Lens

Currently . . .

Reading - Good on Paper by Rachel Cantor -- it's a bit quirky here in the early going, but has an academic flavor to it, which I usually like. 

Cheering - Nothing yet, but looking forward to seeing my daughter play on her first sports team this fall. 

Watching - Crafty videos on YouTube

Learning (or relearning) - how much having creative time to myself impacts my feeling of contentment and wellbeing

Planning - To do more cooking and food preparation to help us all eat better

Working - On the usual stuff at work -- happy that much of the budget-related stuff is done.

Making - Layouts from our 2015 Disney trip

 

Avoiding - Laundry and the pile of stuff I helped my child clear out of her bedroom today

Eating - Ranch Chicken, Bacon and Broccoli salad -- good hot or cold

Buying  - Craft supplies, of course. I ordered an album, extra page protectors, and 4x6/3x4 cards for my December Daily project. 

Trying - To eat more real food, less processed stuff

Drinking - Ice cold orange flavored seltzer -- so refreshing

 

Enjoying - The three day weekend -- I've been crafting a ton today. 

Scheduling - I actually need to make some appointments that I've procrastinated on. 

Wishing - For continued good health for my loved ones and myself

Blog Your Heart post

 . . . over on the other section of my blog. I tend to keep this section more for my crafty endeavors. :)

Low Productivity, High Satisfaction

It's been over a month since I injured the elbow of my dominant (right) arm. I'm very grateful to have found out that while I have a small triceps tear and a tear in the tendon, both should heal without surgery.

I have been spending more time reading and watching television than I can remember doing in a long time, because continuing to use the arm after work or on the weekend was just not worth it. Those activities have actually been very relaxing and enjoyable -- as much as I love my paper-crafting, I think taking a bit of a break has been beneficial.

But I've made the time to edit pictures and put together Project Life pages. (I'm doing one side of a page protector per week, rather than two, as many people do.) Because much of the "work" for PL is on the computer (photo editing, typing up the journaling card), it has been doable. I've made a few cards and finished a two page layout over the weekend that had been on my desk for weeks.  I'm pleased with the things I have chosen to do and look forward to getting more done as the arm continues to heal.

Changing the way you think changes the way you work

I recently took a BPC class taught by May Flaum called Kit-tastic. I don't buy kits, but the class description (and my previous experience in May's classes) told me I'd get lots of ideas for using my own stash, too. The class overlapped with another I was taking (Shimelle Laine's Learn Something New Every Day), so I didn't get as many projects done or kits made as I might have hoped.

But what I've realized since the class ended is that it caused a fundamental shift in the way I work, which will have a long term benefit. Simply put, the class and the act of pulling my own stash into kits to work from is causing me to think more about what I want to use for projects before I jump in.

While I'm happy with most layouts I've made in the past, I want to use more papers on the pages (a la Shimelle) and integrate more techniques (a la May). By putting together page kits or project kits ahead of time (instead of just pulling out things while I was working, which is what I used to do), I'm definitely using up more stuff, feeling more organized and inspired. 

So, here's a big shout out to May (and Shimelle) to say thanks for the inspiration. 

~ Laura

The Party's Over

I'm always a little bit bummed out when a Big Picture class ends.  I've been part of May Flaum's Creative Retreat class this past month and today is the last day.  I'm happy because I created 8 layouts (one of them a two-pager) and played around a little in an inspiration journal.  There are still things in the handouts and on the message boards I can use for inspiration. 

My Yesterday & Today class is still going on. I really haven't done as much with that class as I expected to, primarily because I'm working with archival photos that must be scanned and then printed for use.  I know I could do it all digitally, but that's just not as fun for me.  I ordered a print for the very first layout of the class, so I'll be able to complete that as soon as my prints come from Scrapbook Pictures.  (I also ordered prints of my December Daily pages and another layout I'd made last summer and am eager to get them.)

Prep Work for Vacation Scrapbook

I'm hanging out in the den tonight doing some cutting and trimming of things I've stamped to use in my 8 x 8 vacation scrapbook.  I thought it made sense to get everything ready to go.  So this is a picture of my scrap table at the moment. :-)

My Class is Over :-(

My second scrapbooking class of the year ends today and I'm feeling, oddly, a little bereft.  The members of the class come together to form a little, temporary community -- we chat on the message boards and comment on each other's layouts in the gallery -- and I like the virtual company. I like to "play" in the peace and quiet of the den, but I will miss my virtual classmates and teacher until we meet up again in another Big Picture class.  

Until then, I'll scrapbook while listening to Paperclipping Roundtable or during the Paperclipping Live show.  I really should become a Paperclipping member sometime soon.

Edited to add: That I made 1 card, 2 home decor items, 4 two page layouts, and six one page layouts during the class during this class.  I'm pretty happy with this amount of output.  It's not as high a page total as during Camp Scrap, but I'm okay with that.  Camp Scrap, for me, was about getting going, while Use Your Stash was a little more cerebral and process-oriented, as I tried to not only use up existing stash, but think about how to organize things better and how to make better choices about what to buy moving forward.

~ Laura

In a bit of a slump

I've been a bit tired here at the beginning of this week and haven't created anything since the weekend.  I was on a bit of a roll, which I think was fueled by having some pre-chosen pictures and journaling ideas on a 3 x 5 card clipped together to just grab.  Now I'm in the mood to scrapbook things for which I don't have prints (last Thanksgiving, Easter, vacation).  Lesson learned: keep up with getting prints! 

I have accomplished something -- I've been working on editing our vacation pictures.  I still need to do some cropping and decision-making: some I will get printed as 4 x 6 and I will choose some special ones to print at 8 x 8.  I got the idea from something I saw on Cathy Zielske's blog.  The album I chose is 8 x 8 and I'm going to have each right-facing page be an 8 x 8 picture.  I'm kind of excited about this. 

Working on a Layout Tonight

I'm taking a class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking, so I'll likely be doing more layouts than cards for the next month or so.  Check out my messy table. . . hope y'all are having a fun, creative evening.

   

7/20/2010: Editing to say, Welcome! to any Camp Scrap friends who wander by!  I've enjoyed getting to know some of you a bit via the message boards and seeing your layouts in the gallery.  Best regards, Laura (a/k/a Bookworm on BPS)

My Weekend

Rather than spend the whole weekend cleaning my house, I gave myself permission to run errands and play in my "creative space" on Saturday. My little family and I went out to dinner together and laughed and relaxed. It was much needed after the stressful work week I'd had. I made three cards over the weekend (previously posted) and I am now gestating an idea for my youngest sister's birthday card involving Cosmo Cricket Earth Love papers. On Sunday after church I got down to brass tacks and did some major laundry, got the kitchen spic and span, and made strawberry shortcake to have with our company. We have my in-laws visiting with us to the end of the week. I still harbor the desire to create the aforementioned card tonight. We'll see! :-)