Moving my blog!

Its been a while since I blogged but I recently purchased a domain name and have started a new blog.  I will be posting all my scrap goodies over there from here on out.  As of today, June 20, 2012, its just a start but hopefully there will be more content soon as I have lots of scrapping plans for my vacation in two weeks!

Please visit me from now on at www.shorescrapping.com

I've Been Inspired!

I know that its been quite a while since I've blogged....or scrapped.  I get a layout done and post it with the title "I'M BACK" only to disappear again!  So I'm NOT going to say I'm back....BUT I have been scrapping.  Not so much in the traditional sense, but I started doing Project Life and after week 16 (or is it 15...I forget) I still love it as much as I did week 1.  Its not like anything I've done before but as the weeks go by I'm finding that I am getting scrapppier with the things I include each week.  I will get pictures up of that project eventually.  And though I haven't been traditionally scrapping much, I did take a couple classes in digital scrapping (I'll never give up my paper but I do think I could be bi-scraptual eventually) and listening to my favorite podcast, Paperclipping Roundtable every week.  Last week one of my favorite "celebrity" scrappers, Shimelle Laine was on.  She mentioned that she would be having a virtual crop this weekend.  Friday afternoon at work I started keeping an eye on her blog....she is in London!  I got home from work and fell asleep!  Yesterday was tied up with laundry and then baseball games for my son.  I got home around 8:30pm and worked on my Project Life weekly page till bedtime.  Today I was busy cleaning, getting summer clothes out of the attic, etc.  I finally sat down and went to Shimelle's site around 6:30pm...after dinner.  So much for scrapping all weekend!!  I haven't even read all the posts and challenges yet but Challenge #11 jumped out at me and before I knew it, I was scrapping again!  The challenge was "Choose two patterned papers with contrasting designs – things that are obviously very different. Chevron and doodles, hearts and stripes, sunshines and polka dots… just make sure they are very different types of patterns. Then use them to create the background of your page: two-thirds one pattern, one-third the other pattern."  I used papers from My Minds Eye Lime Twist and Just Dreamy #2 and the photo is Matt on his 15th birthday. 

I'm a little bummed that my Glimmer Mist clogged and the result was a big orange dot in the center....not the look I was going for....but oh well.  I still like the page and its done!!  Way better than the photo just sitting on my harddrive!

 

Yippeee!! Another one!

I'm so happy! This one came together rather easily! Maybe the mojo is making a small comeback. I used the inspiration word TOGETHER at Bird Is The Word and combined it with the challenge at ACOT to use leaves on your page. I used a black prima leaf under the flowers. The page was hard to photograph due to the soft greens and washed out effect coupled with the black and the bright sunlight! I took at least a dozen photos and this was the best of the group.

Trying to get the mojo back!

Its been so long since I have posted or scrapped that I forgot the password for my blog. I don't know what is going on with me but I just can't seem to do much scrapping anymore! I took off Monday and today to scrap and play in the October ACOT crop. The crop came and went over the weekend and I never even looked at the computer. Yesterday instead of scrapping I cleaned all day! Today I decided it was do or die. And I did!! I actually scrapped a page! I used the sketch at Frosted Designs as inspiration and Crop Challenge 4 at ACOT to scrap about something you are thankful for. For me its my three kids. I can't imagine my life without them!

Off to see if I can find some more inspiration!

Halloween Parade 2002

Three days, three layouts! Its not what I'm used to but it sure beats 0/80 days!! I'm slowly learning to like spending time in my scraproom again. I haven't participated in any of the blogs that I follow in forever!!! I liked the sketch at Once Upon A Sketch but really wanted to scrap this cute Halloween photo that I kept seeing at the top of one of my photo boxes. So while I don't have any expectations of winning because the sketch has resulted in sooooo many beautiful, soft and feminine layouts.....I went with my Halloween theme anyway! The way I look at it is that this is the photo that inspired me...so this is the photo I scrapped!

I used papers by Dream Street Papers, LLC and embellishments from Dream Street and My Minds Eye. The big pumpkin came from Michaels last year. If you press it, it lights up. I'm fairly certain I got it for pennies on clearance! Letters are by Reminisce from the Graduation line. I bought them to do my oldest's high school graduation photos. He is now entering his senior year of college and I still haven't scrapped his high school graduation!! Yikes! LOL!

Lifted Spirits! -- Another long post!

This layout will always, for the rest of my life, have special meaning to me. Not that any photo of my mom and I is not special, but something happened while I was working on this layout. As some of you know, I lost my Mom on October 13, 2010. Since that time I've struggled with life without her. I talk to inadament objects constantly asking her to tell me she's ok, that she's happy, that she's 'with' me. It never "works" and I go on with the day with an ache in my heart like you could not believe. Losing my mom has been the hardest thing to cope with. She was my best friend. My confidant. My shoulder to cry on and the first person I turned to with news, good or bad. I miss all of those things but most of all I miss her voice. I miss talking to her. Shortly after she passed away my oldest son sent me a link to a YouTube video of Iz Kamakawiwo'ole singing his version of "Over The Rainbow". (You can click the link to see the video if you want.) From that day forward I've held that song close to my heart. Its not a song you will hear played on the radio very often, if at all. When I have needed to hear it I have always gone to that YouTube video.

I moved in July to this house where I have my own scraproom. After weeks of sorting everything out I have finally started scrapping a little bit. I did a layout yesterday using WRMK Fiesta papers.

Its cute I guess.  It can't help but be cute with the photos of the kids when they were so little!  But that was it...once it was done, I left my scraproom feeling uninspired, like I can't do it anymore. Last night I cruised around eBay to get an idea of how much I could sell EVERYTHING for. I have a LOT of stuff. I was ready to give up. I just haven't felt anything inspiring for some time. I've PUSHED myself to scrap but my passion and joy for this hobby are soooo diminished from what I used to feel. I breathed scrapbooking. It was a HUGE part of my life and I would steal every moment I could to play with paper and photos and ohh the embellishments. When I wasn't scrapping I was hanging out on ACOT's message board forging friendships with other scrappers or shopping online for MORE stuff. I have stopped that too. I poke into ACOT here and there but all of a sudden felt like I didn't belong anymore. Like everyone moved on without me. Its silly...I know that in my head. Of course everyone has moved on....but being without me has been MY choice, not theirs. I ignored my blog and then was disappointed when I logged on last month to show off my new scraproom only to find out that 21 people who used to follow my blog had stopped following me. Big deal, right? I don't even know who it is that left! I just know how many followers I had and how many I have now. Still...not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But I took it to heart...even though again, it was ME who ignored my blog in the first place!

Since i got my iPad in November, I've used Flipboard to view the blogs I follow.  In the last 3 months I have not touched it.  Today I was up before the sun and reached for my iPad.  I played a few games, checked out the local newspaper and put it aside.  About an hour later I reached for it again I touched the Flipboard icon.  I cruised through a few blogs and came to the new sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.  It was not the first sketch I had seen this morning but it was the first one that immediately got ideas running through my head.  I even knew the picture/paper I was going to use.  (That part was sort of easy as while I was sorting and putting things away after moving here I had matched up an OLD piece of Frances Meyer paper from 2000 to a 42 year old photo of my mom and me.  The blue just reminded me of the dress I was wearing.  Anyway, the paper and photo have been sitting on my desk for a while now so that part of it was a no-brainer.)  I don't know why I got inspired by the sketch....it shows using 3 photos and I only had one.  And I would not have used a circle feeling with that photo if left to my druthers.  But inspire me it did and I grabbed my coffee and iPad and headed into my scraproom. 

The layout came together rather easily although it was a couple hours to get it all glued down.  Maybe I need to stop rushing myself to "produce" a ton of layouts.  I usually don't spend more than 45 minutes on a layout and that's with starting blank....picking photos, papers, etc.  That part was already done!

While I was scrapping I had Pandora open on my iPad, set to my Jack Johnson station.  I happily sang along to Jack, U2, John Mayer and similar artists.  I finished the layout, took it outside to try to get a decent photo which I didn't...its too bright outside and too dark inside!  As I sat at my desk looking at the finished layout and thinking about my mom a new song started....I sat back and took a deep breath.  I have listened to this station on Pandora for almost 2 years now and have NEVER heard this song come up in the rotation but here it was....Over the Rainbow by  Iz Kamakawiwo'ole.  Tears flowed freely and I talked to my layout, telling my mom how much I loved her and missed her.  I started to clean up my desk.  I was once again uninspired and ready to leave my scraproom.  I did a few things in the kitchen, went out and got the mail.  I had ordered new checks and they arrived so I walked into my scraproom which doubles as my office to put them away.  I was not paying much attention to the music still coming from my iPad until I heard that familiar sound again.  No way.....could it be?  7 songs after it played it for the first time it was on again but this time in a version combined with "What A Wonderful Life".  The tears flowed again but suddenly it hit me.  This is what I was asking for all along.  It was my mom telling me that she IS ok.  That she IS happy and pain free.  That SHE IS WITH ME.  I shared what had just happened with my daughter and had goosebumps all over my body while I was telling her.  As I was telling her this a new song started....a song from the 60's!  Sugar Sugar by the Archies!!  THERE IS NO WAY this song belongs on a Jack Johnson station on Pandora!  But as I sang along I was smiling....the music my mom loved was from the 60's and "Sugar Sugar" was no exception.  My spirits are soooo lifted right now.  I just had to share my story AND my layout!!  I'm heading out to the pool with my daughter now though to make more memories that she can hold onto after I am gone, just as I have an entire heart full of memories with my own mom, even though she's not physically with me anymore.  What a way to start the weekend! (BTW - since I started writing this post Pandora has not thrown anymore songs that don't fit into the rotation...so I KNOW that was my mom!)

Well Hello There!! WARNING - Long post with pictures!

So I'm going to stroke my little ego and think that some of you may have missed me, wondered what happened, or both! I know that some of you know where I have been but for those who don't, in as short a version as I can muster, this is where I have been since I last posted on May 27. Be warned that there are a lot of pictures in this post! Anyway, in my last post I told you that we got the house we were hoping to rent for the next year until we are in a better position to buy. Fast forward to July 1...we moved in! But life was full of twists and turns and unexpected things between Memorial Day Weekend and moving day! Here is a picture of my OLD scraproom all packed up:

It took 42 boxes to pack all my crap up!!! And some bins and my three rolling totes were packed to the gills as well! Fortunately my scraproom was one of the first things to get packed up. I say fortunately because about a week before I started packing I woke with a terrible achy pain in my neck. I assumed that I had slept funny and went to work. Over the course of the next week, the pain increased and my neck was tilted almost to my shoulder which was the only way I could hold it without excruciating pain. I called a chiropractor and began getting treatment. He took xrays and told me that I had "some issues" but he could "fix" me. Over the course of the next 9 days I made 13 visits to said chiropractor (with a $15 copay each time). Towards the end I began to ask him if I should consult my regular doctor and perhaps get some pain killer as the ice and heating pad he had "prescribed" was just not cutting it! His answer each time was that he "could not recommend that". Now I KNOW that most chiropractors believe they can make adjustments without the need for drugs. I do NOT think that all chiropractors are bad....but I DO think the one I chose was in it more for the money than anything else. He HAD to realize that I was in much worse shape than he could "fix". At any rate, one day at work I was walking down steps and suddenly the pain was shooting down my arms and my fingers were tingling. I got SCARED! I KNEW then that this was more than some bones out of adjustment! I called my regular doctor who had me come in the next day. He felt around my neck, listened to my story and told me to cease seeing the chiropractor and sent me for an MRI immediately. I left his office with several much needed prescriptions in hand, headed to the MRI place and had the MRI done. That was on Friday. All during this time I have been packing AND painting in the new house, despite the pain. You know how it is....if Mom doesn't do it, it doesn't get done! Add in there that my daughter turned 13 on June 13th and in our family 13 is a milestone birthday. I was miserable and useless but did not let my daughter down....we had a great dinner at Osaka - a Japanese Hibachi restaurant, and she was very happy with her own Canon Powershot Camera and a new fancy lamp for her new bedroom!

 On Monday morning I got a call from my doctor asking me to come in as soon as I could. I left work and headed there (his office is just across the street from where I work). I was taken right in and he showed me the report. I had spinal stenosis and collapsed disc at c5/c6 and again at c6/c7. Top it off with the fact that my spinal chord had broken through the opening and was now exposed in two different places. I guess my face didn't show enough concern so my doctor (I LOVE this man...he's a WONDERFUL MD) took my hands and calmly said to me....I don't think you understand what I am telling you. If you SNEEZE the wrong way you could end up paralyzed. PARALYZED. OK, that got my attention. From the exam room he picked up the phone and called a nuerologist he was friendly with. I was given an appointment for the next day...Tuesday. Now keep in mind this is ALSO the day that my middle son graduated 8th grade with a full graduation ceremony. My appt. was at 2pm. Graduation started at 5:45. At 4:30 I walked up to the desk and explained that I had been waiting for 2.5 hours at that point and was going to have to leave to go to my son's graduation. They were great and told me to sit 5 more minutes and they would get me in and out quickly. I was obviously in pain and very crooked which ticked me off even more that I sat in the waiting room that long. Anyway....I get called back and the Physician Assistant pulls up on a computer my MRI and shows me the problem. She tells me that my ONLY option is surgery. I explain that I am moving on July 1 (its now June 14).  She says to see what the doctor says.  He enters the room, has me walk around the room, looks at the MRI on the computer and tells me that I need surgery IMMEDIATELY....that my spinal chord is compromised and I could be paralyzed at any moment and there would be nothing he could do.  Keep in mind its Tuesday about 5:00pm.  I am scheduled for surgery on Thursday at 9:00am.  They wrapped things up and off I went to Matt's graduation....with the pain and now FEAR!  

Mission accomplished!!  High School here he comes!  That evening we went out to dinner to the local "pub", joining all of Matt's friends and their parents!  It was a WONDERFUL night and I am so proud of my boy.  He is nothing short of spectacular in my eyes!

I spent the better part of the next day at work (I would be out till 8/1) for an hour or two tying up any loose ends I could, then the hospital for pre-admission testing, then to my MD for medical clearance...ekg, etc.  No food after midnight...no problem...I've had no appetite anyway!  Up bright and early and to the hospital by 7am.  Right on schedule I say goodbye to John and am wheeled into the Operating Room.  Next thing I remember is sitting up in my bed and the nurses freaking out because I wasn't supposed to be awake for another hour!  Oh well...surprise!  Here I am!  Surgery was a success and I felt like a million bucks for the next two days!  I got home on Friday morning and by that time the anesthesia was fully out of my body.  The million Bucks I felt like is GONE.  The pain was awful but it was a different pain than I had been having.  Over the next week it gets gradually better and I see the surgeon 1-week post op.  My biggest complaint is not being able to sleep and my toes in my right foot keep going numb whenever they feel like it.  Not easy to walk that way!  He says I am doing well, removes the bandages and off I went with a script for a sleep aid.  

That brings us to July 1.  Moving day!  It went rather smoothly thanks to the help of my oldest son, John, my brother, and several strong male friends of ours!  At the end of the day I was hurting pretty good so took my painkillers and headed to bed.  The next two weeks brings us to today.  I am 99% unpacked....the house is starting to feel like home.  The kids are registered for their new schools (mostly...Matt still has to meet with a guidance counselor in 2 weeks).  They are enjoying having a pool in the backyard and enjoying their summer even though they miss their friends!

And here we are today!  I am sooooo happy to report that I am feeling better..still not 100% but better every day.  And better yet....after a full week in this room purging, sorting, etc. I have my scraproom in order (more or less!).  There are still the rolling totes and a few smaller containers and odds and ends to be sorted through and put in their new homes.  But for the most part, I can SCRAP this weekend!!  Here's a bunch of pix of my new room!  I changed from the "Cricut Green" that once adorned my scraproom to pink and black with a Damask/Chandelier theme thanks to the curtains, vinyl wall art and lamp I got from Target!

This area is my die cutting center.  The black shelf was our old microwave cart that we no longer needed so I claimed it!!  It holds my Expression, all my dies and cartridges.  The cardboard boxes underneath I still need to sort through!  To the right are 6 Jetmax cubes that I saved from the 12 I had in my old room.  You will notice that the bins are still green but I got some plastic spray paint and will be painting the handles soon!!  Most of them are still empty. 

 This shows the cubes, my sewing machine, Vagabond die cutter and some plastic drawers.  The door is pretty close to the right edge....its not a huge room like I had but I actually like it smaller!  There;s my new lamp too!  I love it!

John hung ledge shelves for me...what a royal pain they are!  This one holds all my Glimmer Mists.  Do you think I have a problem?  LOL!  And above that is my chandelier wall art!  Love that too! 

 Two more ledge shelves hold my favorite photos of my family.  You can see my chandelier curtains too!  The pink sheers will be changed out....they are more of a rose color rather than the hot pink I wanted.  That's the bad part of ordering online.  Oh well...they were cheap!  Both panels for $6!  This view is from the right corner of the room, standing in the closet!

I have a shoe organizer on the back of the door holding punches, tools, etc.  I love that I have a DOOR that I can close!

 This view is standing in the doorway looking at the opposite wall from the first pix.  Its my Ikea Expedit shelving unit redone with pink and black bins and baskets.  Look closely...my desk has not been this clean in YEARS!!  The big bins under my desk house all my patterned paper.  Well not ALL of it.  But this is where I sort my pp by Manufacturer in alpha order.  It seems to work best for me.  I do have a few that break that rule....like holidays, Seasons, travel, Disney, etc. which have their own categories.  My printer is plugged in but the wireless connection isn't working so we still have to get that sorted out. 

 Above the printer is my new Embellishment Center!  I got it at Michaels and its not the Making Memories brand but was a LOT cheaper.....I'm thinking $25 after coupon.  I LOVE it.  It holds my stickles, assorted paints, some flowers in pretty tins and bottles, dew drops, Glossy Accents, etc.

And finally....here is where MOST of stuff is....a big closet with a preinstalled closet organizer in it!  Still needs to be fine tuned, but the base is there!

So THAT'S what I have been up to.  I hope to be scrapping again and blog hopping soon!!