LINARstudio

Drumroll: First Quick Page

My friends tease me and find it comical my aversion to digi-scrapping. It is counter-intuitive as I'm quite good on the computer itself, slow, but eventually I get it. Technically I'd be considered a hybrid-scrapbooker as I'm quite good with my photographs, enjoy fonts, really like every aspect of digi except for the lack of tactile experience, the rest is right up my alley. The most appealing part of digi is the portability and lack of mess! Though, the stinging ridicule of my first experience stays with me. 

I have to face it and simply get over it. 

And I am.

With the help of my brilliant friends. I'm doing what I normally do. Listen. Mull. Read. Consider. Question. Collect. Do. 

Many, many, many of those I admire are dabbling in digi. Though, today it clicked. We have no activities until 4PM so I do not feel rushed and slowly enjoyed the content in my google reader this morning. My cyber-friend, Jill, often posts beautiful layouts and projects, her gorgeous kids are often the topic. She certainly has great raw material to work with for her art! Today she posted a quick page. Hmm. A quick page? A free quick page? A cute free quick page?

I found myself downloading the page and then, following the tutorial by Liz Tamanaha, co-founder and designer at Paislee Press. Novel idea, eh? Following instructions! The tutorial is thorough, easy to follow, filled with visual examples and very clear even for someone who doesn't really "get" the terminology yet (and does not ridicule or humiliate for the mean spirited pleasure of others).

Though there is still PLENTY for me to learn, and more than plenty of elements and layers of stuff to purchase, this is my first effort:

Perfect quick page. I can see me doing a number of these for the simple celebrations in our lives. Totally excited about the prospect - especially excited about adding some paper/lumpy bumpy elements. I can be a reverse-hybrid scrapper by printing off a digi page then adding the elements rather than the other way around.

Now that this project is done, I'll get back to my reading, before we have to pack up for hockey! Enjoy your Saturday.

Blog Around The World!

With 39 other ladies I am joining in the

Blog Around the World Blog Hop.

These women are all taking the Blogging for Scrapbookers course with Shimelle. We are from all four corners of the earth and we are all posting a view from our window. Some of us are also showing a view of our scrap space - always fun to see!

Stop back here on Saturday at 4 p.m. EST. 

You will get to meet many inspiring and beautiful women who write some beautiful and inspiring blogs.

You won't want to miss it!

(Thanks Cheri for the map ... borrowed it from your blog!)

Blogging for Scrapbookers: Prompt 13

Note: Yes, I'm still sticking with the Blogging for Scrapbookers class. What happened between prompt 3 and prompt 13? Life! I promise to get them all written up and posted soon :)

This assignment asks us to take a look at what we were doing a year ago, a retrospective. If we can go further back, we are asked to do that as well. Instead of posting photos that could take us back years and years, but take hours and hours to find (will do it though, once I'm organized!), I've found three blog posts. What I found funny was once I located the post about Mama Math, I realized I could write the exact same thing - for all of my kids - today! 

So here it is, reposted:

Time: it's a love-hate thing

Anyone who knows me knows I have a love hate relationship with time. I love my clocks. I live knowing exactly what time it is. I'm very much a fan of order and control, that is when time is my friend.

I have four children which is when time is my enemy.

I cannot stand anyone who is habitually late. It is so incredibly disrespectful. It is a physical manifestation of the belief that the time of X time is more valuable than the time of Y. Truly arrogant people are late. That's not a dig, it's a fact. If I'm late there are two options: I'm dead or I've been made late by someone who considers their time more important than mine.

I go crazy when I feel like I don't have enough time. It means I have not managed the time given to me, well. Grr. One thing I am able to do well is manage time so the feeling of being rushed is somewhat foreign and uncomfortable. Makes me very irritable. That is not a good thing.

Time management is something I'm trying to teach my children.

When I collected Cole from school yesterday he was in a surly mood. He had handed in an assignment - a brochure outlining how Ireland would be a good trading partner for Canada. He was given two weeks to complete the assignment. He got the rubric back and received a 3- (translation: B-). Wow, was he ever upset with himself. We had a talk and I managed to calm him down.

Then he said it. The worst sentence ever. "I didn't have time".

When my brain regained function, I took Cole through an exercise. Mama's TIME MATH:

168 are the hours in a week (24 x 7)
70 are the hours of sleep in a week (10 x 7 days)
30 are the hours of school (6 x 5 days)

You cannot change these hours, they are what they are, what's left?

68 hours
8 hours are dedicated to hockey games and/or practice throughout the week

Cole has 60 hours. SIXTY HOURS to do with whatever he chooses to do. Clearly homework is not one of his priorities or it would be done, better. He was shocked when he saw the numbers. Claire was equally shocked.

They have been given an exercise for the next week. Starting now they have to document what they are doing with those 60 hours. I'm curious to see how they actually manage their time. I think they'll be surprised.

The differences this year? Cole is less surly, well, less surly today! 

Once I discovered Mama Math it has been used often throughout the year since I first posted. My kids are very clear that "I didn't have time" is not a valid excuse for not getting their homework or household chores done. It doesn't work for me, it won't work for them. 

Here on the LINARstudio, which was just getting off the ground, I blogged about the assignment I did for the Cathy Zielske Design Your Life course:

DYL: Real World Colour Assignment 6

This was fun as I played around with coloured photos of Claire and Cole and came up with the look in the layouts. I rarely, if ever, play with my photographs in any editing software. I tend to believe that my photography skills will suffer if I thought there could be a quick fix! But in this case, I thought it would be fun and it fit with the theme of the assignment:

Cardstock: Bazzill; Printed Paper: SEI; Stickers: Thickers, SEI; Font: Creepy, Arial



Cardstock: Bazzill; Printed Paper: SEI; Stickers: Thickers, SEI; Font: Creepy, Arial

And that's what was going on in my life, a year ago, on November 20th, 2008. I am not much of a live in the past type - I spend most of my time learning from the present and moving forward. Works for me. But, this little visit has been fun. Maybe because very little has changed? 

As for November 20th, 2007? I was surprised to find a post, though I can't for the life of me remember in what context it was posted. Clearly I was just being myself!

Heed the horoscope ...
This is my horoscope for yesterday:

Virgo
August 23 - September 21

Don't be surprised if you are scolded by people who are upset about the way you are handling certain things in your life, dear Virgo. Most likely, the people who criticize the most are the ones who understand the least. They are probably just on a completely different wavelength than you are, and it is not your job to try to change them. Nor is it your responsibility to change your ways because of them.

Probably the ONLY time I should have actually read, and heeded, my horoscope. I should have waited just one day to raise a stink! 

Pretty cryptic, but not much of a surprise. At the time I was very involved with an on-line message board. It was more than a little toxic and getting worse by every passing moment. I spent a lot of time making every effort to turn lemons into lemonade, providing huge sums of money for a new gallery in an effort to bring these women together in positive exchange, but those women were clearly not interested in anything but being miserable. It took a few months, but I managed to extricate myself completely from this group in the summer of 2008. No "hairflip" just a very quiet exit, with no goodbye to anyone. I'm told nothing has changed and it continues to be mean-spirited and often cruel.

The good news? Life is getting WAY BETTER and I'm glad I'm not where I was in 2007! 

Where were you in 2008? 2007? Do you remember?

20 Things in 6 Minutes

Cole was given a two-part assignment at school: bucket lists. I believe it was for his guidance class. He had to write down a list of 100 things he wants to do before he dies. Which he did. I can't wait to see it, I know some things, but he is a pretty private little guy, I'm sure I can come up with his top 10, but after that, who knows? The second part of the assignment was to have a parent write down the 20 Things they want to do before they die. Presumably a shorter list since we have less time in which to accomplish things. I was the chosen parent.

This assignment had to be handed in at 9AM. I received a panicked note on MSN Messenger from my boy at 8:43AM. "I need your 20 Things! NOW!" Two things: that was insane: I had to come up with something quick; and, love communicating with my kids during the day! I managed to get it back to him at 8:49. Six minutes. 

Lesson: if you really want to know what you want, write it quick, there is no time for thought or adjustments!

Here is my list:

 

I think they're all do-able, especially since I figure I'll be at this for a while longer! Maybe I'll just accomplish this list and then make a new one. How about you? What is your six-minute bucket list?

Wellness Wednesday: Shameless Plug

Little over a year ago, I signed on to sell a product I greatly believe in.

Though, after a few years of being a Creative Memories Consultant aka "Oh no, it's that scrapbook lady, look busy" and owning a baseball training facility here in town aka "Oh no, don't tell her we had a birthday party at the bowling alley, look busy", I got a bit tired of being faced with the "Oh no, look busy" reaction to my presence. My sales style is not very hard: this is product 'X' if it works for you great, if it doesn't that's okay too.

I suppose that's why I have not been terribly successful selling. I spent a career in Category Management and my sales experience is more analytical than personal: give people what they want at a reasonable price and product will sell. Manage those two variables and you've got a career! You can only sell to those who want to buy, I don't want to sell to anyone who is not interested in buying. Make sense?

My shameless plug:

The current H1N1 has had a few interesting side effects, one of which is the realization within my circle of acquaintances is that we do not feed our children well and we demand great performance out of them.

Many have observed that Cole is "a horse", "remarkably fit", "really strong" when the reality is that my boy eats very little. Scary little. It has frightened me for a number of years and I spent the same number of years trying to find a way to put some meat on his bones and keep him healthy. It has become a personal mission; okay, obsession. A year ago, my friend Donna, introduced me to a product which I had initially seen on Oprah, by Dr. Oz (readers know he's a favourite!).

Mona Vie

I have not sold the product in the last few months because of the "Oh no, look busy" factor. I really hadn't thought about it much until a conversation with a hockey coach. His team has been plagued with the H1N1 virus and at one point down 6 players. That's a huge portion of the team. Speaking with him he mentioned that kids need more vitamins because they don't eat well and that he's been buying his kids vitamins. I asked if they were liquid - because if they're not, less than 20% of the pill is absorbed so it's a waste of expectation, time and money. They weren't. I then asked how much he spends on the vitamins, he wasn't sure, but I know that he's spending a bundle.

I have to tell you, I'm convinced (knock proverbial wood) the reason my kids are reasonably healthy is my insistence that they drink their shot of Mona Vie every day. Claire and Caden love it - it kind of tastes like a pomegranate-blueberry juice, Cole and Chloe are not very happy with it. This winter I've been giving them double shots each morning and evening. Claire's is supplemented with Fish Oil - in liquid form - to combat her eczema. It's a daily battle, but one I'm happy to wage. Well, happy most days.

So yes, I sell Mona Vie. I have healthy kids. I do my best to live somewhere between a holistic and scientific medical lifestyle. Having chronic asthma for most of my life I'm very aware of the need for medicine in my life. Having children has made me very aware of the need for awareness of everything they put into their bodies. I believe in moderation. I believe in awareness. I believe in value.

I'll never buy a vitamin in pill form ever again.

Anyway, if you're interested, head on over to my website: here. If you're not, that's fine, too. Or, send me a note to leecurrie at cogeco dot ca and I'll get you all set up. Or not.

I'm just giving you an option to the traditional stuff out there on drug store shelves

December Daily: Which One?

There are plenty of versions of the December Daily album floating out on the internet: Ali Edwards version, Shimelle's version, Jessica Sprague's version, some combination of two or three, or a whole new take.

What is a December Daily? It is an album which many are busily preparing right now, in which you can document, quickly, each day of the month of December leading up to the New Year. The idea is to get all the pages printed and made up before the start of the month so that this is a do-able project during the busy holiday time.

Christmas has never been my favourite holiday. As a result of the holiday being more a burden rather than a delight as a kid, for years I was far more Scrooge-like than anything else with a very Bah Humbug attitude. Since having children, I've made every effort to overcome the miserable holiday memories of my childhood and replace them with good memories for my four kids. I've even stopped gritting my teeth! After all, Christmas is for children, right?

Christmas is also ridiculously commercial and fake. It is frantic and plastic and exhausting. It starts far too early and lasts far too long. It has twinkle lights and catchy tunes. Baked goods, friends visiting, family gatherings and mulled cider. And, more often than not, children on their best behaviour, making sure the elves do not catch them being naughty.

I made the choice to join Jessica Sprague, always a favourite, and her Holidays in Hand project. Her very calm and level-headed approach to just about everything gave me hope that her project would embrace more calm than frantic, more genuine than fake aspects of the holiday. (I took her Stories in Hand course last November and know her production value is very professional and her spirit very generous.)

The Day 1 e-mail quickly assured me that I made the perfect choice: Refocus on Holiday Values. Yes, the perfect choice.

Assignment 1: Write Your Values and Goals

1. Remember that 3 gifts were enough for the baby in the manger: 3 gifts are enough for our kids.
2. Christmas season starts on December 1st, not before; it ends on December 26th and it is confined to the entry and the living room.
3. Be mindful that it is Claire's birthday is on December 20th and remind the sibs that no gifts are to be "combined", ever.
4. Do not overschedule and overcommit to activities. This is also exam season, exams are the priority!
5. Go skating, sledding and shopping with the kids.
6. Bake with the kids and share our family recipes, show them how to make sugar cookies and gingerbread men and colour buttercream icing. (Remember it's about making memories with my kids, not re-living the bad memories of when I was a kid.)
7. Take time to be grateful, thankful and kind every day of the season. People are cranky this time of year, I don't have to be one of them.
8. Do not "fix" anything the kids decorate (cookies, tree); let go of perfection. Seriously.
9. Play Mannheim Steamroller LOUDLY and dance - and don't care who is looking!
   
10. Continue to say "yes" as often as possible.

Assignment 2: Commit

Here's the hard part! I knew it couldn't be that easy to just write what my values and goals are, but I have to commit. Wait? What exactly am I committing to here? 20 minutes. Jessica has asked that we commit a whopping 20 minutes each day to our time. Okay, that I can do. I'm in.

Okay, here we go.

What are your goals and values for the upcoming season? Are you making an album? How do you celebrate the holidays: is it a delight or a burden?

Gratitude Album: Started, finally!

At this time of the year, most of the scrappy-crafty ladies I know are honouring the season with posts on their blogs, facebook and twitter about the things for which they are most grateful. I too have been keeping a list - it started on the Canadian Thanksgiving and will continue through the 46 days leading up to the American holiday, as I posted: 1/46, 2/46, 3/46. Though I am no longer posting, rest assured I honour my gratitude every day in a little notebook

Last year, when I took Cathy Zielske's Design Your Life class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, there was a brilliant template posted in Week 10. It inspired me to purchase an 8x8 American Crafts album and print off some blank pages. Then it did what so many of my projects do: sat on the shelf.

Reminded of this project by all of the gratitude energy floating around lately, I was able to quickly make up a few pages. I have so many things for which to be grateful. Here are a few examples:

 

  

 

  

  

 

The more I scrapbook, the more I realize that it is more about the content than the art. These are all tremendously simple 8x8 layouts, but they are pages that represent a part of me which is more me than the pages and albums "all about me". These are the things I appreciate most about my life. Don't get me wrong, I love the embellishments, the design, the photographs and the stories, but without the heart behind it all, they're just pretty pages in an album.

My Best Shot Monday

 

This weekend was the very last one which had leaves abundant on the trees. They are now bare. 

This photo filled with the bright light of the late afternoon sun and the yellow leaves lining the back of our property will be the what sustains me through the now gray and wet days of late autumn into winter. I can feel that chill in the air!  

For Today ...

(inspired by the Simple Woman's Daybook)

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW ... it is grey and dull. The leaves have fallen and sit in piles. No pretty colours anymore.
I AM THINKING ... how much I enjoy hockey this season with Caden's team as it has brought about a delightful change in my child on a kind and engaging team. They may not be winning, but he's loving every minute of the support and encouragement he's receiving from his teammates and coaches. What a lovely group.
WE ARE LEARNING … that being inclusive, engaging and always communicating is key to better days.
I AM THANKFUL FOR ... everything around me.
FROM THE KITCHEN ... there are so many dirty dishes and cups ... overflowing with dirty dishes and cups!
I AM WEARING ... my comfies, and wrapped in a lovely red fleece blanket.
I AM GOING ... to Cole's game in Ancaster this afternoon. Hoping for a good game.
I AM READING ... The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I've enjoyed his other books so expect this one not to disappoint!
I AM CREATING ... some fun projects :)
I AM HOPING ... the light improves so I can take decent photos of those projects!
I AM HEARING ... the television in the family room, I think Claire is watching Batman but don't know which one it is.
AROUND THE HOUSE ... I'm wondering where all the towels have gone - not in the bathrooms or in the laundry. Argh!
ONE OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS ... pomegranate tea is lovely.
A FEW PLANS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK ... hockey, choir, hockey, hockey, crafting, cleaning, hockey, meeting my cyber friend Lori for coffee, so excited! and more hockey :)
A PICTURE TO SHARE ...

 

SOOC Saturday: Man's Work

I got quite a giggle when both Cole and Louis greeted my idea of clearing the leaves with the separate comments that it was "man's work" and that I should stay inside. Um. Okay, I'm good with the idea of man's work, but I'll be outside with you, taking photos of course!

 

I don't know how many times they filled up that blue tarp and dragged it out front! We have a crazy amount of leaves. Well, we did. They're now on the road ready for pick-up.