real blue skies

it's been beautiful the last couple of days! i loved sleeping with my sliding door open last night, loved having all the windows open all day and i'm loving how big and white the moon is this evening. i'm enjoying being cozied up on the couch in my favorite hoodie and watching stardust (which i love, even though my tudors boyfriend henry cavill is totally unattractive and swarmy in it). just wanted to share a layout i just finally finished.

i'm loving the colors in the new "blue skies" collection from american crafts. it's that perfect salmony pink, vanilla cream & new leaf green that i've been loving on for a while now! i've also been loving on this song from yeasayer for a while now, a definite summer jam for this year. 

i know...

... i know i just did one of these, but i've had total bloggers block lately, and these little lists are the easiest kick start, so without further ado, 9 things i'm doing, loving, reading, watching, listening to & working on right about now.

01. artsy kismet -  okay, i know kismet isn't the correct word, but you'll get what i mean! so back in the beginning of june kristina gave me a bundle of cuteness, prints, cards, atc & such which all happen to be in pretty blues and creams. then, i got that melissa moss printed canvas up there on sale from urban. so, now i feel like i need to throw in my fave black & white photo booth strips and make a cute little cluster of blues somewhere in my room! it's high on my to do list post-saturday.

02. all things jenny - not that i haven't always loved jenny lewis, but lately it's been kinda non-stop. i've been belting songs from acid tongue, the execution of all things & under the blacklight at the top of my lungs in the car, wishing i could pull off little shortie jumpsuits with tights and vintage heels like she does and lately she has been serving as my inspiration to let my hair grow for as long as i can stand it, or at least until october! she is, however, also kind of making me covet all across bangs and that scares me a little.

03. bonfires - seriously? so glad that i got to check this one of my summer to do list this year! everyone's summer should include at least one bonfire, camping or otherwise. i love when i have a tummy full of s'mores, hair that smells like camp fire and ears full of great music & friends laughing . soooooo good!

04. collapse - okay, so this book may be really arduous, but it's definitely really interesting also. i have been hearing good things about it for a while, but was afraid to really dive in. but, after a whole month of reading nothing but sookie stackhouse "novels" i figured i should offset those with something serious. i'm only about a quarter of the way through, and it's slow going, but so far i would definitely recommend it for anyone patient enough to sometimes have to read things twice to really get it.

05. card camp - tomorrow's the big day! after 12+ hours of class prep and 5ish hours of other prep and packing i'm teaching "3 maximizing you paper pad classes" in one day with 29 students total! eek! i'm sure it's going to be lots of fun teaching my scrappy ladies off campus but it will be a relief to be able to think of something other than 6x6 paper pads after 4 p.m. tomorrow!

06. queen sophie ann - it wouldn't really be a list style post from me if there wasn't at least a mention of true blood, would it? i found queen sophie ann's character pretty intriguing in the sookie stackhouse books, so i'm excited to see where they take her character in the the tv series. in the books she's supposed to be about 16, which made her a little creepy and disconcerting in my mind, so i'm glad to see that evan rachel wood is playing her in the series and wonder what that means for it all. i'm super bummed that there are only two episodes left though!

07. cheeseball photos - i have a few friends who would be the first to tell you that i am no good at staying candid or having my picture taken. but, lately i've been embracing the cheesiness and rocking the top model poses (like the photo above, i'm doing the marjorie hunchback) and silly faces. i have to remember to just have fun, not be afraid to be silly and forget what others are thinking!

08. fantasy factory - okay, if you are not hooked on this show already, you need to be or we probs can't really be friends! at least catch a marathon next time there's one on because rob & drama totally kill me. the second season premiere was the other night and my face like seriously hurt from laughing/smiling so hard throughout the entire half hour. i just love that they have fun, do whatever crazy thing they cook up but they all stay supportive of one another and their fun is never at anyone else's expense. i'm not saying it's good family viewing, but it's way better than a lot of other stuff out there. i mean i really almost peed my pants during all the cheesy & swissy scenes.

09. the big relocation - things are starting to move along with the big scraptasia move! i'm so excited about all the ideas bouncing around and all the planning. i can't believe i haven't made a whole organizational binder system for the space design and move yet, i mean really. i'm sure dawn can't believe it either, she know i'm always looking for an opportunity to come up with a new organizational or binder/notebook system. it's a sickness.

10 things for now.

01. my diana+ camera rig - i caved on the instant back, and as long as i was already buying, i also bought the flash and fisheye lens, oops! i have to say though, i love my diana so much more right now! it takes some practice to get those classic diana style, dreamy shots so i'm looking at the instant back (fuji instax actually) as my training wheels. i'll use it until i get a handle on what settings and exposure lengths get all the affects i want, and for parties of course! we went instax crazy at k's birthday soiree, as evidenced by the 40ish shots lining her mirror, and it was perfection!

02. tattered angels "marshmallow" glimmer mist - there aren't even words to describe how much i'm crushing on this limited edition color, mostly i just drool over it. seriously, i dare you to shake it up, spray it on some chipboard and not fall head over heels for it's perfect snowy color & shimmer! i can't wait to go on a spraying rampage when the new mini chipboard snowflakes from maya road arrive!

03. "time to die" by the dodos - i am beyond ready for it to cool down already! airy, dreamy music like the tracks on the dodos' brand new album are for open car windows, zooming down the highway late at night, breezy hillside reading and bright days when the heat has finally broken. so, can this heat please break already? "fables" which is getting the heaviest pandora and sirius xmu play, made it's way onto my dare mix, and it's a good one to start with.

04. anthro's bold boutonniere dress - this one is high up on anthropologie wish list. i'm stalking it on the daily, hoping to be there at just the right time when it goes on sale. the mustard & plum stripes are killing me! hopefully is just as gorgeous in person. we'll see today when nat & i make a trip to short hills for american apparel and for me to check on this slate & sun jacket.

o5. eric northman - i know i've already blogged about my complete "true blood" obsession, and the fact that eric is my favorite part of the sookie stackhouse books, but the whole eric/godric story arc that just ended was completely ridic in the best of ways! loved little unassuming looking godric and his almost accent. loved the origin story of eric's transformation, and i always love eric's sassiness. you all must know by now that i'm a sucker for a guy with that classic troublemaker half smile!

06. get up kids tickets - seriously, what person my approximate age didn't at least fall a little bit in love to the sounds of the get up kid's "something to write home about"? the get up kids hold a special little piece of my nostalgic heart and they're on tour! so, obvs, kristina's birthday present had to be tickets for us to go see them in november at my favorite venue in philly, the trocadero (troc) already have late 90's emo throwback outfit planned.

07. photobooths - i can't get enough of them! they have to be the real deal, 4 photos on a textured paper strip for me to be fully in love, but like anyone else, i'll take a cheap knock off in a pinch. we found a couple along our celebration route last saturday, my favorite being the one that produced that photo strip over there <- b&w, crisp and yummy! if i ever randomly strike it rich, first purchase will be 2 photobooths (2nd will be a mega touch machine, duh!)

08. nat, vee & k visiting - seriously? i can not wait for the summer time version of that popsicle pups picture over there to happen! natalie is home from taiwan for a couple weeks and she's headed up to meet me here at work as i type! then, kristina and that precious pup, chloe rose, will head over from ny post-rush hour and vee follows close behind tomorrow morning. much catching up and fun to be had. i can't wait to be surrounded by a large portion of some of my favorite ladies in the world!

09. where the wild things are - i was super excited/incredulous about the release of this movie, but when the first trailer came out i got excited, and then... when the new extended trailer came out i freaked the heck out! it makes me tear up, love "the arcade fire" even more, which i didn't think was possible" and dance around like a total crazy lady. check it out, fall in love with it, go win us some tickets to the premiere k thx.

10. scarlett - luckily 80's/9o's cartoons were pretty good about supplying us gingers with some cool redheads like april o'neill, daphne & ariel, but my favorite cartoon ginger was  scarlett, she was kick butt, in command and super cool. i was not so sure about this "g.i.joe rise of cobra" thing, the previews made it look so cheesy, but i went to see it wednesday by myself (with coffee & animal crackers) and looooooved it. scarlett was totally awesome and the cheese was kept to a total minimum. it's a definite summer must see, and i might even go see it again myself.

house party hopes 3:bklyn birthday edition

i journeyed to brooklyn via nj transit, the path, my footsies and 2 subways trains for kristina's birthday celabration and it was total perfection. (and totally worth the trains to not have a repeat of my hulking out at people pre and post holland tunnel like last time.)

aaaaaaanyway, obvs i had to make her a mix for the occasion, and here it is;

house party hopes 3: bklyn birthday edition

01. "better things" by passion pit

02. "it don't move me" by peter bjorn and john

03. "1901" by phoenix

04. "creator" by santogold

05. "a pillar of salt" by the thermals

06. "the underdog" by spoon

07. "kiss with a fist" by florence & the machine

08. "u.r.a. fever" by the kills

09. "in the hospital" by friendly fires

10. "i'm good, i'm gone" by lykke li

11. "electric feel" by mgmt

12. "jealous lovers" by tiger! tiger!

13. "shadows of the night" pat benatar

shorter than my usual mixes, but their was a time crunch involved. there will be a v2.0 and it will have to include "disturbia" and "out of my dreams (and into my car" which k and i were belting at the top of our lungs the whole way to coffee the morning after. love that girl.

i triple dog dare you!

the super rad dare girls invited me to be a "guest effer" about a month and a half a go and as soon as jen e-mailed me to see if i would do a mix/playlist dare, i was super in! i feel so lucky to get to join these super inspiring ladies for dare 145! i also love that i got to play with the cosmo cricket "boyfriend" collection i snagged at cha because i knew it had to be used on my dare layout as soon as i saw the preview on their blog. i can't wait 'til we get this in the store!

so... i obviously love making mixes, and almost always have at least one floating around in my head. all it takes is hearing a couple of songs that i think will sound great back to back, catching a lyric that reminds me of a recurring theme  or knowing i'm heading somewhere that just needs a soundtrack and i'm off to itunes putting together another mix. this one started when i heard the song, "sweet disposition" by the temper trap in the 500 days of summer preview, it just sounds so breezy, but exciting at the same time. totally fell in love with it and had to build an entire mix around it. so, here it is, songs to spin on a breeze; bike with no hands, roll down the car windows, find a breezy field somewhere and lay in it. whatever it takes to refresh!

so, i don't care wether you scrapbook or not, make a mix and then put together some killer cover art, dig up an old mix tape and art journal about it, or go at it all scrappy and scrap the event, the track list or the memories! just go do it already! (and then don't forget to post a link to it on the comments section of the dare post so we can check them out!)

and because we're sharing playlists, i'll leave you with a layout from last summer, when i first scrapbooked a playlist; the first "house party hopes" mix i ever made, i have since done an austin edition and am currently working on a brooklyn birthday edition for someone who holds a super rad place in my heart. shhh it's a surprise!

big trouble in little brooklyn...

so, little miss k here would be the first to tell you that i am no good at getting messy when i'm scrapping or whatever else. but when vee posted her "get painty" dare i decided to push up my hoodie sleeves and get into it already! 

i used a few of the stencils from that stencil me in book i got a month or so a go and about half a bottle of "haunted shadows" glimmer mist, which is probably my new favorite glimmer mist color! i was just about to type that i can't wait to get my hands on a full size bottle instead of the tiny bottle they gave away at cha, when the ups guy walked in with our glimmer mist order. dare i say spooky?

anyway, i love, love, love how the gold shimmer in the purple glimmer mist turned up on the plain bazzill background (which is another thing i rarely do). i also used my little galaxy gold brilliance ink pad on the edges of the page and pressed the mini maya road chipboard letters into the pad to "paint" them shimmery gold (my little trick to avoid breaking out the paint & brushes.)

love how it turned out and actually really loved getting messy!

p.s. sorry for the bad pictures, it's tricky capturing the glimmer on such a rainy grey day!

3 places to be inspired by, and collaborate with...

matthew gray gubler -  you may know him as the grandpa cardi wearing, adorably awkward dr. spencer reid on criminal minds or the intern from the life aquatic with steve zissou, but he also runs an awesome website called gublerland. gublerland is a faraway place where you can see matthew gray gubler's drawings, photos, movies  and even listen to him read edgar allen poe or sing the cheers theme song on "gube radio." recently he has opened the gublerland immigration teepee where you can download a blank passport and fill it in yourself to become a gubloid; a citizen of gublerland. i just filled mine out today with the help of some glimmer mist & my complete inability to draw. regardless of all that, it was really fun to do and helped me remember to not let myself take creativity too seriously.

rainn wilson - so, rainn wilson obviously has more to bestow upon us than schrute-bucks and tiger striped spandex a la "the rocker". he also runs a collective style website called soulpancake. he does the best job of explaing it in this here video, but the main gist of things = a place for questions, discussions and challenges or, as rainn wilson puts it, a place to "chew on life's big questions." i can already see the creative challenges making their way into a scrapbook of their very own sometime soon, my favorites so far include, "sketchify your soul," "control freak" & peace on a post-it." i can't wait to start playing along on these.

joseph gordon-levitt - it's been a while since 3rd rock from the sun and lately jgl has been making me drool in brick, 500 days of summer & even during a teeny-tiny appearance in the brothers bloom. he also goes by regularJOE on his website, hitRECord.org which encourages collaboration and remixing between artists of all mediums; film, music, drawing & all the in-betweens. the forums seems to be full of ideas and opportunities to share all forms of creativity once you sign up and there are a ton of amazing pieces to look at. i will confess that this is the site i find the most daunting to jump into, but what better way than to just go to it, right? 

who knew?!

remember a couple of days a go when i said i had a dream about painting? well, this is what i was dreaming about! usually when i sit down to do something like this i end up disappointed when it doesn't turn out the way it was in my head, but this time i think it actually ended up cuter than i imagined. 

i used one of the 5"x5" canvases i snagged from the dollar spot, gesso'ed over the princess wand that was outlined on it and went at it with some studio & liquitex acrylics, asterisks from some of my favorite sets of thickers and a little bit of basic grey fabric to make my own little photobooth. then i printed teeny tiny versions of some of my photobooth strips from orlando and glossy accented them right onto the sides of the canvas.

the last canvas i made currently resides in my closet and has never seen the light of day. but, i am actually really psyched on this one and can't wait to play with some more mini canvases! now to find the perfect spot for this little guy!

because i like 7...

... i'll dish on my 7 favorite new products/collections released at cha last week.

01. "the boyfriend" by cosmo cricket -  i think we are all drooling over this one. love the deep red test sheet, paper airplanes, and obviously i'm super stoked on the tone on tone mix tapes! plus, i've already gushed about the chip stickers that go with this line, but i'll say it again! love that they went with a tape walkman instead of an ipod, polaroid instead of a regular camera & chucks instead of newer sneakers! still can't wait to get my hands on those, but i was lucky enough to snag some of this paper when i placed our order, so look for it in something fun soon!

02. tim holtz's "film strip ribbon" - this is one of those things we're all going to be seeing in every kit ever as soon as it becomes available, but for good reason. it's well thought out; 3 yards of transparent "ribbon" that looks like film strip, packaged in a mini film can. plus, it's sized to easily fit index prints in the frames and the holes along the edge are actually punched out. 3 yards gives you a lot of room to play and come up with all kinds of killer uses for it.

03. "doilies" rub-ons from hambly screen prints - so, to me, the last few sets of rub-ons from hambly have seemed thicker and a little shinier than the past rub-ons, and i'm totally cool with that. in fact, i think that is what makes them look so awesome on clear acrylic albums, which is exactly what i have in mind for these new "doilies" rub-ons! the colors are awesome and they've already sent my creative wheels spinning with ideas for a cool class.

04. we r memory keepers' "teen angst" mini stamp sets - the paper line itself is pretty hideous, and 90-ish% of the embellishments terrify me, but the mini stamp sets are ridiculous! the one pictured above happens to be my favorite, because of the mix tape and 3d glasses obviously, but other sets also have scooters, headphones, ipods & other awesome little icons! hopefully we'll have our hands on these soon so that i can get to playing!

05. lifestyle's "home letterpress system" - i'm sure everyone's heard a ton of buzz on this already, but i'll share my love anyway! lifestyle (an imprint of quickutz) is releasing a home letterpress system to be used with their new epic six cutting tool, but from what i hear it will also work with the cuttlebug and other comparable 6 inch crank cutting systems. anyway, i know that most diehards will say that this is a total bastardization of the "art of letterpress", which i love as much as the next discerning design groupie, but with this system you can start letterpressing at home for $70-$150 and it's usability is beyond easy. i was lucky enough to win the epic six at the show, so now i will just eagerly await the release of all the letterpress goodies so i can start cranking 'em out! they are starting with 15 printing plate sets (and will release more every 1 to 2 months) & 20 ink colors (which mix easily to create new colors!) the design capabilities are going to be beyond awesome!

06. "amplify" collection from sassafras lass - music notes, vintage tickets, handwriting sheets and all kinds of sweet geometric patterns & graphic, stylized flowers in rich raspberry, deep teal and yummy mango. i mean, i don't really need to say anything else, right? look for this in class ideas already working around in my head too!

07. ranger's "rock candy distress stickles" - so, the magic of distress stickles are that they are gradient matte glitter chunks in the beloved tim holtz distress colors. much like the "antique linen" distress stickles were our go to distress stickles for snow on old-timey & cream based holiday cards last year, the new clear edition, called "rock candy" are sure to be the go to for everything this holiday card making season! they remind me of antique glitter glass chunks & martha's oversized snow glitter that we were all obsessing over last year, but built into the glue already. so pretty!

obviously, there was a lot of really great stuff at the show, but these are the things that came to the front of my mind right away. lots of awesome things will be making their way into the store, and especially the new location, so get psyched!

coming soon to a mailbox near you!

you're supposed to read that in movie preview announcer voice, btw. : )

it's no secret that i love use a stamp in a completely different way than it's original capacity; the ipod stamp in christmas colors, "you rock" with the rocking chair and so on... so, when the new halloween & holiday stamps started rolling in my wheels started spinning. a few days a go i finally sat down at the crafty table without class prep on the brain and made 4 movie inspired cards.

first up, of course, was "twilight" as soon as i saw this "fetch the tree" truck stamp in a muse's christmas release i automatically though of bella's truck. so i stamped it, copic'ed it and then cut it out so that it didn't have to have a christmas tree in the truck bed, added some of those washington state pines and a "new moon" and put it all with some of that "ambrosia" stripe that i will never be able to let go of!

this next guy is "spiderman" inspired, duh! this is one of memory box's new halloween stamps. the little spider in ingeniously mounted on the side of the stamp so you can stamp him anywhere you want him on the web or anywhere else. i let the copics and the hambly web transparency do most of the work on this card!

next up is a "nightmare before christmas" inspired card. sadly, i didn't have a little jack or sally stamp, but something about the twisty hills in this new memory box stamp screamed "tim burton" to me! the tiny, script-y "be astonished" stamp also seemed fitting. oh, speaking of which, all the little script-y sayings on these cards are all from one of my favorite sentiment sets ever from "my favorite things". i love that it has a million little sayings that will fit just about anywhere, and they're different then you're run of the mill, everyday sayings!

this last one is more than a little creepy, but totally "coraline!" i knew these basic grey stamps were tim burton-y, but as soon as i saw "coraline" i knew they had to be button-eyed ghost children! the paper is one of the brand new halloween patterns coming out soon, and to scraptasia, from making memories! i just drew little stitches between the stripes to keep up that "coraline" feel and of course added their buttons!

that's all for today, i'm hoping to do a list of my favorite products from cha soon though!