Diary of a Renegade Scrapbooker

it's an amazingly beautiful day here today. and i just so happen to have it off from work. :) 

the sun does not come out a lot during the winter months here...very reminiscent of winters in Chicago. so even though it's deceivingly cold on days like today when the sun makes a rare appearance, i still have to get outside and enjoy it. this morning is no different. before andrew headed off to work we went and visited jimmy hendrix's gravesite. (i can now check another thing off my "must see in seattle" list). it's so neat how so many talented musicians came from the same place. i still need to make it to the kurt cobain memorial site. 

so much creativity going on around here these days. i have so many projects done, photographed and waiting to be shared, projects in progress, and ideas for projects floating around in my head. that's good! :) 

my scanner went kaput a while back so i am photographing all of my layouts which kinda sucks. the scanner did a much better job. i see a new one in my near future.

and i also took a random shot of my outfit today for no other particular reason than i really liked what i was wearing! i am going to start taking more of these. i like outfit shots like i like foot/shoe shots. i like the perspective of the photos and they are fun to look back on and to scrapbook!

well that's it this time. i hope you have a fabulous weekend! i will be posting often so check back.

peace,

kate

i guest designed over at the story matters this month! the kit was super cute and i had fun making stuff with it.

i added some more to the "fun corner" in our place. this was the first time i made tissue paper flowers and i love how they came out. i want to make more in different colors. i want to eventually fill this corner with all kinds of fun things.

it's progression....

i made this mini book for sei. i absolutely fell in love with their valentine's day themed papers. lots of sparkle and glitter and really neat patterns. i love this book that i made. it's one of my favorite projects ever. because it is mainly for the kiddos....i kept it pretty simple.

happy love day!

i took some time off from blogging. obviously! :)

i've mainly been concentrating on work. i got a huge promotion right after Christmas. which has required more hours from me. which is a wonderful thing!! i never thought i would end up on the management end of my industry. but the opportunity presented itself and i took it! i can't even explain how much my promotion means to me. the training. the opportunity. all of it. it means a better life and i am happy and grateful for that.

i have also been creating. a LOT. i have so many new projects to share in the coming weeks. i am feeling so inspired and creative these days. with impending spring weather and so much optimism in my days right now....i just feel really really good. :) 

andrew is helping me work on a blog redesign. i am hoping to have that up and running sometime this week. with the new year i made a huge list of goals and aspirations. i have really never done that before. but i feel like this is a year in which change is truly capable in all areas of my life. i really want make things happen this year. grow as a person. save my money and plan for the future. exercise. create. step out of the box a little and do things i might not normally do. get out and see things. explore. i just want my life to be full and happy and good. and blogging is on my list of goals. 

i am really going to try my best to be a better blogger! to use it more as a journal like i used to when i first started blogging. that's when i loved it the most. when i just wrote whatever i was thinking and really shared my life and myself. i plan to do more of that this year!

i also plan to submit more of my work this year. i was so happy to see one of my pages in february's issue of creating keepsakes. i also have 2 projects in scrapbook trends this month but i am super upset because i can't find an issue of it anywhere and they have not sent me one in the mail. i have not gotten any word from them at all. a little bummed about that. anyone seen it? if so did you see my two projects in it??? it's kind of frustrating knowing i have two projects on the magazine this month but i can't see them. ugh.

 

 

i love that layout so i am really glad they chose it.

here are a few sneak peeks at some of the projects i will be sharing in the coming weeks!

that's it for now! see 'ya soon!

 

 

kinda obsessed with her and this song.............

 

then there's this one... can't forget this one...

she has kinda become a friend of mine. lol. we have spent so much time together (via her music and my headphones). seriously, i adore her. i relate to a lot of what she sings about. and i think her attitude is stellar! just a little pink love to share today!

have a good one!

so i'm not naming my posts anymore. takes too much thought! and i am all about simplifying these days! :)

i can't believe i am posting again so soon. but i had a rare day off today and felt in the mood to blog so here i am! 

the weather has been really getting to me lately. cold and practically always raining! i got these boots not long ago and i am in love with them. they keep my feet dry and warm. you need that here in seattle!

i snapped a few photos from around our place today. daily shots for my "35" book.

our cozy bed....so hard to get out of on these cold mornings!

we always make breakfast if we have a day off together. usually huge feasts and afterwards we sit like lumps on the sofa for a while! lol!

christmas candles....

we moved one of the garlands we made and put it with the paper lanterns. i love them much more together!

our little white tree. it makes me smile.

i made some pages for my "35" book i wanted to share! i am loving the process of making this book. i need to slow down though or i am going to end up with two volumes! LOL!

i love the details on this page....

 

the basic plan for the book is to add journal entries, art pages, whatever i want throughout the next year. mainly it will be a place to hold myself accountable for achieving the goals i have set for myself in the coming year. 

projects like this remind me why i scrapbook. when i picked scrapbooking back up in the last year i thought i wanted to be on design teams again and scrapbook to get published. although those things did begin to happen for me...i didn't and don't have passion to do that. it takes the fun out of it for me. i just want to make stuff for the creative release. not to make money. not to be on a team. and not to see my work in a magazine. those things can be wonderful. but for me, right now, i don't have the desire. i am getting back into making things "just because". when that pressure is off i find my art grows. and that's what it's about for me.

scrapbooking.

an escape. a way to immerse myself in something that i love and for a brief amount of time my worries disappear. it's a hobby. and one i love immensely!

hopefully i will be back soon! but if not have a wonderful christmas!
peace,

kate 

 

it's been a while! :) i hope you are enjoying your holiday season so far!

i haven't been around the blog in a while. i have been super busy with work. and life. which has been pretty good of late. i can't complain! 

i celebrated my 35th birthday last week. gah! can't believe it. crazy. but wonderful. there really is nothing like being a woman in your 30's. i truly feel this next year.....it's going to be MY year. the year i finally get myself into the place i need to be...setting myself up for my future and the path it is going to take. i am SO excited. everything in my life is coming together so nicely. working hard and setting goals is paying off. it won't be long. and we will be settled in chicago ready for the next chapter in our lives!!! you know, i am pretty proud of myself. of what i am accomplishing right now and the woman i am becoming. i feel wiser, stronger, calmer and more clearly focused than i have in a long time. i feel better about ME. and i am a reveling a little bit in that lately! so happy birthday to me! here's to the next fabulous year!

in celebration of this year i started a mini book! i plan to work on it throughout the year. i adore it already. i am using all green, white, gray and black in the book. i love the colors and i love the "style" of it so far! here are a few peeks....

 have a great weekend!

peace,

kate

 

a whole lotta' random.

i still don't have anything creative to share. i have a mini book all planned out. my 35th birthday is coming up really soon. and i want to do a book of 35 goals for the next year. and to document where i am right now in life and where i want to go. but i lack the inspo right now. no creative energy. zero. that happens. a lot. 

i have found the best thing to do when i am feeling that i am lacking in the creativity department is to just take a break. a breather. just enjoy life in the meantime. keep taking photos and writing down ideas when they come. and wait. 

it always comes back. usually in a rush. and creativity will show its' face in abundance. but if i try to force it i only end up frustrated and even less inclined creatively. 

so a break i am on. i had a meeting today at work. but managed to squeeze in a bit of fun before i headed out. andrew and i visited a local park for a walk and some picture taking. it is so amazingly beautiful here right now. and today the sun was out so it was an amazing fall day in seattle! the photos do not do it justice. i realized today i want a new camera. a better one. time to start a change jar to save up for it. i have a pretty good working knowledge of my rebel now and think i would be up to the challenge of a better camera. one of my goals for my "35" book (besides learning to live with and love the little wrinkles that are quietly making their presence known on my face) is to learn photoshop. self teaching. it's the editing part i hate. i love being behind the camera. but learning photoshop has been something i have been unable to make myself do. i have sat down countless times determined to learn only to give up completely frustrated about a half hour later. this coming year....i WILL learn. 

some photos from today.....

love outings like this. we don't have much free time so i cherish the time we do get.

other than traipsing through the park i have been getting over a pretty bad cold and doing some organizing around here. i decorated my fridge! i want to cover the whole thing now! :)

and i cooked for the first time in a while. i have been working a lot of nights so it was nice to make a good home cooked meal! i made pork tacos and they were wonderful!

and i have been busy collecting treats for my daughter lily. she is obsessed with justin beiber! :) i don't mind it because i think he is adorable. she is such a sweet girl and i can't wait for her reaction to her surprises!

at least i have been taking lots of photos so when my creativity does show itself around these parts again i will be ready!

listening to a lot of country music lately. don't know what the heck is up with that! but keith urban and rascal flatts have been feeding my soul as of late. and that is highly unusual for me! lol! goin' back to my louisiana roots i guess! ;)

it's back to the grind and work tomorrow! thankful i have a job! and will have a good attitude going in for a long stretch of shifts starting tomorrow. christmas is coming up so it's all good! i need it. 

i guess that's it this time around. totally random. nothing crafty. just my life today!

hope all is well in your world!
peace,

kate

hello there.

it's been a while! a lot has happened since my last post. my dad was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident. had the family shook up for a bit. he is doing better now. thankfully!

fall has settled in here in the great Northwest. the leaves are changing colors quickly and everything is so so so beautiful! we have a trip planned for this next week to go to the arboretum. i can't wait! i got some great shots there this time last year. and since this will be my last time to experience an entire fall in Seattle, i am taking advantage of it! there are so many neat things to see here. 

 andrew and i finally finished a garland. he likes helping me make stuff! when we both finally get home from work, late at night, we will spread out on the floor in front of the tv, eat dinner and make stuff together. i find it adorable and endearing that he enjoys my hobby with me. 

we actually made two garlands for our place. one is about halfway to the floor and the other one is ceiling to floor. i love them. absolutely love. however, they are quite time consuming. hours and hours. but well worth the effort. 

i also went around the place and took photos of our little corner of the world. i want to make a mini book with the pics. when we get to chicago i will make a mini with photos of our new place there too. i think it will be neat to have little books to look back on the different places we lived.

i love our little space! but also feel very very anxious and ready for the move. time can't pass quickly enough it seems. and that frustrates me. because i have a really hard time not constantly thinking of the goal. and often forgetting to stop and experience the in between.

some days are easier than others. but i am thankful for a lot of things. phone calls with my mom, my sweet daughter's voice, elliott's laugh, my mom uploading photos of my nephews on facebook so even though i can't see them in person i can look at their sweet faces via my computer, my job, and this man....

i couldn't ask for a better best friend or life companion. we have had our rough patches. our relationship has not been easy. i come along with a lot of baggage. ya know? but this man supports me, encourages me, and loves me unconditionally. he tells me i am beautiful countless times a day, texts me throughout the day to just say hi and call me hot stuff, he believes in me more than i believe in myself some days. he tells me i deserve to be loved more than anyone. and love me he does very very well. we have come a long way. instead of giving up when the hard times came, we worked through them and are working through them because we know, what we have is so worth the fight. and we have grown so much as a couple because of those struggles and hardships. this relationship is making us better people. and that's what it should be about!! so just a quick ode to my man. and all he has done for me these past few weeks.

this is a random post! ;) the best kind!

i have been working on a "book of truth part two". it's been sitting on my desk for a while so i will get some good photos and share the rest of the book this week. but here are a few photos of it so far. i made my first "book of truth" back in 2008. i thought it was time for a new one! the last one was so therapeutic to make. i might continue with them every two years. that would be neat!

here are the two side by side...

just a few pages. the entire thing is huge. i will share all of it this week.

i can't believe tomorrow is halloween! we are carving pumpkins tonight and watching favorite scary movies! i love halloween. wish i could have had more time this year to get into the season. what are you up to for halloween this year? 

thanks for reading my randomness! have a great halloween!

peace,

kate