Month: October 2010

Parisian Anthology

Have you SEEN the new Pink Paislee + Houseof3 line?! It’s fantastic. I have a video (FYI – HARD to hold camera and ink with one hand) It’s pretty pixelated… I almost didn’t post. But here it is:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fGMXr71aGg]

I did an article about it and made the first (of MANY, I’m sure) layouts with it…

This stuff is SO fun. Link to article I wrote for Scrapbook Update. Info on the layout + many more pics + how-to shared on www.scrapbookupdate.com

I’m including some in one of my classes I’m teaching in Berkeley, CA (Nov 6) I love it so much… back to playing!!

Ella Boy book give-away

I’m all about the girls. I loved being a part of Ella’s Scrapbooking Girls book. I even gave away a few copies of this e-book right here. That said, a lot of you have boys to scrapbook… and Ella has you covered there too with their newest e-book:

About the book:

Got boys? Whether you’re raising one little dude or several, this guidebook is here to help you make sure you capture all the details of who they are. Take a peek into their pockets. Have them take a quiz to reveal their hopes and dreams. Showcase their greatest creations inventions. Share their penchant for damage and destruction. From “things that go” to “games and sports,” this guidebook truly has it all!

We invited five moms of boys (and only boys) to brainstorm a list of 20 essential “dude” topics and create incredible layout examples for each. They offered up their best ideas for making their sons’ layouts meaningful, authentic, unique, and, well, masculine. And with 15 boys, ranging in age from 3 to 19, these women know a thing or two about muddy boots, grass stains, dump trucks, and video games.

Sound like the book for you? Well guess what? Ella Publishing told me I could give a copy away to one of you. If you’d like the chance to win the Scrapbooking Boys e-book simply leave a comment here sharing why you’d like to have it and I’ll draw a winner next week. Good luck!!

Scarlet Lime October:

The wait is over – the October 2010 gallery is up over at Scarlet Lime. (http://www.scarletlime.com/gallery.html)

This one is my favorite – it’s using the ‘frugal fab’ kit that she’s doing (which I LOVE) and I just had so much fun with the bits and pieces in it. The photo cracks me up so much. Waiting on friends to arrive for a play date… so hard!

Love the Dear Lizzy goodies I got to use in the page above (using Main kit). What do these two layouts have in common? Both feature photos from my iphone. Yep – the phone that I swore to Jason I didn’t want… I actually love.

He knew he’d be right – and sure enough he was. It makes me itchy to have even more technology in my life… but it has been awesome so it can stay. Plus if it lets me capture photos and moments (in high enough resolution to print and scrapbook) then how could I NOT love it?!

We’ve got a bunch of new talent at Scarlet Lime (such lovely ladies!) + loads of projects up if you want to see more.

Happy Crafting!

10/13: Kid Book suggestions

It’s been a busy new book month around here, and so I’m going to chat about 3 different titles today. Harper Collins sent me several new kids books to check out – and the girls and I recommend them all for a birthday, just because, or or Christmas gift. Most are for kids 5 – 8 or so… but Rebecca (Age 3) loves them all too. They’re boy or girl friendly too. Without further ado – here’s three great books.

My Mommy Hung The Moon: A Love Story by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell is the first title – the child tells about all his (amazing) mom does. I love kids books that have a lot of detail, interesting things to look at, and that can start a discussion. This does all of that.

I love the whimsical drawings and sweet story of how the mom bakes all the biggest cookies, does all these cool things. I love the book page and the baking pages best.

I think that could be a lot of fun to give an expecting mom too. Next up, a cat I wasn’t familiar with…

Scaredy-Cat, Splat by Rob Scotton is a book I don’t think I quite got, but the girls ADORE it. In fact – the kids we read it to at Elizabeth’s “read with us” time at school loved it too. So obviously my “it’s ok I guess” rating means nothing. The kids all LOVED it!

He is a pretty cute cat, and the girls enjoyed how he was trying SO HARD to be scary and win the prize… but really wasn’t a scary kind of cat.

Speaking of animals – we also got to read about some rescue bunnies…

Rescue Bunnies by Doreen Cronin is about a trainee bunny (they ‘rescue’, though it wasn’t quite clear if they were meant to be police, fire, or something altogether different) and the mission to save a giraffe. They talk about what will happen if they can’t save the giraffe (the hyenas will come eat it) – that’s one point I’d warn you about. Though my kids watch Discovery channel programs often enough they know some animals eat other animals and weren’t bothered by the sense of urgency given here to saving a life.

I cracked up at the movie references randomly placed through the book. A bit of humor for the adults. Everything does indeed turn out ok in the end (of course) and since we have a daddy who’s job it is to help and even save other people it was especially great. The fact that it was bunnies made it even better for my girls – they loved that!

Stay tuned – I’ve got some other books to recommend for (upcoming) holiday shopping, and a few books to give away in the next few weeks!!

Go forth with confidence.

How much more could you achieve if you did everything with a bit more confidence? Also: would you be more successful? Attractive? Happy? What all could you pull off if simply doing so with the right attitude?

I see people who pull stuff off that they shouldn’t be able to – and I have to wonder if it’s that “X” factor aka confidence.

It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about. More than that, something I’ve been working on for myself. You see, I think confidence is a SKILL. One that must be exercised and practiced.

Stay tuned for the confidence files. New blog series I’ve had in my mind for a while and that is going to start appearing here about once a week or so. Not just me saying “look at me, I’m so confident” but rather me saying “Hey, I feel totally UNconfident about ___, and I’m confronting it. Here’s what happened…”

If I fall flat on my face, cry, am humiliated, am victorious, learn a new trick… whatever. You’ll hear about the good and the bad.

Got suggestions? Questions? Ideas? I welcome them, as always friends. I am so lucky to have such good friends who are supportive (yes, YOU) and so often make my day with kind comments and emails.

I will be exploring confidence in everything from fashion to crafting and anything else I can think of. If I can dig up some good embarrassing circa early 1990’s photos I’ll expose those too. Oh yes, I’ll share LACK of confidence tales of my very embarrassing youth.

Laying it all out there… this is me kinda stuff… can I pull it off? With a bit of confidence, I think so… if not, I fail and go find something else to write about…