A Very B*I*G Announcement

Today we had our first ultrasound, and it confirmed my gut feeling that we're having another BOY. Since we're planning on only two kids, I was hoping for a girl, but call it a mother's intuition, I knew it will be a boy. Neverhteless, we are thrilled!!!! The equilibrium in our household has shifted for good, and I'm outnumbered by testosterone. I told Tariq, that in Medieval times I would have been a very sought-after, valuable female who can produce males...ha ha!!!
I'm 19 weeks 1 day pregnant as of today, and everything looks healthy with the baby, and in the end, that's what matters.

TOP 5 reasons why it rocks to have boys!
1. They're mama's boys, and prefer mom's hugs and kisses over cuddling with dad.
2. They can, and will share a room and bunk beds (so mom doesn't have to surrender her haven of a scraproom/art studio for an extra bedroom).
3. Very economical...those hand-me-downs from Omar will be great for our budget, and leave more income for important expenses (like scrapbooking and jewelry-making supplies).
4. I won't have as much drama with a boy (can't see boys flipping out that the pinstripe in their prom suit does not match their tie perfectly...we hope)
5. More manly muscle to help carry groceries, rake leaves, and any other chore I may delegate.

Random Inspiration Challenge #1

Welcome to my 1st challenge! I have a file where I have collected random magazine clippings, advertisements, layout sketches, themes for layout topics, fine art, etc. This file has two things in common: First, there was something that caught my attention as being beautiful in design, sentiment, color, or novel idea. Second, I never actually use this file just seem to collect more additions to it. Lately, an interesting thing happened to my scrapping productivity when I was preparing for HOF and then joined other challenges - a deadline and/or a challenge seemed to make me more productive and finish my layouts in no time. The reason being is that when you are given guidelines, it limits the amount of choices and decision making in product usage. I found out that before I joined challenges, I wasted too much time looking through my supplies, trying to find something "perfect" for my photos, then stalling again trying to decide the "perfect" design. Yes! perfection seekers waste too much time. I found out that when I'm given a visual cue (such as this ad), I'm able to pull a few supplies out and quickly go to work. I bet that looking at my gallery you won't be able to tell which layouts took me days, or just an hour or so to complete. That's the whole point of this challenge! I want you to be able to pull a few supplies out and play!

More specifics on this challenge:
The ad is from one of my favorite catalogues Anthropologie. I swear, if money was no object I would shop here exclusively. They have such a urban chick style about them. I don't know any other store that can turn items that look like curb-side garbage castoffs, into something that is uber cool and houte couture. If you're not on their mailing list, go to their site and subscribe to their catalogue. There's plenty of inspiration in there for scrapbooking too!
Looking at this ad I was inspired my the natural colors, the textures of linen colorblocking the background, also the modern console with the graphic flowers (I found out they're not gold as I thought, but bamboo inlay), and the glass bubble lamp. Below is my interpretation of the ad.

My challenge to you:
Take whatever appeals to you from this ad, and interpret it any way you please. Make your layout, altered project or card, upload it to your gallery, and link it to Random Inspiration Challenge #1 on the 2 peas message board (I'll post it under both General Scrapbooking and the PUB boards). Depending on how many people join this challenge, I would love to post a few layouts on this blog with your permission. Judging will be done blindly by a 18 month old who can point, and an adult male who does not no much about scrapbooking, but manages to color coordinate his clothes and pick wall colors pretty well. A gift (RAK) will be awarded to the artist who interprets the challenge most creatively. Foreign participants are also very welcome! Your creation is due by February 28,2007 (you have two weeks). For future challenges, it will be random as the title implies: I may present a theme, sketch, ad, new technique, forgotten supply usage, or whatever strikes my fancy.

I would love to see what you come up with! Here's my layout for this challenge...

Golden Boy

When I saw this ad I knew immediately which photo it will be perfect for. On my Mac, iPhoto has special tinting features. This photo was done using the "vintage" color effect, which gave it that golden hue. To further support the "Golden Boy" theme, I copied the flowers from the console and covered them in gold-leafing. The flowers were free-hand drawn on chipboard, cut out, and sent through a double sided adhesive (I used Xyron 510). Then, I tore up little bits of gold-leafing and stuck it down on the sticky side. When all covered, you'll notice it has adhesive and extra gold-leafing between the tight spaces or the petals of the flowers. Flip the flower over, and using an X-Acto knife run it along the edges of the flower to cut it away. I also added some ink to give the flowers more dimension (used Cat's Eye in Burnt Sienna and Dark Chestnut). Stitching with a sewing machine advice: I changed my needle to a thinner one, Singer 70/9, and it made much small holes on my paper. Use invisible thread for the bobbin (that way you will never have to change your bobbin), and also for stitching the clear buttons in place (glue dots showed through the buttons). The fabric paper is by Me and My Big Ideas. I even ran the fabric paper (it's backed by paper) through my inkjet printer to make the title. Try using a bold, thick font so your letters show up better. I left the printer settings on "Automatic" for paper quality. Stickers are from K& Company, and the blue number stickers are Li'l Davis Designs. Clear buttons are from Joann's store. Cardstock is DoubleMates.
Thank you for looking! Hope to see your work!

And the winner is....(drumroll...)
Lisa Kisch was the winner of the 1st Random Inspiration Challenge, with her layout: "Mommy, is there a Zipper in Your Belly?" I didn't want this challenge to be biased so I left the judging to my husband Tariq. I was surprised at how much detail he notices in layout for somebody who claims not to care about this hobby of mine and gives me a :"That's nice" in regards to my layouts.
He narrowed all 6 layouts to two finalists and picked Lisa's for the following reasons: "She pulled the most items from the ad piece.... .He even noticed that the title "blob" in yellow/green is the color in the abstract art (heck, I didn't even notice that!")...He liked the photo framed in black as the artwork in the ad, and all the beige panels and little pieces of glass. So, Congratulations Lisa and send me your address for the RAK. Thanks to all of you who participated in this challenge!

This layout is by Lisa Kisch titled: "Mommy, is there a Zipper in your Belly?" Love that story and precious photographs. Great job with all the elements she pulled from the inspiration ad.

Anna-Karin Evaldsson created this "Timeless" piece. I love the abstract panels she recreated from the ad, and the organic colors used.

"A Luxury Vacation with You", by Noell Hyman shows so much detail work. The kraft colors of the paper and buttons look striking against the blue!
On a side note, her journaling made me chuckle. It seems we both share an aversion to public enclosed bodies of water...specifically, mine is jacuzzis. Brought back memories...I was on my honeymoon in Hawaii, in a beautiful resort. My hubby and friends soaking in a tiny jacuzzi sipping pina coladas, and I'm sitting on the asphalt with only my feet dipped in. Just the thought of public, germ-infested warm water....yuck!

Here's a layout titled "My Favorite Room" by Lori Evans. I love the sunburst hand-stitching she's done on her page. What a great interpretation of the challenge!


This layout"Sweet" is by Debbi T. I like the square panels of flowers that resemble the console's doors, but most of all the sentiment and photo is just, well... sweet.

The Perfect Valentine's Day Jewelry...for me and by me

Not only do I hoard scrapbooking supplies but also my jewelry supplies that fall into the category of "Too expensive to mess this up". This necklace was no exception. I bought solid 14Karat gold wire with the intention of hand-crocheting it with Swarovski crystals, yet was too afraid of making an expensive mistake. So the gold, crystals and the freshwater pearls sat there patiently waiting for me to find my bravery. I tested my heart-crocheting skills by practicing on cheap gold-plated wire on this layout "Protected" (here my husband is holding our son in the hospital room, the evening of his birth). I love that all my creative endeavors share a common path: Scrapbooking influences jewelry making and vice versa. After finishing my practice sample heart, I was pleased with the results and decided that the moment has come to get out the real gold and allow myself to play. I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to all my creative pursuits, so it's a challenge to keep reminding myself that art is seldom perfection. Asymmetry, quirkiness, and a touch of unexpected only enriches artwork. Perfection as seen by symmetry, order, and everything matching is stale and predictable in art.
So this is my Valentine's gift to myself. I love how this necklace has the aura of old-world royalty. Perhaps it's too regal looking to wear often, but it will be out on special occasions for sure! When I bought the supplies for this necklace, my intention was to make it for my online jewelry store, but I'm attached to it now....unless someone really twists my arm to sell it to them. If interested in obtaining this necklace, you may contact me. The price is $239, and I do accept Paypal. The materials used: 14K solid gold wire heart, genuine freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, 14K gold clasp, the beads are individually hand-strung on 14 K gold-filled wire.

I'm in the process of downloading all of my jewelry hand-made creations on this blog, so you'll definitely see more of my jewelry.
(NOTE: My jewelry creations are copy righted. Please do not copy my work, unless I provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to make a certain piece of jewelry).