A salute to the dairy heiffer

I was in the mood for a small project last night, and I was overdue to design a one-page homage to the Illinois State Fair butter cow for my Favorite Things scrapbook. I knew I needed to make a butter cow page when I found a sheet of yellow, teal, gray and tan cow-print paper last spring at The Paper Boutique ( http://paper-boutique.com/). Isn't it funny how the supplies you find sometimes determine your projects as much as the reverse? 

I also pulled out my big bag of pre-cut letters, which have been in storage since I got my Sizzix Big Shot a couple years ago and started using it exclusively for lettering. I'm having a big of crank fatigue, though, so I'm feeling the urge to sort through my many incomplete sets of letters and use what I can. Some of my headlines might resemble hostage letters for a while! (Luckily, I only needed a few letters for this page and had all I needed in the same color and style.)

I had printed two pictures of the cow -- I wanted an overall shot and a close-up of the face. I didn't have room to use both, since I had enlarged the overall shot to a 5x7, so to make room for the large headline and journaling block, I cut out the close-up and used my Ranger Liquid Pearls to highlight it. I also used a sponge dauber to add some Stampin' Up! Bermuda Bay ink to the glittery die-cut letters so they would stand out more boldly against the lively background of the cows. I still wish I'd had darker-colored letters, but sometimes it's nice to use up old supplies and clear out space. Cleaning out clutter freshens my imagination and improves my creative process. 

I'm hoping to find more time to scrap this weekend and complete at least one more small-scale project. I might stick with the state fair theme and work on some pages from a night at the fair this past summer when I went to the Boyz II Men concert with my friend Michele. With all the snow and slush outside, it seems like the perfect time to focus on warmer times. 

Happy scrapping!

A finished Paris album and other thoughts

After a long absence from this blog, I'm back to say that, although I haven't blogged about my scrapping lately, I have been scrapping. In fact, I have finished the Paris book, and once I have the chance to run over to Scrapbook Your Story for some page protectors, I'll be able to fully assemble it.

Here are two of my Eiffel Tower layouts. For some reason, I'm having trouble uploading photos to the blog, so I don't think I'll be able to add any more to this post. :-( Maybe I'll try again later.

There were so many great things to photograph in Paris that it was hard to narrow down my pictures to a reasonable number for the scrapbook. Natalie gave me a great idea to use one of the pocket pages that came with my variety pack -- a 12x12 with nine 4x4 pockets -- at the end of the book to make a couple of collages of cropped photos. As I was working on the book, I set aside photos that wouldn't fit in the main part of the book for possible use in the collages. I was able to use almost all of them that way. I would include a photo of the collages if I could get the photo feature to work! (Enter my frustration with technology!)

Now that I've finished my first hybrid album, I have to say I've measured the pros and cons. I love the ease of the 3-ring binder, but the pocket pages were a little inconvenient in the sense that they restricted me in some of my layouts. I can see myself using hybird books for future projects, though -- especially small, simple projects such as one I'm planning for a Christmas gift.

With Paris 2010 finished, I'm in between projects, trying to decide what to start next. I have a weeklong staycation starting a week from today, and I'm hoping to get in plenty of scrapping time. One project I need to do soon is a framed photo page in memory of Typo, the feral stray that adopted the SJ-R as her home more than 10 years ago and had to be put to sleep last week because she had large mammary gland tumors. I've gathered several pictures coworkers took of her over the years, and we're hoping, once I finish it, that we'll be allowed to hang it up somewhere in the building. Some other books I'm eager to dig into: the cupcake crawl, my reunion weekend at U of I with Sara, Heather and Steph this past April; a book of childhood family vacations (part of my long-term "scrapping the old, yellowing pictures" project); and a number of single layouts for my "favorite things" scrapbook, including Krispy Kreme, Einstein Bros. Bagels and meeting Boyz II Men. 

I decided to do a "favorite things" book back in March, during my last staycation, when I realized my tendency to take pictures of the things I love most in life. By "things," I mean things that are tangible (I should probably tackle people and concepts in a different book). For example, so far in my "favorite things" book, I have a lot of foods and food places -- cupcakes, Mel-O-Cream doughnuts, my mom's banana bread. I also have the old Doc Marten sandals I got just after college and wore for several summers, to the point of needing a strap repaired (after which I wore them for at least one more summer). And then I have a layout for all the Dave Matthews Band concerts I've been to. (I wore the sandals to a few of those!) It's fun to have a book dedicated to the small things that bring me joy. I'm all about taking pleasure in the little things. There just aren't enough "big" moments in life. We need to find happiness and contentment in the ordinary.

I'm sure in the coming days I'll become inspired for my next project. I have a few things to focus on before I can relax, though. I have a retreat next weekend on which I'm giving a talk, and I need to get through three more days of work. I'm more than ready for a week of leisurely scrapping, though. I know I can accomplish a lot in several wide-open days. Only seven days till then!