i challenge you!

we had so much fun at the chat last night!  and we'll be chatting again today at 2:00pm and 8:00pm CST.  This is the "tweet" little card i made for the one hour challenge.  you can see why i said tweet and, well, it is little too at just 4x4 inches.  hey!  i didn't really cheat as i didn't specify size.  you know i could never get a full sized layout done in an hour!  ha!  as if!  we'll have an easy only use your search engine skillz challenge this afternoon and another one hour challenge this evening.  both have the possibility of winning a $20 gift card to jbs mercantile attached!  now that's incentive!  but really, we have so much fun at these things!  join us!

come chat with us tonight at 8pm cst!

check the crop forum for challenges (we'll be adding more tonight and tomorrow) and a chat schedule!  we've got tons of fun and inspiration planned!  join us!

10 on the 10th: instagram

i got my "smartphone" back in october and chose the android over the iphone for various reasons.  the only thing i felt i was truly missing out on without the iphone was the instagram app.  all the cool kids had it.  normally i don't much care about being a cool kid, but the fun photo treatments they used were calling my name.  how thrilled was i when bridgette informed me that instagram was coming to the android?!  happy day.  just look at that!  the humble thistle never looked so amazing.

i quickly learned that instagram was so much more than just cool photo effects.  it's a quick and fun way to tell your friend that her son was teaching your son how to play chicken.

it's also easily accessible across all the social networking forums.  on one little screen i can send thoughts to my instagram, twitter, and facebook friends.  easy peasy.

i believe it must be the most accessible social networking site as well since it was actually designed for the phone instead of being designed for the computer and then made to work on the phone.  and goodness.  i totally have my phone with me all the time these days.  no more boring minutes in my world.  ha.

one of my favorite things i'm discovering about it is that it's a great way to document those moments that i would normally forget.  like last sunday in church g asked for the bulletin and a pen.  i thought he was going to draw on it like he'd do as a little guy, but no.  he was checking off all the things we'd already done in the service.  ha.  he was happy to be checking off so many until he got towards the end and realized we were at the long one.  ha ha.  and it's all documented on instagram.

i also love that i don't miss as many moments because i don't have a camera handy.  like i said.  my phone is practically glued to my person.  yes i'm addicted.  not to actually answering it though, lol.

with instagram i can share my thoughts in words and pictures.  i mean wow.  i normally wouldn't have gotten the picture of this amazing cloud formation for the reason mentioned above.  but i did.  and then i can share with all my peeps what an amazing world i think we live in.

instagram tricks me into looking at my everyday mundane world with fresh eyes.  like today i took a pic of me and g's shoes drying on the balcony.  i was floored to realize there's not much difference in our sizes anymore.  my boy is getting so big.

instagram is a fun conversation starter.  like everyone from my generation has something to say about g playing "boombox" with our ipad.  and if that doesn't get you talking, the look on pepito's face will.

so that's what's up this month.  a last minute 10 on the 10th all about my current instagram addiction.  thanks for the fun idea of 10 on the 10th shimelle.  :)

hike: rock island state park

another awesome adventure for pack 471.  here they are dancing in the waterfalls.

there are falls everywhere.  i'm not gonna lie.  it's a rough hike.  but so very beautiful.

so thankful g has the opportunities with his pack.  i think for an only child it's more memorable with friends.

a deceptively peaceful view of our rock hopping adventure.

cub scout moms going incognito after the rock hop.

cubmaster instigating the water wars.  this is, of course, after the "official" event was over.

g looking for creatures, per usual.

love to take pictures.  sometimes they capture the majesty of a place more than just being there does.

our world is so big and we are so very small.

space invaders: a new jbs mercantile game

we've got another great new super easy retro inspired game going at jbs mercantile.  the basic premise is to be inspired by any online challenge you find and then bring that challenge back to our message board to inspire others.  space invaders!  get it?  check it out HERE.  and, per usual, there's a $25 prize for the winner!  plus, we're sponsoring a vintage challenge HERE so you can double your chances to win by entering that one.  i'm not in the running for the prize, but that doesn't keep me from playing along.  here's my contribution to the vintage challenge and now i'm off to look up some more good challenges . . .

this one is a mix of the june papercrafting and artisan kits.  you can tell by how little g was in these pictures that i've been hoarding these photos for a long time.  you know the vintage thoroughbred letterhead and manilla envelope were totally inspiring for this layout.

the vintage slide is also in the main kit.  i kinda need another of those.  the little red ribbon i made last year i guess and never used.  it seemed to fit perfectly on this layout.  i made it from the blue ribbon clear stamp set and some red goodies.  i've been meaning to do a tutorial on the process.  maybe i'll find the time this summer.

the little flowers were punched with my much loved martha stewart hydrangea punch.  i layered the washi tape from the kit over white cardstock before punching them out.

and then i inked the wooden letters with red stayzon as i needed another strong punch of red at the top.

dirty footprints studio's 21 secrets: dina wakley

finally back to the art journaling!  i signed up for dirty footrprint studio's "21 secrets" back in march and finally opened it up and got started last weekend.  thank goodness it's a self-paced class, right?  the class looked like a good deal with 21 lessons from 21 different artists.  it appears that there are videos plus pdfs from each artist.  i did dina wakley's lesson, "intuitive painted layers," first as i know dina rocks it.  she did.  i was a bit scared of this one at first, but i love how it turned out in the end (you were so right briana).  i hope to crank out all 21 lessons this summer.  yay summer vacation!

i can't give away any of dina's secrets as i know how hard she works.  but i did want to tell you of a couple little snippets about my page.  as in i finally scored a julie balzer crafter's workshop cloud stencil and used it even.  la la love.  i love clouds.  i love stencils.  i love julie art.  what's not to love?

i also used several of my new tim holtz distress stains that may and terena talked me into buying.  dina suggests using two similar tones of paint which i mostly didn't have.  instead i used a paint and a stain.  there was a learning curve, but i'm thinking i will be playing with this combo a lot and i'm proud to have used more unused things.

hope to be back with another art journal sample soon!  i'm thinking julie's lesson will be next!  :)

first ever get it scrapped! creative team!

i am very excited to share that my picture is here amidst this new group of talented friends!  debbie hodge of get it scrapped, masterful scrapbook design, and easy scrapbook pages has announced her first ever creative team and i am honored to be on it.  i just love debbie's creative and educational philosophies.  i'm already being creatively challenged in my first assignment, "repoussoir." 

g and i made it through the first day of esl daycamp.  today there were 33 students from 11 different countries.  how awesome is that?

i'm sure you can guess where this art journal page originated then.  i'm going back to school this summer too!  finally found the time to start going through the workshop i purchased, "21 secrets from dirty feet studio."  it's fabulous!  i'll share more soon!

 and in my effort to get caught up, here's my last unshared page from the may kits.  now on to june!

freebird?

i meant to post this yesterday.  ooops.  i find my way back to my blogging routine one of these days.  this was from the may jbs mercantile kit (there are still a few left and one of the artisan from which i got the small alphas).  it's super straight in real life.  i just seemed to have photographed it wonky.  it makes me laugh.  i chose to post this next from my backlog as it really fit what the last day of school was like.  g woke up with a bad cough.  he could barely stop, so i assumed he had the wheezies again and took him to the doctor.  for the first time in history it actually wasn't the wheezies.  and then he puked in the backseat of my new car on the way home.  this was the ensuing convo:

me:  what color is it?
g: yellow and bacon colored.  i think it's the eggs.
me:  no red?
g: no
me:  did any puke get on the ipad?
g: only a little.
me: let me see!  hand it to me!
g: a little got on the library book too.
me: did the pages get puked or just the cover.
g: not too much. only a little on the pages.
me.  ok.

yes.  and school is indeed out, but i signed up to teach two weeks of summer school and then to take two days of inservice after that.  the end of school was very anticlimatic for me this year since i'm not really done.  big big sigh.  feeling very bleary eyed this morning.  yawn.

jbs mercantile june reveal: boom!

the june gallery is live!  (finally - i had some human and technical difficulties this month).  do check it out!  i am always so inspired by the talent and creativity of these amazing women i have the honor to work with.

i've been holding onto this set of photos for almost a year now.  as you can see, this month's kit is perfect for fourth of july layouts.  i believe it would be perfect for the queen's big party and the olympics as well!  among a million other things.  again, check out the design team gallery for confirmation of its versatility.

this layout was created for the rubix cube challenge over on the message board.  you have till june 3rd at midnight cst to enter!  there's a $25 gift card at stake!  and it's an easy and fun challenge!