Sneezing in South Carolina

This is me right now. On vacation with the hubby at a kosher bed and breakfast in South Carolina and sneezing my pretty little head off.

I always seem to get sick at the most inopportune moments--for instance, the DAY BEFORE my wedding I was really sick with a cold, and it was only by the grace of G-d, Nyquil and Dayquil that I made it down the aisle! Thankfully, I felt good once the wedding began. I remember actually bargaining with G-d--"If you keep me healthy today, I will never complain again when I have a cold! Never!"

So, since I've used my one get-out-of-jail-free card, I'm just sneezing through:). Feel so appreciative of my husband, who has assured me that I'm not ruining our vacation, even though I'm sure walking around with me and a giant pile of tissues wasn't what he had in mind.

What do you think?

about this necklace? (from Anthropologie)

I love it. However, it's a lot of money for me and it's way bigger than the jewelry I normally wear (I am petite and 5 feet tall, so keep that in mind!)

Yay or nay? I need your advice!

Snow!

Well, we made it to Ohio, and as I hoped it is covered with snow!

Lessons learned from our 10 hour--plus road trip from New Jersey to Columbus, Ohio:

1. Leave the house early. Otherwise, you will spend many hours driving at night, which is both freaky and boring.

2. Plan your route along Starbucks rest stops. This may make you feel like prima donna, but trust me, it's worth it.

3. Forget your usual "only one Starbucks drink a day rule." With ten hours in a car, you gotta focus on the small pleasures. Naturally, this requires adhering to rule # 2, above.

4. Bring more than 3 CDs to listen to. Or if you do, recognize that you will know those CDs very, very well by the end. You may even be able to give a concert of them.

5. Better yet, bring an ipod.

6. Don't tell anyone your estimated time of arrival. That way they won't ask you why you're horribly late, and it will be a nice surprise for everyone!

Wishing everyone a delightful Christmas if you celebrate it and a delightful Chinese food/movie night/vacation if you don't:)

Weddings, weddings, weddings

Warning: If you don't like pictures, stay far away. There are a lot of them here.

I made this album for my friend Pam's wedding as a surprise gift (if you are Pam, exit out of this window immediately! If you are not Pam, read on).

It was technically more challenging than I expected (why I am incapable of punching holes evenly through use of pencil and hole puncher is beyond me, but so it is) I loved working with the color scheme! I based the colors in the book off the gold Hambly transparency and American Crafts chipboard butterfly on the cover.

Thanks for looking (particularly for those brave enough to make it to the bottom) !

Pre-Shabbat Musings

I've been reading up in Pioneer Woman's blog, and it makes me want to (a) move to Oklahoma and raise cattle, and (b) learn how to use Photoshop. Real bad. Unfortunately, neither of these things seem to be in my reach....

Nothing too exciting here today. Panic attack in the morning when I slept an hour and a half past my alarm, LOTS and lots of cooking, a donut and iced latte at Dunkin' Donuts (despite all my earnest desire to exercise and lose those 3 pounds that are making my suit skirt ride up. Humph.) Now am finishing up the final things on the to do list, then to make myself presentable for Shabbat. What to wear, what to wear.....

I'll leave you with some new layouts. The one above is about our favorite restaurant, the one below is from a friend's wedding.

Sorry for the awkward spacing--if you can make google blogger stop hating me (a nice Christmas gift, perhaps?) then do let me know!

Pages Galore...

Well, maybe not galore:) But here are two more pages--the above is a more sentimental ode to my husband, the page below documents how Steve and I commute to school together and love that time--although these days are soon ending since Steve has graduated:(

The legal market is not doing too well these days, so I'm a little worried about when Steve will actually begin working. But in the meantime, we are just trying to watch the budget and be patient.....

How are you all dealing with these uncertain times?

The Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

That was yesterday for me. Began with heavy rain, then an email from a professor that made me think I had missed a deadline and was going to fail law school (not that such a thing is really possible at this point--but it's my go-to-panic every time!), then a bad headache, and then a lack of hot water! By that point, I was NOT happy, and my poor husband had to very patient when he was probably marveling at what a crazy lady I had become. Sigh.

Luckily, the day got better at the end. How could a day ending with chocolate and the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice not be considered ended well? And yes, my long-suffering husband agreed to watch the six hour edition with me!

Some new layouts to share from Studio Calico's December kit, Orchestra. Now this kit freaked me out initially--too much black and red, funky colors, etc. But I've been having a good time playing!

"Sibling Love" features a photo strip from a trip I took with my siblings to Disney World. You wouldn't guess it from the photo, but I spent most of that trip crying hysterically about a breakup with my boyfriend. Ruined Disney World, the cad.

This next one is self-explanatory (and I don't want to test your patience if you've read this far:))

I hope your weekend was just lovely! And if not, feel free to vent to me!

Happy Chanuka and a Toot!

A holiday focused on oil--need I say more? I'm enjoying Chanuka so far! Had some delicious donuts this weekend--3 donut halves, actually--I guess they do add up!

Some new layouts from last week--the one above is of my friend's quasi-bachelorette party-dinner a few days before her wedding.

This next one below is the result of a very happy coincidence! I was planning on doing a layout about how much I love Jane Austen, and then realized that the paper in one of my Studio Calico kits was the text of Pride and Prejudice! I was very excited, and made the LO below:

And finally, a wedding layout. At the rate I'm making these, I should be about done by my golden anniversary. But hey, some progress is better than none!

I also have a little toot-- one of my pages is getting published in the January issue of scrapbook.com! Now, you'd think that would completely erase all the insecurities I discussed in past posts---but it doesn't. The same way that when I was just growing into myself as a young teenager, any number of comments that I looked pretty didn't make me feel beautiful. It just has to come from the inside.

So here's to developing a "scrappy self esteem"-- a belief that YOUR work is beautiful and valuable. It can only come from you, no amount of comments or pubs will satisfy if it doesn't. Easier said than done, but something I'm aspiring to.

And the Winner is..........

Jenn from Montana!!

Send me your address to keshet.shenkar@gmail.com, and your prize will be on its way!

New Layouts and a Giveaway!

First off, I just want to thank everyone for the kind comments from the last post! I have scrapped for 8 years now and definitely don't plan on stopping! I don't feel the way I described in the last post all the time, but it's an emotion that comes up once in a while, and I imagine is just a part of submitting (unless you're always getting picked for the cover, I guess!). As I learn more constructive ways to deal with it, I will discuss them here. One thing that has worked so far--making a special effort to reach out and congratulate other people's success, so that I feel more invested in them and their achievements.

A few new layouts--the one above came together very quickly in an attempt to use lots of my number thickers (I only have one "e" in my whole thicker pack left, but about eighty billion numbers!)

Anyone have more suggestions about using those numbers?

This next one above was inspired by a quote I came across online. The photo was modified using Rollip--find it here: http://www.rollip.com/. It's like Photoshop for people who are too cheap/not tech savvy to buy the real thing--which would be me! Seriously, sometimes I wish I had a little scrapbooking elf to take care of the technical side of things for me!


I apologize for the terrible photo with this last one--I cannot for the life of me take decent photos of 2 pagers. I used layered scalloped circles as flowers in this LO and the one above, both made with my darling "Slicey," as he's known around here. I'm on a make-your-own-flower kick lately.


AND NOW.......

The GIVEAWAY.

Involves one set of these:

AC Letterbox chipboard

And a 95% complete set of these:

Elle's Studio vintage Christmas flashcards

Just leave a comment introducing yourself to win! I will pick a winner Thursday morning, 9 an EST.

The Whole Point

Lately, I've been feeling stressed out about scrapbooking. I post my layouts, and then care too much about what response they get. I submit to publications, then care too much about if they get picked up. And all that caring has made it harder to just feel the love of creating.

What's the solution to this malaise? I'm not sure what it will be for me, yet. Not sure if publishing and designing gigs are really the best goal I should be working towards. But in the meantime, I got a good lesson this weekend about the point of it all.

I found an old album I made at the end of high school documenting what school was like. Brought it back from my parent's home in Ohio, and sat down to read it Friday night after dinner.

It immediately brought me back to high school--I could practically taste the soggy lasagna from the cafeteria. I remembered so many little details I had forgotten. By the time I closed the back cover I had laughed to the point of tears and given my husband greater insight into who I was back then. It was wonderful.

Now the thing is, this album was old-school Creative Memories. It would not have won any awards in the "cool design" department (There are smiley-face sneaker stickers represented. Need I say more?) And yet, I loved it. Because truth is, I have never regretted writing down a story. And I don't think I ever will.

And that's the whole point.

More Scrappiness

Some new pages from last week.....

This one below is an ode to some delicious mini apple pies I made several weeks ago. Loosely lifted off a page from SBE 2 years ago by Cari Fennel. Used mostly a combo of October Afternoon and American Crafts here, which seem to be my go-to swoon-worthy companies lately!

And speaking of American Crafts--how do y'all like the new Letterbox line? I'm really pumped for it, and will have a little giveaway with Letterbox soon, so stay posted!


Page below is another ode (seem to do a lot of them lately!), this time to suburbia. A suburban girl at heart, I am spending a lot of time in Manhattan lately and am really missing the open air, trees, big box shopping, you name it. Snapped ths pic at my husband's mom's home in Philadelphia on a beautiful fall day....




This one below is more personal. My husband and I have been dealing with infertility, and I've started scrapbooking about it as a cheaper alternative to therapy:) I wanted to make this page light and happy to express hope. Want to be able to turn to it at a disappointing moment and be uplifted.

How have you used scrapbooking to help you through difficult times? Do you avoid tough issues in your pages and foucs on the good, or tackle them head-on?


This next page records the very first time I misted--and I certainly wasn't shy! I used Collage Press die-cuts as a mask and a lot of Studio Claico stamps throughout. Can't decide if it's "too much" for me or not, but enjoyed the experimenting!

Thanks for looking!

Why I've Been a Delinquent Blogger

It's a little bit of this.....





And a little bit of this....






Spent the weekend baking with my little sis and helping out with one of my best friend's wedding. Oh, and Thanksgiving dinner. Whew! I'm at home with a cold today, but feeling ok right now....

What's everyone's favorite activities to do when they're sick? Assuming it's medium sick, not curled-up-in-a-ball-moaning sick!

Things I'm Eyeing

The good news is that the moratorium is going strong. The bad news is that I'm afraid I'll party too hard when I allow myself to buy stuff in December! Which would lead to another moratorium, and so on...:) Here are some things I'm keeping my eye on--although they can't ALL be purchased, sadly. But then again, if I bought every scrappy item that caught my attention, I'd be living in a cardboard box. A Studio Calico box, but still!

In my cart over at Two Peas:

Jenni Bowlin alpha--always looking for letters this size

Ali Edwards stamps--I love the mix of typewriter and scripty fonts
The new Studio Calico Home Front line. Goodness knows how I've been holding out on this one!
And over at Studio Calico.... The December kit (one little peeky of it below)

And SC add-on # 1, Strings. Which I definitely plan to get, unless the craziness of this Friday (and the swiftness of the SC crowd) stop me.





And finally, a scrapbook LAYOUT, as opposed to shopping. Hee hee. This one is about the hubby and his sewing prowess. In fact, he's sewing on a layout for me right now....