playful.productive.present

The Creativity Project.

I'm going to do this in March.

Every day.

Lisa Day teaches at Big Picture Scrapbooking and I have so enjoyed seeing her develop herself as a creative person and teacher. She is working on a really cool workshop called The Challenge of Me (more info coming soon) and love that she is inviting her blog readers to be more deliberate about daily curiosity and playfulness.  I'm excited to add this daily effort to my Project 365 picture-taking. I certainly do not need another thing to do, but because I have so much on my plate right now, I think this project is perfectly timed for me. It will be my excuse to engage in unnecessary creating and invite intentional PLAY into each day. I'll keep my list of creative acts on the left (see the Project Creativity link.)

If you're in, be sure to email Lisa (lisamday@me.com) and let her know.

today ... (edited)

1. I am feeling much better (thanks for your well wishes) I slept in until 7:30 am. Geof took the day off and headed up to Look Out Pass for a ski day with our visiting friends, the Cordons -- and yes, they had to stay in a hotel Wednesday day to avoid the germ infested Julians!

2. Addie and I played puzzles.

3. I am loving this little Target dollar store find that is perched atop my studio bookshelf.

Would LOVE to know how much money I spent on Hello Kitty trinkets between the ages of 10 and 14. Note to self: Scrapbook Hello Kitty story.

4. I am working on refreshing my Library of Memories class and just pulled the following photos from my Together Forever tab in my ALL About US drawer.

I do not believe you can set up Category Drawers soon enough. I LOVE MY CATEGORY DRAWERS!!

5. I am so proud of my brother Cougar, who just finished his PhD from the University of Utah. He has already been hired as a professor in the College of Health and Human Performance at Brigham Young University.

Coug is third from the left (eyes closed) Sorry bro ... seriously, so totally PROUD and HAPPY for you (and Hillary and Payton, Julian, Parley and Delaynie) 

6. I received a Remarkable Tribute from Jennifer Davis, who I decided to follow on Twitter. Check it out. You can set up a FREE account and start creating tributes for people you LOVE. Hey ... I should send Cougar a Remarkable Tribute!

7. I just ate one of my very own Cherry Cashew nutrition bars from my first order @ YouBars.com  I've decided I need some practice, but what a totally cool concept!

Today, I am particularly thankful for sunshine outside my window and Lauren, who just finished sending my Christmas cards (finally) and for life. I love life.

Happy Friday!

Today (just now) ... I read Cathy's post and you probably already have, but just in case you haven't. Wow.

You are the BEST!

Seriously ... I LOVE my blog readers!! Some of you said "re-stage" -- which is a nice idea, but not likely to happen. The majority of you said photo #1 (and after reading your comments, I agree.) A few of you left me additional links to photos, like this one ....

and several told me to just photoshop sixteen pancakes into stack #1. Nancy, did the photoshop thing for me (she must know that I have not yet read The Idiot's Guide to PSE) Check this out ...

 

From this, to this ...

 

LOVE it!

Joogie left this comment:

My son, Ryan, turned 16 today also! I had him at 2:22 am so who's older? So funny that you and I had our firsts on the very same day. I just came back from his high school where I surprise delivered Little Caesar's pizza to him and his friends and now I'm going to make a new fave of his Blue Angel Cake. My baby is growing up! Happy Birthday, Clark!

For the record, Ryan is older than Clark. Clark's birth set a precedent for the other three boys in that my body does not go into labor by itself. I was four days overdue, starting to measure smaller due to a reduction in amniotic fluid and still took 32 hours of very slow labor (on pitocin) I pushed for almost two hours with Clark and he showed up at 9:30 pm. Someday I'll have to tell you the other stories -- each is follows the same basic theme, but is as unique as the child it's produced.  Happy Belated Birthday Ryan!

Today has been a total SICK Day, with four of my five at home, and now I'm sick too (but not the throw up kind yet, knock on wood)  was able to make all three of my scheduled meetings in a bit of a fog and then took an hour nap and am feeling quite a bit better. Even poor Clark got the flu last night before getting his 16 balloons. I told him, "At least you'll always remember your 16th birthday"

He still had a great time receiving candy bars and air fresheners from friends and teachers and as he put it "totally random people"

And I sat him down just now and snapped this pic of the car he got. Hmmm?

What a Day!

I'm feeling the breadth of my motherhood today. Let me explain ...

This boy is 16 today!
Sixteen?? I can hardly believe I have been a mother for sixteen years -- unbelievable.

My sweet Addie has the stomach flu. She and I were up most of the night and she is finally starting to feel better and is now sleeping in her playpen in my studio. I was sooo tired and yet I wanted so badly to get up and fix Clark breakfast -- I managed to do it and so far feel OK. I'm sure by tonight at the boy scout Blue and Gold banquet, I'll be pretty beat. I'm so lucky I have help -- Lauren will be able to go get the stuff we need to finish Trey's cake after school and I'll still be able to make my meetings today.

So, for Clark ... the theme today is (naturally) 16. I made him a stack of 16 pancakes for breakfast and I have his friends poised to help out too --- sixteen girls will be giving him one of 16 candy bars, while his guy friends have 16 of those tree-shaped air fresheners to give him throughout the day. Tonight, as part of a church activity he'll be visiting a senior center and there will be 16 balloons waiting!

Chase had to be at his school at 7:45 am with everything for a fieldtrip to Mt. Spokane to go skiing. I dropped him off and he was so excited. I took a pic of Clark + pancakes and Chase with his snowboarding equipment in front of the school sign and just came downstairs to discover that my camera card was NOT in my camera --- sooo totally sad.

See, it's only 9:30 am and I'm saying "What a Day!"

Thank goodness for Google Images ... leave me comment and tell me which pancake photo will work best to substitute among the other pictures I snap today. I'll print the winner and move on!

ONE.  Not quite 16

TWO. More than 16!

THREE. Just about 16!

Thanks for your help.

p.s. If you're in LOM and are looking for great options for labeling your library albums, check out this resource from my friend Martha (thanks!)

Cherry Hill WINNER!

Is Kristine in WA. Congratulations and I agree with you that I love the way October Afternoon does words and polka dots -- so much to LOVE.

  

this plus some black and white gingham ribbon -- the perfect compliment to ANYTHING!

Kristine ... email me (stacy@bigpicturescrapbooking.com) and I'll get some Cherry Hill on it's way to YOU.

I LOVE the words paper and the polka dots...but the cherries just make me grin! SO cheerful.
Kristine in WA

Posted by: Kristine | 20 February 2009 at 12:23 PM

From my friend Lisa.

I don't generally share positive feedback about Library of Memories. I find it very gratifying personally (of course) but I don't feel a need to say "Hey ... check out what so and so said ...."
But ... my dear friend and fellow teacher, Lisa Cohen (btw, Wellness is coming in April) sent this yesterday and it really struck a chord.

I hope Library of Memories is going well! That class is so close to my heart (and I've recommended it to so many people) as it gave me the freedom to age my photos and make more meaningful pages (not to mention to have a structure for my albums that I LOVE!).
My pages now tell the stories that I truly want to tell, give me a great perspective, and allow me to LIVE a much more FULL life because I am not constantly stressing about always needing to be creating pages ... so there's more time for kitchen gardening, cooking/baking, spending time with friends, playing with the kids, biking on the trail, and any other fun things that come along (that I will eventually scrap about... but they will have better context when that time comes and I will be a HAPPY MOMMA!). The thought and work that goes into adapting that process to make it work for me was COMPLETELY WORTH IT! Those people that are taking the class for the first time... WOW! Are they in for a TREAT!! To be beginners again and hear the concepts for the first time... beginner's mind... That is a wonderful place to be. I can't wait for the light bulbs to go on for so many of those students!

I absolutely love the point Lisa makes about setting up a scrapbooking system that ultimately gives you more time to live and enjoy life. Naturally if you're a scrapbooker, you love the creative process of scrapbooking, but you probably love many other things as well and I couldn't agree more with Lisa that my LOM has given me back the time to invest in other pursuits; scrapbooking is the way I capture and celebrate everything I LOVE. 

great stuff. thanks Lisa.
and one more thing ... the part about a Happy Momma, that's the Big Picture!

Three emails in a row ...

one from a twitter friend
one from Seth Godin (I subscribe to his blog posts)
one from another twitter friend

with this ...

Do you deserve it?

Do you deserve the luck you've been handed? The place you were born, the education you were given, the job you've got? Do you deserve your tribe, your customer base, your brand?

Not at all. “Deserve” is such a loaded word. Most of us don’t deserve the great opportunities we have, or the lucky breaks that got us here.

The question shouldn’t be, “do you deserve it.” I think it should be, “what are you going to do with it now that you've got it?"

I figure with this kind of synchronicity, I'd better share it with you.
I believe it's true -- at least in my case. I don't "deserve" all the good that comes into my life, but I am trying my darndest to do something great with it!

Have a wonderful weekend and when you RECEIVE something good, pay it forward.

Real Quick ...

I'm swamped.

BUT ... I do want to give away some really CUTE Cherry Hill from October Afternoon.
And if you like this. There is much more where it came from. Visit the October Afternoon blog
to see their latest product line, Road Map. Tell me which element or elements you like BEST and I'll enter you in a drawing for the Cherry Hill product!!

Careful ... there are six "reveals" on their blog. Be sure to see them all!

I'll post the WINNER on Monday.

my mom is here.

i love my mom. my mom is one classy lady. she is here to help me do a closet sweep and wardrobe refresh. over the last couple of years, i have grown quite lazy in regards to my clothes. i, oddly enough do not like to shop. seriously, i would consider three hours at the mall a type of torture. i do not enjoy it. consequently i have defaulted to purchasing clothes at Target and Costco when i happen to be either place on some other kind of mission (like buying food) please don't get me wrong, i love both Target and Costco and believe that you can occasionally find a great little something there, i digress ...

anyway, we spent several hours yesterday pulling everything out of my closet and going through piece by piece -- i kept thinking i've got to take a photo of this (i finally handed Clark the camera at 8:00 last night) when the job was mostly done, but here we are sitting by my  "time to move on" pile ...

it was a scary process and interestingly, very memory laden. here's a better pic.

I plan to report back with a short list of things I've learned (or been reminded of) for example ...
1.  slacks should be hung, seam to seam,  like a skirt -- not folded
2. sweaters will look better if you take the time to button at least one button when you hang them
3. you can remove things like belt loops if they bug you

dressing well (not to be confused with dressing expensively) takes some thought and some organization. my closet has always been organized by color -- but I am learning a few, new tricks to help me take better care of my closet, my clothes and ultimately my appearance.

today we head out to shop. wish me luck.

i'm sorry i've been so scarce. i am enjoying the first week of A Library of Memories and i am trying to remember how i fit in the extra time that it takes to interact with students -- right now it's taking up my blogging time (as well as a few other things) i know from past years that i get in the swing and it all works out ... the first week is always a bit crazy and with Valentine's Day and my mom coming and ...

but life is so good and i'll be back soon.
happy Tuesday.

Really Good + Crazy + Busy Week ...

How about you!
So sorry to leave you hanging like that. I've been so eager to blog, but seriously NO time.

Just wanted to wish you ALL a very, happy ...

Yep .. did this all by myself with those four little arrow keys!
Check it out, at Etchy.org

I'm headed to bed, so I can get up and make a FUN Valentine's Day breakfast for the kiddos!
Have a wonderful weekend spending time with the people you LOVE.