Creative weekend

As far as weekends go, this one was successful in the creativity department. I made two layouts using some Studio Calico kits. The first was a layout about my new skyscraper shoes. I'm going to have to wear them to Nisha and Joe's wedding in June 2011. Oh, the practicing I'll have to do!



I had some pictures of Lucian from a family lunch we had in August. He was not having a good day. I got the idea to play on the book title, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst.


I also made three cards today for World Cardmaking Day. I joined the challenges at Studio Calico.

The first one is from an old old kit...Garment District. The challenge was to use kit leftovers.


The next card's challenge was to use the Studio Calico stamps that come in our kits.


The last card's challenge was to use a posted sketch.

Totally random post

It's been a busy few weeks. I made a big decision and now I'm just waiting to hear about it. Fingers crossed even though I can't reveal what the decision is just yet.

Last month, I started a fitness journal of sorts using Cathy Zielske's layered template. I'm not ready to reveal to the whole world what's on those digital layouts. That's akin to putting my heart on a platter and letting everyone take a stab at it.

My kindle came in two days after my last post. I love it!!! I'd rather be reading on my kindle than surfing the web. I'm reading a whole bunch of books that I downloaded back when I only had kindle for iPhone/iTouch. I still can't believe that I would read on that tiny thing. Oh, when you're desperate...

My shoes for Nisha and Joe's wedding came in. Oh. My. Gosh. They are HIGH. Have to practice staying upright. I do have 8 months...

What I've been working on...
Excuse the black stamp pad like smudges...apparently my stamp pad was in a jumping mood. Grrr.... I have two more layouts that I did today, but the pictures I took of them came out blurry so that will have to wait. Now I'm off to remove all the ink from my fingers before Mass tonight.

Currently

Home today. Took off work to take Auntie Margaret to her endoscopy. They had to put her under general anesthesia and needed a driver. Good enough excuse for me to miss one day of work. I planned ahead and left my lesson plans. Hope my sub isn't certifiable by the end of the day.

I saw a layout on Stephanie Wheeler's blog a while ago and thought it was a great idea to make a list of things currently happening in my life... and since I'm off work today with some time on my hands, I thought I'd take a stab at it.

listening: to Glee from Season 1

eating: Wendy's BLT Cobb Salad

drinking: Diet Coke

wearing: T-shirt, capris and sandals

feeling: relaxed

weather: hot and sunny

wanting: my Kindle to be here already

needing: some courage

thinking: about the near future (and pondering about some decisions that I have to make)

enjoying: reading on Kindle for Mac in excited anticipation for the actual Kindle!

wondering: how soon I'll find out about something (mum's the word for now...and no I'm not pregnant...for sure.)

That was fun! Gonna have to do it again soon. Leaving in a bit to go to JB's 3rd birthday party at his day care. He's three... oh my!

Feeling out of sorts

It's been a rough few weeks. Dealing with a lot of feelings and emotions right now. It's taking a toll on my body...I feel so tired all the time and I'm hyper-sensitive. I have some decisions to make and a lot of soul-searching to go with those decisions. Not a place I want to be in.

Besides feeling like a semi ran over me, it's been a busy few weeks. I've only managed 2 layouts since my big scrap session.

I scrapped this one last weekend. Broke out the new sewing machine I bought and created a mess. Thankfully, the white thread mess doesn't really show.


Supplies: Studio Calico Anthology Collection and Basic Grey Basics.

This one made it to the table today. I had a vision for what I wanted the splotches to look like. In the state of my muddled head, the product didn't quite turn out the way I wanted. I used Sketch 7 from KP's sketchbook 2 class as inspiration. I scrapped on a piece of 8.5x11 cardstock and then adhered the whole piece to the patterned paper. Got that idea from Ali Edwards.

Supplies: Studio Calico "Back 40" September kit. Studio Calico cloud stamp set (not in kit).

Sketchbook 2 finale

I scrapped SIX layouts today! Finished the last 6 sketches from KP's sketchbook 2 class. It's been a busy few weeks. This past week, I ate at out 4 out of the 7 days. ugh.

KP sketch 7:


KP sketch 8:


KP sketch 9:


KP sketch 10:


KP sketch 11:

KP sketch 12:

supplies: Studio Calico August kit "Summer Camp".

Sketchbook 2 catch up

I don't know why I ever thought that I would be able to scrap layouts during the first week of school. Since I missed the first week of school last year I guess I forgot just how exhausted and tired I'd be at the end of the day. Up before 6am and asleep before 10pm...signs that I'm getting older. If I fall asleep before 10pm, I'm up at o'dark thirty. Seriously?!??!?! Then I had class yesterday morning. Sigh. So, I played catch up with KP's class today.

Sketch #4-


Sketch #5-


Sketch #6-

I used the August Summer Camp kit and Sugar Woods and Elk Lake add ons from Studio Calico. They just came in the mail on Thursday!

Finally...someone gets it

There are two spellings of my last name Blaz--one with an "s" and mine, with a "z". It just depends on who your family is which spelling is "correct." But, in my family, both spellings exist and that drove my grandfather crazy to no end. They didn't always have that last name; they had a Japanese last name, Haniu, which my grandfather, his brothers and youngest sister had changed after WWII. My grandfather was afraid of lingering anti-Japanese hatred (sad) so they had their last name legally changed to their mother's maiden name.

Since the day I came home in kindergarten with a star on my paper for spelling my last name wrong...I was too afraid to tell Sister Catherine she spelled my name wrong (hey, I was only FOUR), I've had to spell my last name when someone has to write it down. Even then, even when I spell very slowly, people still write "Blas". To confuse things even further, we have Ms. Blaz (me) and Mrs. Blas (the teacher next door) at work!

Today I met a friend of friends. She asked what my name was. I answered, "Vera Blaz." She said, "Oh, with a "z"! I could have kissed her...sweat and all! (I totally kid...I can barely stand my own sweat.)

Finally, someone gets it! When I think about it, though, I realize that I still would have had to spell my last name for everyone had it stayed "Haniu"...and I would be forever correcting anyone who had to say it.

First day of school....2010

Today marked the first day of school year 2010-2011. I was sleepy by noon! I had a few students in the same boat, but at least I wasn't falling asleep at my desk. My feet were hurting by the end of the day and I was literally dragging myself to the car. As tired as I was, I knew that I wouldn't be able to survive a rigorous workout at the gym. As it is, I'm forcing myself to stay awake a little while longer so that I don't wake up at 3am like I did Monday morning.

I was up at 5:30am. Usually that's totally unheard of in my vocabulary (unless I'm traveling). After a quick stop to coffee at McDonald's since the decaf at home would NOT cut it today, I was at work by 6:45am! We all hit the ground running by 7:45. Out of 22 students, 1 showed up late and 3 were absent. First day assembly for 4th and 5th graders was at 8:30. We spent the rest of the morning getting first day pictures and getting to know each other.

They got a kick out of the glasses!

Last Day of Summer Vacation...

I guess a vacation can still go by fast even when I don't leave the rock. Sigh... I've already set one alarm for o'dark thirty tomorrow morning. I do want to stop by and see Lucas and Jacob before they head of to their first day school...Lucas to the "big" school and Jacob to his school alone for the first time without Lucas. They grow too fast!

Speaking of growing too fast...

I went to a christening for my friend Elvira's daughter Aryani. That was in January. Aryani is now 9 months old! This layout is for Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 2 class...sketch 2.

Not the greatest picture...used the point and shoot in craptastic lighting. Can't be choosy when given this situation. Here's another kidlet growing too fast! Can't believe that she'll be a sophomore in high school come morning. Used KP's sketchbook 2 sketch 3.

Back to work tomorrow. I have to say that I am ready to head back to work. I missed the first two weeks of school last year so this year is exciting for me! Got the new shoes and new clothes all ready to go.

Just what I needed

Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 2 class started on Monday. I tried in vain to win a spot in her class to no avail. So, I broke down and bought it! Of course the first sketch landed in my inbox when I was in la-la land. Sometimes it sucks to live on the other side of the international date line. The next lesson will hit my inbox tonight so I thought I'd start on the first one. I really have to take advantage of the last few days of summer vacation.




I used the Studio Calico Anthology line. The pictures were just a few from work. Spirit Week celebrations happen at the end of every month. I like to participate to show my students how to have school spirit. Students were still talking about my October Super Mario outfit at the end of the school year!

Putting together this layout and wanting to get it posted on the Studio Calico message board gave me the kick in the pants to get two other layouts uploaded. I did them...last week?!?! Or maybe the week before?!?!?





These pictures came from our July 5th family lunch while Uncle Jimmy was visiting. Has it only been a month?!?!? I used the July Continental Kit (still available in the store) and add-ons from Studio Calico for these layouts.

There was a point to the whole post...oh yeah...... Thanks, KP! Your class was just what I needed to round out my summer!

Confession Time

I've watched all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls THREE times. Yup, three times. I was about to start all over again for round 4 when I was browsing on hulu.com. I came across Glee. And I wanted to see what all the hype was about. Allie had watched a few episodes several months ago while I was watching her and her brothers. I didn't get the hype. My eyes glazed over when threads about Glee appeared on the online message boards I frequent. I was happily blissfully ensconced in Stars Hollow.

Oh. My. Gosh. Hooked from the first song I heard. The episodes available on hulu didn't start from the first one. Off to search... and came across ALL the episodes on surfthechannel.com. Oh, I was in heaven! The nice thing about surfthechannel...NO COMMERCIALS! Addicted Obsessed with Glee. I've downloaded Glee Vol. 1, Vol.2, Vol. 3, The Power of Madonna and Journey to Regionals on iTunes. It's already all loaded onto my iPod Touch. It usually takes me a while to sync the iPod Touch after downloading something. I have the Glee Season 1 DVD set in my amazon cart...just need to tweak that cart a little more before I hit checkout.

There you have it... a guilty pleasure. Now off to start watching from episode 1 again... Do I really go back to reality work on August 9th?!?!?

A layout, some cards and The Embellished Doily Project

Been a bit unplugged from the computer lately. I only check the message boards and facebook at night. I've discovered that the world didn't stop turning and I didn't go into anaphylactic shock from not being attached to my computer. Been hanging with the mother and the auntie in the living room...watching TV, talking, playing Mahjong Titans (granted that's on the computer, but NOT online). Sometimes, I don't even check my blackberry...and that's okay. If I have been on the computer, I've been playing around with Photoshop Elements and some digital products. Oh, and watching Season 1 of Glee.

This layout came together pretty quickly. I used the Sunday Sketch and the July Continental kit from Studio Calico.

A few birthday celebrations this week needed some cards...

Supplies from an old kit from The Scrapping Spot. I used my cricut to cut out the "happy birthday" sentiment.

This one was for a former student's birthday. His mom and I are good friends. His party theme was pirates, but I didn't know about that until I got to the party so hopefully he enjoys the robot.



This one was for Dominic's 24th birthday. I used the same old kit and my cricut to make this card.

I did make another card for Nathan's 13th, but that went into an envelope and sealed before I remembered to take a picture.

**********

I finally finished Christine Middlecamp's Embellished Doily project. Here are the results:


Doily 7:


Doily 6:


Doily 5:


Doily 4:


Doily 3:


Doily 2:


Doily 1:

I realized after I was done taking pictures that I should have taken one of the whole project. Sigh. My brain is not ready to think that much. I still have two weeks of vacation left. Now, I'm going to watch more Glee!

Mindless busy work

Finishing my monthly 2009 layouts got me thinking. Thinking...I have spent WAY TOO MUCH time thinking this summer. While I have this serious obsession (addiction, maybe?!?!?) with paper, I felt overwhelmed trying to figure out how to document 2010 in pictures. I felt the need for something easier. Sigh.

I'll still be creating with the paper goods. I could wallpaper my entire house and still have paper leftover. However, to keep the stress levels down I decided to go digital for 2010. Cathy Zielske created a digital monthly album set available at Designer Digitals. This is what I'm doing for 2010. I'll periodically have them printed at scrapbookpictures.com. I've completed January, May and June and I'm almost done with July. I'll go back and do February through April some time this week then place an order. Exit stress stage left.

Just to prove that my paper obsession is still alive and kicking, here are some layouts I completed some time between Friday and today...













I did this layout for Allie. One of the kids that goes to the summer camp where she volunteers wrote her this note. I suggested she scrap it. She turned around and asked me to scrap it. Thought she forgot about it until I received the phone picture in an email. I used the Studio Calico July Continental Kit , Lewis and Clark and Magellan Add-ons and a Hambly transparency from an old kit.























Supplies from Studio Calico July Continental kit, and Lewis and Clark and Magellan add-ons. Journal block stamp and mini doily stamp by Studio Calico. Recycled paper bag for journal block.

Finished with 2009 monthly LOs!

It took a while, but I finally finished my monthly layouts for 2009! {and the crowd cheers!}

Here's October 2009, which goes with the 2nd challenge for July Scrap Your Stash at The Scrapping Spot...Put a button (or 6) on it.



November 2009 is for the 3rd challenge, Scraplift the DT. I scraplifted one of Alecia's July DT layouts.



December 2009 is for the 4th challenge, Chipboard!



I also finished up several of the embellished doilies from Christine Middlecamp's tutorial.

Doily 12


Doily 11


Doily 10


Doily 9


Doily 8


Only 7 more doilies to go! I used a lot of old stuff on these pages and doilies. My cricut and Gypsy are also getting a workout.

Let your imagination run wild

It's a double post kind of day! The thing about being on vacation...one day kind of blends with the other. I usually don't know what day it is unless I consult the Blackberry and I only wear a watch to go to Mass. So, buying that new watch at the start of summer was kind of pointless. But, I digress. I've been working on my 7 Gypsies Artist Printer's Tray for a while now. It's kind of driven me crazy that it hung incomplete, but I was waiting for some pictures (pictures I JUST took a few days ago and one I borrowed from my cousin's wife's facebook page). But, I had to start using it to rationalize buying the 7 Gypsies receipt holder.

























I edited the pictures in PSE 6.0 for Mac using Coffee Shop Creamy Chocolate BW. I realize that there is PINK in this tray. I was using an old add on kit from Studio Calico and well, pink doesn't give me the heebie jeebies that it once did.

I also jump started the July Scrap your Stash challenges at The Scrapping Spot this week. Challenge #1: sketch it involves using a sketch AND some sort of stitching.




I used the July Work In Progress kit and the Sunday sketch from Studio Calico. I don't sew. So, my sewing machine is a very simple. I've been tempted to get one that has at least a zig zag stitch since I can neither cut nor sew a straight line, but I really don't see myself sewing much beyond a layout.

The Embellished Doilies

I read a lot of blogs...okay, I skim a lot of blogs. There are a few on my blog stalk list and others that haven't quite made it to the list, but get read anyway. One of those is Christine Middlecamp's blog. She recently did an Embellished Doily Project tutorial. Intrigued as I was, I scoured the internet for those Martha Stewart die cut lace tags then changed my mind about them. Sometimes I really hate living on the rock...usually when I can't find something I WANT readily. One day I was playing with Gypsy and discovered some shapes that could pass as those blasted MS tags. Lightbulb moment (so rare during the summer)! I could make my own blasted doilies! Ha! Less money for Martha, more money for me!

You would think that one should probably start from the beginning, yes? NOT ME! It's summer. I have no use for rules. I started at 16. heeheehee

Doily 16...

Doily 15...

Doily 14...uninspiring. Might have to re-do this one. Must have been the sore, aching body!

Doily 13...might have to swap out that butterfly.

I don't have a lot of the stuff Christine used in her projects, but I'm making do with what I have in my stash. Oh, it feels good to use the stash!

The week of the uncle's visit

I'm usually gone...off the rock...on a plane headed east of the island...during this time of the year. Yet, I'm still here. For some reason I didn't make summer plans. Maybe it's because in the span of two years, I got on a plane FOUR times to get off the rock. FOUR. Sigh. That's a lot of stale air to be breathing for hours at a time. So, instead of me being gone at this time, the uncle came to visit. And all the sisters are happy. It's been a busy few days. I've been his chauffeur here and there. We've eaten enough food to feed an army. The sisters are here almost everyday.

This visit has been mellow. Oh. MY. GOSH. Mellow! Mellow and the uncle don't usually find themselves in the same room. Yet, here it is. He isn't his usual grumpy self...holding out some hope that he brings some of that sunshine home with him. He came to relax and boy has he done that. I never watched so much of the Outdoor channel till this past week! Of course, the poor guy got the requisite religious lecture today. He had to have seen it coming with all of his God-fearing, almost daily Mass-attending sisters in the room. I was falling asleep, but the closest auntie kept poking my forehead. SIGH... But, I already told him not to come around this time next year. I'm getting off the rock. Now to start planning where.