn't get to see every booth in the scrap area, but i spent a lot of time checking out the crafting section and getting so inspired by products not even marketed to scrappers. the ideas for crossover are endless!!

from what i did see, i can say right now that i adore fancy pants, cosmo cricket, crate paper, piggy tales, heidi grace, autumn leaves, maya road ... um, what else. pretty much everything, actually. based on the friendliness and awesomeness of reps in the booth, i have to say that you need to buy everything you can from american crafts. they are simply perfection in the customer service department. not to mention their product is gorgeous.

felt is the new hot. and chipboard is going amazing places.

and getting to know the editorial/publishing staff from f+w (effin' w ... my new favorite swear word ... ha ha) was amazing. they are all so nice and so excited about the direction the magazine is going. i'm in love with them all.

i know i'm missing so much, but as i think of it i'll write more. i think i got about 16 hours of sleep in total for four nights and my abs still hurt from laughing. and i'm so ready to sit down and CREATE!!

photos can be seen here.

happy 2007!!

2007-01-04T14:48:21.0659143-05:00

i've been a little neglectful of this li'l blog, but rectifying that is a resolution for '07! i realized, as my daughter woke from her fourth 40 minute-long nap this week, that i have so little time during the day to do anything - scrap, blog, wash towels, etc. - that something needs to be done about that. so i'm hiring a nice neighbor girl to come over two afternoons a week to play with my kids for two hours so i can create. she could use the money, i could use the time ... seems like a win-win to me.

i stare longingly at my scrap supplies and photos, stories and titles swirl in my head all day long, i see inspiration everywhere that makes me want to run home to create. i need to make it more of a priority. is that selfish? we're putting down our family's stories and memories, so how is that bad? why do i feel guilty when i spend time scrapping instead of cleaning something or watching something tivo'd with marc?

i made a very simple, easy page the other night and realized that the process doesn't have to take four hours. this page was completed in less than one, but the story is something that will be priceless in a few years. true, i love to occasionally spend hours making an intricate and fabulous page, but for the most part my work is all about the story, the memory. all it needs is to be written down and perhaps embellished a little. i can handle that, even on the busiest day.

this layout makes me happy, even though there is very little about it that would win any design awards or make people stop and notice. but the story ... ahh! makes me laugh just remembering how defensive my son sounded after i had the audacity to say his little sister might have better "eagle eyes" than he does. nice move, mom, but i sure got a fun little page from it!

intro interview

2006-11-28T14:32:43.6734948-05:00

now that the january issue is out and we've been officially introduced, i figure i might as well post the entire interview here, with melissa's questions and my answers. snippets are nice, but i always want to know the rest of the story, and thought you might, as well.

What’s your average day like? Craziness! We’re up by 7 a.m. to get everyone around for the day. Henry is in first grade, so we have to make sure homework is in his backpack, lunch is packed, teeth are brushed, etc. Harper is 18 months, so she needs to be changed and fed before we can walk out the door. My husband’s days are never the same from one to the next, so we just let him do his own thing. After I drop off Henry at school, Harper and I do errands or go to the gym. She naps for about an hour and a half after lunch, and during that time I try to catch up on emails, proof photos, do the dishes or a load of laundry. Afternoons are all about playing, picking up Henry, getting him to taekwondo, getting dinner started. Once the kids are in bed (usually by 7:30 p.m. ), my scrapping time starts. Some nights I work a few hours, others I do a quick, simple page and then sit on the couch with Marc to watch something we’ve tivo’d.

What’s your scrapbook style? How did you develop it? I struggle with the concept of “style.” I started out bringing a love of interior design to my scrapping – it was all about colors, patterns, textures. Then I discovered Cathy Zielske (before she was Cathy! Zielske!!) and was really drawn to the way she used photos and words to convey the story. As a writer and lover of photography, the simple method of scrapbooking spoke to my heart. I realized I didn’t have to cover a page with die cuts and stickers and froufrou. To me, a page is almost always about the photos or the story. But sometimes the content isn’t all that important and the page becomes about stretching myself as an artist. Those pages are just for fun and I add the extra touches. If I had to define myself, I would say “predominately simple, with a twist.”

Your “Celebrate is a Verb” layout is so inviting. It will be featured in this issue. What was your motivation for this design? The whole theme of “celebrating life” is something I’ve been pondering for awhile now. I love that I capture so much of my kids’ and family’s life in photographs, but now and then it strikes me that I’m missing from it all in a physical sense. This layout is a reminder to me to sometimes put down the camera and get in the game. The page itself came about after finding the little chipboard accents in the K & Co. chipboard kit. They set the color scheme for the page. Luckily I had photos that worked well with both the theme and the colors. I totally forgot the part about the page being a 12x12, though. I created the layout as an 8.5 x 11, and only when I was putting together my entry at 2 a.m. on the day of deadline did I realize my mistake. I found the perfect patterned paper and slapped the page on it, and it turned out looking a million times better than it had as an 8.5 x 11! And in the journaling, I specifically picked words or phrases to print in green both as a design element and as a journaling technique. The words that are set apart seem to convict me and remind me; I don’t have to read the whole page to get the point, just those four highlighted parts.

Tell us—what’s your favorite page you’ve ever made? I was recently in a contest for an online scrapping site, and the work I did for that stretched me in a way I’ve never allowed myself to go. There are three layouts specifically from that contest that I truly love. One is completely free-form – the entire layout is comprised of overlapping circles, and it opens on a hinge to reveal the journaling. One was an idea that came to me out of the blue at 1 a.m. , as I laid in bed and struggled with what I was going to do. It involves Mod Podge, a page from the phone book, and the idea of a tattoo I plan to get. The third layout is just a sweet, lovely page made entirely of patterned paper. The end result is so warm and cozy and sweet. All three are completely outside of my comfort zone, so I’m very proud of them.

What’s the one scrapbook item you keep in your tool kit that you would not attend a crop without? This is a hard one. Probably something to write with. A scrapbook page without meaning just isn’t as special to me.

How do you choose your color palette? Is there a color palette or color you use a lot? Color is very, very important to me. I have a sort of “idiot savant” ability with color – I can look at a photo, then days later pull out cardstock in exact shades to match it just from recall. Color to me is always inspired by what is most important in the photograph, or by the mood of the page/photo/story. Lately I’ve been using a lot of black or white backgrounds and then “filling in” with stuff. I love the blank canvas aspect of it.

What time of day do you scrapbook? End of day, between 8 p.m. and midnight . I tend to hit my creative stride around 11 p.m. , but that doesn’t coexist nicely with two kids and their schedules!

Your journaling style is so fresh and honest. What’s your advice when it comes to creating journaling? My mom always tells me she wishes she had my ability to write … usually when she’s on a deadline for work, is stumped, and I knock something out for her in 20 minutes. It just comes easily for me, like breathing, so it’s hard to say, “Do this,” or “Do that.” I will say that the most important thing I learned early on was to find my voice. I spent many years writing articles and editing books, and there was a very specific style of writing involved. When I started scrapping, I unconsciously wrote my journaling in that style and hated how flat my pages felt. Then one day it clicked that I could use my authentic voice – the one I use when writing an email to a friend or talking on the phone – to make my words more me. The voice depends on the page – whether the page addresses a general audience or a specific audience or no one in particular – so that whatever I write conveys the message and feeling I want the page to have.

Who or what inspires you and your pages? I tend to go with gut instinct. If a vision flashes in my brain, I immediately jot it down or drop what I’m doing to go flesh it out. I keep a notebook of ideas that strike me throughout the day from various sources – magazines, clothing catalogs, Target, etc. As far as who goes, I tend to be very inspired by artists whose work is on the other end of the spectrum from mine. I love to study their pages and try to visually deconstruct them and learn why they do what they do and choose to use what is on their layout.

If you had a crystal ball and could look in to your future, what would you hope to see? This year has been a really, really good one for my family. I hope that the events of the past few months will be the springboard for the rest of our lives … with nowhere to go but up for all of us!! We’ve had our share of struggles and frustrations over the years, and I’m done with that. I only want happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction from here on out, with all of us doing work we love and finding joy in every day.

What scrapbooking goals do you have? This is something I still haven’t figured out. Winning Masters feels like a huge validation for me and all the years I’ve flown under the radar, but what do I want from it? I love to design, and working with a manufacturer or publisher I love would of course be swell. But then there’s always my first love – writing. Working on articles or books would be an amazing way to blend my strength (writing) and my passion (design). I guess I’m just open to the future, will work as well and as professionally as I can, and we’ll see what happens!

making your acquaintance ...

2006-11-03T22:25:43.9470000-04:00

i'm just sitting here in a quiet house on a friday night in cold minnesota, eating cheese & crackers, listening to frank sinatra on xm, awaiting my hubby's arrival home from a work trip to denver ... seemed like a good time to get this blog rollin'!

my name is michele and i'm a 2007 master. *curtsies and shakes your hand* saying that i'm a master still sounds pretty darn surreal. since our tenure is just warming up, we haven't yet gotten into the meat of master-ness that will make it all feel like it's actually happening. but there is a huge excitement among us, and we can't wait to see how we fit into the new publisher's ideas for memory makers!

i decided at the last minute (literally ... less than two days before deadline, finishing at 2 a.m. on deadline day) to enter, thinking, "why not? you never know!" i've never before entered a contest - heck, i barely submit anything! - but my crop group has had a very lucky year in the scrap world and i thought maybe i was standing close enough to greatness to be a little lightning rod! (ha ha)

i felt no nervousness about entering. i truly felt that i'd never get a call. the day calls were to start i barely registered it, but then the excitement and speculation built on message boards and i began to get anxious. when the phone rang that afternoon, i wondered for half a second, "could it be?" then i laughed at myself and answered, expecting a telemarketer. but it was robin. from memory makers. telling me i'd been selected as a master. now, in my past life (read: pre-mommyhood) i was a writer for a newspaper and a magazine and interviewed some pretty big names, so i'm rarely nervous talking to people. i thought i handled myself pretty professionally (with the exception of an immediate "holy crap!" when she said i'd been selected), but as soon as i hung up i started shaking, and then i called my husband to tell him and really couldn't remember many details of the call. so much for professionalism.

in honor of this, my first official duty as a master, i'd like to present to you two of my entries. the first is one of my favorites of the five, and the second is in honor of my sweet husband, marc, who was the first person i told, who told me to enter, who is always supportive and proud of me no matter what i do.

so grown up

this is my boy, my firstborn, henry. he is so very boy, and this layout ... ahem ... celebrates that. i'm a pretty simple scrapper at heart, so this layout only looks complex. trust me ... i'm not about the four-hour page. the k&co patterned paper is a beautiful checkerboard that gives the illusion that i spent time cutting and inking and layering. the journaling was created by making circles in photoshop and entering the text in them. the larger circle is on foam tape, so it sits slightly above the smaller circle. after i had the pix in the corners and the circles adhered, i did a little embellishing. mainly, when i add stuff, i go for color more than theme or a general idea of how i want the page to look. i just dig through stuff until i see the right colors. (i'm sort of idiot savant with color; i can look at a photo one day and then buy the exact shade of cardstock i need the next. i just remember colors.) on this page i added some strano designs ribbon, a daisy d's photo hanger, some queen & co decorated brads, a doodlebug tag sticker (if anyone knows where i can get the lime green ones, please tell me!!!), and some scenic route chipboard photo corners. pretty easy stuff.

you

are you asleep yet? i'm almost done ... i promise! this layout was super easy, super fast, and it all started with the photo. i took this picture of marc when we were outside waiting for henry's schoolbus to arrive. it was my favorite photo of him for months but i never scrapped it. when i was putting together my master's entry, it was about midnight, i needed one more layout, and i was tapped. i started flipping through my folders of digi pix and came upon this one. instantly i saw this layout. i'd been playing with an urban acid photo action lately and tried it on this pic, and as soon as i saw the result i knew what paper to use. (the color idiot savantness has a patterned paper cousin ... i can rattle off every sheet i own. and that's no small feat.) i typed up the journaling, which basically was a thought that had been percolating in my head for awhile anyway, slapped the photo and the wild asparagus paper on the page, adhered some chatterbox paper to a basic grey chipboard tag, then added scenic route chipboard letters and some 7gypsies ribbon and that was it. 2 a.m. and i was done. (note that i was tired and in a hurry and the chatterbox paper on the tag is crooked. yes. crooked. but the ribbon is not ... that's a scanner illusion.)

speaking of done, i'll shut up now. hope you come visit me again soon! i'll try to make this an interesting place to be. seriously.