No, Really!

I did it! I scrapped!

I KNOW. Mind-blowing.

And I did it TWICE!

Whoa.

And I was a good girl about it,

doing a bit of laundry

and grading a bunch of papers

before getting started.

Okay, that's a lie.

It was actually the first thing I started,

but then guilt stepped in and I put the layouts aside.

Actually, that's a lie, too.

I got stumped over the journaling

so I preoccupied myself with the items on my "to do" list

(which should actually be renamed the

"to do if you don't know what else to do" list).

In any case,

I scrapped. I did!

It felt SOOOOOO good (I've earned those hyperbolic o's).

I know what you're thinking --

do it again! Do it again!

If you insist... :)

P.S. If you'd like more details about the layouts,

check out the Lily Bee blog here

and the Shimmerz blog here.

Surfacing.

My apologies for the blog neglect recently.

I've exchanged my scrapbooking desk

for a different kind of desk:

Yep, the school year has officially begun,

and I am already

e

x

h

a

u

s

t

e

d.

It's a good kind of exhausted, though.

I'll check in again soon

once I spend some quality time

with my neglected scrapbook supplies this weekend.

Have a great week!

Hey There, Beautiful.

I notice that the word "beautiful,"

like the word "love,"

is highly overused in my vocabulary.

I use statements that begin with "I love"

or that include the word "beautiful"

a bajillion times a day.

I know I'm not alone.

You do it, too, right?

Check any blog or scrapbook gallery,

and you'll see a multitude of "loves" and "beautifuls",

and as overused as those words might seem,

I think they're perfect. Spot on.

We super-praise each other in the scrapbook community,

and while that might seem hokey or disingenuous to some people,

as for me,

I only say "love" when I really do love something,

and I only call something "beautiful" when my eyes and heart

tell me it is.

There are worse words to overuse,

and I'm glad that the words "hate" and "ugly" don't make appearances often

in my vocabulary

(except maybe when I'm watching Fox News).

I bring this up because I've used the word "beautiful"

at least fifty times or so on this layout,

and I know the word "love" is there, too --

and I mean these words.

I went kind of gonzo with mist and paint here,

alternating between holding the paper horizontally (for wider coverage)

and vertically (for the rad drippy effect).

The colors worked well with the new Studio Calico Summer Camp kit,

as well as the "Beautiful" definition

and "Your Book Is Due" stamps from Stamping Bella.

As you can see,

I went crazy with some beautiful products here

and I love the effect. Har har.

A Colorful Addition

Thanks, all, for the feedback on the last post!

The new borders are up

in my classroom,

and I must say, I love how they look.

I'm still questing for more ideas

to add some "punch" to my classroom.

Last night I started playing with the idea of magnets,

and this was the result:

I took some of my favorite quotes about reading and writing,

and turned them into portable bursts of inspiration

for my classroom desk and file cabinet.

You can find the directions for how to put these together

on the Shimmerz blog

(and while you're there,

be sure to check out the call for the new education team!)

I'm thinking my next adventure will be posters for the walls.

Wish me luck!

Schooled.

For the past thirteen Augusts,

I've spent the first few days of the month

working in my classroom,

sprucing it up before the school year officially begins

(for the students, at least).

This year,

I'm teaching at the high school level for the first time,

which poses kind of a decorating challenge,

especially when it comes to bulletin boards.

The existing classroom decor options

are way too saccharine for me.

I ask you:

why is it that none of my favorite scrapbooking companies

produce funky bulletin board borders

and fadeless patterned paper rolls,

preferably with a kind of schoolhouse vintage vibe?

Can you imagine how awesome that would be?

Until that glorious day comes,

I'm winging it

with my own funked up borders.

This morning, Z and I tricked out some white borders,

misting and masking and stamping.

Hopefully they'll look okay on the classroom walls.

I'm thinking of pulling together dictionary papers

for the background of one of my boards.

We'll see how it goes...

Any ideas for further ways to rethink classroom decor would be MUCH appreciated!