Hide and Seek

So, I have been VERY MIA lately. I have tons of reasons for this absence however to shorten the length of this post I'll only share a few, non personal ones. First and foremost prior to Spring Break I had taken Desiree shopping to get her own crafting supplies, including but not limited to inks, paper pads, die cuts, stickers, embellishments and so forth. I figured if she could craft maybe her and her brother wouldn't kill one another over spring break. (It rained the entire week here!) So they were stuck inside with one another. Not a great combo. Anyways, bought her stuff and to my surprise it all worked. They didn't fight, I didn't receive a ton of calls at work. Success right? RIGHT!!!

Well sorta. I had been super busy and then the weekend before they attended school we went to Eric's mom's house to do some renovating. I get home Sunday and finally take a peak into the room expecting a mess, because well she's 6.5, but OMG!!!! It was far more than I had anticipated. There was a nice ASS chewing involved and some grounding and then a cool down period. Which in turn made me close the door after the long weekend and say, another day I shall tackle this, and in the meantime, no little people in there until it's been done. Well, a day turned into 2, and them some commitments got in the way and needless to say it sat for another week as is.

Last night I decided to dive into it and cancel all previous engagements and tackle it head on. I missed being in there, I missed creating, I was tired of avoiding it, hoping I'd walk in and everything would be pretty and in it's place. This is what it looked like. Literally a pig sty not even I wanted to organized and I am OCD about organizing things! Anywho, it all got cleaned up and taken care of! Lots of creation were made following the clean sweep. I'll share those later.

On a side not anyone waiting on prizes, this is why they have not been mailed out yet but will be this week and I'll be in touch via email when they are!

From the door looking in, now tell me would you just want to walk in and dive into creativity! If this wasn't enough continue looking to see what it became. 

Here is Desiree's desk. Not too much of a mess because I had begun cleaning it before taking these pictures. A tool box somehow also ended up in there, not sure how but I'm sure Eric didn't want to take it outside to shed. 

A mess of what used to be my desk with new stuff and old stuff just piles on it. 

Now alot of this is mine. Some nifty old radio's I picked up, old coke crate and old nursery books and layouts that need to be put in albums. 

Empty Mary Kay boxes, that i had yet to tear down. Them my daughter's MESS. She decided she not only would use her desk but also the desk my sewing machine and T.V. sit on, so that she could be closer to the T.V. See all of the trash everywhere!!! You however can't see the 3 bottles of mist she thought she needed to use covering pages of paper, all to just paint over it!

So much crap that i can't even open the door all the way. This is a bin of Halloween costumes I gathered up to sell, because I no longer run my preschool. A travel bag filled with Mary Kay inventory, wall hangings and light fixture's I've taken down for one reason or another that have yet to find a home. 

Okay so not all of the mess is my daughters or form Spring break. I admit some stuff is mine that was just placed in here. For instance. WHY ON EARTH would I need a tampon in my scrappin space???? Who the heck knows, and yet as you see here. Here it sites with a hodge podge of other items that need to find a home. Needless to say i'm very happy everything has found it's homes now, because I was tired of playing hide and seek with my stuff!

Layouts! LOTS OF THEM

Bold Papers Tamed

Okay, does this happen to anyone else but me. you find a really neat paper, like the 7-Gypsies paper below. And then one of two things happen it's too bold and bright or there's a large image on you have to work around in order to include it. I love this paper, because of the shoes and wanting to showcase the shoes. however, when buying it I didn't think about how it would limit my options of design. So this is what I do with papers that need tamed a bit.

I dedicated all yesterday to crafting and let me tell you it felt amazing! Hadn't done any layouts in a while that were nice and simple so these were alot of fun not to have too much "fuss" about them!

First I applied watered down Gesso to the entire paper. To make the images more so in the background then in the fore front.

I then applies some blue gelatto to the top and used it as a watercolor to tint the page unevenly.

Alittle bit of bubble wrap followed by more Gesso. Like I said I wanted all of the elements there, but I didn't want them so bold and in your face.

Use it All!



For this layout I choose to not only use some echo park papers but also their packaging!! All over this page are pieces used from this packaging!



Helpful hint with cutting transparencies when their smaller or need trimmed, use masking tape, to tape them to the trimmer.




Desiree crafting at her desk has become a regular occurrence. So, much so this weekend we bought her first ever paper pack.



Under the mustache papers I cut a stip of the packaging papers to be unter it. The title is also fromthe packaging!

The No. 1 flag there is also fromt he packaging!

These little flag stips I also cut from the packaging!

MIA

I know this week I've been MIA alot. I ask for your forgiveness. While I would love to bluntly lie to you and say how much stuff I have been getting done and all these great projects and ideas I can't wait to share with you.........................

The sad truth is I haven't been in my craft room unless it's been to put something away or clean it up a bit. I've been working on trying to maintain it in a working condition.. I often and will probably go back to failing at this. However, I have been trying.

Spring is the busiest time I have at work. I work for a landscaping company and this is when the shit hits the fan with stuff to do and people to please. I LOVE IT.

I really do, love being so busy the day just sweeps out from under me. But this week Eric... (the long time boyfriend) also got a job to tide him over from boredom until he's out of school in a month in a half. I'll admit I have become soooo rotten! When I got home most nights, my son has done the dish's from the night before as well.. I gave birth to him so he can pay me back a little with some dishes. Eric had vacuumed and swept and even done some laundry most day when he was home. So, I got a little spoiled just have to do a few things and make supper. However now that he's working we both leave first thing in the morning and I don't see him and he doesn't see our house until about 10:30 that night when hes done with school. IT SUCKS. Hell it sucked before because I didn't get to see him but now I take on household crud again. lol So it sucks more now! So that's where I have been Monday I had my colon checked out to make sure no more cancer has tried to sneak in and while I'm sure I would have been thrilled to blog about it, it would have been unreadable to the unhigh person. lol  For the record Mondays post was pre written so you could read it.

I'm also selling Mary Kay now which, ummmmmm is not like me at all, but I'm enjoying it even though it takes up some time.. need naything.. let me know.. hee hee. Also hosting finace classes each week. Oh how busy the week has become!

Anyways, I'm looking to get into my room this week and get some crafting done, I'm at the point of foaming at the mouth to create something and I have a fun new prompt to use for my journal so I may begin there and get the crafting juices pumping through my veins again!

But I have missed you all. I have soo much to check in on. I haven't even had time to catch up on all of your wonderful blog posts other than here and there. I've also been brainstorming some new challenges! YAY