Ha! Who was I kidding......

when I thought I was going to have extra time because school was starting.  Time has been moving at warp speed it seems.  Even with me not really working, time has been evading me. 

Still, my hope always springs eternal around this time of year.  Fall is like a New Year's second coming for me.  I get so inspired when I see all the new organizers secretly promising a more scheduled and balanced life; making me believe I have a second chance at my resolutions that went out the window three weeks into January.  Even the Wii Fit Mi's are telling Kiah they haven't seen me in a while.  And that's putting it nicely.

Thankfully though, I have been able to do something creative everyday. Which has helped me keep my mojo going.  I got a chance to use some the new Embossing Creme by Viva, and I don't know if I like that product.  I bought two different colors and the bronze color was so dry I couldn't even get it to smear properly.  I exchanged it for one that seemed better, but when I was smearing it on the stencil it dried up too quick and ended up getting clumpy.  After you smooth it over the stencil and have removed your stencil, heat it with your heat gun.  It will raise to a bubbled surface, which is neat but not really practical for scrapbooks or cards that will be mailed.  On the other hand, their Pearl Pen is the neatest.  The bronze color makes dots that look like raised studs.  I still have a lot of playing around to do.  The new Radiant Rain is very pretty but my bottle leaks and leaked all over one of my favorite skirts.  Glitter Glam is glamorous and now I need it in every color.  The only con that I had with the Glimmer Glam is it is hard to get the glitter evenly dispersed.. 

Besides all that, my son has now grown up and on the first day of schooled exclaimed I couldn't kiss him, call him Baby, or pretty much acknowledge he was mine.  Talk about heart breaking.  And to top it off I forgot my camera.  He tried to make it better by exclaiming, "I wouldn't have let you take my picture anyways." 

Raspberry Red Color challenge~

This one didn't end up how I thought I wanted it, but hey.  This is for Louise Gale's Creative Color Challenge she is hosting on her blog.  You can also check out the flickr group here.  I have been extremely busy this past week, with school starting on Monday, there is a bunch of last minute things that need to be done.  I can't wait to breathe a sigh of relief next week.  I survived another summer.  I almost ran for the hills crying a couple of times, but for the most part it went by smoothly.

My mojo is still on a pretty good run, hence me not really posting last week.  On Thursday I meet up with some friends Jen and Sylvia from Kelly Rae Robert's workshop at A Work of Heart.  We took Andrea's Juicy Houses class. 

These are the little houses we made.  We had the option of these 4x4 or a 12x48 canvas.  It was was fun and very inspiring to work along side these crafty ladies.  Thanks Jen and Sylvia for inviting me.  If you are in the area and want to check out any of Andrea's classes you can see them here.  Next time I want to take one of her soldering classes.

On Friday we went to a friend's birthday party and went hiking -well walking at the Alviso Slough.  Where I got the hawk picture in the previous post.  While I was there taking pictures of the hawk a man walked up to me  looked at my camera, smiled, then looked down at his much better camera and started taking pics.  He sealed the deal for me.  I am saving up for a DSLR.  I know it's not the camera but photographer but it's time to take my pics to the next level.

We went to an Oakland A's game and my son got an autograph and picture with Jerry Blevins.   My aunt took the pic so I haven't seen it yet.  Kiah was so happy but a little bummed he couldn't get Coco Crisp's autograph.  They won and my uncle and Chris were on the jumbotron.  So it made for an exciting day.

I have been readily working on my magazine submission and I think I might have it this time.  So wish me luck!

Beside that I haven't gotten to much else on my to do list and I still feel exhausted.  The kids start back to school on Monday so I am banking on that time.  Hope you all have a good rest of the week.

Please let me know if anyone is having trouble with my blog loading.  I will re-size the photos if so.

Sunflower Yellow Color Challenge

 

You can check out the flickr group here.

Find out more info here at Louise Gale's blog.

~

My mojo is actually on a roll for once.  This is a good thing and a bad thing.  I consider mojo as a state of mind where everything is clicking- good thing.  The bad thing is when my mind is clicking all over the place.  So much so that I can't t seem to finish the first thing that clicked, which leads to a pile of half clicked ideas.

But with everything in it's current clicking state I feel confident enough to post my creative biz to-do list.  I have even accomplished some items from previous lists.

I was amazed at how fast it actually took me to read the 240 page e-course by Kelly Rae Roberts.  Thank you Yvette for convincing me to sign up.  It has been the best workshop ever and has been paramount in me finally believing I can take my creative biz to another level.

I also finished up and posted my first tutorial you can find it here.


This Week my goals are:

1. Work on my magazine submissions
2. Post another item to Etsy
3. Fix up shop page, bio, and shipping
4. Work on blog features 
5. Creative Color Challenge- Yellow

Kiah and I have been having a hard time with each other lately.  We couldn't be more different personality wise.  I just can't seem to get through to him sometimes.  He acts like I am completely irrational when I ask him to do simple every day things.  "Why do I have to brush my teeth everyday!!!"  "Um, because."  You would think he would get it by now.  People probably  think that since I work from home I have all the time in the world to spend with him.  But it is quite the opposite.  So this week I also want to work on spending more one on one time with him. 

1. Go for a couple walks throughout the week. Or one at least for crying out loud.
2. Do at least one drawing activity
3. Do a science project
4. Play a board game

Don't get me wrong, we do lots of things together.  But it's hard for me to get him to even take a walk.  Somehow I have to make him think these are his ideas.  We'll see how it goes.  Hope you all have a good week!

How to use left over beauty care items for scrapbooking~

So I have been meaning to post this tutorial all week, but with my sister in the hospital I never got to it.  Finally I found time today  to take pics and such for it when my friend called and said she was in the hospital all morning.  Um.... okay all you guys I care about, just chill out with your weird afflictions. 

If ever on some off chance you broke your eyeshadow and were down to the dregs of your nail polish.  Don't throw it away make a couple cards with it and call your self eco.  Using eyeshadow can be a cheap alternative to pigment powders.  You will also need a VersaMark pad need to make this technique work, it will act as the binder.

 Take your broken eyeshadow and break it up in to separate containers.

Stamp your paper with a stamp inked with VersaMark.  Then brush the eyeshadow over the VersaMark ink with a soft brush.  This is a close up of it.  It creates a soft sparkle. 

You can also add a border with that nail polish you have.  You know the one it's so far gone that it leaves clumps on your nails but you still keep it around.  Put it to good use before throwing that sucker away.  It won't matter about the acidity because you are using it for cards and they're temporary, so just go with it.  You will want to be sure to spray with a clear sealer to set it all.

There you have it, a makeover for your paper.  Enjoy!!

Linking up to ~