Paperclipping: The Video Podcast | Design Your Story

Christmas Trees From Sugar Cones

Originally uploaded by Noell.

Here is an easy holiday activity! I helped the kids frost some sugar cones and then opened a bunch of jars of sprinkles and they went at it. Totally fun.

It took us about 20-30 minutes, they had their fill of me and then I was free to scrapbook!!!

Close-up of right page-Mexico

Originally uploaded by Noell.

…I am back to give them to you! (The particulars of the layout in the previous post, that is).

Journaling:

Above photos, left to right, top to bottom:

1. The skeleton of a beached whale.
2. Bopsy Twins, Noell and Tami.
3. A three-inch grasshopper, which doesn’t look nearly so large in the photo. I love how it perches on the cactus needles.
4. Adult beverages attractively placed in the fridge; evidence that Larry has obsessive compulsive disorder.
5. The devilishly handsome men in our lives, Larry and Israel.

Photo to the right: Playing games at JJ’s Cantina, on the balcony patio overlooking the ocean.

One trait particular to my personal style of scrapbooking is the way I love to use patterned paper to communicate. The reasons for the colors I used on this layout are obvious: the colors of sand and water. What is more personal and less obvious is the reason for the patterns.

I wanted the overall tone of the layout to be relaxing, because that is the feeling of our trips to Mexico. But there is more to those trips than relaxation. They are super fun. So I chose a swirly pattern for one of the sand-colored papers. It is perfect for maintaining the relaxing tone while communicating some light-hearted play.

We also spend hours talking…talking, talking, talking; about life, the world, philosophy, science, and everything. So I thought the other sand-colored paper with all the text was perfect, as well as the sea-colored paper. Those three things incorporate everything I want to remember about our trips there: the relaxation, the fun, the in-depth conversations.

Products:
Cardstock: Creative Memories
Patterned Paper: Creative Imaginations, Basic Grey
Font: Goudy Old Style, Helvetica
Rub-ons: American Crafts, My Mind’s Eye
Ink, Stamp: Stampin’ Up
Paint: Grumbacher

SeasideMexico

Originally uploaded by Noell.

I finally got this layout up!!!! It took me a half-dozen photos at different times to get the lighting to where the whole thing wasn’t blue. Still, I’m having the same problem I had after cropping my last layout in Photoshop and then saving it for the web: it loses a lot of saturation. I’m not sure what to do about this, but I am just so glad to finally be able to post this layout!

I’m wiped out now and ready for bed so I’ll come back tomorrow with all the information you may (or may not!) want, like the journaling and products.

Blake’s Harry Potter Birthday Party

Originally uploaded by Noell.

The fun thing about having a party for a nine-year-old is that the children are old enough for us to do away with the balloons and instead go for more authentic Harry Potter-type decor. Yet they are young enough to delve into their imaginations and and put themselves into the story.

We had a lot of fun. I painted bricks onto two panels of paper that I hung in the archway from the living room to the kitchen. As each guest arrived, Blake escorted them to the brick wall, did the magical tapping on appropriate bricks, and then led his guests through the panels. Once inside the magical world of Hogwart’s School (in our kitchen and backyard), Blake let the guests choose from a tray of various wands. Then he put the sorting hat on each guest to hear the announcement of which house (team) that guest would be a part of. My husband recorded the voice of the actual sorting hat from the movie into his lap top and pushed play when the guests put on the sorting hat. The boys loved this! It produced laughter every time.

When most of the guests had arrived we began playing a modified version of Quidditch, then a game between dragons and humans where the humans dodged dragons to steal their golden eggs (chocolate).

The best part for me was the potion class. I put three flavors of Kool-Aid in various shaped jars and containers and as I brought them out I told the kids that the red was Dragon Tears, the purple was Extract of Pituitary, and the green was Sleeping Potion. I also put out bowls of Bloodworms (gummi worms) and Beazles (jelly beans). The boys were hysterical with this! Never did I hear the words, punch or Kool-Aid, come out of their mouths. It was all potion to them. And they thought their own combinations were amazing! I’ve never seen kids drink so much!

They took their drinks to the dining table I set up on the patio under the glow of white Christmas lights. I covered the table with a purple table cloth and laid diamonds of gold wrapping paper as placemats. I set gothic-type center pieces along the table to give it an old and formal feel, like the dining hall in Harry Potter.

Instead of bags of candy and little toys for the party favors, I found 100-piece jigsaw puzzles with dragons and knights at the dollar stores. I wrapped the puzzles in brown paper and sent them home as their thank-you gifts. What a fun night!

Many of the ideas for this party came from www.amazingmoms.com on their Harry Potter page.

Blake Playing Baseball

Originally uploaded by Noell.

Today we are all about Harry Potter as we get ready for Blake’s party. We’ve been making wands, painting brick panels to hang in the entry between the living room and kitchen, and wrapping party favors. I found great 100-piece fantasy dragon puzzles at the dollar store.

The kids will be play Quidditch, mix magic potions, and dodge dragons in their quest to get the golden egg.

Once this is over I’ll rejoin the rest of you in decorating for Christmas! We have our tree up, but I have put all the other decorating on hold. I love this time of year. I decided I want to alter a file folder to keep all those magazine pages of inspiring Christmas decorating I like to collect. I’ll post it when it’s done. if I get it done, that is. So many ideas, so little time!

I was struggling last week with what should be, in my opinion, an easy part of assembling a layout: getting the background color right. the layout I was working on was one of the assignments for my CK Hall of Fame contest entry and it was not looking right. I was going for a neutral background, and I couldn’t believe that not a single shade of neutral in my stash was complimenting my photos.

What a weird problem to have. I mentioned this in a thread on the 2 peas forum and one of my new buddies, Amber, who is also working for this contest, suggested I go in a completely different direction. She suggested I try a brighter color instead of a neutral.

I was skeptical but tried it. She was right! I found a green that complimented the photos and ended up really happy with the page layout.

This morning I was at the height of frustration with another layout I began last night, again for the Hall of Fame. Usually when I am stuck I flip through my favorite magazines or books for inspiration. This often helps me, but when it didn’t today, I thought back to Amber’s advice. I took the photos off the green paper that I had chosen (which was competing with the photos) and replaced it with a neutral color. Sure enough, it was all I needed! My photos are taking center stage again and I am almost done with my layout.

Sometimes the answer to a color problem isn’t in finding just the right shade of a color. Sometimes it is in looking in a different direction altogether.

Photo, Negative, and CD storage

Originally uploaded by Noell.

Once you’ve completed a page for a group of photos, what do you do with the leftover copies or extras? Do you throw them away? Do you “set them aside” with no real place to keep them because you can’t bear to drop them in the trash can? Do you store them for possible future use?

A few days ago I was reading a blog (of course, now, when I want to link to that blog, I cannot find the posting) where the husband wanted to toss the extras and the wife insisted on keeping them. Her reason? She might want to use them for another project later. The husband wasn’t buying it and apparently kept tossing them. But she dug them back out again.

Perhaps I am paranoid, but I not only save my extras, I actually print extras to store! And I keep them organized with their cd’s and negatives in the box pictured above.

For someone like me who hates clutter, someone who loves to dump items in the trash or send them off to Good Will (sometimes prematurely), I am the opposite with my good photos. There are a few reasons, and they may seem paranoid, but in the end, I think my family and I will be happy for it.

What if there is a fire in the part of the house where I keep my scrapbooks?

What if my cd’s get damaged before I have a chance to transfer the photos to new ones?

What if something goes wrong with my computer? Yes, we back up our files, but what if…?

What if I decide to make an extra project using all my favorite pictures?

What if the school teachers call for photos of the kids? (In fact, each one has done this every year).

What if my kids someday want their own loose copies of many of our photos?

There are so many reasons to keep extra copies. I only print extras of the really good ones. I print two or three extras of my very favorite ones. It costs money, but I am certain that I will use many of them between now and the time I die.

You can order the Power Sort Box from a Creative Memories consultant.

Art On A Smooth Surface

Originally uploaded by Noell.

Look how he concentrates. I love it.

This is my interpretation of the MamaSaysOm challenge. This week’s theme is Smooth.

Mirror

Originally uploaded by L. E. Spry.

I’m a bit left of center when it comes to my choice of passive entertainment while scrapbooking. I hear about other people’s favorite music, some watch t.v. I like to listen to lectures on science. I listen to science-related podcasts, watch videos of scientists speaking at science conventions, lecturing at universities.

I am an artist at heart and do not care for science labs or science fairs. The actual doing of science bores me. But I could listen to the results of scientific findings all day and that is because they tells a story. They provide a story, or context, for our lives!

Today I watched an eight-minute video of a scientist sharing his personal story at a convention. Science meets Art. Or rather, Scientiest Meets Art. Hearing this logic-oriented man share his interpretation of his first art encounter in a college class, his reaction to basic art and design principles, put me on a cycle of thoughts and emotions.

I guess his story is an inversion of my own. Artist Meets Science. You can watch Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s speech here.

I can give you a little music, too. A music video, in fact. It’s fun. It’s Cute Meets Geeky Meets Cool. It’s Love On The Internet.

Trinity and Me

Originally uploaded by Noell.

On June 25, 2006 my daughter passed out for twenty-five minutes. Numerous medical tests later, we learned she has Seizure Disorder. Seizure Disorder is the politically correct term for Epilepsy.

I thought I was okay when the doctor gave me the diagnosis. I learned otherwise when, on the way home, my son asked me where we were going and I realized I had driven us in the opposite direction on a completely different freeway than the one that would take us home.

Lack of concentration is a symptom of Anxiety.

I was going need some help preventing anxiety over the upcoming months. Because scrapbooking was the one thing, other than running, that helped me keep my sanity as a mother, I knew what my “medication” of choice would be. As soon as I came home I dropped all my volunteer-obligations and prioritized scrapbooking as my daily dose of calm. This changed the direction and focus of my life.

Since I was a child I have always suffered from anxiety. But I have managed to remain almost completely anxiety-free through this, one of the most stressful times of my life. In the process, I have propelled my creativity and my enthusiasm about life, art and my family, to a new level.

Now my daughter’s condition has stabilized. With the help of her medication, she may grow out of this. I, myself, remain medication-free. Anxiety has kept its distance, as if no longer a threat. And just like that day when I found myself on another freeway in the opposite direction, my life has taken a different road. Creativity and art are a part of my every day. They fill my world. Without my scrapbooking art, I may have continued on the path I was used to; the path of worry, stress and overwhelm. Scrapbooking gave me a better place to be.