Failing to multi task...

This year has been full of challenges that I never expected. Although I've finished a project here and there, I thought I would accomplish so much more! For the 0 people that actually check in here from time to time, I DO intend to continue with this blog! My 365 project is almost complete and my time can be spent posting over on this side of Scrapronicity. My goal is to start another 365 type of project in May (to chronicle my 40th year) but until then I will try and work on the several...several...several unfinished projects I have on deck. I need to make 2010 my most creative year ever!

I'm hoping some of my 365 buddies with keep me company over here and I promise to entertain you as much as possible!

See you right after the holiday!

Jodi :)

I Want It All...

Emily has been watching High School Musical 2 lately...apparently it's better than the first movie. ;) Although she is more of the Gabriella type, I'm more likely to hear Sharpay's songs over and over again..."I want it all" being one of them. As I listen I hear the words of a spoiled little brat yet I realize, I want it all too! I mean, I guess we all do. For me it's not about money and fame, it's about the ability to do it all. I want to wake up in the morning with enough energy to get through the day. I want to make sure my kids are happy and healthy. I want to have enough time to be the Class Mom and Brownie leader, PTO member and newsletter writer. I want to be an edgy, combat boot wearing Martha Stewart! I want to finish the 100 things I need to do in my house and the 100 scrapbooking projects that are unfinished (or not even started). Sadly, we can want it all but only have, well, some of it. ;)

Although I wasn't able to post last week, I actually worked on something! Frank turned 40 so I made him a "40 Things We Love About You" box! This is one of those gifts that you can make for anyone and it can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make it. It had 40 different pieces of paper, each containing a reason we love him. Some were from me, some from Emily and Liam...even some from the dog! Emily designed some of the paper and the inside/top of the box. It was fun to do and even more fun when he opened it...

Today I'm continuing to work on some gifts for some of my friends. Back in March I participated in a "I'll make something for you" Facebook gift giving extravaganza! LOL I make something for 5 people, each of them make something for five people, etc. Well, I finally started and without giving too much away, here's a sneak peek...

Trying to organize my life...

In theory I would like to post here more often. With the end of summer and school starting I fear my projects will once again collect dust. :( So, in an effort to keep sane this school year, I've decided to get organized with my schedule! Between Liam's therapy, his playgroup, picking up Emily and dropping her off and her art class, I'm keeping busy. On the other hand, I hereby declare Fridays...scrap day! My plan is to work on a project...any project...and blog that day. Chances are I won't have finished projects but I'll just post what I'm working on. I do hope I fit more scrapping in throughout the week, but for now...I have a plan! Meanwhile, a few days ago I found a Wonder Bread container and Emily was excited to use it for her sandwich each day. Only a scrapper would be irked by the fact that this container was so boring. So, my dear Em found a surprise in her lunch bag the next day... rub-ons make me happy. :)

The party is over!

I cannot believe another convention is behind me...I'm already looking forward to 2010! I had an amazing time and took some terrific classes. This year it wasn't the quantity (since I usually take more) but the quality. I actually learned a lot which honestly doesn't always happen! I still haven't unpacked and as usual none of my projects are finished but I don't care! I had a blast . :)

I won the Paper Crafts contest again this year which is always nice! There weren't many entries which is sort of sad but there isn't much insentive to enter to be honest. :( The prizes are really lame (I hate to sound ungrateful but they are so blah) and I've never heard of anyone getting published with a convention layout/card. Oh well, for me it's the fun of doing it so I figure, why not? Sadly my card will not be returned so I'm glad I have the photos. I made a similar "tie dye" for the CK Camp contest and won that too! (After seeing "Hair" on broadway in May, I sort of find myself in a "hippie" phase at the moment-LOL) This birthday card was made using a clear piece of acrylic, alcohol ink and my daughter's "Spin Art" machine. I was amazed that it worked so well!! As far as submitting to CKC, I think this will be the last time but I certainly won't give up on other contests. :)
I'll post some convention photos when I actually get something done...I hope to do some scrappy work this weekend! :)

Follow my Twitter...

...while i'm at CKC PA! So far just relaxing & looking forward to tomorrow! Love the shirts this year...have a pic on my Twitter. :) One says "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eyelet" HA!! I love that! My Twitter name is Scrapronicity...

CKC PA...Here I come!

Working on my submission for CKC. As usual I did something that I didn't like and had to start again. I annoy myself! Below is a small sneak peak...what will it be? I'll never tell. ;) Not sure if I can go "three for three"...we'll see what happens. In the meantime, I must go pack and get ready for the weekend. So much to do and so little time!!

WOW...I won!

I won a CK contest this week which is so exciting! I participated in their "CK Camp" last week and entered one of my projects and won. I think Emily is even more excited than I am since she knows she'll be sharing our winnings. :) I'm so grateful to have a mini-scrapper in this house!

So...I started working on my "9-11" project last week. My journaling is done...on note paper that is, I just have to transcribe and encorporate it into the album. I had a "vision" of what I wanted to do for the cover. This is a photo I found seven years ago, I mounted it on cardstock and then sanded the edges a bit. I'll have a piece of cardstock behind it or patterned paper but I'm having a hard time deciding what to do! The title will be "Reflections of 9-11" so the reflection of the buildings seemed so appropriate. I'll post the final project to my Creative Reflections of 9-11 blog. Part 1 is finished with several parts to go....

So here is something funny...last week I ordered something called a "Munny" doll. I saw it on Martha Stewart months ago (when Rosie O'Donnell was on) and it's cute and crafty. I ordered two white ones for myself, a pink for my daughter and a little Munny in a car to design for my son. (they should get here on Wednesday). Ah, the funny part... I'm following Michael Urie's Twitter, he's from Ugly Betty. He posts a photo today from the set, explaining that they are using "cute, creepy, alien baby statues" in the "tube" on the "Mode" set. I open up his photo and not only do I see my favorite little Munny's...I see in the back left, my husband Frank working away! It is out of focus but after 19 years together, I guess you just know someone's head, even from far away! ;) Munny's and Frank. :)

Liam's 1st birthday book...DONE!

Just in time for his second birthday. ;) I finished another project and I feel triumphant....such a great feeling! Once I was done, I had a bit of a dilemma. In theory, you hang the album as a banner at the party and then bind it together to make the book. What I didn't take into account were all of the extra pages I added (with embellishments). I just looked at the thing and knew I was in trouble! How does one bind this monster? Ribbon came to mind but I quickly realized that ribbon is too flimsy and it would be difficult to hold the book. I considered a binder but that wouldn't work either. Finally I remembered the GIGANTIC binder rings I had. What exactly does one do with these huge rings? Bind a bulky, triangular birthday book...that's what! ;)

Yes...I'm working!

Each day I attempt to do a little something to try to get ahead. Let's face it, that will never happen but it sounds nice doesn't it? ;) As I've mentioned in the past, I have an amazing way of starting a project, not finishing and moving on to something else. I'm not exactly sure why I do this...but I do! I'm guilty once again because I've put other projects aside to work on my son's birthday book. Liam will be two in August and I've yet to finish his first birthday! While at CKC (Creating Keepsakes Convention) last summer in PA, I purchased a really cool banner album from The Button Farm. Angela put together the basics and I sort of ran with it. Each "page" is chipboard, some have letters on them (spelling "BIRTHDAY"), some have fun chipboard shapes and others have been signed by the party guests. I'm currently adding photos to this project which is proving to be a challenge! Each page is a triangle and although my first "vision" was to have triangular photos, that's not as easy as it seems. Why add a photo if an entire section is cut out? So, I went square and rectangular, working with what I have. Although it may seem odd, it's actually working out nicely, giving me a more fun, angular book! Here's what I have so far...




In addition to this, and the many projects I have on the backburner, I've decided to do work on something new. This is different however and I'm sort of hoping I'll get others to join me! It's my "9/11" project and you can read all about it here...Creative Reflections of 9/11
Are you up for the challenge? :)

Neglected!

This poor, quiet blog! I hope to get on here more this summer and post photos of what I'm working on. I plan to accomplish a lot...but of course I always do. ;)

I started working on a "Great Wolf Lodge" album and only finished the cover. Unfortunately other albums pushed their way through (see below). The paper on the side is actually a photo of the bathroom wallpaper...I thought it was kind of cool and fun. I printed it out on simple, white card stock and will use it through out the book.

Before I could continue with that album, I had to start a project for Emily's teacher and I promised my Mom I would make an album for her best friends 65th birthday. I've known Barbara for years and I wanted to make something special for a party she is having. I added a few family photos as well as many quotes (she loves quotes) and the rest will serve as a "sign in" book for the party. My Mom took photos of each guest (there are 12) and they will sign their page. I also left blank pages in the back for any additional photos. This project only took a few days (which is rare for me) and it was fun to make. I used a Bo Bunny "HAPPY" word album which I sort of trimmed down to fit my Making Memories scrapbook. It's like an album within an album! She likes neutral colors so I used Basic Grey "Urban Couture"...I'm just in love with those papers but I admit, it was difficult to cut into them! That's OK, I ordered more the next day...HA!!

I finished the teachers album the night before the last day of school...talk about getting down to the wire! After I took the photos, I decided to lose the giant green binder rings and replace them with smaller, red rings (it looked so much better) I also have some fiber on the clips in some of the photos. I decided to go without that. I just wasn't in a ribbon mood for this project. I used a pocket album from the "BE" line from Creative Imaginations...the same album I am using for the Great Wolf lodge. Unfortunately, once I got all of the paper and photos in, the album started ripping at the binding. Instead of going into a panic I decided to be creative. I simply detached all of the pages from the binding and made it something a bit different. This is why I needed those binder rings. ;) In the end it was a good decision allowing me to make the book "chunkier" and I didn't have to worry about her breaking the book. :) All-in-all it's a fun little book...nothing complicated like last year. I didn't have many photos this year so I filled up the sliding pockets with a lot of teacher quotes. I didn't go with the school papers this year, I did that for the book last year (Emily has had her teacher for two years). I fell in love with this line from Making Memories and decided to go with this instead.

Now school is over and in theory, I should have more time to scrap. I'm off to work on a small birthday album...more like a giant card really...for my Aunts 60th. I'm going to do another "Happy" album, they always seem to make people smile. :)

Ready for a change...

I'm ready for school to be over. Ready to sleep later...ready to be less tired, less stressed and less busy! I'm ready to get my house in order and clean out my scary garage. I'm ready to get some projects done. :) I've actually finished a few things lately which makes me want to do MORE! I went to a fun scrap class at my friend Marilyn's last week and started working on my Hershey Park album. My intention was to continue with that book but I was sidetracked and purchased an AMAZING Chatterbox butterfly album. I figured I would bring it home and stare at it as I often do...instead I decided it would make the perfect Mother's Day gift! :) This was not a kit, it was a butterfly scrapbook with transparencies and paper...I added the rest. This didn't take long but I know it will be appreciated and I loved making it!

PS. I'm thinking of changing the look of my blogs...I'm bored with the layouts!