Small Victories

Today is a windy, chilly, wish-I-could-stay-in-bed-all-day-kinda-day. The kids are getting a little stir crazy. I'm getting a little tense. So, I got up the nerve to take us on a little outing. You would think it wouldn't take nerve to go for a drive. Well, the truth is that I suffer from some anxiety when it comes to driving. I avoid it if I can. Did you know that about me? I keep my drives as short and local as possible.  I stew days before going for long road trips on the highway. I get rattled driving into busy sections of the city. I just don't bother unless I have to. I mostly drive to get to the library, my daughter's dance class, medical appointments,  grocery shopping, and anything that doesn't get too far into town.

Recently, I found out that there is a scrapbook store in the area. They even carry Carta Bella Paper! I heard it about the store recently and was surprised I hadn't known about it. It is actually a wholesaler with a retail store attached. They sell to retailers across the nation. I've been living in this city for four years and I truly thought there were no scrapbook stores to be found. I thought I'd have to Montreal to see my paper when it comes to stores.

So, I've been itching to check this store out. I decided today would be a good day. I wrote down the directions and was pleasantly surprised to find out the route was very direct and not overly full of traffic. I got the kids all ready. Nyal was in need of socks and Lauren was wearing a fairy dress that would leave her chilly. She ended up with a long sleeved dress with decidedly mismatched socks to wear. Pippylongstocking was her goal. I myself, was stylin' in my green sweats, pink hoodie, and red converse. We got in the car and off we went. The highlight of the drive was looking over to see a car with its tailgate up, parked at the entrance of a hiking trail. There stood a man playing his saxophone, clearly very into it the way he was bent over. He reminded me of Bill Clinton.

We entered the store and I was so excited. All the lovely brand names I drool over in magazines. All the stuff I thought I'd have to buy online or drive hours to purchase. Yippee! The store clerk was extra friendly and asked my kids to be her helpers and help her make a craft. Thank you!!! My daughter was thrilled. My son preferred to touch all the beads. When I told him "eyes only, no touching" he decided maybe he'd just like to be carried around. Sleepy boy! So, we checked out the selection. Carta Bella's Beautiful Moments by Carina Gardner wasn't on the shelves. I asked the clerk and she said it was in the warehouse as they give priority to wholesale and stuff trickles into the retail store afterward. I told her why I wanted to see it and she brought out a sample paper for me to look at. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I really wanted to feel the texture of the paper. I made some purchases and we headed home. The kids listened to "Go, Dog, Go" and were happily occupied while my mind wandered to supper preparation. I have my best ideas when I'm preoccupied with a mundane task. I'm making pita bread pizzas and I had this total brainwave of an idea to slip mozzarella into the pocket of the pita before putting on the toppings. Cross your fingers that it works!

I think I'll be revisiting the store again, sooner than later!

50% off retirement sale at CatScrap!!!

Hi all,

I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet. I am retiring from MellyBird Designs and my stop at CatScrap. My designs are 50% off until the end of May. Be sure to pick up anything before then! Thank you for your continued support. I will still post on this blog as I am still designing.

... and I want the WHOLE world to know it!!!

Isn't it great when you can finally share something that has been "hush, hush" for so long? Today is THAT day for me. What's the news you say? BIG news... get ready, WAIT, are you a scrapbooker? If not, you probably won't recognize this news as being as ginormous as it is. If you are a scrapbooker, then feel free to jump with joy along with me. Echo Park announced today that they have started a sister company called Carta Bella. Whoohoo, more eye candy for the world to share!

Now why am I personally so excited? Well, I am blessed to be one of their designers! Not even kidding, it's true :) It has been months and months in the making and I'm still pinching myself. Carina Gardner is the Creative Director (I am constantly amazed by Carina's talent, vision, and productivity). The other designers include Deena Rutter (I still drool over her designs) and Samantha Walker (she's an Illustrator wizard, I tell ya!). The Director of Sales is Lindsay Moore. Now I'm kind of new to the whole business side of the paper scrapbooking world. Lately, I've been watching Youtube videos of CHA January 2012. I was watching a segment recently where Lindsay was being interviewed. His personality made me smile. So imagine my surprise and delight when I found out that he is part of Carta Bella. It is a Small, Small World!

Please check out the Carta Bella website and blog. Be sure to "like" it on Facebook and follow along on twitter.... contests are a-brewing and you don't want to miss your chance!

In the next few months, you'll start to see my work on the Carta Bella site... stay tuned.

I can't wait to share this journey with you!!! As always, thanks for reading :)

Inspired to Create?

I've been insanely busy the past while so it took some time to finish up my newest kit. I had the pleasure and honour of collaborating with Re Kneipp of The Hidden Heart. I can't get over how talented, skilled, and productive he is at such a young age. We designed an art themed kit all about creativity and inspiration. I hope it will inspire you as well. For the next few days it is 20% off in my shop. It will debut in Re's shop on Thursday.

Inspired to Create: 

Sample Layouts

by Mrs. Hobbes

by Me

Happy Creating!

Go Fly a Kite!

Let me start off by saying that I love balmy breezy days. Add a little humidity to my day and my mood is sure to be just that much more serene. Today's balminess reminded me of rainy season in Japan. I kept waiting for the rain to fall but so far it hasn't.

The kids and I headed off to the park with our new Easter kites in hand. I didn't take my camera because I know how easy it can be to get caught up in capturing an event rather than just living in the moment and enjoying it. However, halfway to the park I knew I'd missed a lovely photo opportunity. The light was perfect and Lauren was exceptionally cute in her pink tutu and pink corduroy jacket. To me, kites have always been fun but difficult to maneuver. I didn't have high hopes for our success. I was SO wrong! Lauren had her kite flying in seconds. She ran up the hill and then ran back into the middle of the field. I helped Nyal get his flying and he did it! I was amazed but not as much as he was. He was so overflowing with Joy. Jumping for joy! All the while I was thinking "oh, WHY didn't I bring my camera and video camera? Why oh why?" and then tried to just soak it all in anyway. After quite a while, I told them we'd go home and get the cameras and come back for more kite flying. They agreed. Yay!

Well, it is my belief that some moments just aren't meant to be captured. We returned to the park. The wind had died down a bit so Lauren was having trouble getting a lift for her kite. While I helped Nyal he decided he wasn't really into kite flying anymore. Then I got both their kites up in the air as they landed into a pine tree. I managed to free both kites. I started to take a few photos just as my battery died. So I took some quick video as the wind died down. Mostly I filmed Lauren trying to detangle the string wrapped around her legs. Nyal found the sand toys in the wagon and ventured towards the play equipment surrounded by sand. So, we built a castle and came home for some lunch.

I hope I remember this morning always.

Delight is right!

Lately I have had so much on my mind, so much I want to say and yet I just don't have time to sit down and write it out. Who does, right? Yet sometimes getting it all helps you sort through the chaos.

My life has been so busy I haven't been able to.... finish this sentence, apparently. This screen has been left open for over 24 hours. Guess I didn't get back to it. I wonder what the planned ending to the sentence was going to be. I've long forgotten.

I've been a bit overwhelmed the past few days as I try to organize my life. The best thing I've done in the past two days is to go in our backyard. My daughter could hunt for worms to her heart's delight and my son could put 100% of his concentration into the sand table while I raked, and trimmed, and pulled out tree stumps with my bare hands. Ok, I was wearing gloves. Being outside and accomplishing a task felt so good. My kids were happily occupied, my mind was free to think, my body was getting exercise, and things were getting done.

Yesterday afternoon (when I originally started this post) I was organizing my closet, my kid's rooms, and my craft room. I needed to prepare my son's room for his big boy bed. So, one small task turned into several larger tasks. My son loved his bed and slept soundly while I sat in the next room weeping over the passing of time and my babies no longer being babies. Ok, I wasn't weeping but I have been nostalgic. How quickly things change! It seems strange to me that I don't need a crib in the house. I waited so long to have babies and now suddenly I'm past that stage?

So, while the kids were happily playing in my daughter's room, I was organizing, keeping, purging, and sorting through boxes of stuff I've collected over the years. I'm sticking the usuable pieces of ephemera into my Project Life page protectors to use at a later date. I came across a stack of 12x12 scrapbook paper. Very exciting to sort through... my version of being in a candy store. I've felt so guilty these past three years knowing I have all this wonderful paper product and no project for it. I found this one paper that has 12 journal cards on one page. I didn't think I had anything like that since most of my supplies predate Project Life. When I was admiring/drooling over the paper I was delighted to see it was designed by none other than Nancie Rowe Janitz! You all know how much I like to blog about her (sometimes on my other blog: tappingthedreamtree.blogspot.com). The paper is called Delight Cards from her Delight line at Fancy Pants Designs. It is from 2009. So, I was excited before to find something so pretty to use in my Project Life but now it has even more significance.

Thinking about the events happening in my life right now has caused me to reflect on how I got here. I've been paper scrapbooking since 2000. I wanted to make my sister an engagement album. Then I started up my own online scrapbook store. I didn't have the time, energy, or know-how to keep it going. I didn't have a huge amount of my own supplies as money wasn't exactly flowing in my lean years. I mostly drooled over what I saw in stores or in magazines. In 2006 I got married and was able to buy supplies and actually dedicate time to crafting. It was also that year that I made my first digital pages. I wasn't totally sold on going digital as I liked to work with my hands, I spent all day at a computer and had no desire to spend my nights there too, and I liked the tactile finished project.

Then I had babies. When my daughter was around 6 months old I began making layouts again. Everything took so long and I was worried about her getting into the supplies. I treated myself to an online course (25 days of templates I think it was called... by Tiffany Tillman at ReneePearson.com). I had planned to use her templates to make paper pages but somehow the whole "going digital" thing clicked in and there was no going back. I spent the whole next year trying to master digital scrapbooking. Tiffany's courses really gave me the education I needed. Then I joined a couple creative teams. The whole time I knew I'd want to design my own products too.

I was thrilled to find my passion in digital scrapbooking. I could create so many layouts in much less time and with no mess to clean up. I liked the end result. I was pleased to see that using quality digital supplies and learning techniques like shadowing made for beautifully printed pages (which I print at Persnickety Prints, by the way). I loved that I was quickly building my collection of memories. Photos were getting used, journaling was getting written down, and revisions could easily be made.

And yet, I felt so guilty. All my beautiful stash of paper products were sitting in drawers and bins just itching to be used. "use me, use me" they whispered to me when I entered my craft room. "Someday, someday" I'd sigh.

Then, a bit late to the game, I discovered Project Life by Becky Higgins. Oh, the beauty of page protectors. I LOVE this concept. One thing I didn't like about digital is that I can't add my ephemera to a page. Sure, I can scan it in and sometimes that is enough.  Other times I just really want to add that drawing or ticket stub. Or I just want a little event to be documented without making it the focal point of an entire page. So, I bought page protectors. As pretty as the complete collection of journal cards (and all that is included in her kits) are I don't need them. I WANT to use up my stash of existing supplies. The mere thought of using up my supplies thrills me.

I plan to use Project Life in three ways... I think. 1. I plan to do all my travel albums in this way. I have bins of ephemera and little notes, and photos about trips I've taken. All just waiting to be scrapbooked. 2. My actual present life. That will be done in the way that most people consider to be Project Life. 3. Past stuff as I find the time. I've been sorting through boxes of stuff I've saved over the years. Most of it can be thrown out. The rest I hope to use in my album.

So, I THINK I've found my scrapbooking style. The style that will allow me to effectively keep memories. My style is 1. Project Life, and 2. Digital. Sometimes I will still need to make a full 12x12 layout. Whether it is just a creative desire, or a matter of composition, I know I'll still scrapbook digitally. The rest of the time, I'll use my project life method. I realize there are lots of digital versions of Project Life. I might use them a bit but the main point of my using PL is to use real life stuff, so there isn't a whole lot of reason for me to do it digitally. However, I do plan to use the computer to make my own journal cards, or other designer's versions, or to print out journaling. And of course to edit my photos.

I've yet to actually finish a Project Life page. I'm working on it... I will find the time. Just not yet.

So, I am fascinated right now by my coming full circle from paper, to digital, and back to paper. If I hadn't made that choice to sign up for Tiffany's class I would not have had the experiences, and met the friends, and made the connections to bring me where my life is now leading. In going digital, I joined creative teams, learned new skills, became a digital designer, and am now embarking on the dream I had when I first started paper scrapbooking. I'll tell you about the fulfillment of that dream in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your day! :)

Updates, updates. Updating....

I would like to go to bed. My computer is updating. A very slow update apparently. Hopefully, it is one that will allow me to actually print my photos! A night of headaches I've had! Now I remember why I detest home printers.

So, while I wait for the update to finish (I'm worried if I go to bed I'll wake up to find it stalled or some such nonsense) I've decided to do a little updating of my own.

I couldn't decide whether to post on my "other" blog, or this design blog. I rarely blog and having two blogs is getting a little confusing for me. 

A LOT has been going on in my little world. Much of it I'm not quite ready to share with the world. It's all very exciting and new to me. So stay tuned for that news in the next few months.

I haven't had a lot of releases in the past month or so. I've got half finished stuff sitting here on my hard drive. I just need to get it all together and packaged up. I'm also working on a collab with someone and it should be really exciting. I've had trouble getting the work done as I'm really tired these days.  Maybe because I stay up waiting for software updates to complete.

Let's see... what has been going on? In February, I went to Utah for Carina Gardner's Designer Workshop. She wrote up a blog post about it and I'm in some of the photos (yay!). A couple days before the workshop I found out another designer from CatScrap would be attending. That blew my mind! Of all people, it was Christine Chodil. I'd collaborated with her on "Go To Bed". She is one of the people I always figured I'd meet but had no idea it would be so soon. It was great to meet her. She's very sweet, funny, and our lives have some parallels. I was very nervous to attend the workshop. For one, I rarely leave my kids and had never left my son before. This was a BIG deal for me. I knew the kids were in good hands with their Daddy and his parents but I missed them and worried none the less. I was also greatly intimidated to hear about the other attendees. Heidi Swapp? Are you kidding me? Deena Rutter? Really? I still drool over her "Happier" line. Lori Whitlock and Samantha Walker, the lovely ladies whose designs I download from the Silhouette website? My heart beat just a wee bit faster. Most of all I was very anxious as I navigated my worries and dreams of being in the design industry (my CatScrap career started just 11 months ago). What does the future hold as I start down this exciting and prettily decorated path? Meeting Carina and her assistant Susan in person was something that seemed very surreal to me. Living where I do, the superstars of the Scrapbook world shine brightly but in the far distance. I never had access to conferences and megacrops or wherever all these people gather. So, yes, it's pretty clear this weekend workshop was definitely an item on my wish list of things to do in my life. It went really well and I enjoyed myself. My only regret is not enjoying myself more. I let my worries and anxiety get to me. By the end of the workshop I finally was able to relax a bit. I guess I needed one more day! Oh, and a shout out to the Little America Hotel's swimming pool. It is my all-time favourite hotel pool to date. An outdoor swim surrounded by mountains as the sun rose. Seriously, that was unforgettable!

My husband went away on business to the Netherlands for 10 days at the end of February.  So, by his return I was really missing the company of people older than three. Then I was busy planning two birthdays (one with a party) and figuring out how to make a unicorn piñata. I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself! (I will add photos to this post tomorrow maybe) Then the flu struck. A birthday party was delayed but we got through it all and still managed to have fun the next week. Soon after, Spring arrived extra early and we enjoyed a week of summer weather. I raked, played at the park, and cut down trees with my bare hands... seriously, I wrestled a few trees out of their holes. I did! This week, the cold has returned and I am just tired. I'm also really itching to finish (more like start) the collab I'm currently working on; starting up my Project Life (finally!); work on some craft/home decor projects and just take a moment to reflect on how exciting this past year has been. I just.need.some.energy... and a little sleep.

Ok, I'm going to bed! I hope this was coherent.

Night night!