Retail Therapy

So, I've been under the weather for a few days. Still not sure if I caught a cold, or if my seasonal allergies are kicking in - stuffy sore nose, sneezing like nobody's business, and generally low on energy. After school was done today, I went for a nice lunch out and then to the library for some hermit crab books for preschool and a few goodies for a special package I need to send out this weekend. And - I'm in the market for some new glasses. Found a couple pairs I really liked downtown at the Discerning Eye, but couldn't decide. Any opinions?

Dare Jack #4 - Handmade

Not sure whether I love this one or hate it. But... I definitely love the photo and the sentiment, so I'm calling it done. :) You can see the inspiration here.

Dare 73

Steph and I had a great time going out to eat and snacking while I was visiting her in D.C. This layout is in honor of all the eating we did - LOL.

The Dare was to scrap a layout without using any traditional scrapbooking supplies. So - I used a D.C. map, pink bubble wrap, staples, magazine cutouts, a bit of an old dictionary page, and a hand-lettered title with colored pencils. A fun challenge!

My first 30 days of 365

I had been coming across photos of the 365 Days group for a few months on Flickr, although it was finally seeing Elsie's beautiful self-portraits that made me take the plunge and join. The concept of the group is that you take a photo of yourself (or some part of yourself) every day for an entire year. One thing I love about the group is that they have all these "mini challenges" that give you ideas for themes for your self-portraits. Also, just browsing the 365 sets of other members can be really inspiring.

Why would I want to do this?? Well, it's a little reminder to take photos every day, and I am really looking forward to being able to see my life in pictures (big events and small every day things) over the course of a year. It is getting easier to remember to do it as the days go by. I do feel a little strange uploading so many pictures of myself to flickr - it seems conceited, LOL, but since I'm just doing it for myself, who cares!

Scrapjacked - Genevieve S.

This is my entry for the latest Scrapjacked challenge. I'm happy with how it turned out!

Rock the Vote

Reminisce is having an August layout contest on their blog - go check it out and vote if you're interested!

Busy weekend

We had a crazy summer weekend - drove over to Des Moines Friday for a visit to the State Fair and a meet up for my 10 year high school reunion - the highlight was getting to see my girlfriends, other than that, not too exciting. Saturday we drove two hours to a wedding of a college friend, then two hours back to make it to the reunion reception at the Star Bar. I really only wanted to talk to the people I have stayed in touch with already, but I am glad I went.Sunday it was back to the Fair for some good eatin' and people watching. Couldn't miss seeing the Big Boar, the Super Bull, and the Butter Cow (and Harry Potter)... not to mention riding the Ye Olde Mill, taking pictures with the State Fair Queen, watching Bill eat a turkey leg, and Dave the Horn Guy... .com. Ah, the Fair...
It sure felt good to spend the day lounging with Cleo yesterday... ah, the last few lazy days of summer...

Today I am excited because...

* It is raining and I think (hope) that means that it will be cooler soon!

* I finally set up a Google reader page that will keep track of all the blogs I like to visit and tells me when I have something new to read. No more excessive clicking! Thanks Steph for the heads up on the iGoogle page, too - so convenient!

* I am going to bake something with the fresh peaches that Diane brought me.

* I am going to do some more scrapbooking - woo hoo for productivity!

* Ashley and I have a date at Naomi's kitchen tonight to put together some yummy meals.

* Tomorrow at this time I will be at the State Fair. Oh yeeaah...

* Saturday I'm going to my 10 year high school reunion! Ok, I can't pretend I'm super excited about that, but I am excited to see my girlfriends!

Here's a scan of a little drawing I did this morning

DareJack #2

This is my contribution for the latest Scrapjacked challenge - also my first scrapbook page about Preucil (many more to come, I'm sure). I love these photos of the preschoolers working together to paint a banner advertising the school art show - which is on display at the Englert through the end of the month, for those of you Iowa City dwellers reading - check it out! I decided I should blur out the little ones' faces before posting it all over the internet, but I wish you could see the looks of concentration!

happy mail day!

My prize from Elsie came today - what fun mail! Can't wait to put this stuff to use - especially the great clear stamp alphabet. I also received my big box of Arbonne products today. I was converted during my visit with Steph in D.C. - she's a consultant for the company. It is great stuff - all natural products and gorgeous orange packaging, too! Looking forward to it's transformative effects...
Listening to Sara Bareilles tonight. Just found her on iTunes - I'm sure if you're an iTunes user you've seen her name there. I'm loving her voice and the songs are sing-a-long-licious.

Eeeek!

Can't believe that I won one of Elsie's giveaways on her blog. Totally bizarre to see my name up there when I clicked it today! I am way excited to use the Toby line on my Washington DC trip photos.

Today is a good day - we also made another sale in our Etsy shop and I got a new haircut. Happy Thursday!

Scrapjacked - Kristina C.

Whipped up this layout this afternoon for the latest Scrapjacked challenge - jacked from Kristina Contes, one of my absolute favorite scrappers. A few photos I took of my art classroom last May before school was out. Even though I made the right choice to change jobs - I will miss having that room as my 2nd home.

Hello, pumpkin!

So, several weeks ago, I noticed a new plant sprouting up on the front edge of our porch. Since I am still learning about all the various plants that live in our yard, I decided to let it grow for awhile before deciding it was a weed and pulling it. Fast forward a couple weeks - it had these great big leaves and yellow flowers and I decided it was a pumpkin vine! It makes sense for it to be growing here - most likely there was a pumpkin sitting in this exact spot last October and it left one or more of its seeds in the ground. Today I can not believe how huge the vine has grown - and check out this little baby pumpkin! I wonder if they will all be white like this one - and if it will stay white as it gets bigger - and how big will it get?? Wow - pumpkin adventure! Stay tuned for more updates. ;)

Opinions, please!

I made these earrings yesterday with a pair of metal findings I bought in D.C. I'm planning to add them to the Etsy shop, but trying to decide on a price. Wendy and I are thinking about consigning or wholesaling some of our jewelry in local shops, but what that means is basically pricing the Etsy items at "retail" (wholesale x 2) or twice what we would be willing to sell them to a store for and still make a profit. Luckily our materials are pretty inexpensive, but I don't want to overprice our jewelry either.

If you have a minute please leave a price or range of prices that you would be willing to pay for a pair of earring like this (or just say if you like them or not! :) Thanks!

We're in an Etsy treasury!

So excited! Wired added our Autumn paper bead pendant to a "newbie treasury" on Etsy - they are a good way to get seen, so I hope it will translate into at least one sale!

Hangin' in Detroit

On my way home from a great vacation in D.C. with Steph. She was able to go in late to work today so we stopped at a great bakery on the way to the airport. Long layover in Detroit, so I've been amusing myself with eating sushi, snapping some photos of the mini-book I made last week in Shelley's class, uploading more photos from my trip to the flickr set and joining the "What's in your bag " flickr group. Looking forward to getting home and seeing Bill and Cleo! And to having a couple more weeks of vacation to clean house, make more things for the etsy shop and hopefully make some progress on a few decorating projects.