Designed by little minds

My 7 year old daughter designed this year's Mother's Day card for grandma, using my cricut cartridges! I couldn't do her original design, because I am limited by not having an Expression (wugh). But I was so proud of her for going through the different books and picking out the card, the extras, and the words!! I added pop dots :)

Post your layouts from the retreat!

Come on, ladies! Everyone's doing it! Share the memories!

Here are mine.

{Journaling! About Elliott's love affair w/ Chick Hicks}

 {Aidan's first trip to Noah's Ark. And my first LO with this many pics!}

 {The quote reads, "You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes."}

My Crafty Space

Hi y'all. I am not from the South. I am from the North.  'Sconnie to be exact. I complain about it a lot, too.  But hey, its close to Chicago. So that's cool.

Anyway...

Its not much. Once upon a time, it was the 'sitting area' part of the master bedroom, which is my daughter's room. A former owner walled it off.  So now its just this small, awkward space. If the MBR were my room, it would be a fab.u.lous closet.

Anyway, right now its set up so I can sew.

What's on those shelves to the left?  This crap.

(whoops. dog bumped me)

Scrap stuff, yarn, some fabric.

I need to get this hope chest out of here, paint it, and get it into my daughter's room. I have a desk that will go here, instead. But for now, it sits here and holds my scrapbook magazines and supplies. (and all those photo frames on the floor? they came off the hallway walls. that's a whole new project) And my poor Cricut sits on a wobbly table.

 

I have this beauty holding my photos, rubons, letter stickers, random crap, and some yarn. I do think she's too pretty to sit in here, so I am planning on moving her out into the LR, I think, and painting/distressing her.

So that's my area.

How about y'all?

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Okay, mini-challenge again.... list your 5 favorite scrappy things!! 

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the 4th be with you!  hahahaha

Mini-challenge day!   Post a picture of your scrap-space!  I'm curious to see where y'all work when we're not at the 'doll house!

Fabulous Advice!!

I found this today and wanted to share:  (thanks to Tonya Gibbs @ http://www.psychomoms.com)

Finding Your Creative Mojo

This time of year after the rush of Christmas, I'm so overwhelmed, over stimulated, and sometimes find it difficult to focus. I'm inspired, but can't figure out where to start, or my room looks like a hurricane blew through it. I absolutely lose my creative mojo thanks to ADHD and clutter. I have all these awesome projects that I want to do, but can't focus enough to work on any one thing. So this is how I get my mojo back.

1. Participate in a challenge. A good old fashioned challenge will make you jump start those creative juices. Choose something simple like a tag, atc or charm swap. Most challenges come with specific requirements so they help you focus, and the act of doing something creative helps. This year I started Jan. 1 with Marion Smith's 31 days, 31 videos, 31 goals challenge. In this challenge you can do anything, doesn't have to be creative just set a daily goal, follow through with it, and video tape the process. Some are doing weight loss, cleaning, finishing old projects, and learning new techniques. You can follow my 31 Day Challenge on my YouTube channel.
   
   
2. Clean. When I say my space looked like a natural disaster, I'm not kidding. Look at my goal video on Day 1. You can't get creative mojo from the pile-it system. Cleaning also helps you rediscover hidden treasures. When I shop, I only buy things that strike an emotion in me. When I clean, I find those projects and the creativity begins to flow. Don't try to tackle the room all in one day, make small daily goals, and tackle only that day's goals. You will feel better when you are done, and you won't be overwhelmed. During this process, evaluate your workflow. Ask yourself, "is my work surface cluttered with things that can be put in tubs, does my furniture make sense for my space, is my lighting or wall paint color too harsh? Follow my organization process in the videos from Days 1 - 7.
   
   
3. Finish incomplete projects. I really like this one, because it is usually a no brainer process, and you feel like you have accomplished something in a short period of time.
   
   
4. Visit blogs and watch YouTube videos January and July the Craft and Hobby Association has their seasonal trade shows, and all your favorite scrappy companies are getting their latest and greatest collections together. So their sites are chopped full of yumminess. Local scrapbook stores are purging products to get ready for their new arrivals, so they generally have great projects on their sites. Scrappy people are just starting to get their winter collections and they are creating like mad. So their blogs and YouTube channels are hopping with great ideas.
   
   
5. Take a creative class or attend a crop Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like learning something new. If you have never stamped, take a stamping class. Never made a charm, visit a bead store and take a class. Never used dimensional art, GO FOR IT!. Just get out there. Classes at local scrapbook stores are generally expensive. But my experience is that they include loads of product, and it is usually a lot more than you need for the project. Plus the relationships you build with the instructor and other class mates are more valuable than the cost of the class. Crops are a great way to get ideas. I find that I never create anything at a crop I spend a lot of time socializing and laughing. But I walk away refreshed. 

I'd like to think that our yearly gathering would do alot to help - especially to satisfy #5 :)

Oozing Scrappy Goodness...

Hi y'all!

I'm Shanna, the Arkansas contingent.  This blog is primarily to provide us the accountability we want to get our scrapping done, but ALSO to provide a challenge each month to help us to continue to grow as scrappers.

Each month we will have at least one challenge.

We're going to start our blog with those who brought us into the world - our MOMS!!!  Mother's Day is this coming Sunday, so let's show our moms how much we love them or how happy it makes us to be one! .... one caveat - MOM has to be in the picture!  Scrap a layout of you and your mom, with you and your kids - just make sure MOM is in the picture!!

Our second challenge will be to use something you bought on our stop at scrapping Mecca - otherwise known as Archivers ;)


Can't wait to see the fabulousness begin to pour in!