in all its glory...

Here it is, my layout, in all its glory in Scrapstreet.com online magazine

Or here: http://scrapstreet.com/ss11/3m3/easy.htm on page 41 if you want to see it in person.
I just started submitting layouts to print magazines. It can take forever to have one published. The print magazines provide compensation in the form of money or product so it's definitely more competitive. This online pub kinda fell into my lap and I'll still submit there. Some people create layouts for submitting. My goal is to create the layouts I want to and submit them if they happen to fit the call. I would think the other way would feel more like a job!

Have you heard of Pinterest?

It's a newish site that lets you save ideas and pictures and tutorials and recipes and whatever else you may find on the Internet. It's awesome!! I was using Tumblr (and still am to find stuff to pin!) but this is much more user friendly and I love the look of the boards and how easy it is to "pin" stuff to them and to find the stuff you have pinned. Not that I need more ideas of things to do to pass my time but at least now they're semi-organized!

Here's what I've found to "pin" recently:
a tutorial to make a cute summer skirt:

love this quilt:

crafts for Katherine:

Craftiness at it's best:

pom-poms made from old t-shirts



Need more time! more hours in the day! and apparently more wall space!

Wordless Wednesday: February 23rd edition

(not so easy to take pictures and tickle someone at the same time)

8 Days Late(r)

I decided to show my Valentine's home decor today. It's a little late, but it's my blog!
I made this based on something I found in the Pottery Barn catalogue. Honestly I like Pottery Barn's better than mine but that's ok. I think it needs more--more stuff on the hearts or more stuff hanging in general. I can always add to it next year.

The next thing I made with my crafty friends. We get together once or twice a month and try new stuff or projects we find online or in magazines. This was a coffee can, that was slightly flattened in a vice, primed, painted and embellished.

The next two things I made because I signed up for a Valentine swap on a blog I read. I ended up swapping with a military wife stationed in Kuwait so instead of just giving her a card (also pictured below), I made some stuff from ideas I've been saving in my head for a while. I had some free time and it went something like this: one for her, one for me!

Paper Heart Garland made with an old book and a sewing machine

Heart garland made with a red felted sweater left over from last Christmas' crafty gifts (note the craziness going on in the reflection--lovely!)
Both of these garlands were super quick and easy! Nothing like the ordeal I had made them out to be in my head. I free hand cut the hearts and sat on the floor with my sewing machine and fed hearts with one hand and pushed the petal with the other (my desk was, ummm, a little crowded!).

the Valentine card I made for her. It's called a lace cake. You make layers of lace to mimic a cake and then embellsih. I also made her a cute Valentine figure made out of an old wooden spool and a clay head with little hearts for ears. I forgot to take a picture before mailing it but it looked a lot like this:

(from here:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr9RQQM6ZMliQaxoyY3yxtlzhE8Bk2G5idjRHr4ic4awKzkUZnGsE0EtzVE-69i5DbccTAuzAobmkO_sNN0VdQZVWY_fwt0087UmdmQza_Wu3abCsWcuNM0nuFXUheZ5jEOKl_XVvVNbMA/s1600-h/valentinespooldollsweettidings.jpg)

Don't worry...there's plenty of ideas left for next year! More on that later!

Really don't feel like writing anything...

...so here's some pics of some scrapbook layouts I've made recently...(you should be able to click on any pic to make it bigger)

what she said to me a couple weeks ago

had to do a layout of the Thanksgiving cheeseball!

her tooth fairy pillow I made to make the tooth fairy's job easier (there's a pocket on the back for the tooth so it doesn't get lost under the pillow) So glad she emailed me the directions!

Some of these were for challenges at Studio Calico (my kit club) if they seem random. I also don't scrap in order--that would drive me nuts and stifle my creativity. I scrap what a want, when I want!

And the last two pics show her new fashions: her new boots that she got for having her teeth pulled (although we bought them before they actual pulling: we thought it was going to be that day but they just took xrays) and her black skirt from Amy. And her new skirt and sweater from Target (Mommy's a sucker for pretty kid's clothes!). Note the boots again, we can't pry them off her feet.

Random Things on a Wednesday

1. I cut 2 inches off Katherine's hair at 1:30pm. Afterwards she took a shower and has been walking around naked ever since.
2. I threatened she couldn't go to Grandma's at 4pm if she didn't get dressed--which spurred sudden interest in getting dressed. Then she called Grandma--just to check if she was home yet after her lunch at Oyster Crab. She meant Cracker Barrel--close though! At least she got dressed!

Her hair was still wet here. She's got my "hair takes forever to dry" gene.

3. I've been listening to a stink bug I put in a box 2 hours ago beside me in the trash. Apparently he doesn't like it in there. That's ok with me though because I don't like him and his 4,345,389 friends in my house!
4. For Aunt Bert: This was the picture after I left and walked back into the room about 15 minutes after you left our house:

Thanks for the blanket!
5. What do you mean it's not Christmas anymore?!? I keep finding cute Christmas ideas, so I tried one, despite the fact that it was New Year's Eve....Handprint snowmen ornaments...cover the hand with white paint, press around a glass ornament. The fingers become snowmen to decorate, add snow, and a year...

Super cute idea from the Internet!
6. I made a layout of my New Year's resolutions:

You should be able to click on the picture to see it larger. Basically they involve finishing open projects, more focus on exercise and healthy eating, run a 5K in less than 30 minutes, spend less time on the computer and more time creating/playing/trying the vast quantity of ideas I've seen and have running around my head. Speaking of focusing, I've chosen "focus" as my One Little Word for 2011. It's the idea that the word you choose helps you throughout the year in whatever area of your life you'd like. I've been feeling rather scatterbrained recently and overwhelmed with what I have started. I'd like to focus on finishing and focus on achieving my goals and resolutions. Focus on one or two things at a time because multitasking is slowly driving me nuts!
7. I got an email from someone I "know" from the scrapbook kit club I belong to this morning. She also ran the Marine Corp Marathon so we chatted via email a few times over the course of last year about that and training and how it was going. She contributes to an online scrapbook magazine called Scrapstreet and wanted to know if she could use one of my layouts for her article. ummm, hell yeah!!! One of my resolutions was submit some layouts to magazines for publication (notice the keyword: submit! not necessarily get accepted!). I hadn't even thought about online stuff; but does it count if I didn't even have to initiate it?!? I'm a little nervous though because she said the article was about punches and I didn't even really use that many punches on this layout. I'm afraid she'll get my supply list and change her mind.

he does exist!

Pictures from Tea with Santa with Katherine's friend Serena (from school)

life lesson: there's safety in numbers

She didn't run screaming from the room when Santa appeared. AND she told him her name and gave him her list when he stopped to talk to her. It really is a Christmas miracle!