are you standing up or sitting down?

This burning question has been featured on so many scrapping sites that it must qualify as a top-priority identity issue, like which side did your history books suggest won the Civil War. Do you stand or sit when you scrap? Do you favor the close-up perspective of sitting among your stash piles on either side of your ever-narrowing workspace, or do you get inspired by the bird's-eye view of standing tall above the fray?

Or maybe you are like me, up and down as the spirit moves me. When I'm concentrating, I'm usually sitting down, running my ATG gun like a madwoman, adding foam dots wherever I can, ruffling ribbon to hide inconvenient fold marks (although the ribbon iron is only a couple steps away), layering chipboard elements and painting edges . . . But before I get too layered and glued down, I have to stand up for perspective. I don't actually cross to the other side of the room, like I used to when painting my large works that I tacked up on the studio walls. But I still like to see how the parts work as a whole. Here is my current workspace in mufti as I start preparation for another class I'll teach in May.


Oh, and I also stand when the music simply allows no more sedate wriggling in the seat and demands a full-out dance routine. Right now it's my Putumayo collection featuring reggae, Afro pop, Latin and other world beats. It often defies sitting -- as the kids who are one of its target audiences already know.
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Test

This is my very first time using a blog like this, so if this posts, I'll be amazed. So we'll consider this a "test" message to see if it works!
Sharon

Picked up my kit today!

Well, I went to ScrapbooksPlus today to pick up my DT kit for the month. I was so excited about all the new product they have gotten in. I picked up some Teresa Collins Journal-it packets that I thought that would be great to use to make journals. They even give instructions on the outside of the packaging on how to use it with your Bind-it-All.
I picked the My Minds Eye 29th Market Street paper to use for my DT work- really pretty! I can't wait to dive in and get started! Will update with pictures as I get stuff done.

Yeah!! I made it on! Everyone's done a wonderful job taking pictures! I'll get on it...as soon I get my new kit! YEAH! I love creating stuff every month!

Little Yellow Bicycle

Well, it's actually a little red bicycle in my layout - but these papers are perfect for boys! Add a couple of stickers, some Thickers, and a cool accent or two. To make this, I started with red cardstock and cut a piece of the Skate Park Stripe paper in half to surround my photos. I used the rub-ons in each corner of the layout. The flames were made with the Heidi Swapp flame mask - you don't have to just paint those things. I actually scanned and reduced it for this layout, then printed out the smaller size on regular paper, cut it out and traced around it on my patterned paper. Once I had the shape cut out I brushed the edges with some red paint.

Take a Peek at My First "Squash Book"!

I had pulled out a lot of beach pictures when I was doing my pages and projects with the kit from this month and I really loved the beach themed papers from Reminisce and wanted to play some more!

I was very excited when my Scor-pal came in and I decided to use up some of the last bits of my kit to make a squash book. This is the cover... I used the lighthouse journaling block label and added a title with a mix of the letters...and some Mrs. Grossman seagull stickers. I tried a card stock "belly band" first, but I just didn't like the look as it covered up too much, so it occured to me to try one made out of vellum. I added a seagull sticker on the belly band and loved the effect. Here is the back of the book...

...decorated with some of the paper that looked like sky and some more seagull stickers. The words on the belly band are a sticker from my stash...beach themed of course!

I decided to decorate both sides of the book with pictures and papers. They are cut to 3.75" squares... and then divided into triangles if necessary.

It was fun playing around with the pictures to see which ones worked best when cut diagonally...I succeeded in not cutting anybody's face in half!

And it was easy to title or caption the pictures by cutting some of the words out of the patterned paper...vacation, shell hunting, sand between my toes, water's edge, walking on the beach...there really was something to suit every photo.

This is a perfect project to use up bits and pieces because the dimensions of each panel are only 4" x 4". I set up plenty of panels for journaling using some of the more plain patterend paper. Some of the wilder designs (like the flip flops or the words) added a fun accent.

Thanks for looking and I hope you like it!

I finally started my blog!

I finally started my blog!
www.lisahausman.typepad.com
Stop by and check it out if you want!