On Writing [Probably Not So] Well

I’ve felt recently that something has been missing in my life. I can’t pinpoint when this started, whether it has to do with becoming a mom. I thought I missed doing something creative every day so I started fitting in scrapbooking, card-making or even just reading about these things, into my over-scheduled day. It often happened at midnight, making for one sleep-deprived mom, but it did make me feel more fulfilled. Yet I still felt like something was missing.

Then I wrote a letter to my city’s parking commission opposing a petition for permitted parking on my street. A really boring matter but I went through a whole process to draft this letter—finding my voice, developing a lead, crafting supporting statements, selecting just the right words…revising, refining. I became a bit obsessed. And it was then that I realized that what I miss is writing.

I’ve been doing research on social media for my job. When I’m asked to do something outside of my comfort zone, I like to spend quite a bit of time learning all I can about it, reading about what other people are doing, talking about it and thinking about the best way to begin before I jump in. I’ve spent days perusing Facebook pages, trawling the Twitterverse and blog-hopping my way around, following a multitude of topics. I’ve been reading a lot of other people’s words and it has gotten me thinking about my own.

I know there was a reason I started to blog. I thought it was to share my craft projects. Now I am realizing that my creative endeavors go beyond pages and cards. I used to keep a journal. I haven’t in years. I do journal on my scrapbook pages, but it’s not quite the same.

I know it’s naïve to think I’ll somehow have the time to start writing every day. I feel like I’m so out of practice that by the time I warm up and get going, there’s no time left to finish, let alone polish and perfect. I’m not totally sure where that leaves me. I guess it’s time to call the research phase over, jump in and see where it gets me. So I apologize in advance for any unfinished ideas, tangential ramblings or grammatical gaffes. This girl’s just got to write.

It's been awhile...

Whew, it's been a long time since I've posted, and that's due to a combination of factors. One of those being that I got an Android phone awhile back and the salesman had me set up a new Gmail account to forward my Hotmail email to, since apparently Microsoft and Google just can't play nicely together. In my excitement over the new phone I totally forgot that I should have used my existing Google account that was tied to my Blogger account. So I ended up with two Google accounts and all kind of confusion ensued. It seems there is no way to combine two and signing in and out to update the blog and check my email was too time-consuming. The blog was sacrificed until I figured out that I could set up a new blog and import the old posts into it. The blog address I am not as excited about, but it will do.

My other HUGE obstacle to posting was that I had a baby, and thus barely have time for crafting, never mind writing about it. But she's 14 months-old now and starting to sleep for longer stretches and I've got to get my crafty mojo back on! Unfortunately, she's only sleeping "through the night" according to the technical definition of six hours, and of course those six don't align with my own sleep schedule! So I can't promise that all of my posts will be 100% lucid...

I do, however, have to scrapbook my daughter's past year, a daunting task that I've just started undertaking. So there will be lot of pink in my upcoming posts! I've also been trying to get back on track with card-making, and today I've got some of those to share.

For my boss Kelly's birthday:

This is an example of a card that I created awhile back and then added to and personalized for the recipient just before sending. Having a child has made this a more practical approach for actually having cards available in time for a specific occasion. I often use coordinating leftovers from scrapbook pages to put together basic cards that can then be embellished later. 

Awhile back I was experimenting with digital scrapbooking a lot and had printed off some digital patterned papers. The patterned paper across this card is actually a printed digital paper that I wrapped sheer pink ribbon around and adhered to a white card base. The sentiment circle was  made to match in Photoshop, printed, punched out with one of my many EK Success circle punches (Love them! So versatile!) and attached with foam tape. The purple scalloped circle and hot pink cardstock were sitting on my craft table looking for a home after being rejected from a scrapbook page. The white label shape was an experiment with my new Martha Stewart anywhere punch. I was a little skeptical of my need for this punch but now that I have it, I love it and will definitely be getting more. I layered them up and topped them off with a hot pink gem. I put the card aside and a few weeks later when I needed a card for my boss's birthday, I decided to add some bright yellow to punch it up a bit. 

I had left an odd amount of open space at the bottom of the card because of the side of the already-cut pink cardstock. I punched a scalloped strip from a shimmery yellow cardstock I used recently on a scrapbook page and added that to the bottom of the card. I then cut out a strip of the same yellow carstock, ran it through my xyron, folded it in half, wrapped it around a corsage pin and notched the end. I added my boss's name with stickers and stuck the pin through the foam tape holding on the sentiment circle. I rounded the bottom corners to soften the look. A yellow dotted flower and a green gem later and the card was good to go. My boss has the card displayed in her office and told me that's she's gotten a lot of compliments on it!

For my "mom friend" Ashley's birthday:

This took me forever to get started on. I knew I wanted to feature the cocktails print patterned paper leftover from a scrapbook page that I'm working on about a girls night out, but just couldn't figure out what to match it with. I found a random scrap of hot pink cardstock on my craft table and decided to run that through my little Sizzix embossser purse (not the real name, but Mommy Brain has that escaping me right now). I got this new EK Success punch on clearance from Michaels that I've been using like crazy. Used that on diagonal-striped DCWV paper. Stamped "Cheers" sentiment with lime chalk ink on white cardstock and embossed with clear powder . Added a dotted outline with a pink Zig marker adhered with pop dots for some dimension. Stamped my friend's name with pink chalk ink on white cardstock, cut into a strip, notched the end to make a banner and edged with lime chalk ink. It needed a little something extra so I tied a knot in a snippet of ribbon and attached that under the name, and adhered with a glue dot a small yellow flower with a sparkly pink gem center.

Hopefully I can finish the two scrapbook pages that the scraps from these cards came from over the weekend and post them next week. I'm not going to be too over-ambitious this time in how much I'm going to be able to blog!