suziebeezieland

claire's space diorama

Motto: Hot glue gun, we love thee!

the 2012 take twelve project

Today I’m chatting with Elizabeth Dillow, who has recently collaborated with Angie Lucas at Ella Publishing Co. to create the 2012 Take Twelve Project. It’s a challenge to take 12 photos on the 12th of the month for the next 12 months. A guided inspiration kit is available for downloading to help motivate and inspire participants as they go.

Suzanne: Before I ask you specifically about the 2012 Take Twelve Project, Elizabeth, can you give us a little history of your own involvement with scrapbooking?

Elizabeth: I started pasting birthday invitations and post cards into a very acidic brown album when I was about four years old; this led to an era of sticker albums in which I carefully collected and traded all varieties of stickers with friends. I jumped into the world of modern scrapbooking in 2002 after two years of lurking around Two Peas in a Bucket, absorbing as much as I could.

Suzanne: What has your professional involvement in scrapbooking and other memory-keeping been to this point, and what are you currently working on?

Elizabeth: I began contributing to Simple Scrapbooks magazine in 2005, and later went on to become a contributing editor for the magazine until it sadly ceased publication in 2009. I won a spot in the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame in 2006, and had the amazing opportunity to write a book for the publishing house of both magazines in 2007 (The Scrapbooker’s Almanac). I’ve also worked as an instructor for Big Picture Classes since 2006, co-founded Write.Click.Scrapbook. in 2009, and continue to work for my old editor at Simple (Angie Lucas) at her new company, Ella Publishing Co. My current projects include a second run of my Design Challenges class at Big Picture (registration is open, class begins April 25), and I am a contributor to a really cool upcoming eBook at Ella called Books and Crafts. It will appeal to you : )

Suzanne: Do you have a personal “philosophy” of scrapbooking?

Elizabeth: Yes, definitely: scrapbooking should be guilt-free—meaning, you should never worry about getting “caught up.” Just tell stories as they speak to you. I also believe that it’s important to cultivate the process of scrapbooking by challenging yourself creatively and seeking inspiration regularly. It’s impossible to sustain a hobby if you get bored with it.

Suzanne: And what has your own involvement been with photo challenges? How has it affected how you approach memory-keeping and photography?

Elizabeth: I love photo challenges! I first participated in one at Two Peas run by Marci Lambert in November 2005; the challenge was to take one photo each day for a month. I was immediately hooked, and have completed a whole bunch of month-long projects and two year-long photo-a-day projects since. One photo can’t possibly capture the entire story of a day, but it certainly captures at least one story—those collections of stories are among the most dear to me.

Suzanne: So tell us the basic premise of the 2012 Take Twelve Project.

Elizabeth: The Take Twelve Project is based on a simple concept: on the 12th of the month, take twelve photos (or more, and narrow it down to twelve) to tell the story of that particular day. It’s a great snapshot of your life!

Suzanne: I am wanting to participate in this, but I am already (obviously) running two months late on this project, and that is pretty much the story of my life. Ha. Can you tell me the advantages to committing to the parameters of a photo project, even if I’m running behind?

Elizabeth: How about a kind of unrelated story to illustrate why it’s worth it? I started keeping a book diary in 1998. I had a little bit of a bad attitude about it when I started because I was so mad at myself for not having started, say, when I began reading in elementary school. Think of all those books I missed documenting! But I did it anyway, and I’ve continued to do it without fail since 1998 (though I did transition to Goodreads for my record keeping in 2008). If I’d never started because it was so “late,” I would have missed out on fourteen years of book-keeping. It’s kind of the same with photo projects and scrapbooking; you’ll be so glad you did it in hindsight that it won’t matter that you didn’t start when you think you should have started.

Suzanne: I’m enjoying looking at my Take Twelve Kit, which I ordered and downloaded all online. There are all kinds of goodies in here. I honestly am wanting to hug you for all the ideas, because it is making me feel excited about scrapbooking again, and grabbing some of these memories before they fly out of my old brain. How do you recommend best using the guided photo checklists, for instance?

Elizabeth: The guided checklists are great because you can use them as inspiration only, or you can actually plan to follow them and practice your photojournalist skills by taking the photos listed. Either way, you’ll get behind your camera and think deliberately about capturing the people you love, the activities you value, and the stories you create. You can’t go wrong when you’re doing those things.

Suzanne: What are other elements of the Take Twelve Kit that you enjoyed developing and think we are going to love using?

Elizabeth: I am a huge fan of the List-It! line of journaling cards that Ella Publishing Co. sells—they are a really fun, quick way to jot down information whether you decide to add them to a scrapbook page or just print them out and stick them on a book ring or a bulletin board. I also am a huge advocate of sketches, and the sketches that Donna Jannuzzi created for the kit are wonderful. They can be used for any scrapbooking, too—not just the Take Twelve Project!

Suzanne: And I see in the kit that you advocate documenting even the most boring of days. Say, for instance, that I have a completely ho-hum March 12, involving the school run, housework, a few errands, making dinner, maybe a little television at the end of the day … why should I keep track of this?

Elizabeth: Wouldn’t you just love to know what your great-great grandmother did on her completely ho-hum March 12? Exactly.

Suzanne: At the end of this project, what, ideally, will I have to show for it?

Elizabeth: The first time I played along with this project in 2010 I kept it very, very simple; I turned my twelve photos into a collage at Big Huge Labs and blogged a little about each photo before the next 12th of the month rolled around. At the end of the year I turned all my photo collages and notes into a cute little 4 x 6 album, and it is a treasure to look back and remember all those moments. This year I’m creating a full-size page each month with my photos. It’s really whatever you want it to be! If you only blog about your photos, that’s great. If you decide to turn them into something fancier, well, you’ll be thrilled you did that, too. It’s a win-win situation no matter what!

Suzanne: Thank you so much, Elizabeth. I am excited about participating in this project, and will be posting my Take Twelve photos and layouts here in suziebeezieland. If any of you also feel inspired to do this, please make sure and let me know here in comments so that we can keep track of how it’s going, and enjoy each other’s memory-keeping!

my sister makes a little heart wreath out of a paper napkin

Happy Valentine's Day! :)

I went over to my sister's this morning for a cup of coffee, and she had these really sweet little paper heart wreaths on her light. So she started to show me how to make one, and I said "Wait!" and grabbed my phone to video tape it (1) so I could show you, and (2) so I could remember, because I get a little confused trying to remember things that have directions like "up" or "down" or "sideways" in them.

She said she found it on Martha Stewart and there is a video of Martha Stewart making one, but I like my sister way more than I like Martha Stewart, so here is a video of my sister making one. :)

disneyland pumpkins

A couple weeks ago, my cousins came out to visit us from Kansas and we went to Disneyland. It was such a fun day.

In Disneyland, there is always so much to look at, especially during the holidays, when they go all out with the decorating. Sometimes they have a little display in a quiet corner in one of the lands that would constitute a complete festival in its own right if it happened in your town, and would be a major life memory for your kids if it happened at your house. But because it's at Disneyland, it's just a little piece of the (much, much) larger show.

The older I get, though, these are the things I remember best and like best about Disneyland. :) I like the quieter things.

Take these pumpkins, for instance. 

These are freshly carved real pumpkins, and the man who carved them was sitting right there carving some more.

It was so cool.

Beware of hitchhiking ghosts ...

fast + easy hallowe'en art

fabeffex

Miss Claire has not seen a ton of television commercials in her short little life thus far, because we have a DVR and we mostly watch t.v. that way. We fast-forward through all the commercials.

As a result, she is MESMERIZED by commercials, and believes everything they say.

I'm not sure when or how it happened, but a few weeks ago she saw a commercial for this FabEffex moldable fabric, and was telling me how wonderful it was for several days. So I went online and ordered a Fab Effex Variety Pack through Amazon, because it did look neat, and seemed like a fun thing to close out the summer with. I should never have spent $30 on a craft, but maybe I am also becoming more susceptible to commercials since I haven't seen many lately. I don't know. 

It is neat (really fun to play with), but WOW, you don't get much for your money. At all. Here is the official review I wrote for Amazon about it, just so other unsuspecting moms would know:

My eight-year-old daughter and I both enjoyed playing with this Fab Effex kit. It's wax-backed fabric that you can mold into different shapes and cut out. We covered a box with a little meadow scene, and really enjoyed ourselves. 

The problem is that you really don't get much for your money. The "full-sized sheets" it refers to (there are six in this Fab Effex Variety Pack) are 3 by 4 inches each. Seriously. And the little plastic bag full of "140 precut shapes" are TINY. It's hard to pull the paper backing off them, they're so tiny. 

So, in summary, really fun, but a total rip-off.

wheeeee!!!!!!!!

Claire made a zipline for her doll. :)

bug pots

 
Have you made bug pots before? I think my sister told me about them when Claire was in preschool, and we made one then. I smile when I look at it. Claire's fingerprints were so tiny then. :)

We remembered how fun it was, so Claire and a friend made some more yesterday.

You need new terra cotta pots (unglazed), Patio Paint (or your regional equivalent), and a marker that will work on pots that go outside. (We found all three of these things together at Michael's.)

You can buy individual containers of Patio Paint, or a little sampler of many colors, like this.

The kids just dip their thumb (or finger, if you like skinnier bugs) in a color, then press it onto the pot to make the bug's body. For bugs that clearly show the child's fingerprint or thumbprint (the lines and ridges of the print, which make it more personal), have them press their paint-covered thumb onto a bit of paper towel to remove some of the paint before they press it to the pot. (If they go straight from paint to pot, you will get solid oval bugs without the fingerprint itself.)

When the bugs have dried, the kids can embellish them with the marker. (The paint and marker are permanent, so wear a smock or old t-shirt.)

You need to let the whole thing cure for about 72 hours before you stick a plant in it or get it wet.

Claire's pot from preschool has lasted outside for almost four years without aging. (The pot itself has weathered, but the paint and marker have not.)

the hermione t-shirt

Claire, whose summer reading regimine has included the first two (working on three) Harry Potter books (she's happily somewhere in the middle of The Prisoner of Azkaban even as I write), among others, designed this t-shirt inside her head last week, and told me about it.

So we went to Jo-Ann (fabric and crafts store) and found the light pink t-shirt, the flocked black iron-on letters, and the iron-on glam heart, and voila! :)

ps I accidentally ironed the "N" in Hermione on upside-down. Rather than "a mistake," I like to think of that as "a mother's loving touch". Ha.

confetti eggs

Bob's sweet secretary sent home a big Easter basket for Claire. One of the things in it was so neat. I have never seen these before. Have you?

They are real egg shells that have been emptied and filled with paper confetti. The top is gone and covered with tissue paper that is dyed the same color as the egg shell.

Then you throw them in the air and let them smash on the sidewalk. It's very satisifying. :)

knit your own royal wedding

"With a cast of characters including the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Camilla, Price Harry, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a variety of wedding guests plus, of course, the happy couple themselves - and even a corgi - this is one wedding souvenir that will be a must-have for any keen crafter."

Thanks, our Michele V., for sending this! :) Look at those corgis ...

an origami dollar heart

Claire lost a tooth on Christmas, and the tooth fairy, who was apparently caught off guard and didn't have any silver dollars or lose-a-tooth-on-Christmas special money on hand, decided that something pretty-looking and exciting should happen to the bill that was left under the pillow.

She reports that this is terribly fun to do and that she recommends it heartily. (Heartily. Hee.) She also notes that this would be fun to do when leaving a tip for someone.

She may have used this tutorial she found on YouTube.

a thanksgiving table

We've had Thanksgiving at my sister's house the past few years. We sit outside, at two long tables connected in an "L" shape. I always love her very sweet and fun ideas for table decor. (I love all of my sister's decorating.)

Last year she had the kids make the placecards a few days ahead of time.  They made turkeys with an inkpad and their fingers and thumbs and some googly eyes. 

My nephew decided his would be a cyclops. :)

She used family photos to decorate little pumpkins, and there were pots of mums.  It was so personal and nice.

painting & organizing the craft room (before pics)

I make the most colossal messes sometimes when I'm trying to get organized.  

I finally got around to emptying much of the craftroom yesterday (at least enough to squeeze in there and paint), and then went to Home Depot and picked up a few paint samples.  The room has been a color called "Drop of Blue" that Martha Stewart used to sell at K-Mart years ago, but I've been wanting to switch to a fresh yellowy-green color.  This is not a good photo (the wall is light blue ... can you tell? no, you cannot ... wait ... here), but here are my three swatches.

I'm pretty sure that for the walls I'm going with the color on the far left (Glidden's "Granny Smith Apple"), although I might use the color in the middle (Glidden's "Green Leaf")  and even the muted color on the right (Glidden's "Soothing Green Tea") for some accessories. 

I'd like to paint something with Martha Stewart's "Lagoon," too.  You can see them all together here, on swatches.

But when I go back to Home Depot, I might check out some of the light blues, also. I'm not sure.  

I want it to be fresh, and I'm worried that our recent cloudy/raininess is influencing my color sense too much. Most of the year, this craftroom is completely blasted with western sun.

I may head over to Benjamin Moore to check out some of the Pottery Barn Kids colors, too. It depends on how I'm doing for time today. 

Isn't it nice that I'm so decisive? :D

We haven't painted the craftroom in about six years, and the existing paint is pretty grubby-looking in places.  I'm rearranging the furniture so that we can squeeze a twin-sized bed in there and a couple comfy chairs for t.v.-watching.  

I also have to paint the ceiling (I'm going to go do that this morning as soon as I finish talking to you and have gulped down my coffee), because several years ago we had a water leak in there and there is a patch where the ceiling was repaired that we've just ignored.  I got ceiling paint that goes on pink and dries bright white, so you can see what you're doing as you paint.  So handy.

The craftroom tends to be our anything-remotely-crafty-or-officey dumping ground, and is in the most dire need of a purge and reorganization.  I just decided to go for it yesterday, because we're not having anyone over this week, and I think I can get it all done in a week. 

And all this stuff isn't even from the craftroom closets ... they're still full. Yikes! :P

picture frame chalkboards

I've heard that chalkboard paint is so 2008, but if you, like me, have decided to live your life blissfully free from the crushing responsibility of being a pop-culture elite, you can continue to enjoy it.  :)

Our house is full of chalkboards.  A very fast and easy way to make your own chalkboard is to use a picture frame. 

You'll need these things:

• A picture frame with glass
• A paint brush or small roller
• A can of chalkboard paint
• A plastic trash bag that is a bit bigger than the picture frame glass

Remove the glass from the picture frame.  

Lay a plastic trash bag out on a work surface.

Put the glass from the picture frame on it.

Clean it well on both sides with glass cleaner, and give it a few minutes to dry completely.

Brush the chalkboard paint onto one side of the glass and allow it to dry to touch.  (It won't take long. Ignore the directions on the can. Paint on glass dries really quickly.)  

Give it two or three more coats, until it is opaque. (It doesn't need to be perfect, because the back of the picture frame will make it darker.)

Put the glass back in the frame, and voila! Instant chalkboard.

The chalkboard paint instructions will tell you to "season" the paint by rubbing all over it with the side of a piece of chalk and then erasing it, but you really don't need to do this when you use the paint on glass, because glass is not porous. Just write on it with chalk when it's dry, and erase it when you want to write something else.  (Don't use a wet cloth or paper towel to wipe it off for a week or so.)

If you saw Ramona and Beezus, you might remember that when Ramona got her new room, there was a window on the inside wall, because her room was an addition and they were trying to save money so they didn't remove the old window.  They just painted the panes of glass with chalkboard paint, so she had a chalkboard window. It was so cute.

If you get bored of using your chalkboard as a chalkboard, the black is a nice background to tape cute pictures to.  

You could also add a little vinyl decal to it from Shanna Murray. :)

back to school with etsy

I did some window-shopping on etsy tonight by doing some searches using school-ish words, and found some cute stuff to share. :)

Lucy Jane Kids sells "My Tiny Tote" -- a kid-sized tote bag in cute fabrics.  Some include a rectangle of chalkboard cloth to personalize.

Babeloosh Mini sells organic reusable sandwich bags, snack bags, and lunch totes.  (I think these make so much sense. We go through plastic Ziploc bags like we're the Jetsons or something.)

Chet and Dot makes pencil cases out of cute Japanese fabrics.  I like that bear and bird who are obviously friends.

sarah + abraham has personalized kids' water bottles and dishes. So sweet! :) 

Lily Reed has personalized allergy alert tags.  She also has cute bag tags.

Jenster 76 has apple cardigans. :)

John W. Golden has FANTASTIC "by order of the management" signage. Check them all out. :)  I have my eye on "put your dishes in the sink."

Happy Family has "Old School Microscope Science Geek" t-shirts (and onesies!) for kids.  They have this illustration on some other neat stuff, too . . . do a search for "microscope" in the Happy Family store.

And Electric Boogaloo has a lot of fun "Geek Up the Nursery" stuff (tag line: If you're a nerd, there's a mighty good chance your babies will be nerds too. Why fight it?)  I am fond of this gentle Force=Mass x Acceleration print. 

And their what the earth is NOT made of poster is hysterical.

One of the favorite things I found this evening were little wooden figures available at Bunny With a Toolbelt.  Make sure to check out her store to see how sweet they all are. Anyway, she will make custom wooden figures to illustrate your child's favorite book. (Ha. I mistyped that at first and it said "your favorite child's book." Oops.)  She explains how it works here.

Gibberish has some really cool science necklaces and pendants and suchlike.

And Gibberish 2 (her other etsy shop) has some very pretty "read" accessories. :)

Oiseaux has some of the prettiest bookplates I've ever seen.  

And finally, if you, the mama, need a little back-to-school organizational item of some sort, I have always really liked Mary Kate McDevitt's Mini Goals Chalkboards and Clockboards. It's a lovely and sensible kind of an antidote to an electronic to-do list with 15,000 items on it. :)  

french general

Faith, who gave me Kaari Meng's lovely book Home Sewn awhile back, had the very fun idea of inviting a group of us who have expressed interest in visiting French General to actually go there.

Faith has really good taste, and I would love to live in a house she decorated.  I would love to live in her house, actually. Whenever I go over, I don't want to leave, but I don't want her to have to kick me out, so I do leave. But I don't want to.

French General used to be in Hollywood but is now closer to us, in the hilly, modernist Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, not far from Dodger Stadium.  It's only about half an hour away, or less if the traffic is light.  I was astonished at myself for not going there sooner.

So yesterday morning, fortified by some of Faith's delicious coffee and some Trader Joe's Mini Morning Buns, Faith and Texanna and Danielle and Tash and Claire and I jumped into two cars and made our way over.

Faith and Texanna are my sister's husband's sisters, but I prefer to think of them as my sisters-in-law, too, because we have known each other a very long time, and that is what it feels like to me. They are family. There should be a word in English to explain the relationship of your sister's husband's sisters to you.

Some of you may recall my dear and very beloved church friends Danielle and Tash from their criminal activities, which were previously alluded to here in suziebeezieland.  I should note that Danielle also housesits for us, and Tash also babysits for us, besides having their own busy jobs and lives.  They just moonlight as art thieves.

And then Claire is my daughter, who was very excited to be out and about with the big girls. :)

The store is open from 11 to 4 on Mondays.  We got there just after 11.  I was so excited. :)  I have been a French General fan since before Claire was born.

The store is full of beautiful notions for making jewelry, and exquisite linens and fabrics, and so many little treasures to make sure not to miss that you could happily spend an hour or more in there in a little cloud of euphoria.

Which we all did.

All of the glasses on this table were full of beautiful metal charms and other parts for making jewelry.  I don't know about jewelry making so I don't know all the correct terms, but they were really neat to look at.

The store has workshops, and I think it would be fun to go and learn how to make a bracelet or necklace. (If any of you Minnesota gals are close to Minneapolis, you could make a Petite Coeur cushion with Kaari at The Creative Connection event in mid-September.)

Here is Tash perusing the charms, while Claire peruses her second or third snack. They had awesome snacks set out.

Faith, I'm so glad you organized us to go.

These ribbons made me want to be a milliner, and also reminded me of this movie scene in Pride and Prejudice:

Jane: What are you up to, Liddy?

Lydia: We just happened to be looking for some ribbon.

Kitty: White, for the ball.

Mr. Wickham: Shall we all look for some ribbon together?

Lydia and Kitty: [laughs and giggles]

Lydia: Good afternoon, Mr. James.

Milliner: Good afternoon, Miss Lydia.  Miss Bennet.

Mr. Wickham: I shan't even browse. I can't be trusted. I have very poor taste in ribbons.

Lizzie: Only a man truly confident of himself would admit to that.

Mr. Wickham: No, it's true. And buckles. When it comes to buckles, I'm lost.

Lizzie: Dear, oh dear. You must be the shame of the regiment.

Mr. Wickham: A laughingstock.

Lizzie: What do your superiors do with you?

Mr. Wickham: Ignore me. I'm of next to no importance, so it's easily done.

The two ladies who worked there were soooooo nice. They were really helpful and really fun.  The way you shop there is so neat, because you get a little tray and a bunch of glassine envelopes (I always want to call them glycine envelopes . . . when science and crafts collide) and stickers, and you count out any tiny notions you buy into the envelopes and seal them up and label them, and write up your own receipt as you shop.  It was fun.  I've always wanted to do that.

Everything got wrapped up carefully.

Adieu, le Général Français! Nous y reviendrons avec plaisir!

craft room overhaul

Hannah has taken to sleeping in the craft room paper tray, but other than that, the craft room is not getting much use the past couple of weeks, because it's such a mess.

It hasn't changed much in the past five years, other than to slowly fill up with random stuff.  I'm not going to show you the closet or table right now because they're pretty bad.  :)

I still like the decoration and storage in there, but it really needs a good clean up, and since the computer and computer desk are no longer in there, I have a bit of space to work with. I'm wondering if I could somehow tuck a little twin bed in, for visitors.

Next weekend I'm hoping to clean it, paint it (it hasn't been painted in six years), and rearrange it a bit.  I may mark out the shape of a twin bed on the floor with tape, to show Bob. :)

I'm hoping to replace the old Martha Stewart "Drop of Blue" (from when she had paint at K-Mart) paint with something fresh and green.  Although so much of what we own is fresh and green . . . Bob and I were accidentally out last weekend in matching-colored shirts, because I gravitate so much to spring green that I buy it for both of us, and Claire, as well.

We could become a singing trio and wear spring green and travel around in my green car while I carry my green purse.  I love fresh, yellowy green!

I'm thinking about Benjamin Moore's "Stem Green".  This is in the PB Kids catalog and seems good in print, but you never know how it will look in real life.  (It's the green wall behind the bed.)

{from PB Kids catalog}

Do you have any house projects going on right now?  I'll let you know how the craft room turns out.

stamped napkins

{image from gemma comas}

I just ran into this in a professional photographer's portfolio. In a million years, I would never have thought of stamping a plain napkin. Have any of you done this before? I bet you have, because you are crafty geniuses. But look how cute. I will do this! :)

I'm collecting more ideas to help inspire me here, on my tumblelog, which feels like a stream of consciousness if my consciousness were all cute little pictures. :)

chalk art