Bring on some of that ole Material Girl Cosmo Cricket

Its been a while.....so firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all who are reading this.  I wish for you all the things that I wish for myself....a year full of good health and happiness, as well as some magic and wonder that pave the way in 2013.
I was determined to do a layout about this skirt. It is one I have been thinking of for a while. It is a skirt and a story that mean alot to me....it is about another world, another life from many years ago. It is about a skirt that I remember my mom wearing when I was a child. Actually when she was younger than I am now.

I wanted so badly to do a layout so that one day, this story and this skirt would be remembered. It started with a sketch.....and I just let it go from there. One good thing about following sketches is that it just acts as a starting point if you want it to. I also pulled out some OLD, really OLD paper....Cosmo Cricket (which I still LOVE),  that just happened to work well with the story. Remember, everything old, is NEW again.

Studio Calico Sock Hop....Sunday Sketch

I had so much fun with both the sketch and the Sock Hop Kit. Its amazing how helpful a sketch can be, not to mention that there can be so many different variations on the same sketch. Really one can put together a layout in no time, as well as the fact that a sketch can be translated exactly as one sees it, or as a guide and starting point. For this layout, I have to say that it pretty much looks like the sketch. 

I have found that since becoming a Studio Calico subscriber, I am now enjoying being able to use what comes in the kit, mixing and matching all the various papers together. That is something that I have to admit was NOT something I frequently did. Previously working in a store surrounded by scrapbook papers and embellishments, I was so used to buying entire paper collections and doing a layout with everything from a particular collection.....I LOVE that I am now using papers and embellishments from several different companies on one layout.

Take a chance, pull out some paper from each one of your favorite paper collections or companies, and mix it up....HAVE FUN!

Scrapping with my first Studio Calico Kit

It has been a while since I last sat down to blog, or scrapbook, or journal, or do project life....so here I am, 6 weeks since my last post and wow, life has certainly changed for me. I have gone from a small world surrounded by papers, rubber stamps and embellishments, as well as lots of people who I knew, to now, a whole new world called "STARBUCKS". I have learnt that it is HARD, very HARD to learn new things. I am also just starting to catch my breath.....I mean "JUST". Yep, a whole new beginning for me. In entering this new journey, I kept thinking about how, what and where I would be able to fulfill my need and desire for new scrapbooking goodies. I tortured and tormented myself about becoming a subscriber to Studio Calico, which I have admired online for several years, but never subscribed to, just because I was lucky and honored enough to have been a part of the wonderful world of Stamping Bella. So I succumbed, and ordered my first kit for October. 

I can not begin to tell you how much fun I had with this....the ENTIRE process, everything, from waiting for the kit to arrive, sorting through the papers and embellishments, and then challenging myself to use it all. I only ordered the main kit, and am very glad to say that I used it all.....I did about five layouts, including the one below, as well as using some of the scraps, die cuts and stickers all in my project life album (which by the way, is up to date). I am also a believer that less is sometimes more. It is quite okay to NOT, have tons to sort through, which is why, for now, I am only sticking to the main kit. There is something satisfying to me, to be able to use up what I have.

So here I am, having received my November kit, anxiously waiting for the weekend to start playing.

Just a little note to all of you, if you are asking yourselves, should you or shouldn't you become a part of this subscription....my advice to you is do it. There is just enough for so much happy satisfaction.
Wishing you all the beginning of a wonderful holiday season that lies ahead.

Write this moment on your Heart

I have decided that sometimes "LESS IS DEFINITELY MORE". 

There are times that I may feel so inclined or even obligated to put as much as I possibly can on a layout. Reasons usually being, that I LOVE using my stuff, and I LOVE layering and clustering goodies and embellishments.  I felt that the beauty and simplicity of this photograph did not require, NOR should be fighting for the attention amongst decorative titles, embellishments or layers of paper.

I wanted to just keep it simple, and I think I am happy with the result. As I believe, and have said before, that in the years to come, when someone is looking at these pages....it is the photo and the story that will be recognized. No one will know if or how I agonized to get the embellishments in just the right place, in fact the embellishments might NOT even be noticed at all.

The wording on the photo is from one of the Ali Edwards digital downloads. I love those words, and I love the significance of them as the title printed directly onto the photograph. There is not to much else to distract from the focal point, other than a simple tag, a heart and a scattering of little wooden stars.
Wishing you all a Thanksgiving filled with very simple joys and pleasures....as well as lots of good food.

According to My Minds Eye..."Not all those who wander are lost"

I simply love that quote, so when I saw the paper with the quote....I simply had to have it. Now of coarse, it has sat in my stash for quite some time, you know the RIGHT TIME. The time when we know exactly why we were saving it....for just the right layout. Well, this was it.

I saw a sketch on the October Afternoon Blog a little while ago, which I pinned to my sketch board on Pinterest, which by the way, is a wonderful place to look for and save sketches.

This was also a FANTASTIC way to use lots of pictures on one layout. These were all pictures from a trip that I had taken to Australia earlier in the year, and had still not scrapbooked them. I was thrilled to be able to get this many pics from one event on one layout.....kind of feels like the highlights are now scrapped and I can move on to other pictures. It always makes me so happy when a layout is done and completed....I feel as though the memories have moved from something digital to something that myself or others can actually LOOK at and enjoy. If you don't take the time to develop and scrap the pictures, they tend to just sit on a memory card, a disc or a computer, where we seldomly look at them and enjoy them. Remember it's the pictures with a little bit of journaling that tell our story.

Everything old is new.....Again (including Rocket Age)

There is definitely a reason that we hold onto our "old" stash of scrapbooking papers and goodies. We intend to eventually use them. Today was the day......I have finally caught up with project life, yep, exactly caught up to the here and now. I had this picture in my mind, taken last October, that I wanted to use with October Afternoon "Rocket Age". I had intended the picture to go with the paper since over a year ago......BUT, you know how it is? Life catches up with us, we get really, really busy, and we simply move on from the things we intended to do. Well, never FORGET, that it is quite okay to scrapbook pictures from a year or several years ago....it is even okay to use papers and embellishments from several years or months ago. Remember, NOTHING NEW STAYS NEW!

Don't be hesitant or neglectful to use your older stuff....when you decide to pull it out, remember it is NEW again. Also remember, using the stuff previously bought makes room for the new....and I know how much we all LOVE new stuff.
Here's to old things being new and here's to the last week of summer.
ENJOY!

Some Amy Tangerine Sketchbook

WOW.....it has almost been two months since my last post, and so much has happened. Another school year came to an end, I spent a whirlwind of a fantastic couple of days with my dear friend Agnes, in New York...eating, laughing, shopping and enjoying theatre. A chapter of my work life came to an end, and now here I am.....IN HONG KONG.

After a very long HOT day of walking around, I decided to just come back to the peace and quiet of my room and to share a layout that I did several weeks ago using the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook papers. Now, I am also extremely HAPPY to say, that when I posted this layout on "two peas", it received a comment from none other than THE AMY TANGERINE herself.

I have to say, that I really loved playing with the papers from this line. They are bright, fun, happy... and to me, they really symbolize the whole "life is good" philosophy. Have you seen the new Amy Tangerine Lines?????  I can't wait to get my hands on them.
Wishing you all a wonderful few weeks left of Summer....enjoy every moment.