30 Days Hath September

...and then it was October!

Wasn't it just June yesterday?

Well, I say, welcome, October,

especially when it is accompanied

by announcements like these

and kits like these.

I'm still making the most

out of every brilliant bit and perfect piece of this kit,

and will have more pages to share later,

but here's what I have so far:

I was happily surprised when I discovered

that this JBS bingo card included every single grade level

that I've taught over the past thirteen years.

I used a photo of the rings from my mother's wedding

as a springboard for a page documenting my thoughts about marriage.

The sideways journaling reminds me of the epigraph to Fahrenheit 451:

"If they give you ruled paper, write the other way."

Of course, I didn't quite do that,

but I still feel a little rebellious anyway. Ha.

Isn't this stamp ever so lovely?

It has definitely found a happy home in my stash.

The last page I created

has to do with a running joke in our family

that has a punchline that I can't even remember.

It started with confusing "scarecrow" and "flamingo"

during a game of Taboo,

and now every time we see a flamingo

in any form (which is actually and oddly

more often than you might think)

we just lose it. It's funny. Just because.

It's our "flamingo thing." Thus, the page.

Check out the rest of the gallery here.

Lookee!

I know it's been awhile since I posted here,

but I've been busy, as in

buh-ih-zee.

That's right --

three syllable, intentional hyperbolic spelling error busy.

That's how busy I've been.

I haven't been so busy

that I've completely forsaken my scrappy loves, however.

I've been getting crafty on the sly,

and can finally share a few pages:

I created the first two layouts for the Lily Bee design team,

using the lovely-licious new Catching Fall line

and a few tasty tidbits from the Domestic Bliss line.

Check out the Lily Bee blog for more info.

The next two layouts were created for the Shimmerz blog,

using paint, paint, and more paint.

I always find that when I paint after a hiatus,

I tend to go a little color-crazy.

The layout above also uses a library card stamp from Stamping Bella.

I used paint instead of stamping ink to create the background.

Sometimes crazy can be a good thing, though --

it's a synonym for colorful, methinks.

Or maybe that's explosively colorful.

Kapow.

Whoosh.

Lately, this my life in a word: whoosh.

Don't you love onomatopoeia?

Whoosh.

It's Sunday and

whoosh

it's Tuesday evening and

whoosh

it's Thursday afternoon and

whoosh

it's Saturday and I'm finally getting some real sleep and

whoosh

it's Monday morning.

Sure, it's crazy,

but it's kind of a high, too, isn't it?

Where has your week taken you?

Where will next week find you?

Sometimes it's necessary to seize the whoosh,

to embrace that rush,

that supersonic electric butterfly soaring

that results from, oh, say,

being asked to be a guest on the JBS Inspiration Blog! A-whaat?

I notice that there is nary a page of this guy

in which he not surrounded by hearts.

He makes my heart go whoosh,

so it's only fitting.

All parents know the way of the whoosh:

she's three, then she's eight, and then she's twelve,

and where has the time gone?

And whoosh -- has it already been a year

since my mom married one of the best men I know?

and whoosh -- time flies,

and if we choose to soar with it,

there is no limit to where it can take us.

It's Laundry Day!

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Mine is being spent cleaning the house and grading papers

with a little time set aside for some scrap-happiness.

It's not all tedium and allergies around here, though.

As long as I'm spending time with the fam, it's all good.

Today, for instance, is laundry day:

Miss M loves rolling around the piles as I sort.

She grunts and digs and sighs and eventually, sleeps.

Weird one.

I should have some scrappy shares for you soon,

but in the meantime,

it's back to work for me.

Have a great weekend!