A Different kind of blog hop

Hi! I was tagged by two wonderful scrappy ladies for a scrapbookers blog hop that has been making the rounds.  The lovely Betsy Sammarco, aka PharmGirl, who is also our fearless leader at the JBS digital team.  She is such a lovely person to work with and I consider her a friend and major source of my self-esteem.   She does that amazing thing where she combines talent and organization and sweetness and encouragement all in one.  The very  talented and sweet Tisha also tagged for this blog hop.  She has such great style and awesome ideas. Like, her recent post about placing albums around the house for people to see.  I love that, scrapbooks need to be shared!

 
  1. What am I working on right now?


So many things.  My oldest two kids (that feels so weird to type, since we always now tell the baby that Avinash and Nandini are his kids) have been with their grandparents for a week so I have time for everything and nothing.

I find myself painting a lot.  This little antique book holder we had got some circus-y triangles painted on it.  I also repainted the pink doll house a more stately grey. The chalkboard frame also got a fresh coat of grey paint.  Turns out chalk markers aren't always as washable as they claim.

Also put up shelves in the playroom.  I couldn't decide between staining the wood or painting but ended up doing white on white.  Love it.  Now I just need to keep the shelves organized and neat.  And pray they don't climb on them when they get back.

I recently had one of my digital designs licensed for resale by The Ink Road, a really cool Etsy shop.   So exciting and fun to do something different for me.  Hope to do more of this stuff in the future.


        2. How long does it take me to create a project?

Forever and no time at all.  Take this layout for example.  I spent a whole afternoon stamping and watercoloring along with the kids.  I loved it so much that I turned the scrap paper it into a layout.  That part took no time at all and I finished three other layouts that night.  The longest part is usually coming up with an idea.  I think I am guilty of trying way too hard to scrap each page differently. 



        3. What are my favorite things to create with at the moment?
Have I mentioned paint yet?  Yes, that.  Also, stamping and mini books.  I have too huge a stamp collection not to use them.  I started a few mini books with Avinash.  We actually finished one about the aquarium and I am still plugging away at my Disney book. 



        4. How does my writing/creating process work?
I used to have naptime.  Now it all happens after bedtime.  I love scrapping because it lets me unwind while we watch TV.  It also helps me pause life, just for a little bit.  I do all of my cutting and pasting at night and find little quiet times during they day when I'm alone to write.  I need to capture the things that are going on because otherwise I get overwhelmed with the feeling that life is just whooshing by me.   


        5. How do I become inspired and stay inspired?
Um. Pinterest?  Yeah, defiintely that actually.  I just love to look at a bold image, grab an idea from that and put it on a page somewhere.  It is a lot tougher for me to scraplifta page, than to just take one idea or embellishment and make it my own. 


        6. What is my signature style?

  Still evolving.  Always evolving I hope.  I have a lot of different interests, knitting, nature and science, scrapbooking, painting, photography, etc.  I like my pages to reflect that when I can.  They definitely vary a lot, I think.  I have been finding more of a style with my PL pages lately though.  Lots of black and white elements, because it is so bold and clear cut.  I also love to add openness to my pages by adding see through elements. 


I am tagging three crafty ladies of my own:

Michelle Hernandez, aka my analog life.  This woman has style for days.  Is such a tough New Yorker, who is so tough she even dared to leave Brooklyn and start something new for her family.  I love following all of her adventures on instagram too.

Smitha Katti, from Smiling Colors.  She seriously does it all.  There is no crafty skill she can't teach you.  Did you see her statue making abilities?  Blown away so much, I can't even describe it.  

Anandi Raman Creath, of papercraft labratory.  Seriously? Could her shop and blog name be any cooler? I love that she shares so many great memory keeping tips all the time and shares her memory keeping talent with others who want scrapbooks but can't make them or don't have time.