Look who is 3!!!!!!

That is right -- my baby boy turned 3 this past weekend. I am so happy and yet sad at the same time. My baby is growing up! :(
To celebrate this milestone, I visited his pre-K class on Friday. I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to his class and then I show them how to make caterpillars. I brought precut foam circles and showed the wee-ones how to glue the circles on their foam"paper" to create caterpillars. It was a blast to work on a craft project with twelve 2 and 3 year olds. The energy in the room was out of this world. After the project Langston and I shared a special snack with his classmates -- sliced strawberries and bananas topped with whipped cream and sprinkles - AKA a strawberry and banana sundae.

After a morning of fun with Langston's Montessori class, he and I headed to meet daddy for some special one-on-one time. It is so rare that Langston has my DH and me all to himself -- so this was really nice. I think Langston enjoyed the attention.



Saturday was the big day -- Birthday Party DAY!!!! We decided to host Langston's party at J.W. Tumbles which is sort of like a My Gym or Gymboree but a little better I think. They did an excellent job of anticipating all of our needs and were wonderfully attentive to the birthday boy and all of his tiny guests.



Sunday -- I DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (except scrapbook). I never got out of my pajamas.
Marvelous.

While in my pajamas on Sunday, I decided to play around with some of my scraps and do a little reorganization of my scrap "closet." (I'll have to share a pic soon) I discovered that I have a lot (too much) of negative alpha chipboard. Out of my mammoth pile of chipboard scraps I created a home decor item and repurposed the others as stencils. If you did not know, or have not tried it yet, negative chipboard makes incredible stencils. Given that I have so many 'fonts' I thought it best to alphabetically organize them so that they are easily accessible.



Below are two of the pages I created using my "recycled" stencils -- one has a fat "font" and the other skinny.



Have a FANTABULOUS Tuesday!!!!!
W-

Play with your photographs

I would love to buy Photoshop but it is very expensive and I have other more pressing expenses at the moment. Fortunately, a fellow scrapper told me about FREE Photoshop Express. Whoopee! I love this free little tool. It is super easy to use and allows me to make some really incredible adjustments to my photos. Check out below to see what you can do with your photographs.

The original pic:


Photoshop pics:




I can not wait to use some of these "edited" pics on my pages or in a cute mini-album. Check back soon to see what I create.

Be well and full of joy,
Wendi

Create outside of your comfort zone

I have had a lovely weekend and I got A LOT of scrappin' done. I have always been a 12x12 scrap-artist (occasionally dabbling in the 6x12 world) but never thought that a 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 canvas would be enough space. But it was! I love ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and had oodles of fun creating a few this weekend. I ordered my 7 Gypsies card holder and cards on Monday and they arrived on Friday just in time for me to PLAY. So...check out my layouts and ATCs. I think the big lesson for me is that I do not need a lot of space to express myself creatively. I would challenge all of you to take a chance and create something that is a little outside of your comfort zone. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

My ATCs




My layouts

MESSY MESSY MESSY

Greetings my dear sisters and friends,
It is a beautiful-rainy-cloudy-overcast day. I can see the flowers beginning to bud and the grass turning greener. Yes, there is still a winter nip in the air but I can feel spring-smell spring in the wind. I love this time of year -- even the rainy days.

Recently, I have been very attracted to doing MESSY ART. I found several great videos on YOUTUBE to get my creative juices flowing. One artist in particular, Tam, resonated deeply with my creative/spiritual energy. Tam has many videos on YOUTUBE but one of my favorites is "MESSY MESSY MESSY." In it, Tam discusses the FREEDOM of being messy and how liberating messy art can be. For me this is certainly true.

Here are three MESSY pages that I have created.



TFL!

Sending you peace and joy,
Wendi

Good Wednesday Morning!!!

I have made myself a "to do" list and feel energized about getting it all done. Today I need to get an oil change, mail off birthday thank you letters, finish reading two books before class, meet with graduate students, return printer, wash a load of clothes (the boys are out of jeans), and and .....well, that is it. I know it may be a busy day but today I will also try to be STILL and SILENT at least once. The STILL part is not that hard for me but the SILENT part is. I know it is not just about being vocally SILENT but having silence in my mind. It is challenging to take a least a moment and not think about my "to do" list, not think about the fascinating information that I learned in the books I am reading, and not think about the boys at school. Finding SILENCE in my mind is not easy but I am going to give it a try. I think I am most likely to achieve STILLNESS and SILENCE if I can take a short walk this afternoon. So that is my goal. What are your goals for today? Whatever they are I wish you success and I wish you peace and joy.

W-

Here are a few pics of my boys hiking with me on Monday.

A "not so" Manic Monday

Happy Monday to you....
I am trying to slow down and get organized. Lately, I have been flying by the seat of my pants and I think that has made my hectic schedule even more insane. No more. Chaos ends today-and sanity begins. With this in mind, I knew I needed to be in nature - to absorb nature. Fortunately, the weather was simply - perfectly-beautiful today. I knew that I wanted to take my boys on a hike when I picked them up from school. I adore hikes. When hiking I feel so at peace and so alive and energized. The three of us meandered through the woods this afternoon and it was delightful. We admired the green moss growing on a fallen log, picked up leaves, and listened to the wind. It was a fabulous afternoon with the boys.

I am also starting Oprah's 10-week online class for Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose." I am very excited about the book, the class and my new personal goals. I have committed to making 2008 a year of real (and deep) personal growth. For me this year is about discovering my life's purpose. I was just telling my sister today that I have spent my life being very focused ( I thought) and orderly. My life plan was as follows: get married by 25, have first child by 28, earn my Ph.D. by 30, have second child by 30, and become a professor. Interestingly, I achieved all of my goals, give or take a year. The problem is that I never imagined life after 30. Yet, here I am. At 35, I am a wife to a wonderful man, a mother to two incredible boys, and a professor. But there is so much more to me than those three identities. Most days I feel as if I am on the cusp of amazing self-discovery. The feeling is so intense I can taste my new awareness, new sense of self, and purpose. I think scrapbooking has been a very important part of my self discovery process. I have always been a creative being and scrapbooking allowed me to reconnect with that part of myself. A part that had been lost for awhile. Scrapbooking has really given me a vehicle for reconnecting to a very important part of myself - a very spiritual part of myself.

No matter where you are, who you are, I am sending you a HUG FULL OF LOVE. Take a peak at some of my pages and I hope they inspire you to create meaningful pages of your own.

Peace,
W-

A Quick Update!!!

First....Big shout-out to all the ladies I met at the Virginia ScrapBowl this weekend. YOU ALL ROCK!!!
Second....I am so sorry that I have not blogged in a long time. Shame on me. I am very busy teaching this semester and have had very little time to update my blog. Despite the HUGE pile of papers that I have to grade I thought I would post of few of my most recent pages. I have enjoyed playing and creating with the PAPERTRUNK paper and stamps and wanted to share some of my creations.






Ask your local scrapbooking store to get these yummy PAPERTRUNK papers in the shop. You (and all of your girlfriends) will fall in love.

The first snow of 2008!

My sons have been waiting for it to snow. They wanted to frolic, play, sled and run in the snow. Today they finally got their first chance.