A Magic Way of Going

I have had a poem/verse, written by Maurice T. O'Callaghan, pinned up on my board at work for about three years now.

It's a photocopy of a handout from one of Mr. O'Callaghan's speaking engagements - I don't even remember attending one of his seminars so it may have been given to me by someone.  As I put my coat on before heading home last week, one of the lines caught my eye and I thought, "Now these are life lessons that I want my children to learn."

I wanted to share it with you lovelies today!

A MAGIC WAY OF GOING

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1.  Be generous in your praise and support of others.

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2.  Forgiveness is freedom.  Put your hate, anger and revenge in

 the garbage can where they belong.

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3.  Learn to think creatively.  Solutions live in your imagination.

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4.  See life positively.  Every problem is an opportunity for those with eyes to see.

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5.  There is no growth without pain.  Birds always sing after the rain.

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6.  Be grateful for your gifts, your country and for those you love.

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7.  Value the magic in each other.

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8.  Learn to laugh at life and at yourself.  Most of what you worry about

will still be here long after you are gone.

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9  Find time to do the things you love.  Develop a wish list and start checking it off.  

This moment is all you have.

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10.  Be considerate, caring and honest in everything you say and do.  

Your epitaph is being written today.

If you liked this, you can download a free printable here on Mr. O'Callaghan's website.

CS Bloggin'

Head over to Jackie's blog at Canadian Scrapbooker to see a blog post by yours truly!  I'm sharing a cute layout of Aili that I worked on at the crop in January...

Supplies:  Bazzill cardstock; Fancy Pants patterned paper, stickers, journal card, rub-ons; Cheery Lynn die; Doodlebug Designs alpha stickers; Just Cre8 stamps; Tsukineko ink; KaiserCraft & Glitz Designs bling; Sharpie Poster Paint pen; miscellaneous buttons.

And don't forget to upload your layout for the It's a Sketchy challenge for February - Wednesday's the last day!  While you're there, check out the new March sketch, too!

3am and counting

You may remember the boudoir session that I posted last year?

Well, it was nearly 4am this morning when I FINALLY got a chance to finish editing them for Ms. Sarah!  Thanks for your patience, lady!

Out of the 210 photos, I picked 43 of my favourites, edited them into both B&W and colour proofs, along with watermarked web-size images and burned them to disk for her.  I shared many of them in that previous post, but here they are a few more:

Hmmm...

I'm not doing really well in my goals at trying to blog more, am I?

Well, the good news is that as of last Thursday, I am down to three stores!! YAY!  However, one of the store administrators went off on sick leave, which left another FIVE stores open... Eek!  As much as I felt like I should step up and help out while the interview process took place to fill these positions, I just couldn't, in good conscience.  They did ask me to train someone again though, so I agreed to that - an extra pair of hands will come in handy while I get my stores back into ship-shape!

And yet, somehow, I still struggle to try to find time for my writing and creative time.  I'll admit that television does account for some of it.  Some days, I'm so tired from work and chauffering Connor to practice that by the time dinner is over and the kitchen is tidy, I'm ready to just sit and veg.  I think I'm going to have to bypass watching my shows during the week and then marathon it on the weekends!

What I have been doing for an hour or two each night is trying to organize my studio so I can once and for all take and post photos!  It's ridiculous how long it has been since this project was started.  I've been searching around on Pinterest and the web and found lots of organizational tips, so each night, I do a little bit more...

Soon, I may be able to see the top of my worktable, if I'm lucky! :)  Really soon, I hope, as I have a few final touches to add to a few layouts for some DT work!  I will share them soon but for today, I will share this wonderful news:

The Spring 2011 issue has begun shipping so watch your mailboxes!!

While I didn't write a Hands On! Photography article for this issue, I do have a couple of projects published...

You may remember WAY back when I first posted a sneak peek, just prior to sending it off to Jackie?  Well, this baby is still my favourite layout of all time, to date.  As soon as I saw the images of the stamps to be used for the One Stamp, Five Stampers article, I knew what I was going to do!

Here is the stamp set, by Local King Rubber Stamp:

And here is my layout:

Supplies used:  Bazzill Basics cardstock; Basic Grey patterned paper; Local King Rubber Company stamp set and matching die cut;  Spellbinders Nestabilities die cut; Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger; Doodlebug Designs alpha stickers; Pea Sarah font (available here for free download); Glue Dots; Fiskars and All Night Media foam adhesive;  Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L; miscellaneous buttons, twine and googly eyes from my stash.

Journaling reads:  I came home one day to find that Daddy had let you nap in Connor's room.  He didn't think there was anything wrong with it, until I went in to see you - and found that you had discovered a blue marker.  It was hard to stay mad at you, with your sleepy smile and bedhead!

I stamped six sheep, using the single stamp and die cut them with my Big Kick.  Using various thicknesses of foam adhesive, I grouped them as an accent piece, as well as title embellishment.

As you may notice, and as commented in the article, my first go-round of stitching messed up because of improper tension.  However, rather than scrap the whole thing, I just went over it again - it gives it a more worn feel, like it was done on purpose!  Sort of when you mess up doodling - just go over it a few times and it turns out cute! :)

I also had 3 cards featured in the Sealed with a Kiss section, using My Little Shoebox products, but I sent them off to Jackie so quickly that I forgot to take photos of them!  I will photograph them this weekend and share early next week!

Thanks for looking!

Step By Step

Okay, friends from the '90s, try to convince yourself that you DIDN'T just start singing this song:



Hee hee - I just watched it again and it brought back so many memories! Did you notice the before-he-was-noticed celebrity that briefly made an appearance at 3:44?? :D

Anyhow, I wanted to share a cute project that Aili and I created for my step-by-step (oooh, baby!) tutorial on the myStamp BOX blog today!  So easy and a fun project for the kids!

Supplies used:  Recollections cardstock; myStamp BOX stamps (Holiday Monkey, Sigh Gush Gasp, Border Lines); Shrinky Dinks paper; Ranger, Stampin' Up and Tsukineko inks; Marvy Uchida and Bic markers; Tim Holtz jump ring and paper clip; ribbons from my stash.

If you don't have any Shrinky Dinks paper on hand, you can try using #6 plastic - I found this post via Pinterest!  Let me know if it works - what a great upcycling project for kids, right?

Patience is a Virtue

... or so they tell me!

I have to thank YOU for having patience with ME!  I'm sorry I'm so late in posting the winners - the last few months at work have really thrown me out of sync and I'm struggling to keep my head above water, both there and at home.

But, I do see this:

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I will be going back to three stores, effective February 16th!  YAY!  It's still too many hours, considering the amount of time I spend driving back and forth to Windsor for swim practices, but for now, we'll make it work.

So, without further ado, I will announce the winners!!  (Yep, I said winners.  Remember, I said I'd pick TWO?)

Congratulations to...

Bethany Hoskins and Ann Jobes!

I am still amassing goodies to send to you both, so please email me your mailing address and I will let you know when it heads out the door!

And I have a Valentine's Day themed project created for myStamp BOX that I will share tomorrow!  And speaking of myStamp Box, have you seen all the yummy new stamps??  Eight new stamp sets and four new Dutch and German stamp sets in two of our popular sentiments sets!

What's more, you ask?  There is going to be a DT call coming up soon for this awesome Canadian stamp manufacturer, too!

Stay tuned for more regular blogging (hopefully) in the coming months...