Monday, February 2, 2009

I know the secret to life.

Sleep. Sleep has got to be the key element that holds everything together. Without sleep we would all be insane.

I was insane for the month of January. I don't know where all the work came from and how it came so quickly but it has left my scrapbook room in a state of disaster. Just one, big, messy pile that starts at the door and extends to all four walls. It's going to take weeks to tackle the job of cleaning it.

Then to top all of that craziness off, I had two sick little boys to take care of. There were actually two nights that I got zero sleep. Not one wink. Nada. It was rough.

In the middle of all my craziness was CHA in Anaheim. I didn't make it to the show but I did get a chance to play around with some of the new releases from Fancy Pants. One of my favorite new products are the Mixed Media Books. I use half of mine to create a wall hanging for my scrapbook room.


It will join this Mom layout and another wall hanging I'm going to make with pictures of Drew. I used one sheet of the chipboard, one sheet of the printed transparency and one sheet of the felt and then binded them together with craft wire.

I used another piece of transparency from the Mixed Media Book to make this mini page to hang in Drew's room.



He loved that it was clear so, much to my surprise, he requested for me to take a picture of him holding it.

My last one is something a little different for me. I was as stumped as could be and was seriously thinking I was out of scrapbooking ideas. (The lack of sleep was getting to me!) I was on my scrapbook room floor surrounded by piles and piles of mess when I decided to pack it up and move to a cleaner space on the dinning room table. When I got in there and laid out my paper and pictures they kind of fell in this position.


I stared at it for a minute or two and had a few arguments back and forth in my head...

"Sure you can do a vertical layout!"
"No, it won't look right in an album."
"Oh, come on. I don't think the scrapbooking gods are going to send you to paper hell because you didn't follow the rules..."

See, I told you. No sleep = insane. After adding a few pieces of patterned paper, some embellishments and then straightening up the photos I was happy with it. I'm not saying it's a cutting edge layout, (I have seen several people do this), but it's was something new for me and it's helped to recharge my creativity. Sometimes that's all it takes, something a little different than what we usually do. :)

7 comments:

Allison said...

Great great new stuff! Love it all. The vertical is really cool - I'll have to try that one of these days! Here's to a calmer and sleepier February. :)

Anonymous said...

Love it all, and I think the vertical layout is definitely something I need to try...I always love when you tackle something out of the norm because it challenges me to do the same. The boys wall hangings are adorable. I have missed your posts, but even sleep deprived, you create great things!!

Anonymous said...

Once again Allison you have created a breath-taking layout. May you have more sleepness nights!

Anonymous said...

Allison - this is a stunning layout even though you said it's not a "cutting edge" one. Good job as usual.

sssalad said...

I love your vertical LO - I may have to lift that idea! Hope your family is well now and you get some sleep!

Unknown said...

LOVE the vertical layout idea... You are definitely NOT going to paper hell for that one. :) I just got my March issue of CK in the mail today --- all I can say is WOW!!!!!!!
You had some awesome layouts (especially love the star one!) and a great article! Way to go, girl!!!

Ryan Rules the Summer said...

And this is why I must check out your blog! Go Vertical.