My Four Favorite Tools

I am so overwhelmingly excited when I am able to go from a blank piece of paper to something that well, just makes me happy.
These are four of my favorite tools that I use the most when I create my layouts, ATCs and other items that I make.
Of course I have to admit that I am not able to use just the items themselves the way that they are, in using them I need to also enlist the assistance of other tools, but these are the most basic; and largest in my crafting repertoire.

Allow me to introduce them.

Of course, some of you are familiar with my Cricut Create die-cut machine. I just love what I can do with it and how I'm able to pull some really wonderful things together.



Then there is the Gypsy, which is my hand held device that I use in relation to the Cricut on some occasions.
Its very nice that it stores all of my cartridges and I am able to manipulate them as needed.




The ATG gun.
I have posted about my excitement for this tool before.
I can't help but gush about it.
Yes, it is a little bulky - but surprisingly easy to use once you get the hang of it.
I like that I can get the equivalent of three snail runners out of one roll of my tape refills, and I get a little giddy over the amount of money I'm saving when I think about it.



The Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.
Oh I like this glue soooo much.
It adheres faster than regular white glue. It does dry fast. It loves adhering paper to paper so well!
I know that Scotch makes a scrapbooking glue too, which I haven't tired yet, but I have been very satisfied with the results I have with this one.


I was able to use all four of these tools in making some wonderful things, including this layout ~



I just wanted to give a little bit of appreciation for these marvels and how they are a big part of my artistic processes.

Of course I should also acknowledge the other tools that I need to be able to use those to their full abilities:
Cricut mats, blades, and spatulas.
My Cricut Jukeboxes, which I use to keep my most used cartridges in to use when I'm cutting things without manipulating them on the Gypsy.
ATC refill tape.
Bee scissors, I have a yellow pair for cutting paper and a pink pair for cutting ribbon.
And my tool tote with TONS of odds and ends of smaller tools like rulers, stylus, awls, pens, the Crop-o-dile, and more...

All of these things; and so much more that I know I'm forgetting right now, help me to go from ideas to actual creations - and I'm so thankful for them!!

Fun Bit of News

For the month of November I joined 10 scrapbooking challenges online through the Scrapbook.com site. I am happy to admit that I was able to complete all the challenges! I felt very successful.

Each challenge was a little different and required certain criteria that was a specific theme or using suggested techniques. Some of the challenges have voting at the end of the month to choose the best of the submitted layouts and some are just for sharing. For a couple of the layouts I was able to enter them into more than one challenge.

I had joined the following:
{pictures of the layouts are in the slide show on the right}

Use Your Scraps: 85% of the layout was to be made up from scraps of paper, ribbon, etc. and included an added twist to use a border or corner punch or a corner rounder.
I did a page that was about my Mom's visit from Seattle in 2002.

Darker Side: The layout is to be in dark colors with lots of distressing and generally have a dark/twisted sense of whatever the month's theme is. The theme for the month was to do a layout about a fairy tale.
I chose to capture the legend of Sleeping Beauty and tell a little about her dark origins. While doing research I found out, her story IS really dark and twisted!

Ugly Paper: This one was quite an interesting one. I took two pieces of scrapbook paper from my stash that aren't the prettiest things (in my opinion) and sent them off to an unsuspecting participant in the challenge. Then I receive two pieces of paper and an embellishment from someone else in the challenge.
The goal is to make a layout using the papers we receive and the twist is to use the given embellishment.
I was able to create a layout about Geocaching with the papers I received.

Lyric: We were to create a page about a song from the 70's.
I did my layout about my memories of receiving my own portable record player and the first three 45's that I was given with it. I emphasized that one of them was Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" ballad, which still gets some air play today.

Neutrals: The assignment for this one was to use only neutral shade colors (brown, white, cream, black, grey, ecru,) and one POP of color.
I decided to use Pink as my color accent, and since I was going to use pink then I should make a page dedicated to my niece Heather, since she loves all things pink!

Monochrome: This one was a little different because it required making four layouts, one with different color schemes and twists, broken into week segments. Each page needed to be at least 75% of the specific color and using only neutral colors for the rest if needed.
Week 1 - Red, with the twist of: Just once...
I did something I hardly ever do, I put myself in the spotlight and put a picture of me on it and journaled about things I wish I had a more assertive nature about.
Week 2 - Green, with its twist of: A day in the life...
For this one I did a page about Steve and his schedule for one day and what his life is like

Week 3 - Purple, its twist:I am blessed...
I did a page about my deep love for John!
Week 4 - Blue, and the with the twist of: And then...
I did a page about seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time during our trip in 2008 to Paris.

Other Challenges -
Scrap Your Pet: I did a different page about Steve, titled: "The Creature at the Top of the Stairs" it was a fun page to do.

Doodle: Use hand doodles within the layout. It also had a twist, this one was to doodle a border around something.
For this one I entered the purple layout I had made for the Monochrome challenge since I made doodled borders around some of the pictures on the page.

And the two other challenges are share groups - you post your items for other people to see and comment on, and you comment on their items.
Its a place to get feedback and inspiration from.
Its always fun to check in and see what other people are making and get some ideas or tips on techniques or new tools/items out in the market.

So when it was all said and done, for the month of November I created a total of 38 layouts (yes, that's right - not all of them are listed on here) and 39 ATCs (Artist Trading Cards).
A very productive month.

And when the voting was finished; for the challenges that have voting, I found out that my layout: "A Day in the Life of Steve" (pictured above) WON!
Whooo Hoooo!!
There isn't any prizes, just recognition - but I'm happy with that!

So now for the month of December I have joined 13 challenges!!
Ten of them are the same as before (with different themes and criteria but the same topics) plus a Holiday theme, a Creative Cricut challenge, and an ATC swap.
Luckily the Cricut and ATC ones aren't due until the end of February - but I'll finish them long before then.
I haven't started on any of this month's yet, I should get going on that in the next day or two.
But I have been working on the Compendium and that's been taking a little more time than I'd like but it will be nice once I get it caught up.

Well, that's all for now.
Have a great week everyone!

Happy Holidays!!

Okay, I can go on and on about how I'm not that great of a blogger, but we all already know that. So instead of recapping what has taken place in the past two and a half months, lets just move forward.

First off: as a rule I don't make New Year's Resolutions because, lets face it - they generally don't make it past Valentine's Day, well...at least mine haven't.
BUT I am going to give myself the challenge of getting on here once a week to at least post something, anything, in hopes of instilling a good habit.
I cannot promise that it will always be crafting related but my goal is to make this a creative blog.
So if anyone finds me rushing in at zero hour just to say hello, don't be surprised.
I do honestly hope to get better at this and make it part of my artistic routine.
Wish me luck!!


I cannot guarantee that I will have another post before the end of this year, so I am going to get all of my Yuletide Greetings and Thanks out now.

Since we just had Thanksgiving let me say Thanks to several people that have helped to make my life whole and to also extend my Christmas wishes to you. Hopefully I will not leave anyone aside, please forgive me if I do. You have my permission to remind me that I am as loopy as ever.

John, Thank you for being you and loving me!

Mom & Wayne, I love you very much!

Keith, I may not always be the best sister - but I do care and love you!

Vonda & Big John, Thank you so much for everything and for always including me. I love you both a pretty whole lotta muches.

Grandma & Grandpa Laff, Aunt Dawn & Uncle Alex, Bryan, Nathan, Aunt Sharon, Dustin & Kari, Garret & Aubrey & Dylan, Shanelle & Hayden & Bree: It means the world to me that you are all the awesome people that you are and that you make me feel included in the wonderful group that is all of you.

Grandma K, I am thankful that you have passed down this wonderful gift of creativity. It has been my solace at times of great need and without it I would be lost. Much love to you!

Aunt Dale, I send you lots of hugs and love!!

Anita & Jimmy & Heather & Jennifer & Justin: Big smmmooochhyy wet kisses to all of ya! A special thanks to Anita for being my voice of reason when I get on my tangents and temporarily loose my mind. ;)

Edana, you are such a dear and wonderful friend to me. Your unconditional love and support always surprises and touches me. You have a deep affection and warmth that is genuine and endless and I am so completely grateful for you!

Nicole, you have been there during dark time and loopy times. You remind me of the importance of quality time. I enjoy our late coffee nights and I appreciate it that you never seem to tire of hearing me babble. Thank you for always being there!

Vanessa & Eric: I don't think I can express my appreciation for you two enough. Love you bunches!!! I include Diana & Misha & Colin & Charlotte & Grandma & Grandpa in that love too!

Denise, Veronica, Jenny, DiAnne & Chrysti: You gals rock! You inspire me and make me feel very special every time we get together.

Theresa, Mackenzie & Kelsie: I miss you girls a lot. Even though you're a ways away you're in my thoughts.

Jen, Amy, Jose, Lauren, Kim, Mr. & Mrs. McCormick, Aunt Shirley, & Aunt Pat: Thank you all so much for all the laughter that you let me in on whenever I'm around any of you. I do appreciate it very much.

To the Geeks!!! Oh my, there are soooo many so I unfortunately will lump you all together, but know that whether as a group or individually you all make me laugh and smile and think and wonder and just all around have such a fun time. I am sooooo happy that John found all of you extraordinary people and that you've welcomed us into the fold so warmly.

And for the gals that I've gotten to chat with on the scrapbook site, well thanks for all the giggles, appreciation, and encouragement!

Okay...I am pretty sure I've goofed and am forgetting some folks, again...please forgive me.

I wish each and everyone a warm, safe, and healthy Christmas season. I want nothing but peace and happiness for all of us. Lots of hugs, tons of laughter, but most of all love and joy!
Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!
With Much Love,
~Ren

Happy Happy Joy Joy

It arrived! It arrived! And I am doing a happy dance!!

I know I am probably the only one that finds glee in this, but darn it - I'm soooo happy about it!

Oh...here's some other things that have gone on recently:

Wine tasting/buying trip to Santa Ynez valley with Vanessa and Jen



And a visit to the Muckenthaller Cultural Center in Fullerton


Now if you'll excuse me...I have some crafting to do...
:) Have a fabulous day!!
~Ren

I got curious and decided to change the way the blog looks, I hope you like it!

So what did I learn these past couple of weeks?
Well, many things.
First, when going to a long crop at a friend’s house (what constitute “long”? oh, twelve hours) make sure to get up every once in a while instead of only three times.

Second, when at said crop – don’t keep stuff at your feet and then bend over from the chair to get it. Instead, keep it within reach OR get out of the chair and kneel down to get it.

Third, learn these two things before you repeat it again a week later at another crop (this one not lasting twelve hours – but still a good amount of time was spent sitting, and reaching, and so on…)

How did I come to learn these things?
I pinched a nerve in my hip. Yes, that’s what I said. In my hip, the area of the ball joint – and I don’t suggest it to anyone. It burned with the fire of a thousand suns…and I’ll just spare everyone the rest of the details.
A doctor’s visit and a filled prescription of Ibuprofen in 800Mg later… I just have to wait the 6-8 weeks (5-7 now) for it to heal. Oh, and be careful. Sigh

Another lesson learned:
Don’t order anything online that is a “pre-order” - wait for it to be in stock, then order it.

The pink ATG gun that I was so excited to be ordering and had hoped to have in my hands by at least now, well – it’s back ordered until August!
Well, I’m taking care of that on Monday.

Let’s move on to happier thoughts, shall we?
Here’s what I have gotten done lately, even while combating injury -

I have completed my Mom’s mini album of my wedding. Now I just need to send it off to her with her other goodies.

Steve’s album is caught up to current.

I am a good way through stitching the wedding project for Eric and Vanessa – my goal is to try to complete the stitching before the middle of August.

I have started amassing the photos for my Disney scrapbook.
This might actually become a couple of books because I have so many memories to record. Unfortunately I don’t have all of my pictures anymore, so we’ll see what magic I can create!

I have been hesitating making my Cricut compendium book…it’s because it is a daunting task – but I need to get on top of it, then it won’t feel like such a huge project.
I also found out that simple math is not easy (yes, sarcasm) – I have to correct myself to say that I own 28 cartridges, not 29. And I’ve only completed cataloging 2 of them.
So in order to challenge myself I am adding a project counter:
Compendium Status: 2/28 – of course that will get more intimidating if I pick up more cartridges….


Recent Day Trips and Experiences
Edana and I went to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda to see their garden.
We didn’t know that the garden was part of the museum’s admission, so we went ahead because we were told that they had the largest rose garden in Orange County. The garden was nice, but I feel that Roger’s Gardens and Nursery in Newport is actually bigger.
It was a pretty warm day; it was also the 20th anniversary of Nixon’s induction into office (I believe) so we were there when they were having a celebration and luncheon.
While there we were able to get some photos of a few pretty flowers and one very flighty butterfly. After walking through the gardens we meandered through the museum a little bit, mostly to take advantage of the coolness before going back outside. I learned some new things but I also have a deeper appreciation for Pat Nixon now.

The Geek group had a Cake Challenge event that I co-hosted. We had a really nice turn out and a lot more cakes were brought in to be judged than I anticipated. We all had a lot of fun, but when we plan to have one next year we’ve decided it will be in the winter, everyone’s cake kinda got beat up in the heat. John made his own entry and won two prizes!


Other News and Happenings…
I will be traveling to Santa Barbara this next weekend to take part in some wine tasting with my friends Vanessa and Jen. I will be taking this opportunity to discover what type of wine I like, if I truly even enjoy wine. So we’ll see how that goes. I’m hoping to take a lot of beautiful pictures and fun times to capture!

My Sister-in-Law; Anita, and her husband; Jimmy, bought a house! I’m so excited for them. It was a long process with many many emotional set-backs, so I’m very happy this has come to fruition for them. I’m looking forward to seeing their new abode soon. Congratulations you guys!!

Okay…I think that’s all for now…which seems like a lot…
Take Care!
I hope everyone has a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!
~Ren

Projects!

Here is what I've been doing during this long break between posts:

I worked on and FINISHED the Monterey scrapbook. Yay!!


I have also been working on Steve's 1st year album, and I'm almost caught up to current, three more layouts and we'll be waiting for the next big activity.




And I started a mini scrapbook of my wedding for my Mom.


There have been a few late night/early morning crops at Denise's house. Not only are we having a great time enjoying each other's company and seeing what we're all working on but the conversations have been varied and stimulating!
I've been having scrapping fun with these gals!!

We also recently had our last crop with Theresa, the lady who pretty much brought us all together. We will miss her very much and we wish her and her family the best of luck in Colorado and we're hoping we will get to visit her soon!!

I have been working on a project for my friends Eric & Vanessa, for their wedding in October. I am hoping to have it completed soon. I'll show you the pics once they're finished.

My Cricut cartridge collection is now up to 29 carts since the roll out of the Walmart exclusive Lites. They seem to be introducing new carts more often lately. I just saw today that they are making a full content cart for Halloween (along with some seasonal carts) - I've been saying for a while that they needed one. I know - I'm obsessed! I hope I don't regret not joining the Cricut Circle as a charter member...

I am one of the (not so) happy folks who couldn't update her Gypsy this holiday weekend, but that's okay - the glich should be repaired and the site up and running again by Tues/late Wed.


And I ordered a pink ATG gun from Custom Crops, now I am patiently waiting for my shipping confirmation that its on its way! Once I get the ship confirmation number I'll order some refills!!

My dear friend Edana gave me some good reassurance about my post back a while ago when I was so hard on myself about my picture taking abilities. She was so wonderful to point out that digital cameras make it easier to take bad pictures because we don't take the time to really take a photo like we used to when we were using actual film. So true on my part! So I've decided to take a little more time when I take my pictures, we'll see how they turn out...in the meantime here is one I took when she and I were wandering through downtown Orange a couple of weeks ago, its so pretty I thought I'd share it with everyone.

Thank you Edana for your continuing support and love!!

I Did It!!

Okay, I have to say that I am completely proud of myself.
I finished scrapping the Paris trip from 2008.
It took 7 scrapbooks!! Yes, 7!!


I am so happy!! This feels soooo good to have this project finished!
Now I am focusing on catching up Steve's album and scrapping the Monterey trip from 2006.
I love the feeling of meeting goals!!

Newly Discovered!

In my excitement and enthusiasm to want to capture and record activities and memorable occasions I will take pictures, sometimes LOTS of pictures.
With the wonderful equipment of a digital camera that number has risen exponentially - the only draw back to having soooo many pictures is when they need to be loaded, edited, labeled, etc.
So I make sure to try to do this timely - that way I can clear the camera to be able to take more photos!

But what I've discovered is this phenomenon that lately, well... I am terrible at taking photos! I know that I'm just being hard on myself but I have to be honest, they are just not that great.

Every once in a while one will come out beautiful and makes me go all happy skippy inside - but for every good photo there is a bunch of blurry, yucky, poorly lit, badly framed, ick...
Compound that with the fact that I almost ALWAYS forget to clean the lens before taking pictures.

Sigh.

Okay, its just me being hard on myself I know, but I am soooo frustrated because these moments are not getting captured! I am happy that I have some sort of documentation of an event of another, but if its blurry or too dark its not very aesthetic to look at, so why keep it in my files...
These are the thoughts that flit through my brain as I upload my pics and try to find the best ones I have...
And every once in a while I come across one that looks cool because its blurry or fuzzy, but I am so glad that I don't take pictures for a living! I just don't want to be the one who gets known for taking bad photos. My pride and conceit has risen again!!
So here's how I will combat this: I have a new goal to learn how to use my camera properly so that I can use it to my best advantage and learn to not be so hasty to try to capture every detail - we'll see how that works.

For now I'll take what Serendipitous pics come my way. :)

Hmmm.... almost May?

Alright, so as I've mentioned in my previous post, I'm a bad blogger.
But it isn't like I haven't been doing anything!
So here are some interesting things that have happened since oh...January.

I went to the Napoleon Exhibit at the Muzeo museum in Anaheim with Edana.

Geocaching on New Year's Day with Jeremy from the Geekitude group.

January had a few celebrations in it. Jen's Birthday, Shanelle's Going-Away party (she and her two children moved to Washington state), and then one of my scrapbooking friends; Denise, had a crop at her new house for her housewarming party!

January also brought a few day trips. A belated holiday trip that we called Christmas with the Carpenters as we traveled to Bakersfield to visit with my Sis-in-law and nieces. And of course there was the Scrapbook Expo. It usually takes place in February but this year it was crammed into the last of January.

The last day of January we gathered with the friends from the Geekitude group to have fun and raise money for an excellent chairty: Childs Play, set up by the good folks form Penny Arcade, one of John's favorite online comics. Their web addy: www.childsplaycharity.org

February was just as packed and crazy as January, if you could believe it!
We had the Geekitude group over for a Rock Band Pary, fun!
I went scrappin' at Denise's again, more fun!

We made a decision to bring a pet into our home so on the 18th we brought home Steve!

and its been so much fun since!!

I went back to the Muzeo with Edana again, this time to see the frog exhibit


John and I attended the Jonathan Coulton show at the Largo in LA one evening. We went to dinner at the Stinking Rose before the show. YUM!!
The rest of the month was spent celebrating John's birthday with family and friends at different events.

March was just as jammed packed with activities!
We saw the new Alice in Wonderland with some of the Geeks.
Steve started obedience classes AND had his first playdate with Terra, Nic and Jen's dog.


Then we celebrated Nic's birthday, followed by a Geek Karaoke party at our place (who'd a thought we could cram 30 people in the condo! Not me.)
The end of March brought a bitter-sweet activity of the last scrapbook crop at Theresa's house. She will be moving to Colorado as soon as her house sells. I will miss her and her family very much! :(

April was really rainy and gloomy, but it had some really nice bright days!
I've gotten to spend a few good days with Vanessa C. helping to get ready for her wedding in October. It's gonna be here before we all know it!
We all spent Easter at Vonda and Big John's and was shaken up by a decent size earthquake that really had me scared.
And in April I finished my Marquoir!! A three (or is it four?) year project that we had all planned to have done in two, but it is done. And I love it!

one of my goals is to get on here and blog about this project and all nine of the squares that make this sampler, now family heirloom.

And of course the biggest project that I've been working on - that is ALMOST DONE - the Paris scrapbooks! I had originally planned for it to be a 4 album set, but due to the size and bulkiness of each book I have broken them up into smaller ones and looks like it will be a seven album set! As soon as I have them finished I am planning on having a show-and-tell gathering so people can come over and look through them while we chat and snack. I'm not sure if that is conceited or not, but I worked so hard on them that I want to share them with everyone.

Other projects that I am working on:
Steve's scrapbook - this will be an on-going project that will chronicle the first year of him with us.


Monterey Scrapbook - capturing the vacation of October 2006 with Nic & Jen to Monterey, California

Paris Mini album - because it will be really hard to carry 7 volumes anywhere - this is meant to be a "best of" book

Wedding Mini album - My Mom has asked me for an album of my wedding. Why I didn't think of that when I was working on my main album, I have no idea

And LOTS of other things - Including working with Vanessa for her wedding, did I mention that its in October?

Hmmm..... What have I been doing all this time?

Wow... I am definately not a blogger... I'll have to catch up here... or should I just start from scratch?? But I've done so many fun things since January and have created some really neat things, so I will have to get on top of this soon - and get better at keeping it up!! (how many times have I said that?)

Okay... in response to a suggestion I'm going to try something new here... I'm going to attempt to add a picture within the blog, not just let Flickr do all the work... here it goes...

Yeah!!! It looks like it worked! What do you think??
This is one of my most favorite layouts about the Paris trip. :)

Okay... if this is a positive result I think my blog might get a little more interesting from here on, lets hope.

~Ren