52 Questions and Techniques – Tag 11



This week’s question was “what keeps me awake at night?”



To be fully honest, the one thing that literally keeps me awake at night is the baby, of course. Now that I am 8.5months pregnant, between peeing and spinal pain, there’s not much sleep to be had. But since I did a tag on pregnancy two weeks ago, I wanted to focus on something else so I decided to choose another big thing happening to us: the fact that we might be buying a house for the first time ever. Deciding whether to buy or not, finding a house, and trying to do it all in the middle of a baby coming certainly has been keeping me awake so I thought it was a fair one to tackle.

I originally planned to do “vintage” this week but somehow when I started doing the tag, this is what came out. I don’t know that it uses any specific technique except maybe a bunch of stamping and some layering. Nothing major or very new to me. I took a chipboard house and added elements of what I hope to have in my new home: music, words, flowers, sleep (moon), joy (butterfly), togetherness (key) and lots and lots of love.



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I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here

Daily Photos – March 19 2009



This might officially be cheating since these photos were taken last night but they were too precious to me not to count in my year so as far as I am concerned this is today’s photo and that’s that.



This is David and Daddy playing with stomp rockets in the backyard. David loves these so much that I think you can see the joy in his face. Last night, he decided to experiment with the different ways he could get the rocket to fly.






He tried using his elbow, jumping with both feet, sitting on it, jumping backwards and many other crazy styles.






And the whole time he laughed and laughed and just couldn’t get enough.






Watching that kind of joy on a kid’s face is electric and contagious. It’s one of the joys of being a parent and getting to experience the world through your little one’s eyes. He kept making his hands into little firstballs so he could get more strength.






And of course here’s a tulip shot I took before I had to part with the beautiful, reddish orange ones we had this week.







My Big Picture Scrapbooking class started today and I couldn’t be more excited. You can still register for a little while and if you’re on the fence, go for it! I promise you won’t regret it 🙂


Happy Thursday!

Daily Photos – March 18 2009



We got to work really early this morning so we got to play outside for a bit and I tried to snap a photo quickly before David changed his mind about playing on the swings.



Another long, eventful day but now we’re halfway through the week so I am feeling more optimistic. I hope your week is going well.

Daily Photos – March 17 2009



Happy St. Patty’s Day to those of you who celebrate. I don’t really but I do enjoy seeing others who do. Here’s a branch that I photographed at work this morning. I love seeing spring finally arrive at our door. I am ready for the warm sunshine and blooming flowers everywhere. It always makes me feel rejuvenated.



A long day today even though it wasn’t Monday. As my last few days are coming at work before I leave for maternity, and as the baby gets coser, there are just lots of odds and ends to do for both. So today was meetings and presentations and then trip to Stanford Hospital to learn more about their birth center and process.



My BPS class starts on Thursday so I am really excited about that and a week into the class, I will be leaving for maternity so I will have extra time and attention to give to the class which makes me even happier. I just hope the students like all the work I’ve put into it.

I will leave you with a photo of David from school cause I can’t ever have enough of those:




Daily Photos – March 16 2009



I had a rough night last night because during my sixth wakeup for the night – which was at 3am – my spine just decided it didn’t want me to lie down anymore so no matter which way I turned, I just couldn’t get my body to let me sleep. So, when David woke up this morning, Jake must have told him that Mommy needed some more sleep cause when I finally got up, I saw him sitting in the living room, on the beanbag, with covers and quietly reading a book.



On the other hand, David’s been considerably more difficult lately. Not like he’s terrible or anything; he’s still the sweetest boy. But he shows signs of complaining and pushing back more often. I don’t know if that’s really just natural part of growing up or something is up but I am hoping it will pass. Honestly, on the little sleep any little thing gets on my nerves so it could also be mostly me, who knows?



I had quite a lot of contractions today. I really can’t imagine getting a lot bigger but I know I will. Oh well, as long as the little one is happy and healthy.

Daily Photos – March 15 2009



David bought these Spiderman tatoos and cannot get enough of them.



Today was a quiet day. My brother and sister in laws are still here. They spent the morning playing with David while I took a nap and then they all went to have lunch with a friend while David and I attempted to take a nap but he wouldn’t take one which meant I couldh’t have one either. And now we’re all watching Wall-e.



Here’s Leila and David, playing with the tatoos.





And here are some beauitful tulips my friends Manu and Hana brought yesterday:


Happy Sunday.

Catalyst 53 – I Thee Wed



This week’s catalyst is Create a piece of art around a memory or occasion that has no photos.



Here’s my text:



When we were planning our wedding, the one thing we spent the most amount of money on was our photographer. We figured the photos were the best way to preserve our memories of the special day. We found this person who looked really professional, had great albums, etc and decided to go with him. He did show up and take a bunch of photos and he even delivered us our proofs and album. The deal was that a year later he would give us the negatives. Except that when the year passed, he went completely awol. We couldn’t get him to answer the phone or email. We were never able to get in touch with him again and, to the day, don’t have one negative from our wedding day. We still have the album we bought but if you come to our house, you won’t see any wedding photos on our tables because we have none.

Daily Photos – March 14 2009



Happy Pi Day!



My beautiful sister-in-law threw me a baby shower today. It was a wonderful, relaxed one and good friends came. We didn’t have a lot of people but it was really nice to have one nonetheless. I am reall thankful that they came all this way just for us and played with David so much too. She bought some yummmy food and did some traditions from each family member.



Here’s my brother in law, Danny, and David.





Here’s a tradition my other sister in law, Andee, does: we gave candles to everyone so they could light them when I am in labor.


One from Lelia herself: she bought stickers and got the guests to pick the ones they liked and write some words on a picture frame so when the baby comes we can put the photo in it with everyone’s sentiments around it.


And finally one from my sister: a sheet torn by everyone and then candy wrapped in it.


And that’s it. I hope your day was as nice as mine.

Daily Photos – March 13 2009



Did you know there will be Friday the 13ths this year? We’ve already had one in January and here’s the second one and we will have another one November. So if you believe it’s unlucky, you’re in for a long year.



I hadn’t had tulips in a week or so, I missed them. Look at all the colors. It’s just so stunning to me. Even though it doesn’t even smell, I love it nonetheless.



Not feeling up to saying much today, so I will leave you with a lego shot I took at David’s school. Happy Friday.




52 Questions and Techniques – Tag 10



This week’s question was “name 5 movies that inspire you creatively…”



I’ve had to think about this one for a long long time for some reason. At first, I thought about my favorite movies but then I reread the question and it talks about creative inspiration. Then, the first thing that came to my mind were these set of three movies made by a Polish director called Red, White, and Blue. So I decided instead of choosing five, I’ll just stick to this trilogy.



This week’s technique was fragments. I honestly had no idea what to do with them so it was an interesting challenge for me. I went through all my scraps and picked all the red, white, and blue paper I had and glued them to the back of the fragments and then just had fun with it. I painted the tag with denim distress ink and then embossed it with clear, shiny embossing powder. The fragments I had were the ones with the holes so I tried to align them interestingly. I am not sure how I feel about the outcome but it was fun. I am sorry the photo didn’t turn out that well, especially the butterfly.





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I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here

Daily Photos – March 12 2009



I love this smile. I spent some time with David at school this morning. I love watching him work his way through the class, seeing the activities he chooses, the way he interacts with the kids. It’s nice to get to see how he’s with his peers as opposed to us.



Started on the tag last night. Finally picked the theme and the technique but I am not finished yet. Not sure if I love it, but the point is to experiment and I certainly have been experimenting.



One week left to my Big Picture Scrapbooking course, Telling Stories Deeply. I am really excited and nervous. You can get more detail here and of course you can ask me questions as much as you need. I hope to see you in my class!

Daily Photos – March 11 2009



Another school shot today. I love watching David at school. Many days I am loathe to leave him and go to a meeting.



We’re halfway through the week already and I feel like I’ve accomplished too little. My wonderful brother in law is coming to town tomorrow so I am excited to see him and his wife is coming on Friday. I haven’t seen her in so long and she’s so wonderful that I can’t wait to see them. They’re flying across the country just to throw me a baby shower, aren’t they the nicest people in the world?



I’ve been thinking about my tenth tag but I haven’t decided exactly what to do yet and even what technique to use. We’ll see when and if inspiration strikes. It doesn’t strike very often laltely.



Hope your week is going well.