Pebbles Party

Today I have a layout up on the Pebbles blog as part of the Party with Amy Locurto feature:

This is a fun line, with four mini-themes, including a superhero theme. Be sure to check out the Pebbles blog all week this week for more projects featuring this line.

 

The Great Amazon Order Debacle of 2013

Or, how I was able to reroute 18 bottles of butterbeer, 16 Harry Potter glasses, and Mad-Eye Moody's eye, but not the Bertie Bott's beans or the case of owls.

Intrigued yet? :)

A couple of days ago, in a rare moment of planning ahead, I ordered a bunch of stuff for Sadie's upcoming Harry Potter birthday party. At the same time, I decided to add a bunch of cool kids' reference books to my cart. Happy with my purchase, I clicked on "order" and sat back, waiting for my packages to arrive from Amazon and four other vendors I purchased from via Amazon. 

Fast-forward to today, when I received the shipping notice for the Bertie Bott's beans and noticed that the package was heading for...wait for it...the little rent-controlled cottage on the beach in Santa Monica where I lived from October 1997-December 1998. (Where, mind you, I lived next door to Donald Sutherland. I never officially met him, but he used to greet me in the mornings with a gruff "Good morning," while he was walking his yippy little dogs as I set out for my teaching job in South Central LA - we were usually the only people on the beach at that ungodly morning hour.) I gasped, realizing the larger implications, and immediately started chatting online with a nice fellow named Justin at Amazon, who informed me that this book on the rainforest:

which I ordered from Amazon as part of my campaign to convert Sadie to nonfiction reading (cute animals!), had shipped to Santa Monica. However, Mad-Eye Moody's eye, the Harry Potter glasses, and the six other books had not yet shipped and could indeed be rerouted to my current address. (Huge bullet dodged there, as one of the six books is going to Eli as part of my campaign to not have to answer daily questions about puberty. Phew!)

Justin couldn't help me with the orders from the four other vendors, so I found this little "contact the seller" button on Amazon and did a copy and paste of a desperate message to see whether I could reroute shipped packages or pre-emptively change the shipping address for as-yet-unshipped packages. I got a "no problem!" from the butterbeer folks, an "I feel your pain but there's not much we can do" message from a nice lady named Jennie at the Bertie Bott's company, and no sympathy from the owl people or the people from whom I ordered this book on the economy:

 

(Said book being part of my "congratulations to you!" gift for Eli for getting into the international studies magnet middle school.)

So...now I have to wait, track the packages online, and see if whoever lives in the multi-million dollar mansion that sits on the site of my old dinky beach cottage accepts these packages. If they do, I am out of luck (and I will hope they eat the rotten egg- and earwax-flavored jelly beans). If they refuse them I get to go another round with Jennie and the other folks and see if they can reroute the boxes to me. 

Nothing like a little panic and problem-solving on a Monday!

 

Spring Colors Challenge

Today I have a layout up on the October Afternoon blog as part of a spring colors challenge post. The inspiration image comes from one of my favorite websites for color combos: Photo Card Boutique.

I made good use of my Silhouette in creating my layout for his challenge, using it to cut multiple different sizes of flowers - which I layered on my layout - and to cut my title and journaling from black cardstock:

Be sure to check out the October Afternoon blog for more details and for a layout by my fellow October Afternoon design team member, Nicole Harper.

 

Cover Girl

I am thrilled to share that my layout was chosen as the cover layout for the new Create: Sketches idea book! 

I am also thrilled to share that I have three other layouts in this idea book as well! I've combed through the digital version of the issue (available here) and I have to say I think it's one of the best idea books I've seen in a long time. The simplicity of the sketches in this book grabbed me, which is why I submitted artwork for it in the first place. While the sketches are simple, they can be easily dressed up or down, and with a mix of 8.5" X 11" and 12" X 12" sketches, and sketches for a variety of number of photos, there's something for everyone. The artwork in the book showcases a great mix of styles, with lots of inspiration to be found. Amidst the artwork, there's a useful article by Wendy Sue Anderson that unpacks the use and organization of sketches for scrapbooking, with a nod to cardmaking as well.

I can't wait to dig in more and start using some of these sketches for inspiration for new layouts!

Playing Catch-Up

Another one of those months where the work-life balance is out of whack and everything non-essential goes by the wayside. Apologies blog readers...if any of you are still out there! Perhaps someday I will figure out how to better balance all of this!

Let me get you caught up with what's happening; let's do this with bullet points:

• Sadie and Eli are busy kiddos. Sadie has Destination Imagination, choir, tennis, and Girl Scouts on her plate. Eli has Destination Imagination, Penny Harvest, tennis, skiing, and Hebrew school on his plate. Eli is also eagerly awaiting his school choice letter (as are we!), hoping that he gets a spot at our local international studies magnet 6-12 school. He wants to learn to speak Mandarin and is thrilled with the idea that he can do that and take two social studies classes each year instead of just one.

• Seth is still crazy busy adjusting to his new role as department chair. He keeps sane by skiing occasionally and going to his monthly book club meetings. He always comes back from his book club telling stories about the Star Wars and Star Trek conversations they've had. I think he has found his people. :)

• Work is going really well for me, which means, as a consultant, that I am putting in way more hours than originally planned. After past experience, I should know better than to do this, as when I work too much my body rebels. Last time that happened was in 2010-2011, when I had strep 8 times over a six-month period and then got my tonsils taken out. This time around I am writing this blog post as a way to distract myself from the shingles I am currently battling. Anyone who has this whole work-life balance thing figured out please let me know. I clearly need help on this front! 

• I made an attempt at regaining some work-life balance by leaving write.click.scrapbook. in January. That was a hard decision as I was over-the-moon excited to have been asked to join the team there after years and years of unsuccessful submissions to its predecessor, the magazine Simple Scrapbooks. I loved the team (still do), loved the website (still do), loved the philosophy (still do). I just couldn't continue with the commitments I had without reaching a breaking point, so something had to go. 

• This layout was the featured layout over a January weekend at Two Peas in a Bucket. It had close to 10,000 views, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Then Two Peas had a malfunction and view counts were lost. Given the current count since then it would be over 10,000. At least I know, right? (And now you do, too! :))

• Since I shared that layout, here are some more projects I've done for Pebbles since I last posted anything here:

•  And here are some projects I've done for October Afternoon since I last posted anything here:

 

• Having been on the couch for the better part of the last week, I am all caught up on various television and movie shows. Some of them I am not embarrassed to admit to watching (Downton Abbey, Skyfall, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Love It or List It, Touch), others I am embarrassed to admit watching but I'll admit it anyway...ahem...reality shows...ahem...(The Bachelor, Fix My Family).

I think that's it. You're now all caught up. Remember, any and all advice around that whole work-life balance thing is welcome! 

CHA Armchair Attendee Week, Day 4: My Advice to Manufacturers (a.k.a. My Thoughts on the Perfect Product Line)

Finally getting this post up...apologies for the extended delay! 

My advice is in the form of my perfect product line, explained in words and with examples of products from this show.

My perfect product line...

1. Has A Theme (But Isn't Too Theme-y)
I like knowing what to use a line for. I also like being able to grab any line and being able to use it for an everyday layout. I want clean and graphic or retro/vintage designs. I also want lots of basic and everyday kinds of prints.

This paper from Simple Stories' Urban Traveler collection is definitely travel-themed on one side, but offers a fun basic stripe on the other side. It's clean and graphic on one side and retro/vintage on the other side:

2. Considers Journaling Needs 
This is my biggest pet peeve in this industry. Sure, we have lots of journaling cards at our disposal, but give me lines, give me grids, and give them to me in 12 x 12 so that I can either use them instead of cardstock as a background and journal right on the layout or cut them up appropriately for my journaling needs. Give me more than one of those pieces of paper in your line so I don't have to reach for another manufacturer's product once I've used that one piece of paper but still have the other eleven left from your line. I don't always want to journal on a journaling card. In fact, I tend to journal in 12-inch long journaling strips of various widths. Hey, there's an idea, how about one of those patterned paper strip papers with 12-inch long grid and lined patterns in varying widths? Then I could get maybe 7-8 layouts' worth of journaling out of that one piece of paper!

Crate Paper's Party Day collection hits the nail on the head for me in this category. This collection includes several papers that would be great for journaling, including Tag and Accent Cutouts:

plus this grid paper:

and this masking tape paper:

and this label paper:

and this calendar/grid paper:

3. Is Trendy, But Doesn't Throw Out Tradition
I'm a little cautious sometimes. I'm not usually a trend-starter, but once I get my feet wet I can embrace a new trend and give it my own twist. What makes me happy is mixing the old with the new. Combine staple patterns and products with trends in unique ways. 

Webster's Pages Sweet Notes Mini Bags by Allison Kreft are new. Woodgrain and stripes are not. This gives me a confidence level that makes me want to try this new product:

4. Keeps Cardmakers in Mind
I want greeting options, and lots of them! Pebbles' Basics collection includes these sticker sheets with multiple greeting options available in twelve different colors across six sets. I am so excited about these!

5. Includes Alphas for Everyone
Sometimes you want uppercase. Sometimes you want lowercase. Sometimes you want script. Sometimes you want a clean font. Sometimes you want one color. Sometimes you want to mix and match colors. American Crafts' Amy Tangerine Yes, Please collection understands this fairly well:

Here we've got a serif font with uppercase and lowercase letters, and it comes in several colors:

Here we've got a sans serif font with uppercase letters, and it comes in a couple of different colors/patterns:

Here we've got a script font with both uppercase and lowercase letters, again, available in several colors:

Here's another sans serif uppercase letter set, this time a multicolored set:

And...if you feel like it...alpha stamps (again, sans serif uppercase):

6. Offers a Diverse Mix of Flat and 3-Dimensional Embellishments
Most companies are doing this now, and if they aren't, they should! Sure, a pop dot can do a lot to add dimension, but sometimes I don't want to have to think that through. I love having choices.

My Mind's Eye consistently does a great job of this, as you can see here in their Collectable Unforgettable collection (selected embellishments below):

Layered Stickers (3-D):

 
 Label Stickers (flat):

Chipboard (3-D):

Tiny Word Stickers (flat):

  Pins (3-D):

 

Decorative Brads (3-D):

7. Add In Something Fun, Something That Makes Me Smile
When asked, I describe my style as bright colors against neutral backgrounds, clean and simple, with a touch of whimsy. Sure, I can create my own whimsy, but how about you give me a little bit of a leg up?

October Afternoon's Travel Girl collection has lots of whimsical designs:

So, there you have it: My Perfect Product Line
Combine all of these pieces into one line and...sold...to one Vivian Masket. :)

I'd love to hear from you - what's essential in your perfect product line? 

 

Slight Delay in Today's Armchair Attendee Blog Post

Sometimes, random things come up. Things like suddenly hearing that the window replacement guys can come to replace the windows, meaning that you will take one night to remove all window treatments and move all furniture on one floor of your house to the center of each room, and a second night to reinstall said window treatments and move all furniture back where it belongs (save for in your seven-year-old daughter's room, as she has decided that now would be a good time to try out a new furniture arrangement) and then repeat the window treatment removal and furniture-moving on the other floor of your house in preparation for day two of window replacement. Along the way you are likely to discover shocking amounts of dust hiding on baseboards that were previously hidden by furniture, necessitating equally shocking amounts of time cleaning said dust. 

Therefore, while today's CHA Armchair Attendee blog post is partially drafted, it is not complete. I promise to post it sometime in the afternoon or evening after work, after the windows are in, but before embarking on the next round of window treatment reinstallation, dusting and vacuuming, and moving back of furniture.

Oh, and if she's reading this, happy birthday to my sister! :)