Back in october or november of last year i started playing really close attention to my friend lisa‘s posts about project life. i’d been watching her document over 2011, and i’ve always loved seeing her scrap pages, but it wasn’t until later in the year that i started feeling interested, like maybe pL could be something that could get me interested in scrapbooking again.  i was, at the time, on a long sabbatical from scrapping. i had no desire, for months on end mind you, actually (for most of 2011) to cut paper. the only time i made something was when i had to; for kit work, assignments and creating a few altered projects.

scrapbooking just wasn’t doing it for me. i thought i was done. i told many, many people who asked that “i was done scrapbooking”. no more, i don’t scrapboook. but what i began to realize the more i watched others create and then share their weekly pL pages is that what i was having a hard time doing was documenting and finding the words to share our stories. i was still taking pictures. i was still in love with scrapbooking. i was still wishing i would do more, but i had been doing it all wrong. in the past, 75% of the time my pages were all about the making. i was first cutting paper, then arranging, then finding a pic and then journaling. i was having fun and i was loving the creative craft of scrapbooking but i was lost when it came to finding my voice. i didn’t know what to say anymore because i wasn’t starting in the right place. i had become so backwards in my thinking, focusing on the making so much that i forgot how to say what i needed to say.

it’s like i lost my balance.

then, lisa posted this. and i realized, i need to do this. pL could help me find my voice again. and when i thought long and hard about it, i really wanted to get it back.

there’s a part of me that thinks it’s funny. because pL has become quite the ” new IN thing” this year, and i would normally let something like that turn me off. but you know what. it’s awesome that so many people are doing it. everyone has a story to tell. i may have had a hard time as of late documenting ours/mine but so far it’s been amazing. and i already have a few page ideas from my pL documenting & picture taking. and that is something that makes me very happy.

my goal this weekend? to spend some time getting all of my instagram pics i’ve been taking and all that journaling i’ve been saving in my organizer into my pL album.

happy friday!
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just another 7gypsies trousseau share.made for the booth which means generally, at least for me when i do cha assignments, big impact and no journaling. this was our christmas card pic from about 3 years ago, oh my my littles have grown since then. *sigh*

it’s been incredibly warm here, and i’m thinking that ole punxsutawney phil is a bit delusional if he thinks we’re in for 6 more weeks of winter. i think we’ve barely had 3 days here in nor cal. i saw a pic my friend gigi shared of upstate new york with her screen door open, no show and i think she said it was about 60 degrees. good grapes. that can’t be normal. i’m enjoying it, don’t get me wrong but i do wish we could get some more rain or i’m afraid this summer’s going to be bad.

happy groundhog day!
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Beautiful new releases from Hambly this winter. They have some new products that I haven’t seen yet, colored patterned cardstock and new colored mini overlays for journaling. LOVE! absolutely loving the Printers type overlay (above). I added some cream cardstock underneath.

The little mini book embellie is an old mini picture frame book that i wrapped in a scrap of the Uncharted paper (left over from the layout below). Love how it adds more to the story in the layout.

Simple and sweet using the Uncharted papers. the man. he’s the king.

broke out the dusty slice for this one. those crowns are a fav.

in other news the Little man is home with a sore throat and icky croupy cough. going around the class apparently so i’m not surprised that he got it. Lots of snuggles, Cars2 and hot chocolate should help.

happy wednesday!
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It’s a big kR digital release day, i have 8 kits being released this morning at 2peas.

- There’s a HUGE valentines kit; you can either buy it all in one shot as a full collection or pick and choose which pieces you’d like and purchase them seperately.

- I also made what i’m calling a “Scraps” kit, which is basically an 8.5″x11″ printable pdf from the love & adoration collection (see below). It can be used for traditional scrapbook pages, project life or general holiday projects, i’m thinking of creating a mini garland with it.
  eta : the scraps kit will actually be out next tuesday. we had a little issue so i had to hold it til the next release date. worth the wait though!

- Lastly there’s a set of printable chalkboard journaling cards. I love these. LOVE. Lots of brushes are included in this set as well as a plain chalkboard background so you can make your own if you’d like. My journaling cards come in both .jpg & .pdf so you can print and use or add your journaling and photos before printing as well as use them in digital layouts and projects.

And the icing on the cake? All valentines themed digital projects are 20% off this week at 2peas. I know. 20% off brand new valentines releases, doesn’t get any better than that!

happy tuesday!
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:: this will be out next tuesday, 2.7.12 ::

just popping in to share a mini book i made for my little cowgirl using the trousseau collection journal pages and  small vintage frame book cover. it’s so sweet and perfect with it’s tiny size (3.5″ x 5.5″). i included lots of metal embellishments (alot of them are on sale at 2peas right now ;)) from the past releases as i love how the mix of paper and metal adds so much extra texture and dimension.

happy monday!
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created with 7gypsies trousseau collection, 7gs tryptic arc kit, 7gs embellishments, hambly clear overlay, ranger crackle paint & stains, vintage findings + book papers + other odds and bits from my stash.

charming is one of my fav’s

i’m so excited because i can finally share with all of you the Trousseau collection that i designed for 7gypsies back in october/november. This was such an amazing experience, challenging and exhausting (I had walking pneumonia during the entire process.. yikes!) something that I had been secretly wishing for for a while. Dreams come true my friends, they really, really do!!

Please check out the line, posted here and let me know what you think. I’ve been playing with all of it in real time for the last three weeks and it’s always such a proud moment when you’re holding in your hands something that you spent weeks & weeks perfecting. My art direector Paula was amazing btw, a true kindred spirit and so helpful when we were fleshing out which designs were keepers and which just didn’t make sense cohesively.

Alos, be sure to pop on over to Deb & Paula’s blog as they have the entire new winter release up including the Postale collection that Sande designed, which is amazing!

Happy Beautifully vintage Wednesday & come back, because i have some divine show samples to show tomorrow!

recognize the french parchments on the b side of True from my aria trip finds?

cabinet card photo paper and i’m going to using alot of dearest

how amazing would it be to paper quilt with the mini stacks?!

Paper tapes and my favorite Strawberry image ever :)

i’m going to need about 10 sheets of those stickers!

the journal pages are probably one of my most favorite items. love. love. love!!

scallop tags

(i didn’t design these, but they go great with the scallop tags)

tag envelopes, these are small and so cute irl

a second alternate set

and we now have coordinating mists with tattered angels. yay!!

working | on more and more designs. finding that not everything is publish worthy, but enjoying the work and enjoying the weeding process of what i keep for future releases and what i chuck or save for a later kit. yesterday i chucked so much i felt a little defeated at the end of the day. today, so many saves! :)

listening | coldplay : mylo xyloto : moajor minus (major fav album right now)

seeing | a pile of my almost finished first two weeks of pL. downloaded these really fun freebies this morning. love love!

eating | spinach salad with feta, egg, mesquite turkey, sliced almonds and brianna’s new american salad dressing.

wearing | sweats and my favorite slippers. it’s 12:30. i guess i have to get dressed soon.

loving | my will power. i’m already down almost 15 lbs. i’m ready to start my 40s this summer happy, fit & healthy. thank you ww.

excited | to have some time this afternoon to work on more samples with the line i created for 7gs. the wholesale catalog was released to retailers yesterday and i keep going and looking at it. beaming with pride here. :)

happy friday!
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i’m spending alot of time growing my “design” skill set. i’ve been proficient at photoshop for quite a few years now. i’ve designed papers before (2007). i designed this here website. i designed all of the exclusive stamps i sold through the kR kit club and of course i design all of the kR digital kits at two peas. but, there was a very important design program i have always wanted to learn. the big one. it’s a doozy that big one…

illustrator.

when i took on the design job back in the beginning of november i dabbled a little bit in Ai as i was working on some sticker sheets, but i didn’t know much (maybe actually i should say i knew how to open a new doc… LOL). that became so incredibly clear. not. much. at. all. but throughout the project, the more i used it the more things started to make sense. i googled some simple tutorials for the bsaics that i had to know at the time. i asked a fellow designer friend some simple questions for the other things i had to know. both processes helped, they helped quite alot. but i couldn’t ask mr.programmer extraordinaire (ie: the hubs) as this is beyond his knowledge base. and that. is. weird.

i’ve always been a hands on kinda girl. the more i can do something to learn it the easier it gets. reading about it is difficult. i have to do it. so this week, when the littles headed back to school so did i. i’ve been going through the program picking things to learn and fielding my way through more tutorials. i’m slowly but happily teaching myself something i’ve wanted to know for ages. i taught myself photoshop (with backup help from the hubs) back when i opened the online vintage shop i used to have (somewhere around 1999). it was fun, and very very useful. but this has been incredibly exciting.

i’m making things and doing things i had no idea i could do. making a commitment to myself and to a passion that’s been slowly growing over the last few years. and the best part? i’m savoring every moment.

happy friday.
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i started on january 1st. i know what triggered it, some self loathing on dec 30th or 31st as i looked in the mirror or when i stood on that yuck inducing scale. but i think the thing that really drove it home, the thing that really made me realize that i have to do this now, that i can’t wait any longer, i can’t wait and just think about it any longer, is the fact that this july i’m going to be 40.

four. zero.

thinking about that has also led me to i realize that i have spent the last twenty years wishing i was on top of my health. i have spent twenty years wishing that i would get back in the water and swim like i did the first twenty years (well, the first 14 anyways). 14 years of that first twenty were spent swimming competitively, butterfly & long distance freestyle being my passions. i was good. i was fast. i was an athlete and i was really, really fit. then i left college and i stopped getting in the water. but i kept eating like i was still swimming. and although there have been times over the last twenty years that i’ve been fit and times when i lived my life and my weight wasn’t a battle i was waging in my mind, they were in fact, years that were too far apart.

i don’t want to spend the next twenty years fighting. i want to spend them doing everything that my heart desires, not thinking “what if”.

so i’m remodeling myself. inside & out.

the new earrings were just an added bonus. ;)

happy wednesday!
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