be yourself: live with passion

bringing home the inspiration...

One of the beauties of doing an advertising/inspiration board at Scrapbooks, Etc. is that when it's time to change out the board, I get to bring the inspiration home.

The torso which I cut in half and then dressed (aka Well Endowed Torso Girl) came home with me earlier this week and is now ensconced in the frame I picked up at an antique mall last year.  The frame is above my computer in the studio area of the family room.

I love it when I can reuse something, especially when it fits right in with the decor in my studio. 

My new inspiration board at the store hosts a handmade wreath to advertise the new Creative Genius Workshops that begin this Friday.  I forgot to snap a pic at home and need to remember to take one when I'm at the store today.

Speaking of Friday's class, for those of you who are local, just wanted you to know that the store is also bringing in crafting metal in different colors--pink, brown and black are some--so you can transfer the techniques you learn on copper onto other colors, too.  How cool is that?  If you need a good boost of creative inspiration, call the store (480-854-2303) and get yourself signed up...we're going to have a blast...and, get this, there's even a field trip!

Hope you have a great and inspiring day...I'm off to cut some copper!

storing it pretty...

I don't know about you, but I am a visual person.  Most of my piles and messes are there because I like seeing my stuff...having flowers, ribbons and doo-dads right in front of me inspires me.  After a while, though, it goes into the realm of cluttery and then totally messy, which becomes frustrating and counter-productive to creating.

I found a great storage solution to display my vintage flower collection (which had been stored in a large tin in one of my armoires)...it's easily viewed but yet not cluttery and the flowers are protected from the dust that's inevitable when we spend a lot of time playing with paper.

It's an old-fashioned seed bin which is made of wood and glass and lifts open at the top.

How cool is that?

I bought mine at Mystic Paper but if you don't live in the Phoenix area, you can buy one here.

There are so many possibilities...I ended up decorating the front glass panels with white rub-ons from Basic Grey...that really dressed up the bin a lot, yet I can still see the flowers inside.

The box can be painted-think white, pink or aqua for a cottage look...or maybe black for a stunning, clean look.

Now I can enjoy seeing my vintage silk and paper flowers...pretty storage without the clutter.

Do you have some fun and creative ways to display your pretties...cool storage ideas that also inspire you?

Would love to hear your ideas...and if you want, include a link to your site so that all of us can see...after all, we're all about the visuals!

Happy Friday...hope you have a great day.

WOW!

I didn't expect this...at all!

Your responses have been amazing...I've read them all.  Some of them made me cry, others made me laugh and I found myself agreeing with what you said time and time again. 

The passion you feel for what you do is remarkable.

I wish I would give everyone a prize...you ALL truly deserve one.

I had the comments put into a random number generator and the number that was picked was

NUMBER 14-KRISTA!

who summarized it so succinctly when she said,

"Thanks Carol, great idea. I love the fact that I have a creative outlet, and have met some really incredible new friends doing something I love."

Krista, email me your address and I'll send out your handmade book.

Thanks everyone, for taking time to share your stories and why you love scrapbooking.   I really feel blessed to be a part of this community! 

 

grateful...so doing a giveaway!

It's National Scrapbooking Day and for me, it's a day for which I am grateful.  Grateful that I am professionally involved in the industry, grateful that I am doing what I love to do and grateful that you are a part of my life.

My bio usually includes a paragraph that my childhood dreams were being a teacher, a writer and someone who creates and that in the world of memory arts/scrapbooking, I've found all three.  I know that if someone had told me that I would be an instructor, writer and artist in this field, I would have totally laughed.  But, here I am and loving it.

In celebration of NSD and to show my gratitude to you, I'm going to do a giveaway.  It's a handmade flip book with the face of each page completed and the backside left open for you to add your photos and journaling.  It's about gratitude...creating this book reminded me about how often I forget the many blessings I have...and, I'm guessing that most of us need a little nudge in that area.  I had to chuckle when I came across this quote..."[D]on't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines."  Leroy [Satchel] Paige.  I think I need to pin this one up on my inspiration board!

OK, back to the giveaway!  It's filled with stamped images of children, metal mesh, flowers, buttons and 7 gypsies paper.  It's a signed and dated original...one of a kind.

I'm also including extra paper, some vintage rick rack and a vintage velvet flower for you to complete the back sides of the pages.

Here's all you need to do to be put in the drawing.  Simply leave me a comment about why you love to scrapbook or what you love most about scrapbooking.

I'll keep the contest open until Wednesday, May 7th, around noon Arizona time. 

I can't wait to read what you have to say!

Margaret Cousins said, "Appreciation can make a day, even change a life.  Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary."    I want you to know that I appreciate you!

Hope you have a happy, blessed day!

   

is there life...

beyond the world of memory art?

I've had to ask myself that question a number of times in the past month and most days, the answer has been a definite "NO!". 

One of the reasons I haven't updated much on my blog is that while life has been incredibly busy, it's been more of the same...planning classes, teaching classes, planning kits, making kits, shipping kits, etc. and I seriously don't think that anyone is interested in reading about that several times a week.

On Saturday, I sort of strayed a little and had a girls only day with Sheri (from My Daughter's Wish), her mom Nancy and her daughter, Sierra.

We did some junking...this was some reciprocity for her taking me to Urban Ore in Berkeley where I found some treasures in old books, music, drawer pulls and bell chime hardware.  We had so much fun and I have to tell you that 6 year old Sierra is a champion junker.  She rooted through boxes and bins as enthusiastically as we did...and was rewarded with a whole bag of goodies for herself and her 3 year old sister, Sedona.  Both of the girls are amazingly creative and artistic...definitely in the genes!  It was definitely a productive junking day and got the creative juices flowing...big time.  Here are a few of my treasures.

After lunch at T.C. Eggington's, we took Sierra out to the barn where we board our horses.  All day, she had been looking forward to going "to the ranch" (as she put it) to ride Ashley's pony, Mimi.

What a total kick that was.  I think that Sheri and O.T. are sunk...Sierra definitely has a love affair with horses and based on our personal experience, it only intensifies with age.

Sierra had a good ride around the trail course and took Mimi over logs and dirt mounds...what a fun time.  She had a chance to groom Mimi and get a tour of the barn and meet the other horses, too.

It brought back memories of Ashley's early horsemanship days...and reminded me of some of the reasons that we all work so hard...to see the sheer pleasure on our children's faces when they are doing something they love...being able to provide amazing life experiences for our kids and know that they will be better people for it...wouldn't you agree?

It was a great day...always fun to be together with people who enjoy similar things.

And now, it's back to memory art and the creatologie kit for May...I think you're going to really like it!  Happy May!