It Did Get Me Thinking

I'm not a big fan of constructive criticism. Personally, I would rather think I'm a superhero than to think I could have made a bad decision or taken a wrong step. But I'm guessing it happens sometimes. And I'm the first person to look at my scrapbook pages with a critical eye, but I guess it still hurts my feelings if I think someone else is looking at it that way too.

Recently I posted this layout at ACOT:

One of the comments I received on the layout said that the pictures and text were too small. Ironically, something I struggle with on digi layouts is to make them look equally good on the screen and on the printed page. I'm guessing for many of my layouts when I print them I'm going to be thinking "Why is that text so big?" Honestly, to make text look good on the screen it has to be 18 font or larger, and on the printed page 18 font is pretty dang big. If I had printed more of my digi layouts I would know for sure how the text sizes translate, but I just haven't gotten around to that yet. Which means I can't 100% defend my choice on this page of using 12 point font size and smaller pictures. Well, I can defend the picture choices because the point of this page is the scene and if those pictures were any larger the tree would look like it was about to topple over, lol. But I don't know about the text size.

I shouldn't be bothered by the comment - surely the person making the comment only meant to be helpful. But as I've said, I don't take criticism well, even the constructive sort. It's a weak area for me - I know I need to work on it. As soon as I get new ink for my printer, I'll need to print this layout out and see whether my font and picture size choices really were "too small." At least then I'll know for sure how font sizes are translating to the paper page.

Not that all of this should turn anyone off of providing constructive criticism when it's requested. Just be aware that even if we ask for it, that doesn't mean we'll like what we hear. ;-) Regardless of the outcome of this experiment, the comments from this well-meaning person have proven one thing - I'm right to be concerned that there might be a conflict in digi between what a page looks like online and what it looks like on paper.

I Am a Violet

A friend sent me a link to a fun gardening quiz, the purpose is to find out what kind of flower represents you. I only partially agree with my results. According to the quiz:

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?

"You have a shy personality. You tend to hesitate before trying new things or meeting new people. But once people get to know you, you open up and show the world what you are really all about."

The people part of this is true - I do take a long time to warm up to new people. But I like to think I'm willing to try new things.

So, what kind of flower are you?
Click Here to Take the Flower Quiz

When It All Comes Together

Don't you just love when you fall in love with the perfect kit that matches photos you've ALREADY taken? No staged photos required? It's pretty awesome. Here's my latest find, these papers and elements from Coppercurls Designs were a match for this picture I took with one of my nieces a few years ago.

I Wanna Be an Athlete, Baby

This blog title only works if you sing it to the tune of Kid Rock's "I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby." Go ahead, read it again, I'll wait.

OK, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about it. I've spent my whole life on clandestine dreams of athletic greatness. True Story.

Most people I know wouldn't describe me as athletic but that's because they are not paying attention. People rarely do. People would describe me as clumsy, and I am. I have to admit that because I can't walk across a flat floor in bare feet without stumbling or breaking a toe. The problem is that I've joked about it for so long, now people actually believe it's because I'm clumsy. Mostly it's because I am too busy up in my head to pay attention to how my feet are setting on the floor. My brain gets ahead of itself and suddenly my feet are in the wrong place at the wrong time and oops, Tania tripped again. People never focus on the fact that I rarely ever fall. I trip, I catch myself, I keep walking. No problemo. I really should get more credit for that skill. Tania - world class non-faller. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

When I was younger I used to practice falling. It seemed like a good idea, with all the ice skating and horseback riding and dangerous stunts. I was so good at fake-falling that when my friends and I had to put together a routine to go with "Little Black Spot on the Sun Today" for music class in the 7th grade, we incorporated one of my fake falls into the routine. I credit my quick rebounds today with all that practice when I was younger.

My first shot at athletic greatness, and an Olympic medal, was Figure Skating. I started when I was 4 and I was good. They certainly weren't kicking me off the ice and I could spin like nobody's business.

The Winter Olympics were a sure thing. I was going to be the next Dorothy Hamill. Until I was distracted by the horses.

I took a turn at tennis when I was 7 or 8. I quit after a ball hit me square in the face and I ended up with a black eye.

My mom finally signed me up for horseback riding lessons when I was 8 and soon ice skating was a thing of the past, something saved for a fun weekend with my friends. I was born to ride horses. Soon I was jumping four foot fences with no (very little, ok some but it was the totally fun, adrenelin-rush type) fear. It helps that I was riding the most awesome horse around, Copper.

I was headed for the Summer Olympics and a gold medal in Grand Prix jumping. I was going to be the next Katie Monahan Prudent, riding for the U.S. Equestrian Team. Until we moved to Florida.

My parents came up with this brilliant idea. "Let's move to Florida," they said. "And while we're at it," they must have thought, "let's move to a town where they don't have any English Riding Barns or horse shows for my soon-to-be famous daughter." (Don't worry, I'm not at all bitter.) And so my horseback riding career was relegated to the back burner. My new plan was to head north after high school, back to civilization, a.k.a. a town with an English Riding Barn. That plan was derailed after I met the love of my life. But hold that thought.

In either Jr High or High School I took a turn at running hurdles. I was good at it, naturally, since I'd spent all that time pretending I was a horse, jumping over the same fences we took the horses over in our lessons (and jumping over the couch, the coffee table, the neighbor's bushes while I was delivering papers, you get the picture. A little known fact - although I worked my newspaper route for the money I needed to show my horse, I enjoyed my newspaper route because I could pretend I was a horse and jump over every obstacle in the neighborhood.). Unfortunately hurdles didn't last because I've never been a fast runner.

When I went off to college I started riding John's mountain bike. I used it as my transportation and as a bonus I got into really good shape. The bike was a lot more fun that I originally thought once I could make it up the hills and still breathe, lol. But then they stole my (ok, John's) bike and my biking career came to an end.

You'll notice that most of my life I avoided team sports. I played basketball for fun when I was younger and we had a hoop over the garage but I never really took an interest in it. In school I was always the last to be picked for any team sport. That's because as I've said I'm not a fast runner, plus I didn't know how to hit, throw, or catch. Ever since the tennis ball incident I had been afraid of getting hit in the face. Team sports seemed pointless anyway so I just tried to stay out of the way and I walked the track whenever possible to get out of playing. Except basketball, I always participated in basketball in gym class.

A few years ago Ricky invited me to be on the company softball team. Actually, for the record, he begged. They were short on girls, and they needed me to make the minimum. I warned him that I was a terrible player. I told him I couldn't hit, catch or throw. I don't think he believed me because once we started playing he was surprised that I couldn't do any of these things.

Still, this is me - I might be terrible at something but once I put my mind to it I find a way to excel. Deciding I would now be a softball player, I enlisted Jennifer and John and we honed (ok, we first created and then honed) my softball skills. Jennifer took me to the batting cage where I learned to wait for the pitch instead of swinging at every ball in a 10 mile radius. Jennifer and John joined me on an empty softball field where they taught me not to run when the ball was coming my way. It turns out if you keep your eye on the ball and your hand in front of your face, catching is not quite as tricky as it looks at first glance. The ball wants to fall into your hand. Then Mike Smith, who is a wonderful coach, taught me how to throw. Over my two season career as a co-ed softball player I gradually improved until I was no longer striking out and usually making it on base. I even got some runs out of the deal. My preferred field position was Catcher but I also played right-field.

I was on my way to the cover of Sports Illustrated and what I hoped would be a multi-million dollar contract when my career was cut short - not enough girls to continue the team. This year I hope to practice on my own and become a pick-up player at the field in the fall. Teams are always looking for girls and you never know when the scouts will appear.

The truth is that one day I'll ride horses again. I still have Olympic dreams, and since I'm older they obviously had to become more grand. I'm not going to tell you what they are just yet, you'll have to wait and find out with the rest of the world. Just remember, you don't have to be able to walk a straight line to be an athlete, baby. I'm living proof.

Goals - Past and Present Part II

In 2009 I set some lofty scrapbooking goals for myself and I came pretty darn close to completing them. Let's look at 2009's goals first:

2009 Scrapbooking Goals

• Complete 350 layouts


• Use up all my old swap kits


• Complete 3 rounds of the 50 layouts without shopping challenge


• Complete at least 5 challenges per month at ACOT


• Finish all albums started before 1/1/09


• Bonus: Take at least one frameworthy picture of John and I each month

I finished 349 layouts, used up a couple of swap kits, completed 3 rounds of the 50 layouts without shopping challenge, and on average completed at least 5 ACOT challenges per month. I did not finish up all albums started before 1/1/09 and I did not take at least one frameworthy picture of John and I each month, leaving a sad state of affairs when it came time to pick out our 2009 Christmas card photo.

Now on to 2010 and the goals I've set for the year:

2010 Scrapbooking Goals

• 350 layouts for the year


• Split layouts evenly between paper and digital


• Use up 6 page or swap kits


• Use my tools like the Sizzix, acrylic stamps, and Cornercopia


• Make 12 cards


• Complete at least one "no-buy" challenge


• Take better pictures

In a previous post I included my top 10 favorite paper layouts that I created in 2009. Now it's time to reveal my top 10 favorite digital layouts that I created in 2009. These are presented in the order they were created.

1. Fairy Princess - my favorite learned digi technique of 2009 is extractions, a technique I used to create this fairy tale layout of Bianca.

2. Letting Go and Holding On - another fun technique I mastered in 2009 was blending and I successfully applied that to this layout of Trevor at the beach, although I've already found a cool blending technique in 2010 that I'm itching to put into a layout.

3. What Magic Looks Like - the Magic Kingdom after dark, one of my favorite places to visit and I love the color scheme I chose for this layout.

4. Fun to do the Impossible - another cool digital technique, this type of extraction pops part of the picture out of the frame. I read several books on Walt Disney and Disney World in 2009, I find the subject fascinating. With plenty of Disney pictures to scrap, it's not surprising that several show up in my favorites for the year.

5. The Glass Door - Bianca is so photogenic and this picture just begged for a panoramic treatment. I usually do a lot of journaling, but some of my favorite layouts from 2009 are the ones that evoke emotions rather than telling about them. I think this is a high impact layout that didn't require a whole lot of monologue to get its point across.

6. I Wish Time Would Stand Still - this was a challenge layout to show reasons why I wished time would stand still. The layout speaks for itself.

7. 5th Birthday - I created two 5th birthday layouts with this fun number 5 layout they were giving out at E-Scape and Scrap, one for Trinity's 5th birthday and one for Libby's. I like both layouts, so I chose one to showcase here.

8. The Wait is Over - Ingeborg's perspective pages were a new product to me, and as soon as I saw her hospital kit I immediately had the idea to "hang" a picture on the wall. Since I wanted a happy layout, Bianca's birth was the way to go.

9. 4th Grade Alliances - this was yet another challenge layout, and my inspiration for the design came from the interesting background paper. The pictures are of me and my 4th grade classmates.

10. Born to Be a Mother - My dear friend Michelle and her beautiful little girl, I was especially proud of this layout because I created the design myself without the help of a template in a time period just after I'd gone template crazy and cranked out many layouts with the help of the massive collection of templates I have on my hard drive.

Goals - Past and Present

I don't do New Years Resolutions anymore, but every year I set scrapbooking goals. I'm actually pretty good at accomplishing most, if not all, of them. Last year one of my goals was to create 350 layouts for the year. I came very close, ending up at 349. I've set the same goal for myself again this year, and I'm sure I can meet and beat it this time. I just can't count on December as a scrappy month, that's all.

Katie the Scrapbook Lady has a blog post up on her top 10 favorite layouts that she scrapped in 2009, so I thought I would do that too. The best part about this exercise is realizing I'm really happy with the work I did in 2009. Since I scrap both paper and digital, and since I am really bad about choosing favorites, today we'll focus on my top 10 paper layouts of 2009, presented in the order they were scrapped. In a later post we'll look at my top 10 digital layouts of 2009. Enjoy!

1. August 24 in my August Month of Memories Album (inspired by Katie the Scrapbook Lady's Amazing Month of Memories prompts) highlights my love of exploring volcanoes.


2. Bling Bling - we used to spend every weekend at Universal Studios for their Mardi Gras celebration in the spring, catching beads and enjoying concerts with big names such as Huey Lewis and the News and The Steve Miller Band. I love the layout not only for those precious memories, but also because it's one of the first layouts where I threw caution to the wind and piled on the products (using an entire package of pearl embellishments on the page) and I actually liked the results.


3. 4th of July - a fun and festive celebration at work many years ago, where everyone was invited to dress up in the spirit of the holiday. One of my close friends won the competition. This was an early attempt on my part to use the self-adhesive felt I'd purchased.


4. Post Your Trot - I had fun putting together this "instructional" layout, I was inspired by cute pictures of my niece with her pony to create some layouts in the vein of Thewell's horse & pony books explaining to kids how to ride and care for horses.


5. A Single Step or 4 Big Tires - my nephew, a rough and tough boy, in his "first truck." You have probably noticed by now that most of my favorite paper layouts involve a lot of product, that's because I think my one big improvement in paper scrapping in 2009 was to learn not to be afraid of product and to use it strategically on the page. I love how the button (partial) frame came out here.


6. Beverly Lewis - meeting this author and having her sign my book was a fun experience. Also fun - creating this tree out of patterned paper and embellishing it with buttons, flowers and brads.


7. For Sale by Owner - Lisa told me a funny story about Trinity trying to sell her horse to buy a saddle, and I couldn't resist capturing that in a layout. Of course, now Lisa would like to steal the layout from me, so I'm guessing at some point I should make her one of her own. I made the sign myself from a chipboard shape and popsicle sticks and used some of my very favorite products from 2009, Sassafras Lass paper borders and Coredinations cardstock.


8. 27000 - the picture in this layout came from a political mailing; it was beautiful and I was working with the patriotic Yankee Doodle Dandy line from Piggy Tales and so a layout was born.


9. August 2009 - I had the honor of being named Guest Paper Creative Team Member for ACOT in August 2009. My grand idea was to host a month of challenges - posting one challenge every day and providing examples as many of those days as humanly possible, then giving out prizes to random winners at the end of the month. Lots of work but worth it, as I think those who participated had fun (and I certainly got a rush out of all the creativity I forced upon myself that month). At the end of the month I created a calendar page documenting the journey using this awesome 7Gypsies calendar paper.


10. We're Going Out - last but not least is this colorful layout of my teenage niece and our night on the town when she stayed with me this past summer. Fittingly I had a teenage grunge line from We R Memory Keepers to use for this page.


So there we are - my top 10 paper layouts of 2009. All of the images have been linked to my gallery at A Cherry on Top where product information and more detailed layout descriptions are posted. Thanks for looking.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I can't believe we're already 6 days into the new year, I'm pretty sure time is speeding up.

2009 is a bit of a blur, I'm working on a 12 month recap album to try to capture the most important memories of an incredibly busy year. Luckily Jeanne Marie Norman provided an easy way to do this with her new What a Year Template Set. So far I've finished January thru April.









In 2010 I'm hoping to complete Project 365, which is to take a picture or jot down a memory for every day in 2010. Considering we're on day 6 and I've only taken pictures on days 1, 2, and 3, this is a bit of a stretch, but I figure I have emails and text messages to glean info from as well. Cheryl McCain has released a new printable rolodex card set just for this purpose that I plan to use. If I can keep up with this project, it's an even better way to make sure that important memories aren't lost over the years.

Good luck to you in kicking off your 2010. Make sure your new calendars are in order - I keep a calendar at work, at home, and in my purse, as well as on my computer. You'd think I was really organized, but I'm not, lol. That's one dream I still can't quite catch, but I'll keep on trying. I do hope to update my blog more frequently - at least twice a week, so I'll see you all soon!