Making decisions

The journaling starts off:

"Purchasing decisions rank right up there with water travel, puddle jumpers, and childcare as huge sources of anxiety."

I take forever to make purchasing deicisions.  Occasionally it is fun such as choosing scrapbook supplies. I devour the Stampin' Up! catalog in July and browse the new products at Two Peas adding and taking away from my bucket until I'm finally happy.

Most things though cause me some level of anxiety roughly proportional to the expense or the perceived impact.  For example, booking a plane ticket for our upcoming vacation wasn't that expensive (shocking!) but I spent a lot of time planning the itinerary so we could get in the things we wanted and made sure the only hotel I really wanted to stay at (that I could afford) was booked first.

And don't even get me started on shoe shopping!  It was always bad enough and then when I started having trouble with my feet years ago, it became agony to determine which shoes might work well for my feet.  The good news is that all totaled, I spend a lot less on shoes because I just avoid buying new ones altogether.

I made this page as sort of pep talk for decision making.

A few days ago one of our Explore class assignments was to list the things that were Perfect just the way they were.  My sewing machine came to mind.  Now I actually have 5 sewing machines! I do this for a living and the all have different purposes.  However, this machine is the best, absolute best I've ever had.  It is a home sewing machine and can't handle some fabric weights and it isn't as fast as my commercial machines but I don't care.  It sews marvelously!

The machine is a reminder that I can make great choices in what I buy.  Most things I purchase turn out fine in the end.  They are not all perfect, I don't love the dishwasher I chose - there was probably a better one for me for the money - but it does the job.

Soon I'll be making a couple of fairly large purchasing decisions - a lot more than a pair of shoes - and I need a reminder that I can do this.

Project Notes:
I did follow this weeks class and organize my scraps using 'mood' for selecting these for this page.  I'm continuing on the round embellishments we started at the beginning of class - minus the maps.

I also worked from the embellishments out, choosing the background paper last.  This is the third layout I've done that way and I'm really liking the process.

Artfuldelight has a giveaway on her blog as she is near to reaching 400 followers.  Visit at http://artfuldelight.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your visit!

Ingredients: DSP:  Cosmo Cricket Material Girl, Basic Grey Nook and Pantry; My Mind's Eye So Sophie ledger paper
Thickers:  American Crafts
Stickers:  October Afternoon mini market

My Part

In taking photos last week of where we sit, stand and lie down, I noticed I don't have that many standing spots.  One though where I do much of my standing time is by my kitchen island.  Naturally the kitchen brings up gobs of memories.

On Friday, I had another opportunity to take photos.  I was working in the kitchen for several hours baking and also preparing our lunch.  With my husband's family living half a country away, I have few opportunities for traditions.  There has become one that that travels - cookies.  Dillon and his mother, Jaime, love my chocolate chip cookies.  (It's that famous $250 cookie recipe, shh!  don't tell them.)  So the last few summers we have spent time together and I've made cookies for all of us.  When Lenny has traveled out to see them for holidays, I've made cookies to send.  It is a little thing I can do to be part of the family gathering without making such a long trip several times a year.

My journaling for this page also reflects how I enjoy cooking lunch for my husband each day. It has gotten to where I really don't want to go out very much around here. We have mostly chain restaurants and those you have to drive 20 miles to get to.  We leave our dining out for our trips where we can usually get a good guide book recommendation for something local and unique.  Anyway, it may not be that sophisticated, but I consider fixing a nutritious meal part of "my part" of our relationship.  I enjoy it, Lenny likes my cooking, I can be creative, or not and we save money and mostly eat healthier.  This is one of those every day things I wanted to put in my scrapbook.

Using a photo on an embellishment was also part of our class.  I used an older photo I'd made of cookies on a plate.

Project Notes:
We were encouraged to leave the background page until last.  I started with my photos and their mats but then I naturally started pulling out papers for the background.  Nothing seemed to work so I went back to building the page from the middle out.

After I got all the elements together and as assembled as it could be, I went back to the background trying all those papers that didn't work the first time.  Still, no go.  Then I tried some solids and hit upon this certainly celery paper from Stampin' Up!  I'm so glad I did it this way; I would have never started there.

For embellishments, I made my first ever Yo Yo's and used glazed brads for centers.

So what every day thing or activity would you like to scrapbook?

Thanks for visiting today!

Ingredients:  DSP:  Farm Fresh and Thrift Shop 8x8 pads from October Afternoon; Head in the Clouds from My Mind's Eye
Cardstock:  Certainly Celery by Stampin' Up!
Brads: KI Memories
Ribbon:  Dear Lizzy by American Crafts
Stickers: October Afternoon
Rub -on's by Stampin' Up!

Observing

Observing ourselves and our environment was our charge for this week's Explore class at shimelle.com.

We took a look at where we sit, stand and lie down.  I have many sitting spots and I use them a lot!  It makes my resolution to Get Moving more important.  I've kind of let myself off the hook the last few months as I've been walking several times a week for exercise.  But there is still a lot of the day where I am sitting particularly when business is slow.  So the last few days I've made more of an effort to get up and move.

I've become much more aware of how I sit in the last year.  Last summer when I suddenly developed shoulder pain, I had to make some changes.  I soon figured out that typing with my computer on my lap wasn't going to work - either the laptop had to go up and I had to get an external keyboard or the laptop could be in my lap and I would have to have a monitor at eye level.  I did the latter for a couple of weeks until my cordless keyboard came.  It has been a big help.

During the last year, I've fixed myself a 'station' for my laptop and my most comfortable and ergonomic chair.  Also I got another chair for the living room after figuring out how few chairs I had in my house that really supported my back and neck. Now I can see how much I've learned that helped me and also helps me with design clients.

I also did the activity for class where I recorded everything I did for a day and when I did it.  The biggest thing I noticed was that I multi-task. I knew this;  I think all women do this. I just didn't realize how much.  Some of it was the day I picked was particularly busy but I know I do some of these things - like getting up during television commercial breaks to put clothes in the dryer or feed the cat - on regular days.  So there is a little of that 'get moving' going on :-)

There are things though that I just can't do together.  For example, I can't type and have the television on at the same time. I don't like background noise unless it is music and then only when I'm not trying to figure something out.  I tried to have a program on while I typed this blog post and had to switch off the TV so I'm not that kind of multitasker.  No, I'm the kind who will go back and forth between the dinner table and the sink to do dishes while my husband and I are finishing a game of Scrabble.  I just can't sit still and wait on him to take his turn.

I had another observation that will be showing up in my layout for the week, hopefully later today or tomorrow.

For this Play book page, I did a couple of things I don't normally so as we were encouraged to stretch ourselves.  I handwrote on my photos.  It was surprising how many pens worked on the photos.  Also, I took a bunch of sticker sheets and just pulled one sticker off each sheet for the title.  That is a little thing but it is unusual for me as I have to have a whole word from one type of sticker or chipboard.

It has been an interesting class.  I'm already observing a little more of my every day life.

Books on a Shelf

Last year we were under a tornado warning. According to the local television station it was coming right for us.  So in the 5 minutes I had to gather my most cherished possessions, I pocketed my grandfather's pocket watch, grabbed two quilts - one my grandmother made and one Lenny's mother made - and piled on as many scrapbooks as I could carry and headed to the basement.

Fortunately, the tornado never came.  Afterward, I wandered around my house wondering if there were any other things I'd have rather preserved.  Of course, if I'd had more time, there are more family heirlooms, a few accessories I'm particularly fond of, and some photos.  Though most of the photos have been scanned and backed up to a disk and stored in the safety deposit box - one of the many valuable things to come out of throwing my parents a 50th Anniversary party was scanning all those photos.  And I have photos of many of my scrapbook pages backed up too.

What was surprising was how quickly I went from the Tier 1 - stuff I would spend that 5 minutes or less gathering and the Tier 2 - just a few more minutes  to the Tier 3+ things I like, would save if I had a few hours, but just really aren't that irreplaceable.

My scrapbooks are more than just books on a shelf.  Every scrapbooker knows that but I bet lots of other people don't.  I didn't give a thought to gathering clothes even though I was running around that night in my bathrobe.  You can buy clothes.  You can buy new furniture.  You can't buy a photo of the hot air balloon ride that landed in the lake and the accompanying story.  These memories are precious.  A tornado isn't going to wipe out my memories.  Yet, the little nudge these books give our memories is truly priceless.

So this week when Shimelle asked us to Explore what was most perfect - things we wouldn't change, I thought first of people and then these books.

Once upon a time I gave a minutes thought to redoing some of my older scrapbooks - the ones made before I knew there was this wonderful hobby with all the accouterments to make fancy pages rather than just a photo and some journaling. But I quickly discarded the idea.  Not only would I never have time, the process I used to make those early (1990's) scrapbooks was what I had at the time.  I was creative with my computer and the 'embellishments' I could find.  I did themes to the books even when all I had to print on was an old dot matrix printer.  But even that is a memory - my first home computer and printer.

So the books are perfect just like they are.  I might take an old photo and scrap it to relive a memory sometime but I won't replace the original page.

Now for this page...

Here are my 9 circle embellishments.  I cut the background paper in strips in one corner, distressed the edges, and wove in some scraps of grid paper to create a subtle grid.

Adding the little word stickers in place of the typed words took a little trial and error but it was fun and spread around some of the color.

Thanks for visiting today!  If you are taking the class, I look forward to seeing your creations, too.

Ingredients:  DSP:  For the Record by Bella Blvd for background, various Stampin' Up! and American Crafts Campy Trail scraps for embellishments
Thickers:  Blackberry Puffy by American Crafts
Font:  Blackjack for title
Stickers:  Jillibean Soup; On Holiday from the Girl's Paperie

Layered Circles

Two projects to share today!  First off a layout that has been laying around my craft table in various states of completion for a week.  I didn't know if I could make bright red, yellow and orange work but I'm tickled with the finished product.

The truth is my husband is really the old softie of the two of us. 

On the first warm day of spring, I opened the door of the sunroom to dozens and dozens of lady bugs!  They had been hibernating or maybe they just moved in.  I don't know but I wanted them out.  When the ceiling fan didn't move them around, I wanted to fog the room. My husband wanted to save them and moved them out one bug at a time.  They were trying to escape out of the skylight but couldn't figure out how to get out so he gave them a hand - or a broom, actually.  

I realize after yesterday's post about bats you are going to think my house is overrun with critters but it isn't, really.  It's just life in the country.  And if you ever see my cat with a spider web stuck to his whiskers, he got that outside somewhere. Truly.

The chipboard is painted and then stamped and embossed with Versamark and clear embossing powder using Hero Arts wood grain stamp.

For the chipboard letters, I painted them and then sprayed with clear acrylic.  Next time though I think that should be done outside and not in my upstairs craft space.  Ugh!

And these layered circles fit right in with today's assignment in the Explore class.  We are working with maps and shapes.  I don't want to reveal too much in case you decide to take the class later on.  Of course, maps make sense for a class called Explore although it isn't about travel.  And I think the quote I found for this page does really fit the class:

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." - George Moore

We are exploring the world around us.  I love to travel and put a lot of effort into my travel pages but more of life happens at home.

Hope you have a good, adventurous day!

Ingredients for deBugged page:  DSP:  Campy Trails by American Crafts; Happy Go Lucky by Pebbles; Sweet Summertime and A Walk in the Park by Echo Park; various solid DSP's by Stampin' Up!; cloud paper by American Crafts
Stamps:  Big Flowers and Scallops by Stampin' Up!
Ink:  More Mustard, Bashful Blue, Riding Hood Red
Undressed chipboard:  Basic Grey and Stampin' Up (circle and bars)
Stickers Pink Paislee and October Afternoon

Today's Adventure

Today we had an adventure.  In our Explore class, we are supposed to reflect on our past adventures and I haven't had time because I've been helping Lenny install a bat box and take 3 showers in one day!

It is ironic because one of the reasons I'm taking this class is I feel my life has become so hum drum, spending too much time dwelling on a lack of work and the aches and pains that ironically started 1 year ago tomorrow.  For that was the day I got out of bed and didn't feel quite right and I haven't been able to fully turn back the clock yet.  Anyway, today I had little time to fuss over aches and pains and fortunately they left me alone.

We have bats.  They are in our chimney.  We don't want bats in our chimney; however we love, love having the bats around.  Why?  They eat mosquitos - apparently they feast on them as this is the first summer ever that I can pick flowers or even water my plants on the front porch without covering myself from head to toe. Last summer I couldn't even walk onto the porch barefoot without getting a bite on my foot.  So I'm delighted the little chirpy critters are gobbling up the mosquitos. Still I don't want them in my chimney forever.

The process as we understand it for evicting them is to make them a new home, put the home up in July so they can get used to it as they fly around and then run them out of the chimney come November when their young are ready to leave the nest.  Promptly we should cover the top of the chimney so they won't return.

So Saturday we began Phase 1 of this project by constructing the bat house - or Bat Palace as Lenny proclaimed it.  It was really simple, taking only about an hour to put together.  I then painted it black - black so it will keep the bats warm.  With the paint dry, we set out today to put up the house.  Lenny wanted to put it in this particular tree that he plans to kill and use as basically a pole for the bat house, ah Palace.  So he mowed around the tree and then cut off limbs.  My job was mostly to fetch and carry and to hold the ladder.  After a few sways and screams, he fussed that no one ever taught me how to hold a ladder.  Well, duh?  Why doesn't he teach me?  And really, is all that shaky ladder coming from my improperly anchoring it or that he outweighs me by nearly double?

Anyway, we went through two ladders, utilized a pulley system and a variety of screws but the bat house is up.  Oh and if you were wondering about the showers, I had dressed myself in my traditional working outdoor in summer gear of pants, long sleeve shirt and socks over the top of my pants to keep from being bitten - I figure even the bats can't eat everything.  It was miserably hot and when we were almost done I spotted it - poison ivy! I'd scanned the area earlier and didn't see a spot right under the tree!  Fortunately, it is my only allergy but the stuff just loves me.  So I've showered with dish detergent, put the clothes in a garbage bag and set my shoes aside not to be worn for a few days until I see whether today was a lucky as well as adventuresome day.

Now I'm not sure if figuring out how to lift a heavy handmade box up about 14 feet onto a tree and anchor it there constitutes an adventure for most people but it was definitely not an every day thing.  Thank goodness.

Explore Class Playbook

Today is the first day of Shimelle's new class Explore!  One of our first activities was to create a 'play book' for recording our adventure.  I had the idea for a mini album while we were at Hilton Head.  I'd even ordered the extra kraft paper for it from Papertrey Ink.  My intention was to use it for Lenny's visit with his grandson later this summer.  But I can always buy more kraft paper, right?  So here is how I made the book:

1. The front cover is cut out of some scrap chipboard - I think it came with a pack of designer paper.  Dimensions:  6" x 8 3/4".  I rounded the corners with the Corner Chomper and added grommets.
2. For the pages, I folded an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of kraft cardstock so that it is 5 1/2 x 8 1/2".  I sealed up one side and hole punched the long edge in three places to match the cover.  I did NOT use grommets on these pages though you could if you wanted it extra sturdy.  (I do plan to for the grandson's mini albums.)  One edge is left unsealed so I can tuck in photos or extra journaling on tags.

Then it is just decorating.  For my cover, I painted most of the front and then spritzed with Angel's mist.  I glued on all the other stuff.  The bird is cut with the Cricut - I thought a bird was a good symbol for exploring.  I've left the label sticker blank planning to fill that in when the class is done and I know better what I have in this album.  I've had those chipboard letters forever and have no idea who made them.

I've done my first assignment which was to answer a few questions and take a self-portrait.  The portrait was a lot harder than it should have been because I didn't read the directions.  I was up early to take a walk before the heat and I wanted to see what today's prompt was in case I wanted to photograph something at the park. I scanned the prompt saw the self-portrait and thought "great, I'll do this as soon as I get back from my walk."  I got the camera out to be ready but not the tripod or a mirror.  When I got home after stopping at the hardware store along the way, I'd already lost that post-exercise glow (which never lasts long on me because I don't exercise that hard.)  After fiddling with my portrait for awhile on the front porch retrieving a mirror and a tripod part way through, I finally got one that worked. THEN I read the instructions!  Oh well, I took a much easier and cooler shot in the house.

So tomorrow I shall read the prompt all the way through before starting.  That is my lesson for today!

Thanks for visiting!  Also tomorrow there will be a video in my holiday card series. I shot it on Saturday!  So proud of myself for getting it done early.  Hope you'll stop back by.