Here and There

This is a post in which I share my love of October Afternoon's Boarding Pass line. I had a chance to work with it for the summer CHA trade show and made this travel layout and card:

This was one of the easiest layouts I've ever done. I printed three 4" X 3" photos, printed journaling on a 12" X 5" strip of cardstock, stuck my photos on the strip, added the "San Francisco" label cut from the 8" X 8" paper pad, glued everything to the "Sydney" paper, added two pieces of Chip 'n Stick embellished with navy-blue jute, and popped a label sticker from the Word Stickers at the bottom. As soon as I was done I decided this was my new favorite layout.

This card was similarly easy, just strips cut from papers in the 8" X 8" pad with two Chip n' Stick embellishments added.

After I finished my CHA projects I got more inspired and made this heritage layout (yes, that's a copy of my grandfather's family's passport photo, and yes, those are copies of his actual embarkation card and and another document): 
 

Again, easy! I glued the 8" X 8" map paper onto the "Amsterdam" paper and then added embellishments, journaling strips, and my title. The title stickers, label sticker, chipboard polaroid frame, chipboard ship, and chipboard circle/star are all Boarding Pass and the line on the map is more navy jute and brads. After I was done, "Emigrate" became my new favorite layout, in case there was any doubt!

I also used Boarding Pass for my August Write.Click.Scrapbook. gallery layout (appearing here on August 1st...be patient!). 

I have a zillion more ideas for this line, so stay tuned. Some of those ideas may land here soon.

Top CHA Picks

While I didn't make it to the CHA show this week, I confess to being an armchair attendee. I've been checking out the sneak peeks, photos, and videos from the show, and will now share my top picks from what I've seen.

It goes without saying that I'm excited about October Afternoon's new releases (Farmhouse, Sidewalks, and Sasparilla), but I am, of course, a little biased! I think Sidewalks is my favorite of the three new collections, but only time will tell. 

Okay, now that we've gotten my bias out of the way, let's move on to my other top four picks, in no particular order.

1. Studio Calico's Autumn Press Collection 

As always, Studio Calico impresses with their color palette and broad range of patterns within a collection. I will be buying every single piece of this line as soon as it hits stores!

2. Fancy Pants' Off to School Collection 

I love the unusual colors here and am particularly crazy about the Chalk Stickers and the Design Embellishments.

3. Simple Stories' Happy Day Collection

It's rare that a birthday collection comes out that draws my attention, but something about the colors and patterns here drew me in. I am hoping that these papers will motivate me to address the backlog of birthday photos I have piled up!

4. Crate Paper's Farmhouse Collection 

I love these colors! This whole line just makes me happy, especially this piece of paper:

So...knowing I'm a sucker for anything that combines bright colors with vintage and whimsical elements, what did I miss that I should add to my top picks list?

It's a New World...

As of today, my life has changed. I am both tremendously excited and a little bit nervous.

I spent the last three years in an amazing full-time job, working year-round as a curriculum coordinator for my local school district. I am so thankful for the experience, for my colleagues' friendship and wisdom, and for all that I learned. However, my job was grant-funded, and, as is the case with grant-funded work, the grant came to an end. When I found out that my funding would not be renewed, I made the decision to return to part-time work so that I would have more time for my family and for me.


My job ended in June and I took five weeks' worth of vacation time. First, we went to New Hampshire to visit my parents. While there, we road-tripped to Montreal with the kids and my parents (via Ben and Jerry's in Vermont, of course!). We came back to Denver for just under a week to hang out with friends and enjoy our annual Denver 4th of July traditions. After that we headed to California to go to family camp in the Sierras with extended family. 

As of today, I'm juggling part-time consulting for my school district, part-time freelance/contract work in the scrapbooking world, and part-time stay-at-home mom-hood. It feels good. Weird, but good. I am sure I will figure out a schedule and find just the right balance soon.


It's been really interesting to hear reactions to my new life from friends and family. They range from "Good for you! You work harder than anyone I know and deserve some time off!" to "I can't believe you are throwing away your career!" What I've learned through this transition is that you have to do what's right for you, and what's right for you might not be what's right for someone else. I've also learned that what's right for you now might not have been right for you five years ago and may not be right for you five years from now.


So...as I begin this new journey, I will finally have time to hug my kids more, blog again, scrap more, and dare I say it...exercise. Stay tuned...tomorrow will be my top picks from CHA even though I'm not in Chicago. First, however, I will hug my kids, jump on the treadmill or go for a bike ride, put in a couple of hours of consulting work, and take Eli to see the new Harry Potter movie.

Blog Hop Winner!

It's past 8:00 pm MDT and my kids have (finally!) gone to sleep, so...drumroll please...the winner is... 

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

10 

Timestamp: 2011-05-16 03:25:15 UTC

That means you, Laura C., my tenth commenter, with this comment: "OA does such a wonderful job with their product. The charms are great!" Laura, please email me your address to claim your prize!

If you missed the blog hop earlier this week, we were highlighting October Afternoon Rubber Charms:

 

October Afternoon Rubber Charms Blog Hop

Welcome to the next stop in the October Afternoon Blog Hop! I'm assuming most of you have arrived via the last stop, Wilna's blog, but if you've landed here first please be sure to head to the October Afternoon blog so that you don't miss out on anything!

I was so excited to finally get my hands on the new rubber charms for Rocket Age and 5 & Dime. It's been a while since October Afternoon has released rubber charm embellishments (I will freely admit that I am still hanging on to some from the Daydream and Detours release three years ago!) and I'm so glad they are back! Rubber charms add a pop of color and dimension with a softer edge than chipboard embellishments, and the October Afternoon designs are so much fun!

For today's hop, I decided to do something I never ever do...use up product. I created four cards that use all six of the rubber charms from the Rocket Age set. 

Please leave a comment below by 8:00 pm MDT on Sunday, May 15th, for a chance to win a Rubber Charms Prize Pack from October Afternoon. Then hop on over to Jaime's blog for the next stop.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

In honor of today's holiday I decided to share some things I've created recently but haven't had time to post anywhere yet:

American Crafts (letters), Crate Paper (hopscotch paper), October Afternoon (everything else)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Studio Calico (green patterned paper), October Afternoon (grid paper, phrase stickers), Cosmo Cricket (yellow and aqua paper), Crate Paper (label stickers), American Crafts (letter stickers)

 

 

 

Studio Calico (yellow patterned paper, gray letter stickers, orange label sticker, light bulb sticker), October Afternoon (grid paper, text paper, grid label sticker, phrase sticker, tin pin), American Crafts (orange letters)

Crate Paper (patterned papers, tab sticker), Maya Road (chipboard silhouettes), Studio Calico (mist), Basic Grey (letter stickers)

If you're scrapbooking today, have fun creating!

Ah...Paradise...

This week in Denver:

Monday: Snow
Tuesday: Below Freezing Temperatures
Wednesday: Even Lower Below Freezing Temperatures
Thursday: Snow
Friday: Brief Reprieve
Saturday: Snow

A good day to remember vacation:

(Studio Calico Mister Huey's mist and wood veneer stars and alphas; October Afternoon patterned paper)

(Echo Park and October Afternoon patterned papers, October Afternoon label sticker, American Crafts alphas)