Diary of a Renegade Scrapbooker

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

 

 

can't keep up

i feel like i am running in a million different directions lately. and it seems there is just never enough time to get it all done. i need better time management skills. more order to my chaotic life. i made a list of ways i can become more organized and plan to implement them in the coming weeks. because the schedule just promises to get crazier in the next few months.

i have been working a lot. (thank God.) 

i don't think i have talked much about what i do for a living here. i am a waitress. nothing fancy about it. i wait tables and make pretty good money doing it. here in seattle you make more than you do in the south waiting tables.  health benefits a 401K and everything. you can make a livable wage here doing what i do. and i actually really really love my job. i love being around people and i love the fast pace. and i am really good at it.

 

but still.....i have been having back problems and can't see myself doing this forever. i have bigger dreams. and i really don't believe you are ever too old to follow your dreams. my dream is photography. to own my own business. but i know nothing about it. and i am not a great self learner. i would need school. but that's what i see for my future. and i feel that is a very realistic goal for myself. i know i can do it! but i have to be patient. i have a family to consider. and the goal of getting to chicago must come first. then i can work on getting my butt in school. one thing at a time. and optimistic happy dreams of the future in the meantime! and waiting lots of tables! :) 

on to other stuffs....if you grabbed one of my fall mini kits they are on their way! don't forget to link me up with the books you make with them! I can't wait to see.

my etsy shop WILL open this coming week. i am sooooooooooo excited. i put together some really neat new product to make december daily kits. and i will have mixed paper journals for sale and garlands and butterfly prints and all sorts of other pretty little things. i can't wait to share!

in the meantime here are some photos (FINALLY) of my fall mini book so far. if you are making one please share your links!!!!! 

i used a lot of fabric in my book. i love that green zebra print stuff. 

those little circles are actually the holes i punched from the papers to make the book. i use those a lot. all of my mini books lately have a cohesive style. i have been using the same little "this book belongs to" tags in all of them and similar designs. i like it that way. they all look like they go together.

those hambly leaf overlays were peeeeeerrrrfect for this project.

whew. photo overload. that's the basics of my book. i made a lot of blank pages that i can just add to throughout the season. hope it inspires you in some way!

have a great day!
peace,

kate 

 

 

 

feelin' kinda down.

in a funk i guess. i need to snap out of it. i do believe life is all about attitude. how we go about everything from our work to our mothering to our daily routines. attitude is everything in my book. and mine has sucked lately. i need a fun outing or something to get me smiling and moving again!

you would think happy emails this morning would have been the cure. more of my work got picked up by CK and Scrapbooks Etc. i am excited about those. i have been on a roll lately with the publications. hope i can keep it up! :)

i wrote an article and did a project for Cartwheels In My Mind. i love the project i made!  it's a 7Gypsies ATC spinner. here's the cover page. head over to the blog to see the rest of the project. it's one of my favorites i have made. it looks so adorable on my desk and is so much fun to look through. i want to make another one NOW! 

 

 

i made a layout. just for fun.

also obsessed with these really cool DIY planners. i am making one for myself for next year. plan to have a few kits to make your own too in my etsy shop (which will be opening in the next week! :) i need to be more organized. and i love the idea of making your own planner and being able to customize it to suit your own personal needs.

i don't have any photos to share and am still struggling with the cover for my fall mini book. i will, hopefully, be back sometime this weekend with some pages from my mini. we shall see.

well i hope your week has been great so far! i will be back soon with more to share. just gotta get outta my funk! 

peace,

kate

changes

i feel it in the air! the seasons are quickly changing around here. i can smell fall in the air. i am so ready for the season. good changes in daily life too. making small steps towards my goal of getting to chicago. things are going well. progressing nicely i must say. trying to remember to be truly present to my life in the meantime. to not always be so focused on the goal. to stop and enjoy the here and now too. i still struggle with that. but to me, it's the key to happiness! 

i promised myself, i am going to really really enjoy this fall season. get out and do stuff. see stuff. and make a lot of art along the way. i am collecting recipes i want to try and making a list of places i want to go. i already started documenting for my autumn mini book. some of you said you were going to join me and that makes me happy! :) please link me up as you create!!!! 

the theme of my autumn mini is just to document daily life and all the adventures of the season. i have collected a few quotes on autumn that i love. i will share those here. i will share my whole process of making the book. right now i am still struggling with the cover. that is usually the first thing i do when making a mini. (after deciding theme and product) i can't decide if i want really simple or more layered. i am going to put together the bones of the book and i can just add to it through the season. i actually have a lot of leftovers from the product i ordered for my kit and put together a few mini kits. if you are interested let me know. i only had enough for a couple.

i tried to take some photos of the day to day the past few days. i am not so great about remembering to pick up the camera. i want to try to really focus on capturing more of the random daily moments the next few months.

some circles i have been punching for garlands. i want to open an etsy shop and i definitely want to have garlands in my shop!

i look forward to these two papers coming out every week. they are very......unique.

i have an addiction. seriously.

more fun stuff....check out this fun framed project i made for the for the luv of art blog...

and i participated in the new dare...

so i guess that's it this time around. keep documenting for your books ladies! 

oh and marie asked in the comments of my last post...."Wondering who makes that wood doily paper and the wood alphas? "...thanks for your comment Marie! and the paper is by Basic Grey (the wander collection) and the alphas are Hambly!

well well

i made it here two days in a row! how 'bout that! :) 

and i have a LOT to share! today was a rainy and chilly day in seattle. perfect day for baking and scrapbooking. which is exactly what i did! 

i need to post links to the recipes i use here. i often try out new stuff. when i say i love to cook, what i really mean is that i love to bake. allrecipes.com is one of my favorite places to find recipes. i like that they have reviews for the recipes by people who have tried them. anyways...you can find the recipe for the reeses peanut butter cup cookies here.

they are soooo good. but we really like peanut butter.

here are the layouts i made today. i kinda ended up with a theme of summer wrapping up, a new season beginning and a new focus in my life.

i really like this first one. i just loooove how it came out.

fun. gosh. i love scrapbooking. i think that's about all the layouts i am gonna make for a while though. i am so excited to get started on my fall mini book. i made a list of the places we haven't been to yet and i plan to get out there and really experience seattle this fall. and document it in my book! there are some really neat fall themed products out there right now. you guys should join me in making a book! i plan to document all the way through november. you can join in whenever!

i usually plan out my mini books in advance and basically make a "kit" of all the things i want to use in a book. it just makes the creating process easier for me. here are a few of the things i chose for my mini book, basically the "kit" i will work from to make the whole book....

these stamps are by technique tuesday. i love them. i want to use that big branch on my cover somehow.

this hambly overlay....

i really love the colors of this 7Gypsies gaffer tape. i think it fits the fall theme nicely. i won't use that reddish tape though. i have papers that clash with it.

these little library envelopes are gonna look cute in a mini book. i have them in kraft.

i want bits of yellow in the book. i love these rub ons. the color of this one is so pretty.

these alphas....

and these are the main papers i am going to use in the mini...

so...that's my fall mini book kit. i add some stuff from my stash as i work but i usually don't stray too far from what i pull together to start with. 

i will be putting together the bones of the book so that i can just add to it as the season passes. i will share that here in the next day or so as i get it finished up! i was going to share some photos of our recent thrift store finds but this post is already photo heavy enough i will save that share for next time!

peace,

kate

 

it's been a little while!

i have lots of new work to share! but no photos, unfortunately. my camera has been in the shop. but i get it back tomorrow!

i don't know about you all, but i am really really ready for fall this year! i have lots of plans for things i want to do/see that are on my Seattle "must see" list and have not been crossed out yet. i want to make a trip back to the arboretum here once the leaves start changing. i want to take a lot of photos.....scrapbook a lot. try a lot of new recipes. just enjoy the season! i plan to make a mini book on the fall season this year. i just spent about an hour looking at all the new scrapbook stuff and picking out things that would work for a fall mini book.

i was going to try to put together a class/kit before the end of the year. but i quickly realized how fast Christmas is approaching and it will have to wait til february/march of next year. i don't want to rush the planning and i don't want it to be during the holiday season. but i see the class being a month long experience with lots of focus on journaling and photos. let me know if you would be interested as well as things you might like to see or learn in a class! thanks!!!

i love reading all of the comments you gals leave. they each mean a lot to me! olivia asked in the comments on my last post what company made the grid stamp i use on a lot of my layouts. it is actually a really old fontwerks stamp. i love it! i love all my old fontwerks stamps and find i use them more than any others! 

i have a lot of layouts to share this time around! i have a really neat project also, that i have been working on for an article at another website and i can't wait for that work to go up! just a couple a days! i will link from here when the article is posted! have a great weekend guys!

 

this layout got layout of the week at studio calico...

 

this was for the new dare.

 

eye candy

our design team work went up today over at volume 25. gosh everyone's work is so inspiring! here are the overlay sets she has for sale. they are adorable!

 

even though they are christmas themed....you can use them in other ways. and they are very easy to use and play around with. here are my projects i made with the overlays....

cute stuff. hope you are having a great week. it's almost the weekend! :)  
 

edited to add..........just finished up this one! i have a busy few days ahead and might not update for a bit so wanted to hop on and share real quickly! :)

 

i'm gonna ramble.

because it's my blog. and i can ramble if i want to! :)

i have a few projects to share. although i have not been feeling very creative lately. all these projects are ehhh to me. i KNOW when i make something really really good. and i get super excited. i didn't get excited over any of these. but what the hey. i'll share anyways.

hopefully my creativity returns soon so i can make something i love love love!

i have a few random photos to share. i made this garland the other day. well......finally put it together i should say. it took quite a while to punch all the circles and glue them together. but oh so well worth it. i adore it and am now thinking of other creative things to do with garlands. 

not the best photo but you get the idea.

i actually took a few self photos this week! i haven't done that in a loooooong time. i am getting back into my camera and taking photos and learning more about photography and using my camera. i have had it over two years and still am learning.

  

i love self shots. they are so much fun!

and a few of my scrapbooking area. that i never use. i always pack up my stuff and scrap in front of the tv. on the floor. on the bed. anywhere but the desk. isn't that silly? i like to spread out. but i love my space anyways. it's cheerful to me.

i'm not going to be doing too much more decorating here though. my plan is to be relocated to chicago by the end of the year. as much as i love seattle, and it's been an adventure.....i know this is not the place for me. and as much as i have contemplated moving back home, i know louisiana is not what's best either. this is something i have struggled with for a while. a huge decision for me. and now i have made it.  and that's half the battle. the other half is saving and preparing for the move. fun. NOT. but once i get there it will be worth all the work.

well i think that's it this time around. i will be back soon with more projects. and more randomness. thanks for stopping by! 

 

   

    

a photo heavy post

because i have a LOT to share! today has been a great great day. i got a few emails and some of my work has been picked up by scrapbook trends magazine. i was really excited about that. and that great news followed up a great weekend.

we attended a wedding in the san juan islands here in washington and it was amazing! i will share some of my photos from the trip later in the post.

first i want to share the sneak peeks of my design team work for august over at for the luv of art.

 

now some photos from the wedding. gosh. it truly was amazing. it was right on the ocean. i saw whales and sea lions and jellyfish and all kinds of other wonderful sights. we had to take a ferry to get to the island. the whole experience was so so cool. here are a few of my favorite shots from the weekend.

see you soon!

peace

kate

            

       

hey hey hey

i realize i caused some confusion with my last post. i got some emails and such wondering what my scrapbooking news was. sorry for the confusion. 

so...............here is my announcement.

i am so excited and honored to be a part of the volume 25 team. jessica put together a fabulous team and her work is a-ma-zing. i love the graphics she made to introduce the team....i want to print mine and do something creative with it.

and here is one of my projects made with the "ahoy" overlay set. her digi kits are fabulous and perfect for scrapbooking. 

 

and i know this sounds totally geeky....but one of the things i am most excited about is i am on a team with Jen Johner. she has been one of my biggest scrap crushes for years. she is ridiculously talented. ridiculously. and i am on a team with her. w.o.w. :)

in other scrapbooking news i just got my monthly kit to do my design team work with at for the luv of art. it's beautiful. it's packed with all kinds of new stuff from the american crafts "dear lizzy" line. i am SO not a girly girl but this kit is simply beautiful. you should so snag a kit if you can! here is a peek from one of norma's projects with the kit....

the kit has a ton of those pretty flowers. tons. i see a very pretty mini book in my near future. 

i also guest designed for a really cool kit club for august. so should be back in the next few days to share the link and my work.

well i guess that's it for today. i am off to wait tables for eight hours. have a great weekend people! see ya' soon!

peace!