Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I will sing you back to me!



I absolutely LOVE this little phrase that Nala used over and over in the movie, "Australia". It struck such a familiar chord with me. So...I created the 2 above pages for my babies.
**I used Tim Holtz masks, acrylic paint, scraps of material, twine from Lowe's, my handy dandy sewing machine, a Frosted Flakes cereal box and printed my pictures onto cardstock for a matte look. So fun!
Live Today!
Dawn

Your Heart




Life can flat break your heart! But, it is so amazing how God made that incredible organ that causes us to feel so much pain, be able to feel so much love! It is our choice as to what we allow to consume our heart! I found this blog site...
click here
I am not a professional photographer. What I am hoping to be is one who is able to capture Life. All of it! I love the quote from the blog...
"..but then one day a friend pointed out something about my photographs that hadn’t occurred to me before, “Wow, you can see your heart in your photos”.
That is just a profound statement! I want people to be able to see my heart in my pictures, in my album, in my life. It isn't something that happens overnight. It takes time to open your heart!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Katherine



This is another dear friend who came into my life in a blink and then moved away almost just as quickly. But, our friendship will last a lifetime! Isn't that amazing how life works? We are now on opposite ends of the country, but we made a lot of fun memories and now I have a destination to look forward to! :) Miss you Katherine!!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Determination!


Continuing on the thought of dreaming... I made this piece several months ago. I love the movie "Pursuit of Happyness"! I love the scene where this quote originated from. A dad telling his son to never EVER let anyone tell him he can't do anything he sets out to do! Dreaming is the 1st step. The rest of the process is a bit difficult. Planning, action, rejection, determination. All necessary parts, just like dreaming. Don't EVER stop dreaming!

Live Today!
Dawn

PS. I am LOVING my butterfly punch these days. They show up all over the place! :)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Dream....Don't forget to!


I got some new supplies for some of my upcoming classes...Wow! What fun I have had! This is something I just started playing around with, didn't have ANY idea where it would take me. But, I love how it turned out!
Drew and I were talking about "bucket lists" today at lunch. Some were items that probably wouldn't happen in the next 5 years...like traveling abroad. But, some were things that could be done right now or in the next 6 months. So, with that heavily on my mind, I went to work. I am a very visual person. If I see it, it sticks. If I write it, it's pretty much branded in my head. So, this is my little reminder of 3 things that are things I'd like to do in the next 6 months. Very doable things.

1. Take a pottery class
2. Schedule a photo shoot with mom, Haleigh, Christie and I (inspired by Mandy..thank you!)
3. Share my love for telling stories of our lives!!

This is hanging up on my board above my desk. I will see it every day. Not only will this little thing remind me of the items I have written down, but to keep dreaming! After all, everything starts with a dream! What's your dream??
Live Today,
Dawn

Friday, March 20, 2009

Peachy Cheap

You know that feeling when you find out about something really great and your first reaction is to tell as many people about it that will listen? Well...I must confess that I DID have that reaction...I called my sister and my mom. They get to hear lots of "firsts" from me. Some good, some ridiculous, some fun and worth it! But, beyond that I have kept THIS to myself for a couple months now...

I LOVE this gal....may she have obedient children and a clean refrigerator for the rest of her life.:) I don't know where in the world she gets this stuff or how she sells it so cheap. But, this website is just as addicting as Facebook. I walk by my computer and say, "No, I am NOT going to turn you on to find out what everyone is doing right now!", "No, there is nothing on Peachy Cheap that I MUST have right now!" My desk is a magnet that I can not defeat. So, I log onto Facebook and Peachy Cheap just about every day. Peachy Cheap has something new EVERY day. And unfortunately it is hooked to my PayPal account. Hope you enjoy her website as much as I have!
Live Today!
Dawn

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

www.yourstorystudio.net


I am so excited about our website. I hope you enjoy looking around and getting a better peak at my work and what "Your Story Studio" offers. Email me or leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you! :)
THANK YOU DREW for designing this beautiful piece of artwork!!!! Dawn

How exactly does it work?



I have been asked this question quite a bit lately. So, I'm going to attempt to show you a little bit from my album. The above picture is straight out of my most recent album. I use a 12x12 3 ring leather album for ALL of my scrapbooking now. I have many post bound albums but have found that 3 ring is more versatile. I use 8 1/2x11 sheet protectors (I use these to store things like smaller layouts, calendars, etc..), plain 12x12 sheet protectors and the above 6 up photo sleeves. I use more of the photo sleeves now that I have combined all my photos into my scrapbooks. It was crazy trying to keep a seperate album JUST for photos and then a scrapbook for those times that I had to do something special, which happens less these days. So now, everything is in ONE book.
I want to remember the STORY behind the pictures that I put into the photo sleeves, so I use a "your story" card for the journaling to record all those little things that I might forget. I like to think of this as a "mini canvas". I embellish them like I would a 12x12 page except it doesn't take near as long. I did the above card this morning in about 4 minutes. Most of that time was spent looking for the letters I needed from that stamp set. Put it next to my pictures and DONE! I feel like I have documented a little bit about the pictures, it's got some color and I can move on with life! EASY!!!
Her is another card I did. Except this time I added a little more to the card. Just like you add pictures and embellishments to your bigger scrapbook pages, you can add them to your "your story" cards.
Here you can see that I added a 5x7 picture into the mix for something different. Who says that your pictures have to be attached with glue or pop dots? Why not just slide them into a sleeve? I numbered the pictures on this "page" and then documented what each picture was on the "your story" card.
This is what I'm talking about...cut yourself some slack. Enjoy your life, take your pictures, put them into an album and write a brief story about your pictures. You can then add as much or as little as you want. Again, that is why I like the 3 ring albums. If you feel inspired to do a big 2 page layout to stick in between these pages, perfect!! It adds a little depth and interest! But,you don't have to add anything if you don't have time. You will have a beautiful album telling the story of your life. If you have any questions or if you would like to learn more about this, email me. This and WAY more information will be shared in my class, "In a Minute". My email address is yourstorystudio@yahoo.com. Dawn

Friday, March 13, 2009

Blueberries For Sal


I have been so happy with the teacher's my kids have this year. They are both having so much fun. R's teacher is calm and orderly, but she LOVES those kids and they love her back! H's teacher is very hands on and wide open. He has a record player that is a very important part of their day. Every afternoon right before dismissal he plays records from all genres and time periods. The kids get to rate the artist with a thumb's up or thumb's down.

Today I was so happy to be able to participate in the activities R was doing with blueberries. They read, "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey recently and decided to spend today feasting on all things blueberry. The card above is going straight into my album. This is an example of what I'm going to be teaching in my, "In a Minute" class. Scrapbooking doesn't have to take hours and hours. You don't even have to have a picture. When I look at this card, R and I will vividly remember this morning and the silly things we talked about all gathered around the griddle. I did find out that A. loves spinach just like I do and Ad. had 5 bowls of cereal before he came to school today and yet still managed 2 big blueberry pancakes.:) Oh...and Al. cooked s'mores over her fire pit last night, but her brother didn't like the fire so he went inside. Have a wonderful weekend!
Live Today!
Dawn
PS. Not sure why I look so unhappy in the photo. I guess it's difficult to smile at a teeny tiny camera sitting in front of a generic sign-in computer in the front office at school. One day I'm going to bust out into a crazy pose or something. :)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Make it Real

I love this picture of me and my mom! My very talented Aunt Starr took it a couple of summers ago. To be honest it is probably one of my favorites. We aren't looking at the camera, we didn't even know she was taking the picture (honest! We are a very huggy family)! Those are my absolute favorite pictures.
One of my goals for "Your Story Studio" is to help people feel comfortable enough to document their real lives through scrapbooking. Sometimes it is so overwhelming with all the very yummy doo dads and fancy tools that are now on the market. It would be very easy to get caught up in the mind set that your pages HAVE to be this way and HAVE to look extra fancy! But, in reality the bottom line is the story your pages are telling. Yes! Get that beautiful paper! Yes! Those rub-ons are wonderful, they will add so much to your page! But, don't forget the STORY! And I'm not talking about labeling the page. I'm talking about putting some feeling, some emotion into your pages. Sometimes it will be a lengthy paragraph. Other times it will be just a few words... This is my momma's handwriting. I scanned this in from a card she sent me. I love looking at cards that my family sends me. I enjoy the words that they write, but I also like to imagine where they wrote the words. Was she sitting at the table where we ate Christmas dinner? Or was she sitting on the sofa where we sat up almost all night eating Hershey Hugs watching movies? Just looking at her handwriting brings all these wonderful memories back for me. So, I included that in my pages.
Make it real. Tell your story.
Mom, I love you! :)
Dawn

Friday, March 6, 2009

Her name is Angela

Almost 3 years ago, my family and I made a big move. We had been in Raleigh for over 8 years. Our roots got pretty deep. So, moving was a big adjustment. We were so fortunate to move to a nice, safe area. However, this area was very different than what we had come from. We now live in a very rural area and spend alot of time at home. I knew NO ONE! Several months after we moved in we finally got next door neighbors....YAHHHHHH! They didn't have children, but they seemed very nice. Her name is Angela. It took Angela and I several months to really get to know one another, but very soon I realized she would be a friend for life! She is an amazing woman. She is a very kindred spirit. I could tell many stories of the fun we had. But, that is not the point. The point is we got to be really good friends and this past July her and her husband were transferred. Angela came to Springdale with a dog and 2 cats. She left our neighborhood with 3 daughters, a whole litter of "kiddies", a dog and a cat
There isn't a day that goes by that I don't look at her house and miss her terribly! If there is someone in your life that you can call or better yet hug, do it! Life is so short and sometimes we don't take the time to drink in the beautiful little parts!
Angela's husband is really into kites. We spent many a day out in the street "helping" him with the kites. This was serious stuff! One day though the string snapped and one of his kites ended up in my neighbors' tree. It is still there today.
I walk quite a bit and every day I look for that kite, that little reminder of my wonderful friend. It is so good to have a friend like that and be able to remember all the fun memories! Yes, this is in my scrapbook, it's all part of my story! I miss you Angela! I think I'm going to go call Angela.
Live Today,
Dawn

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Change of scenery

Yesterday was one of those days that everyone can relate to. I had a huge pile of laundry patiently waiting for me (that is the only thing I love about laundry, it never complains, it sits quietly) to fold and put away, I had to go and get groceries, my desk looked like this
and I still have a pile of paint supplies waiting for me to get to. You see I started doing touch ups ummmmm.. about 2 months ago. I was real motivated for about a day but then OTHER things came up.

But then I got a call from a friend of mine. She asked if I wanted to go to Garden Ridge. Since I have been sitting at my desk for about 3 days only coming down in the afternoons, something inside said, "Go! Go take a look at something outside the 4 walls of your house!". And I am so glad I did! I got to visit with my friend and her 2 beautiful little girls. I also found this inside Garden Ridge which was rather inspiring to me.
Wow! I love that! Life is always in Progress. It is always moving forward. It's our job to decide what we are going to absorb from it. We determine what kind of progress we are going to make out of this thing called life. I feel that yesterday was a wonderful day of progress. No, I didn't get to my painting. No, I didn't get to my zillions of projects laying on my desk. But, I connected with a friend and got to enjoy the beautiful day that I have been blessed to see with my own eyes!
Yes, yesterday was a day full of progress!

Oh, I also managed to go to Starbucks for some coffee! I got a Caramel Macchiato,sugar free, upside down (so the sweet part is on the top) caffeinated. I just love that they put your name on the cup! I also love that there is something inspiring on the cup for you to ponder about. This is what mine said. The type is kind of hard to read..it says, "Failure is hard, but success if far more dangerous. If you're successful at the wrong thing, the mix of praise and money and opportunity can lock you in forever." Wow!
Have a wonderful day!
Dawn

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

babyOmine


I am so excited about babyOmine! I have seriously not been able to sleep with all the ideas swirling in my head. But, it is coming together very nicely. A friend of mine asked specifically for a book with BOLD colors. She is having a girl and did not want the pastels and diaper pins. So, we found some beautiful paper from My Minds Eye. This paper is like cardboard. It really can stand up by itself its so thick and yummy! (This is what happens when you work on a project for many hours, it becomes like food! :) Anyway, I wanted to give you a peek!

The top picture is actually a pocket for cards. This is pretty heavy duty. I glued and stitched the sides of the actual pocket for stability. The bottom picture is a "hospital bracelet" pocket. There is room in there for a whole family of bracelets!

babyOmine albums can be 8x10 or 12x12. I prefer the 12x12 size because it will house much more!! This album is going to include about 26 fillable pages like "story of mom and dad" and "doctor visits" etc. It will also include 12x12 pages that will house your loose photos (and they aren’t going to be LOOSE in the album, they will have a nice and tidy home!) I found that when I was doing my babies' books, there was never enough room for pictures. And if they had slots, there was never any way to label what was going on in the pictures!! Problem solved. I have created a way for you to have your cake and eat it too!

I am planning on having a video up within the next couple of days showing you everything in this yummy book! However, if you would like more info. now, please email me at yourstorystudio@yahoo.com. I am planning on having some in Etsy in about a week or 2.

Now onto other items:

This is what we were doing Friday night. Have you ever played American Girl 300 wishes? Way fun! D and R really got into it. It really is a perfectly lovely game. You talk about things like opening up a lemonade stand and owning a cottage on a sunny beach! We had so much fun, the kids woke us up at 6:30 to play it again. Hooray for Saturdays and sleeping in! Ha. So...we were playing yet again!




4 inches of snow! The kids are out today and maybe tomorrow. The kids had fun playing in it! I had fun taking pictures and then I went back inside. I was thinking more about the cottage on the beach from American Girl!

Hope you have a happy day!
Dawn