be AUDacious

weekend wrapup

There are times when the weekend seems to fly by in a blur of obligations and assignments, and then there are weekends like this one. It was one of those weekends where I got so much accomplished, but I never felt rushed or pressured; one of those weekends where work didn't feel like work at all and each activity just moved effortlessly into the next.

On Friday afternoon, I picked up both girls from school and we drove by the llama farm to see the baby llamas. They aren't really babies anymore-- they are growing so quickly. There are three adults and two babies, along with a young colt in the field -- and it's so funny to watch the colt chase the llamas around. We try to stop by and watch them at least once a week. From there, we went and paid the storage unit bill and then stopped by the library. It was fully my intention not to get any books, but then I started looking and naturally found three YA novels that I've been wanting to read. Cass picked up the next book in a series that she's really enjoying (The Fire Within series by Chris D'Lacey). Cami was looking for #3 in the Ivy + Bean series, but it was out, so she grabbed a Clarice Bean book and another chapter book about horses (always a topic of interest around here!) A quick supper of tacos and some basketball finished out the night; I finished a novel I'd been reading for a week or so, finally. (Review posted here.)

On Saturday, my mom came to town and brought Gracie along -- she took all the girls to see Up, while Chris and I went to see Star Trek. I thoroughly enjoyed it; my dad was a big Star Trek fan, and while I didn't care too much for the original, I did enjoy watching The Next Generation with him. He would've liked this, I think. We came home and then the girls went over to Pops' house to play on the inflatable water slide a neighbor lent him. Chris and I hung out, watched the game, and I finished one of the novels I checked out from the library. (review posted here.)

Sunday morning rolled around and the girls went to church with a friend, who then spent the rest of the afternoon at the house. They played in the backyard all afternoon long, while I vacuumed the car (it looks so much better!) and cleaned out the fridge. I also did our grocery shopping, and our nice clean fridge is filled with tons of fresh fruit and veggies for snacks this week. The girls' last day of school is Monday, and I wanted there to be plenty of good stuff for them to snack on, not a bunch of processed preservative-laden crap. I'm looking forward to the farmer's market opening on June 2 --hopefully they'll have some fresh blueberries and blackberries, as Cass is really wanting to make jelly/jam.  Chris and I weeded our garden; things are growing so beautifully. Chris took Cassidy up to the school to run -- she's trying out for the JV soccer team, and conditioning starts on Tuesday. Luckily, she's still in good condition from her track season, which ended just a couple of weeks ago. Another quick supper, showers, some bedtime reading, and everyone is settled in for the last day of school tomorrow.

Like I said, a full weekend, but full in a good way. That's how it should always be. In other news, {wst} still has a great sale going on right now -- all kits are 50% off, and $7 will get you this fun kit FREE!

Speaking of fun, one of my CT members, Lori, created these cute canvas shoes using iron-on fabric and several of my products: the Photogenic kit, the Celebrations word art, and the Express Yourself papers. I think she's totally genius for coming up with this idea. I've been lusting over some DIY Converse sneaks for years, but now I'm thinking I might just personalize my own.

One last thing -- I've updated the "My Classes" link and I'm working on getting the rest of my information up. I'd like to create an "About Me" page, but I don't want to put some standard bio up there; so much of that kind of information is already floating around the 'net about me. So help me out, will you? Post a comment and ask me whatever questions you'd like to know, and I'll use that info on my page.

book review: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

taken from Goodreads:

"Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:Debate Club.Her father’s “bunny rabbit.”
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Laundau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take “no” for an answer.
Especially when “no” means she’s excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society.
Not when her ex boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she’s smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew’s lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way."

It seems there's an entire genre of young-adult literature that's set at boarding schools, and my guess is that I've read most, if not all, of them. The appeal is obvious: it's a self-contained world, set among ivy-covered institutions of higher learning, with characters that come from the old-money, "Old Boys" club. And that's just the problem Frankie has with the situation at her exclusive boarding school.

The characters are top-notch, the writing perfect -- with just the right combination of high-school snarkiness, main character introspection, and a mix of formats (excerpts from letters, brief asides to explain the history of this or that particular place, email exchanges) -- and the subject is one that I've not seen any YA author address with such skill or perspective.

That's what I think I loved most about this novel: that Lockhart tackles the confusing issue of being completely smitten with a boy, but also being completely unwilling to let the relationship stand on his terms. Frankie is sick of being seen only for her physical package -- viewed as sweet, adorable, pretty, etc. -- and not as the intelligent, ambitious, opinionated person she is. The issue of gender roles aside, this book is also a great introduction to the concept of civil disobedience, an examination of why we follow the rules we do. Having taught American literature to juniors for several years, I can tell you that this age is prime for thinking about this issue.

The reviews for this novel are somewhat mixed -- while many readers have raved about it, there are others who felt it was pretentious, silly, and just plain boring. I think that comes down to a matter of taste in prose style and character development. I'm firmly in the "rave" camp. Easily a 5-star read.

book review: The Magicians and Mrs. Quent

taken from Goodreads:

"In this enchanting debut novel, Galen Beckett weaves a dazzling spell of adventure and suspense, evoking a world of high magick and genteel society; a world where one young woman discovers that her modest life is far more extraordinary than she ever imagined.
Of the three Lockwell sisters: romantic Lily, prophetic Rose, and studious Ivy; all agree that it's the eldest, the book-loving Ivy, who has held the family together ever since their father's retreat into his silent vigil in the library upstairs. Everyone blames Mr. Lockwell's malady on his magickal studies, but Ivy alone still believes; both in magic and in its power to bring her father back.
But there are others in the world who believe in magick as well. Over the years, Ivy has glimpsed them; the strangers in black topcoats and hats who appear at the door, strangers of whom their mother will never speak. Ivy once thought them secret benefactors, but now she's not so certain.
After tragedy strikes, Ivy takes a job with the reclusive Mr. Quent in a desperate effort to preserve her family. It's only then that she discovers the fate she shares with a jaded young nobleman named Dashton Rafferdy, his ambitious friend Eldyn Garritt, and a secret society of highwaymen, revolutionaries, illusionists, and spies who populate the island nation of Altania.
For there is far more to Altania than meets the eye and more to magick than mere fashion. And in the act of saving her father, Ivy will determine whether the world faces a new dawn - or an everlasting night. . . ."

It took me a bit to really get into this; parts of it moved very slowly. For the longest time, I really wasn't sure how all the different parts were going to come together, especially in time to end the novel. The ending was very anti-climactic; obviously the author had to draw things out in order to create a sequel (The House on Durrow Street), but in doing so, it meant that a lot of this novel was just staging for the events of the second one and thus nothing ever really happened. Then again, that seems quite in keeping with the novels that this book draws on for inspiration: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and others of the same fashion. I truly enjoyed the heroine, and several of the other characters were enjoyable, if somewhat predictable or stereotypical. As for the structure of the novel, I thought that abruptly switching to a first-person / epistolary combination in the second section really threw things off (and there were such strong overtones of Wuthering Heights, The Turn of the Screw, and even Beauty and the Beast in this section that it was almost distracting). 

That's the biggest downfall with this novel, I think -- that it draws too strongly on novels such as Pride & Prejudice, to the point that readers will likely spend their time matching up characters (Ivy is Elizabeth Bennett, Mr. Wyble is obviously Mr. Collins, Lady Marsdel....you get the point). What is so unfortunate about this is that it truly overshadows what is otherwise a promising book with some very interesting sections (Elden and Dercy and the illusionists, Ivy and her father's riddles -- not to mention her ancestry). I will likely read the sequel, as there have been many other novels that combine magic and manners that I've enjoyed. I'm sure the second novel will follow along in much the same way as this one -- as a novel that is neither good nor bad, just okay.

surprise weekend sale

and who doesn't love surprises? (Well, okay...so I guess it depends on what kind of surprise we're talking about, but that's another post entirely, I'm sure.)

Back to the topic at hand. {we are} storytellers is having a quick weekend sale -- all kits are 50% off. Plus, if you spend $7.00, you'll get this fantastic kit "Hot Summer Days" for FREE.

If you loaded up on kits in the shop during our NSD sale, you may think there's not much left that you need -- but I've released a number of new kits since that time. Here's a little refresher:

Sweet Celebration

Circus Circus

City Lights

Bitty Bots

Maybell

Plus there are plenty of older kits that you ought to grab if you haven't yet! Here's a quick link to my store! Happy shopping!

'cause that's what life does

I thought, with summer quickly approaching (the last day of school is Monday!), that it would be nice to do a quick check-in on some of the long-term projects going on around here. Once school ends, my work schedule will change too. Because the work I do involves high schools, there's not much for me to do (other than prep for the upcoming year) during the summer months. As a result, my work week decreases from 5 days in the office to just 3 a week. Of course, I'm responsible for still checking in via email during those two off days, but being able to do that from home makes such a difference in all the things I'm able to complete.

Our garden is coming along. We've had a good bit of a struggle with it. We got everything planted about a month ago, and then it proceeded to rain for two weeks straight. We lost all our carrots, spinach, most of our cucumbers, and most of my sunflowers. Luckily, we had enough seeds left over to go back in and plant more beans and onions. Everything seems to have fared nicely -- we recently got another bout of rain and everything just shot up over the weekend. I'm excited to watch it grow; I know that not everything will go perfectly, especially since this is our first year, but it's a process that I'm just enjoying as it happens.

My knitting has fallen to the wayside for the last month, as has the embroidery. I haven't given up on them; it's just a matter of finding a little spare time to work on them. What I'd like to do is ride up to campus with the girls on my off days and sit and knit or embroider while they play on the quad. There's so much great open space to run and play in, and the bike rides will be nice exercise too.

Speaking of exercise, Chris and I have fallen off the wagon. However, we just did some rearranging in our bedroom and made some room for the weight bench. Now that my thyroid meds are closer to the appropriate levels, I'll finally be able to see some results. Plus, we'll have some built-in exercise time in the evenings while Cass is at JV soccer practice.

I'm making good progress on my reading list too. I set an informal goal to read 96 books for 2009; I'm sitting at 48 right now, with two in progress. I'm hoping to have time to do some more formal-type reviews on the blog; we'll see how that goes.

I've been toying with the idea of making a list of things we want to do this summer with Chris and the girls; Erika does this with her family and I think it's a fantastic idea. What about you -- what's on your summer to-do list?

celebrate the everyday

That's what I've been trying to do lately -- just spend time in the moment, rather than spending my time hoping and wishing for things to come...That's also the idea I had behind one of my most favorite kits, Everyday Celebrations. It's on sale today for 45% off, along with a handful of other great products in the shop. Check them out -- and enjoy the layouts my CT created with them as well.

Everyday Celebrations

Everyday Frames

Skinnyboy Alpha

from Amy

from Renee

from Gabi

from Jen

Heart and Home digital kit

Gratitude word art

from Jen

from Amy

Many of these layouts also use my Journaling Jotters vol 2 template, in case you are interested.

"best weekend EVER!"

(and that's a direct quote...)

We've been planning on going camping for a month now, but every time we make plans, the forecast calls for rain. Of course, it never actually ends up raining, so for Memorial Day weekend, we decided we were going camping whether it rained or not. We didn't leave until Sunday morning, as there was too much going on on Saturday. Naturally, it rained all day (off and on) on Sunday; we headed up to LBL to the campground at Energy Lake. We've camped at two of the various campgrounds in LBL now; we usually stay at the primitive sights, though all of these places have spots for RVs and camper trailers. Our goal is to purchase a jeep and a popup camper in the next year or year and a half; this will make it easier for us to go camping regardless of the weather (luckily our tent didn't leak at all, so even in the rain, we were comfortable).

We observed the local wildlife in their natural habitat:

(yes, that's a real owl -- it was really funny to see everyone's reaction as they walked past it because they all assumed it was stuffed)

We fished (Cami caught the biggest fish), we explored, we built fires, we found rocks that looked like brains, we crashed hard when it was time to come home, and we missed some major rainstorms...

The only thing I could've done without was the skunk that wandered through our campsite sometime during the middle of the night and sprayed everything...needless to say, that didn't make for easy sleeping. Still, nothing (aside from the dog) still smells like skunk, so it could've been worse.

Cami summed it up best when she said that this was the best weekend ever. I love it most because it's just the four of us when we're out camping -- there's nothing to distract us, like the TV or the phone or the internet; there's nothing that needs doing; we can just unplug and enjoy.

sweet celebrations

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend -- we were finally able to go camping and had such a good time. I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Today, of course, is Page Turner Tuesday at {we are} storytellers and I've got some fun new products to share with you. I teamed up with one of the other designers, Angela Woo, and we came up with this fantastic little celebrations kit, based on some of her adorable cupcake and candy drawings. These sweet colors and fun patterns are perfect for birthday, anniversary, or other celebration-themed layouts and projects. I've also got a new set of coordinating word art and three new templates.

Sweet Celebrations

from Lori

Celebrations Word Art

from Angela

Journaling Jotters vol 10

from Becky

Letter Layouts vol 7

from Jaime

Storytime Spreads vol 2

from Lori

Do More with Templates

If you've been digi-scrapping for long, then you know what a time- (and sanity-) saver templates can be. Not only can you resize them, flip them, rotate them, and combine them, you can also use them as a great basis for hybrid projects or even a quick way to create cards.

That's just what Terri did with these great cards:

This one uses the Journaling Jotters vol 3 template, the Family Tree kit, and the Thumbprint Birdies.

This one uses the Journaling Jotters vol 9 template and the Bitty Bots digital kit:

This one uses the Letter Layouts vol 2 template, the Maybell digital kit, and the Daily Birdie font:

If you've got interesting ways to put templates to use, I'd love to hear your ideas!

Tutorial: Big Numbers mini-album by Pamela

I think it's only fitting that I have a couple of scrappers create some hybrid projects with my designs -- hybrid is how I made my way into digital, of course (oh, and then there's that book...)

Pamela has created a great mini-album and tutorial using my Big Numbers kit, which I'm posting here for you to enjoy.

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As soon as I saw the "Big Numbers" kit I knew that I wanted to use it to make a mini album. I wanted it to be a random mini where I used each number for my journaling...page one would have one thing about me...page two would have two things...and so on.

I started with my cover for my album. This is what I designed in photoshop for the cover (Uses the Big Numbers kit and the Be {Re}Solved kit):

I printed my cover. Then I wanted to add some fun embellishements. Since my album was "random" I really wanted my embellishments to be kind of random too. Here's the finished cover:

Then I moved on to the pages. I shrunk each of the numbered pages down and printed them, then adhered them to my page along with some ribbon or trim. One other thing I really wanted to do was to cut the edges of my book pages. I've seen several of those cool albums around where all the pages are shaped differently, but I don't have any of those albums. So I thought I would cut my own edges on a regular 6 x 9 album. Here's how the pages turned out:

Since my focus of this album was really about the journaling, I took time to sit down with a notebook and make some lists. I just thought of topics of lists...like favorite movies or songs. I tried to throw in some topics that may be a little bit deeper than that too.

Then I narrowed down what I wanted to say and added it to my pages. My final topics:

One Best Song Ever
Two Goals for My Life
Three Places I have Lived
Four Secret Crushes
Five Things I Couldn't Live Without
Six Things I Don't Like
Seven Things I Wish Were Different
Eight Things I Love
Nine Books I love
Ten Character Traits

Here's how they look:

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Here are some additional products you might enjoy if you decide to follow Pamela's tutorial:
the Daily Birdie font (used for the key words on the journaling above)
the Add It Up digital kit
the Add It Up Number stamps

Finally, if you enjoy making lists or using them for journaling on layouts or to help you come up with layout journaling or page topics, then give Listmania a try. ListMania: Scrapping the Nouns in Your Life” is a two-week self-paced class that will provide you with seven journaling prompts that begin with list-making and move on to additional techniques for expanding your journaling into layout ideas and full-fledged stories. For each prompt, you’ll also receive a layout sketch / template and 2-3 typography techniques, with full step-by-step instructions. Download includes 7 templates, available in both 8.5x11 and 12x12 sizes (these are layered .psd files) and 14 daily lessons featuring 25 pages of journaling tips and typography techniques. Topics include authentic journaling, freewriting and free association, 5 Ws (and an H), guided questions, finding focus, developing voice, object histories, sensory descriptions, organization, paragraphing, symbolism and more.