Pieces of Me

More "WOW" goodness to share

2012-05-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today over at the WOW blog my team's post is up. We have two layouts, a canvas and a card to share with you. Be sure to hop over there next to see some more amazing projects using WOW powders and stamps. For now I'd like to share my project with you.

I created a layout title "Us 3 girls" using a mixture of WOW Silver regular and Clear Regular powder and two stamp sets: Love Beyond Measure and Simply Amazing. I mixed the two powders together to give a more subtle shimmer to my layout and I just love the results!I used so many things that I love on this layout: vintage dress patterns, washi tape, some of my Studio Calico "City of Lights" kit. This kit included many of my favorites: Crate Paper, Freckled Fawn and Bella BLVD.,

In the image below I embossed a section of pink patterned paper using a mixture of two powders, then used two different punches to create the butterflies. The frame in the photo below and the double hearts on the tag in the last image were stamped, embossed, hand cut out, then added to the layout. I also embossed the edges of my doilies for a bit of added shimmer and sparkle.

I also used an embossing pen and filled in the die cut "LOVE" on the tag with the same combination of powders. I love the delicate softness that it added.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I appreciate you comments and feedback. Till next time...

WOW embossing powder project

2012-04-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I'm back today to share a project with you that I created for WOW Embossing Powders. For this layout I used WOW Clear and Silver embossing powder and WOW's Gratitude stamp set.

I embossed an entire corner of my patterned paper with the clear embossing powder to add a bit of shine, then I punched out the hearts that you see beside the photo and all the little ones that fill the jar. I stamped and embossed the jar with the silver powder as well as the strip of hearts below the photo.

Thank you for stopping by! For more beautiful projects and inspiration, stop by the WOW blog for the rest of my team's post (The Powder Pixies) today.

CHA hilights

2012-02-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

My trek to CHA began much too early in the morning. lol My flight for Anaheim left at 6:35 am. It was necessary to leave early so we could get a jump start on set up. At least it was a beautiful flight. lol
Here we are after arriving and checking into our hotel. We went straight over to the convention center to start set up!

This is me with the darling Heidi Grace Kress. She is such a sweet person and was debuting her new product line, "Clever Handmade" at the show. I was honored to be able to create 3 layouts using her new lines that were featured in her booth. I was majorly excited about that!!!
I stopped by the American Crafts booth to take a peek at Amy Tan and Liz Kartchner's new lines. Suffice it to say it seems as though I am in love with just about anything these ladies come up with.I was super excited to get to meet David Tutera. He has an awesome show called "My Fair Wedding" that makes a brides dream wedding come true. He is genuinely a sweet man and I am glad that I got the chance to meet him at CHA. It was definitely a highlight for me.
I wish I had more pictures to share, but honestly, I was so busy working the WOW booth that I hardly had anytime wo walk the floor.
And after 6 days in Anaheim working the show and away from my family, this was such a welcome site.
Thanks so much for stopping by, I truly appreciate it.

Back from CHA

2012-02-03T13:07:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's me! Finally coming up for air after all the CHA madness. I had such a great time and was so inspired by all the beautiful new products and talented friends that I saw. I'd like to share how I used the embossing powders to help decorate the fabulous WOW booth. My portion of the display was intended to display the "Candy Counter" collection and I created this inspiration board as my inspiration.
This is how my display all came together.

The WOW colors are so vibrant and highly pigmented. These were a few of the fun little additions to my display.See how vibrant the colors pop even on darker cardstock? I had such a good time working the booth and seeing lots of friends at CHA. I will make another post with more pics of some of the highlights.

Hope you enjoyed the little peak of CHA and thanks for stopping by.Please leave me a comment as I LOVE to read and hear what you think.

Free Bird

2011-08-24T18:22:00.001-07:00

I'd like to introduce you to Free Bird...

Free bird is a new series of papers by Authentique that is a little bit different. Here is how Authentique explains it:

"We have named our newest product offering the "Free Bird Series." The reason? We are setting 6x6 papers free from the stifling confinement of being sold only in pads. Let's face it, most 6x6 papers are reduced versions of a 12x12 design. Until this release from Authentique Paper, 6x6 papers have not been sold individually or designed exclusively with a 6x6 outcome in mind.

Our unique merchandising approach allows us to sell these gorgeous double-sided papers on their own, one at a time, rather than only being sold in pads. Affordably priced and printed on an amazing, high-quality textured cardstock, you'll be able to purchase as many or as few of these 6x6 papers as you choose. While we may offer limited quantities in "nests," (our term for bundles or pads), this series will primarily be offered al-a-carte through retail locations worldwide.

The Free Bird Series will feature 32 individual designs in 8 color themes and will hopefully be shipping within the next few weeks. This first series has been designed by Sam & Tara using this Fall's hottest color trends. Now you can get just the right 6x6 design in just the right quantities. 12x12 papers are sold individually, why not 6x6 papers? Authentique Paper has set 6x6 papers free!

We will show you one of each of the eight new color themes over the next couple of weeks. Let us know what you think and ask your local scrapbook retailer to be one of the first to carry Free Bird from Authentique. Not only will it be affordable to you, the customer, but it will be affordable for your retailer as well. Don't worry, this isn't all we have in mind when it comes to setting things free, but we felt it was the best place to start!"

Pretty cool, right??? So now I bet you'd like to see what these lovelys look like. Here are a couple of samples of what's to come.
This is"Familiar" And this is "Fair Weather"Aren't they gorgeous? I am so excited about the new concept that Authentique is offering and can't wait to see what else is on the horizon. Thanks for stopping by.

YAHOO!!!

2011-08-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

Well I am one excited girl right now! Why you might ask? Do you see that little icon on my sidebar that says "Authentique Design Team Specialist"? It looks like this...
THAT would be why!!!! I am so thrilled to be joining the Authentique team as a design specialist. Their papers are a wonderful mix of bright, fresh, beautiful designs with a bit of a shabby chic flair. I absolutely cannot wait to share more about this amazing company and it's products with you. If you are a lover of paper, I am certain you too will fall in love with them as I have. In the meantime, here is a link to the blog post announcing the 2011-2012 Design Team and Design Team Specialist. Go check it out and see if there are any familiar names on the list. Thank you for sharing in my exciting news. See ya soon! :-)

Parents, Friend or Both?

2011-08-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

"I am not your friend, I am your parent. I will stalk you, flip out on you, lecture you, drive you insane, be your worst nightmare & hunt you down when needed because I love you! When you understand that, I will know you're a responsible adult. You will never find someone who loves, prays,cares and worries about you more than me! This is my promise to you."

I recently saw this poster on Pinterest and quoted on Facebook and it got me to thinking... Hmmmmm, really? Do we really want our children to grow up believing friends are people who say “yes” to them, and that people who love them are controlling and punitive?

I work hard to have a loving connection with my children. The last thing I want to be is their stalker or their worst nightmare, but given the number of times I saw this posted as a status on Facebook, not everyone agrees. I get it; people have the impression that if you’re friends with your children that you let them do whatever they want — party with them, drink with them, get into trouble with them. But that’s an awfully narrow definition of friend — and not necessarily the definition of “friend” I want my children to have.

I try to be an example of the friend I want my children to be to others, and also of the kind of person I want my children to be friends with:

I am a leader. I think hard about the decisions I make so they’re good ones, even if they’re not popular. I want my children to surround themselves with thinking people — the ones who will say no to drugs or getting into a car with a drunk driver. It’s a lot to ask of anyone to make good decisions all the time, but it’s not too much to ask for them surround themselves with people who make good decisions most of the time.

I set boundaries. I don’t want my children to be givers or takers — I want them to be both. I want them to be generous, but I also want them to be honest when they need something. I want the people around them to be the same way, so no one feels taken advantage of or used. Friends need open and honest dialogue.

I am kind and gentle. Friends don’t hit each other, and they apologize when they get upset or frustrated.

I listen. Yes, I need to guide my children, but before I can tell them where to go I need to know where they’re coming from. My children want to be heard, even when they say disturbing or careless things. Most of the time, they just need a safe place to say those things without judgment or action. I want to be the person they come to, and I want them to be a safe place for others too.

I am their mentor. I want all my children’s friends to be people they admire and people they can learn from. Every relationship should add something to our lives, and it should start at home.

I respect them. I learn so much from my children, and I want them to be comfortable around people who learn from them too. Even though my children are my responsibility to feed, clothe, and keep safe, they have so much to teach me. I want them to be confident in their relationships with people of authority, so I show them how valued they are.

As a mother, I’m more than a friend to my children, but our relationship starts with friendship, and it’s a model of friendship I want them to carry with them throughout their life. If I never show them friendship, how will they know how to be a friend? How will they know what kind of friend to be?

I’m so proud to call my children my friends, and I hope that one day many people will be proud to call my children their friends too.

Just can't get enough

2011-08-08T10:42:00.001-07:00

Lately I have been creating with my stash of Authentique papers. I've got some new goodies from October Afternoon and American Crafts, but keep coming back to these paper! I just can't get enough. lol This layout is about me and a couple of friends I just love hanging out with: Suzy West & Gina Vaughan Lideros. I love hanging out with these ladies. We shop, eat, scrapbook and always end up laughing! I have such a good time whenever I am with these girls. Suzy's daughter Sierra took this photo of us outside of an Antique store in old Elk Grove on a recent outing. She has quite a set of photography skills for a little girl. I love this picture lots and wanted to do a layout to celebrate my friendship with these two. Thanks for visiting, have a happy Monday!

Basically Bare rockin' my world!

2011-08-07T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hi there, welcome back! Today I'd like to share a project I did using some gears from Basically Bare and a couple of vintage settings and epoxies from Epiphany Crafts and some papers from October Afternoon's "Rocket Age" line. The photograph on this layout is a little dark and a tiny bit blurry, but since I took it on my first trip to Chicago, I really wanted to scrap it. To keep the feel from looking too dark I used lighter papers to mat the photo and surround it which really helped a lot.
On the gears I misted them first with Shimmerz Coloringz. I used Valentino, Mama Sings the Blues and Anchors Away. On the red one I misted the gear, then sprayed a grid stamp and stamped on top of that. With the other two gears I wanted the effect to be a bit more subtle, so I unscrewed the lid and dribbled some of the pigment directly onto the pieces. The drops mimic the drops on the October Afternoon and help create greater unity to the page.
To finish them off I made two custom epoxies and placed those inside of a couple Epiphany Crafts vintage settings. Once everything was dry I traced around the gears to give them greater emphasis. Love the way they turned out. Hope you are enjoying your Sunday. See ya next time!

Art Manifesto

2011-08-06T23:48:00.000-07:00

"I wondered what would be the worth of my words in the world
if i write them and then recite them are they worth being heard
just because i like them does that mean i should mic them
and see what might unfurl

i think of the significance of my opinions here
is it significant to be giving them does anybody care
just because i'm into this does that mean i should live like it
and really do i dare

art, art i want you
art you make it pretty hard not too
and my heart is trying hard here to follow you
but i can't always tell if i ought to

so i pondered the point of my art in this life
if i make it will someone take it and think it's genuine
will they be glad that i did 'cause they got something good out of it
will they leave me and be any more inspired

i question the outcome of the outpouring of myself
if i tell everyone my stories will this keep me healthy and well
will it give me purpose, to this world some sort of service
is it worth it, how can i tell

art, art...

Live a "splendid" life

2011-08-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ready for more from Authentique gorgeousness? Okay...ready or not, go!
Today I'd like to introduce you to"Splendid". This is another one of Authentiques new Summer 2011 releases.
For starters my favorite paper has got to be the woodgrain print. It is seriously fabulous, is it not?! I really want to hoard this paper because I ♥ so!
My second favorite paper in this line is probably "Renown".
The colors of this line are appropriate for both boys and girls which makes it such a versatile line to work with. I, however, chose a non-human subject on this layout. I have always ADORED horses since I was a little girl. When I was about 4 or so my mom and I would stop by a pasture nearby my older sisters' school to feed the horses. Thus began my affection for these sleek, gentle, yet powerful four legged creatures.
See the flowers on the layout? I altered some 2 different sets of Epiphany felt flowers; Whimsy and Adobe and combined them with some wooden buttons and bling to complete the look I was going for. I also used one of the "Tea Room" Vintage settings and the Button Studio on the tag in the upper left hand corner.

Next up is Glowing! I have never liked a Halloween line as much as this. The papers have much more sophistication than the typical Halloween line.
I love to decorate my house for the holidays and decided to alter an extra large Ball jar to hold treats for our home.
For the front of the jar I used a large a tag and cut slits in the sides and put lace through the slits and tied it in the back. I used a couple of die cuts layered on top of a accordian wheel that I made. LOVE that skull and cross bones! Around the lid I cut strips of paper to fit and hot glued them to the side. I added lace and ball trim for added texture. I wanted to add a bit of height to the jar, so I made a little witch hat and adhered it on top. It's going to take lots and lots of will power to keep from dipping into this jar too often. hee hee
Hope you enjoyed checking out what I've been up to. See you soon.

New manufacturer, new love

2011-08-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! I have something I'd like to share with you today. I was introduced to a new manufacturer called "Authentique" a couple months ago and it quickly became one of my favorites. Not only do they have beautiful paper lines that double sided and printed on heavy weight cardstock; each of their lines boast rich colors and fabulous, usable patterns as well. Initially this is what captured my attention. Upon further investigation I learned a bit more about the company and that is when my true love affair for Authentique began. The companies philosophy is about being genuine is the only way to live. They celebrate the individual creative spirit, family, preserving memories and many other philosophies that resonate deep with in me. In all of my years in the paper crafting industry I have never seen a company takes my "hobby" to the next level and promote the deeper reason of why I craft. With that being said, if you haven't already become acquainted with Authentique I'd like to share them with you now.
Introducing Uncommon
I recently created two layouts using this line. It is pink, girlie and has a vintage flair; three things I love wrapped into one feminine line. I made this layout titled "Love so sublime" using Uncommon. I recently visited one of my favorite vintage stores in old town Elk Grove called "the red door" and wanted to create a layout about this unique little place I discovered. For this layout I fussy cut the doilies out of "original" and the rose cluster out of "Unique" to add softness to the layout design.
Here is an example of one of the die cut sheets called "Icon" and a few of the papers I used on these layouts.
"Special" (back)
"Original"
"Distinct"
"Gifted" (back)
"Unique"
Aren't they all lovely???? If you haven't had the opportunity to work with these papers yet I'd encourage you to get your hands on some. If you live in the Bay Area, stop by my friend Sarah's store "Our Paper Place". She has all of the newest lines in stock including the alpha's and die cut sheets. Hurry and get yours, she sells out of this stuff QUICK!
Thanks for coming by and reading about my new heart throb. lol Be sure to come back soon, I have another layout to share that I made using Authentiques line "Splendid" and a cute little Halloween candy jar using "Glowing". See ya soon.

Epiphany Crafts and Best Creations in the house!

2011-07-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all, it's me again! Today I am sharing some layouts I made for a swap between Epiphany Crafts design team and Best Creation Inc. I was given the entire "Travel Forever" line to play with! That worked out wonderfully for me since I had some photos of some of our summer excursions that I had yet to document.
This first layout is of Brad taking in the landscape at Stinson Beach. It just so happened to be a clear summer day on the typically foggy California coast line, so we were taking full advantage!
I call this one "Live in the spirit of adventure". He has such an adventurous spirit and love for life. It is one of the things that we have in common and something I hope that he never, ever loses. I feel like this picture sort of captures his adventurous side (especially since I know he had to hop a fence to be able to hike up to this peak)!
This picture is from that same day. It details some of our activities that day. We had a good time playing frisbee, flying the kite, boogy boarding and having a picnic on the beach.
This one is from when Brad's parents made their very first trip from Ohio out to California to visit! We had a great time showing them around San Francisco and succesfully exhausted them and ourselves in the process. lol We showed them the Palace of Fine Arts, The Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli Square and dined at Alioto's just to name a few! See what I mean? Exhausting!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. If you get a chance stop by Epiphany Crafts and Best Creations and take a look at some of their newest offerings.

Nature walk

2011-07-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

One day while we were camping at Patrick's Point me and my little man set off on a little adventure. He wanted to see where each path and fork in the road led and I obliged him as I knew it would be a little bonding time for us as well as a great opportunity to take some photos of the foliage around the area. With camera in hand, or on back rather, we set off on our nature walk.On occasion he would check to make sure I was still with him since I was stopping here and there taking photos of stuff. This pretty little flower is called "Queen Anne's Lace". It grows wild and some were over 6 feet tall!Look at how they close in on the trails.Ferns were growing all over the place. There were parts of the forest that felt kind of tropical with the flowers and ferns even though it was in Northern California.These flowers bloomed from what looked like pea pods which I thought was pretty interesting.You can't really tell from the picture, but these creatures are actually pretty large for a slug. They are called "Banana Slugs" and I think it's pretty obvious as to why.I loved this little leaf because it looks like a heart. ♥This is actually a weed and not a flower, but I loved how the condensation had settled inside the little prickles.The are is so green and lush.We took some time out to enjoy the beautiful views.
And to allow him some time to enjoy one of his favorite features of the area, "The Sand Wall".

Our little excursion ended up lasting several hours and we were both pretty tired when we returned, but we wouldn't have had it any other way.
Thanks again for spending a little time with me.

2011-07-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

This is one of the fantastic, unbelievable views up at Patrick's Point State Park. This place is full of natural splendor and beauty and I truly enjoy spending time up here.
My kids and I spent a week camping at Patrick's Point with both of my sisters and their families and a few friends. In all we had a group of 13 that took up 2 camp sites. Here is a glimpse of one of the sites. This picture was taken from the rim trail and our tent is the blue one.
Here is what was directly behind our tent.Magnificent,isn't it? We were lulled to sleep by the sound of crashing waves every single night. It was such a pleasure and a sound that no "sound machine" no matter how sophisticated can every reproduce!
This is a view of the "puppy palace" where the doggies camped out some of the time.
They were even given chairs to lounge in by the campfire. Tell me these dogs aren't spoiled?! lol
The littles enjoying some beach time.

Here is a view of Palmer's Point. We went down at low tide and had lots of fun tide pooling. Getting down isn't really a problem, there is a well maintained, albeit steep, trail. It is quite a hike up however, but well worth the efforts!
My nephews and my son checking out the sea life in the tide pools. I thought for a moment one of my nephews was going to get a little wet because he was so close to the water and precariously perched on a rock. lol
There were sea anemones, urchins and starfish EVERYWHERE!

We even got to see some seals sunning themselves on the rocks. This is just a few of them but they were my favorite because of the two babies. Aren't they just the cutest little things you ever saw?!?!?
That's a small glimpse into my camping trick. I took some photos on me and my son's nature walk that I will share with you in a future post. For now, thanks for stopping by!

My moment of ridiculous blessing

2011-06-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

Lately, it's been all about words for me; strong, poignant words.
I feel like that is exactly what I have done. I feel like I have seized the moment and am shaping the future that I desire. And soooooooooo;

That's right OUTRAGEOUS BLESSINGS! In the midst of it all I am ridiculously blessed, something I do not take lightly. ♥

So much change...

2011-06-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

There has been SOOOO much change in my life in the last 8 months. If you know me, you know I am not a real big lover of change. Some change, however, is necessary albeit hard. One of my all time favorite quotes is: "Change only comes when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change." ~Anais Nin. I believe those words and have lived them many times in my life. I know that change stretches us and causes us to grow and often times that is a very painful process, but I believe that in the end we are better for it. This can be hard to remember at times like these, but I hang onto the hope that things will continue to get better and life will return to the peaceful existence I once knew. In the meantime...

I have packed up my life.
Said good bye to the place I called my home of 10 years.
Watched my truly lovely daughter mature through 7th grade and make me so proud to be her mama.
Have been thoroughly entertained and captivated by my sweet son.
Welcomed someone new into my life.
Been loved and support by these two amazing little humans as we settle into our new life.
Just today my son told me that he like our new house better than our old place. He likes the new neighborhood and the proximity to his friends. He said he wants to stay here forever. That made my heart happy. It made me feel like I am doing right by them. Like I am providing a good life for them despite all of the change we have all recently been through.
This print is what I believe what makes a house a home, and very soon will hang from the walls of our humble but happy home.

Normally I am a very positive, upbeat person but all of this change has been very, very hard on me. Much harder than I would have EVER expected. When I saw this necklace my heart lept because I SOOOOO identified with the words. So guess what? I bought it for myself! Yep, I treated myself to a little gift to remind me of the leap I have taken into this unknown future and the fact that I am indeed building wings in the process. I WILL soar again.

I thank you if you still frequent this space even though it has been a bit neglected. As you can see I have had a few other things taking precedence over my time. Please be patient with me, I hope to be "back" soon.

How to steal like an artist (and 9 other things nobody told me)

2011-04-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of my littles 2 week Spring break and this is the current state of affairs at my house. lol
Nice, huh? Honestly, I'm not too worried about the mess. I just want to spend time enjoying my kids today. We watched Secretariat this morning, which by the way, is a GREAT movie! I think I enjoyed it more than the kids did. heehee I was fortunate enough to visit Churchill Downs a few years ago and have never seen horse racing the same since. :-)

I've got some super HUGE news to share in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. I am so thrilled about the opportunities coming my way and am simultaneously shocked and excited to be a part of so many exciting things coming up. Stay tuned and I promise I will share just as soon as I am able. :-)

Anyways, I recently read a blog post originally posted by here by Austin Kleon. I enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it here with all of you. It's a pretty long post, but well worth the time. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks for stopping by.

HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME)

Note: This is a slightly edited version of a talk I gave yesterday at Broome Community College in Binghamton, New York. It’s a simple list of 10 things I wish I’d heard when I was in college.

All advice is autobiographical.

It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past. This list is me talking to a previous version of myself.

Your mileage may vary.

1. Steal like an artist.

Every artist gets asked the question, “Where do you get your ideas?”

The honest artist answers, “I steal them.”

I drew this cartoon a few years ago. There are two panels. Figure out what’s worth stealing. Move on to the next thing.

That’s about all there is to it.

Here’s what artists understand. It’s the a three-word sentence that fills me with hope every time I read it:

It says it right there in the Bible. Ecclesiastes:

That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of previous ideas.

Here’s a trick they teach you in art school. Draw two parallel lines on a piece of paper:

How many lines are there? There’s the first line, the second line, but then there’s a line of negative space that runs between them. See it?

1 + 1 = 3.

Speaking of lines, here’s a good example of what I’m talking about: genetics. You have a mother and you have a father. You possess features from both of them, but the sum of you is bigger than their parts. You’re a remix of your mom and dad and all of your ancestors.

You don’t get to pick your family, but you can pick your teachers and you can pick your friends and you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see.

Jay-Z talks about this in his book, Decoded:

We were kids without fathers…so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history, and in a way, that was a gift. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves…Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced, but we took their old records and used them to build something fresh.

You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”

An artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there’s a difference: hoarders collect indiscriminately, the artist collects selectively. They only collect things that they really love.

There’s an economic theory out there that if you take the incomes of your five closest friends and average them, the resulting number will be pretty close to your own income.

I think the same thing is true of our idea incomes. You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.

My mom used to say to me, “Garbage in, garbage out.”

It used to drive me nuts. But now I know what she means.

Your job is to collect ideas. The best way to collect ideas is to read. Read, read, read, read, read. Read the newspaper. Read the weather. Read the signs on the road. Read the faces of strangers. The more you read, the more you can choose to be influenced by.

Identify one writer you really love. Find everything they’ve ever written. Then find out what they read. And read all of that. Climb up your own family tree of writers.

Steal things and save them for later. Carry around a sketchpad. Write in your books. Tear things out of magazines and collage them in your scrapbook.

Steal like an artist.

2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to start making things.

There was a video going around the internet last year of Rainn Wilson, the guy who plays Dwight on The Office. He was talking about creative block, and he said this thing that drove me nuts, because I feel like it’s a license for so many people to put off making things: “If you don’t know who you are or what you’re about or what you believe in it’s really pretty impossible to be creative.”

If I waited to know “who I was” or “what I was about” before I started “being creative”, well, I’d still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it’s in the act of making things that we figure out who we are.

You’re ready. Start making stuff.

You might be scared. That’s natural.

There’s this very real thing that runs rampant in educated people. It’s called imposter syndrome. The clinical definition is a “psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments.” It means that you feel like a phony, like you’re just winging it, that you really don’t have any idea what you’re doing.

Guess what?

None of us do. I had no idea what I was doing when I started blacking out newspaper columns. All I knew was that it felt good. It didn’t feel like work. It felt like play.

Ask any real artist, and they’ll tell you the truth: they don’t know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing. Every day.

Have you ever heard of dramaturgy? It’s a fancy sociological term for something this guy in England said about 400 years ago:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts…

Another way to say this:

I love this phrase. There’s two ways to read it: Fake it ‘til you make it, as in, fake it until you’re successful, until everybody sees you the way you want, etc. Or, fake it til’ you make it, as in, pretend to be making something until you actually make something. I love that idea.

I also love the book Just Kids by Patti Smith. I love it because it’s a story about how two friends moved to New York and learned to be artists. You know how they learned to be artists? They pretended to be artists. I’ll spoil the book for you and describe my favorite scene, the turning scene in the book: Patti Smith and her friend Robert Maplethorpe dress up in all their gypsy gear and they go to Washington Square, where everybody’s hanging out, and this old couple kind of gawks at them, and the woman says to her husband, “Oh, take their picture. I think they’re artists.” “Oh, go on,” he shrugged. “They’re just kids.”

The point is: all the world’s a stage. You need a stage and you need a costume and you need a script. The stage is your workspace. It can be a studio, a desk, or a sketchbook. The costume is your outfit, your painting pants, or your writing slippers, or your funny hat that gives you ideas. The script is just plain old time. An hour here, or an hour there. A script for a play is just time measured out for things to happen.

Fake it ’til you make it.

3. Write the book you want to read.

Quick story:

Jurassic Park came out on my 10th birthday. I loved it. I was kind of obsessed with it. I mean, what 10-year-old wasn’t obsessed with that movie? The minute I left my little small-town theater, I was dying for a sequel.

I sat down the next day at our old green-screen PC and typed out a sequel. In my treatment, the son of the game warden eaten by velociraptors goes back to the island with the granddaughter of the guy who built the park. See, one wants to destroy the rest of the park, the other wants to save it. Of course, they fall in love and adventures ensue.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was writing what we now call fan fiction—fictional stories based on characters that already exist.

10-year-old me saved the story to the hard drive.

Then, a few years later, Jurassic Park 2 came out.

And it sucked.

The sequel *always* sucks compared to the sequel in our heads.

The question every young writer asks is: “What should I write?”

And the cliched answer is, “Write what you know.”

This advice always leads to terrible stories in which nothing interesting happens.

The best advice is not to write what you know, it’s write what you *like*.

Write the kind of story you like best.

We make art because we like art.

All fiction, in fact, is fan fiction.

The best way to find the work you should be doing is to think about the work you want to see done that isn’t being done, and then go do it.

Draw the art you want to see, make the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read.

4. Use your hands.

My favorite cartoonist, Lynda Barry, she has this saying: “In the digital age, don’t forget to use your digits! Your hands are the original digital devices.”

When I was in creative writing workshops in college, all manuscripts had to be in double-spaced, Times New Roman font. And my stuff was just terrible. It wasn’t until I started making writing with my hands that writing became fun and my work started to improve.

The more I stay away from the computer, the better my ideas get. Microsoft Word is my enemy. I use it all the time at work. I try to stay away from it the rest of my life.

I think the more that writing is made into a physical process, the better it is. You can feel the ink on paper. You can spread writing all over your desk and sort through it. You can lay it all out where you can look at it.

People ask me why I don’t develop an iPhone or iPad Newspaper Blackout app, and I tell them because I think there is magic in feeling the newsprint in your hand and the words disappearing under that marker line. A lot of your senses are engaged–even the smell of the fumes add to the experience.

Art that only comes from the head isn’t any good. Watch any good musician and you’ll see what I mean.

When I’m making the poems, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like play.

So my advice is to find a way to bring your body into your work. Draw on the walls. Stand up when you’re working. Spread things around the table.

Use your hands.

5. Side projects and hobbies are important.

Speaking of play — one thing I’ve learned in my brief tenure as an artist: it’s the side projects that blow up.

By side projects I mean the stuff that you thought was just messing around. Stuff that’s just play. That’s actually the good stuff. That’s when the magic happens.

The blackout poems were a side project. Had I been focused only on my goal of writing short fiction, had I not allowed myself the room to experiment, I’d never be where I am now.

It’s also important to have a hobby. Something that’s just for you. Music is my hobby. (That’s me at Guitar Center.)

While my art is for the world to see, music is for me and my friends. We get together every Sunday and make noise for a couple of hours. It’s wonderful.

So the lesson is: take time to mess around. Have a hobby. It’s good for you, and you never know where it may lead you…

6. The secret: do good work and put it where people can see it.

I get a lot of e-mails from young artists who ask how they can find an audience. “How do I get discovered?”

I sympathize with them. There was a kind of fallout that happened when I left college. The classroom is a wonderful, if artificial place: your professor gets paid to pay attention to your ideas, and your classmates are paying to pay attention to your ideas.

Never in your life will you have such a captive audience.

Soon after, you learn that most of the world doesn’t necessarily care about what you think. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. As Steven Pressfield said, “It’s not that people are mean or cruel, they’re just busy.”

If there was a secret formula for getting an audience, or gaining a following, I would give it to you. But there’s only one not-so-secret formula that I know: “Do good work and put it where people can see it.”

It’s a two step process.

Step one, “do good work,” is incredibly hard. There are no shortcuts. Make stuff every day. Fail. Get better.

Step two, “put it where people can see it,” was really hard up until about 10 years ago. Now, it’s very simple: “put your stuff on the internet.”

I tell people this, and then they ask me, “What’s the secret of the internet?”

Step 1: Wonder at something. Step 2: Invite others to wonder with you.

You should wonder at the things nobody else is wondering about. If everybody’s wondering about apples, go wonder about oranges.

One of the things I’ve learned as an artist is that the more open you are about sharing your passions, the more people love your art.

Artists aren’t magicians. There’s no penalty for revealing your secrets.

Believe it or not, I get a lot of inspiration from people like Bob Ross and Martha Stewart. Bob Ross taught people how to paint. He gave his secrets away. Martha Stewart teaches you how to make your house and your life awesome. She gives her secrets away.

People love it when you give your secrets away, and sometimes, if you’re smart about it, they’ll reward you by buying the things you’re selling.

When you open up your process and invite people in, you learn. I’ve learned so much from the folks who submit poems to the Newspaper Blackout site. I find a lot of things to steal, too. It benefits me as much as it does them.

So my advice: learn to code. Figure out how to make a website. Figure out blogging. Figure out Twitter and all that other stuff. Find people on the internet who love the same things as you and connect with them. Share things with them.

7. Geography is no longer our master.

I’m so glad I’m alive right now.

I grew up in the middle of a cornfield in Southern Ohio. When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was hang out with artists. All I wanted to do was get the heck out of southern Ohio and get someplace where something was happening.

Now I live in Austin, Texas. A pretty hip place. Tons of artists and creative types everywhere.

And you know what? I’d say that 90% of my mentors and peers don’t live in Austin, Texas. They live on the internet.

Which is to say, most of my thinking and talking and art-related fellowship is online.

Instead of a geographical art scene, I have Twitter buddies and Google Reader.

Life is weird.

8. Be nice. The world is a small town.

I’ll keep this short. There’s only one reason I’m here. I’m here to make friends.

Kurt Vonnegut said it best: “There’s only one rule I know of: goddamn it, you’ve got to be kind.”

The golden rule is even more golden in our hyper-connected world.

An important lesson to learn: if you talk about someone on the internet, they will find out. Everybody has a Google alert on their name.

The best way to vanquish your enemies on the internet? Ignore them.

The best way to make friends on the internet? Say nice things about them.

9. Be boring. It’s the only way to get work done.

As Flaubert said, “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

I’m a boring guy with a 9-5 job who lives in a quiet neighborhood with his wife and his dog.

That whole romantic image of the bohemian artist doing drugs and running around and sleeping with everyone is played out. It’s for the superhuman and the people who want to die young.

The thing is: art takes a lot of energy to make. You don’t have that energy if you waste it on other stuff.

Some things that have worked for me:

Take care of yourself.

Eat breakfast, do some pushups, get some sleep. Remember what I said earlier about good art coming from the body?

Stay out of debt.

Live on the cheap. Pinch pennies. Freedom from monetary stress means freedom in your art.

Get a day job and keep it.

A day job gives you money, a connection to the world, and a routine. Parkinson’s law: work expands to fill the time allotted. I work a 9-5 and I get about as as much art done now as I did when I worked part-time.

Get yourself a calendar. (And a logbook.)

You need a chart of future events, and you need a chart of past events.

Art is all about the slow accumulation over time. Writing a page one day doesn’t seem like much. Do it for 365 days and you have a big novel.

A calendar helps you plan work. This is the calendar I used for my book:

A calendar gives you concrete goals, keeps you on track, and the nice reward of crossing things off and watching the boxes fill up.

Any goal you want to accomplish: get yourself a calendar. Break the task down into little bits of time. Make it a game.

For past events, I suggest a logbook. It’s not a regular journal, it’s just a little book in which you list the things you do every day. You’d be amazed at how helpful having a daily record like this can be, especially over several years.

Marry well.

It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make.

And marry well doesn’t just mean your life partner — it also means who you do business with, who you befriend, who you choose to be around.

10. Creativity is subtraction.

It’s often what an artist chooses to leave out that makes the art interesting. What isn’t shown vs. what is.

In this age of information overload and abundance, those who get ahead will be the folks who figure out what to leave out, so they can concentrate on what’s important to them.

Devoting yourself to something means shutting out other things.

What makes you interesting isn’t just what you’ve experienced, but also what you haven’t experienced.

The same is true when you make art: you must embrace your limitations and keep moving.

Creativity isn’t just the things we chose to put in, it’s also the things we chose to leave out. Or black out.

And that’s all I think I have.

Thanks, y’all.

2011-03-09T17:35:00.000-08:00

I recently got my hands on one of my favorite Winter CHA releases, Madeline by Prima. Look at all of this loveliness. Isn't it positively divine?

Today I'm going to show you how I used some of the papers and elements
from this collection to create a layout about my Grandparents and the
"Legacy of Love" that they left me with.

To begin with, I fussy cut the floral corners from "Bella Donna" as well as a strip from the opposite side to create a coordinating border.

I used "Skyward" as a base for the layout and add to the floral motif.

I wanted to add lots dimension to the layout, so rather than add the glittered cardstock stickers directly to the layout I took several of them and adhered them to cardstock and chipboard bases. I then used 3D pop dots and foam tape to secure them to the layout.

Take a look at how it all came together on the layout.

Thanks for stopping by!

More updates and images from CHA...

2011-02-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share some more photos from CHA. Sadly, I didn't get nearly as many as I would have liked. There was so much inspiration in one place it was almost ridiculous!
This was hanging above The Girls Paperie booth. So pretty, see what I mean? lolThis was part of the display at the Pink Paislee/House of 3 booth. How cute is this?!I loved the Soiree collection, arriving in stores in March. These pictures don't even do it justice! The colors are so much more vibrant in real life. (click on the name of the collection above to see full preview)

Another of their new releases is Daily Junque. This one has my name written ALL OVER IT!(Click on the collection name above to check this one out too!)

GCD Studios had the CUTEST booth ever. It was vintage carnival themed and I loved all of the attention to detail! Look at this, it was an adorable little kissing booth they had. Suzy didn't even make me pay her for the kiss!I am walking the tightrope,while Sarah working on her biceps. hee heeThere was a photo booth at Doodlebug Design that we used a few times. So much fun!We were having such a good time we could barely pull ourselves away from the booth.While hanging out near the booth we met up with Patti and Diana from Art Inspired Studios. I love these ladies and think the world of them. I am so happy to be a part of their awesome store's design team.We stopped by the Hambly booth several times. We had the best time hanging out & laughing with Cris, Rose, Allison and Mr. Harry Hambly.While roaming the show floor I ran into Heather Fuentes and Angie Backen. I met these girls way back in the day when we were all "SIS"ters at SIS TV. It was so good to finally meet these girlies in real life. Miss Heather was so happy to see me she just couldn't keep her hands off of my bottom. hee heeThis pic is from one of the evenings we had dinner at The Yardhouse. They have the absolute yummiest Macaroni & Cheese I've ever had in my entire life! We laughed SO much at this table!After dinner we walked back through LA Live and stopped to take a few snapshots...
These girls kept me in stitches the entire trip. :-)In this photo you can kind of see the crowd congregating outside of the Staples Center. There was a Clippers game that night and there was live broadcast going on. Well, let's just say that we made our way up to the front of the crowd and got our faces onto Fox Sports! Whoo hoo. There goes about 30 seconds of my 15 minutes of fame. lol
All in all the show was lots of fun. We did a massive amount of order for Sarah's store, Our Paper Place. She got SOOO much good stuff and her store is going to be jam packed with the best of the best from the show. Once again, thanks for stopping by!

Return from blogging obsurity...

2011-02-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

Knock, knock, knock...anybody still there? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?! lol
I kid, I kid. Truth is, I would be surprised if anyone even looks at this anymore. I have been in relative blogging obscurity for a little while. I have been maintaining time for creativity, but my life has been a bit mad as of late and something honestly had to give...I have missed sharing bits and "pieces of me" here on the blog and I'd like make more regular appearances to this little place.
I have had a massive amount of growth, change and activity in my life, but rather than bore you with all the "wordy" details I with share pics from my most recent scrapbooking foray. Ready? Set? GO!
Day one of the show consisted of lots of craziness and fun. Here are some of the highlights:
Angel, Suzy, Madison of Echo Park, Julia, Sarah and I. Notice Suzy in a fit of laughter here? This was what we looked like most of the weekend!
One of my favorite new releases of the entire show was Echo Park's "For the Record"! What do you think? Yummy, right?! I am currently in possession of two pieces of this collection, so I plan to use them wisely until I can get my hands on the entire new release.
I also have two piece of "Hello Springtime" in my hot little hands! I can't wait to use these up, which shouldn't take long! lol
THIS was the clear, sunny, beautiful view from our hotel room...
This is what the show floor looked like on Friday. Huge crates everywhere while manufacturers scrabbled to set up!
Me in one of those huge crates. hee hee

Suzy's class for Bella Blvd. the first night. So fun! Everyone had SO MUCH FUN!!!!!
This is Sarah, Julie (BMW girl) and I after the class.

Hollywood or bust!
Us on our way to LA Live to eat at The Yardhouse. All I can say is yummmmmmmm....
There was a Laker game at The Staple Center the first night we were in town. Sadly, they lost to the Sacramento Queens, I mean Kings... Still, I couldn't pass up a chance to get my picture taken next to Magic Johnson. The man, the myth, the legend...
Oh my...That may not seem like a long post, but after being away for so long I am exhausted! lol
More on my super fab trip in the coming days...I promise! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Where you'd rather be...

2010-10-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

"You'll never leave where you are until you decide where you'd rather be..."

Hmmmm, to be honest I am not sure where I want to be. What I do know is where I did NOT wanted to be. I was no longer thriving and was merely existing and that is absolutely contrary to how I have purposed to live my life. I had become comfortable and was afraid of what change might bring. I am still afraid, but I am ready. Ready to face the next faze of life with my arms wide open to ALL (and I mean all) that life has in store. And so begins the journey of self discovery, reconstruction and healing and the adventure of figuring out where I will end up. Wish me luck!

Yay me!

2010-09-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to share some good news with you! I am proud to be designing for Art Inspired Studios! AIS is a wonderful scrapbooking store located in the bay area. The store is packed full of fresh, new product. If you live in the area and want to be inspired I would encourage you to visit this lovely little store.

Punky Sprouts and Echo Park

2010-09-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to share with you my very first project as a Punky Sprouts design team member! I used "Punk n' Circumstance" and the "Life is Good" collection from Echo Park which was a park of my August kit for "My Paper Tree House".
I included some of my favorite shots from CHA in this album. I had SO much fun and it is a trip that I don't ever want to forget, so I decided to make a mini with some of my favorite shots.

While making this album I was able to relive all of the fun I had while in Chicago. It made me even more excited about Winter CHA in Los Angeles!!!!!!
Thanks for stopping by.

A Crayola beauty bomb!

2010-08-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with their imagination.

~Robert Fulghum

edit: As I posted this onto my blog the song "Colors", by Kira Willey, started playing on my blog. Kind of trippy!