What I Learned From Stacy Julian

Several months ago, my Local Scrapbook Store (LSS, for those of you not in the know), Treasured Memories, announced that Stacy Julian would be speaking at the store in early June. I bought my ticket and pretty much forgot about it until a week or so before the event. And then I started getting really excited. First of all, I'd never met a scrapbook celebrity before (stop snickering). Second, I'd been reading Stacy's blog and beyond the fact that the title cracks me up, I like her perspective. Third, I don't get out much and a night out pursuing only my own interests is somewhat of a holy grail. And fourth, I need a new approach to scrapbooking since my current one clearly isn't working.


So I got Julia ready for her dance pictures, which her father would have to take her (and her brothers) to and happily headed out the door. While I'd never taken any of Stacy's classes or read her books, I was aware of her influence on scrapbooking and was eager to soak in her wisdom. I picked up my reserved copy of Big Picture Scrapbooking and giddily sat there learning the following:

• Stacy Julian is adorable. From her pigtails to her polka dot dress to her ever present giggle, she's very endearing. She generously shares her spirit and the depth of her emotions to inspire in all of us the freedom to view scrapbooking as she does: focused on process, not production. Amazing concept, this.

• Stacy is smart! The unfortunate perception persists that scrapbookers with vacant minds and full albums stay up all hours playing with scissors and glue sticks. Stacy flips this perception on its ass. Her talk covered areas from philosophy to marketing to color theory to optics. She is a reader and she gathers inspiration from an enormous array of resources. Very inspirational.

• The thought of scrapbooking in non-chronological order, without straight lines and with journaling in my own handwriting causes me anxiety. And anxiety is not a thing I need more of these days. However, it's so much fun to think of the layouts I could create about what my kids are doing right now rather than how far behind I am and how I am every going to do justice to properly documenting the birth of my two boys. She might be on to something. Maybe she should pursue this little theory of hers.


• There is more than one way to scrapbook, and probably no "right" way. And scrapbooking doesn't mean just sticking photos on cardstock. Revolutionary thoughts, indeed. I'm still mulling over this one and think I may need to read Stacy's first book, Simple Scrapbooks, or take a some of her classes at Big Picture Scrapbooking to get a better understanding of this.


• Life is good and it should be documented, but not just for the reasons I thought. One of the many things that have stayed with me from Stacy's talk is that scrapbooking serves a lot of purposes. It makes up more aware and more grateful for the big and small blessings that fill our days. And it makes us happy. And that's reason enough to do something. Again, revolutionary concept. It's not a waste of time or paper or resources or money to spend time on a hobby that strengthens our connections to each other, utilizes and inspires creativity, documents our family histories, and makes us happy in the process. On the contrary, it's a rather priceless pursuit with immeasurable positive benefits.


• I should make it a point to scrapbook more. See above.


• Stacy loves brownies. So much so that she has devoted a scrapbook to the brownies she's encountered throughout her travels. This interests me for two reasons: First, I can't think of a more frivolous way to spend one's time than to create a scrapbook about brownies. And if it's OK for the great, renowned, busy, working-mother-of-five Stacy Julian to spend her time on a brownie scrapbook, then it must be ok for me to spend my time scrapping something equally silly. Second: our wonderful hosts at Treasured Memories decided to provide a brownie buffet in Stacy's honor. So many yummy varieties to munch on while we waited in line to chat with Stacy. The clear winner: Ghirardelli Double Chocolate brownie mix available at Costco or your local grocery store. My family has recently enjoyed 2 pans of these.

• Big Picture Scrapbooking has awesome pens. We each got a goodie bag and mine contained a button that says "Scrap Big," (love that), a mouse pad, the biggest rubber band I've ever seen (seriously, Nicole Ritchie could wear this as a belt; I still haven't figured out its purpose) and what looks like a regular ball point pen. I LOVE THIS PEN. Julia has tried numerous times to steal this pen from under my nose. She has not succeeded. I'll have to troll their site to see if I can pick up a few dozen.

• Stacy is a trouper. It didn't matter how long her day had been, or how many people were waiting in line to meet her, Stacy cheerfully talked with each one of us, answering questions, finding connections and generously sharing her thoughts and ideas.

I have to give a shout out here to my friend Christine, who owns Treasured Memories. She put on a top-notch event, which is not surprising, since I know she puts her heart into everything she does. She recently celebrated her store's 10th anniversary and I'm so proud of her success. I know that scrapbook retailing is a difficult industry, especially in today's economy, but she's a tough lady and a smart businesswoman and I'd put my money on her every time. She's been so generous with me over the years. About 5 years ago, she allowed us to use her scrap space for an entire day to host a crop to raise money for FSMA. More recently, she's displaying my Uppercase Living catalog and brochures right behind her register. She's a great asset to our community.

One other thing came out of this event: I was chatting with a very nice lady in line while we waited to meet Stacy. As our conversation progressed we incredulously realized that we "knew" each other from Two Peas In A Bucket, a message board I haven't been on since just after Ethan was born. We traded information and hopefully will get a chance to scrap together someday soon. Stacy Julian is all about making connections, and meeting up with Yvonne was just one connection that I focused on that night. Now, a month later, I'm still thinking about Stacy's words and message and am planning once again to get out my scrap supplies and start playing and creating, pages as well as happiness. My mental health will thank me.

A Very Nice Summer and other stuff

For those of you who still check in despite my sadly sporadic posting, thank you. I'll try to do better, really I will.

It seems strange to be posting about summer on what is the coldest Memorial Day weekend I can remember since we moved back to southern California from Seattle. It has actually rained (I think most of the rest of the country would call it drizzling) for the last few days. News directors all across the Southland had a very difficult decision for last night's evening newscast: do I lead with the high speed chase du jour (which was made all the more dramatic by the slick streets, spraying water and fishtailing. Boo YA!) or Storm Watch 2008? Decisions, decisions. Of course the live feed of the chase won, and the bastards had the nerve to go to commercial and make us miss the end, which is usually the best part, and have to watch a replay. Amateurs.

Regardless of the weather, signs abound that summer is almost here, and as sad as I am to see Julia's awesome year in 2nd grade end, I'm ready for a break from frantic mornings and busy schedules. Those of you have been with me a while might recall that for the last couple of years, I and some others declared it would be The Best Summer Ever. The first time we did this, the summer really lived up to it. There was ice cream, a new swing set, more ice cream, trips to Disneyland and Legoland and fun and relaxation all over the place. Last year, I thought, it would most definitely be the BSE. I mean, how could it it not? We had a new house with a pool for the first time ever and we couldn't wait to spend every waking minute in it. Well, I'll tell you how: start the summer by literally losing your mind to the point that you don't want to get out of bed or even know which end is up. Add a flood to the entire downstairs of said house that takes 2 months to clean up from, hole up in your steaming hot upstairs (in the dark for most of a week, as it turned out) and add a half-assed air conditioner and asbestos in your ducting. That's how.

While we've recovered from the effects of last year's summer fiasco, I'm not thinking I want to jinx things this year by setting up some crazy unrealistic expectations. So, my friends, I hereby declare the summer of 2008 A Very Nice Summer. That's it. I still plan to send my kids to camp, do a lot of fun things, go to the beach, grill, swim a ton, and eat a lot of Shave Ice. But I think I'll be a lot more content hoping to just have a nice time than to pressure all of us to make things the BEST EVER. I'm all about baby steps right now and this seems to be a good one to take. Maybe in a couple of years I won't be as gun shy. For now, let's make it a nice summer.

In other news, I'm having a great time with my Uppercase Living business so far. Every day I think of new ways to use the expressions and lettering. The possibilities are endless. I had a party at a friend's the other night and it was nice to see the positive response I got across the board. I have some high hopes for this company.

In other other news, Ray's mom is coming to spend next weekend with the kids so he and I can spend a couple of nights away. Even though we're just staying at a hotel down the street, we have a massage and a nice dinner scheduled and we plan on just relaxing for a couple of days. We so need this.

The following weekend, I'm going to my hear Stacy Julian speak at my scrapbook store, Treasured Memories. I'm really excited to hear her talk and hope to get motivated inject some sanity into my overwhelming pile of to-be-scrapped photos. Treasured Memories is a great store and the owner, Christine, is lovely and generous. Definitely good people. If you're ever in the area, stop by and spend lots of money.

Hope the weather is sunny where you are and that you have a great weekend.

A Tiny Little Project

Posting the invitation for Brady's 2nd birthday party (when did that happen?!) here makes me realize how plain and simple it really is. There's a fine line between understated and plain, and I think this is the latter. Never mind, though. It's done and out and it has Mickey on it. And ribbon.
In case anyone is wondering, the font is called Minnie.

If anyone has some great ideas for a Mickey Mouse party for kids of various ages, post away. We'll be decorating Mickey cookies, and Mickey ears. There will be Mickey coloring pages. And a Mickey pinata. I think that should be enough, don't you?

My next project will be dinosaur invitations for Ethan's party in April. I'll post when they are done.

Rock On

You know what's awesome when you feel like something the cat threw up? Being told that you rock. And that is exactly what has happened to me.

It turns out that I am a Rockin' Girl Blogger! I never would have thought! My buddy Meghan, who is quite rockin' in her own right, has tagged me. I'd like to thank all the little people, particularly the three who provide me with so much blog fodder. As stated in the rules, I must now tag 5 others. Of course, I can't narrow it down to just 5 so I'm throwing in a bonus at no extra charge:

1. Of course, my curly little Tannazie of All Kinds of Yum. Even if you don't appreciate her meandering posts about the most arcane food news and information, you'll love her photos, including the occasional very cute child model or two, and her blog is sure to leave you hungry and itching to visit her cute neighborhood in L.A. Stay tuned for her big blog remodel. It is gonna look great. Now we just have to bring her over to the dark side and get her scrapping.
   
2. The lovely Rambling Tara herself of Tara's Ramblings. This girl is a military wife, has 5 adorable kids whom she homeschools!, and still manages to crank out gorgeous detailed scrapbook pages. Amazing!
   
3. Tara Whitney, who I'm sure doesn't read my piddly blog but is still rockin' nevertheless. She is a mom of 4, a photographer whose family pictures have been made to make even bitchy me teary, and a really awesome scrapbooker whose emotions for her kids come through in all of her pages and photography.
   
4. My darling Just Nicole of Nik's Notations. Truth be told, Just Nicole hasn't posted in a while but she just turned 30, started a new job and is traveling this weekend so we'll cut her some slack. Her blog treats us to a slice of her life in Australia and when we're lucky we get pictures of beautiful scenery, her lovely lovely scrapbooking and awesome Indi, her precocious and foul-mouthed daughter. Hmm...wonder where she gets that from.
   
5. Speaking of daughters, mine is certainly rockin' at All About Me. Certainly, she would post more often if she wasn't so busy feeding her Webkinz or devoid of computer privileges for the infraction of the day.
   
6. Finally, sweet Lissa of Life's Reflections. She has such a lovely way with words that even when her posts don't include cute pictures of Dalton or her gorgeous scrapbook pages, her blog is a treat to read.
   

There are several other blogs I read daily who are definitely written by rockin' girls (Kim, Jax, Beth, Teri-Lynn, and others). However, I believe those have already been granted official rockin' status. Hope you enjoy the ones I mentioned here. Tell them I sent you and thanks again Meghan!

This is Getting Excessive

You know those articles in scrapbooking magazines where the designer picks say, a shoelace or a goat, and shows all the different ways it inspired her to create fabulous projects? If you're like me, you usually snort as you quickly glance at the article and then flip to the ads to see the cool new stuff you just have to buy. Whatever with finding scrapbooking inspiration in magazine adds and common daily objects.

But on a recent trip to one of my favorite places in the world, I spotted these, and they just scream "Summer" to me. Aside from the fact that I'm hearing voices, wouldn't these just look cool on a fun, summery layout?

One Just For Me

I recently finished this layout of a sweet nickname my mom made up for Julia. The nice thing about it was that it wasn't for a design team or deadline; it was just for me. It's not the best scan. There's a weird shadow on one side, maybe from the lumpy ribbon.

Product details: Papers: Frances Meyer, Treehouse Designs; Stamps and Ink: Close To My Heart; Rub-Ons: Making Memories, 7 Gypsies (by the way, how annoying is it when alphabet rub-ons and stickers don't also include numbers? This seems like such a basic thing but the manufacturers don't get it.); Flowers: Prima; File tab and rhinestones: Heidi Swapp from the Costco kit that I bought forever ago but just opened. Letter stickers are ancient from The Sharon Ann Collection. That tells you how old they are. The ribbon is a scrap from a gift, I think.

Hard as I try to break out from my style a little, here we are again: pink, green, flowers. I can't help it. It just looks pretty to me. I do have ideas brewing in my head for some other designs but next I'm tackling a project that I've put away for a couple of years. It won't be that fancy, and the products are now a couple years old but that's OK. I'm looking forward to completing it.

In the mean time, thanks for looking.

Cutie Cousin

Those of you who hang out at www.theuntamedscrapper.com may have already seen this page. These pictures are of Julia and one of my favorite cousins. I don't remember much about the products I used but I do recall that the epoxy tag is Marcella by K and the letter stickers are Me and My Big Ideas. Another layout done and I'm actually reasonably happy with this one, although it doesn't measure up to so much of the stuff I see out there.

On another subject, are you feeling extra lucky on 7-7-07? I hope the Dodgers are, since we're going to see them play in a few hours. I also hope it's extra special for my Auntie Parvin, who's celebrating her birthday with her beautiful daughters and grandchildren today. She's the best.

Flattery Works

You all were so nice about posting lovely comments about the last layout I posted. So now I'm sharing this one, which I created for the National Scrapbook Day 20 Layout Crop at The Untamed Scrapper. Our mission was to create simple layouts that could easily be copied and modified. Because the background paper is so busy, I really had no choice but to keep the rest of it simple. This layout was an exercise in perseverance. I think I had to print the journaling out something like 11 times to get it to work right. Maybe I'm just a moron. It's possible.

Boring details: pattern paper: Daisy D's; title: American Craft rub-ons, journaling font: can't remember (email me if you're dying to know and I'll look it up); really cool brass filigree photo corners: Abby's Awesome Offerings. The link is to Abby's blog. Post there if you'd like info on how to join her yahoo group to shop. I don't remember who makes the vellum, but I did learn that vellum, especially colored vellum, is becoming harder to find. Bummer.

The pictures are of a trip we took before Julia was born. We stayed at The Inn on Summer Hill, a lovely lovely bed and breakfast in Summerland, just south of Santa Barbara. If you're ever in the area, you should definitely check it out.

A Page Completed

It's taken probably a month, but I did actually finish a layout last night. This brings our grand total for this year to 4 pages done, which actually doubles last year's output. Pathetic? Yes. Miraculous? Also yes.

Boring details: yellow paper is from Two Busy Moms from my stash and is ages old. The orange is Scenic Route, I think, maybe? It was in my scrap pile. Foam stamps are MM, paint is cheap stuff from Michael's. I had a thought to sponge ink over the letters and emboss with clear embossing powder and then the rational, lazy part of my brain took over and it didn't happen. Ribbon is Carolee's Creations, I think. Font is Whackadoo, which isn't really all that important, but I just like saying Whackadoo.

When coming up with this color scheme, I knew I wanted to use the yellow and blue from the high chair but wanted to add a third color. I googled "online color wheel" and played at a couple of the sites that came up. One suggested the orange which I liked. This definitely isn't my favorite page ever, but the fact that I got another one done is pretty huge and I like it enough to not want to redo it. That's definitely good enough these days.

A Toad Among the Fairy Princesses

My friend Kim is not only a great scrapper with a keen eye for decorating - I mean, she has a red front door; how cool is that? - but she has a really cool new blog that's taking off big time. Today'sCreativeBlog is a blog blog in that each day Kim showcases another creative blog of some sort. So far she's touched upon decorating, scrapbooking and photography. Who knows what she'll find next? Each of the blogs she features are inspirational, with lots of photos and plenty of eye candy and ideas.

So far I see two major problems with this. First, checking out all her cool posts is going to seriously cut into my computer time for things like ordering groceries. Second, it's starting to give me a complex about my own scrapping and decorating (ha ha, as if) not to mention this pitiful little blog. I feel like all these other talented ladies are fairy princesses and I'm a big brown bumpy toad.

Seeing as that kind of pressure will only lead to anxiety, and I don't need any of that right now - oy, that's a whole other post - I'll just focus on how cool Kim and her blogs are and encourage you to check them out. I, for one, am definitely stockpiling inspiration for when I'm out of boxes and unpacking mode and decorating and scrapping for real.

On a side note, this marks my 100th post here. Thanks to those of you who have come by and read and commented, or just lurked. Hope it's been worth the click.

The Notebook

If you've been in my house lately, OK, ever, you probably wouldn't peg me as a freak for organization. That particular gene never really entered my body, and I have all but given up trying to control kid clutter. It's pointless. They can make messes faster than I can clean them up, or yell at them to clean them up. However, there are a few things that I get kind of anal about. OK, very few.

After we closed on the house a couple of weeks ago, I decided that I need a central repository for ideas, information, phone numbers, catalogs, lists, lots of lists, lists of lists, etc. that would accompany the purchase, decorating, moving, and other processes. At the same time, I needed to use the above materials for a design team project at The Untamed Scrapper. So, voila, two birds have been killed with one batch of paint, paper and adhesive.

These days, you'll usually find the notebook not far from wherever I happen to be. I've gotten some funny looks from people (like the cute closet designer at The Container Store who looked like Mike the hunky plumber on Desperate Housewives, but was impressed by the accuracy of my closet measurements) and my darling husband openly makes fun of me. Mock away folks. I don't care.

I like my notebook. It makes feel like I have somewhat of a handle on at least one aspect of my totally chaotic life. I like carrying around something that I made myself, that no one else has. And I love what it represents: that after 8+ years of waiting, the 5 of us are finally creating our own little nest. One that is ours alone (um, along with the bank), that has plenty of room for us to live, play, relax, and grow in. One that we can paint and decorate however we like, where we'll be proud to host family and friends.

As the notebook gets filled, it's becoming a document of our little process. It'll showcase our tastes and desires. The things we spend money on and those we can't. It will be a reference for when I need someone's phone number, or a paint color , or a receipt.

Each day, our lives are becoming more crazy as we get ready to move. But as I enter each photo, each telephone number (and each invoice) into my little notebook, it holds the craziness at bay for just one second. And some days, that one second is about as good as it's going to get.

Homework

It seems that these days, the parents get just about as much homework as the kids. Thankfully, my kid usually doesn't require me to sit there with her while she does her work. But occasionally, we do get our own parents-only assignments. This is how I completed the latest one. We had to decorate a heart for our little angels. This is far from my most imaginative creation. I found out about it kind of last minute...and I was having a rather challenging weekend with my precious little cherub. I stole the idea from this layout I did a while ago:


I did go around the edge with a glitter pen to add a little sparkle. The letters are made using an eons-old template. The heart is, in-fact, intact; the edge got cut off in the scan. I'm sure the other overachiever parents have come up with many more complex and elaborate creations. Hopefully, Julia won't notice how plain this one is and give me a passing grade.

A Resolution Kept....so far

As you may remember, one of my New Year's resolutions was to scrapbook more this year. Last year was a total bust in this area and it would be difficult to do worse this year. But it's fun, important and cheaper than therapy so I do try to get it in when possible.

Last weekend I got a chance to do some playing and I used the opportunity to finish a project that was only a year overdue. A few years ago I found these little Kolo mini-albums that are perfect to make into ornaments. They even have a hole in the back for a ribbon to hang them with. I decided that I'd make a simple album every December to recap the past year's highlights and hang it on our Christmas tree. Easy enough, right? The first two years it worked out great. Last year I got totally swamped and also got stuck on how to do the cover so it sat until last weekend. Never mind that I still have 2006 to do, which I fully intend to before Chritmas 2007. This one is done, cute and special to our family.

The front is sponged with red ink. The photo is one we took when Julia came home from the hospital just after New Year's; it was actually included with the thank you notes we sent to family and friends who were so thoughtful while she was hospitalized. The rainbow is symbolic because around that time she was really into them, just totally loved rainbows. The day she was released from the hospital we saw the most gigantic one ever stretched all the way across the sky. We took it as a sign that everything was going to be OK. The inside pages are very simple and embellished only with stickers, if at all. Because the pages are so small, it's hard enough to get a decent picture on them, let alone anything fancy.

So, there you have it. My first scrapping of 2007 and hopefully not the last!

P.S. Sorry for the wonky scan. The album is fat and my scanner wouldn't close completely.

P.P.S. If you'd like to try your hand at making your own mini-album ornament, I did a write-up about it in the December issue of the View from Untamed. You can take a look here; scroll down to the bottom of the first page, and keep going for a whole lot of other good stuff.

A Holiday Miracle

It's indeed a miracle that during this season of wishes and magic and all that other stuff, I actually got a couple of hours to myself to scrap. I used those magical hours, when I really truly should have been sleeping, to complete this page, which I started several months ago. Pathetic, isn't it?

True to my scrapping style, I did a Valentine's day page in November. And you'll note by the date that yes, I am almost 5 years and two children behind in my scrapbooking, but let's not talk about that and ruin the miraculous mood.

This a design team LO for Dragonfly Designs whose very generous and understanding owner never complains about the timeliness of my submissions. She provided the Daisy D's paper and monogram, both of which I love. By the way look for great things happening soon from Dragonfly Designs; Jacquie has been hard at work. I can go through the rest of the supply list, but do you really care? I will say that I love my Anna Griffin clear stamps that I used for the bottom part. Stamping for Dummies, indeed. No offense, dummies.

I'd like to think that my photography skills have improved since I took these photos. The bottom one, in particular, was kind of a messy hodgepodge, so I made a vellum overlay for the important part and tucked the rest behind the photo mat. Of course, now that I'm looking at the page again, I see things I could add and change but really, what are the odds of that?

Tune in 6 months from now for my next great creation.

Been Creating!

If I wasn't on a couple of Design Teams with actual expectations and deadlines, I would probably never scrap. However, my good friend Jacquie at Dragonfly Designs was kind enough to choose me for her DT and then send me awesome stuff to work with. The top image is a bad scan of an altered notebook covered with Daisy D's papers and T monogram, which I added Julia's glitter glue and some ribbon to. I plan to keep this in my car to jot down thoughts, lists, to-do's, etc. The first of these will be all the things I plan to do in the Best Summer Ever . The second also uses Daisy D's papers and rub-ons (SO COOL) and has pictures of Julia at around 7 months old. Very simple (aren't all of my pages?) but you just can't screw up with these awesome papers. Thanks Jacquie!