I got this from Jan's blog. Thought it was perfect for me! lol.
I could get more scrapbooking done if...
Play if you like! :-)
It's still there. It's less, but the urge to create is still there. So here's what I came up with to maybe provide a bit more balance and get more creativity back into my life. We all know that I'm a Red Sox fan. I watch games whenever I can. But baseball being the way it is, that means there are games on most days of the week and they often last three hours. If they're playing the Evil Empire, they can last up to four. Granted, I don't get to actually watch a lot of games, but even for the ones I do get to see, that's a lot of time just sitting on the couch.
So I've decided to multi-task. Why not go through my stuff or make cards when the game is on in the background? Sure, my undivided attention won't be on the game. But I have a DVR. If I miss something awesome like four home runs in a row, I can rewind it. And I firmly believe that, despite what many people would say, it doesn't make me any less of a fan. What it does allow me to do is to redeem some of that time.
I don't talk about it much here, but I am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. That's right. I teach people how to use rubber stamps for scrapbooking and card making in the comfort of their own home. Hey, it pays for the hobby, so why not?
When I changed rotations last month, one of the surgeons remembered me talking about it from the last time I was there. Since that time, she is now a scrapbooker and wants to learn more about stamping. Cool! So I've been distributing my catalogs and promotional stuff around the hospital lately. In June, one of the surgeons hopes to host a party at her home where she promises lots of orders!
On another front, my dear sister Kate has decided to sign up as a demonstrator under me! She has been a great customer for the last year and has met a ton of teachers in the school where she works who are dying to learn how to make beautiful cards like she can. So she has decided to jump in and get some customers of her own. Which is totally great. She is far more creative than I am and this would be a really fun way of earning money during her summer break. Plus it seems like she has several people who are just waiting to place an order with her!
All of this has left me feeling quite uncreative and uni-dimensional. I haven't touched any of my stamps, ink, or paper since I made Christmas cards last December. And for good reason; I'm pretty darn busy and any extra time I have I should be studying. Plus, since we had to move out and then back into our apartment for the remodeling, all my stuff is completely disorganized. It would take me at least two whole days to go through it all, figure out what I'm keeping and what I'm selling/donating, and reorganize it in some meaningful way. And since I work 10-12 hour days and only get one day off a week, that isn't happening any time soon.
Studying is important. No. It's critical.I have a yearly exam that I really need to blow out of the water this January, and the only way to do that is to hit the books... every day. After January, I need to keep right on studying because one year from August, I will be taking the first part of the boards so that I can be a Board Certified Surgeon. Yeah. Pretty important. Who wants a surgeon who failed her boards on the first time?
This whole studying thing is so ever-present and inescapable; it's hard (and dangerous) for me to imagine a time when I don't have to study so much. I won't be doing anything crafty for a very. long. time. Which I've largely accepted. But sometimes the other half of my brain wakes up and I feel the urge to be creative. Usually the feeling doesn't last very long and if I ignore it, it goes away. But this one is hanging on for quite some time. Hopefully me putting it down on paper will help it fade...
Things are pretty boring around here and my blog has had essenitally the same elements since I started this. Take the banner image, for example. I could have made new ones out of traditional paper and other scrapbooking stuff, but I don't have a scanner. I couldn't have made a new one with digital scrapbooking because that is way over my head. When I asked Francine to help me figure it out, she said it would easier to make one for me. So she did! And I love it!
Then I was thinking that my sidebar items were getting kinda boring. I could make liks with text, but not with pictures. How the heck could I do that? No worries, there, either! Dawn asked what images I wanted and said that we could add them when she came out this weekend. I stood over her shoulder and watched as she typed some nonsensical letters into the right space. After we saved, there was the image on my blog! Viola!
Thank you both sooooo much! :-)
Last weekend was my stamping party. I was looking foward to it, because my time off is quite limited, and I haven't had one since July. Before that I was having them every other month, so I was long overdue. Besides, I was looking forward to showing people ways to make Thanksgiving more homey and to help them get a jump start on home-made cards for Christmas. But mainly, it was an entire weekend off. I only get one of those a month, if that. And I was dedicating this one to stamping. I spent all of Saturday getting ready for it -- making class kits, samples, and door prizes.
Sunday came, and I was in good shape. Great shape, actually. Just a little bit of set up and I was done. I wasn't feeling that hot, so I had time to lay down for a while. My guests came one by one. Except one came with her daughter, who was going to make the cards, too. And her husband. And her toddler son. Huh? It's a stamping party, lady. Stamping is for grown ups. Invisible ink with special paper is for toddlers. And I don't have any of that stuff. Not to mention the fact that my house is very clearly not kid friendly. Nor does it have to be, I don't have any. I have a table that dings easily, cream colored carpet, cats, and many, many other things that can hurt a youngster with curious fingers and boundless energy.
The class went for three hours because people took their time crafting, learning new techniques, sipping wine, snacking on spanikopita... oh, yeah... and dodging the grape tomatoes that were being thrown by the toddler. When he wasn't doing that, he was dipping his crackers (that was supposed to have cheese on top) into the cats' water dish. Then he'd scream for a while. Over to push the buttons on the dishwasher. Repeatedly. Then his father had the brilliant idea of giving him his keys to play with. He must have imagined that the keys were drumsticks and that my coffee table was a drum set, because he started banging the two together with great force and laughing the whole time. I just stood there in disbelief... are you actually letting your child attempt to destroy my coffee table... my expensive Pottery Barn coffee table???
I had a headache. Daniel was hiding in the bedroom protecting the cats and the guns. Some people left early. Some people drank more. Finally they all left. What a freaking zoo. Well, at least I had a nice Saturday being creative. Usually in situations like this, I try to come away with something positive. Like, what could I have learned from it all? The only thing I can think of is that I'm not ready for kids yet. But I already knew that. I didn't need a toddler at a stamping party to remind me...
It's been such a long time since I've busted out my ink, paper, and stamps to create things. This weekend, I have the perfect excuse... I'm teaching a stamping class tomorrow! So today, I'm getting all the class kits ready; two Thanksgiving cards and two Christmas cards. One of my friends is coming over to help, and she suggested that we do four Christmas cards. But I resisted; Thanksgiving is getting more short-changed every year. We go right from trick-or-treating straight to fa-la-la-la-la in the stores. But not here!
I'm having such a blast, on the floor, playing with paper, scissors, and glue. :-)
I have to admit that I've been secretly coveting the little mood girl I saw on Dawn's blog. I knew that once I went to the website, I would be using it on my own. Since you now see that little icon at the top right of your screen, you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce what happened. So why muscial? I am totally digging the new Evanescence album. I've been singing them all day... on the way to work, on the way from work, to and from the gym and in the shower after the gym. They just freaking rock!
So is the new layout easy to read, or should everything be on one side? I'm not good with this compter stuff, so let me know what you think, and be honest. :-)
