Tidbits

Giving myself a time-out

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:41:00 +0000

There's a lot on my plate right now... I wont get into it it's nothing major by any means just a lot going on in different directions. I'm in the middle of moods.. I'm too tired to pretend to be Pollyanna and too afraid to say much and sound like Scrooge. Let's just say I'm in the middle where real life resides. For that reason, I'm taking a moment to blog.

It is in this time that my husband sometimes just is perfect. Through all of this he's just being there and letting me vent and venting his own woes with the things going on his life and we are just listening and not really telling each other to let it go or stop overreacting as we sometimes may do. We're just giving each other the "that sucks".

At one point the other morning, I was feeling bad that I forgot to move our Elf on the Shelf (again) and made a joke "worst mom ever Eli's probably got leg cramps from being in that spot for the 3rd day" and he just said "do you have any idea how many homes don't even have an elf on the shelf?" ... yeah perfectly perfect response.

My secret revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:10:00 +0000

As I teased in an earlier post I have been working diligently on a new project and now it's time to share...

Let me introduce you to Creative Passion Classes...

Goodbye - 30 Days of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:41:00 +0000

I'm very sorry to report that I wont be participating in 30days of thanks this year. There are two reasons, first there was an incident involving my boys and a bully. I'm trying to take care of this situation and keep my family's wits together. It takes priority over my blog world. Secondly, I have a major announcement and although I hate to be one of those 'teasers'; I have to be as it isn't for me to reveal at this time. It will be very soon I promise. In the meantime, here is a photo of two of my favorite people in the entire world.

Austin & Kyle you honestly make me proud every day, I love you. I am so very blessed to be your mom.

#30daysofthanks Day 2 - The Power of Coincidence

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:14:00 +0000

It was definitely a "I'm missing my family" day...

#30daysofthanks Day 1 - Halloween Candy

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:51:00 +0000

If you catch my One Month at a Time post over at Get It Scrapped (it should post within the next day or two) you'll have heard me talk about the 30DaysofThanks. Here's post one but I did use a different digital template. Just saw these freebies and fell in love with them. Head over to the Kaylaaimee Blog and snag them!

At any rate here's my day 1 complete with a photo taken yesterday. See photo every day AND being thankful.. hello two birds see my stone?

Speaking of cute kid stories...

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:13:00 +0000

I saw this video today and it cracked me up. A friend and I disagree about the cute kid story comment but I think he's more spot on than not.

So speaking of kid stories; I just want to say that I am full of love and happiness this morning. When it's just Keagan and me home during the day he is so amazing.

He plays without abandon, pretends to be the silliest things without care or concern how I perceive him. He has no problem running around the house making puffing noises and wiggling his hand in the air near his mouth to simulate the steam coming out of him, as he's a train. The next moment he hands me a piece of rope and tells me to put out the fire. I look and he's in a ball on the floor with fingers and feet wiggling in the air to simulate the flames. His imagination is endless and he's happy.

Its not the same when others get home he becomes a little self conscious, slightly embarrassed to do these things. I don't condone what the rest of the kids do. I often tell them to leave him alone, I try to explain how he may feel. What he's doing is cute but their comments and teasing grins aren't welcome. But the older kids will see him play and they will chuckle at his cuteness. Or ask him to repeat something he just said or did. He's smart, he knows they aren't asking him to do this because they want to join in his fun. It's relatively innocent, it's not taunting, but what the older kids are doing affects things. What Keagan is doing is so hilarious some times - for the pure genius of how his mind works. Yet Keagan knows they are laughing at him. While what he does is cute and sometimes makes me want to giggle, I'm able to stop myself. I remember a time when I was dating a person just out of high school. His little sister was singing a well known Christmas Song with the word Hallelujah in it; except she was singing it "How I knew you". I remember her brothers asking her to repeat it several times, I remember chuckling, and I remember her running off and crying because she thought she was doing something wrong.

I understand it's harder for kids to control it, heck I was a high school graduate when I took part in making a little girl cry over a Christmas song. I don't know what my point is, or why this is something I'm blogging about. I wish it was different, I feel badly that it's made Keagan self conscious, but more so I hate that they are missing out on knowing a part of Keagan that is so utterly amazing and unique.

Until they get a clue I'll keep enjoying these days, and encouraging Keagan to not care and to borrow a popular though "Dance like no one is watching". More so, I'll keep hoping that he'll always feel this comfortable around me. I'll hope when he's a teen and more self conscious than he can ever imagine being, he'll know he never needs to be that way with me.

Whenever I look through my picture folder...

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 02:58:00 +0000

This photo always stands out to me when I look through my picture folder. Obviously it's not a great photo, I didn't intend on the door handles to be coming out of his head, however unintentional it was.. it's fitting. The door handles look like little horns on Keagan's head.

If you know Keagan you're probably laughing right now.

If you don't, let's just say Keagan isn't one for getting his picture taken - saying "hey stand there and let me get a photo" is on the same level as telling an adult "hey stand there while I sing Henry the VIII fifty times"

#101things A Weekend Computer Free

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:55:00 +0000

I did it, and I actually started Thursday night. I decided when I woke up Friday that there's no time like the present to begin. I'm not going to say I got a ton done over the weekend, for one I think it's a personality thing I manage to get 'enough' done with the computer. So going computer free I wasn't expecting a spotless house by sunday night. Frankly, if housecleaning was a priority I would walk away from the computer to do it. Afterall, I manage to walk away to scrapbook and do other things I want to do right?

I will say I enjoyed not multi-tasking. When I watched TV I watched TV. It was probably the hardest, I tend to be an information gatherer and I like thinking "hey who just voiced that cartoon character" then hopping on the computer to look. (Which leads to checking social media sites, my email, pinterest... and in the end only half watching whatever was on TV). I wasn't able to do that so I had to watch the entire movie not knowing who voiced Optimus Prime in the Transformers trilogy. I also didn't know what other movies actors were in and where I saw them before. I didn't know how long to cook my ham. I had to have a 13 yr old order pizza for dinner friday night.

I'll be honest going without the computer was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I do recommend it. There were times when out of habit I wanted to hop on but it was more a boredom thing. I had a crop all day saturday, that was hard because I wanted to look up how to spell a word on my phone or get information on an upcoming crop the rest of my table mates were going to, but I couldn't use the internet. All in all I think I did very well, even considering my energy level was non-existent because I decided to get a cold over the weekend. I do think I will be using less computers around here, but honestly it's more about the less-multitasking than less-computers. I'm beginning to realize that I rarely give anything my undivided attention which is sad. This weekend did have one positive impact on the househould, by sunday night I decided to institute a new rule and no one is allowed to use the computer sunday nights. Whether that means everyone stays in the same room and does anything together or not. I'm finding my kids are beginning this multitasking thing as well. :( This week we played monopoly instead, it was a hoot. Dear husband was being quite a tough negotiator and Austin and Kyle were coming up with some rather hilarious trade ideas. I think the one that got he most guffaws was $1 for North Carolina Avenue and the pleasure in knowing you were helping a poor person.

From now on I'm going to document my 101 Things in a red Smash book. I will go back and "smash" previous ones but for now here's my page for this thing.

PS for inquiring minds... I just peaked and I have 555 unread emails .... so now I'm off to work on unsubscribing from some email lists.. :)

#101things - Go a weekend staying off the computer

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:19:00 +0000

I've decided to accomplish this over the coming weekend. I know for some it may seem a small feet but others like myself that have come to rely on the internet as a way to socialize, self-educate, and escape ~~housecleaning~~ life. So with that said here are my "rules" for this task. I will go from 5 o'clock friday until Monday when I rise with my computers shut off. My phone is a smart phone but I will not abuse this. I will not update my facebook status through it, nor will I check emails. If it's important I know something then I'll get a text or phone call right? :)

All four.. in one photo?

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:38:00 +0000

It's a rarity indeed. I had to just speak up and make them all sit regardless of the consequences. Everyone was getting ready to do one thing or another but I will say in this photo:

One wanted to have his picture taken
One took it to make me happy
One was mad he had to get his picture taken
One was not happy with where he had to sit in the photo

You can play detective to figure out which 'one' is which.

I think my husband is a closet classic movie lover...

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 20:55:00 +0000

At first I approached him to have a movie watching buddy. Terri my former movie watching buddy is in the swing of a school year, complete with a new grade to teach, new lesson plans to write and a teen in love. I was desperate and expecting to have to make a deal; he'll watch the movie but I have to ____.

Not so, instead he said "I'll give it a try" so I started Heaven Can Wait. One of the movies for my 101 things list #40 item. As the intro credits started, my husband said "Oh Don Ameche is in this?"

*jaw drop*

What? - that's right he knew people in this 1943 movie. I asked who Donna Meche was (yup that's right I hadn't a clue who he was) and my dear husband correct me and told me other films he had been in. I can not explain the giddy surprise I felt. I've watched old movies with him before so I wasn't unaware but the others were with actors a LOT more main stream. No one is surprised when you know who who Bing Crosby is right? Even so, I'm very excited and can't wait to try the next one.

Regarding the movie: I loved it. I kind of wished in the end that the 'dalliances' were misunderstandings and he was always faithful to Martha, probably because of my views on adultry and wanting to like the leads more. I loved Grand PaPa and the french maid., I really liked that a lot of the risky business was innuendo and jokes. When sex in movies was funny and not gratuitous nakedness. Maybe I'm getting old but I think filmmakers have lost the fine art of implication. When you could imply there was something going on without spelling it out. I don't think 70 years later the audience is so stupid everything has to be shown on screen. I'm quite satisfied not having seen Don Ameche get it on with a showgirl.

Quick update

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:04:00 +0000

Still here, still doing things. This is a smash page I did - wanted to play with making houses then put the words of the song "Little Boxes" on the page. Which is funny because myhouses don't look the same but close!

Now I'm off to get Zach from first grade, he's doing so well this year. He's matured a lot I think as far as school is concerned and I'm so proud of him. Then I'm going to find 3 in 1 oil for my old typewriter so I can start using that.. and then it's home to house cleaning. I am procrastinating on the fall cleaning and I know I will regret it soon as Keagan's fourth birthday is next month then we have Kyle's 14th and Thanksgiving and Christmas and the new year will be here before I know it.

I want it wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:27:00 +0000

Here are 7 things I want this wednesday:

1. A Breville Pie Maker - it looks amazing! I know Alton Brown would be yelling at me for the unitasker but ooh how much fun this would be. You could make mini-pot pies and everyone could add what they wanted to them. And those look yummy golden brown!

2. For Zach who declared he wasn't eating hot lunch this year...

3. This kit which is sold out but it's so pretty...

4. Professor Layton has a new game! Not available until 10/17/11 but I still want it

5. I've been wanting one for awhile and now thinking on it, I'd like a butterfly tattoo. My mom had one and I just think it'd be kinda cool. I do not want all these butterflies but just one about where the bottom one is.

6. A trip to Legoland California... I know I'm dreaming big here..

7. I'm just tired of being one...

First Day of School and why I pack an extra lunch each day

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:33:00 +0000

So I decided to be witty the first day of school and start a new trend. But here are the first day shots of my boys and lunch packing story.

After dropping the boys off and Keagan insisting on bringing an empty backpack to drop Zach off at school I realized this year may be harder on him than the one before. I don't even want to think about the fact he can't start for another 2 years. He just wants to be big and hang with the big kids. He so wants to go to school too. So we now have a new morning ritual. As I pack Zach's lunch for school, I pack a second lunch that goes into the backpack. Keagan carries it to school, we drop Zach off, come home and when it's lunch time; Keagan eats his packed lunch in the 'lunchroom' (which is his table in the scraproom). We also had reading today (he read on my nook) and dance class (to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song). It's going to be a fun year with this preschooler.

Zach's Sixth Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:25:00 +0000

Zach's party was amazing. We normally keep parties smaller unless it's a milestone birthday (5, 10, 13, 16, etc.) but since we have a pool and it was the end of summer, why not go big right? The guests were amazing and I truly hope they are people I know when we do celebrate Zach's 16th birthday. At one point in the party all of the kids were sitting at a smaller table and I was thinking how wonderful it would be if they were all sitting there in 10 years, though maybe a bigger table. I love the idea of living in once place and providing stability to your kids. I had that once I hit jr. high when I was a kid. I wish circumstances didn't lead to us having to move from Michgian to Vegas but I think being here as many years as we have been already has given our kids the opportunity to make lasting friendships if they choose.

Anyway, here are my top 10 favorite shots from the party:

10. Not the shot I was referring to above, but a great shot of about half the 'gang'

9. Not how I wanted them to look but once I made one Zach insisted they were awesome

8. Pop Pop busted dripping water on someone down below.

7. Does he look like he needs candy?

6. How can you not find delight in those faces? Especially Matthew's (far right)

5. Funny that Miranda had to be bribed to get in the pool with soda...

4. Group canonball!!

3. A "big" looking out for a "little" (they are about a year apart)

2. When I first asked him to hold up six fingers he was confused and said he could only do five. I think he thought it was a trick. I finally explained used both hands and he felt a little embarassed he didn't think of that. I love this face.

1. This is not photoshopped! See that heart flame! Isn't that awesome!

A new trend...

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:47:00 +0000

First there was planking...

Then there was owling...

Then there was leisure diving...
** No personal image available Zachary refused to jump in the pool in his new clothes this morning, geez...some people... **

Then there was stocking...

Then there was horsemaning....

And you saw it here first... All that and a bag of chips!

Ha ha!
I loved this photo series of Dina on her back-to-school layout and how it so captured the moment I knew I'd be feeling today with three kids going back to school. To see Dina's full layout and photo series check out Dina's post on the Jenni Bowlin Blog.

Work In Progress Kits Rule!

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:40:00 +0000

So I decided to splurge. I purchased a kit and project kit from Work In Progress Kits this month. I wanted some fresh things when back to school started (though now having opened the box I'm not sure they'll make it through the weekend)... I have plans.. grand plans..

Trish is amazing and generous in her kits and I think she's just an awesome person. I had the pleasure of meeting her once in OH at the annual retreat. One I can't wait to get back to, and hope when I do my roomie Linda is available to go as well!

So what did my box have in it? Well this main kit, I loved the turquoises and can't wait to dig in to this!

This project kit, and I already know what frame, I'm going to use the inspiration they gave as a guide but mine wont be apples, those will go great on my back to school pages... plus a girl's gotta use her new punches right?

Plus this great kit which I really want to use for an album on my 101 things.

Unfortunately, this last one is sold out but the other two are available. With these kits, if you like it get it! Because they're fabulous and once those design team girls start strutting their stuff they kits will be long sold out!

Stay tuned for what I do with all these goodies... I'm thinking videos! My new camcorder needs to earn it's keep.

#101things - 55 Go to the park with my kids, and only leave when they want to leave

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:39:00 +0000

Today Austin returns home, tomorrow hopefully we'll have some lovely man named Javier cleaning up the damage we've done to our yard (there really should be orientations to Vegas and how not to kill your grass, trees, bushes.. especially when you are moving from Michigan where you can't stop half of these things from growing) After that Friday will be spent with last minute errands for Zach's party and Saturday is the party. Follow that with Sunday being the last day of summer (essentially) and school starting monday... I'm not hoping for much mind time this week.

Last night I took the boys out for an evening swim, around six or so. I decided once out there I was going to let them decide when we came in. Now you may argue our backyard is not a park. I argue when I made that list it was not pool whether so I was thinking more of an outdoor activity. The essence of the list item is to let them dictate when they are done playing instead of my boredom dictating when they stop.

It was a success. About 8 o'clock after jumping in the pool at least fifty times Keagan wanted to come inside. He was starving. I left Zach outside to swim with Kyle & Tyler and sat at the snack table and talked to Keagan about snacking, and we looked through the grocery flyers and talked about good food and food that's good for you. He seemed to get it until we got to pop tarts, he wouldn't concede that pop tarts aren't good for you.

Zach followed in about a half hour later, and a hundred more dives. He was exhausted and kept asking what time it was and how many minutes after his bedtime was it. He thought it was cool they were swimming under the lights and the sky was pitch black. After inhaling a biscuit and some vitamin water he started asking when he was bedtime was again. I took the hint and put two very exhausted boys to bed.

Today on the agenda is a trip to Sam's Club to hopefully get a headstart on some things before the birthday party, the Pool store to have our pool vacuum accessed and maybe a treat at McD's for lunch. Then house chores, pick up Austin and try to get his schedule before the school closes. Busy busy.. but in all that I'm hoping my Work In Progress Kit arrives today, I kind of splurged a bit this time. I also have my eyes on several items at the New-to-me store Art Goods Shop.

In completely unrelated news have I told you how much I appreciate that my boys like Ramen noodles and Mac & Cheese?

Canvas #5

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:54:00 +0000

And with this I'm officially 1 canvas behind of my goal but this one is actually 24x24 so I'm ok with that ;) And I did it twice and hated it the first time.. this time it got a little muddy in areas but I like it just the same.

Smash pages catch up...

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:56:00 +0000

I got a few photographed, need to catch up on canvases had to re-gesso a super ugly one you can thank me for not sharing it... but in the meantime here are a few more smash pages I've done.

(the 'Sweet' is a title from Keandra Willis of Kreatorville Kits)

Below are the pages I did at the Sweet Retreat Crop. I just left my smash book open and glued down anything I came across during the reatreat. Got home & added the cupcake stamp - that was it!

The one below shows a new stamped purchased & why.

The Great John Blevins?

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:41:00 +0000

As promised a post titled The Great John Blevins?... (that's a direct quote with the ? included, go back and look at your facebook comment Mr. you added the ? not me). Before you stop reading, because you're thinking you don't know John Blevins, why do you care about a blog post about him - let me assure you this is about me, just somewhere towards the end.

Ever have that kid in high school that is there but he's like.. a character actor. You know the face, maybe can't always remember the name but they steal every scene they are in? That's John Blevins. He was our groups comic relief. He was my brother's friend and I was the tag-along sister. I was invited on group events if there was an odd number, sometimes if I gave my brother gas money.. sometimes just because I think my brother actually liked hanging out with me but I know he would never have admitted that last one in high school. One of my favorites was a summer we all went to Cedar Point, I honestly don't remember who was entirely included but quite a few of us. John Blevins was one. I think we laughed the entire time, he seemed to have one witty thing after another to say but my absolute favorite was about the Thunder Canyon Raft. We were walking along towards the next ride and here come two guys (we assume park workers) rolling one of those rafts on it's side. John gets a shocked look on his face, and shouts "Hey that was mine!! You're stealing my raft!" and literally takes off running after them. It took us a bit to catch up with him, mainly because we were all cracking up at the fact he committed to the joke enough to literally chase them, and that everyone in the crowd was looking unsure whether he was joking or not.

But that was John Blevins, he committed to the joke and it made it all the funnier. Over the years I've seen him, mainly at functions at my brother's house, birthday parties, labor day bbq's and an occasional football game. Now nearing 20 years after high school, we are facebook friends. I've seen him go from the goofy friend, to the adoring husband, a military enlistee, to freshman in college and now he's interviewing for a job in law enforcement. Amazing how people do surprise you. I can't say what I thought John would grow up to be, as I never gave it much thought at that time but I can say I doubt I would have said a police officer.

So when does this post become about me? Right... about... now. There are two reasons John remains on my facebook newsfeed. One is the memories and chuckles he provides, the other is he goes to the gym but isn't a maniac about it. He'll post about Bacon and the next day say he's going to the gym. Yes at times it may seem counter productive but life is about balance right?

As this month is drawing to an end I find that I must find a better balance, so upon hitting "publish" with this post I am off to a yoga class (if I make it in time, if not I just hope I don't wind up with body combat again). I dusted off my incentive item, a pair of awesome jeans from Lucky Brand, and a Ed Hardy belt my husband purchased for me the Christmas after Keagan was born. It was bought off ebay and the auction stated the wrong size so I kept it as a 'goal' item.. please ignore the fact Keagan will be 4 in October. I will state that on September 1st I will try these items on and post a photo regardless of how far up my legs I can get them. (The photo will remain PG of course). Wish me luck!!

Help I've fallen and I can't come up with a title

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 22:15:00 +0000

It started yesterday at the Sweet Retreat Crop... I got a dose of title-block; not quite writer's block, as I can still journal without issue. I can not however think of titles. I blame the cupcakes, I mean seriously look at that thing, it's heaven in a Sassafras wrapper.

The crop was amazing, aside from convincing a friend to take a day off of life with me I met many more lovely people. Three of which were another mother with her daughter & granddaughter it was amazing to just connect with people and chat. It may or may not have had a lot to do a lot with their love of all things TV.... (we later won our round of Movie trivia.. we rock).

I packed smart, smarter than I've ever packed to be honest. I grabbed my smash book, a kreatorville kit and basically all that was laying on my art table. It was one small wheeling suitcase and a cooler for snacks. Angie and I were assigned to the "fluffy" table. Which was suppose to be the cotton candy table, but since the name brand was Fluffy and I'm currently battling weight issues, Gabriel Iglesias was in my head the rest of the night.

My first order of business, I opened my smash book and set it in the corner. As the day went on I smashed things from the crop in it. The bingo we played, the cupcake wrapper, a ticket for the door prizes, etc. It was a BLAST just putting things in there as the day went passed. I want to add a few finishing touches to the pages today and I'll share my smash book progress tomorrow. (I am keeping up Kelly, Dina, Heather & Amy!)

Here's the layout I entered in the Sassafrass competition. I didn't win but it's still one of my favorite layouts, probably because my kids is so damn cute... :)

I had a bunch of backgrounds ready that I sprayed and inked the night before, (a couple are crazy because I couldn't stop myself). At any rate, here's the ginormous amount of layouts I got done at a 12 hour crop...

Sorry I can only show a glimpse of this layout for now, it's going to be used in the next Masterful Scrapbook Design seminar (yay!) I'll share it later. This shot was actually mid-layout I doodled and traced a bit, was a ton of fun and I loved how it turned out.

This one I loved how it turned out except the spray ink on the left. It is a little crazy but believe it or not, it was the less crazy side, the blue strip covers some WILD spray inking. It was fun for sure. I also used the cupcake wrapper at the top, I loved incorporating that into my work!

This was when I realized I'm having title issues. The intent was to do a full Karen Grunberg style title at the top so the whole middle was a column of text and photos and goodies. I'm not sure I'm done with this layout it's a great start and I'll share if I actually add more to finish my idea but for now it's decent. I don't love or hate any of these layouts but I loved doing them and had fun being out... now the pièce de résistance

my personal favorite...

Vages... wtfrank?? This is one of those I had it half way down (and spelled correctly I swear) before I realized the S wouldn't fit so I lifted the letters up and shuffle them to the left, and apparently shuffled them around.

Now a true friend would have your back, they'd know you've had too many cupcakes to spell big words at this point. They'd at least point out the spelling error right? So I blame Angie entirely.. though truth be told she may have had too many cupcakes by this point as well... This will be fun to fix since those stickers are NOT coming up.... grrrr.

Until next time, may the scrap be with you!

Canvas #4

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 05:00:00 +0000

I really wanted to get this one done early as I'm going to a crop Saturday.. first time in forever and I'm already fretting on what to take. I think I may only take my smash book and have fun with that.. but not sure I can smash for 12 hours... especially since I'm quickly learning I don't hold on to enough receipts and ephemera to actually smash my day... any-who..

Here's canvas #4 it none of the canvases have come together quite as easily as the Hearts one did but this was probably the second fastest. I loved the background I was getting with the greens and then the diamonds were cool. (Funny that Dina used diamonds too I hadn't seen hers until after this one was done.. gotta love crafters workshop stencils!) Then I again am really trying to use what's on my counter, so those flowers were beige, white and black, I just painted them with pink & red paint.. threw the tag in the leftover paint.. then went to find words. Since there weren't any on the counter I rifled through my drawer and found that playing card.. how perfect it matched so I slapped it down. I think it's Fancy Pants Designs but don't quote me I'm horrible at keeping track of manufacturers.

I will say that I'm enjoying this challenge immensely. I will also say there are a few canvases that will probably be seeing the better end of a gesso brush when it's over... does that make me stop? No, I love the trying and experimentation!

I don't mean to blog-spam you...

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:06:00 +0000

It's just one of those things when I accomplish goals I get excited to share my accomplishments.

This is Canvas #3 I couldn't stop working on it. I started by layering some background papers that were scraps on my desk from a video I did in May at Masterful Scrapbook Design. It's the last of a paper line from basic Grey called Sugared. I then painted over it and accidently chose a red that was far too magenta... then I washed it with a parchment color then sprayed inks of three different shades of green on it and let them kind of run into each other.. rolled the excess off. I then had all these hearts from confined collages I made with scraps of this line and cut seven hearts.

I tried to be profound and place them in a meaningful way on the canvas. Did I mention it's my eighth anniversary today? Having a lot of lovey thoughts on this family we've built. You see there are seven of us in our family, thus seven hearts. The two on the right represent Amanda &amp; Austin, they are behind the big heart, that represents Tony. The far right represents Kyle which is behind the second biggest heart, that represents me. The two in the middle of Tony &amp; Me represent Zach &amp; Keagan they are in front of us because they came after we met. It symbolizes our blended family , what we brought to this union and what we created from it; how we all are connected.

Canvas #2 (the i'm semi-cheating canvas)

noreply@blogger.com (Tami Taylor) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Out of the Journal challenge, again the details can be found on Dina's blog or Journal Girl's

This is my cheater canvas. It was half done but I took this as an opportunity to finish it. This summer my niece came to visit and I was sharing this method of SheART I learned from Christy Thomlinson - great workshop. Anyway, so my niece (Hi Erin!) chose the patterns, cut the pieces and glued them down. She also did the blue sky, green grass. I just took a lot of pleasure in doing the finishing touches with embossing the sun, adding some dimensional elements, some stamping, inking and doodling, etc. So yes I feel I did enough detail work to consider this one of my out of the journal canvases. It got me caught up and so inspired because I embossed (something i rarely do despite owning over a dozen bottles of embossing powders!) that i quickly set to applying gesso to my two canvases this week and already have the backgrounds on both! I love how the more you do, the more you want to do.