I Know, I Know...

It's been a LONG time since I posted, I just haven't felt too bloggy lately. And I don't have time to chat much right now, because I have to get the girls ready for swimming lessons. But, as an update, Emma started school and is having a BLAST. Swimming lessons are CRAZY; it's mostly screaming as opposed to swimming, but Halle is improving A LOT. Well, I've been really busy crafting in my garage; I'm posting some layouts right now, but others are for the Nov/Dec issue of http://www.scrapnart.com/ EZine, AND GET THIS.... They're having an open Design Team call, and you all KNOW I'm applying! WooHoo! I'm so excited! So, I'm doing ALL new work for the submission, so I probably won't have much scrappy to post anytime soon, BUT that doesn't mean you can't come around for a good chuckle! Alright, time to sunscreen, swimsuit and GO! Have a great day!

Sara

Good Things...

I have a new favorite blog...

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/06/

That's right, stuff white people like. And if you say, "Hey, that's Racist," just go take a look at the page. It actually makes fun of the silly things we do. My favorite examples of what White People Like are Coffee, Being Offended, girls with bangs, Outdoor Performance Clothes, Unpaid Internships, Expensive Sandwiches, Asian girls, Asian Fusion food, Farmer's Markets and Religions their parents didn't belong to. My all-time favorite stuff white people like, and this one literally made me fall of my chair laughing, is comparing people to Hitler. Oh yes, it is one that I have definitely been guilty of myself. I mean, you can compare someone to the devil or Antichrist, but with religious affiliations set aside, everyone knows who Hitler was and that he was a very bad bad bad man. Too funny... I'll definitely be buying this book at the next trip to Borders and/or Barnes and Noble.

In other randomness today, I was trying to think of all the strange words that my brain has created and that I have added to my daily, normal vocab. It's apparently been something I've been doing for years. My friend Candace in High School used to make fun of me all the time. Then again, I used to call her, "Candidas," and that derived from me calling her "canned peaches." Unfortunately, I didn't realize Candidas is the bacteria that causes yeast infections.... so I'm sure when I yelled it out across the mall to get her attention, some people turned their heads. I'm guessing "yeast infection" isn't the best pet name to give to one of your best friends? Other words.... "deffie" in place of, "definitely." This is literally one that just popped into my head, probably from over-use of it's predecessor, I just decided to shorten the word. "Sweriously..." "Are you sweriously going to wear that in public?" Now this one I can tell you where I got it from. A while back, there used to be a show called "El Capitan," and one of the characters used to randomly insert the letter "W" into her words while speaking. She thought it was a stand-out trait, turned out it was annoying. But seriously, "Swerious" is in my vocab to stay. There's always the word "Tubbie" that my scrap pal Tracey had to ask me what that was... it's taking a bathtub, for those of you who DON'T know... lol! I'm sure that one came from just taking the word "tub" and then trying to make it sound cutesie for my kids. "Don't you want to take a tubbie-wubbie in the bathy-boo?" No, I really don't talk like that. In fact, I hate people that talk to babies like that. I also have coined the phrase, "Let's G.I. Joe" as in "G-O, Go..." That's one I have no idea where it came from, but it's a "regular" in my vocabulary.

I'm sure I have more, but I wanted to ask, do you make up words or saying that make sense in YOUR head but other people look at you like you're nuts for saying them? Let me know! Have a SUPER HAPPY Thursday!

Finally!!!

I finished this Layout last night and it has been the one I have been stuck on for over a week now. Again, almost as always, I'm not completely happy with it, but I just started glueing things down to fill up the negative space, just so it would be done and off my desk. What I am MOST proud of on this LO, is that I recycled an old mobile I had hanging from the girls fan in their bedroom. It wasn't something they could reach, but it had tons of mini, circular mirrors on it. I took it down, cleaned it up and stamped the three little mirrors with some Hero Art Stamps and Staz-On inks. Pretty happy with that outcome. Definitely something I will continute to do with the mirrors... especially since these were free and I'm not spending an arm and leg on Heidi Swapp circle mirrors.

This is all I've got for you today! Next week Emma starts school again, and hopefully I'll have some more scrappy/crafty time and will be able to post more. I also look forward to some *Top Secret* crafts I'm working on for http://www.scrapnart.com/. Yup, they accepted my first six submissions, and I'm just going to keep on giving them more of my Sara-Good-ness. So, I guess that means you will have to subscribe to their eZine to see what I've been creating, just for them. And I can guarantee it's extra special!

Hope you like the new Layout, and cross my fingers, it won't take me as long to get the next page done! Have a UBER-Great day, because I'm still on cloud nine!

Hello, Lover...

Can we say, that again? "Helloooooo, Lover...." I took the girlies to my moms today, and she had just recieved my birthday present in the mail. Being the intelligent woman that she is, she didn't stop me from taking it home early. And not only did she get me the actual Cricut Expression and the Design Studio software, I have now in my posession seven cartridges, two in the mail and two different packs of the new inks you can use for drawing !!! I guess I'll have to get a jukebox, (or two) now! I am one spoiled girl, and heck, at least I admit it! I guess my mom figures her Holiday presents will be that much prettier if she buys all of these things for me. LOL.

OK, so I haven't posted anything crafty recently, and I'm sorry... you all just have to deal with my more-than-random rigamarole. But this page I'm working on is totally killing me, AND I'm dead set on finishing it tonight. I don't care if I just glue some random stuff down, it's time for this layout to be finished!!! I also have TONS of brainstorming and crazy ideas about other projects going on up in my head, so my creative focus is not quite, "in focus," right now.

Have a great weekend, my part peoples! If you're visiting, comment and tell me who you are! I would love to see some of your crafty work as well! Plus, IF you see this blog and DON'T comment, you are stealing a peice of my soul....

Just kidding! Let's chat soon!

Sara

See Mom, Dreams Really Do Come True...

OK, the title is sarcastic... but I'm SUPER DUPER excited!!! I have the most amazing news! What is it? Notice anything different around here? Maybe in my little gallery located on the right? Wait for it.... Wait for it.... Just kidding. So the BIG NEWS is I found out this morning is that I am going to have SIX, that's right SIX, of my layouts published in Scrap 'N Art Ezine! And that means I have a little "Out for Publication" photo in my gallery!!! WooHoo!!!! I was litterally jumping up and down; I couldn't read the email I received with the good news past the second paragraph before I started jumping in circles and screaming like a chicken with my head cut-off. That is, if I was in my own magical land, chickens would still be able to scream even with their heads cut-off. I was so excited to hear the AWESOME NEWS! This will be my first official publication, other than the next Rusty Pickle idea book, but I have no idea when that is coming out! I am so excited for this opportunity, I can't wait for further publications with this magazine as well. They are SO my style, which I'm told is "out of the box." MAKE SURE you go to http://www.scrapnart.com/ and register (it's free) so that you will recieve a copy of the magazine when it comes out in November. Also, they have a totally awesome CHA giveaway going on right now and if you go to their site and leave a comment on the post, you just could very well win a super COOL grab bag of brand new products from CHA.
In other happy and scrappy news, my mom who is horrible with keeping secrets and who I have also dragged into this addiction called scrapping, gave it away that she bought me a Cricut Expression for my Birthday! Can I get a, "woo hoo?" If you DON'T know what a Cricut Expression is, it's a wonderful craft cutter that cuts all different types of paper, cardstock, magnet paper, chipboard, balsa wood, etc... from .75in" to 24" wide. Talk about unlimited possibilities! I'm so EXCITED for this!!! I already have Quickutz Silhouette, which cuts up to 12 inches wide, but the Cricut does all the really cool stuff. Plus, I just read that they're coming out with a power pack to take with you so you don't have to plug it in, and THEN it also has an additional accessory that is a solar panel you can hook up to the power pack, thus never having to plug your Cricut into a wall..... EVER!!! That's pretty cool, if you ask me. I'm most excited for the new deep housing blade that can cut chipboard, rubber stamp material and magnetic paper. And my mom also spilled that she bought me the new Design Cutting software that goes along with it and THREE font /decorateve cartridges! (Michael's has a deal) OK, so enough gushing.... but it is rather fun... hehehehe...

I'm still in a creative block with the LO I'm working on. BUT I did go to the LSS (Matt watched the kids so I could go celebrate my publication by buying some scrappy supplies) and I confess, I bought another five packs of American Crafts Thickers. My obsession with these alphabet stickers is beyond anything else. The fonts, the colors, the textures.... mmmm mmmm... delish. So I think I should be able to figure something out tonight after the girlies go to bed. Matt also left on a camping trip with the guys for three days, so I don't have to worry too much about making big meals and now I can watch my guilty pleasure of reality tv shows in peace. Maybe I'll even turn on some old Broadway Tunes and sing at the top of my lungs and dance around like a crazy person. We'll see... one never knows what happens in my world. After seeing, "Mamma Mia," I'm in the mood for some old-fashioned Abba. Hope you have had a great day! I know I've been floating all day!

Lost the Found...

OK, phone is found. Please resume normal calling activity.

I'm totally stumped on a page I'm working on... don't you hate it when that happens? The title is really bugging me. No matter what I do or products I use, I just can't seem to find the right combo of alphas and stuff. What's a Sara to Do???

Have a Happy Day!

Lost My Cell Phone

I lost my cell phone so if any of you out there can't get a hold of me, that's why. Sorry, will let you all know when it's up and running again. You can always email me, too. PlainSaraJane@gmail.com. Have a great day!

Don't Judge Me, Monkey

So today I'm going to talk about some of my likes and dislikes.... I just feel like doing a fun blog, and I'm allowed to because I said so.

Things I REALLY like:

Samantha Brown - I want to steal this womans job. Samantha Brown is my idol. She gets to travel the whole world for free, AND they pay her to eat at the most fabulous restaurants, have private tours of museums and cathedrals and stay in the most gorgeous hotels.... it's amazing. Plus she just seems so friendly and funny and warm. Definitely someone I would love to have a beer with... and she's probably had some of the best!

Diet Pepsi -- Yes, it's probably not a secret, but this stuff flows through my veins. I would be the ultimate sponsor for Pepsi. They wouldn't even have to pay me... just give me free soda.

Flip Flops -- I'm an Arizona Desert Rat... FlipFlops are just a way of life here.

Wizard of Oz -- You have no idea... I used to hole myself up in my bedroom and read these books, three at a time. Anything I could get my hands on that was Wizard of Oz was mine. My bedroom was a gigantic shrine to it when I was younger. No one can stump me on trivia; I am a bottomless pit of Oz knowledge. I had two dogs that had its namesakes, and bought custom made ruby slippers for my wedding for me and all my flower girls. (And don't say, "But Sara, they were really silver." I know, ruby slippers are a lot easier to come by and matched better with my dress) I don't know if it's something I should necessarily be proud of, but hey, it was my "Harry Potter," when I was younger. (And a much better series if I do say so myself.)

Broadway -- I LOVE THEATER! I've been having New York City withdrawls.... it's been about five years since I've seen a show in New York. BUT, I am totally excited because my Mom is taking me to "A Chorus Line" in September and my Mother-in-Law is taking me to "RENT" next March. WooHoo! I've never seen ACL before, but I stole my dads CD of the Original Broadway Cast when I was a younger and used to dance around my room choreographing all the numbers and singing the songs at the top of my lungs. Yeah.... a twelve year old singing about buying "tits and ass" probably isn't the best thing in the world but it was FUN and what I call a real musical. "Rent" I did have the awesome privilege of seeing in the City and it was AMAZING. It is in the top three of my all time favorite shows. Yup, it's another one of those shows I had/have every lyric memorized and could put on a one-woman show for you.

Stargate & Stargate Atlantis -- Call me a Sci-Fi geek or what have you, but any show that has as much delicious-ness as Colonel John Sheppard, is good enough for me to watch. I just might leave my husband to hang out with this hottie in the Pegasus Galaxy... mmmmm mmmmm mmmm.... (I think he's actually married to a porn star... damn.) Alright, the plot is nothing to sneeze at either. Even though I don't think there are life sucking aliens out there, I think that these shows scripts will be the H.G. Wells works of the future. In fact, many of the shows' key elements come from stories like The Montauk Project to the up- and-coming LHC. (Oh, and that {the lhc} will get a WHOLE blog of itself in the upcoming days; I'm a physics and "Scientific American," nerd as well.)

Things I REALLY Hate:

Lazy Cart People -- OK, I know you know what I'm talking about. People that leave shopping carts in parking lots when the cart return is literally two feet away. I don't know why it bugs me so much, but it really does. I have kids, I know it's a pain in the bum, but seriously people.

Screenames like WhisperingLavendarKisses or WildPassionateSage789365214 -- What is it with people that have screen names like this??? I picture people that wear all black and enjoy playing World of Warcraft. And OK, I'm totally going to offend SOMEONE out there, but I really hate those names like, "ScrapsForGod" and "WhatWouldJesusScrap." Don't get me wrong, I love Jesus and all, just not a fan of his "fanclub." And what's with the long line of random numbers at the end of a name? Is that a phone number? Social Security? Bank Account? Why can't people just have normal screen names? But then again, people name their babies "potato salad" and "pilot inspector" so, who's to say what's normal?

High School Musical and Hannah Montana -- Where do I even start? OK, High School Musical is the worst excuse of a musical if you ask me. I haven't seen it and don't have to... I've heard enough of it on the radio and tv I can tell it's a total piece of recycled pop crap. And what's worse is it actually makes all of these young kids think that's how High School is. I'm sorry, but the "unpopular" girl is never that pretty and just happens to somehow sing a karaoke song with the homosexual Basketball player and then they fall in love. And no one dances around singing about how their shit doesn't smell and they're worried that they won't have a date to the dance on Friday with roses flying out of their butts. And what's with a character being named after a small dog? I think it's Sharpei. Yes, because I want a name that invokes a wrinkly fat puppy in my brain whenever I look at a squeaky sounding blonde. Hannah Montana/Mylie Cyrus = Washed Up Daddy + Desperate Disney. And her whole "Vogue" Scandal just made me cringe. Annie friggin' Liebovitz was taking your photo. I would get naked and pretend to be a seal if that woman told me to. And the fact that Mylie was just wrapped in a sheet in one shot and then in another was just wearing a tube top, which was deemed acceptable as well, just doesn't make sense to me. So frustrating...

Sarah McLaughlins' Homeless Animal Commercials -- Don't get me wrong, I'm a big advocate for animal rights and rescue. I refuse to buy an animal from a pet shop and will only adopt from the pound and humane's society. Ninety-Four dogs in my home county of Maricopa alone are killed DAILY just because of abusive owners and people that only want the "pretty puppies." I've also blogged on myspace about the horrific and disgusting world of dog fighting. BUT, when I'm watching "Scrubs" on Comedy Central and am having a good laugh at Zach Braff and his sexy antics and then there is a commercial break, I do not need to start crying my eyes out about the poor doggies and kitties. It's definitely a Buzz Killer. And I can't blame it on Sarah McLaughlin or that actual charity that she is helping, but the people that chose those time slots for the commercial. Why not put it on QVC where poor, lonely women already have their credit cards out? Some things I'll just never understand, and this is definitely one of them. There's a time to cry and donate your time and money, but when I'm watching stand-up on a COMEDY channel and trying to relax from my day, it's not going to somehow jolt me into a realization that I need to hurry up and dial the number. Then again, I could just be a heartless bitch.

Driving -- I hate driving and worse than that, I hate bad drivers. And, I'll admit I'm not the "best" driver, but I definitely pay attention to what's going on around me more then most. I really hate men in their big trucks that have this mentality that just because they could run you over, they don't have to watch what they're doing and you'll just move out of their way. I've shown many of these men my middle finger. Then there's the people that drive in parking lots like they're on Nascar tracks. And what's with the WORST drivers having a really nice car most of the time??? I mean, I see a Lexus doing 50mph in the fast lane on the freeway and wish I had gun in my hand. I think when we go to the DMV we should also be given IQ tests. And the higher IQ, the better car you get to drive. When you have your IQ score printed on a drivers license, and if you're in the "lower" numbers and try to buy a Range Rover... even though your line of credit may be good your train of thought sucks. Sorry, you're getting downsized to a Dodge Neon that's five years old. Hmmmm... who can I write to about that one?

There are still many more things I love and hate, but these were at the top of my list. Hope you enjoy to agree and/or disagree with me. Have a great weekend.

Sara

Happy Dancing Going on Here!

"WooHoo!!!" as my good scrap-buddy, Tracey Locher, would say! I just found out I won a contest over at http://www.scrapbook.com/ for using the new Making Memories Noteworthy line. I'm totally happy dancing here! And if you used to work with me, no, it's not the same as the booty shake. The happy dance has it's completely own different style. So needless to say, I'm excited! The actual layout I did was kind of a downer; it was something I did after my dad passed away and needless to say the journaling is kind of a tear-jerker, so I'm not going to post it. If you really want to read it you can hunt me down at http://www.scrapbook.com/ or shoot me an email at PlainSaraJane@gmail.com

In other news that I was planning about blogging on

today, I finished my first acrylic album last night. I'm not totally happy with it, but I'm glad I just made myself do it.

See the next contest at Scrapbook.com is for Clear Scraps acrylic albums. So the first one was something just for me to play with. I am admitting the title and everything is totally unimaginative, but again I just

wanted to test the waters.

Another fun little game I recently played was over at similarminds.com. I took a little quiz that has slowly been taking the scrapbook blogging world by storm; here are my results:

ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 8.1% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

Yeah this one pretty much hit the nail on the head with me! Especially when I looked at the "more details" section about it.

It says: outgoing, social, disorganized, easily talked into doing silly things, spontaneous, wild and crazy, acts without thinking, good at getting people to have fun, pleasure seeking, irresponsible, physically affectionate, risk taker, thrill seeker, likely to have or want a tattoo, adventurous, unprepared, attention seeking, hyperactive, irrational, loves crowds, rule breaker, prone to losing things, seductive, easily distracted, open, revealing, comfortable in unfamiliar situations, attracted to strange things, non punctual, likes to stand out, likes to try new things, fun seeker, unconventional, energetic, impulsive, empathetic, dangerous, loving, attachment prone, prone to fantasy

Favored Careers:
performer, actor, entertainer, songwriter, musician, filmmaker, comedian, radio broadcaster/dj, some job related to theater/drama, poet, music journalist, work in fashion industry, singer, movie producer, playwright, bartender, comic book author, work in television, dancer, artist, record store owner, model, freelance artist, teacher (art, drama, music), writer, painter, massage therapist, costume designer, choreographer, make up artist

Disfavored Careers:
data analyst, scientist, researcher, financial advisor, business analyst, govt employee, office manager, mathematician, investment banker, office worker, computer tech, it professional, network engineer, strategist

CRAZY!!! Just about everything on the favored careers is something that I've wanted to do at some point in my life. OK, well that's about it for me today... it's already been a longer post than normal, but again, I have the tendancy to become a rigamarole from time to time. Thanks for stopping by!

If You Don't Like It, You Can Shove It. But You Don't Like it, You Love it.

So, if you've known me personally for a few years, you know that I LOVE Weezer. I have every one of their CD's and even some hard to find ones. If I can count on my fingers correctly, I believe the Red Album is their sixth major cd release. I bought the CD when it first came out, but really didn't get to listening to it until I took a trip to a Scrapbook store in Anthem, sans kiddies. I was able to roll the windows down and blast my speakers with Rivers Cuomo coming in loud and clear. I must say, my favorite song at the moment is, "I'm the Greatest the Man that Ever Lived." It's where the title of the blog came from. The song has so many fun elements to it; it's classic Weezer, but something they've not quite done before. The beginning is piano keys playing "Simple Gifts," an old Shaker song, and then they go into sounding like Kotton Mouth and thirty seconds later they sound like Queen. I love it. "Pork and Beans" was the first major release off the album and an instant YouTube sensation, mainly due to the fact that famous YouTube personalities and celebrities were featured in the music video. I love the song, and it's pretty fun to play on guitar, too. "The Troublemaker," first track on the record, is very reminiscent of the more poppy tunes of the Green album as well as "Dreamin'" but it has a bit more of the harder bass and distortion we heard in the Blue Album and Pinkerton. I love both tracks. Brian Bell who is usually only a guitarist and back-up vocals takes the lead vocal helm for three tracks. Not so sure about those ones... Right in form, there are only ten main tracks on this album and the final song, "The Angel and the One," is a traditional weezer ballad, that reminds me of the Blue Album's, "Only in Dreams."

All in all, I love the album. I'll have it as my playlist here until next Friday, so feel free to listen to some of the tunes I talked about. Have a great day!

For a little creativity today, I recently acquired an ATG (aka, Monster of a Tape Runner), and it seems to be on trend that everyone alters theirs. Usually I'm one to let it go, but this thing was so fugly when I bought it, I couldn't help but alter it. The photo I took of the other side stinks, and I'm too lazy to retake it. Plus I'm thinkin' it needs something more...

Have a Great Day!!!

Obsessed Would be an Understatement...

So a few weeks ago, I was sorting through the mail and came across a coupon for a new organic market in our neighborhood. I thought it was a rather good-looking coupon and promptly walked to my scrapbook desk to ink it. About halfway there, I stopped and realized I was about to ink the edges of a coupon. And then I came to the conclusion I had officially lost it, when it comes to the arena of scrapping. I mean, I have a strange obsession for, "The Wizard of Oz," as well, but never THIS bad. AND I have to line each one of my french fries with a perfect line of ketchup... and toast is always cut on the horizontal and sandwiches always on the vertical.... oh, and don't think about touching my toothpaste. I wouldn't share my tube if it was the last one on earth. Yeah... so I am a little weird... and I guess I will just have to accept the urge to ink coupons is part of that craziness.

Anywho, This is the store's coupon where I went to go get all of ingredients for my Hummus recipe from the other days post. I scrapped about my day of hummus and pita making and put the recipes and coupon behind the photo. Enjoy! I had a lot of fun with this layout. I'm usually all manufacturer-matchy-matchy when it comes to using products on page, but I just decided to use whatever struck my fancy at the time. The giant postage stamp shape that frames it is by Technique Tuesday; it's part of their FunDamental tiles line. Totally lovin' them. I distressed it using three shades of glimmer mist and inked and doodled the edges.

Hope you have a great day!!!

Yummy Yummy Yummy I've Got Hummus in my Tummy

So maybe you're wondering why I haven't posted in a couple days when I said I would post every day for the first week... well, I have a confession; I've been eating jalapeno hummus. And I decided to attempt to make my own today and pita bread from scratch. There's also another little funny story about my hummus, but I'll share that with you tomorrow.

OK, OK, I know it doesn't look that good, but trust me, it's so tasty. Here's how I did it

Hummus Ingredients:

1- 15 oz. can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained (reserve the water in the can, though!)
1/4 c. Tahini Paste (found in the mediteranean aisle at the market)
4 cloves of garlic
3 fresh jalapenos, de-seeded
1/2 tsp. Cumin
1/2 tsp. Curry
3 TB of lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
2/3 c. olive oil
Red pepper flakes and olive oil for garnish

I used a food processor, but you could use a blender or bullet. First I throw my garlic cloves and jalapenos in the processor to mince them. Then I add everything else and blend for a LONG time. The longer you blend, you will get a creamier consistancy, as opposed to a grainy, lumpy one. * patience is a virtue, young grasshopper* Add in the reserved juice from your bean can alternating with olive oil as needed to get a smoother consistancy as well. Voila! I like mine better chilled which allows the flavors to really sit and "get acquainted" with one another. I drizzled olive oil and sprinkled crushed red peppers on myine before serving/devouring.

Pita Bread Ingredients:

3 cups flour
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1-2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 c. water
1/4 c. milk

I'll boil my water, let it cool and then add my yeast and salt and whisk it with a fork. I then put the rest of my ingredients in the food processor with the dough blade, and add the yeast/water/salt mixture. Mix until dough comes off of the sides of the bowl and is smooth and elastic. Separate dough into 16 balls on a floured surface. Cover and let rise for 15-1 hour, or until doubled in size. When ready, heat skillet to medium heat and roll each ball well in flour. Roll flat into circular shape; don't worry if it seems really flat. Place in skillet and when bubbles start to rise on one side, flip and do the other side. You can fry these in oil, giving them a indian fry bread texture, but I didn't even use pam. You can also freeze your dough balls and use them later. Next time I make these I want to try using whole wheat flower. I think that mixing in some fresh cilantro as well with your jalapenos would give it a spicy/cool flavor; unfortunately, my hubbie doesn't like the green leafy stuff, so I didn't use it!

Thanks for stopping by! For a little "creative fury" here are some cards I recently made. They're part of a set of five "thank you" cards I did using different languages. Have a great day!!!

Holy Hambly!

Another Design Team I recently applied for (which also received hundreds of applications!) is for Hambly Screenprints. I find myself often not using patterned paper on a lot of layouts and projects and my style is often called avante-garde. I feel like I can identify with their cutting edge style and almost "Haute-Couture" products. I made this wall hanging out of a gift I received a few years ago. It's just a simple wall sconce that was plain and you could probably find at your local Ross or TJ Maxx. I used the Hambly transparencies to back the petal shapes, and painted them green. The black middles are also transparency but I just left them plain. I then used their border rub-ons to enhance the votive holders.

Here is a Layout I made using one of their wall screen printed transparencies. I used Glimmer Mist alcohal sprays to give the Layout a graffiti look and then I doodled the title as well to add to it. I used lots of hambly rubons behind and on the front of the transparency to attempt to add some depth. It's not one of my best pieces of work, but I liked how it made me step outside of my box a little bit more than usual.

I hope you enjoyed another small entry today. Starting tomorrow I will probably be posting longer blogs, just due to it's a little less hectic around here during the weekdays. Thanks again for visiting! I hope you have a great day!

Hey, Hey, We're the Monkeys!

Meet the Family!

Ok, well that's just a wall of pictures in our living room...





This is Emma. She's is my oldest and will be four in September. She is my little bundle of OCD joy! She also LOVES going to school and her favorite part about the day is riding the bus. (She will tell you it's number 96, too!)






Here is my sweet little Halle. She turned two in January and is a little drama queen. She always has a head full of crazy hair!





Here's my husband Matthew and I on a Carribean cruise we took about a year ago. This was on the island of St. Maarten near the French portion of the island. I know this isn't the best picture, but the site was so pretty and the only other one I have looks like I'm pulling a wedgie! An interesting fun fact about the family is that we have a "team number" and that's 22. Matt and I were married on the 22 of August, Emma was born on the 22 of September and Halle was born on the 22 of January. And no, we didn't plan it at all. Alright, short post today! It's a lazy Saturday here. I'm off to do some scrapping! Hope you have a great day and see ya tomorrow!

First taste of Creative Fury

So, I recently applied for the Chatterbox Design Team. I looooove Chatterbox products and it was one of the first companies I became addicted to when I started to scrap. Right now I'm in the waiting stages to see if I make it to the next round of "auditions." We should hear any day now! And even though I doubt I'll make it (they had 437 applications for petes sakes!) I still have my fingers and toes crossed 24/7 and I keep hitting F5 on my keyboard to refresh their blog! At any rate, here is one of the projects I created for my application:

Isn't it pretty? I was quite tickled with myself. I used one of Chatterboxes new Artsy.licious lines out called Kohl and Alabaster. TOTALLY LOVE IT! It's gorgeous flocked and foiled/tinseled paper. Totally drool-worthy. I let my Quickutz Silhouette do most of the work cutting all the flowers. Then I inked, painted and blinged them up. I used styrofoam glue and Zots to stick the flowers to styrofoam balls I had painted black. I also noticed it is MUCH easier to start at the top of the ball and work your way around and down. I also used an old Chatterbox Stencil to trace onto paper, scan into photoshop then cut onto contact paper using the Silhouette. So easy! I'm thinking about making some more of these. Maybe I will take some pictures, and do my very first tutorial! WooHoo! Sounds like fun! Let me know if you like my topiary and would be interested in something like that. Have a Happy Fourth of July and BE SAFE!!!!

Welcome to the Craziness...

OK OK... so like it says in my profile, I've decided to start a blog because my poor friends were being subject to novel-sized emails about the crazy (or what I deem to be) antics of my life. And I really want to get serious with my scrapbooking and having a blog seems a good way to start! So, a little bit about me: I was born and raised and currently live in Arizona. I wear flip flops 365 days out of the year. I am married and have been a stay at home mom for two and a half years. Before that I had the glamorous job of medical billing. Before that I went to college and was an English major. Before that I went to Arcadia High School and enjoyed doing theater and reading books. Homework.... ehhhh.... not so much.

So, you're probably wondering why my blog is called, "Unleash the Fury," eh? Well, I have always had some sort or multiple creative outlets in my life. When I was younger I read books day and night; so much to the point my mom was afraid I had no friends or people skills so she enrolled in me in a theater workshop one summer which I begrudgingly attended. See, my last experience with theater was when I played one of the lullaby league munchkins in the, "Wizard of Oz," in 4th grade and I had to wear a tutu in front of the whole school. Not fun... I have very chubby thighs. But as it turned out, I LOVED this theater workshop. We had multiple classes on improv, pantomime (I can do a mean box), singing and working on our main production, "The Secret Garden." I remember wanting the main role of Mary SO BAD! I never thought in a million years I would get it, but I did! That's when the bug bit me. Opening night and all the flowers... oh the flowers... the applause and all the adrenalin combined with life-long friendships. It's amazing. I continued doing theater until college when my degree changed second semester. During those years, I also taught myself how to play piano and guitar, which I still enjoy doing. I also took some voice lessons with an AMAZING coach, Wendy Mullen. Yahtta Yahtta Yahtta....

Fast Forward because this is getting LONG already! (See, I told you what my friends had to go through.) I got married had kids and I started to scrapbook to make some gifts for my parents and inlaws. I was never really into the whole visual art thing or part of expressing myself visually. I have never been able to draw, paint, sketch, whatever... the most artistic thing I could draw were doodles on my notes to friends or entries into yearbooks. So the idea of putting things together that were already pretty and making something visually stimulating with them made sense to me. I started with a very small box of stuff, moved to a hall closet and now take up one car of our two car garage. To come to full circle, I love to unleash my creative fury on a scrapbook page or altered item. I have so much to say about life and I feel like scrapbooking is just one of the great artistic mediums I can do that through. By combining colors, patterns, textures, photos and journaling we cannot only pass on memories to later generations, record our triumphs and defeats, generate comfort within ourselves, but we can still inspire others to go on the same journey. That is my hope in this blog; to inspire everyone around me to tell the story of their life, because it is important, and to unleash their own creative fury.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope to do daily updates for the next week or so, to really put an imprint of my personality here. I will start to post some of my most recent and proudest scrap accomplishments and projects. Have a great day and Happy Fourth of July! Be safe!